LudumData

POLITICS VS GAMES LOL by Lyje

[raw]
made by Lyje for LD 41 (JAM)

As everyone knows, politics and games are totally incompatible. So play POLITICS VS GAMES LOL and fight the good fight to get politics out of our vidjagames!

Kill enemies to level up. Every time you level up, more politics will be removed from the game. By the end you'll be in a blissfull politics-free nirvana of pure gameplay.

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Shooter controls: WASD to move, mouse to aim, LMB to fire. Takes 3-5 minutes for a full playthrough. Keep playing, it gets weird...

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Credits: Me. All opinions my own...

CC-BY materials:
Main music: SuperBluesBros Banana Blitz by RoccoW
Quiet music: Video Game Music 1 by Audiobinger
Patriotic song: Patriotic songs of America by New York Military Band and the American Quartet
Brick texture: KnoblePersona
Cash sprite: FatCow Web hosting

Windows https://drive.google.com/open?id=1z0Sgtf8MZrmsKUz5bq8asm8JGK_o2NKi
HTML5 (web) http://v6p9d9t4.ssl.hwcdn.net/html/858363/PVGL_WebGL/index.html
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/politics-vs-games-lol

Ratings

Overall 249th 3.794⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Fun 167th 3.843⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 725th 3.191⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Theme 905th 3.118⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 632th 3.4⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Humor 70th 4.029⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Mood 282th 3.647⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Given 36🗳️ 37🗨️

Feedback

PoundTheGroundStudios
24. Apr 2018 · 12:10 UTC
cool concept
Darby Costello
24. Apr 2018 · 15:21 UTC
What starts out as a basic shooter soon gives way to a maddening number of changes to the creative direction. You can almost feel the presence of some irritating critic, standing over your shoulder making constant edits to the political correctness as you progress. By the end, the game has certainly made its point and the gameplay choices available to you have been reduced to all but binary. Not so much a game as a withering social commentary. And all the better for it. Thumbs up.
gdort
24. Apr 2018 · 19:42 UTC
I don't see how this fits the theme at all.
F1Krazy
24. Apr 2018 · 19:55 UTC
Damn... as satire goes, this is pretty scathing. Not a straight interpretation of the theme, but the end result is a lot more thought-provoking than many of the other entries I've played so far. Watching the game change as I went on honestly got disturbing at times. I hope this ranks highly, because it deserves it.
noumenus
24. Apr 2018 · 19:57 UTC
It's pretty fun and the idea is hilarious. Sometimes when I get backed up into a corner the direction keys don't work and I get stuck, not sure if that is intentional.
🎤 Lyje
24. Apr 2018 · 20:04 UTC
@gdort - it's a twist on the theme, in that I'm using "politics" and "games" as the incompatible things.

F1Krazy - really glad to hear it! With something like this, I never know if I've actually managed to do what I intended.

@noumenus - thanks! Getting stuck is a bug, thanks for finding it!
dragonslumber
24. Apr 2018 · 21:06 UTC
This game is in the genre of "don't take things at face value". Loved it, very clever. Got stuck at the end though might be by design (0/1)
🎤 Lyje
24. Apr 2018 · 21:16 UTC
@dragonslumber That's by design, yeah :)
Fernando Labarta
25. Apr 2018 · 01:33 UTC
what a risky topic hahahaahahahahhaah but i like the critic
Justin
25. Apr 2018 · 09:35 UTC
Really interesting idea. Felt quite polished with all the effects and camera shake and the "cut-scenes" where the camera moves between the enemies that are changing colour or whatever they do at that point. Beautiful look for a game jam entry - congrats! Also was really fun until it was reduced to nothing more than binary nonsense ^^
Wevel
25. Apr 2018 · 11:32 UTC
Very fun, enjoyed the humor and how the game ended.
yscik
25. Apr 2018 · 11:44 UTC
Very meta, liked the ending :)
OddballDave
25. Apr 2018 · 15:08 UTC
It's like deconstructing game design through political satire. Good stuff :8ball:
mattpattie2
25. Apr 2018 · 15:09 UTC
Very Cool game.
started off simple but Daaaaaaaaam they swarm quickly
Thanks for the game :)
Ben Grimm
25. Apr 2018 · 15:24 UTC
Amazing game from start to end.

