Chaos Theory: The Butterfly Effect by SuperPokeunicorn

[raw]
made by SuperPokeunicorn for LD30 (COMPO)
Hello Guys!
This is my fourth time participating in Ludum Dare!

This game is all about decision making. Any decision you make in one level will effect the next. You play as four characters from 1890 to 1990 and see how their lives (or WORLDS (theme alert)) are connected.

Controls:
WASD: move/climb ladder
E: special action/continue
Space: jump

SPOILER ALERT:
It turns out that a lot of people couldn't find many of the choices and felt that not enough changed in the last level. If you think you may have missed some choices, here is a quick list:

First Level: Save the baby, die in the sewer, invest in the entrepreneur.

Second Level: Fix the pipe, fix the gears, die, make it back to your girlfriend within 30 seconds.

Third Level: Free Brandon (only if he didn't fix the pipe and did not die), arrest the stoner (only if Brandon made it back to his girlfriend on time), arrest the accomplice (only if Balthasar saved the baby), free the prisoner.

Here's what can be different in the last level: The stoner is in the closet if Brandon made it back to is girlfriend in time and Sonya didn't arrest him, the printer is broken if Brandon did not fix the gears, Brandon is there to fix the printer if he did not fix the gears, did not die, and either fixed the pipe or was let out of jail, the stairwell is replaced by ladders if Balthasar invested in the entrepreneur (this is true for levels 2 and 3 as well), your boss is there if Sonya freed him from prison or failed to arrest his accomplice (who is only there if you saved the baby), Sonya is there to investigate missing money only if she failed to arrest the accomplice, and the company is named Intercorp instead of Balthcorp if Balthasar died in the first level.

Known bugs:
Sometime collision messes up and you get teleported at random to the next level. If this happens either continue or restart, your call.
There seems to be an occasional graphical slowdown. Not sure why this happens. I'll try to fix it in a post-compo version. Though it's an eyesore, it really doesn't effect gameplay (you may not even notice it).

Tools:
Eclipse
Paint.Net
http://www.fakemusicgenerator.com/
http://codeminion.com/blogs/maciek/2008/05/cgmusic-computers-create-music/

Libraries:
Personal library: https://www.dropbox.com/s/q9z8si1bs978yrm/Personal%20Libraries.zip?dl=0
jl, mp3sqi, tritonus_share

Ratings

Coolness 71% 3
Overall 3.13 638
Audio 3.17 297
Fun 2.71 840
Graphics 3.19 484
Humor 2.91 238
Innovation 3.18 538
Mood 2.81 707
Theme 3.19 609

Feedback

HeuGamer
25. Aug 2014 · 05:02 UTC
It was okay. I didn't quite get what changed depending on some of my actions... Will need to play it a few more times.
Jupitron
25. Aug 2014 · 05:16 UTC
Amazing chiptune music! Nice art!
polarkac
25. Aug 2014 · 07:45 UTC
Nice idea, but its quite boring. Music is better than actual in my opinion.
coffeemuggames
25. Aug 2014 · 14:12 UTC
The low-res pixel graphics really do it for me and the music is great!
But the game mechanics and the actual result of playing is a bit boring ;)
elkiwydev
25. Aug 2014 · 14:15 UTC
I like the graphics and the sounds but I don't feel like the gameplay design is that great.. Is not that engaging
Drew Van Camp
25. Aug 2014 · 15:40 UTC
Wow, that's pretty interesting! I actually played through twice to see how things would be different. What's most interesting to me is that not only does the game change based on your decisions, but you as a player also change based on what you know from earlier portions in the game. Very cool! Fun visuals, BTW!
Belvar
25. Aug 2014 · 15:59 UTC
Interesting concept and beautiful pixel art. The music is nice too.
aGoodPointPoorlyMade
25. Aug 2014 · 19:41 UTC
A cute and oddly engaging story/platformer about the unintended consequences of our actions. What does it all mean? Also, more games should have this much harpsichord.
lkr
25. Aug 2014 · 23:39 UTC
Fun concept, with nice pixel art and music :)

