RMMV Fairy Cabs (IGMC 2018)

[slimmmeiske2]

Fairy Cabs is celebrating their 20th anniversary. We're expanding more day by day and are in search of new colleagues. Do you have a little magic in you when it comes to customer service? Are you proficient on casting spells for on-time delivery? Do you have what it takes to curse those complaints away? Then you are the perfect candidate for working at Fairy Cabs.

All races and genders may apply!​

Plot
You are Florian/Florinella, applying for the open position at Fairy Cabs. The managing fairy Starstream hires you as a trainee. You get exactly one week to show off your skills and get the job. Nothing's ever easy though, as the Sleeping Beauty Festival is just around the corner, which means lots and lots of customers.

Gameplay
Fairy Cabs is a light-hearted memory/puzzle game. It's inspired by time management games like Delicious - Emily's and Heart's Medicine. In Fairy Cabs, there's no race against the clock, but mistakes will be punished. Man the front desk and aide a selection of customers with their demands.

IGMC Features

• Five levels on one location (front desk)
  
• Two (rename-able) main characters to pick from
• Get hired or fired! (Each level has a different fired scene.)
• Purchase shop upgrades. They give out gameplay bonuses.

Possible features in the future

• Unlockable extra MC(s)
• Three new locations. (You can spot them in the intro.)
  
• Different modes (Easy, Normal, Hard(?), Infinitive)

Screenshots

Spoiler

Download here (version 1.02.1)

Known issues:

• Sometimes the middle customer gets stuck leaving during level 4 and 5. This doesn’t happen always and it’s not always the very first customer who gets stuck. I haven’t been able to find the cause, so if anyone notices a pattern, I would appreciate it.

Fix? Unfortunately, the only thing you can do is play the level with only the other customer and the crystal ball (though this will take a lot longer to finish those levels) or you can reload your save and hope it doesn’t happen again.

• Sometimes a customer won’t show a bubble/balloon with a request/heart after you’ve giving them what they wanted.

Fix? Just give them the same thing again, until the bubble/balloon starts showing again.

 

[Mickychi]

Hey just played the submission on itch.io here is my feedback:

I completed the play through in 30 mins.
- The starting days feel slow
- The glowing ball is a bit confusing as sometimes it appears to stay lit - maybe you should specify that a customer is calling when it flashes.
- When I started getting two customers one would always get stuck in the middle of the entrance on the way out: screenshot below.


Hope this helps.

 

[slimmmeiske2]

Thanks for playing, Mickychi.

- The starting days feel slow

Could you elaborate a bit on this? I'm not sure I'll be able to change much before the deadline, but it's good to know for in the future.

As for your other points:
- The crystall ball should return to normal, so that's a bug. I'll fix that.
- Do you remember which level that screenshot bug appears? I had something similar during testing, but it was fixed (or at least supposed to).

 

[dragoonwys]

Ah! I was looking forward to this game ^.^ It was really fun when I got to the levels with 2 customers and a crystal ball. I did feel pretty hectic, busy day indeed. I wonder what the other departments are like.

It was a little surprising to not see a royal on the day that they were introduced in, it made Intern feeling under dressed despite not seeing any fancy dresses a funny situation. But I am amused with the royal's game over, OFF WITH YOUR HEAD! Turn into a slime XD
I can see this being a nice game with more time to polish!

Bugs:
The customers change into the bowlcut hair man from the first level for a split second whenever they make the heart bubble and leave. This happens on all the levels.
https://gyazo.com/09381a694b4a8202cac736356754589a

 

[Mickychi]

@slimmmeiske2
The slowness is more due to the walking speed. Also the speed level up in comparison to what speed you were walking before in contrast feels a little like the first level - or levels before you get the speed up- is in slow motion. Perhaps a more gradual speed increase for future builds would be better - speed: original, jog, sprint for instance.

Feeling it slow may also be because their is no show of Time passing like other management games, which is what I am used to when playing a game with this concept.

As for the screenshot - this happened all levels with more than one customer that comes in store, it was always the middle row customer that froze when leaving and would still be in that position during the after "closed" cut scene.

@dragoonwys Ah, I knew I forgot one bug I was meaning to comment on. This glitch happened with me too on all levels.


Some suggestions:
- You can never move beyond behind the counter while the store is large - perhaps a better utilization in future where some customers come in a
take a seat and you have to move over to ask them what they want? (common in these games but the space could be used)

- Or maybe interruptions like children playing come barging in and making annoying noise running around in the open spaces?

