itch.io

I think your emulated website integration was an amazing idea. Definitely one of the top games for promoting the restaurant in my opinion.

I love the emphasis you put on the world of your games. This year was amazing, I love the rotation and the layers a whole bunch. Simply walking around and seeing all the details and meeting all the characters is enthralling on its own.

It's a bop, for sure. I really like Primeval Mask's theme.
I lost more time that I'd have liked just listening to those songs on repeat instead of working.

For clarity about the different versions (of the digital version)

At the time of the deadline, the game was really unstable, so I hid everything I could find that would crash the game and uploaded the parts that  did work.
That version ended up being very limited, and you can still crash it pretty easily. Which is unfortunate.

After the deadline, we've been working to fix all the bugs and reintroduce the content that I had to cut. We've also polished and modified things to make the game the best possible version.
And that goes a bit beyond just fixing bugs, which is maybe unfair in the spirit of the competition part of the jam.

So we've kept that original, limited, version available as the Deadline Version for people who want to judge the digital version based on what was actually ready and uploaded when judging opened.

But if you instead wish to play a fun video game that matches ZOQL's board game version, and the vision we all spent a month working towards, please give the Current Beta Version, and eventually the Stream Version, a try.
It is, by far, the better version of the game.

Wow, the jam's only just started and you've already created such a cute player model. That's looking really nice.

In regards to your comment about your game needing combat so you can fight Dark Schippie Dues, I don't personally believe you necessarily have to interpret that rule as a requirement for combat.
So that everyone is free to make the style of game they want to, I think it would be better if we saw it as a boss challenge rather than focusing so literally on the word "fight". I think there were a few games like that last year, though I'm not 100% certain on which ones anymore.

If you're wanting to make a game without combat, I actually think that's very admirable. There are a couple of ways I think you could compete with Dark Schippie Dues that aren't literal combat.

If you're doing a lot of platforming in your game, then you could race them through some sort of obstacle course/stage.
Otherwise, maybe something in the vein of hide and seek or tag from Pokepark would be cool.
It might be more complicated, but a having a competition like the eating competition against Mr. Vile in Banjo-Kazooie or the Crystal Popcorn game against Hunter in Spyro 2 would feel a lot like a direct boss challenge to me. Something were you could hurt Dues' score by getting something they were going for without necessarily having to physically hurt them.

Though, all of that said, ultimately you're at the mercy of a lot of different judges and your game's rating depends on their interpretation of your interpretation of what the phrasing "optional boss fight" means. So sometimes it's safer to go with the most obvious thing.

Good luck with the jam! I'm looking forward to the final product whatever direction you take it in.

Whoops. I've uploaded a new version with some fixes.
-Bucks should be removed properly now.
-Jessa should notice the starter is gone now.
-Extra problem with Eggbert not getting 9 strength should be fixed.
-Achievements added.
The only achievement I'm not sure on is if [I Have Nothing Left To Teach You] requires the cards to all be in your binder or if it's fine to just empty Dues' deck.

I added the intro text, made the instructions a bit more clear and added the card gallery.

Nice work on everything! I hope people enjoy your game.

I'm just uploading a new digital version. I turned down the volume on those button sound effects and added in the tearing sound effect on the unfriend notification. Great call on that, it really adds an extra impact to losing a friend.

I finally figured out the issue you were having with unfriending. The code to randomly select someone assumed that Jessa was still there, so if she had already left, you'd always keep one extra if they weren't gone before then.
I've just managed to fix that, so hopefully that's the majority of the rules bug free in the digital version now.

Edit: Oh, and the token graphics for smug Mindy, sad Jessa should show when the other 3 are gone now.

I think I've included all of these now. I uploaded it to directly itch.io instead of mega this time, but I can still change it if there are still problems.
Let me know if you meant something else for any of them.
And also let me know if the sound effects are too cheesy.

Here's a fresh build of the digital version ahead of uploading. I've done a lot with the graphics and I think fixed up all the rule mistakes.
https://mega.nz/file/shFxiQjA#ns5ThLPAFnUsmfUrLMdVJl6KAFj1516igoekgJ0slXA
I made the other screens look closer to those last designs you made by adding the band of colour. Some still have my janky layouts, but I think there's a consistent aesthetic emerging. I've got to say, with your new title screen, the digital version looks really good.
 I've added in more information about  how the final score was calculated and a new screen that follows it with the appropriate rank and ending from the rulebook.

