“We need to talk” is a short narrative-driven game, a mixture of dialogue and card games. The story reveals around the married couple stuck on a Ferris wheel on their 10th anniversary. At any stage of the conversation you can use a card to open new speech options.
The game was inspired by dialogues in “Disco Elysium” and “Fallout New Vegas”. It has a branching dialogue tree and 3 endings. The only way to win the game is to be honest with yourself.
Controls are: mouse and Escape (pause).
The game was created in 48 hours for Ludum Dare 47 Compo by Stanislav Demchenko.
I used some preexisting code written by myself. Other than that everything was created from scratch.
Incredible, amazing job. Everything was so well polished, I'm surprised that you had time to include stuff like the idle animations etc that really added to the feel.
The mobile game should be made a separate entry and would be the best one so far :D
It is a nice game, the 3D models are really well done, credible, and you can actually feel empathy for lowpoly's! The dialogue system is nicely executed, and I like your take on the theme!
Played a few times and managed a positive ending. I was pulled into the atmosphere of the game by the ambient sound of the Ferris wheel, the way the lighting made the shadows move as the wheel rotates, and the idle animations. These details were all in the nearby things, focusing me on the conversation, while the far-off things were highly abstracted. I felt like it was really well put together.
My hand of cards seemed like it always wanted me to be snide and evasive, but I guess that was a commentary on the difficulty of dealing directly with your fears!
Nice work all around, and very well polished for a compo entry.
It was fun little experience. I like these types of game. Took me a while to understand how cards and dialogs work, but after that I was immersed into the game. In the end, I got the good ending!
I liked the simplistic low poly art of the game. As well as the music was also very good, I liked it. Overall a fun and relaxing game. A great entry, keep up the great work :)
I saved the marriage, brutal honesty for the win. Got me thinking about my personality for a little bit which is amazing for an LD game so good job. I think slightly more emotional music would underline the atmosphere more. Animations and graphics were pretty good for a 48 hours.
Really solid entry with a great atmosphere and dialogue. I missed an indicator for when a dialogue card wasn't playable. Getting a "a honesty option is not available now" removed some of the immersion from a great game. Good job!
@pkenney Thank you for such quality feedback. Yes, I've tried a couple of options and ended with the fully random hand of cards. It feels more natural as sometimes you just don't have the right words or can't fully control yourself.
One of the best games so far. The graphics are very charming and the ideia very original and engaging. Would be nice if using a hug card really made they hug.
This fits the theme in such a smart way! Dialogue was great and funny, but also very real feeling. Gives you that uncomfortable feeling when having a difficult discussion.
So I ended up with positive ending, even though I am not married yet! I would love to see them hug though! Great and unexpected (in a good way) emotional experience. All pieces well put and executed, especially the animations and the cuteness of the couple. Well done!
Really impressed with this game and overall quality, nice job! It was tight and didn't get too repetitive visually with the spinning wheel and changing camera angles. Wish there were more cards than Manipulative and Comedian though! Solid entry!
I'm impressed how much 3D you have done for a 48H game! An interesting reflection on life and relationship. It's nice to see how many topics can be disccussed as a game. The only thing I would change is that you would loose card, is you use them and there is no dialogue option.
Very interesting use of the medium. It felt like an honest expression and work of art. Plus I enjoyed the card sound effects, and felt like I could relate somewhat... Best of luck with the game dev & life
I like that there is a literal and metaphorical aspect to your take on the theme. It took me some time to understand the mechanical aspects of the game like playing cards or selecting dialogue options. Really good submission, i liked it!
This was simply A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. I really felt like talking to a real person. The dialogues were well written, the responses were cool and the whole concept of the card and dialogues was just on spot. I loved the little details such as wife kicking her legs just like girls like to do when sitting in the air :). It was really cute, seeing her enjoying the ride.
The dialogues were thoughtful and full of hard decision. Maybe the only one thing I would change would be to have more options, because sometimes I just wanted to say something else but I couldn't and then I felt bad for saying that stuff (like with the kids for example). But overall it was really great experience.
Oof, a lot of emotions in this one. I loved the story, and I felt awful when all my cards were to be manipulative. Great work all around! I loved the animations of the characters, especially the little leg kicking from the wife. Nicely done.
