Ludum Dare #58compo
Predincament
My submission to LDJam58, working title Predincament
A game where you wander around a train talking to weirds and filling out your collection of bug sightings. The game is completely random, so you might have to restart a few times to see everything. My second to last testing showed a whole train full of Froogs...
- Mouse controls, click (or click and hold to walk around), and to interact
- Click on passengers to hear their thoughts, they will say different stuff!
- Click on 'bugs' to collect them, click again to learn a bug fact
- Once you've collected a few bugs, click on the green sun to open your stamp book
- Each page of your stamp book shows a different bug, a fact, and a stamp if you've collected it.
- Flip pages of the stamp book by click on the top corner.
- You cannot open your stamp book while in dialog, click on the train to close dialog!
Thank you for playing!
Known bugs [I will be fixing them ASAP]:
Hotfix_01 should fix the following two issues!
- ~~if you click the pages of the stamp book, rather than the corner you may accidentally click through and start a dialog locking you in that state.~~
- ~~occasionally the music does not loop, (though depending on your tastes this might better?)~~
Note: *sorry for the lack of settings, or, any other functionality. I ran out of time, though I am planning on turning this into a full game! I recognize it's very quiet on some machines, but I'd rather than then blow peoples ears out when there's no audio settings...*
[all work by me]
A game where you wander around a train talking to weirds and filling out your collection of bug sightings. The game is completely random, so you might have to restart a few times to see everything. My second to last testing showed a whole train full of Froogs...
- Mouse controls, click (or click and hold to walk around), and to interact
- Click on passengers to hear their thoughts, they will say different stuff!
- Click on 'bugs' to collect them, click again to learn a bug fact
- Once you've collected a few bugs, click on the green sun to open your stamp book
- Each page of your stamp book shows a different bug, a fact, and a stamp if you've collected it.
- Flip pages of the stamp book by click on the top corner.
- You cannot open your stamp book while in dialog, click on the train to close dialog!
Thank you for playing!
Known bugs [I will be fixing them ASAP]:
Hotfix_01 should fix the following two issues!
- ~~if you click the pages of the stamp book, rather than the corner you may accidentally click through and start a dialog locking you in that state.~~
- ~~occasionally the music does not loop, (though depending on your tastes this might better?)~~
Note: *sorry for the lack of settings, or, any other functionality. I ran out of time, though I am planning on turning this into a full game! I recognize it's very quiet on some machines, but I'd rather than then blow peoples ears out when there's no audio settings...*
[all work by me]
Comments114
@commanderstitch A few hours last night were dedicated to just making weird little sounds on various synths, so thank you for noticing.
@elfb0y Thank you! Not going to lie, a huge percent of the first day was me in Aesprite playing around with the vibe of the visuals. There's a lot i'd do differently now, but I generally like where I landed.
My favorite thing was just to talk to passengers. I love how many different responses they do have!
I was just sad that I couldn't get to collect all of them in a single run 😔
Is there a win condition that I missed?
Thanks for making this, it's an awesome entry with a strange something-weird energy.
Very fun, I loved also the graphics!
Great work
@plastus sadly no win condition, I was going to have the book change, and in fact I even drew a bunch more stuff to support it, but there was just not enough time to get it in. In hindsight I should've just hand placed all the passengers and bugs etc., but I really liked the idea that no one would know who they might meet. If you get a chance to play the full game some day you'll have to tell me what you think! Thanks for playing.
@osh-studio I appreciate you saying so, I desperately wanted everything to feel cohesive so it's nice to hear that in some way it came together. Thank you for the kind words.
@john-gabriel Glad you noticed the train sound itself, trying to make it more rhythmic and cozy was an interesting micro-challenge. Thanks for the kind words.
@benjamin-gare Thank you! Hopefully some day down the road you'll be able to play the full version and beat that. I'm going to keep the overall vibe and just add more while also making it more mechanistically interesting.
@alex-mulkerrin Thank you! I really did (do?) envision a much bigger world, and even have designs for such a thing but I realized about the 20 hour mark that I was way off in terms of scope. I tried to keep my connections there so the player could imagine the bigger space. I apricate your thoughts
@indigowolf Slick indeed haha. Thank's most of it came together in the last two hours before I submitted and I was working on no sleep so I just let stream of consciousness take the wheel. Thanks for the kind words
I desperately need to know if the prince is in fact made of glue.
@theothervc I know, I wish I'd perhaps prioritized a bit differently, but I'm just happy to have finished. I'm glad you thought what is there was a fun experience!
@mrbamboo Thank you for the kind words!
@morepixels As I've said to a few others I do have plans to keep working on it, hopefully you'll see it pop up somewhere in the future and give it a shot. I will probably do a devlog on itch, just to keep myself honest. But anyway, thank you!
@jose-bonilla the vibe was my number one priority it seems, and so this means a ton. Thank you, glad you could chill with it for a minute.
@jcourt I'm going to treat all the random stuff I put in to this as plot hooks for things I'll find some way to address in the real game, so someday perhaps you will get to find out. Thanks so much for checking it out!
