Great interpretation of the theme! Very thorough instructions too! I would only change the graphics cause it's a little hard on the eyes, but well done!

Hey there, decent little entry. I definitely had to read the "how to" as the mechanics are quite obscure. Tried to go in cold a few times before I realized there was a guide. I think the timer counts down waaaaay too fast and there's not enough feedback when it's low or you get a strike. My eyes are concentrating on the maze and then suddenly I've got three strikes and I'm dead. Still, it works and it's a game w/ music, audio, graphics and working mechanics, so good work.

Very clever little theme interpretation. I'm glad you had the forethought to put the 'How To' in, because I, in my hubris, decided to go straight in for the 'play' at first. That didn't end well. After a couple of runs, I think I managed to get a handle on it. Had a steady stream of cash, although admittedly, I never got out of debt. But I think that's the point (I'm hoping it's the point). Well done!

@judgezedd That was definitely the point! Haha. Yea I realize the gameplay isn't the most intuitive. I'm really glad I put the How-To in as well. Although I probably should have made it more prominent on the title screen so more people would think to click it first. Thanks for the feedback!

Quite a few times I ended up being too concentrated on the investors, and forgot to pay the boss. :smile: I fell so in debt, but still making a few bucks here and there! I loved management-based entries, and had a good fun here! Thanks and congratulations! :v:

@goutye @rhys-vdw Thanks so much for the feedback! I definitely should have had an audio cue for the boss timer, but I didn't think about it until it was too late. Glad you had fun!

You can really feel the panic while playing when you try to concentrate to multiple things :D Clever use of the theme. How-to is quite long and without reading it you are lost for sure, but all in all the mechanics are not too complicated. Although the game is quite difficult right from the start and the graphics are little hard on the eyes if you manage to play a longer run. Very amusing overall though.

Very creative interpretation of the theme! I found this very overwhelming, but I suspect that was by design. I can't really tell after a handful of playthroughs if I'm missing some better strategies, but it's clear I'm very bad at this game, hah. I'm not fast enough to direct investors to the end with much regularity, but sometimes it seems luck allows me to progress farther. Anyway, this is all a very accurate description of what would happen if I tried to run a Ponzi scheme in real life, so...very realistic! This was a unique entry. Nice job!

Oh gosh, I'm still shaking. Definitely managed to capture that feeling of drowning under debt and the financial balancing act. This has a killer mood, well done!
It took me a while to figure out what was going on and how to play even though you've included a thorough How to. Not sure how this can be improved, but thought it worth a mention.
Overall though this was a really well thought out entry, well done!

This. I was thinking about debt when I first saw the theme and oh boy, do I wish I had come up with an idea like yours. The color scheme makes it a little straining for the eyes, but everything else seemed very finely executed. The feeling of desperately grabbing at straws is real in this one. Nice game!

P.S. I don't think I'd make a good corporate CEO. I'm *very* bad at making money.

There is nothing funnier to me than puns around unending debt. Thank you for coming up with this interpretation of deeper and deeper. I think the gameplay is unique and impressive for knocking all this out in the compo.

Played for a while, didn't manage to repay all of my debt. This is hard ! (at least for me). There's a lot of things to keep track of, and the fact that the level design is big and the art not that legible makes it harder. I think I would have enjoyed it more if it were a bit easier. I don't have the patience to die and retry on the same level until I get good enough.

On another subject, I loved the death screen and voice acting

@thegreenworm Haha I guess I should have explained better. You actually can't "win" at all! There is only the one level and the challenge is ultimately about lasting as long as you can. You can think of the "total borrowed" at the end as a high score of sorts. Thanks for what you said on the death screens I had fun recording those xD

This is a cool game. I like the music, and especially the puns lol. The guide also helped a lot, since it can be a bit difficult to understand the game right away. The graphics are a bit rough maybe, but other than that this is a solid entry! :)

This was fun! I like the interpretation of the theme! :D Great work!

The loan shark's voice absolutely killed me :laughing:. I agree with the idea that it's hard to concentrate on the maze and the debt/cash and shark meter at the same time, and each game I played the meter would inevitably run out and I'd lose.

You did a great job of capturing the feeling of drowning in debt, although I may have had a better time if the shark scooped up $X from my cash instead of ending the game when the timer ran out. I found the maze/debt mechanic stood on their own as compelling gameplay!

@loginaut Oh interesting idea! I definitely wanted it to feel really hectic but I hadn't thought about the shark just taking cash on his own. It would keep the mechanic and pressure of the shark while not dividing attention too much. Probably would have helped a few people lol. Thanks for the feedback!

Edit: Glad you liked the shark too! I had a lot of fun recording his lines!

Loved this! Such a creative idea for the theme. I like the frantic clicking on timers that happens the further in you get. It ends up being quite chaotic which definitely fits the debt collector/ponzi scheme angle.

Small nitpick but maybe if the driftwood you place has an arrow or something readable to know the direction as some of the driftwood I placed I expected it to path different.

Was sad to game over but loved the death screen!! the game has alot of style!

Nice interpretation of the theme, quite creative and very humorous. I like the voice acting too. The color scheme is a bit hard to read, but other than that this is pretty solid! Good work!

Really cool take on the theme and nice sense of humour. The mechanics are interesting – I think you've done a pretty good job of gamifying debt management – but the game was way too tough for me to engage with deeply. I realize that making it hectic and difficult was the point, but a smaller maze, slower pace and more readable movement of the investors at intersections would improve my enjoyement greatly. Nonetheless, I gotta applaud the originality on display.

Thanks for submitting! I hope my in-stream feedback was helpful!

Nothing compares to the pain of seeing an investor make it all the way to the right side only to turn and go offscreen at the last possible moment. That was lots of fun!

Haha, this is a great concept. You should check out my "debt" game too. We think alike!