Back Alley Quality Assurance

by maxr00
Overall★★★★★★★★★★4.10
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.60
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.52
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.90
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★4.17
Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.48
Humor★★★★★★★★★★3.66
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.95

Welcome to Back Alley Quality Assurance.

Here, you have 1 simple job: Check the authenticity of whatever cards come through the door. It's easy for some, but my bet is you won't last the week.

It's a pretty easy job once you know what to look for, those forgers aren't getting any smarter seemingly. The problem here is, the cops are onto us. If you take too long, our customers get grabbed, and that's just bad for business, and our reputation. But don't worry too much, you have plenty of time before they come, about 10 seconds.

Here's how you can check if a card is worth keeping:

1. Any misspellings of "Series" or in the card name? Obvious giveaway, throw that thing in the trash

2. Bent corners is a quick No. I don't care if the rest is ok, pristine cards only

4. If the back of the card doesn't have the right logo, its definitely a fake

3. Each series of a card have a different authenticity mark on the back, that you can only see with the use of a UV light (I think it stands for... ultra visible light? Either way it totally makes that thing visible like magic.)
All the symbols on the back may look real, but they have to match the correct series on the front of the card too. (Here's a free hint, the color of the background of the card should match the color of the mark)

If you mess up, I'll tell you what you did wrong, but we can really only afford maybe 3 mistakes a day before you're out.

And that's about it! Just remember to not take too long, not just for the cops, but some of our customers really freak me out. Good luck!

Controls


Click on cards/papers to pick them up.
Click and drag anywhere on the screen while holding an item to rotate it.

Click and drag the lever to the appropriate side, then let go to submit your action.

Holding [Right Click] or [Spacebar] activates the UV light. It is only active while one of those buttons is held.

Click a day on the punch card to go back to previous levels! Can you get a perfect score every day?
Genres: puzzle

Comments17

Rob6566
Rob65663 Oct 2022, 06:10
Love the idea and design - reminds me a bit of Papers Please. I can't get the web version working (it's unresponsive) and I'm on a Mac, but I'll download and review once I'm back on a PC.
Climbing Dolphin3 Oct 2022, 17:13
Neat game. There is not a lot to say, everything works well, from the graphics to the gameplay. I was very immersive, well done!
Murgn
Murgn3 Oct 2022, 17:14
Pretty fun, has Papers Please vibes, it'd be nice if the back poster had a higher resolution because its pretty hard to read as the text is very blurred
Trabasura3 Oct 2022, 17:16
I really enjoyed this entry. I don't have much to critique, but I would've liked if there was some kind of counter to tell you how many items were left on each level. Good job!
alexander epton3 Oct 2022, 17:18
web version worked for me. although dark. seemed really polished. UX reminded me a bit of inscryption
EbbDrop
EbbDrop3 Oct 2022, 17:21
Fun and challenging game, love the eyes following you! It is a little repetitive tho but that's just nitpicking
Davirtuoso
Davirtuoso3 Oct 2022, 17:25
Great game - love the visuals and the gameplay is fun. The 'Papers, please' vibes are perfect here, and I love the characterisation of the eyes from the slot too. The first time those crazy ones showed up I laughed out lout :laughing:

Very nicely done, this is a really good game
Delpod3 Oct 2022, 17:31
I really liked and played it longer than I expected. The art and sound design is very fitting, with the theme it reminds me a bit of Aperture Desk Job. WebGL version works fine for me (Chrome on Windows PC).
BrettSchiff3 Oct 2022, 18:22
Fun! I lasted longer here than I did in Paper's Please, the eyes were my favorite part 😂
spudboy
spudboy3 Oct 2022, 18:49
why do they gotta throw the card in smh

Really like this one! The instructions were pretty funny which is a nice touch.
Martynas
Martynas18 Oct 2022, 08:30
Amazing idea and execution, just wish it was a little bit easier at first
LDJam user 298496
LDJam user 29849618 Oct 2022, 15:11
Nice little Papers Please style game, perhaps more difficult errors (such as differences in the watermarks) could be included too?
epb900019 Oct 2022, 04:38
This definitely reinforced that I am not cut out for jobs in the criminal underworld. Or document verification for that matter. Good thing I'm an software engineer I guess.
tanis
tanis19 Oct 2022, 08:40
Nice one! Of course it reminds Papers Please :smile: Given the time constraint it has been nicely executed and the instructions are actually real fun to read. Solid entry IMHO.
Lachlan James
Lachlan James19 Oct 2022, 10:27
Really loved this. Feels great to play, very polished. Slick stuff - one of my favourites of the jam so far.
LDJam user 301165
LDJam user 30116519 Oct 2022, 22:51
I think this is my favorite game I've played for the jam so far. As everyone has said, it definitely has Papers Please vibes, and that's a great thing. I love the simple story and vibe that goes along with everything. It's so satisfying seeing a card pop through the hole, seeing something wrong with it before even picking it up, and just rejecting it straight away. Bonus points for having the tutorial and a cheat-sheet included within the game.

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