Super Juice Guzzle

This is definitely a thing. The sweet spot on filled jars is small, and it’s a busy area given that up to 3 actors can cluster around it at any one time.

Yeah, I guess the idea of figuring out an emergent strategy through trial-and-error is a really hit-or-miss one. The skip button I think still stands as a quality of life feature (most of us are here of the smut, after all) but its inclusion does kind of imply its necessity. I think if I do anything more with this it’ll go in a less granular, broader direction.

Anyway, thanks for having the patience to play it as much as you have, despite its faults. I appreciate that you’ve spent some of your limited time on this earth engaging with my work.

I think the issue most folks are having with the berry smushing is that if you have a worker waiting post-crush and somebody drops off a jar/berries, the hauler gets positioned closer to the new crush task than the crusher was. That makes the one-click command pick (likely) the wrong worker.

As to needing to be optimum, I was by no means optimum and did manage to finish - albeit with just 8 seconds left.

Awesome music. I really like pigs sprites. Also, I guess minion pigs sprites even better then queen art :slight_smile:
I like this game, thank you very much!

2 Likes

Thank you for playing it!

I was listening to the Super Mario Sunshine soundtrack on loop while working on the sprites, and I asked my bf if he could do something similar to Ricco Harbor. I think he captured that feeling of industriousness very well, plus some dank texture that goes well with the “villain” theme. Very pleased people like his work as much as I do!

Echoing @coldsteelj here: excellent pairing of music to gameplay. Very satisfying to have the music kick in and seeing your workers stomping to the beat. And it was pleasing to see how big the worker pigs could get :3

It gets points from me for for novelty as worker time-management games are uncommon, as well as for hitting the brief dead on!

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That BGM was homemade? Colour me impressed! Definitely a contender for Best Music if such a category exists. Let’s put it this way, I have the game running in the background now just to jam to it now whilst I work. ^w^

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Loved the game, but I agree with a lot of people here that the selecting is a little finicky. My biggest gripe is that I kept wanting to switch people off of picking, but since most of the time I’m assigning people not doing anything I’d end up only taking them off their job without selecting them with one click and then auto-pick the closest, which usually wasn’t great. I think the micro-management was actually really fun, and the frustration was mostly just a matter of not being able to execute what I was planning because of the interface. Maybe adding some icons at the bottom showing who’s doing what that you can use to select people more reliably?

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I love minion-management games, so this was a fun treat. I have to add my voice to the chorus saying that selection is a bit too finicky, however. I’d often try to select a minion, only to end up taking them off their job or disrupting my flow in some other way. The ability to move them to a location without having to assign them to a job would be a great addition. That way I could bundle up all my fatties near the tubs and assign the others without as much need for click here, click there. It’d clean up the experience a lot.

That aside, it was a lot of fun, and the daily affirmations and letters from the boss were hilarious, as was the ending.

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Thanks for playing!

I think I shied away from this kind of thing in an effort to preserve scalability-- having persistent UI elements for each worker could get pretty cluttered if there are enough of them-- but in the final game there’s only a maximum of ~12, so something like that would’ve been doable. Even with more, this is a good idea that I’ll probably look into if/when I do more with this concept!

Glad you liked it!

While playtesting it I kind of got into the rhythm of deciding when to assign whoever the closest was and when to select a specific minion (which in practical terms is pretty much just on crushing fruit), and I think I kind of fooled myself that it passed for “puzzle” gameplay, when in reality it’s just a less-than-robust interface. Some of the cracks could be papered over by an automation system but without it they just make it harder than it needs to be. I think some concessions were made early on (like no Warcraft-style unit selection with unit movement) in deference to a possible automation system that quickly fell out of the project’s scope.

Your appreciation is much appreciated! I’m glad you liked those little touches.

This was a firm favourite for me, it’s true the controsl were fiddly. My juice-cruhers running AWAY from the tubs when I thought I was commading them to get to work was always infuriating but I jut love thi premise o much! The mechanic is super-clever, the theme is super-endearing and that lil’ crushing animation loop… cutest shit I ever seen!

