Horrible Politics by Rocketship

[raw]
made by Rocketship for LD 39 (JAM)

candidate2_podium.png

Pick the best or the worst randomized words for every question. Trust me, this is how politics works in real life too.

Red bar = International popularity Green bar = Domestic popularity

They don't matter though. Just keep talking and nobody notices you don't know what the hell you're doing!

Parental warning: This game contains some naughty words and bad politics, don't let your kids play it, don't even let them near it.

BUGFIX: Canvas to show the character selection was not turned on in the first version, fixed now

Ratings

Overall 321th 3.515⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Fun 151th 3.636⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 293th 3.273⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Theme 772th 2.719⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 479th 3.364⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Humor 12th 4.333⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Given 25🗳️ 38🗨️

Feedback

Zyzzyzzyz
31. Jul 2017 · 22:03 UTC
A very funny game with good pixel art. It wasn't very clear what kind of effect each answer would have on the popularity bars. I intentionally tried to deplete each one to see what would happen. Often there didn't seem to be an effect at all, but perhaps that's because my answers cancelled each other out. Fittingly, however, it adds to the satire that I stay in office no matter what I say. It does kind of say that in your description, after all!

I did enjoy the game. The newspaper responses at the end of each conference were a nice touch, and it was fun to see what kind of hilarious yet scarily realistic statements I could make. Definitely top marks for humour!
HoldMeImScared
01. Aug 2017 · 16:33 UTC
The art is well-done and suitably soulless - appropriate for this game. You get points for just how much one of the player avatar choices creeps me out ;)

Realizing how realistic some of the statements I could make really were also creeped me out a fair bit, so full marks for mood. I got a good laugh out of my newspaper headlines, though!

Nice entry!
Shezard
01. Aug 2017 · 18:04 UTC
I'm not fond of pixel art but it's acceptable, but the strenght of the game is in its ridiculous awesome and hilarius dialogs Nice job!
gamepopper
01. Aug 2017 · 18:11 UTC
The things you can make the President say is pretty funny, I like the variety of options and outcomes as well. Good work!
joemag
01. Aug 2017 · 19:13 UTC
Interesting piece, sort of a Reigns meets Mad Libs. I wish there were more consequence to your decisions, they feel fairly arbitrary, that might be part of the joke but overall I wanted something more. Your pixel art is great and I really liked the Newspaper mechanic. Could have used a little bit of audio to give it some flavor.
winniehell
01. Aug 2017 · 22:11 UTC
Awesome, thank you, that was necessary! :-)
willvasco
02. Aug 2017 · 02:23 UTC
Somehow became prime minister and started talking from the gray house. Took a firm stance on nothing and said anime was cool and that al who-doe has a shit leader but i gave him money cuz im nice. I ended with full approval from both domestic and international communities and almost certainly now ruling the world.

10/10 would give money to shit al who-doe leader again

Also it makes me unendingly happy that my avatar looks perpetually constipated
PeachTreeOath
02. Aug 2017 · 04:24 UTC
Are there really any players here who would say anime is a mistake though!?

The art is great. Yes people tend to like pixel art for the sake of being pixel art but I love the style you put into their faces, that's some Ren & Stimpy type stuff.

I felt a bit disconnected from the gameplay. I think having less-defined goals made me care less about my decisions and it left me hanging.

But hey, like you said, it's accurate to how real life works. Most accurate politics simulator yet.
PietPtr
02. Aug 2017 · 10:55 UTC
I like the art style, it worked well for this game. It kind of reminded me of Papers Please in that aspect. Other than Papers Please though this game is hilarious :D
rightangel
02. Aug 2017 · 12:19 UTC
It's funny. Say anything and no one cares...
Rahtainka
02. Aug 2017 · 12:53 UTC
It's a funny little game. I always wished to feel like a politician for a short time! :wink: I missed sounds and music. I think it would improve the atmosphere and the experience.
I like the graphics! Well done.
Timothy Hoffman
02. Aug 2017 · 17:29 UTC
Hilarious! I was able to continue selecting words after the week was over, but before the newspaper showed up, so you may want to look into that. Otherwise, it was a pretty polished comedy game!
Pixel Programmer
02. Aug 2017 · 18:08 UTC
Amazing game! The humor was perfect and I actually laughed out loud at one of the questions! Really nice graphics and design. Only thing I would have liked to see is sound but I know the time constraints are rough. I would love to see this carried out as a full game! Amazing job!
superpokeunicorn
03. Aug 2017 · 22:54 UTC
I like jokes. This game has jokes. I am satisfied.

