Demoman for Democracy by AaronYip

[raw]
made by AaronYip for LD25 (COMPO)
Hi guys. So I set out on this Dare with two goals: 1. remake one of my favorite games and 2. try to create something that can start a discussion.

Regarding the first point: this entry is heavily inspired by Tilt to Live. If you enjoy the core gameplay of this entry, own an iPhone/iPad, and want to play something 1000x as fun, please check out: http://onemanleft.com/games/tilttolive/ It's by two really awesome dudes, and it's currently completely free. :D

In regards to the villainy theme: I'm from the US and during our "war on terrorism", I've often heard the "we're actually the terrorists" argument: US sends troops to hunt down terrorists, but also end up hurting just as many innocent civilians. I'm trying to ask: well, are we? But as it appears, I think I did a pretty bad job, lol.

Some more general notes: Powered by Flixel, an awesome Flash library (flixel.org/). Trust me, haha, you'd wish I ran out of time if I didn't--but thankfully, I did run out of time before I could do what I attempt to call "creating sfx/musics." All of the logic for this entry is pretty basic (as you can see from my source), can probably be found in various open-source Flixel games examples, and have been programmed (and reprogrammed) by me before in some time or another. Did I do anything new and challenging? I definitely didn't. Hundreds of fellow jammers took risks, learned new languages, and constructed algorithms from scratch in the last 48 hours. Those guys are amazing, and I feel like I need to admit that I'm not one of them this time. Just so you know if you're deciding between two ratings.

And finally, thanks for taking the time to play! I hope you have fun. (:

Ratings

Coolness 47% 711
Overall 2.80 465
Fun 2.77 404
Graphics 3.03 329
Humor 2.52 368
Innovation 2.32 614
Mood 2.48 523
Theme 2.54 619

Feedback

SimianLogic
17. Dec 2012 · 06:36 UTC
Wasn't sure what I was supposed to be doing the first couple of times through--thought I was running from the brown hats and "rescuing" the blue hats. Only after the newspaper recap did I realize I killed every civilian I could get my hands on. Cute graphics!
Dark Acre Jack
17. Dec 2012 · 06:37 UTC
Nice job. Didn't quite understand why I was the villain. The newspaper was a very nice touch, would benefit from some SFX.
ix
17. Dec 2012 · 06:38 UTC
(Talking about the game, despite the World News plea.)

Oddly disjoint art style between the newspapers and the in-game. No sound (at least for me) -- would have been nice to hear power-ups spawning and so on.

Twitchy arena gameplay, though -- feels difficult, but like I could learn to be good at it. I should probably check out tilt to live, as you say.
Suese
17. Dec 2012 · 07:33 UTC
Would have been greatly improved with sound. Also, mixing graphics style/resolutions makes it seem like I'm playing two different games.
amassingham
17. Dec 2012 · 07:58 UTC
Such a pity there's no audio! Also not quite sure how it fits into the theme - but I enjoyed it none the less.
vids
17. Dec 2012 · 08:07 UTC
Would play great with Tilt-to-Live controls! Good work!
Casino Jack
17. Dec 2012 · 08:20 UTC
I really like the newspaper as the intro/outro. The powerups were really difficult to see, especially when there are a lot of enemies on screen at once.
🎤 AaronYip
17. Dec 2012 · 08:56 UTC
Thanks for all the feedback! Some of these points are splendidly enlightening--like SimianLogic's hint that "killing" civilians need to be emphasized during play. Haha, I sure could have used a second pair of eyes a couple of hours before the deadline--but I really, really appreciate you guys taking the time to type out pointers now. (:
01010111
17. Dec 2012 · 21:57 UTC
I was confused at first, but got into it after a few plays, the newspaper is definitely the best feature :) I would have rather the wave type weapon be aimed opposite the direction I was heading so I could wipe out incoming terrorists, but other than that I thought it was a cool game.
Nolan C
18. Dec 2012 · 03:54 UTC
The sprites are so tiny, I feel like they'd look better scaled up 2x.
barigorokarl
19. Dec 2012 · 06:48 UTC
Well, simple idea, but the story and the papers bring so much more to it! Very cool!
theRestlessTaxidermists
19. Dec 2012 · 09:45 UTC
Nice one. Enjoyed it a lot! It maybe needs sound effects to better understand what you're doing. :)
bigbadwofl
19. Dec 2012 · 13:31 UTC
Fun game and a cool concept. Well done.
YopSolo
19. Dec 2012 · 19:56 UTC
nice entry
Husky
20. Dec 2012 · 13:57 UTC
I like the attack effect of items!