School is Hell

co-authored: @tokarts
Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.83
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.57
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.43
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.17
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★4.58
Audio★★★★★★★★★★4.07
Humor★★★★★★★★★★4.07
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.93
If you're having trouble with the embedded file, try the itch.io link or, better yet - download the .exe file.

Principal Pain decided it was a good idea to open a school for imps in hell!

principal.png
After a string of deaths among his staff, it's your job to curb the chaos in the classrooms!

Monitor the school, checking room by room if imps are up to no good.
Click on imps to prevent them from misbehaving.
Summon principal Pain to keep the imps at bay when things get too hectic!


Controls: mouse

Credits:

@gizmo199 - Code, vfx

@tokarts - Art, music, sfx

Changelog:

V1.2
Fixed audio not loading at the beginning of game.
Re-Uploaded .exe version since the build was empty

V1.1

Fixed typos in principal's dialogs.
Fixed audio issue with game end music.

V1.0

MAJOR BUG FIX: Crash would occur after 1 particular imp performed their mischief.
MAJOR BUG FIX: Game end music leak
Tools: GameMaker

Comments39

MrMuskOx16 Apr 2024, 15:41
Solid gameplay, excellent sound design; overall, a very enjoyable clicking game for the time invested in it. Also, props to Principal Pain for the help in scolding these students; schools have been getting out of hand recently. Recommended.
Vantalogic
Vantalogic16 Apr 2024, 16:59
Played and rated this during class and I couldn’t agree more. Awesome game!
Maurits Dijkman16 Apr 2024, 17:57
Great job on the art style and the gameplay, I love the point-and-click concept! The increasing difficulty makes sure you keep playing!
Xeltide16 Apr 2024, 18:00
Seems like your itch page isn't up, and the embedded build here needs to have the index.html moved up to the root (or renamed).
JohnMiner16 Apr 2024, 18:12
What a beautiful game! The art is really well made. Gameplay wise it on the simpler side, but it really easy to pick up and play. The increased number of classes really make it hard real fast (thanks Principal). I have issues with misclick things that make me unable to catch those imps on time. Maybe this has something to do with the custom mouse cursor that misleading, or you could just also increased the clickable area for them. Another improvement I suggest is maybe adding shortcut such as Esc to back to 4 screen view, and 1234 for quick swap to each of them (unless cumbersome is part of the design). Gg!
krakadushka
krakadushka16 Apr 2024, 18:13
The art is so cool! And it is very polished too, I love it!
You've got a really funny game, with good musical accompaniment, high-quality mechanics and a simple but cool plot.
Unfortunately, I failed after third day, is it scripted? If it wasn't, it would be cool to restart the day, rather than start from the begin.
However, well done!

Ludum Dare player doesn't work btw

Link to itch also doesn't work
TokArts
TokArts16 Apr 2024, 18:29
Fixed the issue with the itch.io page, now everyone should be able to access the game!
Palvel16 Apr 2024, 18:35
Nice game! Gives the feeling of old quest games like Space Quest.
But I don’t quite understand where the theme of the competition is.
tater-hater
tater-hater16 Apr 2024, 20:32
Really beautiful work, the settings and character sprites feel really well done and sychronized with the overall theme. The game was very challenging and I liked the difficulty ramp up. Great work!
YoYoJ16 Apr 2024, 20:37
I must admit, normally I don't like clicking games that much, but in that case I over-liked it - really loved and enjoyed it ! The art is neat and overall the game is fun ! Great job !
SStyles9316 Apr 2024, 20:38
I had a lot of fun especially letting the imps destroy things and discover what they were able to do x)

Otherwise on a more serious note, the idea is cool, the art and execution is really well done!

Good job!
Tuna54516 Apr 2024, 20:42
Great design and fun idea. Loved the sound effects!
Vasulvius16 Apr 2024, 20:48
Amazing, this game have a very good feeling. The sound effects makes me laugth a lot, thank I had fun while playing :)
DmitryGalias
DmitryGalias16 Apr 2024, 20:53
Good job guys! I love this pixelart style and simple gameplay. It was really funny to watch how imps make bad things =)
Flokami
Flokami16 Apr 2024, 21:46
Clean little game ! Sounds and visuals are really good. The mouse selection was a bit hazardous sometime.
LDJam user 120290
LDJam user 12029017 Apr 2024, 05:32
I really like this one, the art is good and the music is fit this game. The difficulty is smooth, and they are a bit haste when the number of class is extend. The theme is not mentions at the start two days. But summon the demon as a monitor is a very awesome mechanics. Good Job!
nrankin13
nrankin1317 Apr 2024, 13:31
This was a delight. Great music and sound effects, super clean visuals. My only complaint is that sometimes the hitbox for the various imps is unforgiving; not a problem in the early game, but gets more frustrating later when juggling multiple classes.

