LudumData

Grim & Tonic by Calzep

[raw]
made by Calzep for LD 44 (JAM)

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Our alcoholic friend Tonic is getting drunk one night in a bar and has one too many drinks for his mortal self to handle as is confronted by a strange hooded skeletal figure who approaches him with a tap on the shoulder. He turns half-headedly to face the Grim Reaper himself, standing before him to announce that his time has come. Tonic, the arrogant stubborn bull he is, demands another drink and challenges death to a drink for his life!

Match drinks together to get ahead, match poisons and you will fall behind. You have an hour left (although it may seem like a minute) on the clock before the bar cuts you off. Will you have enough time to OUT DRINK DEATH?!

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-Credits-

Writing - Andrew Brito

Art/Design - Alyssa Cole

Music/Sound - Joshua Zepeda

Programming - Caleb Zepeda

HTML5 (web) https://indgaming.itch.io/grimtonic
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/44/grim-tonic

Ratings

Given 34🗳️ 48🗨️

Feedback

ScalphaMission
30. Apr 2019 · 02:41 UTC
The story text is a lot to get through
Ash Ketchup
30. Apr 2019 · 02:45 UTC
Really liked the graphics and audio, but felt it could relate more to the theme, was a good game otherwise though.
Kaitlin Quick
30. Apr 2019 · 04:43 UTC
I like the graphics and the story is pretty nice. I do agree though that it could tie back into the theme a bit more as I'm not seeing much of a connection. Also, in terms of gameplay, it seems just filling the bar isn't enough, it has to be full when the timer runs out? Unless I saw incorrectly. But it seems like it would be more rewarding if just filling it were enough, especially when the matches can snowball into a loss.

Overall, I enjoy this game though! Making a match game was a clever idea and they're always fun to play. Good job!
Ryan Westby
30. Apr 2019 · 05:30 UTC
Fantastic art! Loved shining gin glasses and the sound effects fit well.
Cenoon
30. Apr 2019 · 05:36 UTC
Enjoyable game, the characters are very nicely drawn.
Bajtix
30. Apr 2019 · 05:42 UTC
A really nice game! The text animation takes too much time, I think.
Evolus
30. Apr 2019 · 05:43 UTC
The graphics and audio fit the game so well.
Kukareru Sekai
30. Apr 2019 · 05:44 UTC
I really enjoyed this title. I like the idea of match-3 but avoiding a certain match, but most times it felt like luck to be able to win. Some games I played I felt like I just couldn't avoid those poison bottles enough to win. The graphics were nice and minimalist. Enjoyed the audio and the story as well. Nice work.
Kultisti
30. Apr 2019 · 06:20 UTC
Always love to see how jamgames can deviler a story and I think you managed to do it pretty well with the intro! Otherwise good job on these graphics and audio, it was fun to play!
Kodiqi
30. Apr 2019 · 06:34 UTC
The presentation here is quite good; the graphics are decent and I think the sound is especially good. I think the story at the start is poorly implemented though. If you're going to have that much text, don't have it load one letter at a time like that. It might have been fun to program but it's not fun to read; thanks for the skip button though :)

I think it misses the mark on the theme because while your timer is your "life" the player has no control over how it's spent. I do like that you've tried to add something to a match-3 mechanic. Having to avoid bad matches is a cool addition, though maybe a little difficult in combination with the timer.
Lisa Bee
30. Apr 2019 · 14:20 UTC
The text was very long and it can make someone want to close the tab real fast. I skipped it, but the gameplay is actually fun! The art, animations and choice of sfx and music is pretty cool. Gameplay made me want to play a few more rounds.
cheesepencil
30. Apr 2019 · 16:18 UTC
Cool jam game! It has an excessive amount of exposition for a bejeweled clone but it definitely creates a mood
maidev
30. Apr 2019 · 16:31 UTC
Enjoyed the aesthetics. Some puzzle pieces seemed a little bit confusing, the music is very cool. I think that there is a little lack of visual effects to represent the matches. But it's a cool game :)
voidfishing
30. Apr 2019 · 17:16 UTC
some of the mechanics in this are really cool, like trying to avoid certain matches - the art style and the audio suit the game really well too! sometimes I found it a little difficult to balance the match-3 part of the game with the timer running out but i like the concept, it's interesting! :)
samorious
30. Apr 2019 · 17:50 UTC
In short, amazing, a very simple format that has been beautifully executed! It's a game, and one with a lovely art style and story.
SnufkinsHat
30. Apr 2019 · 17:56 UTC
The graphics and sound are great, but the intro was way too long. I ended up skipping it after a while, which is a shame. The gameplay was fun, but I wasn't quite sure which matches to avoid and what some of the pieces did. Great fun! I really liked the retro style and anything cocktail themed is always a win in my book.
Amerigo Gazaway
01. May 2019 · 08:56 UTC
Cool game! Love the art style, the music (blues perfectly fit with the old bar vibe), and overall concept. Love the writing as well, maybe it could have been woven in-between gameplay instead of all the beginning. Great work!
Wolf Flare
01. May 2019 · 10:16 UTC
Innovation: 0 (this concept is very popular). The graphcs is not so bad, bad anyway It didnt really electrified me.
TheSunshineRaven
01. May 2019 · 10:17 UTC
Sadly, I also skipped the text at the beginning as it was long, and it took me a while to figure out which matches to avoid. I LOVED the music and art, interesting take on match-3 games.
Evgeniya Zapolnova
01. May 2019 · 13:03 UTC
I like this game, art and sounds! Intro is really to long and I like that in restart i can miss it. And I am not sure that game is related with theme. But I enjoyed gameplay and Idea
plexsoup
02. May 2019 · 04:53 UTC
Same feelings as Evgeniya. It's a nice match 3 game, but that intro text was so long, and the way it scrolled from the center made it hard to read. Even spamming the enter key, it felt slow getting into the actual game. Thankfully, when I tried again it skipped the text.

I like the art style.
Seems well balanced. I lost one game and won one game.
JestemStefan
03. May 2019 · 09:31 UTC
Pretty nice match 3 game!

Sound supports gameplay, but! I also very very loud. I dropped my headphones ;)
Sleepqt
03. May 2019 · 11:02 UTC
Nice gameplay, but the intro is a slightly stretched and sounds are really loud. Thanks for the game!
luckfishlai
05. May 2019 · 00:15 UTC
Played it for far longer than I meant to! Really well put together :-)
Webox
05. May 2019 · 02:56 UTC
Neat graphics! Also really liked the fighting against someone on a candy crush like game. Pretty cool!