FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD49 → Kevin Is Unstable

Kevin Is Unstable

By uraffululz

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall12903.0547
Fun12972.8546
Innovation8073.2547
Theme6163.6647
Graphics12072.9447
Audio9851.8944
Humor3543.5747
Mood12392.8745

Comments

uraffululz 2021-10-04 18:15

Thank you for checking out my game! If you liked it, please let me know. If you didn't like it, well, that's certainly fair...better luck next jam....

darthboseiju 2021-10-04 19:33

I enjoyed it! Mostly spent my time watching Kevin pottering around and kicking things.

I think i hit a couple of bugs though! Kevin seemed to get stuck kicking a lamp and no more damages happened.

Great take on the theme though. GJ!

uraffululz 2021-10-05 04:58

@darthboseiju Thanks very much. Full disclosure: I did notice that bug at one point, but instantly prioritized something else over it and forgot. I think it has to do with switching his attack from "just working" (in which Kevin would end up dealing damage to the player from across the room) to using a spherecast. I think the issue is that the sphere isn't very big, and starts at Kevin's position, which isn't his center-mass, but at his FEET, so that may be why it's not (or just barely) reaching the lamps. Derp.

Probably could have fixed that in about 10 seconds, but the jam is over, and I have to stand by my product. Maybe after the judging period (or during, if it's allowed) I'll upload a fixed version (clearly-labeled, of course, to prevent confusion) for any bugs anyone finds.

Thanks again! If nothing else, I'll keep such errors in mind for next time.

arthur-mairs 2021-10-05 09:12

Oh Kevin, what a little rascal! i enjoyed stuffing the child full of cake nad cookies so he didn't smash anything! Easiest 10 bucks of my life!

jonathan-alderson 2021-10-05 09:17

Fun little game, managed to complete on first try. I was a little confused how to make Kevin watch the TV, Feeding him cake and giving him ball seemed to do the trick of keeping him occupied.

A little bug, if you rotate camera more than 720 degrees you can't go any further, not sure if this is a webGL thing or not.

Could improve with some audio and some strats on how to appease kevin. Love the art and theme.

ollieoa 2021-10-05 09:19

Overall a fun game, I did find it pretty easy to beat once I loaded up poor Kevin with sweet food haha

appoxgames 2021-10-05 09:19

All that for 10$?! Also, Kevin flipped our when I gave him his rocket? Or did he perhaps play with it? Either way, it would have been great hearing little Kevin flip out as well. It was a fun take on the theme, well done!

uraffululz 2021-10-05 09:25

@jonathan-alderson I noticed that issue also, after uploading. It does seem to be something with the WebGL build. If you choose to download the other version, the rotation works fine.

@ollieoa @arthur-mairs Whatever it takes to make him CALM DOWN!

@appoxgames That flip-out with the toys is just Kevin's way of playing, by keeping his destructive tendencies contained to small household items, rather than unloading on the people around him.I would have added some sounds for Kevin, but wasn't brave or creative enough to attempt recording myself sounding like a little kid.

Thank you all for the feedback!

pythorogus 2021-10-05 09:25

This game promotes diabetes !!!! I liked it

uraffululz 2021-10-05 09:30

@pythorogus Haha, indeed. Thank you very much!

bluecalx 2021-10-05 09:38

Runned around, fed Kevin with green goo & cakes to protect grandma's lamps, watched him throw a tantrum while keeping his favourite rocket for myself. I gotta say I had a fun time. Would have been nice if the house was tiny bit bigger, like if kevin could open doors & such. Thus, it was a bit too easy to keep track of kevin's location. Poor soul also took everything I gave him without any noticeable difference beside the blood sugar thing. Would have love simple rules such as he doesn't want the same object 2 times in a row. Anyway, good take on the theme, GG !

uraffululz 2021-10-05 10:06

@bluecalx I would have liked to add more rooms (maybe a bathroom or garage, but I wanted to keep the parents' room (the other door in the hallway) locked), but wasn't sure if I had time. And yeah, Kevin's "wandering around" is pretty much limited to the living room.

The "no item twice in a row" is actually a solid idea. Wish I'd thought of it haha :shrug:

Thanks for playing!

lb01 2021-10-05 22:50

This game makes me happy I never had a younger sibling. But in all seriousness, I liked your take on this with the instability of kids. I think it would've been more fun if the house was larger, but I get that there are time constraints. I had some WebGL issues with the camera refusing to rotate more after a certain point, but overall it was a fun game.

uraffululz 2021-10-06 02:49

@lb01 Thanks for playing! I'm pretty sure that issue has to do with the mouse cursor hitting the edge of one's computer screen. Sorry about that. It's my first time making a first-person jam game, and I didn't foresee that problem. Thankfully, the downloadable version doesn't have that issue, if you'd still care to play.

