Of course! (I could definitely have tutorialized the acorn controls better, haha)
The basic idea is to direct an acorn into one of the patches of grass growing up through the ground. Interact with the acorn to start it falling, then hold the right mouse button and use AWSD to move the acorn around in the air. The little sigil on the ground shows you where the acorn is going to land. Hope that helps :)
does the symbol (diamond with a line thru it) have any meaning/already exist? or is it just a general anti-capitalist symbol that was designed for the game? im an activist and would love something like this represented around my city.
That'd be awesome! As far as I remember, the inspiration for the symbol was some writing by Alain Badiou (which used the Ø symbol pretty heavily). The symbol in the game was meant to be a more rune-like version of that :)
This game means a lot to me and has been one of my favorite game experiences that I've had in a long time. I cared about all of the characters and it felt like I was drinking a cup of tea and talking about ways to change the world with an old friend. It's really great and thank you for a wonderful experience!
Really beautiful and very different from anything I've seen before in a game. Is it maybe because the majority of games are based in a capitalist reality? So that's why this one feels so unique. Playing it felt like speaking intimately with an old friend.
One of the most meaningful things about this game is how little of a role you as the player has in the revolution. It's the normal people that form the unions, organize protests, and participate in mutual aid. You as the character didn't have a part in that. At most, the player interprets the people's economic situation into political terms, which leads to the workers forming their own solutions. This shows how normal people, as soon as they understand how their own conditions relate to the economic system as a whole can change society overnight if they wished.
The day the working class stands up and demands a society that doesn't treat them as a means to making profit is coming. The divide between those who have to sell their labor, and those who buy the labor, has never been so great.
One of the best games I've ever played. Great job, honestly.
Thanks so much! I really wanted to avoid that sort of hero/saviour narrative, where the player comes in and single-handedly ends capitalism... The revolution will be collective, or it won't be a revolution!
I would like to report a bug. I'm playing on the mac version and I am unable to interact with the people with tarot cards, the cat, the flowers, or the paper airplanes. I love the graphics!
This game absolutely moved me. Simple yet so powerful and real, so relevant to our lives today. The game play was fluent and easy to handle, even on my keyboard, the music was greatly adherent to the game and I cannot get over the game concept, i'm blown away, a job well done and I cant wait to see what else you come up with
I absolutely loved it, very powerful and simplistic. The music was surprisingly effective given its minimalist tone, beautifull done overall. Thank you for making this. As someone mentioned below, you should enter this game into jams for better recognition :)
The graphics and the overall style was really nice. The mechanics were quite standard, though. Not enough witcheness in this. Socialism doesn't work. Also the changes in the environment appeared very well done.
This was fantastic and made for a really enjoyable stream. We needed something this hopeful.
The key rebinding, at least on the linux version, on the initial launcher doesn't seem to do a lot besides rebind movement. That was a little frustrating and we just had to switch from Dvorak back to qwerty to guide the acorns, but otherwise, this was great.
Such a great game! I really liked the concept of this and how strong of a message there was. The art style was very nice and simple, I really liked how the tarot cards art style stood out compared to everything else. The hint system was really helpful as I was a bit lost at a few points but overall this was such a wonderful game, keep up the good work :D
I don't know if you've heard of Game Development World Championship before (gdwc2019) but it's a competition for indie game developers where they can submit their games and it's free! It's great if you want some more visibility for the game and it only takes a couple of minutes to join :)
I love this game. It's incredibly impressive how you incorated multiple levels of communist ideals into the gameplay- as you progress your understanding of the benefits of communism become more apparent as does your understanding!
I did run into a bug on my playthrough - it was impossible to activate the paper boat after the revolution started- and there was no clear 'objective' to complete.
Loved every second of it! Such a great little game, I was smiling more and more as I was playing. Make this person the Cyberpunk 2077 lead developer and re-do the whole game around this idea!
I absolutely adored every second I spent in this! The feeling of transforming the space was so encouraging, immersive, and thoughtful, and I am always happy to support a game with overt political messages (that I also super agree with). This is the kind of game I hope some day to make, hopefully even somewhere as great as this is. Cannot recommend it more highly, one of my favorite things I've played this year.
I really love this, simple graphics with a powerful message. I got stuck a few times because I didn't realize what I was supposed to interact with but I did eventually figure it out. I hope something like this becomes reality in my lifetime.
Glad you liked it! And no, not really - there are some environmental changes, but other than that you just head back down to your abode and leave the city.
Hey, really glad you liked it! You should definitely try making some lefty gaming stuff! In a really general sense, I guess there are two things I try to focus on for all of my games (with different levels of success). First, I try to make my games accessible to as broad an audience as possible (making the language clear by minimizing lefty jargon, making sure the games will run on lower-end machines). I can't remember the exact quote, but someone wrote that if your art is inaccessible to the working class, then how can it be revolutionary?
