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TIGSource ForumsDeveloperPlaytestingSuper Election Bros. 2015
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87
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« on: February 22, 2015, 07:15:35 PM »



Link: http://87.itch.io/super-election-bros

Hi!

For some reason, Israel is going to Elections again, merely two years after the last round concluded. Two leaders opposed to Bibi Netanyahu's rule as Prime Minister have joined their parties to bring him down. In this game, you play both of them.

CONTROLS:

1) Arrows to move and jump.

2) Z to switch character.

3) X to use a character's "special" ability. (Buji can double-jump with X, Tzipi can drop from platforms with X).



The object of the game is to get as many seats in the Knesset as possible. To do that, you need to publish news stories that are critical of Bibi. To do that, you carry envelopes to the highest platform in the game, at which point a new story is published. Since the level itself is the newspaper's front page, publishing new stories reshapes the level itself.

All the while, Bibi himself tries to interrupt your effort by tossing wine bottles, candles, and other stuff at you.

Any input would be welcome Smiley.

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jc
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« Reply #1 on: February 24, 2015, 11:59:24 PM »

Meant to post this yesterday but didn't get around to it.

So first of all, I know nothing about Israeli politics, so I have no idea who "Bibi" is or why he's throwing bottles and newspapers everywhere. Tongue But anyway, about the game.

First thing I noticed is that the jump key and double jump key are two different buttons. That took some getting used to, but it's not so bad I guess. I also seemed to have some kind of problem with the game running on Firefox. Every now and then the controls would "lock" and it would cause me to die stupidly. At first I thought it was my recording software, but it still happened even after I stopped recording. I then switched to Chrome and didn't have any issues.

After the switch, everything was smooth sailing. That is, until "Bibi" cornered me under a platform, haha. The gameplay was simple and enjoyable, although a little bit too easy I think (or maybe I'm just too good Tongue). A few things to note, though. For one, I never saw any reason to switch to the female character. The only scenario I could see it being necessary is in an emergency when you get cornered or something. Second, I started to get a little bored after a while because "Bibi" would just do the same attacks over and over. If I may suggest, maybe you could make Bibi add more attacks to his arsenal the farther you get.

Anyway, here's my playtest recording to give you an idea of my experience. Smiley



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« Reply #2 on: February 25, 2015, 01:36:11 AM »

I haven't tried it. It doesn't look like something I'd enjoy, although I do very much like the concept. Having the news headlines relate to the boss's attacks was a nice idea. I find the overall look of it mostly appealing too, although I don't really know why that is.

One thing I got from watching jc's playthrough is that it seems very slow. It doesn't come across as a game with any tension or excitement in it. Maybe the boss should move and attack more quickly as time goes on. Something has to change otherwise I can't see there being much of a feeling of progression or accomplishment.
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« Reply #3 on: March 02, 2015, 08:42:06 AM »

Nice! The graphic style is neat but I find the game-play afflicted by obvious flaws:

* the lady character has a completely useless special, whereas the guy counterpart's one is fundamental. I never had to switch - defying the main (and titular) aspect of this game concept.

(probably you could easily find people who find it quite objectionable that the female ability is only useful to dive *DOWN* while the male one serves the purpose of better going *UP*, from a political/metaphorical point of view point -- especially in a game trying to convey a political message like this one -- but I won't go there)

* If I did have to switch (which I didn't), I'd probably find that really awkward to do. You need first to switch, then to use the special... not very conformable for the player

* Game-play is repetitive and gets old a lot earlier than you reach any score leading to a positive outcome. Not to mention, often you just have to accept to die (unfortunate NPC movement), and, again, that is bound to happen before you surpass the "you won", or at least "you didn't lose too much", point.
 
* Controls are really awkward. E.g., the guy: first jump is done by pressing UP, second by pressing SPECIAL -- that is really hurting. Actually, I don't think you need a SPECIAL key button at all: as a guy, the second UP key-press would simply trigger the second jump, and the lady character could activate her "special" by hitting DOWN. That would be a lot more intuitive.

* Despite the... meta-objective of the game (its "purpose", if you will) explicitly being to advertise the (many, and each one extremely agreeable, IMO) reasons against the Israeli right-wing,  you really don't have time to read any of that as a player, unless you want to die the very next second.

* Beside, the aforementioned "purpose" is, IMO, way too explicit, and and kinda "crudely crammed down the player's throat" (so to say), and cannot be at least a bit annoying. I cannot think of any specific suggestion to ameliorate this particular aspect, but I think something slightly more subtle would probably make a better game (if you ask me how I would have tackled the difficult task of designing a game that makes a point about "Bibi's politics", I think I would have taken a completely different route -- but that's an entirely different matter).
« Last Edit: March 02, 2015, 08:52:31 AM by mtarini » Logged

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« Reply #4 on: March 19, 2015, 08:36:47 AM »

Hey guys, fairly late answer, but I wanted to thank you for taking the time to try this (those who did Tongue).

I agree with most of the points raised, especially about the controls. The thing with the controls is that I had them "set in mind", before even deciding what the special abilities were or where I was going with the gameplay. In the beginning the woman's (Tzipi's) ability was to teleport forward a certain distance but I found that more useless even that the platform drop down. I had wanted the man's (Buji's) ability to be more useful so that he is more prominent, the reason of which is related to the subject matter and intended as political criticism towards the woman character (one of the Israeli players who played it said: "I don't know what Tzipi (the woman) is there for", and the other answered him "... just like in reality."). I could have probably designed some of the random levels to be undoable without using the woman, and made her also be able to jump UP through platforms. And of course, no use for the X key, as you mentioned.

In regards to the point about trying to jam the views down the throat of the player; I kinda did xD Know that I support neither Bibi nor the characters that the player plays, but someone different entirely. It was just entertaining for me to tackle many recent controversies surrounding the PM by making his attacks reflect them.

The most positive thing I gained from this game is the neat level switch mechanic - new frontpage = new level. Might use that in a bigger game in the future.  Beer!

To those interested, Bibi won the elections a couple days ago Tongue
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