Myland by Kardamom

made by Kardamom for LD32 (JAM)

Myland decided to save the citizens of Otherland from the perils of their government and annexes it. However, some other countries do not like it and may impose sanctions. Use propaganda to tip the public opinion in majority of countries in favor of Myland so that sanctions will not be enacted.

Unconventional weapon: media and propaganda.

Should work, although the balance is not great. Not tested in IE. Needs a large screen... sorry, no responsive layout.

Post-LD update: Fixed a bug in game restart (as noticed by uvwar)

Hints:
* Your propaganda income increases over time.
* Web is the only media that affects young more than the old.
* Opinions on Myland spread across borders.
* Larger countries have larger influence on their neighbours.
* You can shutdown any medium to save money.
* Colour of countries reflect their attitude to Myland.

Web	http://kardamom.itch.io/myland
Original URL	https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-32/?action=preview&uid=48510

Ratings

Coolness	51%	3
Overall(Jam)	3.68	155

Fun(Jam)	3.33	305
Graphics(Jam)	3.52	407
Innovation(Jam)	3.50	250
Mood(Jam)	3.53	191
Theme(Jam)	4.00	84

Feedback

LeftRight92

21. Apr 2015 · 03:36 UTC

Simple but very effective game. Only too gripes I could come up with: no sound (little music and some button click noises would have done the job) and maybe some subtle animation.
Other than those minor things, a very enjoyable game, well done.

Kihira

21. Apr 2015 · 03:47 UTC

Interesting concept, but extremely unintuitive and difficult.

ethankennerly

21. Apr 2015 · 03:54 UTC

When I plotted to influence just enough to maintain majority in a majority of countries, I felt clever! When I started and while the summit was approaching, I felt unclear about exactly what the victory condition was.

Bsevers18

21. Apr 2015 · 03:54 UTC

Nice light strategy game. Audio would have been great, but it was still really enjoyable. Solid strategy

uvwar

21. Apr 2015 · 04:15 UTC

Awesome game. I think I noticed a bug or something where if you 'reset' in-game the game add a ton of variables or something to each country and make the game unwinnable, but if you physically reset the page or were in your first game it behaved 'correctly'.

Split82

21. Apr 2015 · 22:36 UTC

Very very cool. Quite steep learning curve, but super fun later.

rjhelms

22. Apr 2015 · 03:15 UTC

I always like seeing proper strategy games in Ludum Dare. Good take on the theme.

jakub.gemrot

22. Apr 2015 · 06:59 UTC

Reminds of the game "Dictator" back in 8-bit era. Some background music would be great to foster the theme.

Tommyno222

23. Apr 2015 · 21:01 UTC

I really like interpretation of the theme, I was looking for something like this :) It takes some time to get into it but GUI is very nice. Also I liked news at the bottom of the screen. It would be great if they were presented in newspaper at the end of each month, like the news at the beginning, but anyway well done!

jhell

24. Apr 2015 · 11:14 UTC

Managed to get 5/9. Pfew!

Very nice game idea, I find the limit a bit short, I would have loved to bring everyone under my point of view that the annexation was a good thing ^^.

Nice graphical polish, liked the style.

Chaoseed

24. Apr 2015 · 11:46 UTC

It's a very clever idea. The problem is that I'm not sure what the best option is, why I would choose one form of media over another, when I should shut things down...What I think this needs is a bunch of different levels that slowly introduce different options. This one seems like it should be the final level of an entire campaign, once the player has learned the ins and outs of the game.

The fact that you made a game that is playable and basically fun, though, is awesome. ;)

reheated

24. Apr 2015 · 11:59 UTC

I really enjoyed this game. It was fun to figure out how my actions affected my popularity. I like the way neighbouring countries affect each other - makes the game into a kind of puzzle where you have to figure out which countries to focus on to have the biggest effect. Took me a few goes so in my opinion the difficulty is just right.

Prowler

24. Apr 2015 · 12:00 UTC

Very nice strategy game! Using propaganda as a weapon is an interesting gameplay idea. The menus could need some polishing but overall a good game!

alpha_rat

24. Apr 2015 · 12:04 UTC

Nice game, spent more time playing it than planned !
It just lacks some sound

sesteves86

24. Apr 2015 · 12:16 UTC

I always like strategy games and this was no exception.
Had some difficulty to see how much each media affects the population.

HuvaaKoodia

24. Apr 2015 · 15:23 UTC

An interesting, well put together abstract propaganda simulation.

A few pointers on the interface:
- The automatic news feed adds to the atmosphere, but isn't extremely useful. Clicking on it should bring up a page with all the news visible.
- The start of the turn statistics popups disappear automatically after a second or two. It would be more helpful if I could study them for as long as I want and dismiss them with a button press.
- The population approval symbols seem to be the wrong way around. The progress bar goes from left to right, 100% meaning total approval, but the happy face is on the left at 0% and angry one is on the right at 100%.
- The pros and cons of each media type should be explained. TV, for instance, is the most costly so why should I invest in it? Does it spread propaganda to other nations the fastest?

jackyjjc

25. Apr 2015 · 02:20 UTC

I love to see another strategy game! Your game is like mine but much better executed, well done! I love the graphics and not hiding information from the player (except the effect of each of the media). I feel like the game is a bit short which makes it more intense but a bit less enjoyable and it is actually really hard. Maybe a difficulty option?

Timm638

29. Apr 2015 · 13:24 UTC

I liked it.

jhell

02. May 2015 · 12:55 UTC

Quick reply to your question on MagDef: the low contrast on red asteroids was not intentional, I guess it looked good enough on my monitor at submission time but my colors may be off x).

Snicklodocus

06. May 2015 · 04:25 UTC

Good strategy game! Simple but effective. It seemed pretty well balanced as well, and was not extremely difficult to get into. Good job!

runvs

09. May 2015 · 17:52 UTC

Nice game. Some sound effects and maybe simple music would have added some more atmosphere though. :)

Marek Lisý

11. May 2015 · 15:54 UTC

I liked it a lot, I just hated the default alerts, they make me sick :D

Anyways, I enjoyed the game and tried to beat it couple of times, but didn't make it :( I just wonder, isn't this Myland country a bit similar to some real country? :D