Great work!
Stevie257
Stevie25717 Apr 2024, 16:24
Wow! The art is really great, I'm impressed this was made in only 3 days. I initially had some issues with the in-game cursor mismatching with my real cursor though, but it seemed to have solved itself eventually. Good game!
TypicalKin17 Apr 2024, 17:14
The mouse sensitivity felt so much higher than I expected but honestly? Probably needed for how chaotic it gets near the end of the week haha. Absolutely stellar game! Amazing art, fun panic-y gameplay that keeps me on my toes and the summoning adds another layer to strategy to keep those rascals behaving. I think I only have two total missed incidents throughout the entire game but wow is it a bit stressful. Real good work!
OgelGames
OgelGames18 Apr 2024, 03:20
Not the most amazing gameplay, but it looks amazing, and the imp sounds were hilarious!
Storeyware
Storeyware18 Apr 2024, 06:15
Heya!
Bigger hit boxes on those imps please! But man are they cute. Nice work.
citsua
citsua18 Apr 2024, 21:35
Amazing pixel art! I really liked the little cursor too.
The gameplay was nice at the beginning, but when multiple classes were added I found it tedious to switch back and forth between screens.

One thing: at first I tried to play the web version on Opera (Chromium), and I couldn't click to pass the very first dialogue. Everything worked correctly in the windows build
DeltaMain
DeltaMain19 Apr 2024, 14:07
Well, it was intense!

Truly a beautiful game with a nice and simple to understand mechanic! Did not manage to make web version run as there were no cursor, so I had to use windows version, but this is not a problem at all!
TokArts
TokArts19 Apr 2024, 14:19
@deltamain
Wow, nice!! I'm sure Demondeed will stay open a long time with you reporting all the misbehaving imps! :smiling_imp:

Yeah, the cursor is there in the web version, you just need to scroll up a lot and the sensitivity defaults to very high.
It's our first time entering a Ludum Dare, so we got stuck on some of the peculiarities of embedding on the LD site. :sweat_smile:
Megh Menghani19 Apr 2024, 17:24
Incredible art. The difficulty scaling was a little to hard. Great job regardless!
KrummSakura
KrummSakura20 Apr 2024, 00:01
It is not like a jam game but a polished product with cute art and music. Gameplay is engaging and enjoyable. Great job!
Gizmo199
Gizmo199author20 Apr 2024, 00:57
@deltamain woah! Insane!! I couldn't even manage to get a perfect score! Haha. Great job!
Meru
Meru20 Apr 2024, 08:34
Woah, the Art is just amazing!! It Looks so polished.
fabula_rasa20 Apr 2024, 08:57
Very amusing! The art is great and so is the animation. Music fits perfectly and adds a lot to the atmosphere of mischief. Gameplay, while deceptively simple, gets very hectic very fast. Also fitting to the concept :smile:

Everything just works together well in this game to create a cohesive experience. Very well done!

The only problem I had was technical. The web version on Firefox displays in this smaller window, doesn't even take up all the space allotted by Itch by default, and it cannot go full-screen. That presents the issue with the mouse cursor (which can easily go out off the game frame and just disappear until you manage to wiggle it back in).
Linky439
Linky43920 Apr 2024, 09:14
Wow, what a great entry! Are you people working at a school by some chance? :D

The graphics are fantastic, the audio is really cool (those pesky imps are annoying to hear ^^), and the gameplay loop works like a charm. It was really tough trying to keep up with 3 classes!
I managed to do 3 A+, with an A- on Tuesday and a B on Wednesday. My only complain would be that some imps are difficult to click as their hitbox is precise, so aiming a couple of pixels away from the neck for instance doesn't count.

Overall I had a great time, really really cool job and super polished!
Aviv Levy
Aviv Levy20 Apr 2024, 09:26
This looks really really good! But unfortunately, there's something iffy going on with the mouse sensitivity on the web version which makes it hard to play
LDJam user 371030
LDJam user 37103021 Apr 2024, 09:39
LOL. This is funny :D . Nice job. Art is super polished and beutiful. The devilish style is cute and hilarious, I really liked principal Pain XD

GJ!
LDJam user 021 Apr 2024, 17:48
Fantastic art, and unique gameplay
Tetracold
Tetracold23 Apr 2024, 03:16
This was really fun!

The art is full of charm!! Even if I failed on my first playthrough but seeing all the funny little illustrations of the imps creating mayhem more than made up for it. I eventually got the hang of the gameplay and I enjoyed how it mixed things up, it kept it enough fresh

Really good entry!
negator2vc24 Apr 2024, 22:44
Fun little game with awesome art!
Some interesting mechanics try to prevent imps at each scene from causing havoc!
After a while they do get a little repetitive but no enough to stop the game from being fun.
Great job!
ThiefViolinist
ThiefViolinist29 Apr 2024, 17:46
Overall: A
Fun:B
Innovation: C
Theme: B
Graphics:A+
Audio:A
Humor:B+
Mood:A+

Very nice game, actually started to feel more fun at the end.
LDJam user 147386
LDJam user 1473862 May 2024, 16:52
This is a wonderful game!!
I would have loved to be able to select guys, back in and out of the cameras using the keyboard, but other than that I think this one is pretty much 5 stars all around!
Great graphics, sound, and design
LDJam user 352490
LDJam user 3524904 May 2024, 00:46
Game is tricky with a trackpad, but that just added to the chaos. Fun concept, and the art was wonderful, I sometimes just let them cause chaos to see what they'd do.
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