Are We There Yet? by CameronPenner

[raw]
made by CameronPenner for Ludum Dare 51 (JAM)

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Are we there yet is an experience designed to show you how it feels to have a stepson that asks you if we're there yet every 10 seconds. Try to maintain control of your vehicle and your sanity while this rascal does his best to ruin your afternoon.

Will you make it to Chunky Cheesers before you abandon all hope? There is only one way to find out.

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Controls:

  • When things break in your car, click and drag with your mouse in the direction that the arrows show until it's fixed.
    • You don't have to let go between swipes by the way!
  • For timers, hold the mouse down until it goes away.
  • Move the mouse to the right side of the screen to look in the back seat, and the left to look at the front again.
  • Don't forget to hold your mouse down on the steering wheel to keep your car straight!
    • Complications in the car raise the minimum stability amount, don't let them get out of control!

Ratings

Overall 52th 4.173⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Fun 57th 4.135⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 102th 3.981⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Theme 11th 4.538⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 326th 3.981⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Audio 102th 4⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Humor 4th 4.519⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Mood 62th 4.22⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Given 32🗳️ 31🗨️

Feedback

auxC
04. Oct 2022 · 03:48 UTC
I finally made it to THERE! Had a good laugh, especially when I first turned around to look at the backseat. Always love voice acting, and the harmonica makes the mood perfectly. Fun game!
Hydezeke
04. Oct 2022 · 04:52 UTC
I love all the little animation touches for everything. So polished!!
BeetleBox
04. Oct 2022 · 05:20 UTC
Such a fun game! The humor was very on point, and the mechanics made me feel as if I was experiencing the real thing :P.
The music was quite repetitive. but during the first loop, the instruments were fun to listen to.
Tinybuttybutt
04. Oct 2022 · 05:20 UTC
Game gave anxiety to duck, Duck hates son, duck love funny game.
It's a duck must play, but Duck recommend playing it just once, to not die inside.
ThatzNiko
04. Oct 2022 · 05:20 UTC
Loved it my man
mattguil
04. Oct 2022 · 05:20 UTC
Your game is awesome JUST for the voice acting. Im kinding, all is so fun! I haven't arrived there yet (legend has it that the unbearable voice of the child will loop in my head until I finish the game lol) You did a great job, congrats!
LePoulet
04. Oct 2022 · 05:21 UTC
Remind me a lot of travel by car. My dad was angry. Great humor a nice realisation. Good job.
Paul Avallone
04. Oct 2022 · 05:41 UTC
Very funny and creative use of theme. I liked all the things I had to manage while still remembering to check the steering wheel. I loved the looking behind you mechanic by just dragging your mouse off screen. I wish the mouse clicks were a little more responsive with sound and visuals. The exclamation point feedback in-between the direction arrows was a little confusing. I wasn't sure if I was doing something wrong. Also it would be nice if the steering wheel highlighted when you grabbed it because sometimes I wasn't sure if I grabbed it correctly. I had a fun time playing your game. Great job!
Lori Lou
04. Oct 2022 · 22:14 UTC
I killed my son
Eezabra
05. Oct 2022 · 05:29 UTC
BEST GAMEPLAY I've had so far!!! The overall pacing is super well-controlled, the intensity and closeness is just what we need!!! I truly enjoyed playing this game. Big props!
gwenckatz
05. Oct 2022 · 17:23 UTC
Well, you definitely captured that car trip feeling for sure! The mechanics felt so smooth and well-designed, and I loved all the quirky things that can go wrong in the car. That said, you may have captured the feeling of being annoyed TOO successfully, because I muted the sound really fast.
Iamsodarncool
05. Oct 2022 · 21:56 UTC
A thrilling game that got my heart pounding! I think the difficulty curve was just right; I *barely* made it to the end of the game intact.

The dialogue and the music were quite well done, and really sold the atmosphere of growing frustration, annoyance, and losing control of the situation. I love the detail that the backseat child is the protagonist's *step*-son, as well as his rant about the mother. It adds some really nice flavor to the relationship between the two characters :)

The first-person interface was quite immersive and well done. I really like that the hand actually moves and does the tasks. Moving the mouse to the edge of the screen to turn around was also cool and it felt nice and natural.

