DeadLyft
Take them for the ride of their life....
Moviepass, Theranos, FTX...they all failed faster and broke things as they monetized unicorn thought leaders that scaled the sharing economy by microdosing IPOs.
But what else do they have in common? That's right...
They're dead.
Introducing DeadLyft, the service designed to disrupt the collection and final judgement of the recently deceased!
No longer will you have to sit in a leaky boat while the forgotten memories of millennia pool around your fleshless ankles!
Ages upon ages of management by legacy enterprises have meant more and more of the dead piling up at their final destination, aimless and often with memory partially intact!
Instead sit back and rest your bones in heated seats, as our data optimization and proprietary Sins-sense technology identifies opportunities to keep our clients mindless and wandering in purgatory for thousands of years!
Objective
Drive your passengers to the ever after and ask questions to harvest soul points as they share their life story. More information = more points!
Controls
- S to start- T for tutorial
- Up/Down to select choices
- Space/Click to confirm choice
Team DeadLyft
Story- @Fromage
- @GrimPuppet
Art
- @SARAHHHHHH
Music
- @Dustinseth
Programming
- @JoshH
Tools
- Godot https://godotengine.org/- Dialogue Manager https://github.com/nathanhoad/godot_dialogue_manager
Notes
- First time using Godot. Loved it!- Feature suggestions are welcome!
Dev Notes
- 1/11/23 Posted an updated version fixing dialogue bugs.Tools: Godot
Comments43
Aoxian9 Jan 2023, 19:18
This was fun! reminded me of choose your own adventure books. Lots of reading.
jaonewguy9 Jan 2023, 19:22
Lovely art. Agree with first commenter about the tutorial being a bit unclear.
Also bug reporting: In tutorial, hitting 'S' will bring up another dialog (maybe it restarts the first dialog?)
Also bug reporting: In tutorial, hitting 'S' will bring up another dialog (maybe it restarts the first dialog?)
JoshH9 Jan 2023, 19:32
Thanks @jaonewguy! Yes, I need to disable that :D
Thank you for the feedback @fc85057 We'll keep working through to fix them!
Thank you @aoxian ! Choose your own adventure is definitely an inspiration!
Thank you for the feedback @fc85057 We'll keep working through to fix them!
Thank you @aoxian ! Choose your own adventure is definitely an inspiration!
LDJam user 1417019 Jan 2023, 19:34
Nice game!
I'm not big into dialogue games, but I played to completion; 21 points on Medium.
Suggestions
1) I think the Dialogue library you're using has support for "styling" the different characters. For example 'Mike' being on the right, 'Player' on the left, and "Story" elements being done in the middle. This would have been particularly useful in the tutorial, which I think was the most confusing part!
2) The tutorial probably should have sent you back to the main menu, not directly into the game. It wasn't clear when tutorial ended, and game began. In general the tutorial was confusing, and I probably would have understood more if I had just skipped it. It had some nice humor beats though!
Bugs:
There was a dialogue bug where a number of times there was nothing to say (just a blank field). After clicking it, he ranted about liberals. This happened 3-4 times during the game, and didn't really seem like intentional dialogue reuse to me.
I'm not big into dialogue games, but I played to completion; 21 points on Medium.
Suggestions
1) I think the Dialogue library you're using has support for "styling" the different characters. For example 'Mike' being on the right, 'Player' on the left, and "Story" elements being done in the middle. This would have been particularly useful in the tutorial, which I think was the most confusing part!
2) The tutorial probably should have sent you back to the main menu, not directly into the game. It wasn't clear when tutorial ended, and game began. In general the tutorial was confusing, and I probably would have understood more if I had just skipped it. It had some nice humor beats though!
Bugs:
There was a dialogue bug where a number of times there was nothing to say (just a blank field). After clicking it, he ranted about liberals. This happened 3-4 times during the game, and didn't really seem like intentional dialogue reuse to me.
kodingnights9 Jan 2023, 19:39
I managed to get 25 points on hard. That is some seriously good writing. Good job!
Fromage9 Jan 2023, 19:42
Thanks all!