@placeholders It's really encouraging that so many folks, yourself included, said the lack of gameplay didn't deter them too much. Feels like if I add a little into the full project maybe it'll be worth people's time! I really appreciate the kind words.
Super cozy game :)
By the way, where the heck is Grumble?!
not much draw for the game play overall a cozy experience
(and was lucky enough that the random generated gave me all creatures necessary for the stamps :D)
Collected almost everything, I never could find the red ant.. Great entry :)
A nice, cozy game
@yoav-kagan @azahara @aleksey-salion @happysealgames @rise12600 @pancu @chuckeles @flokami @crygos @skylone @rynti @bwalter @vipaka @timelost @tommeh @pimeko @artalasky @zungryware @porcupine-sashimi @baluj @braulio-jg @artificer @gamesplusjames @jvdwijk @rhewid @liquid @split82 @naru
Also, I have a question: are the passengers and insects in the game generated randomly? It seems I encounter some NPCs with repeated dialogues and duplicate insects. After going through the entire train, there are still two insects I haven’t collected in my guide, and even after repeating the journey twice, I still couldn’t find these two insects.
@azahara you know what this means? It means I have to add some type of hugging mechanic into the full game! Thank you for playing.
@aleksey-salion Haha, thanks, not even I know where, but... maybe someone does? Perhaps I'll include it in the full game.
@happysealgames Fair enough, there really wasn't much to the gameplay so that's completely understandable. I'm glad you liked what was there!
@rise12600 Yeah, I know the gameplay took a backseat (which probably isn't the right move), but I was for some reason really concerned with the overall atmosphere. I ran out of time and ended up having to cut a ton. Thank you for the kind words!
@pancu I for sure spent a bit of time trying to get the eyes right, and a ton of time on the pixel art, so thanks for noticing both!
@flokami Cute and chill was what I was going for! Thanks for playing.
@crygos This is a great compliment, thank you!
@skylone Haha, not what I would've considered an influence but now that you say it I can kind of see it! Thank you for playing!
@rynti Congrats on finding all the stamps. Maybe you'll get a chance to play the full version whenever I can release it. I'm planning on more trains, and longer trains. The way I designed this jam project I had to make decisions to limit the length both for time and I didn't want to negatively impact performance. Thanks for the kind words!
@bwalter Thank you, probably the two elements I worked hardest on!
@timelost Wow, thank you for all the kind words! The actual game of collecting stuff came together in the last hour (not a solid plan I know), or I would've spent more time play testing that element and endeavored to ensure you wouldn't have had to try again. Full version should have lots more collecting as well as other cut mechanics and just be more playable overall.
@tommeh This feels like incredible praise, thank you. I've spent years trying to foster my pixel art skills so this means a lot to me. Glad you enjoyed it!
@pimeko Fear not for you, my friend, are no gumblehead. Thanks for playing, and yeah due to the hurried RNG there are sometimes just overly difficult bugs to find.
@artalasky I'm sorry you never found them, but they're happy you tried. Thank you for the kind words!
@zungryware Thanks for taking the time to check out my weird little project, even if maybe it wasn't something you'd otherwise engage with. Doubly apricate you going through the whole train and providing your thoughts along the way, invaluable stuff that. I've worked in the games industry for quite a few years by now so I mostly use jams to mess around with more aesthetic or bizarre ideas and frequently end up with messy little 'games like this more often than not. Laughed at the stream of consciousness comment, that's pretty much how all the text came about. Thanks again!
@baluj Big regret of mine to not either include a simple restart with collection carryover, or to just spend few more seconds ensuring the collection could be complete in one run. Thanks for the feedback!
@artificer Thank you, I did spend a fair bit of time on needless detail so it's nice to hear at least that paid off haha! I do think the dialog not always making sense was supposed to be part of the charm, or as if you were hearing only part of a conversation, but I'm not so sure it worked out in the end... I'll take that into consideration. Thanks so much for playing!
@gamesplusjames I'm fully in on making a full game out of the idea, starting work as soon as my body heals up. Thanks for the inspiration and feedback!
@jvdwijk it warms my heart to hear it was not cringus, and sadly yes the bug placement is fully RNG based (and lazy RNG at that) so it's very possible to miss one or even many bugs in a single run. No such thing will be in the full game! Thanks for playing and for the kind words.
@rhewid Sorry you missed two of the bugs, not your fault though, as it was just RNG. Thanks for checking it out and taking the time to comment!
@liquid hey glad you enjoyed what's there already and if you'd like to see the vision though consider following me on Itch, I'm going to kick off a devlog very soon. Either way, thanks for the kind words!
@split82 thank you, yeah I really wanted to get the pixel vibe right.
@naru all the bug placement is RNG based, so sometimes one or a few just won't spawn. Let's just chalk that up to bad design haha. Thanks for playing!
@umc049 hard to say, though I did intend for it to feel like one sided conversation, so maybe I pulled it off? Knowing I wasn't going to pull a full audio bus or separate channels or even have time for settings, I opted for one song (which I'm pretty proud of) and just a few simple effects, so thank you for say so. As for your question: nothing is randomly generated, but both the passengers and bugs are randomly placed from a pool of options. All of the passengers have *around* 6 lines, and as for duplicate insects, my RNG was about as lazy as one could get and I regret not spending a few more seconds before submission fixing it. In spite of your incomplete experience, thank you for your question and feedback!
