FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD39 → Discipline and Punish

Discipline and Punish

By shiitman and askania_m

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall6503.0024
Fun8212.2724
Innovation753.8624
Theme574.1324
Graphics4143.5424
Audio2053.5024
Humor4252.3820
Mood704.0022

Comments

littlelegend 2017-08-02 21:12

For me it wasnt really transparent, what all these sliders do and what the goal of the game should be. But the music was cool and created an intense atmosphere

theaspiringhacker 2017-08-03 19:59

I thought that the interpretation of "power" was creative, but I couldn't figure out how to play the game. I wish that instructions were given.

machinetribe 2017-08-03 21:07

Very cool twist on the meaning of the word 'Power'. While most of us focused on 'power' as 'fuel' or 'battery life' you flipped it on its head and came up with something fresh. Nicely done! :)

robotsandmuffins 2017-08-03 21:13

I really like the simulation idea. Also, comments of the "controller" are cool. Like the music. May be some summarizing ending will be appreciated.

askania-m 2017-08-03 21:14

@LittleLegend @TheAspiringHacker, thank you for your feedback. I must agree that the game idea is not superficial, but also may be it is a way too conceptual. I gave some simple explanations and instructions in my previous post https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/discipline-and-punish/$48059. More instructions and post-structuralism tutorial are in progress :wink:

carraka 2017-08-03 22:33

I really enjoyed the quotes and the atmosphere, but it was difficult to understand what to do or what any of my actions were accomplishing. I could figure out how to increase the population, but other than that, not much, and the sliders moved by themselves too--I'm not sure why.

simonhutchinson 2017-08-03 22:57

Awesome and grim! I love the dissonance between the music and visuals and the content of the game itself. Of course it's a little hard to crack the code of what the right balance is, but that's the point. Really nice work!

slovnoslomo 2017-08-04 08:28

I like different view on theme and how the game narrates ideas through mechanics. As I get the underlying meaning — it is not possible to build a balanced system with a tyranny (is it?) and it will fall sooner or later. Or are there more than two endings?

Speaking of technical issues — sometimes it's easy to miss a gameover message because of random cursor hover. I'd make it as a separate popup or a page.

Music and art are consistent.

fmdkdd 2017-08-04 20:39

Interesting twist on the theme. I love it when developers build a game as a pretext to talk about something else entirely. You wanted to have fun? To be entertained? Here, have some philosophy.

I like the overall aesthetic. The delivery of quotes from the deadpan Foucault watching you makes for a compelling effect; as if every time I tried to interact with the game or take a decision, he was coming up with a new koan apt for the situation. Too bad he quickly revealed his limited set of canned sentences.

The sliders, and the power/population numbers, seemed totally arbitrary and didn't make much sense to me. But I may have missed the point.

peter-sheehan 2017-08-06 18:47

Pretty interesting, but wasn't really all that educational, except for the quotes by Foucault. I wish there were more art assets, like a black and white overview of your fictional civilization.

dray 2017-08-10 23:00

Really interesting take of the theme. The idea of power is understandable but not the effect have on it. the quotes help understanding the use of each slider but not the effect on the population growth. i didn't understand why my slider was changing on each tick of the game. It's a cool concept and i like the idea and tone of it.

elmismopancho 2017-08-10 23:36

Very cool graphic design, I really like how clean it is. Audio was also good too. And not going for the obvious Power = Energy = Fuel, is a big check. Two things to improve: - The fact that the other sliders adjust to keep the 100% total is ok, but it's annoying when you want 2 of them to stay at the same level. - The objective of the game is not clear, to run out of power?, to increase it and to what amount?

Keep the good work

toulou 2017-08-11 10:58

It's a very interesting game, I love the original concept which make a commentary about totalitary systemps with only easy to understand variables. It's a really original take on the theme, and the kind of game experience I like. Congrats !

plantprogrammer 2017-08-11 11:57

That is a very unique piece with astonishing visuals. Very well crafted. I had a hard time understanding the connection between certain slider levels and the two measures power and population, which is probably part of the experience.

jelch 2017-08-11 16:10

What an unusual game. I like the different interpretation of theme, would have liked to know what was going on.

gonutz 2017-08-12 11:32

I don't know how to play your game. Trying different slider values did not make it clear to me.

The music is cool and I like the ASCII graphics head there.

I am not sure what the goal of this game is.