The Iron Syndicate

Super cool. Love the pixel art, it looks fantastic. Sound effects are top notch as well. I was sad when the game ended when I, er... no spoilers. I wanted to keep going in the story though! That's a good sign :)

Very clever, really appreciated the time period take on the theme and the quality.

Only feedback -- provide a keyboard option for the dialog. Just number them, or add up/down (w/s) and enter to confirm. I find it jarring to very occasionally use a mouse in games.

I also wasn't sure how many beams I was supposed to make with a given pot of metal, or when I'd shoveled enough coal. A little more surfacing around that would be helpful. I get that the manager isn't helpful, but kinda walking me through it the first time would help me-the-player out.

Well executed! How did you do the furnace effect? Low resolution noise texture + shader? Some weird pixel-art particle effect? Anyhow, it's impressive!

The mood is perfectly transcribed, it's smooth, it's catchy. You deserve way more ratings!

I really enjoyed that game! Everything feels complete about it, there isn't really anything to complain about..
Music would've been nice, but it's not a must

Interesting game, it was an enjoyable experience !

The animations are very nice. Overall the game is pretty well polished but feedback is about pointing out points that could be even better. Music would have been nice as shoveling in silence can get a little lonely (since this is a jam game you could have used a royalty free track). The sound effect however were very good (I especially liked the striker's chant). An end screen could be a nice addition too, as I was a bit confused at the end (since I couldn't get out of the level and what happened in the story I assumed the game was finished). Lastly I don't know what engine you use but if you can, please try to make web builds during Jams, it's really helpful for people who don't have windows (and even for those who do, the least downloading/unzipping required the best)

Good work !

Wow really great job!
This game makes one really think about live. Nicley done!

The iron working wasn't the most fun thing in the world (probably realistic tho), Killing the boss and manager was very satisfacting!

@trevor-shoe I wished I could have made the story longer too, was really fun to work on, but sadly didn't have the time. Great feedback, it's greatly appreciated and it will surely be used. Especially your point about the dialogue controls. I had it in mind, but had no time to implement it, but for any future projects I will. Thanks for playing!

@xahell, the furnace effect even impressed me when I got it to work. It's basically a general fire effect I had laying around, but I used a scaled surface so that everything would pixelate. The normal sprites of course don't change, since they are already pixel art, but the flames go from high res to pixel flames. Generally, working with scaled surfaces makes the game look super consistent, since everything is forced to become pixelart in a sense. Hope that helps and thanks for playing!

@cozmic Thank you very much! Wanted to add some revolutionary music, but focused on getting other stuff done. Hope I can one day add a proper soundtrack as well :)

@ashtrail Totally agree with your points, it is very welcome and constructive. I do want to add web versions, but I use GameMaker, so that would cost me some money. Will get it someday though, every Ludum Dare I see people use them more and more. A game over screen would have been helpful, will include it in my next entry for sure!

@nico-fallosch Time to rise up comrade! ;)

@fred0aberg Thank you very much, loved working on those mechanics myself, really satisfying to watch.

The game is good for a 72 hour product! The graphics are very well done. Animations felt very smooth and it was visually pleasing to the player.

However, it wasn't really clear when the game ended (I assume it ended, when the mission says Long live the syndicate). I replayed it twice with different dialogue options and there doesn't seem to be much difference. If the characters remember what you have said (in particular, the protest leader), it would make much more sense and you could branch out the story this way!

Also, if there is some sort of explanation to the setting of the game's background (shown to the player before the game starts, you can do it in a cut-scene or simply moving text like a end of movie credits style), the story / aim would be much clearer.

Gameplay-wise, there wasn't much gameplay mechanics other than the working mini-game. It also wasn't very clear that the blobs of flame would hurt you - I only noticed when I saw there is a health bar and my health was very low xD Maybe some sort of hurting effect would be great - like screen flashes red when your health gets deducted. The blobs of flame could also be larger.

It's a really fun game, I enjoyed playing it. Well done.

Love the graphics and the sound very much. Gameplay wise there is some more to be desired I guess, but it's defintely one of the nicer entries I saw. Congrats.

