Insert Token(s) to Continue by Sestren

[raw]
made by Sestren for LD27 (COMPO)
A lot of people have fond memories of playing at their favorite arcade as a kid. However, there was one "mini-game" that every arcade offered that was always the most challenging: exchanging your dollar bills for tokens and returning to your game before the continue timer expired.

You play as a kid at an old-school arcade, and your only goal is to beat your three favorite games and then head out for ice cream. But, you could never beat any of them without running out of quarters, and your mom won't let you get more tokens unless you actually need them. Therefore, it's up to you to hoof it as fast as you can between the token machine and your game if you're going to continue and eventually win.

Controls: WASD to look left and right, and move forward and backward. Q and E to strafe left and right, J switches to another bill in your pocket. K flips the bill over to the other side. SHIFT lets you run faster.

Thoughts: I feel I definitely bit off more than I could chew here. Everything is very rough around the edges, and only a very small portion of the functionality, imagery and sound that I had planned for got implemented. I'm particularly disappointed that I didn't get any sound added in. I had planned all sorts of little sound effects, but I left myself too little time to make them, and what I tried to come up with sounded terrible and wasn't worth including. Despite these drawbacks, I hope you still enjoy my entry. Thanks for playing!

Hint: If you get stuck after beating the first machine, don't forget that there's another, larger room of the arcade off to the right of the token machine. You'll beat the final two games in there.

Post-Compo Version: I'll be updating this regularly over the next few days and after the competition, as well, until I'm satisfied with it. I may even eventually add sound!

Ratings

Coolness 100% 1
Overall 2.94 688
Audio 1.23 984
Fun 2.60 830
Graphics 3.38 272
Humor 3.02 203
Innovation 3.23 369
Mood 2.68 593
Theme 3.49 256

Feedback

Simulacrum
26. Aug 2013 · 02:19 UTC
I really like what you did with the theme, clever idea. The game looks very nice, everything is simple and clear. I dig the outlines on the hand.
plancien
26. Aug 2013 · 02:22 UTC
Funny concept, I've been there, asking my parents for coins to play Pac Man !
Graphics are retro.
But game is too hard (for me).
megashroom
26. Aug 2013 · 02:58 UTC
Though I didn't grow up playing arcade games, I found this game to induce nostalgia. It was fun, and captured the theme well.
Running from machine to machine was pretty difficult too.
Feysoura
26. Aug 2013 · 23:19 UTC
got a hundred and one bugs, couldn't play it!
fdevant
26. Aug 2013 · 23:20 UTC
Hehehe Nice.
Hitonagashi
26. Aug 2013 · 23:21 UTC
It was a bit tricky at times, I got locked once or twice with the "K" to flip it on the screen.

Theme however is a great idea, and I liked the retro look of the graphics.
Geroro
26. Aug 2013 · 23:23 UTC
really clever and fun, I didn't read the description when I first started and once I figured out what I had to do I had a good chuckle, it brings me right back to the arcade, great job! :D
Entity2D
26. Aug 2013 · 23:28 UTC
Very interesting game concept. It could've been better with some more polish, though.
BradleySmith
26. Aug 2013 · 23:30 UTC
Interesting take on the theme, love the cell shaded feel of the game. Rated highly. :)
porglezomp
26. Aug 2013 · 23:32 UTC
If you ever add anything to this, I recommend the end screen asking you to "Insert Coins to Continue"
dkilford
27. Aug 2013 · 12:31 UTC
I couldn't really get this to work. The gameplay is very confusing and it's unclear as to what I'm supposed to do after I run out of coins, as flipping the money doesn't seem to do anything.
dudsen
27. Aug 2013 · 19:12 UTC
these damn arcade machines! take my moneeeeey! game a bit confusing though ...
Dry Tree
27. Aug 2013 · 21:38 UTC
Great idea, and nice graphics too. Must admit I found it quite difficult
DesignerNap
28. Aug 2013 · 18:02 UTC
Really love the concept of this game. Wondered what was going on to begin with then twigged it and went 'oh no!' *runs for more tokens* Great job :)
futuristteletex
29. Aug 2013 · 05:09 UTC
silly! liked it! haha..
blackotus
29. Aug 2013 · 05:31 UTC
I love the take on the theme! It's very unique!

