Afterlyft: One Helluva Ride by Nyla J

[raw]
made by Nyla J for Ludum Dare 58 (JAM)

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NOTICE OF EMPLOYEE PROBATION

Your recent performance at Heaven’s Immigration Center has fallen below standards. As a result, your position is under review. During your probationary period, you have been reassigned to a new role to demonstrate your competence.

ASSIGNMENT DESCRIPTION

You have been contracted to serve as a driver for Afterlyft, a luxury transport service delivering recently deceased clients to the Gates of Hell.

Officially, your task is simple: ensure a smooth and timely ride.

Unofficially, your real assignment is to reform these often self-centered, high-profile souls before arrival. Heaven’s got a redemption quota to fill—and, frankly, we need to keep our government funding. No pressure.

PLEASE NOTE: failure to improve will result in immediate termination and—unfortunately—eternal damnation. Have a blessed day!

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Ratings

Overall 440th 3.455⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Fun 399th 3.31⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 253th 3.476⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Theme 648th 3.143⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 284th 3.905⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Audio 247th 3.525⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Humor 115th 3.81⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Mood 282th 3.738⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Given 9🗳️ 17🗨️

Feedback

LemonInk
Oct 07th · 21:21 UTC
Such clever writing and amazing atmosphere! I love how the buildings popup as you drive by and the conversations you have with customers!
JamesXM
Oct 08th · 00:48 UTC
Fun characters and i really enjoyed how the buildings spawned up. Hoewver after the 1st passenger i got stuck in a death sprial and had to stop lol. I wish the car could have backed up or slowed down. Fun though nice job.
jomnaq
Oct 08th · 01:21 UTC
omg this was amazing, the dialogue is so funny and i love drive. the way the buildings come are cool and i like how there are sounds when i hit someone (oops).
gamesplusjames
Oct 08th · 01:33 UTC
Such a cool take on the theme! Great writing and I loved the art. Really cool job!
Caominh Le
Oct 08th · 02:38 UTC
@jamesxm Thanks for playing! Sorry the game bugged out on you. We'll see what we can do to fix that for the post-jam version. For the brakes and reverse, you have to buy them in the shop (because h3ll doesn't have brakes by default). The car does slow down over time though, and you can buy the speedometer to see your speed.
Caominh Le
Oct 08th · 02:40 UTC
@jomnaq @gamesplusjames @lemonink Hehe glad you enjoyed the story and effects!
Cahard
Oct 08th · 13:14 UTC
When I saw the college tuition, I almost cried!)) Excellent visual style which, for me, combined with the soundtrack, makes the noir vibe very fitting. Great concept. The way the houses rotate is mesmerizing :D
The car handling is really fun!

The volume slider doesn't work.
It's a bit annoying that you can't make the dialogues go faster.
Sometimes the dialogue box blocks the speedometer.
Why can the police run over pedestrians with impunity, but I can't?))))

p.s.
I never did manage to save up for that college((

p.p.s.
I'm a pretty lousy taxi driver, of course))

![Без имени.png](///raw/ab4/66/z/6ee99.png)
LDJam user 179298
Oct 08th · 17:36 UTC
You can really feel the sense of speed when you floor it. That is until you crash into a wall. Car engine sound would be nice to have but you can't have everything in a jam game. Also I got money for all the upgrades just after the first ride which kind of defeats the purpose I think. But the art is great and I had lots of fun!
Eugenik
Oct 09th · 06:41 UTC
Gameplay is great. Nice idea for theme
toastercosplay
Oct 10th · 08:49 UTC
i love this aesthetic!
b0guslaw
Oct 11th · 07:29 UTC
Jam games that execute a gameplay idea well are one thing, but jam games that execute a gameplay idea well AND are able to deliver a story through the gameplay are a whole other level. Loved the idea, loved the art, loved the humor. Taxi driving is hard
NBumgardner
Oct 11th · 18:01 UTC
Like a backseat driver, this game gave me so many thoughts.

Making the text word bubble grow taller over time to fit added text is clever.

When the gameplay started I felt intimidated with the green bar going down, conversation bubbles to read, trying to glance at my surroundings, and understand what the choice bubbles meant and had to use them. Maybe an extra step for turning the key to start the ignition or something would help for easing into seeing the scenery before adding in the timers and choices.

A minor detail with the start menu. It might be challenging to do for this game since the starting screen is balanced to fit 4 buttons at the bottom, yet I recommend hiding the Quit button from web builds. Otherwise clicking it makes the game look like it freezed until the browser is refreshed.

Having a speed limit without a moving spedometer was puzzling to figure out. The downside was funny though, I liked the contrast between the urgent siren, the fear of being caught, and the silliness of buildings flying away then regenerating. Later I found out how to unlock it, but the police still felt somewhat random or hard to not trigger by going slower.

For balance, I think switching the first 2 characters might help ease into the gameplay, having someone who talks less while figuring out how to drive.

Lastly, I don't think the game's reset is finished. The 2nd playthrough my passenger was silent instead of verbose, and the 3rd playthrough my vehicle turned blue in a photo-negative sort of way. Running into someone led me to almost instantly lose to fix colors. The 4th playthrough seemed similar to the second, with upgrades persisting through runs.

Overall very interesting, the story elements seem to fit well together. The gameplay feels connected, but having so many distractions of text, phone, pedestrians, speed limits, turns, plus an invincible car makes the game challenging to learn in a way that almost seems like a 2nd, intentional story about distracted driving.
tuh
Oct 11th · 20:59 UTC
Cool, I like the wasplady :stuck_out_tongue:
InfernalWolf08
Oct 12th · 17:13 UTC
love the interesting and unique story