LudumData

The Dilemmnist by mmiddleton

[raw]
made by mmiddleton for LD 43 (JAM)

TheDilemmnist.gif

The Game:

Are you familiar with the Trolley Problem? What a dilemma! That's why we called in an expert. (You are an expert, right?) There are many things to keep in mind when making a decision, so don't rush. But don't be indecisive! After all, sacrifices must be made.
Warning: The sound for this game is very loud!

Controls:

  • Use your mouse for clicking buttons and to hover over people on the track.
  • Hovering over someone will give you more information about them. (There is a known scaling problem with these colliders. For best results hover near the top left of the character sprites.)
  • Saving certain people will cause conflicts that can only be resolved by saving other particular people. Most of the resolution "recipes" are pretty intuitive.
  • The red guy on the title screen is a button.

Credits:

Last Minute Notes from Me:

  • This was developed on a Macintosh and I did not have access to a Windows machine to test the binary. I apologize if it doesn't work!!!
Source Code https://gitlab.com/michaelpmiddleton/the-dilemmnist
Windows https://dl.michaelpmiddleton.com/ludum-dare/43/submission_Windows.zip
macOS https://dl.michaelpmiddleton.com/ludum-dare/43/submission_MacOS.zip
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/43/the-dilemmnist

Ratings

Overall 940th 2.846⭐ 15🧑‍⚖️
Fun 695th 3.036⭐ 16🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 760th 2.846⭐ 15🧑‍⚖️
Theme 256th 3.857⭐ 16🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 952th 2⭐ 16🧑‍⚖️
Given 4🗳️ 6🗨️

Feedback

Norfma
04. Dec 2018 · 12:18 UTC
I would love to try and play your game but it doesn't seem to work properly (or maybe I'm too dumb).

I launch the .exe (windows), it opens the game, show me "The Dilemmist" blue screen with "Press esc to quit" and that's it, like I can quit the game and it's all I can do... Is this the first dilemma I have to solve ? xD
Serge Nanovsky
04. Dec 2018 · 12:29 UTC
That one is quite funny. Wrap it in a good story and add graphics and it will be quite a thriller :)
OlavDeng2
04. Dec 2018 · 12:35 UTC
I like the idea, however i think for it to be succesful definetely needs refinement. More time for the chosing phase, the hover boxes bigger and a more expanded story would make an improvement.
🎤 mmiddleton
04. Dec 2018 · 12:40 UTC
@norfma Hi there! Sorry about that. The bouncing red guy is a button. I should explain that in the description. Sorry about that!
mukult
05. Dec 2018 · 06:35 UTC
Interesting idea. Such deep thought behind the game. Its so simple yet so elegant.

Also, the mac port of my game is also ready. Thank you so much for waiting for it. Really enjoyed your game. :)
🎤 mmiddleton
05. Dec 2018 · 08:35 UTC
@mukult Ahhh!!! I'm so excited! And thank you so much for playing! :smiley:
Morg
05. Dec 2018 · 11:57 UTC
I really enjoyed the various choices, it's surely a game that makes you think :) I played it a few times and I like the different outcomes. Cute game.
Sargonius
07. Dec 2018 · 15:10 UTC
Great! Played 6 or 7 times, it's very interesting and fun!
Adrian Guevara
07. Dec 2018 · 16:57 UTC
The first time I played I didn't know I could see some info of people, you should put the info up each person.
ursagames
08. Dec 2018 · 07:54 UTC
Your game was played on my stream ( https://www.twitch.tv/ursagames/videos ) on the fourth day of Ludum Dare streams. Thank you for sharing your game with us! You can find the timestamp of when your game was played here: https://goo.gl/N2rkr8
chauchau
09. Dec 2018 · 21:52 UTC
I think I ended up making something similar. But yours is a bit more fun I guess :) Good job!
annagavaldakedavra
10. Dec 2018 · 22:25 UTC
I'm not sure the timer is a good idea, you rush your decision and can't really appreciate what you're doing. Moral dilemna are always fun though
TinyMushroom
16. Dec 2018 · 23:23 UTC
Interesting game! I played it multiple times, and enjoyed the different beginnings and endings you provided. This is the type of game I hoped would be created in this game jam (and couldn't personally figure out how to make it myself). Kudos to you.

As others have mentioned, it wasn't immediately clear to click on the person at the title screen. The issue I ran into was similar: I played multiple times over without hovering my mouse over the people. I didn't know that I could, and that's an important mechanic! This is where small UI cues can save players a lot of headache. Even just adding instructional text off to the side on the first playthrough would help players get adjusted to your game.
🎤 mmiddleton
23. Dec 2018 · 13:57 UTC
@chauchau Thank you so much! I'll give your game a try when I get back to a place with decent internet!

@annagavaldakedavra Thanks for your input. I agree that ultimately, the timer was either too quick or should have been removed altogether.

@tinymushroom I'm so glad you enjoyed the game! I'll definitely give your game a go when I get back to a place with decent internet. I wholly agree with you on the UI stuff. Truthfully I should have spent a little more time to adding some tooltips here and there. Something learned for next time ;)