Q's Probability Playground

Computers are weird!

You found a strange computer on your doorstep, running an operating system from an unknown and defunct company.  The weirdest thing though is when it started talking to you.

Q's Probability Playground is a game about navigating an old computer using a command line and making money by building math equations. With the help of the slightly quirky AI Qyu, you'll need to balance the reward from letting your programs run with the risk of overloading your precious 8kB of RAM!

Features

• Experience navigating an old, slightly clunky computer
• Create equations to generate income and mitigate risk or push your luck for greater rewards
• Upgrade your system to make crashes less detrimental
• Feed your new (ethically made) AI buddy

(Qyu is thematically an AI but no AI was used to make any part of this game)

Important! This game does not have a save system. If you close the application all your data will be lost.

Goal

There isn't really a goal appart from making the biggest numbers possible (or breaking the game with better math equations). You'll get a trophy if you manage to gather 65535 bits.

Tips

Termnial Commands:

• All commands only check the first three letters of each word.
  • 'cle thr 1' has the same effect as 'clear thread 1'
• Anytime you see a word within parenthesis, that word is a stand in for a variable the command wants.
  • The instruction 'clear (thread/risk) (number)' is asking for two things:
    • Either the word 'thread' or the word 'risk'
    • A number, often within a specified range
• If you're trying to figure out how a command with multiple parts works, look at the error messages. If you manage to type a part of the command correctly, the error message will likely change.

Customisation:

• You can skip the tutorial by toggling 'Skip Startup' in the options menu.
• You can modify the terminal text and background colors in the options menu.
  • The new color should be specified with 6 hexadecimal numbers (no transparency values)
  • Many websites can generate hex color codes for you which you can copy and paste into the game. Just remember to only include the first six numbers.

Balance:

• The equation element 'n' can be ridiculously powerful. Use it with care.

Other:

• Be nice to Qyu.

Developer's Notes

Firstly, I tried squashing as many bugs as possible but I know that there will inevitably be some left so sorry in advance. I can't promise I'll fix any of them in the future but if you find any feel free to write a comment!

Secondly, this was a stressful but fun experience. I've never participated in a jam before and was extremely nervous going into this but getting to spend every waking moment of this week working on this has been a joy. To see this weird, silly, spaghetti code-fuelled project to completion has inspired me to continue with my other game dev projects.

Thank you to everyone who organised this jam and thank you all for being such a cool community!

Also a big thank you to the people who helped play tested this!