The Life of John by jackyjjc

[raw]
made by jackyjjc for LD34 (COMPO)
Update: Added the link to the post compo version which has major fixes for the bugs like 'Marriage' and 'Gift Planning' keep reappearing. Use the 'Web' version to judge and use the 'Fix' version to enjoy the game :)

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Growing up is not easy, as you can see from the life of John.

In the tutorial I said you can hover the stats to see more information. I lied (well, I ran out of time). Here is the list of stats explained:

1. (Card) Number of cards you need to select this turn to advance to the next turn
2. (Cake) John's age
3. (Heart) John's health, when it reaches 0, the game ends
4. (Smiley Face) John's happiness, when it reaches 0, shuffle 'Depression' into the deck
5. (Book) John's knowledge, mostly just affects if you get 'Promotion' or not.
6. (Chat Bubble) John's social stat. Very important stat in the beginning because if your social is less than 5, you would be forever alone in the game (No relationship and marriage cards)
7. (Couple) John's relationship stat. A 'Marriage' card will be shuffled into your deck when it reaches 50. If it is below 0, a 'Breakup' or 'Divorce' card will be shuffled into your deck.
8. (Money) John's financial stat. When your money drop belows 0, a 'In Debt' card will be shuffled into the deck.

Author: @jackyjjc
Website: www.jackyjjc.com

Ratings

Coolness 73% 3
Overall 3.55 244
Fun 3.13 501
Innovation 4.00 49
Mood 3.56 143
Theme 4.11 147

Feedback

馃帳 jackyjjc
14. Dec 2015 路 03:20 UTC
The web version is 1280 * 768, the resolution might be too high for some people who are playing on a laptop. I've just built a version that is 900 * 600 for you :)

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9395835/LD34/web_build_small/index.html
Stephen Patrick
14. Dec 2015 路 07:07 UTC
It's a little weird that I have to marry my lover every year (and lose 20 money every year) or they get upset with me. I like the idea a lot, though.
mlepage
14. Dec 2015 路 07:16 UTC
Interesting idea.

Some text layout issues. And needs a once over on the rules and cards. E.g. your parent can pass away many times, you can get many cards about gift planning and do all but one, it says you planned anniversary but then forgot it. But these are minor issues.

Overall I found it had good variety and reminded me of other life-living games.
ptkfs
14. Dec 2015 路 07:31 UTC
That was pretty deep... First attempt I was dead at the first flu, second time around it was a good life to the ripe age of 81. Thank you for sharing.
馃帳 jackyjjc
14. Dec 2015 路 07:34 UTC
@StephenPatrick @mlepage sorry about the bugs (especially the marriage one). I do have a flag to make it only appear once but I guess it didn't work :( (only if I have done more play testing)
馃帳 jackyjjc
14. Dec 2015 路 09:42 UTC
Added the link to the post compo version which has major fixes for the bugs like 'Marriage' and 'Gift Planning' keep reappearing. Use the 'Web' version to judge and use the 'Fix' version to enjoy the game :)
Cyranh
14. Dec 2015 路 11:23 UTC
Interesting game. I liked it!
prymidion
14. Dec 2015 路 11:56 UTC
Very interesting idea here-- I love this design. It reminds me of the card game Dominion a bit, where cards you draw can shuffle bad cards into your deck.
馃帳 jackyjjc
14. Dec 2015 路 12:09 UTC
@prymidion I did take some inspiration from dominion :)
Jackson
14. Dec 2015 路 13:17 UTC
Terrific work Jacky Chan
x92rwzb
14. Dec 2015 路 21:38 UTC
Nice card game. This is a really nice concept and should be developed further.
CodeNMore
14. Dec 2015 路 21:54 UTC
Cool style, neat game!
gallerdude
14. Dec 2015 路 22:00 UTC
Very great interpretation of the theme, great graphics, great mood, great theme relevance. One of the best entries I've played so far.
adamyounis
15. Dec 2015 路 06:19 UTC
This was really cool. I think some visuals would have made it a little easier to maintain a sense of what my choices were reflecting (reading is hard). Overall the concept, balance and gameplay were spot on. I really like how it relates to the theme as well. charming :)
bazz_boyy
15. Dec 2015 路 06:36 UTC
Cool idea, but a little bit repetitive and confusing at times (for me atleast). Nice work though, the game works very smoothly.
馃帳 jackyjjc
15. Dec 2015 路 11:39 UTC
I love reading your comments, thanks everyone who commented. Your feedback matters a lot more for me than the final score because I get to know how you feel when you play the game.

@bazz_boyy Thanks for the comment! I agreed it is a bit repetitive sometimes (I had a lot of cards I wanted to put in but I ran out of time)

@adamyounis thanks for the feedback! I planned to use the icons to replace some of the card text but I failed to get rich text working in unity.
x92rwzb
15. Dec 2015 路 21:09 UTC
John was a good person.
bodsey
15. Dec 2015 路 22:27 UTC
Play until I got 108, I think you can't really die. The idea is great, but somehow I found it really sad :/
馃帳 jackyjjc
15. Dec 2015 路 22:32 UTC
@bodsey I thought I've balanced it so that he would definitely died. I guess I failed there :)
馃帳 jackyjjc
15. Dec 2015 路 22:33 UTC
@bodsey were you playing the fixed version or the original version?
lawendt
16. Dec 2015 路 11:07 UTC
"It's a little weird that I have to marry my lover every year (and lose 20 money every year) or they get upset with me. I like the idea a lot, though."
馃帳 jackyjjc
16. Dec 2015 路 11:11 UTC
@lawendt you should try the fix version :)
lawendt
16. Dec 2015 路 11:31 UTC
Played the bug fixed, really good!
Liked that I'm not a slave anymore and I earn 3 cash after each work.
Really sad that I didn't have much chances to improve my Knowledge.
After a time I really wanted to break up 'cause my lover was asking too much of me.
Nice game!
cicanci
16. Dec 2015 路 14:32 UTC
Amazing game! I read your post mortem and I love to play Dominion, the gameplay was well done!
Erlend Aakre
16. Dec 2015 路 14:48 UTC
Made it to 80 then died of a cold! Fun game :)
Decentsauce
16. Dec 2015 路 14:57 UTC
Became 77! :) Didn't marry in my run so maybe that helped me? Would have been nice if the different attributes were color coded but overall very fun game!
BoltKey
16. Dec 2015 路 16:27 UTC
Some paradoxes happen, which makes it a bit weird but also funny at the same time. I liked the idea.
Dianouille
16. Dec 2015 路 16:34 UTC
It make me feel so sad. Poor John. By the way, really good game, look like nothing I had play. Thank you.
KZdev
16. Dec 2015 路 22:43 UTC
Very interesting game, I like it! Would be cool to see it developed a little further with more cards and better balancing.
Galvesmash
21. Dec 2015 路 02:42 UTC
Different game and interesting idea. At the end the cards got a bit to repetitive, but the game was still fun!
Great Job!
GhostBomb
28. Dec 2015 路 22:05 UTC
Interesting game.

I don't really get money. There doesn't seem to be much use for all the money you get and it just disappears after your reach 55, so all of your senior and manager work cards just end up being a negative since you have to pick them to not lose happiness.