Eurovision: world domination through the power of song by Tijn

[raw]
made by Tijn for LD32 (COMPO)
EUROVISION: WORLD DOMINATION THROUGH THE POWER OF SONG

In this game you are the leader of a European country who wants world domination. But such things can't be done alone, so you need friends.

Instead of going through the boring route of diplomacy and politics, you will be using a more UNCONVENTIONAL WEAPON: your voting powers in the Eurovision Song Contest to gain the favour of your fellow European countries (and Australia).

By awarding countries with many points, they will like you for it and return points back the next year. Can you form a big enough power block to win the Eurovision Song Contest? If you can do that, the world belongs to you!

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HOW TO PLAY:

By giving many points to a country, you will befriend them and they will return the favour in the next year. So by strategically awarding points to the countries you want in your group of friends, you can manipulate the results in the long run and eventually become winner of the Eurovision Song Contest and thus the world.

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This is my first entry for Ludum Dare. I'm not really a game developer, so I created a website instead. I hope it works, because the code isn't that great. If you're having trouble, maybe trying a different browser might help.

The game depends heavily on music (it's a song contest after all). I've created a lot of songs during this weekend for this game, so please turn up your speakers and enjoy the beautiful Euro sounds.

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All code, art & music has been made by me during the weekend of LD32.

The sound track is on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/martijnwf/sets/ld32-eurovision-world

I used http://www.bandnamemaker.com and http://www.songname.net to generate the random band/song names that are shown in the game. I tried my best to remove any profanities from the generated names. If you do come across a name which offends you, I'm sorry about that.

Ratings

Coolness 89% 2
Overall 3.30 434
Audio 4.64 2
Fun 2.79 779
Graphics 2.63 801
Humor 4.13 21
Innovation 3.82 122
Mood 3.35 234
Theme 3.42 490

Feedback

BraindeadGeo
20. Apr 2015 · 12:04 UTC
You made all these songs in 48 hours? Very impressive! Loved the little animations too!
ccglp
20. Apr 2015 · 12:10 UTC
As a fan of the eurovision song contest this makes me smile. And as a spanish guy, this game is so realistic, i don't win with spain a single time!

Good game to be the first time :)
Muffin
20. Apr 2015 · 12:12 UTC
Hahaha these songs are fantastic, nice way to aproach the theme. I never got alot of points though :( Im glad this was quicker than the real eurovision. Full points for audio and humor.
Tiago Ling Alexandre
20. Apr 2015 · 12:13 UTC
Interesting idea, but the game feel very burocratic - one round takes a very long time.
dalbinblue
20. Apr 2015 · 12:25 UTC
This is absolutely hilarious game, and if you don't win on audio, I'd be surprised.

The game play was a bit problematic. I played for several years, but didn't really see a huge rise in standings. I'm guessing that if you rate someone higher than they rated you last year they'll trend up, and if you rated lower they'll trend down, but without some statistics up when I got to voting it was very difficult to determine who I should vote high. It was also difficult given that I didn't know who else was competing, so I couldn't think ahead and hold the better points for the right players.

Despite this I did have a lot of fun playing, and laughing at the incredible amount of strange music you put together.
🎤 Tijn
20. Apr 2015 · 12:35 UTC
Hi dalbinblue, you are completely right about how the mechanic works. If you give a country more points, they'll award you more points the coming year.

You can look up the statistics in the screen between the Eurovision contests. If you click on one of the countries in the list on the left, you'll see a graph of how many points you've given them and how many points they've given you in return.

The best strategy is to look for countries that keep re-appearing each contest. If you team up with them and consistently give them a lot of points, you'll be able to win :)
Nomys_Tempar
20. Apr 2015 · 14:43 UTC
Big up to this game ! So much better than the real Eurovision !
Nysten
20. Apr 2015 · 14:52 UTC
Finland wasn't included! :( Pretty cool game though, those songs are amazing for a compo entry!
Multiplexor
20. Apr 2015 · 14:57 UTC
Amazing the songs, and the mood is very well done. Only problem is that after a while it gets a bit repetitive.

Keep up the good work! :D
🎤 Tijn
20. Apr 2015 · 15:02 UTC
Findland *is* included, Nysten!

There are 50 countries in total. Every time the game starts, a set of 25 is randomly chosen. So if your favourite country isn't included, just refresh the game and chances are it will be there :)
DarkMeatGames
20. Apr 2015 · 16:46 UTC
Really awesome music, 5 star audio for sure! I really didn't understand what I was supposed to do, but I still clicked my way through and listened to all the crazy music. I really hope those sounds find their way into something!
Hectigo
20. Apr 2015 · 16:59 UTC
Awesome interpretation of the theme, and great music! It would be better if it was easier to see which countries are more likely to give points to you, like a colored map. Now keeping track of one's strategy feels too much like a chore, as fun as the game is otherwise.
🎤 Tijn
20. Apr 2015 · 17:06 UTC
I did want to do something with the map, Hectigo, but I ran out of time :(

You can track the voting history of each country in the screen between the Eurovisions though, by click on a country from the list on the left and looking at the graphs.
Xgor
20. Apr 2015 · 17:55 UTC
As eurovision is a big gulity plesure for me I just love the idea to make it into a game.
Very frustrating to try to win as it's very stacked against you.

