Poppycock's Perfect Packages

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.36

Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.05

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.55

Theme★★★★★★★★★★4.17

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.45

Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.83

Made in 48 hours for Ludum Dare 53 (theme `Delivery`), in Pico-8.

#### _The LD web player seems to have some issues with screen size, especially on mobile. I recommend playing on GitHub Pages: https://eddyashton.github.io/ld53/_

Story

You have just been hired by a global megacorporation.

Yesterday, the CEO Winston Poppycock announced his latest triumph: a fleet of fully autonomous self-driving delivery vehicles.

That was a lie.

The vehicles are remote-controlled, by you.

Place arrows to direct the vehicles. Collect orders from the depot, and deliver them to the homes of eager consumers. Don't let the backlog fill the depot, or you'll be fired.

Controls

- Move your cursor with the arrow keys.
- Hold the X button (C on keyboard) to enter placement mode, and place arrows. Set the direction with an arrow key. Tap X with no direction to delete an existing arrow.
- Press the O button (V on keyboard) to cycle through cursor colours, and then place arrows of each colour.
- Trucks will only follow arrows of their own colour.
- Drive past a depot or house to collect and deliver orders.
- Windows light up in the colour of the good each customer has ordered.
- Multiple orders can be collected delivered at once.

(There's an in-game tutorial too)

Notes

- My first jam entry - this was fun!
- Made solo
- No audio! Maybe next time
- There are multiple levels available from the pause menu
- Difficulty is a bit whack, as the levels are mostly aesthetic rather than fun. Very easy to add more though, maybe I'll do that after the jam

Tools: PICO-8

Comments15

KyleTheCoder1 May 2023, 12:47

This was actually a really cool little puzzler! I think placing things was a tad awkward, but overall, I really liked it. For such a short time period, this is a pretty complete submission.

SMdG1 May 2023, 12:49

Interesting concept but I wasn't able to collect the packages by passing near the depot (Don't know if it's a bug or lack of understanding of the controls). I did collect one but when I then passed near the house it didn't do anything.

LDJam user 2997571 May 2023, 16:02

Very fun little puzzle game! Love how stressful it gets keeping track of both trucks and where they are going

TasakaSama1 May 2023, 16:05

Very interesting, but difficult to take in hand at the beginning I find

luthwyhn1 May 2023, 16:19

Awesome entry!

Vladadamm1 May 2023, 16:39

I love the graphic style, it is minimalist but very clear. The game over screen is also pretty clean.

The tutorial was great to explain the controls and mechanics in a simple environment rather than being thrown directly into a big level.

It's a kind of gameplay that I think would have been great with mouse controls (though that's not exactly doable with Pico-8), as it can be a bit slow/clunky at times to move around the cursor with arrow keys. Another thing regarding the controls but more QoL is that it would have been nice to be able to remove arrows even if they don't match the cursor color.

I think it would have been nice to have a real menu with a level selection screen rather than having to go through the pause screen to switch levels. And maybe some easier levels as well as the game tends to end pretty fast if you're not micromanaging perfectly.

Overall, it's a solid entry for compo. Great job.

kgurniak911 May 2023, 17:29

Nice game, reminds me of Lemmings mixed up with Pac-man (because of level design and going from the left edge to the right and vice versa)

Red_dino3 May 2023, 09:02

I really appreciate that the tutorial is built into the game. :) Only nit was that I wasn't sure which was the depot, but that's on me. Great work!

bartalomew4 May 2023, 11:55

pico-gang! nice puzzle game. the difficulty cure is a bit steep but I really appreciate the tutorial and the multiple levels you built for this game. well done!

Remco7 May 2023, 10:29

Very polished, much attention to detail, like the trucks filling up pixel by pixel, not just a score, but a rank, etc.
I understand the controls in theory, in practice ... I don't care how bad an actual automated system would have been in this world, but it's hard to imagine it doing it worse.

LDJam user 3524907 May 2023, 16:27

Super neat concept! The tutorial at the beginning was spectacular at teaching the controls. I had trouble getting any rank above poor, but you might be able to fix the difficulty issue with a slower depot timer, and maybe a grace period after a strike.

Hakro11 May 2023, 19:08

Lovely game ! I really liked the puzzle and the cute simple design. It very well though.
My only nitpick is that sometimes the text is a bit hard to read, and the keys to use are not very clear. But after a couple of tries, it's much easier to understand.
Nice entry overall ! GG

cheesepencil12 May 2023, 03:18

This was great, I think it would be awesome if you doubled the truck speed and used the developer mouse features to place the arrows! I struggled with the cursor because it would skip over unplaceable tiles which, on the early levels especially, has the effect of moving my cursor from one end of the screen to the other at times

that said compo is hard and pico-8 is already challenging, and this is a fully formed game loop with original mechanics, fantastic job

Dingledorf13 May 2023, 01:59

Cool game and nice design! The tutorial did a great job of teaching the controls, but in spite of that I still got a bit overwhelmed by the first level haha. Nice work overall!

congusbongus13 May 2023, 02:02

Pretty cozy and neat looking game. It was hard to control the cursor sometimes because it would unpredictably jump around, maybe not having it blink will help. It would have been nice to have the levels progress in difficulty, as it seems even the first level was quite challenging compared to the tutorial. But apart from that it works great, and some extra juice like sfx would make it even more satisfying.