pluberski 2015-12-14 19:05
Really nicely put together! Reminds me a lot of Paper's Please! :)
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD34 → St. Orchint's Orphanage
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mood | 3 | 4.53 | ||
| Overall | 30 | 4.17 | ||
| Audio | 102 | 3.86 | ||
| Innovation | 130 | 3.73 | ||
| Graphics | 170 | 4.09 | ||
| Fun | 321 | 3.40 | ||
| Humor | 556 | 2.59 | ||
| Theme | 875 | 3.14 | ||
| Coolness | 1922 | 33 |
Really nicely put together! Reminds me a lot of Paper's Please! :)
I really love the art
I felt bad ;_;
It's moody. I really like this kind of concept.
Very polished game experience. The mood is very cohesive and like another said it does remind me of Paper's Please a bit. Though a much more simulation focused Paper's Please. I did have an issue though. At a certain point no new orphans came and I trained them all and that was it. I had 0 orphans and the government wanted 45 and so I lost. Still a really nice game. Well done.
Someone actually went and made something even darker and more hopeless than Papers, Please. Wow.
I decided to do a thoughtstream as I played... Here we go! Also, for those who haven't played; SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!
-Hey, a letter, that's pretty...
-Oooh, an orphanage! Yakuza flashba-...
-Wait, what? Soldiers? One day you will make a happy game, huh?
-Curse you, general T. Rutz! Curse you for taking the childhood of these poor innocents and crushing it!
-Oooh, requests, many different things to juggle. Fun!
-A children overview... what, sick children can't work? Well, they'd better not fake being sick, the little bastar-... -oh my god, what is this game doing to me?
-Music... haunting piano music... I am so jealous of these skills.
-COAL MINES? Jesus... that's harsh.
-Huh.. I wonder what font they use...
-Hmmm, I'd better get some medicine up front, these kids will probably get sick at the drop of a hat! Not like in my day, when we worked all day and then worked some more at night!
-Huh, how do I add kids to military school? Oh, the game probably does that itself. Huh... makes sense. But am kinda sad I can't make my own kiddie army and take over the country from within....
-Hahahaha, chimney sweep has a lethality rating. They drop off the roofs! I really shouldn't laugh... really shouldn't...
-Oooh, a paper. Ha, the Westport Independent! I love it... wait, are all these games somehow interconnected? Papers Please, Westport, St. Orchint's? Is this all part of some kind of huge bleak future metagame? Wow... ;)
-Oh huh, I don't get food if I don't click the send button. Yeah, that kinda makes sense. Stupidity as a player, detected!
-Oh wow... I love how this game makes me think. Bombing run? GREAT! More orphans for me, more monnnneeeey! I'm such a monster. Such a monster.
-OH SHIT I have run out of food. Sorry children! I shall quickly order some more. Now, back to work! No complaining!
-Oh no. Oh no no no no. The kids are sending me letters. I think I shall tell Emily her little friend went to fight for the glory of the fatherland, and we can all be proud for his soon-to-be-sacrifice.
-Owww, I can't reply to the letter. Maybe that's a good thing.
-OH NO! I can see the little deaths at the bottom of my screen... dear god, I'm a monster.
-WHAT? No! Not an Epidemic.... goddamnit, there goes my medicine... *grumbles*
-I have decided that the children that are working in the coal mines are the bad children. Those who did not behave properly. My consciousness feels a lot better. Or maybe that's the whisky.
-Jean has the time to send me a letter from the coal mines? WHAT? If he has time to write letters, he has time to work!
-Alright, I will put all new children in the sweatshop. That seems like the nicest thing to do.
-....
-I just thought putting children in a sweatshop was the better option. Damn you, game!
-I just had a horrible thought. If food costs me 4 per day right now... and kids eat one portion per day... putting them in the sweatshop really doesn't work.
-Man, fuck these letters..... I'm not crying, you're crying! Will someone shoot that piano player already?
-I have decided to stop my children sweeping chimneys. Instead, I'll fill the sweatshop until it bursts and let the rest do coal mine work. There's always dissidents....
-No wait, that doesn't work... okay, more kids to the coal mines then.... sorry, kids.
-WHAT? Oh goddamnit, I didn't make enough money, game over.
I shall try again!
(Loved the game. So much)
Loved it.
the mood is in the right place the graphics are great remind me of papers please, the audio is very good too, nice work!
Another great entry from you folks - every Ludum Dare I look forward seeing to what you put together.
Probably the most interesting take on the theme I've seen so far - and the reference to the Westport Independent made me smile.
At first, I was afraid you're game was too similar to Paper's Please, but I'm glad it's totally different. Seriously guys, you made me kill little buys for my country, and then their little brother/sisters send me letters, it so hard for my little heart :'( But it's really good game, I love this :)
By the way, when I had to rate it i was like "humor ? sorry, didn't find any kind of this in the game :'(" x)
That was a depressing game, although I think it was over done a bit. Over all I thought it was a good game should place highly.
Wouldn't eat be easier, and less cruel just to give the kids guns and give them a nudge in the right direction?
Another well-crafted Ludum from you guys!
The artstyle was very fitting the somber experience and the mood was well-crafted, even though sometimes it nudged slightly towards the melodramatic.