I think at this stage, I think it's probably safe enough to upload. Unless you find something glaringly wrong.
For the last day, I'd like to add some sound effects as a final touch of polish and then I'll upload it the itch.io page as long as you're happy with it.

Edit: I didn't get around to adding in the animated text messages, sorry. I may still attempt, but I don't know if I can do it properly with the time left.

Looks like that one worked.

Sweet as. I've grabbed the key and linked up if you want to remove it to avoid others doing the same.
Edit: I'm not sure it lets me do any editing/uploading though.

That's awesome!

For the events, if you have all the parts as individual elements then I could probably whip up a quick animation for the texts.

Here's a newer build with some issues fixed and some new graphics for the first few screens.

https://mega.nz/file/V8UXzQYS#LIeS-vb-51SIXcPaU817NGKeaVPpr2ct-Efm1OzZ3YA
I'm still working on the alignment for the kid inventories, but let me know if the stuff that's closer to the design images are incorrect.
Those two screens are the most complicated, so hopefully I'll be faster on the future ones.

Some bugfixes
- Jessa should be able to go anywhere with Bossy Bestie now.
- Jessa should unfriend properly if you lose your starter.
- The unfriending of the others should work as expected now.
- Score should be added up accurately (you were only getting 1 point per card instead of the card's strength).

Plus
- All card art added.
- Event cards added.
- New fonts.

As far as I can see, Mindy can still trade at the playground. The only two scenarios where it won't happen are:
- Automatically if she doesn't have the strength + bucks + ego to trade for any of the cards.
- The player presses cancel when she doesn't have enough strength + bucks and they don't want to spend ego.

After seeing the event cards, I wonder if maybe you'd like to do a two stage approach to showing some of them.
Looking at Intense Dodgeball as an example, the texts imply Spliff is at the playground, but it's possible the player didn't send him there on the day that the event is drawn or that he's even unfriended at that point.
I was thinking in the reveal screen that currently exists, instead of showing the entire card, just show the blue part that explains the event. And then before the scene the event affects, if it's effect actually applies, reveal the entire card.

Hey again. Nice work on the art!

Here's what I've got at this stage: https://mega.nz/file/8pkSGbyT#0BmweUVelTKsaBSrBRLKscANB0gYtcTGvb-SnO4gz0I

I think almost every rule is implemented now. There's just one I only just picked up on about Jessa having to steal her 2 cards at the same time and a couple I need clarification on.
    -Can Jessa sequence break with Bossy Bestie?
        -Could she move from playground back to the lemonade stand?
        -Or must she do another action at the playground or alley?
    -Does Sour Broccoli (Lemon Slime) remove 5 ego before or after you've received ego from your strongest card?

It doesn't have the updated art. I think something went wrong with the link you posted as it only points to one image instead of a whole folder.

To help with debugging, I've added a cheat mode that lets you choose everything that happens instead of having it be random. This should let you simulate any scenario as well as run a perfect game.
-You can reset at any time with F5
-And toggle cheatmode on/off mid-game with F12

The current screens I have in the game are
-Title screen
-Starter card reveal screen
-Screen to pick kids actions for the day
-(window) popup to show binder, playground, Ego and Bucks from the planning screen
-Screen to give kids the items they need for the day
-Screen to reveal the days event.
-Screen to show a new location has started
-Screen to show the lemonade stand in action
-Screen to show the store in action
-Screen to show the top two cards of the store deck
-Screen to crack open the booster packs
-Screen to replace a binder card with a booster card
-Screen to select who trades next
-Screen to show the playground in action
-Screen for when a kid is unable to trade their cards
-Screen to remind the card Mindy brought to the alley, plus total strength
-Screen to show the card DSD will duel with
-Screen to show the battle results
-Screen to add pocket cards to binder
-Screen to show the day is over
-Screen for endings
-Screen to show change in ego
-(window)Screen to show a friend leaving

You can find them all in the game, but with the minimal amount of info needed.
If you run through a few games and think about what you'd like to know about the state of the board on each screen, you're on, that's probably the best way to figure out what information you'd like to show.

Some things I've been thinking of are
-Lemonade stand screen shows how many Bucks are left in the buck pile so players know there are only 50 total
-A way to show which kids were affected by an event reveal. I have a system in place for basic animations (like the bucks flying on the screen in the lemonade stand scene) that I thought we could use something like that to show who's been affected.
-At the end of the day maybe have a summary of changes that have happened. Gained/lost Bucks/Ego, how many cards left the binder, how many were added, who left. Things like that.

