S.I.L. by Skruffye

made by Skruffye for LD34 (JAM)

DESCRIPTION:
S.I.L. is an experimental human-like AI that is given very little chance to interact with other people before it is accidentally released onto countrywide communication networks.

Play as S.I.L. as it attempts to grow and better itself in the only way that it knows how (literally) and slowly discovers what it means to be aware.

INSTRUCTIONS:
The game is entirely controlled with the mouse. The middle mouse button allows you to pan around the network whilst the scroll wheel lets you zoom.
The left mouse button allows you to select devices in the network, select programs to run and select each node on the route that you want your program to travel to its target.
The right mouse button cancels any programs that you have selected so that you don't have to send them.

During the cutscenes, once the text has stopped scrolling, click the screen to continue.

Freeplay mode canonically occurs after the main story. Enjoy!

KNOWN BUGS:
Sometimes Level 3's ending cutscene doesn't play, halting campaign progression. We will fix this as soon as possible.
[STATUS: FIXED]

WebGL version (currently only version) only displays properly in full screen. This bug will most likely not be fixed, so please try to play the game in full screen mode until the downloadable versions become available when we patch the above bug.
[STATUS: KNOWN]

The enemy AI does not seem to be propagating properly. In all likelihood, this bug will not be fixed unless we suddenly find a bunch of spare time.
[STATUS: KNOWN]

(Last updated: 04:33 17/12/15 GMT)

CREDIT & THANKS
Design, art and story by Nathan C. Addison
All programming by Michael Bohea

Thanks to everyone who plays this, we hope you have fun! ^^

Web	http://skruffye.itch.io/sil
Design Post-Mortem	http://ludumdare.com/compo/2015/12/16/s-i-l-design-post-mortem/
Original URL	https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-34/?action=preview&uid=63924

Ratings

Coolness	53%	3
Overall(Jam)	3.67	205

Fun(Jam)	3.29	402
Graphics(Jam)	3.46	518
Humor(Jam)	2.55	579
Innovation(Jam)	4.32	5
Mood(Jam)	3.96	73
Theme(Jam)	3.80	389

Feedback

adaFish

17. Dec 2015 · 04:18 UTC

This was a really cool idea; I enjoyed playing this immensely. Things did move a little slowly, but that wasn't a major deal. I do think I got stuck at one point in the game after I learned the firewall program; I couldn't seem to use any of my programs or select any different nodes. That might have been me/my laptop, though. Still, it's a really interesting game.

JaCkJoKeZ

17. Dec 2015 · 05:45 UTC

This game... was so... friggin... TERRIBLE..-ly FUCKING AWESOME. Like sure it was a massive downer that there was little sound, or that I couldn't skip the cutscene after I've seen it, but just this game is SO COOL. I love the aesthetic and would love to see this made into a full fledged game! You should add a tip to play in fullscreen for FULL immersion. Playing this game in fullscreen makes you feel like a hacker and it's just fantastic! The way the console is designed and the UI is just so clean and uncluttered. Beautiful. I imagine a full version would read keyboard input and allow you to give the computer several commands and explore the story even more, which on another note is soo interesting. You guys are awesome.

oz2mura

17. Dec 2015 · 12:32 UTC

Definitely enjoyed the mood, the polished interface and the intriguing dialogue. Really interested in the story. It took me a while to grasp how to play the game, I plan on diving into it further, but I enjoyed what I got out of it. Definitely has a potential to have more of a text adventure aspect to it, not sure if it would work though. I'm definitely gonna be keeping an eye on it.

marveus

18. Dec 2015 · 06:12 UTC

I really loved the idea and the concept. I think there is so much potential here, especially with the interesting storytelling you have combined with the compelling game play concept. I hope you keep working on this idea!

Unfortunately, I had a hard time getting the programs to propagate some times. I would be clicking, but unable to get anything to happen. So I basically got stuck unable to progress. But still enjoyed what I got to experience.

Going forward, I think it would be great to make clear how the CPUs, memory, and other aspects of the nodes are important. I wasn't sure why I should select one node or another. This could be handled by a training module that progressively introduces the different concepts of the game.

amYk777

18. Dec 2015 · 06:15 UTC

Too much text to read at beginning. After that, still not much gameplay. Hard to understand. Game stopped working after I shoved a worm into something.

aeveis

18. Dec 2015 · 06:27 UTC

Pretty cool! I wanted to play more, but sometimes the controls seemed unresponsive. I would select a program and click somewhere else, and it wouldn't let me select anything else. If I restarted I would have to go through cutscene again. I got up to getting the firewall and trojan. I like it though!

bitwise-constructs

18. Dec 2015 · 07:02 UTC

Interesting concept and mood! Had some issues with the UI not registering programs I've learned but nothing that couldn't be worked around.

TeamKawaiiju

18. Dec 2015 · 09:17 UTC

Really neat idea. Reminded me of Uplink a bit. I'll admit that I had some trouble figuring out what was going on but I enjoyed it quite a bit.

TomenLuca

19. Dec 2015 · 12:48 UTC

Cool game. The controls seemed unresponsive sometimes. This might be easily fixed with some sound effects.

korvyashka

19. Dec 2015 · 14:29 UTC

Cant understand controls. Choose my SIL, click program and windows just closing, again SIL, again programs - again windows closing. What i am doing wrong?

korvyashka

21. Dec 2015 · 11:35 UTC

At last I understood controls in campaign mode :)
Idea is incredibly great. Understanding of web around you through trojan-like programs is cool - I would certainly play it not in terms of jam.
There are few bugs with controls, that I met through playing, but they are not critical.

SnedHlepPls

22. Dec 2015 · 17:39 UTC

I really like the concept of this game- the art direction certainly reinforces the idea! The narrative so far is good, and adds a lot to the game. In terms of things to improve on, possibly a decription of some of the executables/scripts as while you can infer their purposes from the cutscenes, it is sometimes not abundantly clear. Sound would have also added to the experience.

In any case, well done! I think this would be an interesting concept for you to take further after the Ludum Dare!

Allthebees

26. Dec 2015 · 11:31 UTC

This game really shows how much people can create in 3 days, it's really incredible! It's an interesting concept which the art and ui reinforces very well. The mood is perfect. I would've liked some more feedback to show my programs at work i.e. a device lighting up whilst a program is processing