[Flatgame 2016] The Wrong Car

Nandrew

I made this

https://rodain.itch.io/the-wrong-car

a role-reinforcement narrative to kick off the new year, and a spiritual entry for this Flatgame jam: https://itch.io/jam/flatgame-annual-2016

Create time: roughly 5 hours?
Play time: about 2 minutes

"Flat games are focused on presenting a game as the most raw and immediate combination of movement, art and sound." I bent some of the jam rules but it was a great creative exercise and ended up feeling pretty expressive.

No further work will go into this project, but share what thoughts you will!

Elyaradine

I tried to play it earlier at work, but their antivirus deleted the file. :/

On-Access scanning has detected a threat. The file has been deleted. C:\<path>\TheWrongCar_001.exe is malware of type Gen:Variant.Mikey.55553

Searching for it seems to say that it's sometimes bundled with free installers and adds adware extensions to your browser. :/

EvanGreenwood

I'm particularly fond of the writing in this game, both the tone and the writing. Somehow I'm reminded of the last Call of Duty character select screen I saw where the interface seemed to read "And now here is a selection where you can customize your mostly invisible avatar to be of Western European descent".

(Do I keep recommending Pony Island? I think it's a great example of a game that talks back to the player, and while the purposes are different I think both Pony Island and The Wrong Car offer similar kinds of pleasures. There aren't a lot of games where the interface itself is part of the narrative.)

Bensonance

This is pretty cute!

Like Evan mentions, the writing is pretty fun, and I love the over the top stats list that you can't quite see. Reminded me vaguely of LIM

The pit stop was quite lovely it it's build up to frustration. I didn't read the final option until I got to it, and it quite perfectly reflected my mood :P

pieter

I actually picked the magenta car first, but I was gently persuaded to use the suggested car. And then came the pickups on the magenta strips, and repairs being for magenta cars only, and I'm like "WTF if you'd just let me use the one I chose!"
The comedic timing on this game is just perfect :D

Nandrew

Thanks for the plays, folks! ;)

And thanks for the game suggestions, I'll look 'em up too.

@Elyaradine: Damn, I really need to check up on that. In the meantime since, I've added an HTML5 version playable straight from browser if you're still keen. :)

I'm glad that people enjoyed the writing style. I think it's sometimes a bit of a tightrope to go very "trashy" without it getting toooooo "messy", but I think it's something I'm getting better with. I tend to find that the most important thing in these cases is a clear UX and to-the-point behaviours (short play session was definitely key). I hope that people managed to carry their own messages away from the dialog too, beyond comedic timing. :P

Nandrew

@Bensonance my word, just played LIM, it's super perfect!