LudumData

Courier Panic! by SeaFishelle

[raw]
made by SeaFishelle for LD 42 (JAM)

https://youtu.be/SPt6k3exPgA

NOTICE: This is a difficult game, with a unique control scheme you're probably not used to. If you can, please take some time to read the instructions from the main menu.

Courier Panic! is a top-down arcade game about being a parcel delivery driver. You have limited space on your truck for pickups, and a time limit before your shift ends. It may sound easy, but you lose money for every car you smash into, and it just happens to be rush hour! See how much money you can make (or lose!) before the end of the day!

The theme is incorporated in a few ways. For one, you have limited space on your truck for pickups. No-brainer. Two, there are a LOT of cars on the road, and the roads themselves are fairly narrow, giving you very limited space to move around. And on a smaller level, you've got to stop to pick up/drop off packages, so you need to time your stops carefully and not run out of space to stop.

Music and sound effects were made by my good friend, picoVolt. I like to call him "the Dark Lord of the Synth".

HTML5 (web) https://gamejolt.com/games/courier-panic-exclamation-point/360542
Windows https://gamejolt.com/games/courier-panic-exclamation-point/360542
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/courier-panic

Ratings

Overall 890th 3.106⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Fun 906th 2.906⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 1014th 2.742⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Theme 1073th 2.774⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 814th 3.091⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Audio 443th 3.167⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Humor 592th 2.6⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Mood 896th 2.726⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Given 19🗳️ 33🗨️

Feedback

Viater
13. Aug 2018 · 00:31 UTC
I really liked the concept, the art, sounds, music. They all felt really solid. However the controls made it really hard to play.
🎤 SeaFishelle
13. Aug 2018 · 00:47 UTC
@viater Fair assessment. I thought of the controls as part of the challenge, myself, and my playtesters seemed to agree that they got used to them as their first round went on.
rvenson
13. Aug 2018 · 01:18 UTC
The controls really made it hard, but I liked the gameplay.
Viater
13. Aug 2018 · 01:22 UTC
@seafishelle I did get used to them also. It was hard though when I would try to go in reverse which would make me go forward it just got a little tricky. I thought it was great overall!
Ajay.2002
13. Aug 2018 · 03:35 UTC
I was a reallly nice game overall, well done mate!
Serious07
13. Aug 2018 · 04:34 UTC
Fun game, a bit hard to control car.
shockeye
13. Aug 2018 · 07:28 UTC
Music was catchy.
Difficulty level a bit high for me. Could have done with reverse gear on that van.
🎤 SeaFishelle
13. Aug 2018 · 14:21 UTC
@serious07 That's by intention. Thank you for the feedback!

@shockeye I kept thinking that too, but to be honest I got tired of looking at my code and decided to release. Thinking back, I wish I had time for an update and recompile before I go to work, but sadly I don't...
B. Golda
14. Aug 2018 · 02:20 UTC
Enjoyed the game, nice graphics, top-notch music and sounds. Played a couple rounds but my brain kept messing the controls. As has been stated a reverse would have helped immensely but other than that good game!
zchangvx
14. Aug 2018 · 04:09 UTC
Made a couple thousand books by ramming my truck into some people, pretty fun!
Controls felt difficult but fair. I don't feel the theme ties all that well with the gameplay, but pretty fun anyways!
ROBOWARRIOR1982
14. Aug 2018 · 07:48 UTC
The graphics are really cool and clean, the music too, the concept really fun against the maneuverability is really too responsive, it does not feel like driving a truck and we bumped everywhere impossible to manage the speed properly, really a pity, either make wider roads or change the acceleration I think, good concept!
Mister_Kweh
14. Aug 2018 · 08:10 UTC
Omg driving top down is hard. Kept trying to drive in the wrong lane! I didn't think the controls were all that difficult, but who knows how many cars the delivery company had to replace because of me! lol
Zicboy
16. Aug 2018 · 00:24 UTC
Haha game was great and the graphics would need a bit of improvement to elevate the game. :)
ctran13
16. Aug 2018 · 02:14 UTC
I really like this concept. Kind of like crazy taxi on (more) steroids.
mccarlp
16. Aug 2018 · 02:14 UTC
Way to go on finishing your first jam game! I read your rant and had to come try it. Great first attempt. THe controls were hard for me and I kept getting stuck on buildings while driving straight. However, it kept my interest. a solid first game. Keep on keeping on!
🎤 SeaFishelle
16. Aug 2018 · 03:20 UTC
@mccarlp thank you! I've been making games for about 8 years, never having released anything until this jam (and another one a few months ago). So it really doesn't feel like a first attempt to me, more like a culmination of everything I learned so far. A dungeon boss, if you will.

You are far from the only one to dislike the controls, as you can probably tell... I made them the way I did purely by intention, to add to the "panic" described in the title. I've so far learned that it didn't work the way I intended it to...
Anna Petrova
17. Aug 2018 · 12:02 UTC
Very long download:( Nice colors:)
digital bacon
18. Aug 2018 · 13:49 UTC
Nice concept, but it was hard getting used to the control scheme: I kept trying to steer with A and D, and accelerate/brake with W and S, as driving games over the years have "trained" me to do. But it did add to the desperation of trying to get to where I wanted to go :smile:
rjhelms
21. Aug 2018 · 02:36 UTC
This reminds me a lot of playing with my toy cars on that play mat with roads on it that everyone had. A lot of fun!

The controls were a bit mind-bending, but I get what you were going for - like a few others have said, the lack of reverse was what kept tripping me up.
ursagames
04. Sep 2018 · 06:36 UTC
Great music! Very challenging game. Thanks for sharing your game with my stream awhile back. Your game was played around 1:12 into this vod: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/298692367