Sloane Posted January 9, 2020 Released, download it here: https://sloane.itch.io/what-remains-of-idle-thumbs Still has a few (mostly visual) bugs, I'll try to iron those out over the next couple of days. *** First time participating since Wizard Jam 4 a little over -- yikes! -- three years ago with that Nick Breckon Cheating Hitman game. We (wife and I) are trying to make something along the lines of Theme Park / Parkitect but instead of an entertaining park you'll actually be trying to build the worst park possible for you are the architect of The Medium Place between heaven and hell. Your job's gonna be to make visitors suffer enough to destroy their souls and send them to hell before they reach the gates of heaven. (Guess hell's paying better for new folks than heaven, idk.) So: Long lines everywhere? Good! People vomiting all over the place? Great! Visitors getting so frustrated they start beating each other up? Even better! Since an "actual" park builder is probably way above our skill level, we're aiming for a more tower-defense-y vibe; visitors will enter the park, walk along a fixed path towards the gates of heaven, and it'll be the player's job to break their spirits / annoy them to death before they reach the exit. Rides will, hopefully, be somewhat Thumbs-themed -- maybe a Cheating Hitman shell game, dot gobblers hunting visitors, a Far Cry 2 coaster with fake lines that never move forward... something like that. Since Good Bye is already taken, we're gonna call this "What Remains of Idle Thumbs" for now, unless we find a better title! I'll try to post updates starting Saturday or so. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
z_bill Posted January 9, 2020 Ha I like the idea of a tower defense game where the point is to wage war on people's psyches. I like the title. But man, you know this jam is gonna tear at your heartstrings when the title alone is enough to make you sad... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nkornek Posted January 9, 2020 Love the idea! And yeah, that title gets me right in the heart. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sloane Posted January 11, 2020 Got a basic prototype running. Visitors spawn in waves, move towards the exit, and stop at every building that isn't overcrowded. I'm not sure how to do actual waiting lines (in regards to the space available on the map), so every building's probably gonna have a few use and wait positions, and if everything's blocked, visitors are just gonna move on and lose a little health. I think we're gonna have different emotion / damage types (annoyed, bored, ripped off, sick...) that all count against the overall health but some character types / waves might be immune against an emotion or two. So, idk, some people might not mind slow / boring rides, others might think vomiting is super cool and part of the experience, so you've gotta adapt a bit towards each wave. Most difficult parts probably gonna be balancing everything out and getting the look down but we'll see! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
brendonsmall Posted January 12, 2020 I like how clean all the art and UI looks. Also very fun good game idea Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sloane Posted January 13, 2020 Cheatin' Hitman doing his thing. A few bugs aside, everything seems to be working so far, which is a nice surprise. Also, what's the best way to record a gif? Never done that before. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
atte Posted January 13, 2020 This looks and sounds very interesting For gif recording I've used these https://www.screentogif.com/ http://blog.bahraniapps.com/gifcam/#download Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sloane Posted January 13, 2020 Thanks, gonna try that next time! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RKSanders Posted January 13, 2020 Haha love that Cheatin' Hitman is a cup game. I also endorse GifCam. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
z_bill Posted January 13, 2020 The art has got a nice boardgame feel, sorta like Monopoly in Hell with the map laid out like that! It's weird, you don't see 3d motels turned 2d isometric much anymore. I'm kinda nostalgic for it at this point! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nkornek Posted January 14, 2020 OMG I love the giant cheatin hitman. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dinosaursssssss Posted January 14, 2020 Cool, sounds complicated but it looks like you're making good progress! Also the models are pretty sharp, A+ mustard application. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ganz Posted January 14, 2020 Really fun concept! Just to spite you, I must make the best theme park possible. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sloane Posted January 16, 2020 GifCam is great and super easy, thanks for the tip! Wizard still needs a little work but close enough for now. Things are moving along fairly nicely, we're actually considering dropping some of the tower-defense stuff in favor of actual park building including placing paths and stuff. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
brendonsmall Posted January 16, 2020 This is looking really good. Those luigi bones! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sloane Posted January 18, 2020 Can I interest you in some puffin balloons? They totally won't explode or come to life or anything... Other than that, I mostly did some necessary code clean-up and started writing the tutorial these last couple of days. Biggest remaining issue is figuring out the AI, in terms of striking a balance between the characters wandering around / exploring the park and following their interests / urges. Currently, I'm experimenting with buildings advertising utility (fun, thrill, relaxation, -hunger, -thirst) and characters finding the building / action with the best offer, while at the same time reacting to what they are perceiving and taking spontaneous actions without repeating things too much or at all... which proves quite difficult. Still, if everything works out, the game should be mostly playable in a couple of days so we might be able to spend the majority of the remaining time on gameplay balancing, polish, and UI. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
brendonsmall Posted January 19, 2020 Is that the Spelunky snake? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sloane Posted January 19, 2020 Yes, and the base of the carousel is kinda the Spelunky hat! I'll turn a snake blue to make it more obvious, gotta work on materials a bit anyway. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
brendonsmall Posted January 19, 2020 13 hours ago, Sloane said: Yes, and the base of the carousel is kinda the Spelunky hat! I'll turn a snake blue to make it more obvious, gotta work on materials a bit anyway. That's great! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
brendonsmall Posted January 24, 2020 I feel like that blue cup should be branded by Ultra Boost or something Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nkornek Posted January 24, 2020 I like that everyone who enters must face the eyes of Luigi Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sloane Posted January 27, 2020 Pretty much done but I stumbled into an issue with characters getting stuck after a few minutes that I couldn't immediately solve yesterday and stopped me from releasing. I'll make the download available later today! Edit: Think I've fixed it, uploaded. Still has a few bugs (missing icons, characters facing the wrong direction) but those should be mostly cosmetic. I'll put out another update later today. UI isn't looking great overall but should be functional. Download: https://sloane.itch.io/what-remains-of-idle-thumbs Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RKSanders Posted January 30, 2020 I'm really liking the buildings so far but I'm terrible at the game ><. What's a good build order? I've gotten to the 10 kill tier of buildings once but then it collapses and I lose all my money from people leaving. Combo-ing food, annoyed, and the Spelunky ride seems to work well at the beginning but falls off later. Will people use the same attraction more than once? The causes of death made me chuckle. Have you ever played a game called Evil Genius? This game reminds me of it quite bit a bit. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sloane Posted January 30, 2020 Yes, I played Evil Genius and I kinda miss games like that or Dungeon Keeper where you are the bad guy and where there is a more interesting goal / background than just making the most money. As for this game, yeah, figuring out the balancing isn't easy and we are "not great" at 2D/UI which probably makes a few things more confusing than they should be. For the latest version, we actually went back to the initial tower-defense idea because the path-building didn't really add much and complicated the progression unnecessarily. For the "old" sim version (with path-building), annoyed, food, Spelunky, puking probably was the way to start, yeah, followed by drinks -> restroom usage / littering, benches, and another ride. Probably should have dropped Hitman from being available at the start to make it clearer. Decoration buildings (like Luigi's eyes or bones) were initially a bit overpowered since they require no usage, probably nerfed them a little too much. The latest tower-defense build should be somewhat easier. I'm planning on releasing a final update today or tomorrow at the latest which hopefully improves the balancing (a lot easier to test, too, with waves coming in marching towards the exit), clears up the hints and tool tips a bit, and irons out the remaining bugs. Thanks for playing! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
