KICK by taxol

[raw]
made by taxol for Ludum Dare 52 (COMPO)

KICK<em>Completed</em>Cover.jpg

Game Background:

You are a minor official in the Ming Dynasty, and your task is to pay enough grain every year at the time of harvest.

​​Game Explanation:

In the Ming Dynasty of China, officials had low salaries. In order to subsidize their families, when farmers handed in their grain each year at the time of harvest, they would kick ​the vessel that contained the grain, allowing it to spill, and the spilled portion became extra income for the officials.​
So you are one of these officials, and how would you choose?​​

Operation Process:

  1. click “CLICK” to levy
  2. appropriate people's grain selectively by holding “KICK
  3. click “COMPENSATE” to make up the lack of food (ignore if enough)
  4. click “SUBMIT” to pay grain to the court and move to next year

Tips:

  1. ​The operations need to be executed in order
  2. Please wait for the end of the settlement animation before the next operation, otherwise there will be a bug
  3. There is a button on the top of the "GRAIN:" text, you can click it to unlock the hidden menu, then you can click "Do" to complete the goal

​Game Link:

itch: https://taxol.itch.io/kick

Ratings

Overall 321th 2.804⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Fun 316th 2.587⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 151th 3.37⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Theme 229th 3.37⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 333th 1.841⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Humor 264th 1.925⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Mood 313th 2.381⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Given 33🗳️ 23🗨️

Feedback

LDJam user 277954
08. Jan 2023 · 21:01 UTC
itch: https://taxol.itch.io/kick
Fnkee
09. Jan 2023 · 03:41 UTC
Starved to death at Year 34. At least my neighborhood prevailed! Nice little game with very interesting mechanics
deimos
13. Jan 2023 · 04:19 UTC
Actual effective gameloop and soaked me in for a while. The "守己爱民" additional task list is a nice touch, adding a more realistic yet personal mood to the game. However you can complete the 守己爱民 tasks much faster by not being 守己爱民, how ironic. Great job and congrats on finishing the game.
TPunisher33
13. Jan 2023 · 04:30 UTC
"I'm 80 years old, I'm retired" - Why are all games just dreams that millennials can't achieve :sob:

In all seriousness this was an interesting game, not terribly difficult and I'm still not 100% sure I've got a good understanding of all the mechanics, but it was chill and fun! I think a little flavor text as the years go by or maybe a description of the year's events would go a long way.
GoldRanger
13. Jan 2023 · 05:25 UTC
to play the game with the all the background and oepration process in mind is ok.
However, the game itself is unpolished, a bit art/ anim/ feedback will help a lot.
Having said that, at least you finished the core mechanism completely which is good!
LDJam user 277954
13. Jan 2023 · 06:05 UTC
@tpunisher33 Thanks for your advice. Maybe you should read my game explanation? Hope you like it.
LDJam user 277954
13. Jan 2023 · 06:07 UTC
@eggshelldog Yes, I think so. Thank you for playing my game.
Lsy
13. Jan 2023 · 07:50 UTC
It's a good epitome of the feudal society and full of humor. There are still a few bugs like if you submit the grain before the KICK calculation is done, the current grain will still be submitted and cause the failure. Overall, I enjoy the game and the idea of it!
pikkufighter
13. Jan 2023 · 08:10 UTC
Got arrested since I didn't compensate enough even though I had like 60 food myself. Took me a while to figure out the mechanics but after that the years flew by.
fizzbark
13. Jan 2023 · 08:31 UTC
An interesting theme and setting, and a good bit of potential for a solid puzzle. I was a bit confused that kicking always seems to provide the same amount of grain no matter how long it's held down, it seems like you should be able to do big and little kicks.
Hulya
13. Jan 2023 · 14:30 UTC
Holding and releasing kick at any point of the red bar ends up with the same amount, yields always the needed amount, nothing less nothing more? Am I doing something wrong?
Gr3yps
13. Jan 2023 · 15:15 UTC
Playing the 48 hr version the game seemed incredibly easy.

Around year 100 I had 200+ grain and all the farmers had 100+ grain.

