NPC Simulator

Whoa it’s pretty neat that you colorblindness created more unique characters than standalone human characters. That being said, I’m sure it must not be very easy to work with, so good job, the sprites match the artwork now. :clap:

In terms of spelling, without attempting to screencap every typo I encountered, the one I can remember is that chicken is misspelled as “chickin” whenever you grab one when foraging.

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Given the creator’s name I think that’s by design, haha.

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Yeah the correct way to spell it is ‘chikin’, but yall aint ready for that yet. Jokes aside I put that in for me when playtesting and forgot to fix it for the actual release…

The spelling now says chicken and I was able to fix Jenny’s floating circles (it was easier than I thought it would be) in v1.3. I will hold off on posting that patch, because I just posted v1.2 and want to see if any errors pop up with v1.2 so I can fix them for v1.3. No use spamming patches.

Edit: If anyone finds any other spelling errors, lemme know. I aint never learned to spell no good. Extra letters in words like ‘soo’ are intentional, but mispelligns like taht are definitely not, unless it comes from the narrator.

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That is actually a very good answer.

So, Jenny continues to be a puzzle.

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the intro of the game is the thing i always laugh at
cause it literally shames the player
cool game

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Hey! I tried out your game, pretty darn cool concept, but since am just an art guy i just wanted to point out the art of the adventures look alright but it could be improved a lot, as is kt rly reminds me of cartoon wacky artstyle rayman origins style, so to show what i mean am gonna send this sketch i made of the witch adventurer

The arms could be more exagerated the faces could use some depth, the shading is alright in one of the charcters but ut would help more into the clothing and the poses could be a lil more expressive, you did great prolly considering you used some sort of vector tool but if you can or wanna update the art works i just leave my advice here, good game!

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This was a really cool game, and the drawing were just fine.

At first I was a bit off put by the premise and the Narrator and the foraging, etc, but once I started getting into it, feeding the heroes to the point of no travel is a bit addictive, tbh. Once you get into the “gameplay” beats, it’s actually really enjoyable, as are the sprites and dialogue (aside from the narrator, I like the direction, but I feel the writing needs a bit of polish).
So far I’ve gotten 3 or 4 days without any travel, which I consider an achievement so far, especially since there’s really no tell that they won’t travel that day. I also wanna add that I got all 3 to stay put for every day except for the last one, where it was just Lucy who gave in. Dunno if this is part of the bad end.
One QoL thing I’d like to request is just some small tell that they’re going to be immobile that day. It’d make saving up resources a bit easier besides constant saving and trial and error. I can understand if this choice is deliberate, though.

EDIT: I feel like my wording at the start was a bit mean. I wanna say that I didn’t outright dislike the game at all, it just felt a bit tedious and unpolished. I suppose having to make a project for a jam so quickly can have that effect. All in all, I really like what you’ve got so far, and I can’t wait to see where you can take it! :grin:

EDIT2.5: I think I found the bad end: So I tried to see what would happen if I said no to certain options while seeing what would happen if I didn’t feed any of the heroes. First I was forced to go ahead on the path even though I said no. Then I got to see the scenic Hellscape. Then I went back and was banned from foraging, and three days later, I’m a permanent resident of said Hellscape.
Non-spoiler TL;DR: Don’t test the Narrator. Or do, idc, I’m just an NPC :slight_smile:

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The writing in this game was good and entertaining. Typos didn’t bug me since they sure did seem intentional, but who cares really. Goblin best waifu.

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I think this is a really interesting concept executed pretty well given the time period you had to develop it.

I think the writing style and art match perfectly to a point where I think more photo real art would have made this less enjoyable. To that end I think the only thing I really want more out of the art would be to have the environment match the art style. Or at the very least to have scenes with the girls have that art while everything else has the default RPG Maker sprites thus hammering home the NPC aspect.

Gameplay wise I think the issue for me is that I don’t really feel compelled to finish the game. Once I hit max weight with the girls I kind of sat there and realized I didn’t really need to do anything else and since I had a fair distance to go I just didn’t feel compelled to move much farther.

Still, great game though.

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new_art_promo_1 new_art_promo_2

Just beat the buzzer on posting the link to THE FINAL UPDATE OF NPC SIMULATOR. I said it in my final edit for the original post, but HUGE THANK YOU to the GREAT AND AMAZING cj-x4.
He redid all the character art for me, which is no small feat given the amount of time we had left. He has a deviantart with the same name. Go check out his stuff if you like the new character images. You might even be able to talk him into doing some commissions. His discord is by the same name. Hit him up if your keen.
Besides the character art, I cleaned up some dialogue and fixed some spelling errors I caught. There is also new dialogue and extra images for when the girls are too full to travel. So now you can will know before you travel whether or not they got abit too greedy. Even gave a particular ghost a name and some dialogue because why the hell not.
As for me, Ima take a break for a few days before I even think about making anything else. And I’m looking forward to trying some of the other game jam submissions now that everything is finally over.