@fc85057 Clearly not just you on the tutorial, heh. Gonna try and sharpen it up a bit for sure.
@aoxian Lots of writing too, and pathing...ye gods. It was a LOT of work. Thanks for playing.
@jaonewguy Thanks! Yeah, working on the tutorial, really appreciate the heads up!
@SirLich Solid point about making it clearer when the game is starting, and glad you enjoyed! I had the same bug and it's apparently been a bit of a nightmare to track down. Thanks for the feedback!
@kodingnights Glad you enjoyed it, really appreciate it!
@fc85057 Clearly not just you on the tutorial, heh. Gonna try and sharpen it up a bit for sure.
@aoxian Lots of writing too, and pathing...ye gods. It was a LOT of work. Thanks for playing.
@jaonewguy Thanks! Yeah, working on the tutorial, really appreciate the heads up!
@SirLich Solid point about making it clearer when the game is starting, and glad you enjoyed! I had the same bug and it's apparently been a bit of a nightmare to track down. Thanks for the feedback!
@kodingnights Glad you enjoyed it, really appreciate it!
LDJam user 3155749 Jan 2023, 23:55
Came for the awesome dead lift pun, stayed for the stylish artwork. Great job.
JoshH10 Jan 2023, 00:29
@kodingnights Woot! In the current build, I think 30 points might not be possible. When we have multiple characters added, that will change of course.
@slantyoj We do love our puns :D Thanks!
@slantyoj We do love our puns :D Thanks!
Fromage10 Jan 2023, 00:39
Sigh, mistype
togo sepultraut10 Jan 2023, 01:00
the way the dialog develops the character is nice.
i ran into a bit of an issue where there were no more options to pick and it just repeated an old one (playing with mike on medium difficulty)
very nice way to present a text driven game
i ran into a bit of an issue where there were no more options to pick and it just repeated an old one (playing with mike on medium difficulty)
very nice way to present a text driven game
Fromage10 Jan 2023, 01:10
@togo-sepultraut Thanks! Yeah, that one has been giving us headaches, appreciate the feedback!
Stejkrobot10 Jan 2023, 01:18
I think i would really enjoy this if i wasnt dyslexic. The art and visuals are amazing, the long strings of unbroken text is hard to endure. My oppinion in this matter is less valuable but i think bite sized text could be more enjoyable!
Fromage10 Jan 2023, 01:21
@Stejkrobot No, I actually keep meaning to mention that we should break them up a bit, you are very correct. Thanks for braving our game despite your dyslexia!
daitli10 Jan 2023, 02:08
Love me a good story- you guys put in the work and it shows! The graphics are very pleasing to the eye, thanks for sharing it, I had fun trying it out! :D
Fromage10 Jan 2023, 02:51
Glad you enjoyed! Thanks for the feedback!
MidoriMelody10 Jan 2023, 05:14
This game is amazing!!! I loved going through this game. It reminded me of NewCab and I love those types of games. Really good story!!! Make sure to @ me when you finish it.
SgtWeirdo10 Jan 2023, 08:38
I had fun playing through this! Ran into dialog issues like other but game wise it's a well paced story and it had me laughing and grinning on multiple occasions. great job!
bartalomew10 Jan 2023, 12:43
it's a very funny and engaging game, really glad I stumbled upon it. the textbox have a minor issue when I click it shows some different text for a few frames. It's not ruining anything immersion or gameplay-wise though. Well written characters (at least those who you could finish), would love to play with a bit more developed version later on.
Fromage10 Jan 2023, 14:45
@sgtweirdo Thanks so much, glad you enjoyed it!
@bartalomew Thanks! Hopefully we get to develop it further!
@bartalomew Thanks! Hopefully we get to develop it further!
Derek Volker10 Jan 2023, 22:10
I'm not really into text based games, but this seems really nice.
The art and sound really sets the ambience of the experience and i'm amazed at the amount of content you produced, even with the Junie part incomplete. Also, nice touch with the wiggling letters to catch the attention to the details!
Congrats!
The art and sound really sets the ambience of the experience and i'm amazed at the amount of content you produced, even with the Junie part incomplete. Also, nice touch with the wiggling letters to catch the attention to the details!
