LudumData

Dad Day by mudlee

[raw]
made by mudlee for Ludum Dare 46 (COMPO)

cover.png

Dad Day is a short and funny game about a dad who is experiencing his first time solo babysitting his twins, while his wife is out for a quick shopping for lunch.

Goal

Keep the twins alive as long as possible. Sadly, they always find the electric sockets, dangerous kitchen tools and furnitures, and... well... and everything that is not for them.

Be a better dad in real life than in this game.

Controls / Hints

  • Move Dad: WASD
  • Grab / Drop Child: SPACE

Tips / Points / Notes

Grab and put away them from dangerous things. Keep in mind, while you're holding any of them, the points will not increase.

  • Any changes will be mentioned in the Change Log.
  • I could only test on OSX and in browser.

Screenshot

Screenshot 2020-04-19 at 22.29.38.png

About the Author and the Game

I'm mudlee, father of one and a hobbist game dev. This is my 5th jam, but the first LD.

In the beginning I started a completely different game in Twine, but after a half a day I threw all of my plans into trash and started over. Hence, my time was way less as I expected. Originally I planned that the dad has to cook, clean and to do other housekeeping activity, but I had no more time for such extras.

I used: - Unity - Aseprite - Gimp - LMMS

Youtube https://github.com/mudlee/dad-day-ld46
Youtube https://drive.mudlee.hu/games/ld46-dad-day/osx.zip
Youtube https://drive.mudlee.hu/games/ld46-dad-day/windows.zip
Youtube https://drive.mudlee.hu/games/ld46-dad-day/linux.zip
Youtube https://drive.mudlee.hu/games/ld46-dad-day/web
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/46/dad-day

Ratings

Overall 812th 3.091⭐ 46🧑‍⚖️
Fun 699th 3.078⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 744th 3.022⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Theme 331th 3.867⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 660th 3.2⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Audio 657th 2.75⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Humor 125th 3.646⭐ 43🧑‍⚖️
Mood 719th 2.963⭐ 43🧑‍⚖️
Given 62🗳️ 49🗨️

Feedback

BlackOpsBen
20. Apr 2020 · 04:15 UTC
This is funny and morbid! Nice! Rather than try to win I ended up just trying to find all the ways I could kill the babies. lol
johnnysix
20. Apr 2020 · 04:27 UTC
I went Joe Cartoon and did the same as BlackOpsBen. If you do something on this post Ludum-Dare, maybe do a click for destination with pathfinding.
Thooom
20. Apr 2020 · 05:08 UTC
Had to try this as I nearly made a very similar game, only as a sidescroller. As a pretty fresh father of one my associations with 'keep it alive' also were related to the young ones.

Your game almost makes me shout for my wife to take one of them. I can't take it all alone.
niklasriewald
20. Apr 2020 · 06:39 UTC
Very nice idea and very fitting for the jam's theme.

I think it would be nice to have a visual clue that you can pick up the babies. The first few times I was playing the game I did not read the instructions and thought you could only interact with the twins by blocking their path, which made the game way to hard/random :D
Diego Escalante
20. Apr 2020 · 06:53 UTC
Is this what it feels like to dad? I tried to keep juggle them in the corner, but babies have a way of wiggling their way out and slipping past. I like the humor, and it fits the theme well. My best score was 23 points!
🎤 mudlee
20. Apr 2020 · 06:58 UTC
@diego-escalante as a father of one I always appriciate the time I have with my little one. But I see fathers treating such situations like they have to swim in the middle of the ocean for the first time. So it's a kind of sarcastic approach from my side :)
scottthoo
20. Apr 2020 · 07:48 UTC
keep spamming space for both kids. :pig:
Prackli
20. Apr 2020 · 13:17 UTC
I don't know if it's intentianal but they seem to go under the bed sometimes, like it was missing a collider.
🎤 mudlee
20. Apr 2020 · 14:20 UTC
@prackli nope, it wasn't done intentionally, but when I first saw it during a test session I though, fuck it, it's even more funny :D If I had time, I would even create an another death event like "Died because stuck under the bed" or something. Or... "eaten by the monster living under the bed. Because all beds have a monster under it."
BloodpulpGames
20. Apr 2020 · 14:56 UTC
lost one of the babies and i was like "oh no", then i lost :(
PrincessChooChoo
20. Apr 2020 · 14:59 UTC
Fun idea. As mentioned it was not obvious you could pick them up. Once you can the game feels a bit limited, just pick up one baby and block the other.
Lots of interesting deaths though.

