Ludum Dare 56

by mantsje
co-authored: @brandsma, @joost, @kaviso, @sjm
Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.61
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.38
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.80
Theme★★★★★★★★★★4.09
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.96
Humor★★★★★★★★★★4.28
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.78

Kinder Guardin'

- Colorful custom pixel-art!
- Grim social commentary
- Chaotic, fast-paced fun!

Description


Little Timmy has a fascination with the power outlets, and tiny Debra left the lid of the class-snake open. It’s not easy to keep a full classroom in check at this kindergarten, and even harder since the children copy the behavior of others nearby!

Wrangle, and herd this class together to try and keep most of the little rascals alive. Use your whole bag of tricks as a teacher. Including throwing candies, and chucking chalk!

The better you do, the less funding you will get as a teacher (since apparently you don’t need it ;p), and the fuller your classrooms become. Beat this game before you get a burn-out! Or snap, and leave the tiny creatures to their own fates.

Goal and Theme of the game


The goal is to keep all the children in your class alive for the course of the schoolday. You as a hard-working teacher will let nothing happen to these tiny creatures under your care... or will you?

Use everything in your power to keep them engaged with puppys, candy, or when the carrot doesn't try the stick and chug a piece of chalk at them, or scare them with homework it's your call!

Keyboard & Mouse Controls

THERE IS ALSO A SIMPLE IN-GAME TUTORIAL
- W A S D -> Control your character
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 -> Select/Cast skill
- Mouse -> Target your selected skill
- Escape -> Pause the game and navigate menus

About us


We are a team of friends from the Netherlands who love making games and programming. We wanted to make as much of the game on our own as we could. Just how much we did you can see below. We hope you all enjoy our little game, and maybe, just maybe, if you enjoy our game leave a like/comment. We also love to hear (constructive) feedback! :)

General details about our game


* Built with Unity.
* All textures are fully custom made, huge shoutout to @joost and jorn!!
* Sounds, tracks and other audio effects are taken from other (open) sources. We do not own the rights to the songs we play and we do not intend to use any of this in any commercial form and ask our players to do the same. By playing and downloading our game you agree to these terms :)

Thanks for playing!


If you encounter any bugs feel free to let us know!
Check out our Itch.io page as well!

Installation and Tips


Play it right here in your browser using the WebGL build! (if the Ludum Dare link does not work try out our itch.io entry!

When running on macOS or Linux (if available) you may run into some trouble getting started. At least for the linux build you might have to add executable rights to the main executable.
To do this on linux run the following command: `chmod +x ./KinderGuardin.x86_64`
To do this on MacOS run the following command: `chmod +x ./KinderGuardin\ MacOS.app/Contents/MacOS/KinderGuardin\ \(TM\)
` and then open the game with ctrl+click > open

Changelog & Bugfixes

- Fix the last introduced bug breaking the tutorial explaining the UI
Genres: simulation
Tools: Unity

Comments35

RaikaBunBun7 Oct 2024, 22:31
Pretty funny! I like the graphics and the idea is hilarious xD
Chocolat-Endive
Chocolat-Endive7 Oct 2024, 23:16
Cool graphics and mood! I had a hard time keeping the children alive, but it was fun trying to get better at using the toolkit. I really liked de newspaper on the right of the screen, and I think I lost a few times because I was trying to read the next headlines xD
neowhoru
neowhoru8 Oct 2024, 09:00
Pretty funny concept and really nice visuals. My first time they jumped out of the window lol.
ProstoCupOfTea
ProstoCupOfTea8 Oct 2024, 09:51
Really hard game tbh, at least for me
The concept if fun and graphics are great (:
Also there is a tutorial!! Awesome!!!
Bumble8 Oct 2024, 18:47
'Only 2 children disappeared' Sounds like I am cut-out to be watching children :sweat_smile:

I really like the fun concept and the way you interpreted the LD theme :grin:
The game is very chaotic very fast but plays well enough so that you can keep up if you dare!
I also like the visuals and the sounds. Everything fits together and is implemented well!
FireFalls
FireFalls8 Oct 2024, 19:14
Hard game, but fun concept! Classroom herding mechanics (boids?) were a lot of fun
captainzo
captainzo9 Oct 2024, 06:47
It is a really hard game but very funny concept ! The artstyle is very good ! Good job ! :smile:
Vidu
Vidu9 Oct 2024, 06:52
This game has so much charm, well done!
Foursay
Foursay9 Oct 2024, 07:00
This is so chaotic lol now I wanna be tiny kids and try noto tget myself hurt lol
ssiannas
ssiannas9 Oct 2024, 07:15
A bit hard but hilarious. Really like the style too. Great submission
RamChops Games
RamChops Games9 Oct 2024, 09:57
You know that video where it goes:

"Let me see what you have!"

"A knife!"

"NO!"

Yeah, this game is basically that clip, but add in window climbing, snakes, and several counts of OSHA violations as well. The contrast between the cheery music and the cute art against the subject matter and dark humor are also a good fit.

At first I thought the teacher was moving too quickly and was a bit hard to control, but after getting to the level with like 25 kids? Yeah I could see why the speed is that way. You need it to keep the little tykes in control.

By the way, I think I may have gotten stuck in the tutorial once (right in this spot), but I restarted it and it was okay. I did feel like the tutorial font was a little bit too small and a bit hard to read, but it did do its job in explaining the game well.

Now that this review is done, I've got to---TIMMY NO THATS A LIVE WIRE---
velvetlobster
velvetlobster9 Oct 2024, 12:44
Okay, this is quite enjoyable and gives you some laughs right from the start.

My favorite child was the one with sunglasses. 😎

The news is even more hilarious. 😂
firellon
firellon9 Oct 2024, 13:27
A very original idea :) well done!

I think it might a bit easier to handle if there were fewer kids and/or hazards at the start.
Game-mon9 Oct 2024, 13:52
Really cool! First of all, humor = :star: :star: :star: :star: :star: (no debate there). Gameplay is a little bit unforgiving at first, but the abilities to manage the kids are really fun. A really fresh entry with the best take on the theme!
Tiberiusuciu
Tiberiusuciu9 Oct 2024, 18:53
Of all games I've played, I did not expect guarding toddlers :joy:

Well done, I appreciate the effort you've put in to the UI to explain what each of the abilities do :raised_hands:
Pious
Pious9 Oct 2024, 19:26
Very cool idea! Kinder Guardin is a clever name and felt very chaotic haha. Was pretty funny and tutorial was definitely needed. I wish there was a bit more polish to the actions but also less actions to do or worry about. Was pretty cool and was a very funny idea.

Good job!
ScrapMetal
ScrapMetal9 Oct 2024, 19:35
This game taught me I should never be a kindergarten teacher.

I love the vibe and concept! :smile: Even if it's hard AF. :flushed: :cold_sweat:

I just can never keep these dang kids alive. After a while, I just started playing with the snake because I love that animation so much.