The audio was also well-done, fitting the somber more introspective experience you were trying to convey, although it became a bit repetitive after a while (but then again, that was only after two consecutive playthroughs :P).
The only nitpicks I have is some of the things you've already adressed in the description. The balancing is a bit strange at some points and it felt as though the government shut me down a few times even though I had filled that sprint's quota.
Additionally, is medicine supposed to be capped at 1000? 'cause it didn't register a few times when I tried to exceed it, even though I had the funds.
I loved the narrative elements and especially the call-backs to The Westport Independent. I could definitely see this being a prequel to the game as it seems much more based in the Industrial Revolution and might work as a hint on how the Loyalists came to power. Even if this was not intended as such, I found it a fun reference.
Only downside though, was that I felt that some of the letters were a bit too much. I liked the concept in general of hearing from the orphans, though I think I would've gotten more invested if there had been some variety amidst the doom and gloom. Like for instance, receiving a drawing or a letter thanking you for the job from a kid who only in a later letter end up dead in a mine collapse.
I understand that might be a bit out of scope for Ludum, as it'd require a lot more flags but it would've been some nice variety.
Still, loved the game and if you'll excuse me I have more kids to kil- Er, I mean 'employ' :P.
Wow. You made me feel like a monster. Great game!
Amazing game, great graphics and gameplay!
This game gives you the creeps. great mood.
Looks like a Paper Please incoming, I love this !
Good game even though you're fighting the inevitable and the game is just about managing sliders. Great atmosphere and mood.
So good!
really good game, very well made.
Like others it gave me a Papers Please vibe... a good looking if a little sinister game!
Great game! Wish the balance was a little better so there could be a chance to play it for a long time, as it is you can't put them in the easier jobs at all because they automatically eat more than they make! Would LOVE to play a more finished version of this, really hope you'll keep working on it!
Haha this game is great! I mean: every game that makes you happy when a City gets bombed is a great game.
5/5 Overall 5/5 Mood ... a dangit everything 5/5
I really like the idea and you've totally nailed the mood with such great art and sound, but there were a lot of quality of life issues that sort of hampered the experience for me.
The game auto pausing all the time was infuriating, it's like every 10 seconds I have to click the play button... no idea how anyone plays with something faster than the default speed :p
Food as 'expenses' didn't register with me for ages, for some reason... not sure why, perhaps me just being stupid. I also couldn't figure out how to put kids into school except when the current term ends. I started with 10 kids and had to have 15 for the mission, so I added 5 after the first 10 graduated and then the mission ended before I could finish. Overall I was in a lot of confusion most of the way through it haha.
I liked that you were sort of pushed to stick all the kids in coal mines, as you weren't earning enough money to feed everyone. Kids dying never seemed to really be an issue to address, as it was a slow trickle, so I suppose it's possible to regret your decisions later when you start running out of kids!
I don't know if I should put 1 or 5 on humor! Very nice entry. A bit texty, but I think you managed to hold the game play together, while delivering a brilliant atmosphere.
I loved the art and the music playing on the background. The gloom and hopelessness created by the letters and the music made the mood very good. However for me the gameplay wasn't very interesting in itself, and while the letters from the kids were well written and even touching, I didn't feel any connection to the dying kids because they were just numbers on the screen. Still an atmospheric experience which made me want to see a bit more complex version of this!
Great stuff!
Love this game! The letters and newspaper articles really flesh out the backstory! Keep up the good work, I look forward to seeing more of your work!
Get down those mines, children, and make me some money. No Emily, I don't why your brother died, stop asking.
I guess I'm sad... :c
The letters are so </3
So good! Thoroughly enjoyed myself. Would love to see a full version
Well done! Definitely worth pursuing further.
Great and depressing job !
Great graphics, great game and sound, fantastic mood.
Effective little managing game.
"This is a game about running an orphanage during war time. Have fun!"
Ha Ha, I laught at this one. X)
This game was so sad! This deserves a full release, it was really good. I had a problem where the government kept demanding more orphans to be schooled and eventually I was only left with 15, so I couldn't meet the request to give money. Really great!
This could've easily been made for the "You're the monster" theme too :D
Gameplay is very deep, like it
Wonderful , but like you said it needs balancing.
the medicine weren't a problem ,compared to the food , the children seems to eat way too much .
(why no option to choose the portion of food they get :P )
Nice job. A little dark, but fun never the less.
These idle layabouts are going to lose us the war! Back to the mines you little shits!
Wow, this was definitely a compelling entry. The visual style and the music were perfect for setting the mood, and the letters were a really nice additional touch. Great job!
A very interesting game.
It's one of those where you're not sure if you really want to play it.
The letters are extremely effective in creating immersion.
Not sure entirely about balance, as I think certain jobs are decisively better than others, though it does make you put them into riskier jobs, causing you to feel like a cold-hearted bastard.
Music definitely fits, but a bit too repetitive to my taste.
One of the more interesting games I've seen in this LD, good job!
Reminds me a lot of Paper's Please! Thumbs up ++
Really amazing, well made game. I included it in my Ludum Dare 34 compilation video series, if you’d like to check it out :) https://youtu.be/r75qiAihqqk