LudumData

Sweet Squish by Dvlv

[raw]
made by Dvlv for LD 44 (COMPO)

Follow the story of Timmy, an 11 year old who receives a mobile game for his birthday. Can you find all three endings?

[Hint: The ending changes based on how far into the future Timmy has travelled before giving up on the game.]

Sweet Squish

From the mobile game company who brought you some of those other games you played every time you were supposed to be socially interacting comes Sweet Squish!

Featuring your FAVOURITE sweet treats, this crazy title puts a real spin on the classic match-3 and match-4 games you play all the time.

How do I play Sweet Squish?

Simply click a candy to select it, then click another and they will swap places. Match 3 or 4 in a row or column to squish them. Once you squish all of the candies, you have won the stage, and your score will update on our patented Global Scoreboard, for all your friends (and strangers) to see!

If you squish candies in the wrong order and you find yourself stuck, do not worry! Simply click the Quit button and try again. We won't even take your ticket away until you successfully clear the level. How nice are we?

What's a Ticket?

Each level costs one Ticket to play. Out of tickets? No problem, you can buy more with a small amount of cash - or wait for a brief moment to earn a ticket with the passage of time.

Global Scoreboard?

Yep, the whole world can see how well (or badly) you do at Sweet Squish. If you don't want people thinking you're terrible at games, you'd better get playing!

How did you come up with this idea?

Using our proprietary Time Accelerator™ we've been able to harvest the most advanced mobile gaming technology you've ever seen. We created the best mobile game of the future, and brought it to the present. You're welcome.

Don't mobile games exploit people's addictions?

Here at our company, we take these matters very seriously. That's why we promise to never do bad things with our mobile games. You have our word.

Is Sweet Squish addictive?

Of course not. It's fun, and you'll want to keep playing it, but in the good way.

Can children play Sweet Squish?

Absolutely! In fact, our CEO and inventor of the Time Accelerator™ has just given his son a copy for his 11th birthday. If the game was addictive, that would make him a pretty irresponsible parent!

How to play

Sweet Squish Homescreen

Click the "Instructions" button for instructions, the big "Play" button to play, and the red X to put away your phone.

Dialogue

Press [Space] when "[Space]" appears in the bottom-right, once the dialogue has finished displaying.

Bedroom

Click the Phone in the middle of the room to play Sweet Squish, click the Time Accelerator™ to advance time, or the door to stop playing Sweet Squish.

Sweet Squish

Click a sweet to select it. Then click another sweet to swap them.

The aim is to make all sweets in a row or column the same. This will then squish them, and they will disappear. Clear the screen to win a level.

Known Issues on Itch version

Itch.io version won't work in Firefox 66 on Arch Linux. It seems to work in Chromium on Arch Linux with stuttery audio.

Seems to work fine on Windows10 with Firefox Nightly 68.

Sometimes the audio plays but the screen stays black. If that happens, just refresh the page and it should work.

Headphone users - game may be a bit loud!

Source code https://github.com/Dvlv/ld44
HTML5 (web) https://dvlv.itch.io/sweet-squish
HTML5 (web) https://github.com/Dvlv/ld44/releases/download/0.0.1/sweet_squish_html.zip
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/44/sweet-squish

Ratings

Given 45🗳️ 21🗨️

Feedback

Gear Steak
29. Apr 2019 · 07:01 UTC
Had fun playing this, but I found a bug, if you rapidly click you break any of the puzzles. After doing so it usually replaces with a previously selected item and then doesn't allow you to click any of the others to change them
🎤 Dvlv
29. Apr 2019 · 12:05 UTC
@gear-steak Thanks for playing! I can't reproduce the bug on my work laptop (Chrome 73, OpenSuse Tumbleweed, Itch.io version).
Gear Steak
29. Apr 2019 · 14:49 UTC
@dvlv I was consistently able to reproduce on chrome, windows 10
OlavDeng2
29. Apr 2019 · 18:34 UTC
Its a decent little game, match 3 arent really my kinda game but it works. And it does indeed follow the theme
fazz
29. Apr 2019 · 18:39 UTC
The story made it!
TwobyThree
29. Apr 2019 · 19:19 UTC
The sound effect when smash the candy is too loud compared to the music (which I say is perfect for the atmosphere). The story is nice, I like the concept of that creepy soul ticket based - arcade place xd Congratulations!
T.A.C. Commandeur
29. Apr 2019 · 19:25 UTC
I liked the story!
chawls_v
29. Apr 2019 · 19:28 UTC
Funny take on the theme. I had a friend who would play candy crush and constantly put her phone in the future to play more :joy:
GettingRekt
29. Apr 2019 · 19:31 UTC
Nice humor and really fits the theme. Really cool effect in the dialogue system. Good job
hypp
29. Apr 2019 · 19:37 UTC
Nice little puzzle game.
Vinay Rao
29. Apr 2019 · 19:53 UTC
The story was a little too real about predatory mobile games, haha!

