cheshyr 2014-12-09 08:21
FUn littel sim game. Nicely done.
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD31 → Black Market Empire
By nsadie
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coolness | 3 | 52 | ||
| Innovation | 333 | 3.30 | ||
| Overall | 485 | 3.23 | ||
| Theme | 583 | 3.47 | ||
| Humor | 623 | 2.35 | ||
| Fun | 693 | 2.80 | ||
| Graphics | 746 | 2.73 | ||
| Mood | 786 | 2.63 |
FUn littel sim game. Nicely done.
Ran the Web version first, it worked just was curious why there was a log in. Tried it with some fake credentials and shortly understood that it wasn't actually connecting to anything to my knowledge. Played it twice but became broke what seemed like during the tutorial causing me to start over. Not sure if I am doing something wrong or what. I'm sure once past the tutorial stage the game is actually pretty fun. The theme for this LD is pretty spot on. Graphics are O.K. but its not like you need good graphics for a game like this anyways. Its not quite innovative due to the amount of games like this (Plague Inc) but I'd rather play this than that due to the topic of it. Love how the game uses Bitcoins to trade. Overall cool concept, I'm sure the gameplay is fun and challenging. Theme worked with the topic given. Good Job!
At first I wasn't quite sure what was going on, and why the login screen was there but once I got the hang of it, it was a great game to play. well done :)
Cannot get past the login password screen. Trying web version. Characters wont type in the text field.
Well polished game. Also very innovative :)
-The game is too easy. Difficulty curve could be exponential to prevent complete game domination.
-The connection screen is kindof a second screen even though it is pretty much unimportant in the game.
Really good game, and it looks nice. I just wished it was more theme related with something about the screen, but it does not matter, it's fun to play. Congratz.
Now more detailled feedback:
- I wish I could only satisfy contracts on areas I have a contact, because right now, the location of contracts is meaningless.
- you should make a smaller version for people like me that don't have a huge HD screen. I had the screen cut when playing, so I didn't saw any tutorial text on my first run, it was frustrating.
- I wish there was a goal or an end, right now I played 40+ weeks and stacked coins with my contacts.
Thanks for the feedback! We were planning to make contracts so that you have to have a contact to distribute the goods in that continent. Which would make it more strategic, but we just didn't manage our time well enough!
Look out for a post compo version with better balance, rule tweaks, supply routes, more unique contacts and random events!
As to several comments relating to theme, it fits in that the game is about managing a criminal enterprise from a single computer screen! Maybe a bit vague or meta, but that was the intention! :-)
good game,
easy to figure out how to 'win' there is no real win,
once you get to the stage of 10 employers it's pretty much done :p
Good concept, it wasn't really clear that you gained resources from the contacts on each cycle, but once i'd grasped that it was fun. Got to the point where I always had enough resources to pay off the highest paying contract each time as soon as I'd got it.
First - the Linux version works great.
Second - Would have been nice to have a win condition. I got to 10/10 suppliers and over 2000 BTC and it didn't seem like I could have ever lost from there. Also the similarity between the words "contact" and "contract" can make the instructions quite difficult to parse.
Interesting idea, at some point I began to be worried about my kidneys, even if I was the king of the dark market empire. I must agree with the previous comment about the win condition, and the confusion that the contact and contract words made in me too.
And thanks for your rating! :)
Looks like a very deep game. Saldy the resolution is a little too wide for me and I have to perma scroll, a not very smooth experience. But anyway, I like to be a mafia lord :)
Clever, a bit hard to grasp at first. I would really enjoy some kind of variation of it in a board game. The theme is nice :)
To hard for me. But, anyway the game is looks great!
Neat idea! Some sound would really help the feel of the thing, to make it feel like some illicit web console. Not that such things make noise in real life :).
I had fun getting the hang of this, but once I figured it out there wasn't much else to do besides accumulate bitcoins. I like it quite a bit!
I managed to login with the Web version, then my mind blew up.