I haven't made an LD game this time around, so I cannot rate yours, but I can leave some feedback:

1. The aesthetics work pretty well. They are coherent and the game looks charming all in all.
2. There are very few sounds, so the game feels a little bare when you work, for example.
3. I was forced to play the protester route, despite the fact that I didn't want to. I tend to resent game developers that more or less seriously force me to embrace ideologies or moral that I don't want to. Nevertheless, I did it to see where the game was going, after 3 days of unpaid work.
4. I encountered a crash while working the first time, then a soft lock after the protesters took the factory, where the owner would come back to life every time I entered the factory and had to be executed again. The same applied to the guards who were being hanged. In essence, in my experience, the game doesn't work at all.

This is very good work ! Well done a lot !
Lot of different scenes with good graphics and animation to make all feel alive, the story even if short was interesting and well made

@mike-inprinciple The game ends after the execution, there is no more content after that, but I will try to fix whatever bugs there are. You do have a choice to not join the protest, it is however not a real fun option. Your work is not unpaid, just need to get your money from the manager when a shift ends. Also, I understand you don't like being forced into an ideology, but making a branching storyline is a bit much for a 72 hour project. Hope you at least enjoyed some bits and thanks for the feedback!

As others have said here, really well-polished for 72 hours! I had to resist the temptation to leave a comment here on how to make the "gameplay" at the factory more fun, but I guess that was the point! Gives me a real "Papers Please" vibe!

@taqoshaq Funny how you mention "Papers Please". I myself never played it, but when I explained my idea for this game to a friend, he mentioned that game too. I guess I have to play it sometimes. The factory is indeed not the most fun, but otherwise the second act would make little sense of course. Thanks for playing and really glad to hear you enjoyed it!

@jm-studio It sure took some time, but very happy it paid off in your eyes. Thank you very much for playing!

Seems amazing until it bugged out on me.

```
FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of Step Event0
for object obj_player:

Unable to find any instance for object index '12' name 'obj_furnace'
at gml_Script_ev_player_step
```

Loved the concept and the artwork, although I would have loved to see art in the style of "Social Realism" or Tim Huhn style "Neo-Deco"

Well done! Concept and context are really original (never heard of any game based on the anarcho-socialist trade unions in early '900 before) and the gameplay is smooth and enjoyable.
I liked the mix between the classic "talk-with-people adventure" and a more active gameplay in the factory (even if, due to the nature of the siderurgical work, it is quite repetitive).
Liked also the retro pixel graphic that sicks quite well with the story.

@plexsoup Thank you very much for reporting this. I could not seem to reproduce the issue, but I used some safety nets that should prevent it from happening again. If you give it another try and it crashes, then I apologize. I also would have loved to use the Social Realism artstyle, but sadly I do not have those skills. If you know anyone, let me know!

@ioleoso Thank you very much for playing. Personally also never heard of any games about that part of history, so it seemed interesting to use it. I did want more active gameplay myself, but then I could have not made an ending to the story. Next time there will be more action, promise!

Nice story, definitely interesting!

I really liked it, I think I have played every single one of your entries (at least on this site) and I dig your art style. Really unique experience! The fire was really good looking, everything feels so well polished and just fits together to create a coherent feel.

Great job!

@simon-rahnasto Played all your games too in fact! I am friends with Langotriel, so every Ludum Dare I look forward to a insane quality production by you guys. Happy you enjoyed it, I'm sure we'll both get to play a lot more of eachothers work!

Good showing, comrade! If only revolution was this quick in real life!

Like others have said, I'm a big of this art style. It looks like a "grown-up" pixel art, and fits the grown up tale. The sound design is also pretty good! I don't know if you've made these sounds or just curated them, but good work.

@jjjjason This is the kind of bloody revolution you get when you only have 72 hours ;)
Glad you liked it! The sounds are all taken from video's or other recordings, but I do kinda edit them so that they loop or fit the game better. Ever forward comrade!

@hare-software Taking the sounds from various recordings actually sounds pretty dope! Kind of like an art history collage.