It would be nice if you could start the game with the keyboard, since the game doesn't use the mouse.

Nice work!
Orni
29. Aug 2013 · 20:36 UTC
great concept and use of the theme
solid game, well done :)
Mironix
30. Aug 2013 · 17:45 UTC
felt like duke nukem at "the ladies".
timtipgames
31. Aug 2013 · 13:31 UTC
I love the idea and graphics, but the controls made it hard do proceed very far for me :)
d__adee
31. Aug 2013 · 14:42 UTC
For some reason, I can only make it to 2 rounds (every time I play), the 3rd time doesn't accept my money. haha!

The machine is hard to operate, it feels like I always need to face the coin slot and keep pressing K to make it work (but most of the time, does not).
:P
🎤 Sestren
31. Aug 2013 · 15:20 UTC
I didn't have time to properly allow for all the token machines to work at once, so for anyone that's playing and feels stuck after the second round, at that point you have to move to the other room and use the machine there. I apologize for the terrible interface here. If I make a Post-Compo version, that will definitely get fixed.
The Evil Cult
01. Sep 2013 · 01:03 UTC
Nice, charming take on the theme :) I found the game to be incredibly hard, but I think I am just too used to mouselook. Not a bad effort for the 48 hours overall, but can see where more time would have really helped you.
Jellycakes
01. Sep 2013 · 16:08 UTC
Really nicely done. I like how the concept of the arcade games coincides with the retro art style. Really stresses you out too, but in a GOOD way. Well done nice game.
crashbanito
02. Sep 2013 · 14:58 UTC
A really interesting entry that would be perfect with some sound. A bunch of beeps and boops would really complete the arcade atmosphere. Either way, good hectic fun.
Will Edwards
03. Sep 2013 · 10:36 UTC
Very nice 3D in flash; is that from scratch or is there a framework?
vikingpotato
03. Sep 2013 · 16:36 UTC
I know that feel bro! The game reminded me of similar happenings when i played on arcades :) loved it.. although in reality it was much easier to do this
Jupiter_Hadley
05. Sep 2013 · 02:12 UTC
This was basically my childhood. Loved it. I featured it in my LD27 compilation video series, if you'd like to check it out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WX5erHA1DPE
everblind
05. Sep 2013 · 06:01 UTC
nice!
ShellfishGames
07. Sep 2013 · 09:10 UTC
Cool idea and very nice graphics.
danhett
07. Sep 2013 · 15:17 UTC
Love the visuals, really cool!
Pitzik4
07. Sep 2013 · 23:33 UTC
Whoa... A raycaster in Flixel? That is super awesome. The game is original and challenging, too. Great work overall, my only complaint is the refreshing to restart. Did you use static variables a lot or something?
🎤 Sestren
08. Sep 2013 · 02:12 UTC
Actually, I don't think I used that many. But I was pressed for time and my restart code still had a game-breaking bug in it, so I scrapped wasting time trying to fix it and just put in the refresh screen message as an ugly workaround.
RARoadkill
10. Sep 2013 · 01:18 UTC
Love the game, fun concept. Miss the days of tokens. Controls were a bit awkward at times
X-0r
10. Sep 2013 · 08:02 UTC
Oh man, I didn't realize back then, how quickly you actually spent these tokens, and how much money was converted to these^^

I never really lost a game due to the continue thing up to now, but I extremely can remember the struggle to wait for a cool game to be *not* occupied =)

For all those, who didn't beat the game so far: try pressing <Shift> while running and insert the coin to the right, pick up the token on the left of the dispenser. I was technically banging the head (and fists) against the machine, without realizing the token needed to be picked up first :D
infernet89
14. Sep 2013 · 22:21 UTC
Woha, 3d? With Flash? In 48 hour? Well done!
Also, i really liked the underling idea of this game, very original! I felt a little uncomfortable with controls to change/flip money, so it was a little hard to me.
DWallin
15. Sep 2013 · 02:49 UTC
A cool idea. it could have used a bit more of a ramp up period to give players time to become comfortable with the controls and mechanics. Also having to repeat the same actions every time you restart made replayability take a big hit.
Capro
15. Sep 2013 · 09:10 UTC
Weird interesting game. I like it. :)
imef
15. Sep 2013 · 09:26 UTC
Nice concept! Feels quite nostalgic.