Council of Emotions

by squirmonkey

co-authored: @jake-levine, @julia-zhu, @timschnibbins

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.64

Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.42

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.46

Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.56

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.51

Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.72

Humor★★★★★★★★★★3.18

Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.59

In Council of Emotions, you must help Caleb, a troubled youngster, navigate his life. You’ll receive a series of scenarios that Caleb encounters, and for each one, a Council of Emotions that convenes in Caleb’s mind votes on what they think he should do. Ultimately, you make the choice.

But be careful! If an emotion’s counsel is heeded too often or not often enough, they leave the Council. If the Council loses three members, you lose. If Caleb completes enough scenarios while retaining Council members, you are the winner! Your score is based on the choices you made and how many members are left at the end.

Can you keep the Council stable? Or will chaos rule Caleb’s mind?

Created in 72 Hours for Ludum Dare 49!

- Code: Unity, Visual Studio, Notepad++
- Art: Photoshop, Paint.net
- Audio: Logic Studio, Audacity
- Collaboration: Google Docs, Google Drawings

Tags: #choices, #emotional, #point & click, #story rich

Genres: interactive fiction

Tools: Audacity, Paint.net, Unity

Comments18

eharp5 Oct 2021, 00:51

It's an interesting mechanic trying to keep all of the animals roughly in the middle. I also really like all the character voices.

TebionDL5 Oct 2021, 00:58

I've played your game, and I loved the graphics and sounds, also the story that Caleb is going throug is interesting, nice game for a Jam =). Also, if you want to play my game, I'll leave a link here: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/jobb-company

zakaria5 Oct 2021, 00:58

Interesting idea i enjoyed the gameplay as well

Fernando Sydenstricker C.5 Oct 2021, 00:59

Very cute concept, loved the animals and the story behind it, great job!

Ryan Winstead5 Oct 2021, 01:00

Really cute game! I liked the art a lot, and the voices were really fun. Definitely found myself torn to pick certain options that I knew I had to to keep going.

Jeffrey Hwang5 Oct 2021, 01:09

The graphics were cute and sound effects were enjoyable. At first I was confused and thought the game was about myself. After failing once, I basically picked the choices that majority of the characters voted for and kept the meter up if it was almost depleted. . It was a nice take on the theme and did not encounter any bugs! Great job!

EdevJogos5 Oct 2021, 02:16

I usually don't like to read in games, but the dialog is really good it kept me engaged, loved the animals representing each emotion and voice acting was also on point, great game!

JakobTheQuizGuy5 Oct 2021, 10:27

A pleasant, relaxing game. The drawings are great, the music and audio are top notch. An interesting concept as well. Great work!

ChillerTyp5 Oct 2021, 14:03

Didn't catch me...

e_m5 Oct 2021, 22:11

Not bad))

ty_6 Oct 2021, 08:31

this is so cute! lovely little concept, tho i'm terrible at it and kept forgetting that choosing yay brings up the bar and it needs to not overflow. fun concept tho!

Underdog6 Oct 2021, 08:40

Got a score of 740 with no happiness haha, jokes aside, very decent game in the span of 3 days, the character art and voices were great too, the only problem I have is there not being an option for the volume, or perhaps the option for music since it was just a bit too loud, but it was a good game!

SaraFilipa6 Oct 2021, 08:41

I will happily play any game that has sloths. :)

Absolutely lovely game and interesting interpretation of the theme! I always love finding more narrative games and this one is quite fun! The art is so bright and adorable. :)

BriceGraulier6 Oct 2021, 08:44

Very cute concept. Personally got a 740 because Im an impatient failure. But had fun, its a nice little short management game. Might spam it a little to figure out how to get best score. Unless the choices change every time?

SimonL9 Oct 2021, 19:48

Fascinating submission!
I don't think I have ever played something similar.

The graphics were very fitting and cute. The music was doing its supportive role as well.
I also have to mention the very good tutorial. It's not fancy but does the job very good.

While the mechanics are interesting and novel, I don't think I would play a full-fledged game about it. But that is totally fine. Exploring ideas is the whole point of this competition.

Great job!

My highscore after three game was 640.

Itzemii9 Oct 2021, 19:54

640 ...
This is a nice game. I enjoyed playing it a lot. And it had fun and mature rationale.
I see the "Unstable" theme in the emotions, it would have helped to visualise that they should stay in the middle. I tried to get them up to max and off they went.
I enjoyed and it has a nice mood and good feel. Congratualtions!

LDJam user 26572512 Oct 2021, 20:16

Such a nice and wholesome game. I really like the whole metaphor and especially the "preserving emotion" part. The gameplay is easy to get and well-balanced and scenarios are relatable and touching without being overly dramatic or too soppy (a mistake you could easily have fell for). The art direction and audio are nice although UI could probably be improved to fit better with rest of the game.

Globaly, a wonderful job.

LDJam user 23658620 Oct 2021, 21:35

This was cleverly done, and it does a good job at exploring how it is to feel unstable as a child. The voices of the animals were cute. I didn't understand what raising the stats in the lower left did, but it didn't affect my experience at all. Nice work!

Other games by @squirmonkey

★3.87

★3.96

Age of Coin - Battle Stars: ULTRA

★3.92

LD44