I noticed a bug when austria appeared twice so they got voted on twice so it would be good to fix that.

(Also if you really wanna go all out with the eurovision theme you should have included bloc voting ;P )
Conk
20. Apr 2015 · 18:02 UTC
Brilliant! I finished with 877 points and it took me 8 years, very cool mechanic I've not seen before, audio was also fantastic!
🎤 Tijn
20. Apr 2015 · 18:11 UTC
Wow Conk, amazing! I can't believe someone actually took the time to finish the game. That makes me so happy :)
rectangular Tim
20. Apr 2015 · 18:59 UTC
You made an impressive amount of music and, if you look at my nickname, you'll find that I'm a rectangular person myself, so this game made me feel right at home.
SmilingCat
20. Apr 2015 · 19:03 UTC
Wow, that's a lot of impressive audio there. Great job!
benjih
20. Apr 2015 · 19:42 UTC
Absolutely love this. Amazing game! I don't understand the mechanics at all but I still had a blast playing this. Even had a few guys around the office checking out what was going on.

The efforts you made with the music was great. I actually found myself turning the music up so that everyone could here it.
gaarlicbread
20. Apr 2015 · 20:31 UTC
I had a lot of fun listening to all the songs. Great job writing those! The polka one made me laugh out loud :)
DragonXVI
20. Apr 2015 · 21:03 UTC
Came dead last as United Kingdom with barely any points. 100% accurate simulation :p
jlauper
20. Apr 2015 · 22:35 UTC
The music is amazing
Joris
20. Apr 2015 · 22:37 UTC
An eastern european country (Hungary) won and I came dead last as The Netherlands. Very accurate 10/10. The idea for the game is amazing and very well executed. Not really sure why I lost but I had a lot of fun.
MegaPonies
20. Apr 2015 · 22:42 UTC
That was really interesting :o!
Just wish Portugal was on the list
Rulrite
20. Apr 2015 · 22:44 UTC
Such a fantastic idea. I love the tongue-in-cheek humour, and the music is awesome - you really did a great job!
jmf
20. Apr 2015 · 22:46 UTC
Great music! Well done for getting that all done in 48 hours.
🎤 Tijn
20. Apr 2015 · 22:49 UTC
Thanks for all the compliments, people! I had tons of fun working on this and it's great to see people are enjoying the results of my efforts.

@Joris: well, you always end up in last place at the first contest. The idea is to build diplomatic relations with other countries by giving them many points. They will reward you the next year by giving you more points in return. If you can build a big enough block of befriended countries, you are able to win the Eurovision Song Contest.

@MegaPonies: Portugal is included! All 50 participants are in the game, but only 25 are chosen at random at the start of each game. So if your favourite country isn't in there, just hit refresh and chances are it will be included :)
drludos
20. Apr 2015 · 22:59 UTC
Outstanding idea, and great work on the audio - some of these songs are actually cool - when are you going to release an OST for your game? :)

Regarding the game itself, it's a bit hard to understand the logic behind votes and it's a bit too long as the years go by (maybe doing a "mini-eurovision with less countries each would make the game faster to play), and, as many others, I ended up losing several contest in a row (4 years) with my country (France) - 100% realistic ;).

You should expand the game (refine UI) in a post-compo version, because your concept very neat!
zillix
21. Apr 2015 · 03:11 UTC
oh man, this is amazing. awesome music!
Portals
21. Apr 2015 · 09:58 UTC
Real nice and complex game! Good job on all music!
qapn
21. Apr 2015 · 11:16 UTC
A unique entry! The best I could do was around the middle of the pack, probably because I'm a poor strategist. Music was excellent.
ninjascript
21. Apr 2015 · 15:10 UTC
Singing those songs must have been a blast. That was hilarious!
zakchaos
21. Apr 2015 · 16:03 UTC
Well Done, what a herculean effort of music creation, do you plan on releasing the music for use for games?
🎤 Tijn
21. Apr 2015 · 16:52 UTC
The music is on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/martijnwf/sets/ld32-eurovision-world
TijmenTio
21. Apr 2015 · 16:58 UTC
Came in last haha. Had a lot of fun listening to all the songs :)
vogon101
21. Apr 2015 · 18:22 UTC
LOVE IT!!!!!
micahcowan
21. Apr 2015 · 19:42 UTC
Pretty awesome, love the crazy little songs. Obviously since the game's really more about the votes than the actual songs, you could've omitted them if you had to, but I'm glad you spent the time making them, adds a lot to the experience. :)
SimianLogic
21. Apr 2015 · 21:57 UTC
Lots of music but doesn't really feel like a game and no weapons. Great amount of content for just a weekend, though!
🎤 Tijn
21. Apr 2015 · 22:18 UTC
The power of voting is your weapon, Simian!
rnlf
21. Apr 2015 · 22:37 UTC
Finally had time to play it some more, this evening. As I mentioned earlier, the music is just amazing. Knowing how much work that must have been makes it even better.

