Tiny World: The Musical: The Game by pdyxs
Tiny World: The Musical: The Game is an attempt by myself (Paul Sztajer) and Angus O'Sullivan, with the help of the talented Emma Lindley and Gideon M.K. (I'll get his last name right once I've slept) to put together a game that evokes the feel of a musical within a 72 hour timespan.
Specifically, we felt that it wasn't enough to directly involve lyrics in the gameplay: we wanted to tell the kind of stories that are told in musicals, with the same sort of tunes.
While a little rough around the edges (the time constraints were a big factor in this) we actually did it! We really didn't get a huge amount of chances to playtest this thing, so we'd love any and all feedback you can send our way. We're both really excited to look into doing more projects like this, so any thoughts or suggestions would be much appreciated.
More info on how we put this all together will be coming by once sleep has been had.
Note that the post-comp version only added a small explanation on controls.
Specifically, we felt that it wasn't enough to directly involve lyrics in the gameplay: we wanted to tell the kind of stories that are told in musicals, with the same sort of tunes.
While a little rough around the edges (the time constraints were a big factor in this) we actually did it! We really didn't get a huge amount of chances to playtest this thing, so we'd love any and all feedback you can send our way. We're both really excited to look into doing more projects like this, so any thoughts or suggestions would be much appreciated.
More info on how we put this all together will be coming by once sleep has been had.
Note that the post-comp version only added a small explanation on controls.
| Web (post-comp) | http://www.pdyxs.org/tiny |
| Web (original) | http://www.pdyxs.org/tiny/index-72.html |
| Commentary | http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZS6M7FjQAc4 |
| Original URL | https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=2440 |
Ratings
| Coolness | 71% | 3 |
| Overall(Jam) | 3.82 | 25 |
| Audio(Jam) | 4.66 | 2 |
| Fun(Jam) | 3.09 | 76 |
| Graphics(Jam) | 2.84 | 172 |
| Humor(Jam) | 3.81 | 14 |
| Innovation(Jam) | 3.91 | 15 |
| Mood(Jam) | 3.73 | 14 |
| Theme(Jam) | 3.79 | 21 |
@liger13 - that's pretty much the long and the short of it. Specifically, the red things represent external influences to your 'tiny world' that you're trying to avoid (and thus bat away), and the green ones represent influences that are going past that you'd like.
@marudziik - yeah, we simply didnt have time to get the timing right, both from a making sure all the recordings were in time or lining them up perfectly in engine. You'll also notice that a lot of the lines don't run onto each other so smoothly coz we were recording a lot of the chunks seperately.
Also this game NEEDS something to tell you that you use the mouse to change your paddle thingy.
@JaJ, @Jezzamon - yeah, I'm adding that in to go in a new version (which will pretty only add text like that to give a little more guidance) - should be up in the next day
Also @Jezzamon - would you have preferred a keyboard input?
@racarte - The metaphor was admittedly less clear than I'd like. The world actually represents the characters' 'tiny world' - the space they've created for their relationship. The balls represented outside influences: red ones being those that they wanted to keep out, and green ones being ones they wanted. The idea is that the lovers start out by secluding themselves from the world, then as they start learning each others quirks and annoyances, they begin to grasp at outside things to distract them. For the relationship to survive, they have to strike a balance. I was hoping to show this through the visuals, but simply didn't have time. (I'm gonna be recording a commentary for the game soon that'll go through this in more detail)
@Super Soul - Yeah, that would have definitely made the differences between the win and lose states more clear (I'm suddenly having a thought of a musical with a clear hero and villain, and how much air time they get determines who wins!). It would have been hard to pull off with the particular story I was telling, unless the goal was to balance out the voices rather than to have one of them dominate. Another way I was thinking of was to have the music itself change with winning and losing (though that would have been far too much to compose in the time allotted).
Would have LOVED subtitles or a transcript (admittedly harder if segments change), but I picked up enough of the lyrics to enjoy it immensely.
The ambition and technique behind the song almost stands on its own without the gameplay. You could have just given me a slider to play with and I'd be happy listening to it over and over.
@dokidoki, @gritfish - yeah, subtitles would be good. I might get a transcript together (it's a bit complex coz of the various branchings)
Also @gritfish - the green balls were good :D. I'd hoped that being green was enough to communicate that.
@matthais_zarzecki - yeah, those do exist. I did what i could to keep everything making sense, but at some point you just have to allow for (and, to be honest, utilise) the non-sequiturs
Loved it!
It isn't innovative and you cannot lose in this game.
The game was quite polished, i liked the bit where it mixed the good and bad bullets.
The song was awesome and funny.
Trackpad in the dead center of the world gives you lightning fast pinpoint control.