Day 275 - Night of the Living Date
Dating Sim, Shooter, Short and Free ·
Skeeter’s Take:
Sometimes I feel bad about reviewing game jam games. It doesn’t help that 30% of the content on itch.io is game jam games. It’s also 30% horror games with PS1 graphics, 30% porn games, and 10% miscellaneous games.
I understand the constraints of a game jam - there is normally a theme for the jam, and usually a time limit of 3 days or 48 hours. It can be hard to make a game in that time, let alone a game with an interesting idea or premise. I tend to give a little leeway to these games as I know the point of them is to work within the constraints of the game jam.
However, I think Night of the Living Date is good proof that a fully realized idea will carry a game far for these jams - or rather, my enjoyment.
Night of the Living Date lacks polish. I’m assuming it uses assets, the models are all in that same PS1 horror style I’ve grown to loathe and I’m nearly convinced the zombie sound effects are lifted right out of Minecraft.
If you make a game in 3 days, it’s going to lack polish and depth. The devs don’t have the time to make new models, animations, etc. The goal is to make a game, ultimately. The devs will need to find ways to save time and take shortcuts. Thankfully, the sinewy fibers that connect the asset flesh and bones are strong in Night of the Living Date. What sets this apart from something like “Bubble Oops” is the core idea. Night of the Living Date has shown me that you can execute a good concept in 3 days while still relying on those asset flips and shortcuts you have to take while making a game in 3 days.
The idea is simple, but I love it for what it is.
You, the player, are on a date. Except this isn’t your average date (what are those? I never go on them. Are they really average?). This date comes with a catch - ZOMBIES.
I’ve grown weary of those dating sims where you essentially have to answer exactly how your date wants you to respond. To me, it feels like playing a multiple choice test instead of a game.
“Do you like swimming in the pool?”
“No”
“I like swimming in the pool, so I do not like you now”
There’s an illusion of player choice here. The games normally give you options to choose from, but you are obligated to pick the correct answer to progress the wooing of your date.
Night of the Living Date is exactly the same as this archetype of dating games I’m painting for you. The man sitting across from you asks you questions, and you either respond “Yes” or “No”. If the dude likes it, you gain affection. If they don’t - get bent, loser!
Except you have to answer his questions while you are fending off a horde of zombies with an Uzi.
I love this. This turns the game into a balance of focus between answering your dates’ questions, and fending off the hordes of zombies filing into the bar. Your date is completely oblivious to these zombies, and I think that works in the game’s favor. I find it very funny that this man is out here having a regular date while the reanimated dead are actively lumbering towards him and we are constantly shooting past his head with an Uzi. Something about the oblivious date really tickles my funny bone. Like, bro, LOOK AROUND YOU. HAVE SOME SELF AWARENESS. No. Instead he’s just casually asking me if I’ve seen Lost or if I’ve ever killed small animals:
To Night of the Living Date’s credit - the questions are stupid and obvious. I believe this is completely intentional as the player only really can grab glimpses of the question at a time.
As you can see, the questions are all delivered in a text box adjacent to your date’s head. If you are not looking at him while he’s asking the questions, you will miss what he says.
The choice to place the text near the date is a great idea. It forces the player to have to constantly look back at their date so they don’t miss any questions. If this was voice acted, or the text appeared at the bottom of the screen, a good portion of the challenge and fun would be taken out. I like that design decision. GOOD IDEA!
The difficulty comes in balancing shooting the zombies to keep them off of you and your date, and still reading his questions and responding in the correct way.
There’s even a zombie spawn behind the player’s left shoulder, so you are constantly flipping back and forth between the date and their questions, looking over your shoulder, and checking the other doors the zombies are stumbling through.
I love Night of the Living Date’s core idea - “What if you had to have a date while zombies attacked?”
For a game made in three days, I love the idea. This is kind of what I was getting at earlier - I don’t care about the small hiccups or lack of polish in this game. It was made in three days. What’s important is someone had a good idea and they executed it well, even given the limitations. This is the perfect game for a game jam. I know I already brought up “Bubble Oops” earlier, but what was the idea behind that? What’s the elevator pitch? “You click to blow a bubble through some Superman 64 hoops and try to get points.” Ok?
Night of the Living Date’s elevator pitch?
“You are on a date and have to fend off zombies with an uzi whilst simultaneously listening to and responding to your date’s benign questions” - Fucking sign me up, dude.
Recommend: Yes - I know I glazed it a lot, but it’s not life changing. However, it’s pretty good for what it is! I like the core concept a lot. It was also made in three days so what the hell is the grading rubric here? I don’t even know anymore.
Replay Percentage Chance: 0%
Time Played: 4 Minutes
Sam’s Take:
Skeeter’s right on the money with this one. Trying to answer questions via keyboard controls while shooting zombies with your mouse is just an excellent idea. I think there are tons of directions you could go with this. You could just polish up the sound and visuals and make a cute funny arcade game. You could lean more into this absurd world and learn why your date is unconcerned with Zombies. You could make it more puzzles like you have to shoot zombies only when your date isn’t looking so they don’t leave.
A lot to work with here, and I’m sure the dev has thought about it much more than I have. Probably a thousand better ideas I have not thought of. I hope this jam-game inspires something bigger, but even if it doesn’t, this is worth playing once.
Recommend: Yea
Replay Percentage Chance: 2%
Time Played: 6 Minutes
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