speed court

Do you have what it takes to judge a mans crimes in just ten seconds? Or will you misstep, and spend your nine lives in prison for your failure to administer justice?

Speed Court is a hectic game of reading comprehension and moral understanding, where two lawyers will attempt to convince you of the merits of the case - If you can hear them over each other. Speed court is not one for courtesies like “Waiting your turn” and such nonsense.

Now this was a fun one! After the rough experience of the previous Ludum Dare, I wanted to prioritize a lower scope and a higher sense of polish. However, the 10 second time limit implied by the jam theme made that a bit difficult at times. Speed Court is very much a juggling act, an attempt to recapture some of the frantic vibe of Deep Into The Night, but it may have become a bit overwhelming, requiring a lot of attention, and snap judgement - that you need to get correct.

Luckily, we recognized this early in, and brought in a prior learning to assist with it - Multiple difficulty options, and a ‘Slow’ mode. Since the core jam theme is explicitly very time based, we opted to only reveal a slow mode on your second run. It expands the timer to thirty seconds instead of ten, allowing the player much more time to read the case, follow the lawyers arguments, and make a verdict. I spent a significant amount of time writing all those cases and arguments, and I ensured they could be appreciated.

Art wise, reducing quantity for quality paid off, as this turned out to be a very pretty game, with the animated elements adding a lot of charm to the whole experience. That lesson was taken to its extreme in our following game, Isekai Delivery. The writing was also well received, the cases were mostly references and jokes to keep the concept light hearted, which went over very well.