Hope this helps

 

[slimmmeiske2]

Mickychi, dragoonwys thank you so much for your feedback and for playing.

@Mickychi: Thanks for the explanation. I see what you mean about the increase. I’ve gone ahead and just changed speed back to normal. The reason why I had slowed it down in the first place, was because it seemed weird the customers were walking slower than the MC.

This got me thinking: I’m not planning on adding time to the game, but the game could use something like an actual visual progress bar. I mean there’s the money counter now, but in case you’ve forgot the goal a progress bar would be so much better.

As for the screenshot - this happened all levels with more than one customer that comes in store, it was always the middle row customer that froze when leaving and would still be in that position during the after "closed" cut scene.

I’ve unfortunately not been able to find the cause of this. I played through the levels 7 or 8 times and had it happen only twice. L

Some suggestions:
- You can never move beyond behind the counter while the store is large - perhaps a better utilization in future where some customers come in a
take a seat and you have to move over to ask them what they want? (common in these games but the space could be used)

- Or maybe interruptions like children playing come barging in and making annoying noise running around in the open spaces?

Hope this helps

The idea behind the chairs was for other people to come in and wait until they’re picked up to go the next area. I wasn’t able to event that for now, but I’m hoping to add it in the future. You’ll be walking around more in the next locations too.
I like the idea of having some rowdy kids show up that disrupt the other customers. Similar challenges added to the levels sound like a good idea too.

It was a little surprising to not see a royal on the day that they were introduced in, it made Intern feeling under dressed despite not seeing any fancy dresses a funny situation. But I am amused with the royal's game over, OFF WITH YOUR HEAD! Turn into a slime XD
I can see this being a nice game with more time to polish!

Oh yeah, that would seem weird. I’ve added some NPCs to all levels, so now at the very least, there’ll be a royal waiting on the chairs with her guards. As for that game over, I think I was supposed to replace that slime with a better a graphic at some point. But I like how it is now, so I think I’ll keep it


Version 1.02 is out! (since yesterday, but I was too tired to write anything yay!)
Changelog below:

Spoiler: Changelog

Bugfixes:

• Fixed glowing crystal ball: Now it has no more “glow” after you ended the call.
• Fixed missing name windows in game over scenes and royals (level 5).
• Fixed customer graphic glitch.

Other:

• Added some NPCs to the front desk levels.
• Made a small change to the front desk map.
• Changed MC’s speed back to normal.
• Changed slime sprite in Witching game over to a frog sprite.

Known issues:

• Sometimes the middle customer gets stuck leaving during level 4 and 5. This doesn’t happen always and it’s not always the very first customer who gets stuck. I haven’t been able to find the cause, so if anyone notices a pattern, I would appreciate it.

Fix? Unfortunately, the only thing you can do is play the level with only the other customer and the crystal ball (though this will take a lot longer to finish those levels) or you can reload your save and hope it doesn’t happen again.​

• Sometimes a customer won’t show a bubble/balloon with a request/heart after you’ve giving them what they wanted.

Fix? Just give them the same thing again, until the bubble/balloon starts showing again.​

 

[slimmmeiske2]

And with this, my worst nightmare has come true... While fixing bugs in version 1.02, I forgot to return the starting posittion of the player to the Intro map. Which means the official IGMC download starts off at the very last level with an invisible player. (Never ever bugfix at midnight.)
To save the judges some time, I'm withdrawing from the contest, so I can upload the fixed version (1.02.1). (It's not like I would have won anyway. )

 

[Jayje]

AAwwww...

 

[mlogan]

Aww slim, I'm sorry to hear that. I know how disappointing it is, regardless of expectations to win or not.

Have you uploaded the newest version? For some reason, for me, the links just take me to the itch.io homepage, not the game page.

edit: I was able to find it by searching on itch.

 

[TheLastYuriSamurai]

Your secret santa is here for a review!!
As per my typical reviews, I do a playthrough with live reactions typed here, then I summarize everything at the end!

So first off the music and art is incredible, top notch. I'd be really proud of it if I were you! I'm appreciating the tutorial. Not all games have this, I feel like it adds some professionalism to it! The background sounds of people was also a nice touch. I'm genuinely enjoying this shop system, it reminds me of swords and potions. Ahh I got fired!! Its a bit trickier with the crystal ball, I'm unsure if completing their task and the other customer's at the same time was causing a problem, I'll try it again. This game starts to get really challenging with multiple customers, I'm not complaining, just wow wasn't expecting this level of difficulty. SO!! I've now discovered why I keep losing, during the day when the royals arrive there is a gentleman with brown hair that'll show his request for the first thing and then just..not ever again. From trial and error he wants the cab (doll to the right) and will accept this service multiple times getting an unlimited amount of gold. He unfortunately also stayed there during the after-work cutscene where she states she's "not the fairy godmother" (which great reference by the way!). He did however disappear with the next day's shift. Turning on dash really helped me! And the feeling of getting hired is one I certainly needed haha!!!

