LudumData

Discipline and Punish by shiitman

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

"Where there is power, there is resistance".

"Power is not an institution, and not a structure; neither is it a certain strength we are endowed with; it is the name that one attributes to a complex strategical situation in a particular society". foucaultscreen.png The game "Discipline and Punish" was created for Ludumdare game jam 39, where the topic was "Running out of power".

We interpreted the term "power" in the spirit of French philosopher Michel Foucault. Every social interaction is a manifestation of power and you have to maintain the fragile balance between different disciplinary and repressive institutions.

Game was created in Unity3D by Alexander Wolodarsky, music by Marina Askania.

upd. Windows and HTML5 are now availiable. Linux version is coming soon.

Windows https://shiitman.itch.io/discipline-and-punish
HTML5 (web) https://shiitman.itch.io/discipline-and-punish
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/discipline-and-punish

Ratings

Overall 650th 3⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Fun 821th 2.273⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 75th 3.864⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Theme 57th 4.136⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 414th 3.545⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Audio 205th 3.5⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Humor 425th 2.389⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Mood 70th 4⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Given 22🗳️ 24🗨️

Feedback

LittleLegend
02. Aug 2017 · 21:12 UTC
For me it wasnt really transparent, what all these sliders do and what the goal of the game should be. But the music was cool and created an intense atmosphere
TheAspiringHacker
03. Aug 2017 · 19:59 UTC
I thought that the interpretation of "power" was creative, but I couldn't figure out how to play the game. I wish that instructions were given.
MachineTribe
03. Aug 2017 · 21:07 UTC
Very cool twist on the meaning of the word 'Power'. While most of us focused on 'power' as 'fuel' or 'battery life' you flipped it on its head and came up with something fresh. Nicely done! :)
RobotsAndMuffins
03. Aug 2017 · 21:13 UTC
I really like the simulation idea. Also, comments of the "controller" are cool. Like the music. May be some summarizing ending will be appreciated.
askania_m
03. Aug 2017 · 21:14 UTC
@LittleLegend @TheAspiringHacker, thank you for your feedback. I must agree that the game idea is not superficial, but also may be it is a way too conceptual. I gave some simple explanations and instructions in my previous post https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/discipline-and-punish/$48059. More instructions and post-structuralism tutorial are in progress :wink:
Carraka
03. Aug 2017 · 22:33 UTC
I really enjoyed the quotes and the atmosphere, but it was difficult to understand what to do or what any of my actions were accomplishing. I could figure out how to increase the population, but other than that, not much, and the sliders moved by themselves too--I'm not sure why.
simonhutchinson
03. Aug 2017 · 22:57 UTC
Awesome and grim! I love the dissonance between the music and visuals and the content of the game itself. Of course it's a little hard to crack the code of what the right balance is, but that's the point. Really nice work!
slovnoslomo
04. Aug 2017 · 08:28 UTC
I like different view on theme and how the game narrates ideas through mechanics. As I get the underlying meaning — it is not possible to build a balanced system with a tyranny (is it?) and it will fall sooner or later. Or are there more than two endings?

Speaking of technical issues — sometimes it's easy to miss a gameover message because of random cursor hover. I'd make it as a separate popup or a page.

Music and art are consistent.
fmdkdd
04. Aug 2017 · 20:39 UTC
Interesting twist on the theme. I love it when developers build a game as a pretext to talk about something else entirely. You wanted to have fun? To be entertained? Here, have some philosophy.

I like the overall aesthetic. The delivery of quotes from the deadpan Foucault watching you makes for a compelling effect; as if every time I tried to interact with the game or take a decision, he was coming up with a new koan apt for the situation. Too bad he quickly revealed his limited set of canned sentences.

The sliders, and the power/population numbers, seemed totally arbitrary and didn't make much sense to me.
But I may have missed the point.
Peter Sheehan
06. Aug 2017 · 18:47 UTC
Pretty interesting, but wasn't really all that educational, except for the quotes by Foucault. I wish there were more art assets, like a black and white overview of your fictional civilization.
dray
10. Aug 2017 · 23:00 UTC
Really interesting take of the theme.
The idea of power is understandable but not the effect have on it. the quotes help understanding the use of each slider but not the effect on the population growth. i didn't understand why my slider was changing on each tick of the game.
It's a cool concept and i like the idea and tone of it.
elmismopancho
10. Aug 2017 · 23:36 UTC
Very cool graphic design, I really like how clean it is. Audio was also good too. And not going for the obvious Power = Energy = Fuel, is a big check. Two things to improve:
- The fact that the other sliders adjust to keep the 100% total is ok, but it's annoying when you want 2 of them to stay at the same level.
- The objective of the game is not clear, to run out of power?, to increase it and to what amount?

Keep the good work
Toulou
11. Aug 2017 · 10:58 UTC
It's a very interesting game, I love the original concept which make a commentary about totalitary systemps with only easy to understand variables. It's a really original take on the theme, and the kind of game experience I like. Congrats !
PlantProgrammer
11. Aug 2017 · 11:57 UTC
That is a very unique piece with astonishing visuals. Very well crafted. I had a hard time understanding the connection between certain slider levels and the two measures power and population, which is probably part of the experience.
jelch
11. Aug 2017 · 16:10 UTC
What an unusual game. I like the different interpretation of theme, would have liked to know what was going on.
gonutz
12. Aug 2017 · 11:32 UTC
I don't know how to play your game. Trying different slider values did not make it clear to me.

The music is cool and I like the ASCII graphics head there.

I am not sure what the goal of this game is.