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Hello, I felt the same way as bluebabbler. Mind you, I think your team has made some really special and interesting here. There are so parts where the text could use editor, for sure (spelling or syntax issues), and sometimes the character Lee's "tone" drops but those are my only critiques, Once a player gets the hang of the game it very interesting. Wendy and Bernard come across very strongly and the approach of unveiling a world to the audience in small chunks is a great approach. The players has to literally take interest.
I did make it to one of the endings, and the achievements is a smart addition.
For capitalism part I'm on the fence. I think there are a few nuanced things happening in the story that make that almost secondary...I'm not sure how to word it. You place the person, humanity, in such a way that being against the corporation is almost too natural? The defender of the status quo is not as inviting or captivating as the others so you kind of shift there naturally - IN THIS JAM. Naturally the people playing this are going to lean in a certain direction and that has to be taken into account.
For anti-capitalism, and moral, sentiments I think the game is very strong. I loved the queer and inclusive nature of the game. Your team is really speaking from the heart and for those outside of this jam you make a good case for being better human beings and a society overall. I know you said you received good feedback on the prior version and it is well deserved.
Well, thank you very much for taking the time to write such a nice comment. :)
I’m very glad you enjoyed the game, found it inclusive and thought it was well made!
For the typos/syntax errors, you’re totally right… We have already identified several. As you can imagine we were in a hurry to meet the deadline and we prioritized writing all the text options over checking them in details. Nonetheless, we are planning to release a more polished version once the evalution period is over. So if, by any chance, you’ve written down any specific typo, please feel free to share them with us, that would be a great help. :)
About your feeling regarding the anti-capitalist take: I am really sorry but I am not sure to fully understand what you mean (probably because I’m not a native english speaker). So allow me to rephrase:
Anyway, thank you again for your comment and sorry for the long post!
Good morning! It's dawn where I am.
I'm glad you guys already have the typo fix handled. I didn't write any down but I wanted to make sure you were aware for the future (normally I do, but there were some that I wasn't sure if it was a matter of the character or just a simple mistake). I totally understand rushing - I've made several corrections to my own project despite trying to keep everything as neat as I could.
To clarify the points you ask about:
1. I don't feel as if the game should have a more attractive pro-capitalism figure. Someone more "cuddly" and empathetic. I think, though, that capitalism DOES have attractive spokepeople that reel new people in every day. Even our friends and people we trust will tell us, "Don't you want to make more money? Isn't this better?" and some of us, for better or worse, listen. That doesn't mean your game is responsible or needs to have those voices - it's not the story you're telling. Your story is where a company is doing some unethical practices...what do you do? If anything I think the game would benefit from a better endorsement at the very beginning of all the "great things" the company does, or says it does, for society so that as the player moves along they can see that that isn't true. Like when Google's motto was "Don't be Evil" and we all cheered...only to find out they really don't care about that. Be evil, whatever. It feels like from the beginning I'm already of the opinion that the company can't be good (cause Lee obviously feels like a jerk. Sorry! That's how I felt. Did not like him.)
2. And that last part brings me to your other question. I just mean that the people playing it from this jam aren't the best measures for the story, and that includes me. I came to the jam wary of capitalism. Therefore I automatically view the company as bad no matter what. And your narrative caters to that expectation. So the discoveries aren't as impactful. For the average person not coming from this Jam they're likely more effective. Unless they are pro-capitalism, in which case they won't like your game at all (and who cares about them). But that offers a scale, if you were able to make make the company seem "good" from the beginning, you'd have even people from this jam questioning "Is this really anti-capitalist?!" until they get into it and go, "Oh!!! The company's brand is full of misdirection and lies". I hope that make sense. So you unless you really WANT, as a team, the shock of the company to be bigger you have to take feedback from the Jam with a grain of salt or less weight. As it is right now? It's fine. It was kind of me saying, "I'm a really biased player, so you have to take that into consideration as if this was a playtest scenario".
Let me know if it's still confusing.
What an interesting conversation! My reply will have heavy spoilers, so beware to curious people who may read all of this.
"If anything I think the game would benefit from a better endorsement at the very beginning of all the "great things" the company does, or says it does, for society so that as the player moves along they can see that that isn't true."
I get your point and you are right. The reason is that our goal/focus was not to surprise the player by discovering that the company was shady, the intro shows already how full of bullshit Lee is, but to find out how shady it is, what is their goal really, and if you can do something about it. But I do think we should keep in mind your point while we work on refining our dialogues. I am sure we can improve the satisfaction feeling of the discoveries even while respecting our initial take. Some dialogues and/or paths are already locked depending on who you talk with, how you behave with them, and how you work on mission. It is supposed to be easier to miss the hints about how shady the company is if you ignore Bernard at coffee breaks, or if you never go back to previous islands. Bernard will never send you the ping where he asks you to join the revolution if you never went to a previous island -- we wanted to add that if you hadn't a minimum of positive interactions with him he wouldn't trust you enough to join him either (but we didn't have time to implement it).
I think we all agree that people from this jam are more likely to disobey orders from the company, we will need to do more playtests with different people to know how players behave and what they think. When we were doing playtests of the first version of the game, we were actually surprised to see a lot of testers during the first whole playthrough (1) were focused on doing their missions on time (2) didn't use all their coffees and/or didn't interact with Bernard, or briefly (3) were tempted to please Lee and ignored Bernard disappearance (4) never went back to a previous island.
(Not necessarily all the points at the same time but still)
We didn't have time to do any playtests with anyone before the jam so you all are actually the first to play this version! It will likely be improved in the upcoming weeks/months thanks to your feedback and others :)!
I'm glad to hear you talk about Lee being full of bullshit. lol
Very quickly I came to the conclusion that that guy was a total tool. I tried to have one coffee break with him and found him so insufferable that I never approached him again. It also made me MUCH more like to push harder when Bernard went missing. To my point about the jam coloring the experience, I did go back to previous islands and ignore the threat of the Siren effect because I didn't believe the corporation. Lee being disappointed that one time didn't matter - I didn't care about his opinion anyway. I offer that as playtest feedback. Also, I didn't mention that Bernard's route was very satisfying as someone who supported what he was all about. I only wished that Wendy could have escaped too (not that she ever stated she wanted to).
I do hope others play and offer feedback. It's golden for any project.
Thank you so much for the kind and detailed review!
Very interesting and thought-provoking. At first, the critique of capitalism isn’t immediately obvious, but it begins to emerge subtly from the very first missions. It really makes you want to carry on to see where the plot leads.
Thank you! Yeah we didn't want it to be too obvious at first glance, to leave to players the possibility to be a good
corporate scumemployee if they wished (and assumed the consequences ;D) Did you manage to reach one of the endings :D? If yes, which one?Not reached yet. I’m trying to play (and vote) as many games from the jam as possible, and then I’ll take a closer look at them.
ANNOYING BUG ! Do not clic on the coffee machine after mission 5 if you arrive late ! The game will freeze.
Either save at the start of Mission 5 and try not to be late or clic directly on the door to go in the meeting!
(Corporate greed trying to make you respect ridiculous quotat again....)
We're very sorry about that. T-T
You can still finish the game and reach the different endings though, don't worry :)