Poppycock's Perfect Packages by Blaah Blaah
Made in 48 hours for Ludum Dare 53 (theme Delivery), in Pico-8.
The LD web player seems to have some issues with screen size, especially on mobile. I recommend playing on GitHub Pages: https://eddyashton.github.io/ld53/
Story
You have just been hired by a global megacorporation.
Yesterday, the CEO Winston Poppycock announced his latest triumph: a fleet of fully autonomous self-driving delivery vehicles.
That was a lie.
The vehicles are remote-controlled, by you.
Place arrows to direct the vehicles. Collect orders from the depot, and deliver them to the homes of eager consumers. Don't let the backlog fill the depot, or you'll be fired.
Controls
- Move your cursor with the arrow keys.
- Hold the X button (C on keyboard) to enter placement mode, and place arrows. Set the direction with an arrow key. Tap X with no direction to delete an existing arrow.
- Press the O button (V on keyboard) to cycle through cursor colours, and then place arrows of each colour.
- Trucks will only follow arrows of their own colour.
- Drive past a depot or house to collect and deliver orders.
- Windows light up in the colour of the good each customer has ordered.
- Multiple orders can be collected delivered at once.
(There's an in-game tutorial too)
Notes
- My first jam entry - this was fun!
- Made solo
- No audio! Maybe next time
- There are multiple levels available from the pause menu
- Difficulty is a bit whack, as the levels are mostly aesthetic rather than fun. Very easy to add more though, maybe I'll do that after the jam
Ratings
| Overall | 253th | 3.357⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 288th | 3.048⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 138th | 3.548⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 85th | 4.167⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 225th | 3.452⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 207th | 2.825⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 21🗳️ | 12🗨️ |
The tutorial was great to explain the controls and mechanics in a simple environment rather than being thrown directly into a big level.
It's a kind of gameplay that I think would have been great with mouse controls (though that's not exactly doable with Pico-8), as it can be a bit slow/clunky at times to move around the cursor with arrow keys. Another thing regarding the controls but more QoL is that it would have been nice to be able to remove arrows even if they don't match the cursor color.
I think it would have been nice to have a real menu with a level selection screen rather than having to go through the pause screen to switch levels. And maybe some easier levels as well as the game tends to end pretty fast if you're not micromanaging perfectly.
Overall, it's a solid entry for compo. Great job.
I understand the controls in theory, in practice ... I don't care how bad an actual automated system would have been in this world, but it's hard to imagine it doing it worse.
My only nitpick is that sometimes the text is a bit hard to read, and the keys to use are not very clear. But after a couple of tries, it's much easier to understand.
Nice entry overall ! GG
that said compo is hard and pico-8 is already challenging, and this is a fully formed game loop with original mechanics, fantastic job