Yeah, the dueling system isn't done very well right now. It definitely needs some more work.

It's weird about Jessa, sorting out that final event was the very last thing I worked on before uploading it. So I may have broken it right at the end.

As for rule clarifications, the things I have written down are

1. Is how the playground works in the software version right now correct? Where kids can trade what they brought for any number of cards so long as the strength total of the new cards never exceeds the strength total of the cards + Bucks they came with?

2. Once a card is in the pocket area, is that locked in? Say spiff got cards from the playground, but then you gained ego during the duel phase and he left. Do you get to keep that card or return it to the playground?

3. The thing I'm most confused about is betting ego.

My assumption is that you would keep it if you win/tie, but lose it if you lose. But then I'm not sure how the effects change things up.

Say I've gone to the alley. I have 20 ego total and have bet 10 on the duel.

My assumptions are:

Carl card is pulled, "After this duel, lose 15 Ego.
    If I win/tie: Keep the 10 ego bet and then lose 15. Final ego: 5.
    If I lose: I lose the 10 ego I bet, plus a further 15 ego. Final ego: 0.

Lumby But Giga card is pulled, "Lose 1 Buck for each Ego you bet. If you cannot pay the full amount, you cannot gain this card."
    If I win/tie: Keep the 10 ego I bet. Final ego: 20
    If I lose: Lose the 10 ego I bet. Final ego: 10    

Both Of Griswald's Knees card is pulled, "Lose the Ego you bet, then reduce the amount of bet Ego by half."
    If I win/tie: Lose bet ego no matter what. Final ego: 10.
    If I lose: Lose bet ego no matter what. Final ego: 10.

Baby Filkiss card is pulled, "Immediately gain the amount of Ego you bet."
    If I win/tie: I keep the 10 ego I bet, and then get another 15 from the effect. Final Ego 35.
    If I lose: I lose the 10 ego I bet, but gain 15. Final Ego: 25.    

Dirk Canyon, Esquire card is pulled, "If you win this duel without betting Ego, gain 10 Ego. Otherwise, lose the Ego you bet."
    If I win/tie: Ego was bet, so lose it. Final ego: 10
    If I lose: Lose the 10 ego I bet. Final ego: 10

Dog Bower's Dad card is pulled, "Reduce the amount of Ego bet by 10. If you tie or lose this duel, lose the card you dueled with."
    If I win/tie: Bet ego is reduced to 0, the 10 remains in my total ego. Final ego: 20
    If I lose: Bet ego is reduced to 0, the 10 remains in my total ego. No ego to lose. Final ego: 2

Well, I'll let you focus on getting the board game version where you want that and then if there are a few days left maybe we can hash something out.

I don't think it would take an excessive amount of work to turn what's already here into a proper version. I've got most of the functionality in place already, even if some of it is not hooked up yet.

Besides clarifying some of the rules, the big thing I think it needs is some more informative screens to guide the player through what's happening and some more information on the screens that do exist. Right now, you still need to know the board game rules to know what you're supposed to be doing on each screen and it's hard to keep track of the bucks and ego you're gaining/losing.

I don't think there will be too much extra art. All of the character and card art can come straight from the board game, so it's really just backgrounds and layout design that needs to be done. I think if we had one nice background, maybe with the Scrappet Kaiser logo on a coloured background, we could draw the game elements over the top of that for most screens and it would still look nice.

If you wanted to do some screen design, the resolution I'm working in is 1280x720. So every screen is that size, with the possibility of opening smaller windows on top. You could draw it as an image in any drawing software and I could easily add that into the application.

Hi,  I really like your game. I was wondering if you'd like to team up and make a digital version that automates a lot of the rules. That way even people without the time to invest in learning all the rules can still have a go at your game.

I've slapped together a quick prototype using some art from one of the versions you shared.
https://mega.nz/file/lw1AHThQ#kJUuMLn7SERyUDdxenlEN9tUuyxxw7IpDZmcwnNc7dM
It's rough around the edges and some rules are missing, especially Mindy's ego abilities, but I think it gets the idea across.

No worries if you're not interested and want to keep it strictly as a card game. A lot of this was me doing an experiment in making user interfaces.
Sorry if I've overstepped by doing this with your game.

-MeBID