How To Smile - Prototype Release Log

Ah, what should one do after finishing their second game and doing well at their first game jam? That's right: Just join the next jam, start work on a completely overambitious project, fail to introspect and notice a looming burnout and only manage to create a rough prototype within the time limit! 😅😓😞

The prototype already has some great features, like depicting a rough estimate of my facial expression, to the left here.

Now, the idea to make a game that actually explores what happens after a revolution is one that I have had for a while. "It is easier to imagine the end of the world, than the end of capitalism", as my paraphrasing of Mark Fisher is putting it. To think about how to approach this scenario is something I had been thinking about ever since I first watched the by now rather famous Ẑiẑek clip, where he talks about wanting to see a sequel to the film version of "V For Vendetta".

Ẑiẑek may very well be controversial, but I do adore how he can be extremely good at asking the right questions

So, I started development by creating a rough interface, and working firstly on creating the atmosphere I would be going for. Revealing here that I am, in fact, an old fart, I always wanted to create a game with old-school MS-DOS CGA-aesthetics. Yes, that is right, the one where everything is cyan and magenta. The one derided by basically everyone, but with better resolution and mechanics and effects that would have been impossible. I wanted this to achieve a retro-futuristic, uncanny feel. Like there was a world here, that was missed, that was impossible.

Very unfun fact: Only on the day of having to release something did I realise, this screen does not appear properly in the web and Windows versions. For some reason, they seem to be incapable of rendering the good ol' DOS-letters to create fun boxes. I will be investigating if there is a way around this - other than workarounds like making it an image texture

Plans were in place for the game ending to then switch to a full EGA 16 colour palette. And those plans are still in place, but far, far off.

After working on the game scaffolding and fundament for about a week and a half, complete and utter burnout hit me. There was some other, personal, stuff that hit me with additional stress happening - and even after refactoring a lot, and removing features and reworking the concept, with the last day of development time for the jam being today, there was not a lot to show off. Even the work that I had done was mostly groundwork for making later work easier, or some things to create the basic feel of how the game should end up.

My inspirations, besides Ẑiẑek, were old German-style economic simulators, with a mix of life-sim elements and very static-screen heavy elements, like Der Planer or MadTV. Only, it would be an "anti-economic"-sim. You have to reduce labour for your people, while using automation and innovation, among things like moving designs away from planned obsolescence, to keep the standard of living high, while managing political intrigue and threats from within and without.

At least it can already be imagined what statistics will be important for the game, and what the basic idea will end up being - and the basic mechanics of loading things into the interface is working already, (yay?)

There is still a lot of work to do, certainly weeks to months still ahead. But I am determined to continue until it is done - at my own pace, without burnout, and while handling some new mental health issues along the way. I hope that some people interested in this unique approach to a game will stay around to see it finished. It will of course always remain free, even at release.

Until then, check out what is there already, check out Part 1, and most of all, check out the great other submissions for Fuck Capitalism Jam 2024