FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD50 → Thanks, Socrates

Thanks, Socrates

By wilhelmstein and learus

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall3173.8236
Fun2253.8036
Innovation7363.2636
Theme7223.6336
Graphics6463.6936
Audio644.1736
Humor34.6736
Mood1484.0736

Comments

ath-ai 2022-04-05 08:50

Ahh! I was enjoying it thoroughly, got what I deserved in the end, something looked like it was supposed to happen but the game crashed and I missed the message or window or something at the end! Otherwise, top stuff.

learus 2022-04-05 13:18

@ath-ai We are glad you enjoyed the game! There was a small bug when the game ended, when the game prompted you to replay or give up. The bug is now fixed and you will be able to experience the whole tree of stories and events. We urge you to give it a second try!

subvertissement 2022-04-05 18:07

your zip download is windows-only. might want to correct that (either in adding mac and linux launchers, or removing the part that says it's compatible). looks like a nice game, otherwise!

cryptomnesic 2022-04-05 18:08

Nice documentary

vitor-milioni 2022-04-05 18:09

It lacks mechanics or depth, but goddamn it is funny xD It's refreshing to see someone call socrates out for what he truly is, always felt like he was a grade A a-hole. The simple pixel style, the sitcom music and the appearing of several historic events and figures makes this a delight to play, probably wouldn't play it again, but veeeeeery glad i played it once! Extremely funny and a great jam entry, very well done!

ivysly 2022-04-05 18:11

Really good concept and execution. I think you could have leaned into the "socratic" part a little more. At times Socrates reads more like an apathetic teenager, which i feel is pretty out of character, even in parody. But I like what you were going for and the highlights are very funny.

lisyarus 2022-04-05 18:15

Nice game, beautiful artwork! The gameplay is a bit repetitive, though, and I didn't really see my answers do any difference. And, yeah, the provided executable is Windows-only, best fix that in the description so that others do not feel fooled :)

mr-kitkat 2022-04-05 18:16

Script? Unmatched. Voice acting? Divine. His fate? Could have gone better. Great game!

gramsinator 2022-04-05 18:23

Nice game. Really fun. The voice over is great (nice to see someone else performed their own voice overs) the performances are great and fitting each character, it would benefit from a better sound process. Even without a good microphone you can apply EQs and do some sound treatment to clean up the voice / make it sound less hollow (you can also record the sound in a closet full of clothes / use blankets for better acoustics #LowCostAdvice)

The humor and double edged consequences is pretty good, fairly well referenced in history etc. Love it.

Pixel art is real good.

ghatazorg 2022-04-05 18:27

I had fun, it's a good concept !

learus 2022-04-05 18:31

@subvertissement Understood and fixed. I've uploaded a WebGL version to make it easier for people to play the game. Will upload a Linux build as well. Thanks for the feedback :D

subvertissement 2022-04-05 18:36

@learus web version helps! thanks for doing that! :)

edit: played it. nicely done! good job on the dialogue options!

wouter52 2022-04-05 18:37

That was great! I laughed to hard about some of those situations haha "A SWAN?!" :') The voice acting is just top notch, and the music is fitting to the game! I can't imagine how much work this was. For LD48 I made a text adventure, and the first two days was writing the story. I swore not to make another textadventue after that haha

Great game!

learus 2022-04-05 18:37

@ivysly Thanks for the feedback!

We were skeptical about that exact thing when writing the dialogue, but ultimately decided on relaxing the accuracy a bit in favour of humour and, well, easiness.

Glad you enjoyed the game overall!

learus 2022-04-05 18:39

@mr-kitkat My friend, these comments is why I enjoy Ludum Dare so much. I am glad you enjoyed our little game! Have a nice day.

learus 2022-04-05 18:44

@lisyarus Thanks for the kind words and feedback! Sadly, the game lacks in mechanics in favour of story and humour. Indeed, there are some events that have the same outcome whatever the player chooses, but after that every story branches out in many paths.

Moreover, there is a web version uploaded now as well.

Thanks again!

atom 2022-04-05 19:33

I had a lot of fun playing this game, thank you for this little piece of humor and genuin fun!

arzi 2022-04-05 23:39

I will never look at Socrates the same now.

failuer 2022-04-06 18:46

Genuinely funny, original and a cool take on the theme. Fun voice acting.

Fabulous entry, well done!

suchista 2022-04-07 00:15

Well, a great entry! I really liked interacting with all these characters, and the beautiful pixel-art made it even more pleasant. The only thing I didn't like was death before seeing every dialogue!

(btw. the link to the submission you provide in the itch.io game description leads to the incorrect edit page, you should probably take a look at it)

szkocka 2022-04-08 20:16

Imho one of the most original entries in my experience with any LD game I played :D

agrimes 2022-04-09 03:23

Great stuff, really funny!

hawkin 2022-04-09 23:51

I knew from the screenshots alone I was going to enjoy this. I loved the vibrancy and accuracy of all the historical characters, and the dialogue options were just hilarious.

You know I have to give "hats off" for the voice acting. The intro was inspiring, and even the variety of "hmms" and "hahhs" were full of character! Loved it!

I'd be really interested to know what system you implemented for handling all the script progression. Mine was nested scriptable objects (Script containing Lines with text/audio) processed by a Monobehavior.

ehon 2022-04-10 11:22

On a search for narrative-driven games like ours, I stumbled upon this little game. It was soo cool and pleasing to play, the houmour was top notch really. Amazing entry!

learus 2022-04-10 17:01

@hawkin Thanks for your kind words. It really is amazing what a little bit of voice acting and sounds can do to a narrative experience like our game.

As for the event progression implementation, it's as you described it. We used Scriptable Objects called Events that held information such as the character scriptables, conversations, choices, popups, that were then connected with each other to form the event trees. The sounds, sprites and other similar info were held on the character scriptable objects. A simple solution really. Although could become a bit chaotic, without a proper diagram, as the number of events becomes bigger and bigger.

corrupt-spaghetti 2022-04-16 19:07

I really liked this one! The dialogue is funny and the voice acting was a nice touch.

My only note would be that the current windows download is a WebGL build and not an executable.

pizzasgood 2022-04-17 18:56

This is hilarious, even with my weak knowledge of ancient history and mythology. Good stuff.

hawkin 2022-04-26 01:46

Congrats on 3rd place!!! That's fantastic.

wilhelmstein 2022-04-26 12:44

@hawkin thanks! It was a big (but also quite pleasant) surprise getting 3rd place in the Humor category.