Schoolhouse Note
A game about a one-room schoolhouse by celia14/@etc_celia and rose11/@rose_abernathy, made in 72 hours for Ludum Dare 37.
(Please be patient if the game takes a moment to load!)
Click here for the jam version - since then, we've updated the appearance and fixed some bugs.
Little Tacy wants to pass a note to her sister Laura, but the note has to cross the entire one-room schoolhouse to reach her. The students don't all get along, so the note may have to take a circuitous route!
Controls:
- Pass the note to adjacent students using the arrow keys/WASD
- Hold shift to toss the note two spaces away
Make sure a note-passer only sends the note on to someone with at least two qualities in common with them - if the receiver is too different, they won't cooperate and pass on the note!
These are the qualities that matter:
- Gender
- Clothing color
- Age, which is also reflected in where they sit. The youngest kids sit in the front, the oldest in the back, and both middle rows are in-between.
It'll be tricky to find a route from Tacy in the bottom left to Laura in the top right, but there is one!
Sounds: psst by SkyRaeVoicing, woosh by toyoto, paper by XTYL33, bell by CosmicEmbers
Music: Fantasy in E Major by Ilya Truhanov via freesoundtrackmusic.com
Comments
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This is surprisingly pretty difficult [but really fun!] little puzzle game! I'll certainly keep coming back to it!
very fun game, i figured out some of the confusing things before checking comments, now i just gotta complete the score then see what happens if anythin
Ha! I got a record of 2, then flubbed my third round by failing the final pass! Well, I'm getting the hang of it! ... Is there anything for filing the scoreboard? EDIT: And got all 20 marks! So the 21st either doesn't appear, or I'm not seeing the difference!
Nice that score doesn't reset on loss! Woo!
EDIT: And I found the secret message if I return to square one! ha!
How do you do that?
Do which event?
The secret message
Send the note to someone who doesn't have enough qualities matching Tacy that's in a position to give it to Tacy, then give the note back to Tacy.
One of the people from behind Tacy should do it.
Ha!
what did the note say?
so cute!
This is a great little puzzle game with a totally original concept! I loved it, but I just wish the instructions were shown in-game, instead of only on the store page.
IMPORTANT: Both of the middle two rows of desks count as THE SAME ROW!!!
(The game counts a girl sitting in the second row and a girl sitting in the third row as being in the same row. It's a bit counter-intuitive, I know, but I think it makes the puzzles better.)
Thanks for playing! You're absolutely right that we didn't do a good job making it clear how the rows are divided up by age. I'm glad to hear you figured it out and enjoyed the game anyway!
A very simple, yet enjoyable game!! I really loved the designs and the concept, however, gameplay could be quite difficult; it took a while to find a way to get the note across. Completing it was very satisfying, though!
Thank you for a fun game!!
Really cool concept! It's a really fun little game that I enjoyed. However, I think it would be a bit more intuitive if you made sure there was always a way for the note to end up where it belonged. There were a lot of times that there was simply no way for the note to get to its target, which proved to be quite frustrating. Overall, though, it's a really cool game!
Thanks! Actually, though sometimes it can be tricky to spot and require strategic use of tossing the note (by holding shift), there is always a solution. :)
Ohhhh, haha you can toss the note! Thanks for clearing that up, I'm just a bit stupid sometimes lol :P
This is a really nice game, it would be better suitable for kids if you mark somehow the next target. When I press UP + LEFT it's not every time that the diagonal recipient gets targeted. GG!
Thanks so much for playing!
You can only pass the note along the rows and columns of desks, not diagonally. I realize the isometric layout feels a bit confusing, and I'm sorry about that. The illustration of the arrow keys on the instruction screen is a bit of a hint as to how things map - UP moves the note towards the back of the room, DOWN towards the front, and LEFT and RIGHT along each row of desk.
Celia that makes sense, thank you for clarifying!
Hey Your game is pretty kickass,
I'm working on a video project called time capsules focusing on game indie devs. It's similar to sending a message to your self in 50 years;
Only five questions for my documentary:
1. What feature in your game can the player not experience anywhere else?
2. What's the biggest personal obstacle you had to overcome in creating your game so far? (it could be super technical or anything else that you want to talk about)
3. Who helped you decide to become a game dev?
4. What feature of the game do you absolutely love that no one would probably ever find?
5. What do you believe video games mean to humanity?
First couple of episodes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhJ3ssjfCgs&t=0s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0NvEYmqtQ8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQmeXgsqhBM
if you have some game footage or even better developmental footage of errors or other stuff you'd like to show people who have never programmed a day in their life.
also best ways to contact you, and all social media you use because I'll be displaying those through out the episode.
I think if people dig the game and dig your story they might reach out for questions or colabs you really never know what can come of it.
do you think you'd be interested in being my guest?
I don't think I'm interested in doing something like that right now, but thanks for asking!