Lou Bagel & Survive The Day Update
Hello BagelHeads!
Level 2 of Survive The Day is almost complete, and I will hit on that farther down in the post, but the purpose of this post is to answer some FAQs and introduce some newbies to Lou Bagel. I have tried to make the headings obvious for your skimming pleasure, if you are already somewhat familiar.
Who is Lou Bagel? What is Lou Bagel Industries?
With being concise I guess all you need to know is that Lou Bagel is currently doing some Indie Video Game Developing which the current main project is entitled Survive The Day. And when we (I) say Lou Bagel Industries I really mean the one-man team (me) behind it who is just a hobbyist doing his best to learn and make as much stuff as possible.
...of course, I can’t fail to mention that Lou Bagel had that famous one-hit wonder song “Combo Number Five!â€
What is Survive The Day?
Survive The Day, the current feature project from Lou Bagel Industries, is a game about the horrors of the office workday. Not horrors as in horror genre, but the little horrors like annoying co-workers, office politics, horrible bosses, pointless meetings, paper jams…
Gives me a headache just mentioning all of those! The game is inspired out of my frustrations from office life, but I try to get as many horror stories from jobs of my family, friends, and fans to incorporate into the game as I hope it will appeal to others, in hopes of some temporary frustration relief/outlet.
Some other inspirations for the game are Earthbound, which I love the artwork and silly humor, and South Park, which I don’t know why I really say that expect maybe because of the larger heads in my game? Then of course shows such as The Office and the movie Office Space. Though I’m not trying to replicate any of those but just make an office that is one step closer to ridiculous than realistic.
Game Details? System? Release Date? Price? Genre? All those details…
Release Date: Releasing each level as I complete.
Why? I want people to play them as soon as I get done! The instant feedback is great too!
Price: Free.
Why? The levels are so small it would be ridiculous to try to charge for them. Also, as a newer developer it is unlikely my first game will be a smash hit so I prefer to get the feedback and a few fans for now. Maybe after a ton are done I’ll package them together and put them for sale for a few bucks but right now this is a zero-income, passion project. I do have a Patreon account (https://www.patreon.com/LouBagel) setup now, no Patrons yet but don’t expect them since only one level is complete.
Where can I play? In your web browser at http://www.LouBagel.com
Just head to my website and you can play Level 1 for free in your browser. No downloads necessary. No Ads to watch. I do have mobile controls setup so you can visit with on your mobile, but I have to fix an issue with the text as it won’t appear on the screen (soon hopefully!). I may upload some of the levels to places like Itch and GameJolt later. I’ve been asked about making a mobile app for Survive The Day. I would like to but again, would want to wait until plenty of levels are done.
What to expect? Genre?
I’m not good at classifying genres anyway, but I am trying to make each level a different type of gameplay and goal and in some cases genre. Of course there won’t be any FPS levels but I am trying to make levels like small games in different genres. For example, as I will review below, the first level is a stealth action level. The second level is more of a slower puzzle type scenario, which I will get into below as well. I have a list of ideas that mirror genres such as classic RPG (attack, hit points, etc), story puzzles, tactical strategy, and some other action types...and yes, all in this office environment!
What have I missed? Survive The Day Level 1: Get Dave his Coffee!
If you are new, you haven’t missed much. Survive The Day Level 1 has been out since at least September (2017), so only a couple of months ago. Level 2 is upcoming but let me recap Level 1 first.
It is 6:43AM. Dave arrives to work (played by you in this level). He expects to be the first to the office with one goal in mind: having a peaceful moment with his trusty hot cup of joe before any of his co-workers arrive...Dave isn’t quite the social type, if you didn’t catch the vibe he’s putting off.
However, there is one co-worker that has arrived before you...the office’s so-called Chatty Cathy! Dave’s worst nightmare. The co-worker that wants to chat and gossip endlessly about trivial topics such as last night’s reality TV shows, what she dreamed about last night, stories back from high school… *shudder* … I can’t keep listing these nightmare conversation topics.
And where is Chatty Cathy at? Of course she is camped out in the breakroom, just waiting to pounce! The only thing that can draw her out of the break room is the sound of a computer starting up. Why? Because the sound of a computer starting up is like Pavlov ringing a bell aka a co-worker has arrived to be victimized by Chatty Cathy’s endless conversations.
Not for Dave though, not today! It’s time to get crafty! Time to use Chatty Cathy’s impulsive behavior of racing towards the sound of a computer startup against her! Play as Dave and strategically startup computers in the office to draw Cathy away from the break room for long enough to get your coffee and get back to your desk without being spotted!
Failure is unacceptable. Failure equals being subjected to endless conversations from Chatty Cathy...well, like 2 seconds before you can choose “retryâ€, but that 2 seconds does feel endless!
