Squirrel Insulation Thieves

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.29
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.00
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.43
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.67
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.40
Audio★★★★★★★★★★2.84
Humor★★★★★★★★★★3.45
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.03
Please note: press and hold ❎ to chew.

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More back story to come... Second cut release in before the jam end! Still hastily done. Will I get 2-player in? Update: YES! Never got the bad guy rats in and therefore need for the sword.

The kids were very excited about the tiny creatures theme, but it took us quite a while to arrive at what we were going to make. I was tempted to do Godot this time, but we aren't use to the flow... so we decided to use Pico-8 again. Thanks to the kids for the help with this one in terms of levels, art, sounds, even the spark code!

Short story: you need to chew off insulation from the wires without getting shocked to collect enough to make squirrel ice-cream with.

Full story: The squirrels of the squirrel city of Treehaven have an idea for a new squirrel treat; insulation nut ice-cream. They already love wire insulation, nuts, and ice-cream, so why not mix the three? They compose a mission to gather wire insulation and to bring it back to Treehaven. You are one of the squirrels the mission has been placed upon. You must go and gather insulation, which means successfully bringing back insulation from cars, without being killed by rats or zapped by electricity. But from these cars no other squirrel has come back from. What hides in this maze of electricity and monsters that is not just lore invented by other squirrels waiting for the return of those gone before? Will you survive... or not?

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Instructions: Run around and chew up wire by standing on the wire, then pressing X (with chew inventory option selected - which is default). Hit your quota of 100% to advance.

Push ⬅️⬆️⬇️➡️ to move.

Hold 🅾️ and push ⬆️⬇️ to shift levels. only when arrow in top right allows (can't move up/down onto blocking object).
Hold 🅾️ and push ⬅️➡️ to shift between chew and sword. (Although sword doesn't do anything at this time... we were going to have you fight rats.. Didn't happen, opted for 2-player option as didn't have to worry about AI/path-finding).
Press and hold ❎ to chew. ~~or use sword.~~

x or m=❎, z or n = 🅾️

When playing 2-player:
s=⬅️, e=⬆️, d=⬇️, f=➡️
TAB=🅾️, q=❎

Keys may be reconfigured. It confuses me why pico-8 defaults x=❎ and z=🅾️. Really makes to player not possible.. unless you use a controller or re-configure. Just learned a few things.
* Seems you cannot re-configure keys using menu. I thought you could.
* Found out that m=❎ and n=🅾️ which is much more friendly for 2-player keyboard. 2-player with controllers would be better. (Or at least one person on controller).

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I think next time we are going to go for Godot so we can have a bit more expressive freedom.
Tools: Godot, PICO-8

Comments2

LDJam user 382819
LDJam user 38281916 Oct 2024, 15:20
I'm really impressed that you've managed to implement this game so well with PICO-8. The game is very fun, and there's a clear sense of design throughout the experience. Although some effects aren't great due to the limitations of PICO-8 itself, overall it's quite good, and you've done a fantastic job, friend. Of course, if you have the time, you're also welcome to check out our game~
LDJam user 243193
LDJam user 24319318 Oct 2024, 13:09
Nice chewing game! Too bad there's no sign or warning to warn player before a current is going to appear. And I don't get why there should be 2 levels per stage. IMO one level should be good enough.

If those issues were fixed, this could be a good game.

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