The first playthrough felt a bit weird, in that I could go to the end of each level without doing anything with my character, but subsequent playthroughs were quite interesting.
Charlie
26. Aug 2014 · 14:27 UTC
I love the pixel art and music. BTW, it works on Linux!
AtomicVikings
26. Aug 2014 · 15:41 UTC
awesome game. played it many times! the office space reference was brilliant :D
alvarop
27. Aug 2014 · 01:34 UTC
I tried it twice and noticed small changes. However, I hoped for a big change at the end but there wasn't any?
JaJ
27. Aug 2014 · 11:53 UTC
I played through it 4 times and did things differently each time, but the final level was always the same, except for the mechanic being there or not being there. I thought the concept was really interesting but I expected more of the final part.
🎤 SuperPokeunicorn
27. Aug 2014 · 16:40 UTC
@JaJ if the only thing that changed was the mechanic, then you missed a vast majority of the choices. There are seven things that are different in the final level depending on what choices you make. Here's a list of all the choices you can make: First Level: Save the baby, die in the sewer, invest in the entrepreneur. Second Level: Fix the pipe, fix the gears, die, make it back to your girlfriend within 30 seconds. Third Level: Free Brandon (only if he didn't fix the pipe and did not die), arrest the stoner (only if Brandon made it back to his girlfriend on time), arrest the accomplice (only if Balthasar saved the baby), free the prisoner. Here's what can be different in the last level: The stoner is in the closet if Brandon made it back to is girlfriend in time and Sonya didn't arrest him, the printer is broken if Brandon did not fix the gears, Brandon is there to fix the printer if he did not fix the gears, did not die, and either fixed the pipe or was let out of jail, the stairwell is replaced by ladders if Balthasar invested in the entrepreneur (this is true for levels 2 and 3 as well), your boss is there if Sonya freed him from prison or failed to arrest his accomplice (who is only there if you saved the baby), Sonya is there to investigate missing money only if she failed to arrest the accomplice, and the company is named Intercorp instead of Balthcorp if Balthasar died in the first level. I hope this helped and might make you take a second look at my game. Also, don't forget that you can do your special action with E.
JaJ
27. Aug 2014 · 18:59 UTC
Here's a list of things I actually did before you pointed out what you could do:
1. I saved the baby, I drowned, I invested, I didn't invest
2. I fixed the pipe, I didn't fix the pipe, I fixed the gears, I didn't fix the gears. My mechanic died. He was in time for his girlfriend once and he wasn't in time for his girlfriend the other times.
3. I freed brandon. I never arrested the stoner which is the only choice I truly missed. I arrested the accomplice, I freed the prisoner below, and I also didn't free him.

As you can see I played the game plenty of times and I only missed one choice. I did see the boss, and the ladders, the changed name was there but that's such a minor thing I didn't notice. None of these things are very exciting for a final level.

I actually played through the game 4 times. None of the changes affect the office worker in a signifficant way I'd say, which is what I meant with "the final level is always the same"

I actually gave your game great marks in most categories, which may not show in the previous comment but I did play your game thoroughly, and I did like it enough to give it 4 stars overall.
🎤 SuperPokeunicorn
27. Aug 2014 · 20:02 UTC
Thank you for clarifying. I was under the impression that you only made choices that effected the mechanic and missed everything else. Sorry if I over reacted.
Partially Exciting
28. Aug 2014 · 00:35 UTC
I really like this concept. Some of the effects were a bit subtle. Excellent graphics and music and humor.
rd127p77
28. Aug 2014 · 00:40 UTC
Wow, very impressed with this game, love the audio and game-play. The art is great too.
uberscientist
28. Aug 2014 · 04:53 UTC
Awesome idea! I really liked the movie "Mr. Nobody" you'd probably like it too if you make games like this :)
Patacorow
14. Sep 2014 · 20:24 UTC
The depth of this game is rather impressive :P