Killer Joke by tronix + capnramses

[raw]
made by tronix + capnramses for LD32 (JAM)
"This man, Bernard Moran, was a writer of jokes.
In a few moments he will have written the FUNNIEST JOKE IN THE WORLD, and as a
consequence, he would die laughing.
During the funeral WORLD WAR broke out!
It did not take long for both sides in the war to
WEAPONISE the world's deadliest joke."

You are in charge of CENTRAL COMMAND FOR JOKE WARFARE:
* deploy COMEDIANS to plant the killer joke in enemy social networks
* deploy HECKLERS in friendly cities to spread JOKE IMMUNITY in our social networks
* hover over a city to see the joke and immunity spread in its SOCIAL NETWORK GRAPH

This is a WebGL game and should run in most browsers.
The viewport is quite wide, so may not suit mobile devices.

By Fintan McGee and Anton Gerdelan (@capnramses)
Sound effects generated in SFXR and some from freesound.org

Ratings

Coolness 26% 2090
Overall(Jam) 2.41 1032
Audio(Jam) 2.15 632
Fun(Jam) 2.08 1028
Graphics(Jam) 2.04 936
Humor(Jam) 3.00 448
Innovation(Jam) 2.88 647
Mood(Jam) 2.32 928
Theme(Jam) 3.58 358

Feedback

sandbaydev
21. Apr 2015 · 16:29 UTC
Tested your entry. Somehow I felt that the idea about killer joke was to be something funny, but not sure if that fits the game. There was too little for me to play there and to understand how the gameplay works.

...with these tough words though, I think there's potential though. The audio was OK and important for a humour game I'd say.

I'm not sure the "wait till you have 100 bucks" was necessary. Why not just make it turn based? And instead of two unit types, there could be different types of units, research and so on. This would mean you would need to decide where to put effort.

I'm not sure how to balance the game.. since you could put any number of units to cities. Maybe it would be more interesting if there was only 1 to 3 places to choose.

I would also consider adding something hidden information... perhaps "boost cards" :D Okay I think I said enough now.

Bottom line: audio is the best part. Strategy/gameplay needs some more work. Fine start!
Borkleby
21. Apr 2015 · 16:49 UTC
Pretty short but pretty fun. Not exactly sure how I won, but it seemed simple enough. I know exactly which episode of Monty Python that's from, awesome reference!
Diventurer
21. Apr 2015 · 16:50 UTC
Uhm, I won? I don't get it. :D
sebasRez
21. Apr 2015 · 16:51 UTC
This was pretty tough, I though the enemy had the upper hand through out. I thought using monthy python characters were funny but the game could use more work UI/UX wise which is just as important as anything else in gaming.

I liked the killer joke idea.
scumbly
21. Apr 2015 · 16:52 UTC
Good premise, although the strategy is a bit thin -- maybe some kind of rock-paper-scissors mechanic that adds some spice versus just +1 or -1 to each city. Not bad though!
boateye
21. Apr 2015 · 16:57 UTC
The concept is novel, but the gameplay doesn't seem to fit the theme at all. Also, I have no idea how my unit placement is affecting the cities i'm placing them. I feel like i'm not doing anything and i'm only waiting for $100 to place a unit that doesn't seem to do anything, even when i put the hecklers on blue, and the comedians on red.

One more suggestion, differntiate the heckler and comedian pieces more. Aside from the blue vs red bases for player vs CPU, it was hard to tell comedians from hecklers.
TailyILoveYou
21. Apr 2015 · 17:04 UTC
Not a bad game, though the lack of music made it a little dull. The money counter could've been a little faster as well, it felt like the enemy was placing units faster than I was :P
Cheshyr
22. Apr 2015 · 01:29 UTC
I like the sideways take on the theme. Funny audio, and interesting strategy mechanic. Not actually sure how to win, since the enemy gets 2 moves for every 1 of mine. Ending conditions were a bit weird as well... usually lost when I still had 60%+ population left.

Either way, nice entry! Thanks for the laughs!
frosty
22. Apr 2015 · 03:37 UTC
Nice Monty Python-esque approach. =)
ruerob
22. Apr 2015 · 08:24 UTC
I don't know why I've won. The enemy was better than me I think...
MegaBrutal
22. Apr 2015 · 22:09 UTC
Overall, I liked this entry, although it wasn't obvious how could I increase the casualties at the enemy. The game stalled at 12% / 25% population, and nothing changed the numbers, no matter how many comedians I sent to enemy cities and how many hecklers I had at my cities.

Good work! :)
peterkirk
23. Apr 2015 · 11:26 UTC
I was confused about what impact my actions were having and how they lead to me winning the match. Nice Monty Python reference though, I saw that skit on tv the other day.
Andy Gainey
30. Apr 2015 · 22:00 UTC
It moved so fast, I never had a chance to comfortably look at the city networks, or figure out a strategy. And the interface made it difficult to act quickly. The AI seemed capable of placing a unit instantly upon getting enough points, while I had to wait until I had enough money to click the unit type I wanted, and then click the city I wanted. That small difference in time seemed to cause me to always be behind.

If there were any nuances of behavior with the networks and such, I wasn't able to recognize them. This seems like it might be the kind of gameplay that would work better as a turn-based style rather than real-time. Give me time to consider my move; give me tooltips and info panels describing the immediate effects of any particular choice. I wouldn't be surprised if this would bring out or enable some really deep interesting mechanics, but I just couldn't find any depth the way it was setup.