I had one MAJOR crit it would be I wish you’d checked ‘Filter Mode: Point’ on the sprite assets so the pixels would’ve stayed crisp :stuck_out_tongue:

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Could someone upload a video of the ending? The last level is way, way too hard for me.
The rest of the game was alright enough, but I really don’t feel like trying the last level over and over until I get it. I’m six barrels off quota - it’s just not gonna happen. :(

I’m glad you enjoyed it!

Aw jeez, is that the reason for the sprite artifacting? I had tried to look up what was causing it but couldn’t figure it out. Thanks for the tip!

As was mentioned in passing elsewhere in the thread, if you lose the game twice there should be an option on the Game Over screen to skip to the ending. If some weird bug is preventing that from happening I could upload a save file or something, I guess.

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Oh. When I lost the second time I just closed the game without even checking the game over screen, since I didn’t intend to try again.
I wish I had some way of knowing that was there, but oh well. Thanks for responding!

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Yeah, it takes about a half-second to slide in from offscreen. When it triggers I probably should’ve moved the “retry” button and put the skip button in its place, so you know it’s there right away.

Anyway, thanks for playing!

Edit: just realized you didn’t actually see the game over screen as you said (didn’t pick that up for some reason). Immediately on losing is a much better time for a skip button to appear than after clicking through to a game over screen, thanks for that insight!

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Grotlover2 Score


| Category | Total |

| —: | :–|

| Basics: | 20000 |

| Art: | 315 |

| Writing: | 225 |

| Concept/Design | 1150 |

| Msc: | 180 |

| Total: | 21955 |

Comments:

A fun management game with a few control and pacing issues but that is to be expected for a jam game. One major change I would suggest though is refining the control of the minions from a drag and drop system to being able to assign or prioritize tasks based on size. This would make control much easier and more intuitive where the drag and drop proved to be too error prone for my taste especially at higher levels. One thing that really did surprise me for the most part was actually the music. It may have been one song but it fit the game very well. The art style I also felt was fun and I loved seeing my minions grow every level. All in all really enjoyed the game.


Jux Score


| Category | Total |

| —: | :–|

| Basics: | 20000 |

| Art: | 285 |

| Writing: | 287 |

| Concept/Design | 1218 |

| Msc: | 120 |

| Total: | 21973 |

Comments:

A very nice entry. I think the biggest thing to improve is just the usability of the ui. One of the biggest things I struggled with is clicking the right things. The game wants you to incentivise who you use for particular jobs - skinny runners and heavy crushers - but it does kind of make it hard to organise that. For example if I have the heavy one run the juice back because everyone is busy, I can’t send the heavy one half way back to get ready for the next batch, but it really makes sense for that to be a possibility. Its little tweaks that would make the game more enjoyable to play, even though I definitely did enjoy it. Also I just have to say that the little touches in the animation jiggle were really nice. Good job.


Kilif Score


| Category | Total |

| —: | :–|

| Basics: | 20000 |

| Art: | 280 |

| Writing: | 185 |

| Concept/Design | 1335 |

| Msc: | 180 |

| Total: | 22060 |

Comments:

I really liked this one. I feel like you did a great job of incorporating the theme and it was pretty fun to play (especially with that catchy theme that fits the movement so god damn well). The fact that the heavier and lighter units both have their strengths and weaknesses is great and was exactly what I was looking for. The only real complaint is that the controls can get wonky sometimes when you’re trying to assign certain units to certain tasks. I found myself fighting against it a bit and accidentally assigning the wrong unit. The only other complaint is the difficulty spike at the end, but that is probably just me not being great at these types of games. Overall, very good.


S&S Score


| Category | Total |

| —: | :–|

| Basics: | 20000 |

| Art: | 285 |

| Writing: | 250 |

| Concept/Design | 875 |

| Msc: | 100 |

| Total: | 21570 |

Comments:


Squirrel Score


| Category | Total |

| —: | :–|

| Basics: | 20000 |

| Art: | 300 |

| Writing: | 320 |

| Concept/Design | 1280 |

| Msc: | 140 |

| Total: | 22220 |

Comments:

The story intertwines with the gameplay and the increasing difficulty well so it all feels natural, the characters were fun having the heavier minions being better at crushing than the smaller ones was a nice use of the theme. With what time you had, this is a solid entry as well as a fun and endearing challenge!


Scores

Art: 1465

Writing: 1267

Sound: 468

Design: 5858

Total: 109778