I found the game very confusing at first (in a bad way). There was so much going on and I didn't really understand what I was supposed to be doing. It took until my third or fourth attempt to actually figure out how to play. I think this problem would be solved, and the game made more enjoyable overall, by adding some more juice to the direction arrows: they could pulse in size to indicate that the player needs to do something about them, and there could be a visual effect when the mouse is moving in the correct direction.

I admit to being a little disappointed by the ending. I was hoping for some more voice acting. But the art was quite nice at least :)

Overall I had a great time with your game. Thank you for making it ❤
bison warlock
06. Oct 2022 · 19:53 UTC
oh my goodness this game was so fun. made me PANIK but lots of fun nonetheless, haha!! i loved the different mechanics. for a casual gamer, the controls were pretty easy to understand and grasp. the only thing i didn't understand was the icon that kind of looked like a circle with some breaks at the top. wasn't really sure what that one meant, but i still made it to the end of the game YEEEEHAW! loved the harmonica and the voice acting; made me laugh a lot!! as a musician, i love when instruments start to go out of tune or play messily when things in-game get chaotic. gives me the luls with a capital L!
LDJam user 250825
08. Oct 2022 · 23:19 UTC
This is easily the funniest interpretation of the theme I've seen so far, the voice acting had me cracking up the whole way. Making it THERE was super stressful, like others have mentioned I found the controls initially quite confusing, maybe some feedback for when you do the right motion in combos would help (like a swoosh or a sound effect), it's a bit hard to tell if something registered or not. Very solid design with the loss mechanic, where the errands don't insta-kill you after a timeout but make your steering increasingly unstable. Ah and the art even though simple is very nice as well (love the "son" hat :D)!
alks
08. Oct 2022 · 23:27 UTC
This is brilliant! I just started to laugh the second I heard that melodica play that waltz :DD Such a creative and funny idea! Really fun to play and it feels great! Audio quality and the delivery of the voice acting is just superb! Usually there's some problems with recordings in LD game but you all really did a great job! The writing is just so hilarious! Thank you all for making this gem! Love it :3
NiceKot
09. Oct 2022 · 02:27 UTC
Yeah, I can't relate as I don't have a stepson. Luckily.
Though, the game is done very well. Great effort.

And that's probably the most unusual and interesting approach to the current's LD theme. You have my fives :)
LDJam user 54618
09. Oct 2022 · 04:54 UTC
Fun: 0/5 stars D:< JK this was an amazing entry!
pickens-inc
10. Oct 2022 · 21:05 UTC
Excellent! Absolutely loved it, you guys clearly had so much fun voicing - would've been a blast to join in! Love the little microtasks and the art of the environment, and the camera transition from beginning to going in. The way Stepdad grows progressively more furious is such a joy. Took me a little bit to get the controls but after a very early game over I quickly got the hang of it, and made the journey second time! Super cool. Only CC was I think the mixing on the sfx and music is a little loud and so I can't always hear the VA! Excellent stuff :heart:
fireKS
16. Oct 2022 · 13:02 UTC
AAAAAH! This is very cool game by idea, also, the voice actors are amazing! Controls are hard a bit, but as the arcade this game is brilliant!
OddballDave
20. Oct 2022 · 15:20 UTC
Haha! I loved it. As the proud parent of a 5 year old I can relate to this sooo much. Graphics, great. Audio, top notch. Gameplay, brilliantly frustrating. All the QTE events worked great. Yea, it's Desert Bus Simulator on steroids. Great work guys.

Good stuff :8ball:
LDJam user 281060
20. Oct 2022 · 16:55 UTC
Wow, that really brought a smile to my face! Loved the lighthearted humor and frantic minigames. Impressively polished and varied actions. Top tier game!
Thiefaine
20. Oct 2022 · 18:59 UTC
Get ouf of my car !
that'as all I have to say ^^
Great work ! really funny, really stressful at the same time
I just felt the controls where a bit unresponsive some times, maybe improve the feedbacks during the actions, It could be a collection of everyday situations :)