I'm not much of a match-3 or match-4 player. That whole genre escapes me, but this seems as good an implementation of it than any. Colorful, both visually and in narrative.

Good job! Had fun with it!
Dumivid
29. Apr 2019 · 19:57 UTC
A game within a game, OK. The idea on itself is not bad, however, I feel like the game lack a "challenge/punishment", it's straight up too easy. Overall, nice catch on this Ludum Dare. Have fun for the rest of the event and be proud of yourself, not everyone finishes their games.
Neowedge
30. Apr 2019 · 01:27 UTC
Interesting narrative, good job!
🎤 Dvlv
30. Apr 2019 · 06:51 UTC
Wow, thanks for all of the comments!

@dumivid - Yeah, totally agree. This is my second LD entry and both games have been a branching story with actual "gameplay" taking a back seat. Hopefully next jam I can deviate from this and try to make a game without a story.

@chawls-v @vinay-rao Would you believe I came up with the idea when I opened up a match-3 mobile game immediately after checking the theme? Hehe.

@twobythree Thanks for the feedback. I will add a headphone-users warning!

I won't @ everyone else, but thanks very much for playing and commenting.
johanhelsing
30. Apr 2019 · 07:50 UTC
Haha, this was really fun. I love these kinds of game where you wonder what the goal really is. The parody of the "game" is also really cool.

Nice job!
seriar
30. Apr 2019 · 14:15 UTC
Nice job. I got 156 years old. I guess healthcare moved fast in game universe
🎤 Dvlv
30. Apr 2019 · 18:52 UTC
@seriar Haha, never thought of that. Could have used old age as a fourth ending. Thanks for playing!

@johanhelsing Thank you :)
blobo
01. May 2019 · 15:58 UTC
As a 220 year old farmer. I think I learned a lesson.

Haha, great game!
ayama
02. May 2019 · 13:57 UTC
The best!XD
jk5000
02. May 2019 · 19:04 UTC
A very funny little game. I am not sure it is the worlds best game, but when the game says it is, then it must be true. Overall a funny and good LD game. Well done.
Aterlamia
02. May 2019 · 19:15 UTC
I like the idea behind it but i do feel like i cannot really lose and i don't even have to plan my moves as i can exchange anything with anything. One missed opportunity is that you did not changed his age on the poster :)
HugzFnr
02. May 2019 · 19:32 UTC
Funny story, well polished :) Is the impossible level the ending x) ?
🎤 Dvlv
03. May 2019 · 06:57 UTC
@aterlamia Thanks for playing. It's more of a story, so I don't want people to lose, I want them to see the story. The poster doesn't change because the idea was Timmy and his phone are the only things that advance through time, his environment stays the same.

@hugzfnr Thank you! There's no impossible level. If you got stuck on the level with 4 columns and three sweets, you have to match them as rows of 4, otherwise you get leftover sweets.

Thanks everyone for playing and commenting!
Kaisean Games
03. May 2019 · 07:45 UTC
Wait, they didn't change his room in 5 years? :stuck_out_tongue:

Nice game. The take on the theme is what I like. You might wanna check ours, it'll be kind of familiar :)

The sound is a bit too high pitched tho, but otherwise ok.

Keep up the good work.
paul59
04. May 2019 · 09:17 UTC
Simple but fun, well done.
meskaline
04. May 2019 · 09:42 UTC
Simple and effective. Cute graphics. GJ!
Cambryx
04. May 2019 · 10:42 UTC
Wow this was amazing. When I started playing, I was wondering if this has anything todo with the theme. The moment, when I realized that it was a game inside the game was an awesome surprise. When the first level with 4 candys in every color came, I first thought it was a bug or intended to be impossible. Finding out that you can still solve it by cleverly placing 4 in a row was really satisfyig. It was a really cool challenge that I didn't expect. The way you create a story that is even a bit thoughtprovoking with a match-3 game is really clever and impressive. I only read your description of Sweet-Squish on the ld-page after playing the game and think it's really creative and funny. I am glad you found the time to write this after developing a game and a game inside it in only 48h. I worked together with a friend and 72h but still it got really really stressfull towards the end :)
Amazing Job Dvlv! We would be very happy if you tried out our game and told us what you think about it.
138
04. May 2019 · 11:14 UTC
Our time is our only true currency and we spend it on useless things like Sweet Squish and Ludum Dare when we could be out there doing something useful like farming carrots!

You nailed the theme. Thank you for the life lesson :D
🎤 Dvlv
04. May 2019 · 11:41 UTC
@paul59 @meskaline Thanks :)

@cambryx Glad you liked it, thanks for your comment! I will check out your game when I can get to a windows machine!

@138 Hehe, you're welcome :p Thanks for playing.
Solah
05. May 2019 · 18:47 UTC
Very good game, I enjoyed it :) I t is really fun to discover the different endings