Like the ending especially and all these effects during the game.
ctran13
25. Apr 2018 · 15:56 UTC
Interesting take on the theme. It's a great satire and social commentary. Not a very original game, but fantastic vessel for the message.
Fabian Pohl
25. Apr 2018 · 16:02 UTC
Great Satire! Its sometimes depressing for creator by listening the critics and that all you do is morally wrong (Does not matter of left or right) and in the end it ruins your pleasure of creating. Great quality too!
JLV
25. Apr 2018 · 16:02 UTC
Aside from the balancing curve that's sometimes a bit off, I really enjoyed my playthough ! Your game has all the juice one expects to find in an isometric shooter, and the leveling/game desing linked with the political commentary is awesome addition to an otherwise classical formula. The graphics do their job, and the audio is top-notch ! Thanks for that great game !

PS : I first wanted to write "This is not a real review", but hey, my fault for being reliant on known UI's !
🎤 Lyje
25. Apr 2018 · 16:03 UTC
@ctran13 Thanks :) I specifically picked a tried-and-tested core mechanic to make it easily picked up and not distract from the message.
Kami 86
25. Apr 2018 · 16:13 UTC
The message it's great, you had that really well. But in the first part maybe can be more, like and going in spoiler's... So i don't gonna tell a thing but a little more it's better. But the idea and the conclusion are master piece, congrats.
RockhopperGames
25. Apr 2018 · 16:22 UTC
This was definitely an interesting experience. The effects and presentation were good, and twinsticks are always a good time, but I have to wonder whether the game's satire falls into the space where players will just assume it's agreeing with their already held opinions? That's a tricky thing to navigate though, so dunno what can really be done there
geck0
25. Apr 2018 · 16:28 UTC
lol what a crazy game xDD is it endless, true? where there is only 1 or 0, Ithink :O
🎤 Lyje
25. Apr 2018 · 16:35 UTC
@RockhopperGames Definitely a difficult thing to get right! And while I'm really happy with the response it's had thus far, and I'm proud of what I managed to do with it, I think it could do with refining somehow. But I don't think I'm good enough of a writer to figure out how.

@geck0 When you get to that point, it's endless yeah :) Or in other words, it *is* the end :)
Klerembot
25. Apr 2018 · 16:43 UTC
Really fun and cool game, which gets funnier and cooler. Not sure about the theme though
Blinkenlights
26. Apr 2018 · 09:18 UTC
A really interesting twist on shooters, I loved the campaigning changing the people (once an old man got turned into himself XD), and then removing the game out of it. Brilliant. Although the artwork could've been more consistent in my opinion.
designernap
26. Apr 2018 · 09:43 UTC
heheh, love the take on this and the reduction of mechanics as a process. Nice entry!
EkkoEkko
26. Apr 2018 · 11:14 UTC
There are some minor bugs in the game sometimes the player stuck on the wall but in general its a cool game i love how the camera shaked every player shoot the enemy. Good Job!
Alex_ADEdge
26. Apr 2018 · 12:13 UTC
One of my favourites so far, even if its a twist on the theme I think thats great. I liked how it started getting a bit crazy towards the end and then that text based part came out of nowhere. Had a good story to tell and depth to boot, so all around impressive, youll score well I expect! Nice work with the gibs too, I implemented some in my game last minute but theyre not quite as juicy!
Lyxil
27. Apr 2018 · 21:04 UTC
Woah, I wasn't expecting that, haha. An impactful way to convey an idea in a fast-changing video game landscape. I liked the in-your-face and not-so-subtle changing of "Murders" to "Kills" and changing title of the game.

I also like the little touches that you made to polish up the game, like sound effects, screen shakes, highlighted stat bars on change, and "Not a real button" :P
Mowztouch
29. Apr 2018 · 18:16 UTC
That's interesting concept :) i like this kind of humour ! evolution of the gameplay is original, and the end of the shooting part is interesting. Well done :)
🎤 Lyje
30. Apr 2018 · 08:40 UTC
@Lyxil you really found pretty much everything! Wasn't expecting anyone to notice quite ALL of that!