proxy-games 2021-10-06 03:40

This was a lot of fun, and honestly left me kinda panicked as I thought this game would be the kind to have a horrifying out-of-nowhere jumpscare with Kevin once all the lamps broke. Luckily, that didn't happen. The playspace is pretty limited, and there are only two types of items in terms of gameplay (raise blood sugar and pause lowering of blood sugar) so the game fills a little limited, but it still worked well. I also really wish there was some kind of ambience as the game feels really lifeless right now. Overall, 10/10 would get $10 again.

uraffululz 2021-10-06 04:17

@proxy-games I totally understand what you mean. I definitely should have done more work with the audio (with at least some sound effects as Kevin eats, or grunts and smacks as Kevin bashes his toys on the ground). Maybe by the next jam I'll learn how to compose some background music for better ambience. I always tend to save the sound-design until the very last, but by then I'm also freaking about submitting before the deadline :disappointed: .

Thank you very much!

bgdc 2021-10-06 08:14

Simple yet very intense gameplay :laughing: i don't want to know what will happen to me if i let his blood sugar drops (the game felt like horror game) so i started to throw at him every food and toys i can grab and thankfully the gameplay isn't too hard to pickup and completed it with no sweat :thumbsup:

Did you develop this alone? just wondering :thinking:

uraffululz 2021-10-06 08:31

@bgdc Thank you! Yes, I developed this myself using Unity, Blender, and the sound recorder on my phone (for the ONE sound in the game).

I should list that in the description. Thanks for reminding me!

bgdc 2021-10-06 08:55

@uraffululz that's really impressive! i'm proud of you :thumbsup:

uraffululz 2021-10-06 10:55

@bgdc Thanks! I enjoyed playing your game also!

ninjacatz 2021-10-06 12:53

Kevin's metabolism scares me. Unusual implementation of the theme.

uraffululz 2021-10-06 13:50

@ninjacatz Oh yeah. There's definitely something wrong with him.

Thanks for playing!

duck-reaction 2021-10-06 17:41

Nice game, you probably succeed to implement your intentions because... Kevin really gets me, he's a really annoying kid! Good effort with sound design, it's pretty functional but it works and it helps to understand when something is broken even if you're not looking at, good feedback. Some spatial footsteps sounds would be great for kevin to know where he is. But I enjoyed this game, it was fun to see kevin destroy everything :smile:

uraffululz 2021-10-06 18:50

@duck-reaction Thank you very much! I agree the sound could have been better. I always tend to save it for the very last moments, but maybe next time I'll make it more of a priority (We'll just have to see what fits the LD theme next time :ok_hand: ).

annearkey 2021-10-06 20:56

Fun quick game! I also did not figure out how to turn the tv on, as I dove right into getting cake and toys for the little dude to keep occupied with. I did encounter the camera issue on HTML, but found that movement could be worked around that.

tattomoosa 2021-10-06 21:24

I see this is Unity, you can fix the camera issue by adding: `Cursor.lockState = CursorLockMode.Locked`. This locks the mouse cursor into the screen and hides it. Note that you will want to unlock it manually with `Cursor.lockState = CursorLockMode.None` for any time where you need the cursor to move away from the center of the screen, like in a menu.

As it is, the game is completely unplayable. Not just in web but the Windows download too for anyone with multiple monitors like me. It looks interesting, and babysitting is an incredible take on the theme lol.

I'm not leaving a rating for now, but ping me if you get the fix patched in and I'll give it another go.

uraffululz 2021-10-06 23:27

@annearkey Thanks for playing! Sorry for the confusion about the tv. There's no need to interact with it. I guess you could think of it as "already on", since that's where Kevin goes when his blood sugar is above 50%. I did briefly consider trying to add a shader or something to the effect of tv static, but wasn't sure if I had time. Maybe I should have tried making it black and reflective. That would have upped the creepiness for sure.

uraffululz 2021-10-07 01:06

@tattomoosa Thanks for the tip! Since this is my first attempt at a first-person game in a while (and the first using Unity's new(ish) Input System), I wasn't really sure of all I needed to do.

I have uploaded a fixed Windows download on the itch.io page. I hesitated to do so, since it's outside of the jam time limit, but I checked again and see that it IS allowed by the rules. And if it's making the game completely unplayable, then it needs to be done. Also made sure to post a changelog at the top of the page. Now I just wish I'd known/done this sooner. Everyone so far might have had a better experience :frowning:

The WebGL build still had the same problem, despite the fix, so I've decided to just remove it.

Thanks again for the tip. I hope the game works well for you, if you decide to try it again (I also have multiple monitors, and tested it. I can see now how it compares to the old version).

substain 2021-10-07 12:33

okay kevin I think you have had enough pie and cookies now!

xcvzxc 2021-10-07 16:46

This is so funny. I won at first try but then I was curious what would happen if I failed and it seems that this aspect of the game is broken. Kevin destroyed all the lamps and came after me but he just beat and kicked me and nothing happened.

uraffululz 2021-10-07 17:20

@xcvzxc Thanks for the heads-up. Seems each time I try to fix something, it works halfway. I'll keep at it. If it's any consolation, you didn't miss much. Basically just a "You Died" screen (anticlimactic, I know). Thanks again!

tattomoosa 2021-10-07 20:19

Thanks for patching this so I could play. This was hilarious, but very easy. My first play-through I just filled that kid with cake and did fine. It would be a nice touch if Kevin had a face that gets mad with low blood sugar. Maybe it gets even darker when the lights go out and he gets a monster face or something haha.