Also, one missing feature relative to commercial game "Dad Quest" is "Play as male or female Dad" :D
🎤 mudlee
20. Apr 2020 · 15:01 UTC
@princesschoochoo if you pick any of them, the points will not be increased until you put them back to floor ;)
Team Prosit
20. Apr 2020 · 15:02 UTC
I wanted to change plan as well so I understand the lack of time. One suggestion that could have made the difference. I found that if I grab a baby I can keep him as long as I want letting me pay attention only to the other one. This could be avoided in two ways: 1) when you grab a baby you can't move as well; 2) you can keep the baby only for a few seconds.
mailman
20. Apr 2020 · 15:04 UTC
I found myself needing to cheese the game just to stay alive! If you hold a baby and stand next to the other baby and switch off you can last quite a while! I enjoyed the visuals, me being someone who isn't an artist it was cool to see such simple sprites fit so well together! The game did a good job of inducing panic in me.
🎤 mudlee
20. Apr 2020 · 15:05 UTC
@team-prosit true, but my solution was that the goal is to keep them alive as long as possible, a.k.a. collecting points. If you have at least one child in your hand, points increasing is paused.

Sadly, they will die anyways, there is no win scenario. I have to state this :D
cjgammon
20. Apr 2020 · 15:07 UTC
funny idea here. very realistic :). Mine died by electrocution first try. I was able to kind of cheat by swapping kids quickly. which i guess could be seen as a dad skill. There was also a glitch? where i was able to pick up two kids at once and just walk around with them but i couldn't recreate it. I like the concept a lot, really funny. good job.
FudgeMcGroobs
20. Apr 2020 · 15:34 UTC
This was very funny and actually challenging. Congrats on this nice game! Not very intuitive at first but it's easy to figure out.
It resembles "Who's Your Daddy" a bit.
Westmave
20. Apr 2020 · 15:47 UTC
Congrats on your Game, really enjoyed the experience. Oh and nice flat you portrayed :D
Iluvatar
20. Apr 2020 · 16:07 UTC
Haha, I was literally laughing. As a father I can confirm that babies have some kind of sensor for dangerous things. I had a lot of fun, but it was frustrating sometimes, and sometimes even uplayable when the babies spawned in the wrong position. For example the right baby kept sinking even before I got to him. So maybe it would be better for the babies to start a bit closer to you? But that's really just a minor detail. Overall it's really entertaining and I can imagine playing this on my phone while waiting for a bus or something. Great entry.
🎤 mudlee
20. Apr 2020 · 16:10 UTC
@iluvatar thanks! My daughter (4 years old) has the habit that if she falls, she only hits her head, eye(!) or something that hurts even to see. When she is tired, she is even falls in her own legs :D
Itskdog
20. Apr 2020 · 16:20 UTC
Interesting theme. Was tough to get to both babies. :)
kjscott
20. Apr 2020 · 16:25 UTC
I liked the music going on in the background against the frantic trying to stop the kids but I would probably go with something a little more frantic to go with the mood.

The excitement of the game died off once I realised I could shove them in the corner of the kitchen and just nudge them if they were getting away as if forces them to stop and then they often go back the way they came. Made the game super easy after that, and with the stress of keeping them alive why would I want to go back XD

With a couple of tweaks it could be a really good coffee break game. Overall played and handled well, very enjoyable as a quick break!
nick0124 creator
20. Apr 2020 · 16:51 UTC
Worst dad ever. The child drowned in the toilet)))
🎤 mudlee
20. Apr 2020 · 16:59 UTC
@kjscott thanks! In the beginning I planned a feature that dad should not only take care of the twins, but he has to wash dishes, cook and other stuff. But I had no more time to add these but it would extend the stress a bit more ;)
kjscott
20. Apr 2020 · 17:07 UTC
@mudlee , there is another dad game like that which got submitted for this. You only had to look after one baby, eat, sleep, rest, clean them... everyone dies...
Odeyalko
20. Apr 2020 · 18:25 UTC
Nice game
FramboiseDodue
21. Apr 2020 · 00:08 UTC
I got hooked on it trying to up my scores for a bit too much time but it was quite fun! It could be fun to see this game evolve :)
Gray Fustos
21. Apr 2020 · 05:26 UTC
RIP, touched the oven.
Yolziii
21. Apr 2020 · 06:34 UTC
HA-HA! The twins were a great idea, very fun! I really liked this game, great and vital experience, nice job!
🎤 mudlee
21. Apr 2020 · 07:49 UTC
@odeyalko @framboisedodue @gray-fustos @yolziii thank you guys, it means a lot to me! :)
tobiasw
22. Apr 2020 · 12:04 UTC
Damn, children sure are *fragile*. I had no idea.