The other thing I try to do is put forward positive/optimistic visions of the future. It's really easy to be pessimistic about the future of the planet, but I believe that one of the ways capitalism reproduces itself is by convincing us that no other world is possible. So it's really important for leftists to push back against that and show how a better society is within our grasp.
But yeah, that's some really general thoughts. I'm more than happy to discuss game ideas in more detail or look over drafts, just hit me up at colestia3@gmail.com
fantastic stuff. i thought the way you laid out contradictions within capitalism thru tarot ("the futures capitalism has closed off") was elegant. the tarot art was elegant. the graphical art was elegant. the way the city moved felt organic. the way you couldnt do everything alone. and it made me hopeful again. a v good gift
This is a wonderful game. I'm going through a bit of a rough spot right now, partly due to despair over the future of society and how unfair and brutal it is. Although this game can't portray a way forward in all of its confusing complexity, it at least gave me a few nudges as to a future I can imagine that doesn't just lead to something awful.
In late game, a solitary paper boat repeatedly guides me to the homeless mage's sign and seat, but I can interact with neither. He's not there, but elsewhere, with a paper plane above his head and dialogue about Croatan station, but I can't work out what to do with this information.
As you mention the Linux build is untested, I thought I'd raise it, although it's more likely that I just need to scour the city for a missed unlocked door or ungrown tree.
This stumped me as well, and I believe the answer is above the window there's a pink paper plane floating around a small light (maybe it's a hex symbol? unclear). I solved by hitting 'e' on the pink plane, changing it's color to grey. I'm not sure why that worked, or if that's actually the cause and effect that was meant to happen, but it did let me progress so I'll take it. :)
Hi there, really glad you liked the game! AFriendlyAvocado is right (assuming something else didn't glitch out along the way...). You trigger the final third of the game by reading the single news story / paperplane left at the spot where the homeless mage started.
Just for a bit of context, that trigger went through a bunch of redesigns because I really struggled to make it unobtrusive but also relatively obvious - I'll definitely do another revision for the next build. Thanks a lot for getting touch, and again I'm really glad you liked the game!
It looks like it was a bug - planes beyond the first didn't appear and prayer boats didn't disappear as quests were completed. But! I replayed, and didn't experience the same problem! On my second playthrough, the new planes were really obvious (although I was looking out for them, after all the advice I've had here.)
In case it helps with troubleshooting, the homeless mage was the first person I spoke to in the buggy playthrough, but after speaking to him, I went off and helped a couple of other people before finding out how to squatbreak and opening the building. This might (??!?) have prompted some kind of flag setting error (maybe?! guessing!), as his box and sign didn't disappear, his room didn't get signposted as Heresy Press as time went on, and so on.
I'm having a similar problem, the first plane didn't trigger until I got reeeeeally close to it (I spent ages wondering why I couldn't move on and came back to the page to see if anyone had an answer - which is the only reason I tried to get really close to the plane, because i'd already tried to itneract with it heaps of times but I was clearly too far away) and after that nothing seems to be appearing or reacting. I'll have another go sometime (I don't really feel like replaying through it all again right now) and hopefully it was just a one-off bug, but it definitely happened to me too!
Hey Erin! Really sorry about the bug - thanks for giving all the detail. I'm finally getting around to these updates now, so I hopefully should be able to track down the problem!
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I got stuck at the loading page and couldn't get out of it?
Hey! Sorry about the bug - what platform are you playing on?
Windows(64 bit, ) but after a few tries it worked, and I absolutely love the game! 10/10
Also, I'm having trouble with the acorn, when you have time, can you explain it a bit more?
Of course! (I could definitely have tutorialized the acorn controls better, haha)
The basic idea is to direct an acorn into one of the patches of grass growing up through the ground. Interact with the acorn to start it falling, then hold the right mouse button and use AWSD to move the acorn around in the air. The little sigil on the ground shows you where the acorn is going to land. Hope that helps :)
10/10 made my day. i wonder if there will ever be a game that made me feel as nice and hopeful as this one did.
thank you so much! fingers crossed that one of my future games will be as hopeful as this one :)
I like the game it was fun and i haven't seen any games like it
This game is so endearing, uplifting, and adorable! Made my day!
Thanks :D
does the symbol (diamond with a line thru it) have any meaning/already exist? or is it just a general anti-capitalist symbol that was designed for the game? im an activist and would love something like this represented around my city.
That'd be awesome! As far as I remember, the inspiration for the symbol was some writing by Alain Badiou (which used the Ø symbol pretty heavily). The symbol in the game was meant to be a more rune-like version of that :)
This game means a lot to me and has been one of my favorite game experiences that I've had in a long time. I cared about all of the characters and it felt like I was drinking a cup of tea and talking about ways to change the world with an old friend. It's really great and thank you for a wonderful experience!
This was honestly the most uplifting experience I've had in months. Thanks for making it.
Really beautiful and very different from anything I've seen before in a game. Is it maybe because the majority of games are based in a capitalist reality? So that's why this one feels so unique. Playing it felt like speaking intimately with an old friend.
Thank you so much for the experience!
So glad you liked it!
'like speaking intimately with an old friend' is maybe my favourite ever description of the game :)
💕💕💕💕💕💕 :)
One of the most meaningful things about this game is how little of a role you as the player has in the revolution. It's the normal people that form the unions, organize protests, and participate in mutual aid. You as the character didn't have a part in that. At most, the player interprets the people's economic situation into political terms, which leads to the workers forming their own solutions. This shows how normal people, as soon as they understand how their own conditions relate to the economic system as a whole can change society overnight if they wished.
The day the working class stands up and demands a society that doesn't treat them as a means to making profit is coming. The divide between those who have to sell their labor, and those who buy the labor, has never been so great.
One of the best games I've ever played. Great job, honestly.
Will be waiting for a sequel :)
Thanks so much! I really wanted to avoid that sort of hero/saviour narrative, where the player comes in and single-handedly ends capitalism... The revolution will be collective, or it won't be a revolution!
Awesome! Love how simple shapes can convey objects this easily :)
A+
I would like to report a bug. I'm playing on the mac version and I am unable to interact with the people with tarot cards, the cat, the flowers, or the paper airplanes. I love the graphics!
Wow, was this before or after Bitcoin was created :P?
This game absolutely moved me. Simple yet so powerful and real, so relevant to our lives today. The game play was fluent and easy to handle, even on my keyboard, the music was greatly adherent to the game and I cannot get over the game concept, i'm blown away, a job well done and I cant wait to see what else you come up with
Thanks so much for the lovely comments!! I really appreciate it, and I'm glad you liked the game!
I absolutely loved it, very powerful and simplistic. The music was surprisingly effective given its minimalist tone, beautifull done overall. Thank you for making this. As someone mentioned below, you should enter this game into jams for better recognition :)
Much love,
Suriya
The graphics and the overall style was really nice. The mechanics were quite standard, though. Not enough witcheness in this. Socialism doesn't work. Also the changes in the environment appeared very well done.
They'll have to patch in better socialism then ;)
A powerful, excellent game.
This was fantastic and made for a really enjoyable stream. We needed something this hopeful.
The key rebinding, at least on the linux version, on the initial launcher doesn't seem to do a lot besides rebind movement. That was a little frustrating and we just had to switch from Dvorak back to qwerty to guide the acorns, but otherwise, this was great.
Such a great game! I really liked the concept of this and how strong of a message there was. The art style was very nice and simple, I really liked how the tarot cards art style stood out compared to everything else. The hint system was really helpful as I was a bit lost at a few points but overall this was such a wonderful game, keep up the good work :D
I don't know if you've heard of Game Development World Championship before (gdwc2019) but it's a competition for indie game developers where they can submit their games and it's free! It's great if you want some more visibility for the game and it only takes a couple of minutes to join :)
I love this game. It's incredibly impressive how you incorated multiple levels of communist ideals into the gameplay- as you progress your understanding of the benefits of communism become more apparent as does your understanding!
I did run into a bug on my playthrough - it was impossible to activate the paper boat after the revolution started- and there was no clear 'objective' to complete.
You had to ignite fire at the prison, got stuck there too
I made a video essay about this game!
Loved the video! Thanks so much for putting this together :D
My new favourite example for both short games, and political games. I loved it. I really really loved it.
Loved every second of it! Such a great little game, I was smiling more and more as I was playing. Make this person the Cyberpunk 2077 lead developer and re-do the whole game around this idea!
It seems I’m one month late to the party, but this game is astonishingly beautiful!! One of the most memorable experiences from itch.io.
Thank you so much for making this one.
Thanks! Glad to hear you liked it :)
I absolutely adored every second I spent in this! The feeling of transforming the space was so encouraging, immersive, and thoughtful, and I am always happy to support a game with overt political messages (that I also super agree with). This is the kind of game I hope some day to make, hopefully even somewhere as great as this is. Cannot recommend it more highly, one of my favorite things I've played this year.
Thank you so much! I'm really glad to hear that you liked it, and best of luck with any future lefty game design :)
Linux version runs Ok. I only played about 10 minutes. I'll do the whole playthrough and report any bug I find.
Good work!!! Congrats!!!