Congrats!
Fromage10 Jan 2023, 22:31
Thanks @derek-volker ! Thanks for making it through our game even if it's not normally to your tastes!
caeonosphere11 Jan 2023, 05:04
Really like the character art! I also ran into the problem with an empty dialogue box and getting stuck in a loop of previous text...
Fromage11 Jan 2023, 05:20
@caeonosphere Thanks! Yeah, I think our programmer has passed out, heh.
JoshH11 Jan 2023, 06:19
Thanks all! I spent some time working through dialogue bugs this evening. Hoping I caught them all, but please keep reporting if you find any.
JoshH11 Jan 2023, 06:19
@caeonosphere If you give it a try now, let me know if you run into the same issue. Thanks for playing!
beardywombat11 Jan 2023, 08:55
A very well executed game, it was interesting moving my way through the dialogue and discovering the story. It was a little un satisfying not figuring out the motive of the first story, but I suppose I'll have to try again :)
magicstunts12311 Jan 2023, 19:40
Normally i don't play those kind of dialogue games, but i really enjoyed the "interrogation" style and the plot itself.
I loved the fourth wall breaks!
Would really like to see more characters if you are going to expand on that game :)
I loved the fourth wall breaks!
Would really like to see more characters if you are going to expand on that game :)
Fromage11 Jan 2023, 19:48
@magicstunts123 Thanks for taking a look! Would have loved to do more! Mike was a lot of work, but next time it should at least be easier on our coder. heh
Adam Burt11 Jan 2023, 19:53
Really neat concept, and good execution with some very fine writing in there. Lots of little quirks and touches, and I like that it gradually fleshed the character out from stereotype into something more. Thanks for sharing!
Fromage11 Jan 2023, 20:13
@adam-burt Oh man that is good to hear, it was a fine line to walk and honestly writing this was rough at times, heh. Appreciate the feedback!
La bread13 Jan 2023, 02:09
Solid storytelling, I hope you guys get around to finishing the other characters after the jam!
Fromage13 Jan 2023, 02:56
Thanks La Bread! Me too!
Flying Dog Fish13 Jan 2023, 18:08
This is an interesting visual novel about Death posing as a Lyft driver. The art is great too.
Fromage13 Jan 2023, 19:33
Thanks @flying-dog-fish for giving it a try!
profan14 Jan 2023, 17:06
Interesting little game, this is probably the first one I've seen that is a straight up VN, but it was very welcome after going through god knows how many harvesting and farming games!
The dialogue itself was quite cool, I definitely found myself with a certain level of prejudice towards the character (Mike) initially, but then slowly learning more about them.. I still had some level of prejudice towards them, but at least now I understood the man wasn't just a one dimensional stereotype but came from a good place and of good intentions, even if it was deeply ill informed.
Nice work :)
And man. This final image was far too relatable :D
The dialogue itself was quite cool, I definitely found myself with a certain level of prejudice towards the character (Mike) initially, but then slowly learning more about them.. I still had some level of prejudice towards them, but at least now I understood the man wasn't just a one dimensional stereotype but came from a good place and of good intentions, even if it was deeply ill informed.
Nice work :)
And man. This final image was far too relatable :D
pianoman37316 Jan 2023, 18:59
I really enjoyed the writing in this. Some pretty emotional stuff learning more and more about Mike and seeing him realize he's dead at the end was really well done.
Fromage16 Jan 2023, 19:51
Thanks @pianoman373! Very kind of you to say.
Don Fouts26 Jan 2023, 03:30
As already mentioned in various comments this was a really cool take on the theme by using a visual novel. It may be just an issue on my side but I felt like I may have missed some dialog options when pressing space bar to advance the prompt. I would see a text bar at the bottom them flash to a new dialog box. This was on the HTML5 chrome player. Overall great work!
Fromage26 Jan 2023, 15:02
Thanks for the heads up @don-fouts! Appreciate the kind words.
Perhaps it's just me but it was a little unclear what the goal was even with the tutorial, although it made more sense as I played. I did encounter some bugs where text would skip or already selected options would repeat.