Dictator's Last Year

kuro 2019-05-02 12:47

I like what you did with the theme - one of the most original executions I've seen this LD, and it goes very well with the game. I can see why my writing didn't go that well with you, you really seem like you know what you're doing. Nice story, I played it several times to get to the ending. The RNG decision doesn't work very well with me though - sometimes you survive, sometimes you die, and then have to start from beginning. I ended up with "CTRL+R, A,C,A,C,B,C,B,C..." to get to the point in the story I was before. Still, this is one of, if not the best submission in theme and mood department for me. Very nice!

reheated 2019-05-02 13:05

Overall: Good writing with a message. Gameplay-wise, a bit limited.

Fun: Alright. I enjoyed the writing. (There are a few grammatical errors but I think this actually works in the game's favour!) I had a few goes but didn't manage to finish the game. There isn't much of a feeling of control, since it is hard to predict how my choices will affect the game.

Innovation: I'm sure I've seen multiple choice games before. But the writing's innovative!

Theme: Yes

Graphics: OK. It's mostly a text game. But I don't like this font - found it hard and slow to read.

Audio: N/A

Humor: I enjoyed the humorous narration style.

Mood: Kind of felt like I was playing this game on an illegal dial-up BBS, maybe in the country in question.

lesinvisible 2019-05-02 23:29

@kuro Thanks for review! There is an element of random in the game that's why it you can die even with the same decisions. Every turn it calculates if you survive your worsening heart and liver condition based on the percentages from your stats.

lesinvisible 2019-05-02 23:31

@reheated Thanks for the review and sorry for this mess with audio. For some reason it doesn't plays in Safari and mb other browsers different than Chrome. Using real scientific mind here.

reheated 2019-05-03 01:05

@lesinvisible Oh, I didn't realise! Was playing in Firefox and there was no sound. Played again in chrome and I think the music is very good and perfectly suited! (Should have guessed - I know as well as anyone how hard it is to get sound working in multiple browsers.)

pcmaster 2019-05-04 08:41

I didn't hear the audio in Firefox x64 but it works in Opera. I recommend proofreading and spellchecking the HUGE amounts of text :) The font makes it quite tedious to read. But that's fine, I didn't suffer as much as my poor dictator did in the end :)

furtive-pygmy 2019-05-04 23:41

You do realise you need to get rated by other LD entrants? Leaving feedback that is quite rude and not constructive in any sense is not helpful and makes you come across as a troll. Your game is not the pièce de résistance of Ludum Dare, so don't act like it is. I found the music to be very nice, and added to the mood of the game. The writing is going in the right direction, there are spelling errors and seems a bit forced in some areas but generally is alright. I'm not a fan of novel type games, but got through this one OK as it isn't too long. I didn't enjoy the fact that the entirety of the game was random, and the choices didn't really seem to matter as it was an RNG fest where you could die turn 2 in some cases. As more of a novel it is OK, the randomness takes away from the story and really doesn't add too much (Especially with no input from the user). I didn't see any use of the theme. The graphics were nice and made me feel like I was on an old computer playing the game.

joshyoshkenoshi 2019-05-19 11:09

This game has an interesting narrative, and I feel is well-executed and a novel take on the theme. I played through a couple of times, although didn't make it to the end either time. As I believe others have mentioned, the text is a little difficult to read, and I think that slightly increasing the line-spacing would really help!

kristinamay 2019-05-19 13:04

I liked this - I liked the music and I liked the narrative. Hooray, fellow text-based games!

sampointoh 2019-05-19 15:42

I liked the music and thought the narrative was a novel take on the theme. If you're doing another text based game, don't forget to spell check!

vjmunhoz 2019-05-19 18:50

excelent graphics and mood. Interesting game, but it gets to "reset and try again" really fast after the first time you die

jsec 2019-05-19 19:43

great game! I looked at it also from technical point of view and i would not quessed that its basically a web page! Im 6+ y c++ dev but now learning js for fun of it (that why my entry is plain js and canvas), and Your entry will be my best lesson! Thank You for this!!!

2022-11-12 10:24

I think that dictator's last year is a great book to read. It is a book about the last year of a ruler who is about to be overthrown by his people. Try this [laser medical spa denver](https://www.kalonlaser.com/) for best ideas. This book is written in a way that it makes you feel as if you were there, observing what was going on around you. The author has used some interesting and detailed descriptions of what he has seen during this turbulent time period.