A very interesting idea however
LDJam user 277954
13. Jan 2023 · 15:24 UTC
@gr3yps Yeah, you are right. I didn't have time to adjust the value in 48h version so I only made the core mechanism.
LDJam user 277954
13. Jan 2023 · 15:31 UTC
@hulya The kind of phenomenon is normal. When you kick the farmer, the grain will spill, so the farmer has to take extra food to make up for the levy.
LDJam user 277954
13. Jan 2023 · 15:38 UTC
@fizzbark Yes, you are right. Of course you could do big and little kicks. But it's reflected in the grain your home get. The reason for the same amount of grain is because every year the farmer should pay so much, even if you kicked, the levy will not change. The farmer has to take extra food to make up for the levy. I hope you get it. Have fun!
LDJam user 277954
13. Jan 2023 · 15:42 UTC
@pikkufighter I'm sorry for that, it shouldn't be like this. Maybe you should try my completed version and there is no bug(I hope so).
boaz4
13. Jan 2023 · 15:54 UTC
Took me a while to get the hang of the mechanics (even after reading the game explanation) and I'm still not sure I got the hang of it. Maybe I will next time :)
LDJam user 277954
13. Jan 2023 · 16:17 UTC
@boaz4 Maybe next time I will try to add some graphics and audios making you guys understand it more quickly. Any way, thanks for the comment. Have a good day!
asfdfdfd
13. Jan 2023 · 18:59 UTC
Could i just KICK EVERYONE??
LDJam user 277954
14. Jan 2023 · 03:13 UTC
@asfdfdfd Of course you can.
infecsean
14. Jan 2023 · 03:53 UTC
Very interesting gameplay loop, but it is quite hard to understand what the math is doing. Other than that, it is also interesting how it shows the time. Great game overall.
youjing
16. Jan 2023 · 19:27 UTC
Nice game and interesting mechanisms. The math is a little bit confusing, for example, my home does not get any food during kick but there is an animation.
LDJam user 277954
17. Jan 2023 · 04:56 UTC
@youjing Yeah, it should work like this. My intention is to help you realize that this kick is meaningless, if this makes you more confused, I have to say sorry and obviously it backfired.
Dev_314
21. Jan 2023 · 21:08 UTC
I learned so much! It took me 3 tries but I finally sorted out exactly what I was doing and how things worked. The explanation section really helped with getting myself oriented! Although it might be really hard, an undo would be great! I appreciated the math animations, but it was always a little too fast for me to really understand them. Thanks for making this!
gamebuilder
24. Jan 2023 · 00:35 UTC
A difficult, cerebral game that has a strange appeal. Sadly I got only to Year 24 before starving to death. I like the minimalistic graphics and the unusual mechanics. Just wish I had more clear instructions. Even so, it makes for an interesting puzzle game with a unique feel. A solid entry.
bloodycoin
24. Jan 2023 · 15:40 UTC
Congratulations on submitting your first game. Well done. The idea is interesting, and content is educational, but either lacks mechanics or balancing to be challenging.

For example: the official had pay/eat more (family) sometimes, and would be more motivated to kick somebody. Or the kicked farmer would get some kind of debuf for next round.

There are several UI/UX issues that would increase clarity a lot if resolved:
1. I would argue that `click` name is not clear enough on what it does. Maybe better call it **collect levy** or **apply taxes**;
2. Order buttons visually in sequence, you want or expect players to press: for example top to down (renamed **click** -> **compensate** -> **submit**;
3. Make **compensate** visually clickable only if it does something;
4. The math expression even though helping are rather hard to read. Especially since they are animated with rather short animations. I think would be better animate them by iteratively substracting **1** from upper grain hold, and at the same adding same **1** to the _levy_ field. Even better if there is a floating number **1** from one field to another. This way the user would not need to simultaneously parse 7 addition/subtraction equations (not everybody loves math);
- Second argument for this approach is players easier notice the changing elements. So even better version would be to calculate each house in sequence this way. And at the same time add to _total_ field (aldo by iteratively adding **1**);
5. Term **kick** is rather confusing in todays online community context. I highly recommend putting **game explanation** section above the **background**. As well as including it as a separate popup at the start of the game - higher change more players will read it and not get as confused;
6. A confirmation after pressing **submit** with `Ar you sure, you are missing {x} grains to submit` would be really helpful. Especially for new players.
7. If there is a end-game goal, it would great to see it on the screen as well. e.g.: 16 years left until retirement.


That being said, great job submitting **COMPO** entry :thumbsup: . Let's see how it goes next time.

P.S. `Application.Quit()` is not valid code in webgl builds. You should hide the button with:
```
void Start() {
#ifdef UNITY_WEBGL
gameobject.SetActive(false)
#endif
}
```
LDJam user 277954
24. Jan 2023 · 16:11 UTC
@bloodycoin Very helpful suggestions and guidance. Your comment means a lot to me. Thank you very much!