I loved this unique take on the theme!!
LDJam user 387548
LDJam user 3875489 Oct 2024, 20:14
It was really interesting too play, I like humor and setting at all, well done;)
Daff9 Oct 2024, 22:13
Interesting, beautiful, and funny! The only thing was that it was difficult to control the kids. If there was a bit more balance with the kids, or rather if it was more convenient to show when they are in trouble, I think it would be perfect! I even wanted to play as the kids and stick a fork into the socket
GaryS
GaryS9 Oct 2024, 23:17
Looks absolutely stunning and it's incredible how much you got done in the time... unfortunately I couldn't get the hang of the gameplay.
LelulaGames
LelulaGames10 Oct 2024, 00:10
This is hilarious. So many dumb ways to die, and I can't say that I was good at the game, but I had a lot of fun with it, lol.
IBluebirdI10 Oct 2024, 09:48
Wow, that's really funny game xD My children died several times just cause i wanted to see every peice of visuals. Nice work!
Dfyzet10 Oct 2024, 10:50
Very funny concept, I love it! It takes a while to figure out what's what, a lot of tools and dangers. But in the end, it's cool!
SparklingSushi
SparklingSushi10 Oct 2024, 18:09
I guess i did it : D
Lolly was the one i used the most tho!
Cool graphics and nice simple music, congratz of finishing the project!
See ya on the next one!
Shakedimus10 Oct 2024, 18:16
It was a very funny entry and it was well pollished. Nice music and SFX, fun graphics and the game mechanics were fun. However to me it was impossibly difficult, I think starting of easier and letting the difficulty ramp up would be nicer. This would also give the player time to get used to the mechanics, as you need to get to know 5 different spells and 20 different dangers this could have really helped. I also thought something about the spellcasting itself felt awkward, the first selecting then clicking didn't feel right to me, maybe just hovering above a kid when you press the button would work better I don't know. Overall a very solid entry and I think it could be very fun if you make it a bit more forgiving. Goed gedaan!
Lizz
Lizz10 Oct 2024, 18:17
*Groan!* This reminds me of the days I was trying to become a preschool teacher for the younger classes. No matter what you do they still manage to get in trouble :sweat_smile: The moving around is flexible even though gameplay is complex for me as it goes very fast, but the art combined with the sounds are absolutely lovely if not a bit enjoying all the screaming :rofl: It is quite a lot to read, and pretty small as well. If you would have had more times I would say to put in a tutorial that takes you through it by playing. But, that is future talk.
Mikeandtherest11 Oct 2024, 08:56
This game is so cool! The graphics are great and the idea pretty original. I must admit I wasn't able to beat the game after several trials, it's really hard :D But I enjoyed playing it!
bhashimoto11 Oct 2024, 14:13
Great game, great graphics, really hard and funny! The controls felt really snappy, good job!

Awesome!
HaaYaargh
HaaYaargh11 Oct 2024, 18:02
Utter chaos, love it. Salute to all the teachers around the world that have to deal with this on a daily basis :bow:

Should you want to polish it a bit more, then I feel like going through readability of items and interactables could be helpful; what's the range of electric discharge, better feedback when the healing is happening improved, timers on candies or homework etc.

Newspaper headlines are genius, but during the game, players might have too little time to pay attention to them. How about you showcase them in more detail once the shift ends? Successfully or otherwise.

Great that you included some of that social commentary in form of parody into your game.

Overall, very solid entry :heart:
Calcopod
Calcopod11 Oct 2024, 19:35
Amazing pixelart, nothing to say there. Incredibly cool looking and cohesive while still unique. Humour is also 5 stars.

Sure, some more polish and quality of life changes could make this even better, but the chaotic gameplay loop kept me hooked throughout the entire game, and it was one of the best executions on similar ideas I have seen in this jam.

For some reason couldn't get the web build to work on Ludum Dare, but the downloads were fine.

A very, very solid entry!
HermesEs
HermesEs14 Oct 2024, 13:06
In the first game I was still figuring out how to play so they died almost instantly hahah Very fun ad with a lot of chaos! Very polished gameplay and cute graphigs!
Well done!
ThatSommeS
ThatSommeS14 Oct 2024, 20:27
This is the most stressful game I have played in a long time... Amazing!
atmospherium
atmospherium15 Oct 2024, 16:28
I like this take on the theme and you did a great job of making things feel chaotic and unpredictable. And that failure screen caught me off-guard in a very enjoyable way. Art and music really fit the tone. I never succeeded, but I guess that's why I'm not a kindergarten teacher.
Dining Philosopher
Dining Philosopher21 Oct 2024, 14:35
Back from vacation and finally got around to this - and boy is it stressful xD
I feel like in theory it should be possible to use just the lollypop, dog and an occasional hand to keep all the children fenced in, but couldn't make it work. Great humor and I really like the graphics, although there seems to be some tearing for me (on Firefox), as if not all parts of the map/walls are redrawn at the same moment.
tetrapteryx
tetrapteryx23 Oct 2024, 18:40
The constant sound of kids screaming stressed me out almost as much as the gameplay :sob: This is hilariously chaotic.

Instead of being thrown into the deep end after one big tutorial, it might have been helpful to ease in by unlocking one skill at a time. It was a lot to figure out while children were dying horrible deaths all around me. But the panic definitely enhances the mood!

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