Packontra by CaptainDreamcast

[raw]
made by CaptainDreamcast for Ludum Dare 53 (COMPO)

The true story behind the people that sometimes go to houses and leave cuboid-shaped items there. When John van Damme (played by John van Damme), former green beret learns the truth of the so-called "mailmen" from his new master "Colonel Steve" (played by Mailman Steve), his life is both shattered and given purpose. Can you help him defeat the evil rainforest overlord and avoid being arrested for property damage? Are you so far beyond being Packpro that you become... PACKONTRA?!

LD_BANNER.png

So yeah, I kinda felt like making something like Contra for some reason, and Crazy Taxi is the ultimate delivery game, so I thought "why not combine them". I ran out of time, the most drastic missing feature is that the dogs don't really do much except wander around and take bullets. Originally they were supposed to push you back and throw you around, but balancing that didn't quite work out, so it just got the butcher knife, alas. I tried some new stuff this Ludum Dare, like BeepBox and adding """proper""" voices, something I dipped my toes into last time. Scope creep got me this time but at the end of the day I had fun, hope it's still playable and you can get at least a little something out of it!

Edit: Dreamcast port is live too!

Thanks a lot for playing!

Ratings

Overall 201th 3.534⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Fun 209th 3.362⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 263th 3.138⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Theme 162th 3.966⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 178th 3.638⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Audio 56th 3.845⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Humor 11th 4.224⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Mood 142th 3.518⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Given 24🗳️ 38🗨️

Feedback

jakeblake
01. May 2023 · 03:10 UTC
I've played several times and I'm still not sure I understand how to deliver the packages correctly. :laughing: I really enjoyed the opening sequence and had fun overall.
Castitatis
01. May 2023 · 03:15 UTC
This game has the best introduction I've ever seen XD

amazing humour
PerfectSquare
01. May 2023 · 15:38 UTC
Hahahaha, that was a fantastic intro! It was hilarious to begin with and then the voice acting made it 100x better. The controls were a bit unusual (eg. having A as jump rather than Space or Up arrow) so that took some getting used to but I was able to deliver a package eventually!
LDJam user 238500
01. May 2023 · 18:36 UTC
So stupid, I love it! The intro just kept going :) Amazing work. The gameplay was okay. Jump was a bit floaty/slow for this kind of level. Sounds and voices are top notch!
silkworm_sweatshop
01. May 2023 · 18:37 UTC
Lol, a lot of love went into that opening scene. Are the dogs supposed to hurt you(didn't seem like it)? Or are they just cannon fodder:sweat_smile:? Not sure if the packages could use an arrow as well, but maybe it's part of the challenge to try and find them.
Frogman
01. May 2023 · 19:29 UTC
I defeated the dark emperor and got the title of the mailest man!

Anyway, this was a simply hilarious game! I loved the opening sequence, and the voice acting was amazing - both in it and during the game. I'm honestly kind of glad that the dogs don't do anything, it was hard enough to get an S rank even without them. Also, I liked the honk button, truly an essential feature. I sometimes received packages with a target delivery time of 0 seconds, and it was quite hard to find the specific house the arrow was pointing to, but otherwise, amazing entry!
Oradimi
02. May 2023 · 12:15 UTC
Managed to get the S-rank!
Great humor, very funny voices, loved it despite the missing features!
Just as some other people said previously, it indeed would've been too hard with this many dogs, and the jump is a bit floaty, which makes finding packages on the map harder.
Well done on the music too!
LDJam user 178793
02. May 2023 · 16:59 UTC
This game has a great sense of humor! Honk button was my favorite.
Wahooney
02. May 2023 · 21:45 UTC
Okay that intro is WAAAAY too long :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:, it was funny though. I enjoyed the gameplay though
Braveskin
03. May 2023 · 02:53 UTC
Nicely delivered art and voiceovers! That intro was too funny...
Achila eranga mohottige
03. May 2023 · 02:58 UTC
haha I really liked the whole setup for the story at the start. it was funny enough I played it multi attempts. the controls were a little oddly placed for my preference perhaps. X)
Lvl99Chicken
03. May 2023 · 03:20 UTC
hilarious opening xD I enjoyed the game and really did feel like contra game style.
nekowei
03. May 2023 · 03:20 UTC
Very funny intro 😂 I can feel your love for dogs. The gameplay is really classic, reminds me of good old days.
Calamador
03. May 2023 · 04:18 UTC
This game had a really fun intro and a surprisingly fun gameplay loop. I really appreciate how all the individual houses contained unique dialogue. At my best attempt I got 6 packages delivered! Great work!
Rezioz
03. May 2023 · 22:36 UTC
this game has a plot longer than the game itself :laughing: that was a lot of fun :)
johjoh
04. May 2023 · 02:15 UTC
Always love the ridiculous intros, lol. The package throwing into the houses felt a bit weird but only made me miss once or twice. A lot of personality in this one from the voicelines to the honking, shame you didn't have time to implement enemy collision as I would have liked to see how the gameplay worked with it but great entry nonetheless.
Jimbly
09. May 2023 · 00:44 UTC
That was really fun! I think you really captured the _Contra_ feel well. Ran into one bug where I had a package, dropped it right before it was out of time, then it disappeared, and the next package spawned with a 0 second timer on it, so it disappeared as soon as I picked it up.

![Screenshot 2023-05-08 174235.png](///raw/dd3/z/5b9f8.png)
automatonvx
12. May 2023 · 17:20 UTC
intro was maybe a bit too much for me, liked the idea of a contra like. Was confused why i didn't seem to have a health bar and did not interact with the dogs, so they seemed sort of redundant. Managed to get a B anyhow. Props for making something that would actually run some old hardware. Seemed to have a bit of an issue sometimes when i fired the package it just dissapeared, but was not delivered. Nice idea, but as it stands seems missing some key mechanics, good effort though.
Samuli
13. May 2023 · 16:44 UTC
S Rank! I am the mailest man! I will drop this to my Dreamcast next time I am putting more games into my ODE. Awesome intro and great game.
blobo
13. May 2023 · 19:35 UTC
As a~~n eagle scout~~ totally real member of the green beret, I can confirm my package tossing skills are on par with the protagonist of this documentary.

Oh yeah. The iconic CaptainDreamcast opening cutscene, this time with voice acting?! You absolutely *delivered*!

The jokes at every house are great! I think my favorite is the one where I deliver someone a new window by tossing a package through their old window. What can I say; su sense-of-humor mi sense-of-humor.

I mention it in my recorded gameplay (that's right, I recorded my gameplay) my *only* grievance with the game is the package can spawn somewhere way off screen, and it might take a while to find it. Some sort of indicator arrow would be helpful, though now that I have scored S rank twice in a row, it might not even be needed. that would certainly make the game too easy.

I'm not sure if the dogs actually do anything? Perhaps they should give you some knock-back, or make you drop the package. (unless they are currently undergoing a spa-simulation) Otherwise, I didn't find a point in tranquilizing them.

"Resultsontra". *Chefs kiss*. Straight fire.

Anyway, for maximum feedback, here's the recorded gameplay:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeKutIeqJ44

Cheers!

**Edit:** How did I miss the cool honking noise in my first play-through?!