LudumData

Talk Isn't Cheap by Riker Greenslade

[raw]
made by Riker Greenslade for LD 38 (JAM)

Hey guys! This game is kind of an idle audio exploratory game based on graph theory.

...that makes it sound like no fun at all. Let me try again.

titleScreen.png

Play as an aspiring communications mogul, seeking to connect the far corners of the world with the fastest in data transmission technology. Advance from simple messengers (with exceptional memories) to the Internet and beyond! When you can teleport to any city on the planet, the world isn't so big anymore.

Instructions

  • Click and drag to connect cities.
  • Select connection types by clicking them (once available).
  • Research technologies to unlock new connection types and inspire the populace to send more data.
  • The game doesn't end (you will have to exit with alt-f4), but you can consider yourself the greatest communications company in the world once you research Brain-Computer Interaction.

Tips and Tricks

  • Aim for fast connections - the sooner your message arrives, the more you are paid!
  • Larger cities send and receive more messages!
  • Message sizes increase as you move through the ages, and your old technology won't cut it! Be sure to replace your aging connections!

Download

Hosted on Dropbox (43.1 MB) Download and extract, then run the .exe. Ensure the data folder is in the same directory as the .exe

Developed by a team of 3 coders and a ~~magician~~ musician. Check out his music here.

Screenshots

screen1.png

screen2.png

Post-Jam Update

Download here (38 MB, Hosted on Dropbox)

Changes so far: - Pause screen - Game finish screen - Rebalanced audio levels, removed a couple sound effects - Moved tooltips to right panel

Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/talk-isnt-cheap

Ratings

Overall 85th 3.947⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Fun 135th 3.684⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 34th 4⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Theme 224th 3.737⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 348th 3.632⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Audio 5th 4.632⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Humor 274th 2.923⭐ 15🧑‍⚖️
Mood 40th 4.158⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Given 44🗳️ 5🗨️

Feedback

Tommyflower
01. May 2017 · 16:36 UTC
Good concept! Nice and rewarding to play. Would love to see more graphical feedback of the evolution process taking place.
Vivoubos
13. May 2017 · 23:07 UTC
WoW... The music... That's amazing!!! Very good job on it! The evolution of the music with the upgrade are very cool.
The concept is fun (it remind me a little bit mini-metro ^^) But the game is quite easy.
We don't know which is the best evolution when we buy it (OK.. It's the last!)
Nice entry!
kl0z
14. May 2017 · 19:37 UTC
Very Nice! Beautiful game, a little more difficulty would have made it more addictive, but I really liked it! Good job, congratulations!
mar3k
15. May 2017 · 19:24 UTC
The music is just amazing and the UI as well.
The overall concept is appealing to me, but there could be some stuff done differently, so it isnt always the same which is how it kinda feels right now, but still is cool. Would love to see more of this in some post compo version where is has more features.
Great job!
invader
15. May 2017 · 19:25 UTC
wow, the music deserves more than 5/5. And the resulting mood is just perfect! Nicely done! :man_dancing:
lazycymbals
16. May 2017 · 16:25 UTC
great integration of music in the game, cool game :)
lucentbeam
16. May 2017 · 16:32 UTC
Really wonderful! Listening to the ways the music layers as you upgrade the tech was really quite a treat.
adhesion
19. May 2017 · 03:14 UTC
Wow! Really great use of audio, love the music & sound design - great writing too. Took me a bit to get the hang of the gameplay - the animation coming off of the nodes seemed to indicate they wanted to send messages, but when I created that implied link, they didn't send messages immediately, so I wasn't sure if that was what I was supposed to be doing. Also the visualization, while cool, didn't quite jive with my understanding of the stats - it seemed like I had smoke signal links with messages that looked like they were traveling really slowly, despite that speed stat being high. Still it was cool to try to create efficient networks & the progression was satisfying too. Nice work!
nbilyk
19. May 2017 · 03:33 UTC
Loved it! I want to steal this idea...
FuriousWitch
19. May 2017 · 04:02 UTC
I loved the idea so much and gameplay is flawless. Graphics is beautiful and your use of sound is exceptional Really great job I loved it :)
ghostbomb
19. May 2017 · 05:32 UTC
Absolutely top marks for audio. The dynamic soundtrack is SO good.

The game reminded me a ton of Transmission, which is another game about communication technology with an awesome dynamic soundtrack.
county-agent
19. May 2017 · 06:36 UTC
Man, this is awesome. The audio pretty much makes the game. It gives a great sense of progression and has a creative take on how faster communication makes our world smaller. I had a great time creating the huge web at the end when I had more money than I knew what to do with.

![Talk Isn't Cheap.png](///raw/fc7/2/z/47df.png)

I'm giving this top marks.
mikeware
19. May 2017 · 06:40 UTC
Wow, really nice to see some music evolution in the game. Like the concept, though having some negative thing to balance out with the transmissions would be nice to add some difficulty. I believe some lines would get overloaded over time and would want to be upgraded for efficiency, but it was hard to tell.

Reminds me a bit of Mini Metro, but like the sound/communication vibe. Would be cool if having a mix of communications was more beneficial so audio would diversify. Lot of potential for some interesting dichotomies in gameplay.
Kaisean Games
19. May 2017 · 09:14 UTC
I was playing because of the music. The way you fade out/in music depending on the ratio of elements is extraordinary. I am amazed.

Very well done.

The only thing I found unintuitive is the relative speed of different technologies. There are two columns of technologies and there's no hints as to how the two relate. I just used the left column (messenger, horse, train, planes, teleports).

Great game. I hope you win in AUDIO. :)
Mesa
19. May 2017 · 09:23 UTC
This is absolutely one of the most fun games I've played this Ludum Dare. My favorite thing by far is the fun and catchy music, and I love that it is actually feedback on game progress. The game itself is quite fun and addicting. Excellent work!
Daisy
19. May 2017 · 09:49 UTC
Oh wow this is lovely. The presentation is fantastic and having the layers of sounds/music build up on each other is so satisfying and fun. The way the music evolves and changes with upgrading communication is just so so good!

I think the descriptions of the techs and builds should be up on the right hand side near the buttons. I missed the descriptions/information initially since they were at the bottom of the screen a fair ways away, and they're a good funny read too! And perhaps having the communication you haven't unlocked be a little clearer or even have a wee symbol by them.

Man I'm gonna have to go back and play this again later, it's very polished and I lost track of time with it! The whole things feels very juicy, especially when communication starts pinging off all over the place.

Looking forward to seeing that victory screen if you're still developing post-dare, I think that would round the experience off very nicely.

Fantastic game <3
CabbageCrow
19. May 2017 · 13:54 UTC
Some people like graph theory. ;-)

I like this game, that it contain graphs and the music is a blast. It didn't quite get it, why the messages got slower, but I think this is because it shows the speed relatively (to the fastest one or the current age)?

Also I don't quite know how speed and how bandwith exactly influence the messages. More is better of course and I know both terms, but how do they work in the game? That isn't completely clear for me.

That are just areas I would improve, in the end I liked the experience. :-)