So!! Overall the gameplay was fun, if a bit challenging at times!! I really had to focus and remember things, which I enjoyed. You sort of have to develop a strategy to keep a eye out for what the other customers want while getting the item for another, which reminds me a lot of my time in retail. The art style and cutscenes felt real enough for the game to work (though maybe add a bit more personality to some of the characters? Idea.). The gameplay was very fun and in all honesty the addition of the music effects to sort of grab my attention like say when a call came in, was extremely helpful. That being said however the annimations for things could have been a bit faster and the delay that happened when a crystal ball came in was a tad annoying when I'm running around doing other things. Other than the bug I mentioned with the gentleman I only noticed that in the gameover cutscene if I examine the crystal ball she just keeps saying "yes my highness" without the eventual "off with her head" afterwards. Not a big bug but something minor.

Overall what a great concept and I genuinely liked this game. It was a bit of a headache, but I don't think that's a bad thing. You clearly showcased the gameplay and art in a fun new way, and I enjoyed it overall!!

With the bugs and small delays, I'd give this a 4/4.5 out of 5!!! A great experience, to say the least! (I hope my review isn't too bad, you deserve a good one!)

 

[SeaPhoenix]

So sorry to hear that, @slimmmeiske2, that's heart-breaking to hear. Your game looks super cute and I'm going to try to play it sometime next week.

 

[slimmmeiske2]

Thanks for the sympathies, guys It is pretty disappointing as my only goal was to have a non-DQed entry for the contest. Still I'm proud of what I've been able to do and I can say I've "finished" another game.


@mlogan Thanks for that pointing that out. The download link here was still the igmc entry link, so I've changed it to the correct one now. I hope you enjoy it
@SeaPhoenix Thank you, I hope you enjoy it when you got the time
@Chez Yay, secret santa
I'm super glad you enjoyed it And such a high rating, I did not expect that
Regarding the bugs/suggestions:
The one with the customer is one of the known issues (along with the "fix" you described). I haven't found what's causing it though.
Could you tell me a step-by-step what you mean with the gameover bug? I can't really seem to find it.
I've shortened the wait for the crystal ball, so hopefully that fixes the delay.
Animations are sped up when you purchase the carpet upgrade right now. In the future I'd like to add more upgrades and more levels, so the pacing is better.
I didn't have a lot of inspiration when I wrote the little cutscenes, that's why there isn't a lot of "character" in them. It's mostly definitely on my to do-list for future updates.

 

[TheLastYuriSamurai]

@slimmmeiske2 Ah!! See when it said +speed for watever reason my mind throught it was walking speed my mistake!! and honestly it's just that if I talked to the ball it wouldn't continue, if I talked to the queen it did, maybe lock your player in place for the event? That may stop it from happening?

I did overall enjoy the concept, even if you didn't meet your goal, you learned a lot and should be proud of it!! Maybe post a tutorial explaining how to do such a system if you feel like sharing it with the community, some people would likely be interested! Or not! It's cool either way. I didn't notice if there was at all a timer? Like I could ignore a customer a pretty long time. Maybe in a future level you only have so long to complete the request?

 

[Marquise*]

*cybermental hugs* I am certain if not for that start position your game was good. I am maybe more sad that you think it wasn't worth.

 

[SeaPhoenix]

I thought this was a cute and fun little game! The first couple days were slow, but then it got very challenging when there were multiple customers and the crystal ball so I enjoyed that more. The music and sound effects were very appropriate, and the graphics were cute. I'd change the font though.

I had a customer who got stuck in the middle of the room as he was walking out on the fourth day, which you've mentioned as a bug.

I noticed that when you're doing the same task for either the same customer or two different customers (e.g., you pick up a package for someone, then go back and pick up another package), the Gab message (I assume you're using Yanfly's Gab plug-in) doesn't pop up the second time saying you picked up a package. I think there's a plug-in parameter that you can adjust where the same messages will be repeated but I experienced some issues with it a long time ago and had to edit the code a bit.

Anyway, good luck with your development of the game!