I saw another comment saying they couldn't die, so I wanted to let you know that you do die if Kevin attacks you, it just takes a really long time. Lowering the player health would be good.

Odd about the web player camera. I checked my game and it's actually grabbing focus in the camera controller's update loop. I did that just because it was an easy place to put it, but maybe it's actually important to request to lock the mouse every frame or when the web player has focus (web browsers impose some restrictions on what website media can do with grabbing the cursor for security/not letting sites be super annoying)

fedegelo 2021-10-08 02:28

Mmm, I beat it first try by just giving anything I found to Kevin. I really like the idea though, it goes well with the theme. It also felt a little bit empty without sounds or music. Cool concept!

uraffululz 2021-10-08 06:56

@tattomoosa Thanks very much for giving this game another chance! I really appreciate your help, and I'm glad you (and everyone else since the fix) had a better experience with it. I get that the game is too easy (if I had had the time, I was considering a "hard mode" where you babysit two kids. Yikes). It was more about implementing the mechanics and making the art, to try something new. I admittedly did only a small bit of "balancing", but who really wants to play a shoddy jam game like this over and over? Nahhh. There are hundreds of new games out there to rate. I don't want people to get hung up on this one for too long :wink: Anyway, I'm rambling. Thanks again!

uraffululz 2021-10-08 06:59

@fedegelo Thanks for playing! I'll definitely work harder on audio in the future.

kristoph 2021-10-08 12:10

First time getting killed by a diabetic kid lol. Hilarious game, would probably have been better with some music or more sound effects. The parents' messages were fun! The gameplay was a bit repetitive tho.

uraffululz 2021-10-08 13:19

Thank you! I agree. I wish I'd had time (or worked faster) to work in a few more gameplay mechanics or play modes, and definitely more audio. I'll definitely keep this all in mind for the next jam. Thanks again!

zachsbutt 2021-10-09 15:22

this is a really funny idea, i just wish there was more to it in the execution.

uraffululz 2021-10-09 16:21

@zachsbutt Thanks for playing! Agreed, I think I spent too much time on the art and animation (I thought I was saving time by cutting corners with Kevin's animations, but I may have wasted more time doing it by hand. Oof). Also, I'm not well-versed in making first-person games, and had to learn a few things to do it (moderately) well. It's definitely been a good learning experience, though. Plenty of feedback to keep in mind for next time. Thanks again

xpoho 2021-10-11 12:04

Мило. Кевин! Я тебя развлеку! Аха-ха-ха!

nratcliff 2021-10-14 18:05

macOS build worked fine! I did have to change the permissions for the app before I could run it, but that's standard for builds made on Windows, I think. I found the camera was a bit jittery which made the experience a bit more rough than it could have been, but I did have fun trying to appease your little sugar demon. I had a pretty frantic moment when he started breaking all the lamps.

uraffululz 2021-10-15 14:45

@nratcliff Thanks very much for playing, and for letting me know about the mac build!

voodoo51 2021-10-17 12:00

The animations look very weird but imo it just makes this game more funny :D

uraffululz 2021-10-17 12:35

@voodoo51 I totally understand about the animations. I thought I would save time by not using IK, but it turned out to be just the opposite. Also, I wasn't sure I needed the "root bone", which led to EVEN MORE wasted time and effort. I had to do a lot more manual adjustments to the animations than I should have. Definitely a mistake (or two) that I'll try not to repeat in the future, haha! Thanks for the feedback!

ryjcio 2021-10-19 19:36

Hi man, congrats for finishing solo project! Probably it was super hard to make 3D game all by yourself.

General concept is pretty promising. Would be nice to be able to pick up items just by using left mouse click. I don't see any point why it's under E key. Also it feels like some additional obstacle would make game even more fun. Like idk, for example a dog which hangs around and messes up things?

Anyway it's pretty original, I didn't see anyone else connecting the theme with diabetes :)

uraffululz 2021-10-20 02:14

@ryjcio I agree with you about the left-click to pick things up. That did occur to me, but only after the jam was over. The E key is usually just my default when making games, so I didn't think about how awkward it might be. Thanks for playing, and for the feedback!

ucsbdad 2021-10-21 16:37

This game was very cool and was a fantastic fit for the theme in both the narrative and gameplay. I liked it a lot and got a lot of laughs out of it.

uraffululz 2021-10-21 16:52

@ucsbdad Thanks a lot! I'm really glad you enjoyed playing!