I really love this, simple graphics with a powerful message. I got stuck a few times because I didn't realize what I was supposed to interact with but I did eventually figure it out. I hope something like this becomes reality in my lifetime.
best cyberpunk game
FUCK this is beautiful. After you close off the prison is there anything else to do?
Glad you liked it! And no, not really - there are some environmental changes, but other than that you just head back down to your abode and leave the city.
Please make more games.
Very cool game! I want to do lefty stuff like this in the future, looking forward to getting inspired by you!
What would recommend in dealing with this subject? I noticed you're not exactly subtle lol
Hey, really glad you liked it! You should definitely try making some lefty gaming stuff! In a really general sense, I guess there are two things I try to focus on for all of my games (with different levels of success). First, I try to make my games accessible to as broad an audience as possible (making the language clear by minimizing lefty jargon, making sure the games will run on lower-end machines). I can't remember the exact quote, but someone wrote that if your art is inaccessible to the working class, then how can it be revolutionary?
The other thing I try to do is put forward positive/optimistic visions of the future. It's really easy to be pessimistic about the future of the planet, but I believe that one of the ways capitalism reproduces itself is by convincing us that no other world is possible. So it's really important for leftists to push back against that and show how a better society is within our grasp.
But yeah, that's some really general thoughts. I'm more than happy to discuss game ideas in more detail or look over drafts, just hit me up at colestia3@gmail.com
Best of luck with the game design!
If you have a discord even for your patrons i'll be happy to give a few bucks and join so we can talk!
Sure thing! My discord is colestia#9675
I added you! i'm lmsonic(Iride) #1608
Played it straight through on Linux, no issues. Great game, thanks,
fantastic stuff. i thought the way you laid out contradictions within capitalism thru tarot ("the futures capitalism has closed off") was elegant. the tarot art was elegant. the graphical art was elegant. the way the city moved felt organic. the way you couldnt do everything alone. and it made me hopeful again.
a v good gift
This is a wonderful game. I'm going through a bit of a rough spot right now, partly due to despair over the future of society and how unfair and brutal it is. Although this game can't portray a way forward in all of its confusing complexity, it at least gave me a few nudges as to a future I can imagine that doesn't just lead to something awful.
Thanks for doing a playthrough! Giving it a watch now.
Linux bug / player failing to twig clues
In late game, a solitary paper boat repeatedly guides me to the homeless mage's sign and seat, but I can interact with neither. He's not there, but elsewhere, with a paper plane above his head and dialogue about Croatan station, but I can't work out what to do with this information.
As you mention the Linux build is untested, I thought I'd raise it, although it's more likely that I just need to scour the city for a missed unlocked door or ungrown tree.
The game is wonderful, by the way. Thank you.
This stumped me as well, and I believe the answer is above the window there's a pink paper plane floating around a small light (maybe it's a hex symbol? unclear). I solved by hitting 'e' on the pink plane, changing it's color to grey. I'm not sure why that worked, or if that's actually the cause and effect that was meant to happen, but it did let me progress so I'll take it. :)
Thank you, I'll try that next play-through!
Hi there, really glad you liked the game! AFriendlyAvocado is right (assuming something else didn't glitch out along the way...). You trigger the final third of the game by reading the single news story / paperplane left at the spot where the homeless mage started.
Just for a bit of context, that trigger went through a bunch of redesigns because I really struggled to make it unobtrusive but also relatively obvious - I'll definitely do another revision for the next build. Thanks a lot for getting touch, and again I'm really glad you liked the game!
It looks like it was a bug - planes beyond the first didn't appear and prayer boats didn't disappear as quests were completed. But! I replayed, and didn't experience the same problem! On my second playthrough, the new planes were really obvious (although I was looking out for them, after all the advice I've had here.)
In case it helps with troubleshooting, the homeless mage was the first person I spoke to in the buggy playthrough, but after speaking to him, I went off and helped a couple of other people before finding out how to squatbreak and opening the building. This might (??!?) have prompted some kind of flag setting error (maybe?! guessing!), as his box and sign didn't disappear, his room didn't get signposted as Heresy Press as time went on, and so on.
Ah okay - sorry about that! Thanks a lot for all the detail about how it happened. I'll do my best to track down the bug and fix it!
I'm having a similar problem, the first plane didn't trigger until I got reeeeeally close to it (I spent ages wondering why I couldn't move on and came back to the page to see if anyone had an answer - which is the only reason I tried to get really close to the plane, because i'd already tried to itneract with it heaps of times but I was clearly too far away) and after that nothing seems to be appearing or reacting. I'll have another go sometime (I don't really feel like replaying through it all again right now) and hopefully it was just a one-off bug, but it definitely happened to me too!
Hey Erin! Really sorry about the bug - thanks for giving all the detail. I'm finally getting around to these updates now, so I hopefully should be able to track down the problem!