I couldn't really figure out how to vote to win, because I could not remember what I had voted and what results that created though. I am bad at memorizing stuff :-(

I think the art style is just right for this kind of game, does not distract from the music and is still nice to look at.

Very good first entry, way better than my first entry and it even feels more coherent and thought out than what I make today!

Keep it up!
gnx
22. Apr 2015 · 18:16 UTC
This was so much fun :D Also very realistic since the great nation of Finland netted something like 12 points all put together!
plams
22. Apr 2015 · 18:35 UTC
Amazing job with all this music!
rxi
22. Apr 2015 · 20:45 UTC
Easily one of my favourite Eurovision-Song-Contest-simulator games.
Ludonaut
23. Apr 2015 · 14:41 UTC
Great audio. Very impressed that you made those in just 48 hours.
nonetheless
23. Apr 2015 · 19:11 UTC
Great job on the audio :)
Marcus316
24. Apr 2015 · 02:12 UTC
Lots of fun! Took me 6 years to take the top!

I was confused for a short while on what to do (I have a bad habit of jumping in and trying to play before I read any instructions), but I eventually read your instructions. ;)
Andrew Quartermain
24. Apr 2015 · 22:10 UTC
Absolutely amazing. The music is spot on :)
WetDesertRock
24. Apr 2015 · 22:33 UTC
Loved the songs. Wish the map would highlight which country I selected. Also was wanting to click on the map rather than use the list. I found myself laughing a lot. Good job.
Smiley
24. Apr 2015 · 22:46 UTC
good evening, this is Stockholm Sweden calling. Thanks for a wonderful show.. and here are the votes from the Swedish jury..

Audio and Humor 12 points!!!
Dreauw
25. Apr 2015 · 00:17 UTC
Ahahah ! This is the best/funniest take on the theme I've seen so far :D
It took me 7years to make my country win, but I'm not that optimistic in real life :p

The work on the audio is just huge. You've managed to put so much diversity.
With the animations, it makes every song pleasant to watch/listen to.

Nice job !
madflame991
25. Apr 2015 · 06:34 UTC
This was better than the actual contest!
frogcheese
26. Apr 2015 · 13:48 UTC
Okay, this is just simply amazing. The songs were all awesome, the graphics were clean, and as an inhabitant as someone who has read one or two newspapers trying to rationalize why Sweden and our neighboring countries always give each other good scores in Eurovision I found this to be absolutely hilarious.

The only downside was that I didn't get to play as Sweden and receive all those delicious 12-pointers from the rest of Scandinavia because of our "similar taste in music." So this time I picked Switzerland. That's the country we always get confused with anyway. :P
ChronoDK
26. Apr 2015 · 18:59 UTC
This is easily the best entry of the 100 I have tried so far! Very original and amazing audio work.

It's amazing how you implemented the strategic / neighbor voting system - just as in the real Eurovision :D
Goutye
26. Apr 2015 · 20:02 UTC
Impressive song work! It is really well made! Huge work, and it is really funny!
Pavel M. Dlouhý
29. Apr 2015 · 06:37 UTC
Your game has been rated by our team member Antonin Charvat (music composer). Here is his comment: Since I have never seen any Eurovision contest, I didn't know how to approach to awarding points, but the important thing is, I did have great time playing this game! Every single song is uniqe and original piece, I love all of them so much! It's unbelievable funny!
alyphen
02. May 2015 · 16:08 UTC
You got a lot done for 48 hours - nicely done. It's a little repetitive but the scoring system is neat and the music is decent (some of them I liked better than others, but that's an accurate representation of Eurovision)
goerp
02. May 2015 · 17:03 UTC
The idea, originality, music all top marks. I also like the very simple graphics.
It's all very impressive.
But to be fair, I didn't have the patience to go beyond two rounds. So maybe gameplay could be imporved a bit, but other than that: very impressive!
matt beckett
03. May 2015 · 05:08 UTC
Incredible! 5/5 across the board.
Sytech
04. May 2015 · 18:23 UTC
I love this game! Very original idea, really fun and great music (how did you come up with all these songs in just two days!?).
Great job!
🎤 Tijn
04. May 2015 · 18:39 UTC
I first made 12 backing tracks in different styles, which took me a few hours. Then I quickly sang 5 different vocal parts for every one, largely improvising and only doing a retake if I really messed up. So that got me 60 different songs in not too much time.

Then I pitched them all up & down, resulting in 180 different song files for the game :)
NeiloGD
09. May 2015 · 06:24 UTC
Nice work :) I didn't find it much fun, but I really appreciate the game. Excellent work on doing all the songs in the period, and great work on the clean style of graphics.
iapc
11. May 2015 · 19:15 UTC
Hilarious. Bad, but definately hilarious.
dos
11. May 2015 · 23:59 UTC
wow!

The take on Eurovision is so realistic, from the mechanic to the music itself, it's just briliant. Instalike on Soundcloud. Tenouttaten, GOTY!
🎤 Tijn
12. May 2015 · 07:56 UTC
Thank you all so much for the great ratings. I can't believe this game actually ended up #2 in audio. Amazing :D