@nomus as I've mentioned to others, you fell prey to poor RNG, and for that, I am sorry! Hopefully you'll check out the full version should I finish it and be able to collect all the bugs!
@jasminej2003 Thank you, it was a good portion of the time!
@willoxs I have tons of motivation thanks in no small part to comments like yours. I'm hoping to pick up all the stuff from the cutting room floor and even further expand the idea into a full game project. I hope you'll see it and play it some day. Thanks for all the kind words!
@sceef And I would like you to play a the complete project when it comes out. I'm considering trying to contact everyone who commented anything like an interest in a full version and give them a steam key when I release it. Thank you for playing!
@keith-wang Really appreciate you saying so, I really wanted at least that little bit to shine through.
It's a pleasure coming back to your graphic style. I liked a lot the sillyness of the characters and the audio. Seeing on the itch.io page that it sometimes didn't loop, I reloaded the game just to hear it more ; no regrets !
I couldn't find the interdimensional worm.
Hope your arm and hands get better soon !
i didnt find "ant" and "octor" but i catched all the other.
And i didnt manage to talk to the train driver (but i understand he need to focus on his job)
Edit: The parallaxing reacts to the player walking up and down the train carts, that is a neat detail!
@lookslikesomething I actually have rather large plans for this one. They came to me late at night while thinking about all the feedback I've gotten so hopefully you'll be able to play the full game at some point and see if you enjoy it. Thanks for the kind words!
@6knowledge I fully understand! Hilariously, this is actually what my own dad said to me (not my cup of tea), so I get it. Still thanks for taking the time to check it out and I'm glad you enjoyed what was there despite that.
@dgo I appreciate it, I've worked for years to develop this weirdo pixel art style!
@littlegamer Hey buddy, I'm still actually tryng to heal... have to go back to the doctor tomorrow morning, oh well. Thanks for stopping by, I'll reach out to you on discord once my body is a little more functional!
@roroto-sic Ahh, there is no secret, he's just busy! Haha, I'm glad you caught on to that, I was worried no one would get it. Thanks for playing!
@purrseus I hope your heart will survive! I'm sure all the bugs are thankful you wandered around, and I am thankful you got some enjoyment out of it.
@loiclegrosfrere Thanks, I considered both a pixel locked version and smooth version, so I'm glad I chose right!
@geckoo1337 Right!? I was surprised at how expressive just a few pixels of eyes and mouth could be, but I'm planning on animating a lot more in the full version. There will be LOTS to see there, if I can pull it off. Thank you!
@wouter52 This really means a lot to me, I was very worried no one would enjoy it since I really made more of an experience, and less of a game in the conventional sense. I do wish I'd had some more in there even for the jam, but it was my guess that most people would walk the length of the train once and get bored. I have big plans for the full version so staleness shouldn't be an issue there. Thanks for playing!
I managed to find all the bugs apart from Tallie and Shroom.
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I like how you've managed to build a quirky little world here. The moving train with scrolling scenery and carts full of passengers is a clever way to set the mood.
The little details such as the reactive googly eyes is also a nice touch.
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It's fun to imagine the possibility of different bugs having some sort of "skills" or functionality you could somehow interact with and/or utilize.
If you're planning to expand this, perhaps you could also include some passengers whose dialogue would "make a little more sense" and maybe drop a bit of lore. Maybe they could provide a bit of background to questions such as:
- Where is the train headed exactly?
- When will they arrive?
- What happens if you don't have a ticket?
But yeah, I enjoyed the experience and it fed my imagination.
Keep on jamming!
@mooyett Thank you for the kind words, I want even more life in them for the full version and I've got tons of ideas for how I'll pull that off.
@grid96 Yeah, sorry, this prototype just uses very simple (and frankly pretty lazy) RNG for bug placement so it's possible to miss one or many of the bugs through no fault of the player. I hope maybe you'll get to play the full version some day and find everything I can offer there. Thanks for checking it out!
@jabzey I appreciate the feedback: I'm working as hard as I can at the moment on the full version, it's far more in line with what I wanted to do for the jam. A big ole place to explore (not just a train), and lots to see and do while retaining the cozy and relaxed overall exploratory vibe.
@gowie Thanks, I really was very happy with how weird I made the one song I put in there so it's nice to have it called out haha
@dis0rder As I've mentioned a few times I do have a massive set of ideas for the full version that include many methods of travel, locations to travel to and from, far more bugs, little stores, and other things - but none of it will be demanding or stressful. The dialog such as it was was a last minute add and there will be far more interest and reactive dialog in the full version as well as even a bit of simulation under the hood. I'll have to think about this skills idea because it's pretty interesting to give the bugs a bit more function beyond just being photographed / stamped. Thanks for all the feedback, if you're interested in following along, feel free to join me on itch where I'll be posting a devlog (first one should be today!) Either way, thanks for checking it out!