How was the first level received?
The first level is very difficult for being the first level. It’s not that it is so difficult but there is no opportunity to explore before you start getting pounced on (aka bad level design). But in spite of the poor design to gradually introduce the player to the environment I decided to press on and start on level 2. Why? Because in this format I can really go back to level 1 at any point to edit and re-upload to my website. I plan to, but I thought it might be good to start players on a whole new concept completely. As in I will recommend new players to start on level 2, not level 1. The renumbering of levels might come at some point, but I don’t want to confuse anyone yet and my original plan was to go in chronological order *SPOILER* which level 2 occurs at 8:19am.
Most players quit after one or two tries. That equates to probably 15 seconds playing, getting frustrated several times, and closing the browser without ever figuring out what was going on or the concepts. So not a great track record so far, but one good thing did come out of this. Matej “Retro†Jan gave the game a play and had the same experience. Yet, he did not give up. Constant frustrations, wasting his whole morning, unexpected negative surprises...why don’t you read all about it here: http://www.retronator.com/post/16724660 ... aught-when
Not to be insensitive, but his pain was my delight. I was cracking up the entire article as he describes his emotional reactions to every event in the level. I shared the article with a few friends and they agreed with his experience (yet, gave up quickly and never completed the level they finally admitted).
If you think I am exaggerating, here are some statistics: (as of 11/10/17)
Number of computers turned on: 1370
Number of times caught by Cathy: 615
Number of talks with Janitor: 214
Number of times coffee pot turned on: 211
Number of level restarts: 348
Number of times listening more to Cathy chosen: 142
Number of coffee pots still heating (not ready): 43
Number of times coffee pot started brewing: 69
Number of times coffee mug picked up: 47
Number of cups of coffee obtained: 28
Number of victorious Daves: 27
Number of times people tried to leave early: 12
To interpret these stats for those not familiar with the game, the caught by Chatty Cathy equals defeat. The (so-called) victorious Daves equals completing the level, which I don’t remember how many of those were mine while I was testing.
The game also has a high scores table...which only has 6 entries...by 4 different people. (due to the fact you have to be logged in via Facebook oAuth to be put on the High Scores Table. Why? I simply don’t want to deal with filtering out obscenities and such).
You play with an interactive heat map of the locations where Dave has been caught by Chatty Cathy here:
https://www.loubagel.com/survive-the-da ... zation.php
Level 2, the Deets!
Level 2 is almost complete and ready to upload! I actually won’t talk too much details about level 2 in this article. The purpose of this article was mainly to catch people up on everything and to explain a few things.
But wait! Don’t leave yet!
The article explaining revealing what Level 2 is about is coming soon! Before that, and yes I know I’m playing this game like everyone cares and is trying to get the inside scoop or exclusive information on Survive The Day, when in reality no one is thinking about it...but hey! This is my thing so I’m going to have a bit of fun with it! Anyway, before that I will put a few clues, or hints, out on what the level will be about on social medias. Then I will release a blog post on what the level is about, release the trailer, and upload the level.
You will not be playing as Dave in this level. Nor Kate. Nor the Janitor (Tom). All three will be a part of the new level though, as well as a few new characters. Lets introduce them first:
Nate: Prefers to talk about the past weekend, or night before, and sports over getting any work done...whether his co-workers are interested or not.
Emmanuel: Likes to dance, obviously. Always a positive and cheerful dude.
Glen: Hard worker, not that talkative...yet...
FYI—I am planning on adding more females to the game. I basically made a male mockup and made a ton of variations. Then when I made the female mockup I had a ton of trouble and took a long time. So basically it is out of laziness, as I have a ton of male characters made up ready to go while I fear creating one more female will be a lot of headaches (the hair! I struggle with the hair!). So next round of introductions will include more females.
I will give this reveal. Level 2 will be a classic “who dunnitâ€. That means, something will happen, and your goal is to track down who ‘done it’, by whatever means necessary! Find clues, interrogate witnesses (or just “chat†with them), and make your final accusation!
But that’s it! No more scluseys! (aka ‘exclusives’, shortened/slanged to ‘scluseys’ by the Scott Aukerman).
You may already be able to figure it out if you have been following me on social media. I’ve tried not to give it away, but you may have gotten enough hints to guess correctly. And more hints to come! So if you are interested and want to see the hints as they come, follow me here:
Twitter https://twitter.com/LouBagelCombo5
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/LouBagel/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/loubagelcombo5
Also, but not as active yet:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDc_YW ... N94Tv9nqRA
Itch: https://loubagel.itch.io/
GameJolt: LouBagel
This post on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/lou-bagel-day-15365819