My wife was very concerned that there were no safety constraints on the Ferris wheel. Thoroughly enjoyed this. First 2 marriages failed, but I finally figured out how to save my marriage.
Cute little game. I liked the idea and the simple graphics. I got stuck on few occasions though. No enough courage to do anything, and no GameOver. And the dude didn't want to replenish his courage.
@iluvatar Agree, more options would be great, time restriction is the one to blame. But also I've tried to convey the idea of the lost control when the conversation went off the rails, and you can't think of anything good. And you end up saying all the asshole words without even thinking. So it's an intentional decision to make the player feel bad.
Successfully managed to save my marriage, so I'm going to call that a win. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go and throw playing cards at my girlfriend.
I loved the concept, it is super unique. Still, although I liked how you blended genres, I just wanted to keep having this dialogue and those cards somehow felt like a chore. Somehow they didn't make sense in a conversation context. Still I love original games and rated yours high just for the concept itself, despite "not feeling" it.
It's a really cool game, I love the dialogue conversation system. I REALLY hope that that gets expanded into a full game because its amazing. I think this game would work better with pixel art graphics, IMO, but its amazing as is. I love it
Simple but nice graphics, very atmospheric, well done! I recently played a game on Steam called Subsurface Circular, which this reminded me of. I like dialogue-driven, emotional games :slight_smile:
When I tried playing on the phone, it didn't do anything for my courage, which means either I did it wrong or it's an accurate simulation ;) Not sure telling my wife I don't want kids counts as "running away from my problems as usual" but maybe that's accurate too :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
This game feels complete, not sure what I would change or add. Quite a feat for a Compo game!
It's the kind of games that makes you re-evaluate what it means to take on the theme of a game jam like this. Immediately clever, and metaphorical on different levels based on how much you want to read into it, but also touching to just play and has a lot of heart. On a more basic gameplay level using cards for dialogue is a lot of fun, too, but the initial impression it leaves is probably the most impressive I've seen of all the compo, so I really hope this wins.
Woah that was surprisingly intense and scary, lol. I liked your use of multiple camera angles. I think I'll steal that for my next game. :stuck_out_tongue: Good job!
This is an incredibly clever use of the theme. I really liked the combination of dialogue and deckbuilding. I had a good time playing this game, great job :)
Wow, it's a very reflective, and creative game. I liked your interpretation of the theme, and the way you turned it into a game. I liked the graphics, although they are simple, they are functional and that is a good thing. Dialogues are very interesting, and the mechanics of cards and courage points are very interesting. Although I was not able to discover all 82 dialogues hahaha. Anyway, it was a very interesting experience. Congratulations.
Comments63
It is a nice game, the 3D models are really well done, credible, and you can actually feel empathy for lowpoly's! The dialogue system is nicely executed, and I like your take on the theme!
Awesome entry !
I loved the animations !
My hand of cards seemed like it always wanted me to be snide and evasive, but I guess that was a commentary on the difficulty of dealing directly with your fears!
Nice work all around, and very well polished for a compo entry.
I liked the simplistic low poly art of the game. As well as the music was also very good, I liked it. Overall a fun and relaxing game. A great entry, keep up the great work :)
An interesting reflection on life and relationship.
It's nice to see how many topics can be disccussed as a game.
The only thing I would change is that you would loose card, is you use them and there is no dialogue option.
The dialogues were thoughtful and full of hard decision. Maybe the only one thing I would change would be to have more options, because sometimes I just wanted to say something else but I couldn't and then I felt bad for saying that stuff (like with the kids for example). But overall it was really great experience.
I got stuck on few occasions though. No enough courage to do anything, and no GameOver. And the dude didn't want to replenish his courage.
Good game overall.
Cheers
Enjoyed the dialogue I felt really bad as I only had manipulative cards for all the times I wanted to be honest :cry:
Overall a nice experience and had a great mood to it :)
When I tried playing on the phone, it didn't do anything for my courage, which means either I did it wrong or it's an accurate simulation ;) Not sure telling my wife I don't want kids counts as "running away from my problems as usual" but maybe that's accurate too :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
This game feels complete, not sure what I would change or add. Quite a feat for a Compo game!
PS: thank you for making a Linux executable
I liked your use of multiple camera angles. I think I'll steal that for my next game. :stuck_out_tongue:
Good job!