In the mean time, enjoy the game old friend.

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You ever decide what Jenny was suppose to be, or is she just some blue barbarian girl still?

God, just.
Amazing.
My biggest grip tho is how it can get tedious to keep feeding then.
Z, Down, Z, Z.
Repeat.
If I could feed then more than once between ‘phases’ it would be great.
Gameplay is enjoyable enough, simple but alright. Writting is were is at, keep it up!

She’s part frost-giant. Boom.

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Initially I didn’t care too much for the writing, it was a tad too hostile and I decided I would go back and play it later. I am glad I did, once you start traveling the game really picks up.

I am surprised you were able to write so much dialogue for the Jam. 50 miles worth of conversations, each weight level and stuffing level having their own dialogue for chatting and each of the foods really made me enjoy the characters and their personalities.

The art style was great and really fit the style of the game.

My only complaints are that feeding the girls is a bit painful given how much repeated dialogue you have to go through each feeding. The gameplay is simple and not super exciting but thematically it makes sense for the story.

Overall really enjoyed the game and I am glad I went back and played it.

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So I’m gonna go with the same wishy-washy answer as to the titular NPC’s gender. I never got around to deciding anything, so Jenny is whatever you want her to be. She was originally gonna be just a blue skinned barbarian human, but not gonna lie. The Frost Giant idea was pretty good. Unless you want a definitive answer, I’ma just leave the answer as ‘whatever you want her to be’

At the start of programming the interactions between the characters and NPC, I did have to make a decision as to how I wanted to handle it. Since I wanted the interactions to feel more like they talk to you, not the other way around. I thought one off interactions was the best way to go to mirror this sort of thing mechanically, plus also mirroring the theme of ‘fuck-you’ that was the narrator. But I do agree that the tediousness at higher weight levels was just too much. Now that the project is finished and I had a day off to finally relax and think about other things, I have had a few ideas to make everything smoother and less tedious while still adhering to the original ‘they talk to you’ mechanical feel. But it is too late to implement that into the final submission.
I did try to mix up the samey-ness with the feeding dialogue and having the adventurers crave different types of food with different dialogue for each food (and each adventurer having different preferences for different foods so food stores would stay mostly even), but that really only goes so far. Especially at the higher weight levels. Ya live and learn, and I’ve had a few ideas since the deadline to clean it up and make it a smoother and less tedious grind. But it is too late to make any other changes, without making a new topic in projects. But If I’m gonna make a new topic, I am going to want to make alot more changes to justify going that route.

Long story short, that was an intentional design choice, but now in hindsight I already see a couple ways to make the whole thing less tedious.

As for the rest of the dialogue though… Holy shit. That was the most involved part of the project. If it weren’t for the sheer quantity of dialogue, I could have initially posted the game 4 days earlier. But I like dialogue in games and being able to flesh out characters through it. I’m glad that everyone seems to have enjoyed the extra work went into that, even if the narrator was too much of an asshole for some folk, but I wanted people to hate him, so I’m not sure if that is a pro or con.

Yessir, that was it. I was kinda worried no one would find it. That was actually a fun thing to program in when I started hitting my head against a wall trying to come up with more dialogue.

I am thinking about doing a sequel/ prequel/ revamp of the game at some point (touching back to earlier with needing to justify making a new topic in projects, this would be a good enough reason). You know, just an attempt to fully flesh out the core premise of the game with less time constraint and thus a better, less tedious game to play. That aint for awhile down the road though. 3 weeks minimum before I even attempt any other solo projects. Probably longer.
Sorry for the spam of replies, I took yesterday off from any gaming related stuff to finally clear my mind and think of non game jam related things. But I didn’t want to leave questions unanswered or people hanging, so here I am today to address those

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I thought it was supposed to be cartoony, like Ed Edd n Eddy, or Doug.

It’s really really mature of you to admit such things and have a good hinghsith for the next game. I can’t wait to see your next project and what you will improve!

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The art style is fine, it’s serviceable for what it is, despite being pretty rough around the edges. Did well enough getting me excited. The mechanics are fine and the gameplay loop was fun enough.

That being said, where this game really shines is the writing. It’s fall-down-laughing hilarious, imo. Maybe it just appeals to my specific sense of humor, but I was in stitches half the time. Intentional grammatical mistakes, spelling errors, warts and all, it was really funny and entertaining the whole way through. For a first try, you had a really solid stab at comedy writing, and I even liked the twist quite a bit.

If I had to nitpick a little, I’d say there needed to be something like a “feed to next weight level” button. I was swimming in meat, veggies and fruit by the end and hitting feed after skipping through the same dialogue repeatedly got old after some time. Definitely interested to see what else you might do in future!

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There should be a sequel, I’d be the first to play it.