Tick, Tick, BOOM by Petunia Games

[raw]
made by Petunia Games for Ludum Dare 50 (JAM)

It's a race against time! How many people can you save before the bomb goes off?

Title Screen.png

My second ever Ludum Dare and my first finished game. I came in to this one with a decent plan and it worked well. Next time I will need to narrow my scope a lot since I struggled with adding content. Overall though i'm happy with this, there's not much else I could have done besides write my own music for it, but that would have meant I couldn't finish. Looking forward to the next one.

Added v1.1: * Fixed navigation issues that caused NPCs to run through objects. * Added collision for things I missed. * Added a "Start Over" option at the end.

Ratings

Overall 950th 3.326⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Fun 623th 3.438⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 636th 3.37⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Theme 800th 3.563⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 725th 3.609⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Humor 690th 2.932⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Mood 1038th 3.136⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Given 57🗳️ 7🗨️

Feedback

Nate954
05. Apr 2022 · 11:45 UTC
This was really cool!! The twist at the end :flushed: It was great that there was some strategy involved to grabbing some people, then activating an extinguisher, then grabbing some more, etc. I had to redo a few levels and still couldn't save everyone! Awesome job!!
spacecadet
05. Apr 2022 · 14:36 UTC
Cool game. I liked the feeling of rush it gives you. The art was also neat and it felt really polished entry. It was a bit confusing sometimes when the people were running through the objects and you had to go around them.
🎤 Petunia Games
06. Apr 2022 · 00:14 UTC
Thanks for the feedback! I'm glad the rush it gives you wasn't just on my end. Originally I had the NPCs run to the exit automatically, but it felt a bit flat. As soon as I switched to requiring you to talk to them it added a LOT to the gameplay and actually felt like a challenge.

I fixed the navigation issues for NPCs, turns out adding things last minute means you forget to update the navpoly hahaha
Vidu
07. Apr 2022 · 08:30 UTC
Very cool and polish game ! A very nice entry ! Congrats on making such a nice game 💙
LonelyLionGames
07. Apr 2022 · 08:37 UTC
Great game, and what a twist :)

The art is definitely a highlight, great job!

I'm not a very good hero as I was only able to safe 15 people but I had fun
Ironfred
07. Apr 2022 · 08:39 UTC
Really cool and polished game. Loved the design of the different levels as well as the artstyle and music. Good job!
Brandless
07. Apr 2022 · 08:46 UTC
Very polished indeed!
LDJam user 279754
07. Apr 2022 · 08:48 UTC
woah cool game, controls feel a bit weird and interact range could have been just a bit bigger, still loved it, the ending is perfect))
mrScom
07. Apr 2022 · 09:00 UTC
I like it. The game is quite complex and it's cool)
osh.studio
07. Apr 2022 · 09:37 UTC
This was stressful, I managed to save 16/20 people :D The audio really bumped up the mood, good submission.
Noiyy
07. Apr 2022 · 09:48 UTC
I liked the idea of using various items to stop the fuse, though I had a problem with figuring out where I was at the start of level without moving, and also wasn't sure about some objects I could go through, maybe create more depth by using shadows? Nice quick game with a ending twitst though :smile:
🎤 Petunia Games
07. Apr 2022 · 12:23 UTC
Thanks :smile:

I didn't expect positive feedback to be honest haha, I appreciate it.

@vidu Thanks!

@lonelyliongames The art was a time sink for sure. I spent waaaaaay too long on it, it's something i'll change for the next LD. 15/20 is not bad at all, the second level is a challenge.

@ironfred Cheers buddy. The level design was changing all the way up to the deadline hahaha It somehow worked itself out though.

@brandless Thanks!

@apostle Yea I agree, I reduced the interaction area quite late on and I had some issues with not triggering things. I chalked it up to being part of the challenge but it could be more consistent for sure. Thanks for the feedback!

@mrscom Cheers mate.

@osh-studio Haha 16/20 is pretty good. It takes a fair few attempts to get past that I think. I wish I had time to make my own songs for it, but yea, it ties everything together.

@noiyy Yup, that was an issue I noticed late on (I made the character sprite about 2 hours before the end, they were just rectangles before that haha), I wish I changed them because it is annoying to lose where you are when things get hectic. Objects collisions were something I should have refined for sure. You have no idea how much I wanted to add shadows hahaha, if you notice, I had some in the first level, but then the sprites got more complex, I had to ditch them because of the draw order. I could have had a separate sprite shadow layer I guess, but I was sick of making art at that point :laughing: . Appreciate the feedback mate!
artificial.isabel
07. Apr 2022 · 12:51 UTC
super polished! i thought it was lil hard but maybe i'm just bad.
LDJam user 240168
07. Apr 2022 · 13:58 UTC
Nice game idea! The controls were a bit hard - I often ran into obstacles, was stuck, was pushed by other people, couldn't interact with an object I was standing nearby until I approached it from a right angle, etc, everything with no feedback from the game. Such things are quite frustrating when you're trying to act as quickly as possible :) A fun game overall, good job.
Wainini
09. Apr 2022 · 13:34 UTC
Great submission! I had a blast(haha, get it? because it's about bombs. I'm sorry) playing it. Interaction zone may be a bit small vertically, at least for my taste. Absolutely love the art, moreover it fits perfectly with the music. I feel like player don't really have time to discern which object will speed up or slow down the fuse. One more thing, personally I don't find the game quite fits the theme because you don't really delay the explosion. I don't know, if you have your own view on this, please kindly let me know.
Overall, a very solid game. Thank you, great work!
alks
09. Apr 2022 · 19:21 UTC
Cool idea! I really like the art and music! The gameplay was really addictive and I always wanted get the best score! Sometimes interacting with the objects were a bit hard but otherwise such a goood game!!
Tankou
09. Apr 2022 · 20:09 UTC
Pretty nice game! It's as addicting as it's simple. You also did a good choice with the music. It really makes the player hurry, haha. After many tries I didn't manage to save more that 4 people, but.. maybe I am just not that skillful. At least - had fun! Good entry!
David Mason
15. Apr 2022 · 18:31 UTC
Very nice idea.
quadtree
16. Apr 2022 · 00:02 UTC
Pretty nice game! I especially liked the pixel art graphics, and the sound went well with them. One thing that did confuse me is initially I assumed that people actually had to get to the door by the time the bomb went off to count, and I also assumed that you could exit the level by interacting with the door. However, I realized how it worked pretty quickly.