I like the concept, but I think the game is a bit hard as is. I had a child drowning in the toilet twice when it made a dash for it, while I was *right next to it* and had no way to react in time. I think juggling other responsibilities and making the children slower would've helped - then they would die more because you got distracted and not because they are determined to die quickly.

Great job getting something out after throwing away your first idea! That requires a lot of courage. When I give up on an idea I had committed to in a game jam, I usually give up on the jam too.
🎤 mudlee
22. Apr 2020 · 14:05 UTC
@tobiasw thank you for your kind words :) I spent 2 hours hitting the wall with my head mubling "that could not be the end on my first LD". There is a lot to improve for sure, and I started with a grate amount of idea, but of course it was way too much, so when I build the first version I was way more happy than I thought in the beginning I would be :)
blobo
22. Apr 2020 · 17:32 UTC
Hahaa! I like the take on the theme, but I was unable to keep any of them alive. If i picked on up to take away from the chair, the other one was already electrocuting itself. Congrats on your first LD.
Phlip45
22. Apr 2020 · 17:52 UTC
Being able to indefinitely carry the baby made the game pretty easy. I think if your arms got tired after a while and you were forced to put them down it might be a bit more interesting. Simple stamina gauge could go far. Other than that I really liked the art, and the idea is solid. Great job! Especially for having started over.
onnofal
22. Apr 2020 · 18:15 UTC
This is great :) First game this LD making me laugh. Decided not to write all that was already mentioned and just rate, but later I came back to play more and discovered you can grab a baby through the wall! :D
🎤 mudlee
22. Apr 2020 · 19:50 UTC
@phlip45 true, but as I mentioned in other comments, the point will not be increased until you hold any of them ;)
Camilo Quintero
22. Apr 2020 · 22:56 UTC
Nice! Maybe a bit of audio feedback could improve it, like when a baby is in danger, when you pick him up, or when you lose. Good game overall! I like the concept and it keeps you really focused! :D
Dextreon
24. Apr 2020 · 11:00 UTC
Great and funny idea! The visuals are good! The only thing that made me go a bit mad was that sometimes was so difficult to save the kid, I just started the game and of them died almost instantly. But overall is a good entry, congrats! :ok_hand:
Balgorode
01. May 2020 · 06:18 UTC
Pretty funny game! The hardest part was like the first 10 seconds, you either died right then, or survived a while. Nice work though!
🎤 mudlee
01. May 2020 · 11:44 UTC
Thank you guys for your feedbacks! :)
LCStark
09. May 2020 · 06:53 UTC
Nice entry! It was pretty difficult to keep them both safe. Most of the time one found its way to the chair. :( The graphics are nice and the music fits the game really well. It could use some game sounds, but I understand it is hard to find time to do everything. All in all, a pretty solid compo game. I enjoyed playing it. ;)
Honey Pony
11. May 2020 · 02:50 UTC
I think my only real gripe with this game is sometimes it is literally unwinnable. Sometimes you'll start it up, chase down one of the kids, but although you were following them literally as soon as you possibly could, they still manage to get themselves killed. :( I'm not sure that this is necessarily a problem, but I think it does take away some of the player's agency in a way that doesn't really seem useful to me.

Aside from that, a nice, lightheartedly morbid game. :)

I did manage to glitch the game in a way that I couldn't pick up one of the toddlers. Not quite sure how I caused it aside from maybe spamming the spacebar...?
🎤 mudlee
11. May 2020 · 14:21 UTC
@honey-pony thanks for your feedback. I was (as everyone else) in rush as hell, as after 10 hours I decided not to write a text adventure in twine, but create this game :D So yes, everything you wrote is true and legal, I had huge ideas but of course the time cut it down to this :)