Jokes aside, I think that using madlibs as a way to satirize politics is pretty smart. I particularly like how you don't always have all the words you need to say the right thing, so you're essentially having to perform damage control (do I call education "boring" or children "the worst?"). Also, the newspaper headlines reacting to your quotes are a nice touch. The portraits are very well made, and I like how you have options to make the game accessible to people of all political persuasion, even though the game's scenarios mostly seem to be focused more on current politics, if you catch my drift. Overall, this is a really clever and funny game that I had a good laugh playing. That being said, no option to play as Sean Spicer = 0/10
harusame
04. Aug 2017 · 16:44 UTC
Haha, it's funny ^^ I like jokes in your game :)

A great humor for a good game, well done !
Jeremy Ryan
04. Aug 2017 · 16:46 UTC
Pretty fun. I appreciate the headlines that actually say what you said.

Wasn't exactly sure what the bars did, or which were good or bad, but I just messed around and hoped that something happened and it was a nice experience. Well done!
gimbalock
04. Aug 2017 · 16:49 UTC
Funny idea to mix Cards Against Humanity and politics in a game. I like it. And it was funny to play! I really like the pixel art. Great job!
alxm
04. Aug 2017 · 17:17 UTC
Great job, really made me smile :-) The art looks good and most texts are funny. I love how sometimes you have no choice but to put your foot in your mouth.

I did notice some small discrepancies, for example getting tough with the eastern region lowered my international popularity but the newspaper said they loved it.
bigbugaudio
04. Aug 2017 · 17:28 UTC
LOL...so funny xD It reminds me Cards Against Humanity. It's so weird cause some sentences could be so real in politics, fuck. U drew a smile on me! Good job
pklaschka
04. Aug 2017 · 17:33 UTC
**Great job, I really laughed a lot while playing. :laughing:**

A few things** you could have enhanced / done to perfect the game:
- When having selected ones choices, I would have wished for a "continue" button as I had already read the full statement.
- After each week / conference / whatever, at least the first time it wasn't quite clear to me due to the delay if the game was over, there was a bug and it didn't take my answers or something like that. Because of that, I clicked the other two options (which is still possible after making ones choices), and as it then continued, I thought it had something to do with that. Again: An argument for the "continue"-button, or at least for not being able to select anything after all gaps are filled.
- Sometimes, when selecting two long words, the text overflows it's container (speech bubble), that could be fixed.

All in all, my suggestions are purely cosmetics, so they didn't impact my experience with the game at all, which is why …

**… all in all, it's a hilariously funny and entertaining game :thumbsup:**
aaranos
04. Aug 2017 · 17:45 UTC
Over all it's a fun little mad-lib game. I don't think it followed the theme that well. I also didn't know what the bars represented but the choices I made didn't seem to correlate to one or the other.
Local Minimum
04. Aug 2017 · 18:48 UTC
I really how selection of options worked and the text was well written. The bonus press coverage between briefings also really nice. One thing that was a bit weird were the words that looked like the words I could select in the text but were already filled in when I started and weren't interactable. Otherwise really well done political game!
SkullPixel
04. Aug 2017 · 19:51 UTC
Puppies = Cereal

"People generally agree that eating puppies sounds worse than eating cereal"

This game is hilarious. Well done!
TolMera
06. Aug 2017 · 18:53 UTC
Hey @rocketship - I spotted your game on Friday, and thought 'yea why not', and I'm glad I did! This was awesome :) I really enjoyed trying to be a nice guy, which you didn't make easy :P [I streamed the play-through on Friday](https://youtu.be/-DEvWdMWCKk?t=10243), you might enjoy watching :)
Jupiter_Hadley
08. Sep 2017 · 15:35 UTC
Funny game! I included it in my Ludum Dare 39 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiayEbHjWUc