Brave New World: The Game

by nolanlabs

Overall★★★★★★★★★★2.89

Fun★★★★★★★★★★2.57

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★2.07

Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.82

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★2.93

Audio★★★★★★★★★★1.92

Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.89

Mood★★★★★★★★★★2.57

Coolness★★★★★★★★★★45%

Ludum Dare and English class project overlapped, so I did both at the same time.

Based on Aldous Huxley's 1932 classic "Brave New World". Drop soma pills on people to keep the society happy. If one person gets too unhappy, everything blows up.

I'd say the art is pretty minimalistic. Beyond that, it's up to your own interpretation.

I'll be putting out a post-compo release tomorrow-ish, with some minor improvements. Let me know if you'd like to see anything added.

Tools used: FlashPunk, FlashDevelop, Bfxr, GIMP

Comments14

DaGamesta30 Apr 2013, 03:56

Got to 107, haha. Tough to keep up later on. Definitely very minimalistic. Well, at least it's simple anyways. People are happy or sad, make them happy. XD Good job. :)

RARoadkill30 Apr 2013, 04:03

it is minimalistic indeed. Plays well though. controls are simple and gameplay works without any bugs that I can see. So good job.

sP0CkEr230 Apr 2013, 04:06

awesome -- totally retro -- i love when the game is over

LizEngland30 Apr 2013, 04:07

Saw the game title and had to play it. Not disappointed. Pretty good minigame tie-in for a great work of literature :)

Gungnir30 Apr 2013, 04:19

Smart use of theme. Pacification of the masses. I love how things "conclude" if you fail.

syawqy30 Apr 2013, 05:11

I like when everything exploding

ilo30 Apr 2013, 05:47

To make an observation on the Brave New World theme, the game itself could be construed as a kind of soma pill for us players! :O

brookman32k30 Apr 2013, 16:32

I played the game without reading the description... Was a bit puzzled at first about what's going on ;) I Like how you incorporated a complex and deep matter in such a simplistic game. The game bored me pretty quickliy but it also made me think, and I like it when games do that ;)

Leginar1 May 2013, 01:41

The game over scene was very well scripted. You've successfully touched on a larger theme here, and were able to do a lot with very little. Bravo.

Filth and Money1 May 2013, 03:20

lol, that was awesome. Never thought I'd see this kind of game based on Brave new World haha. And holy poops, it's really hard at 146 lol

ethankennerly1 May 2013, 04:31

Elegant graphics and audio reminded me of 1970s videogames. I laughed when the people exploded. Cute concept. If you continue to develop this, have you explored the rules that modulate each person's mood and exposing the internal state of each person's mood?

Pixelulsar1 May 2013, 19:40

Graphics were minimalistic and it went well with the theme. I liked how people just exploded if they weren't happy.

PsenFilip2 May 2013, 23:37

Solid little game. Simple and I like the retro-esque.
Some people really explode when they are not happy. Interesting thoughts on there :)

brantkings10 May 2013, 14:53

That is society in a nutshell. Good job! This was very solid all-together.

Other games by @nolanlabs

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