The Visible City
A downloadable game for Windows, macOS, and Linux
A game about the politics of lighting. Manage a Parisian district where the map disappears if revolutionaries destroy the streetlights.
Made in (less than) 48 hours for Ludum Dare 39, based on the theme ‘Running out of power’. For those who are interested, the full map on which the game is based is available here.
Music: Prelude in A Minor, by Lefébure-Wély, preformed by Christoph Lahme.
[Note - Mac and Linux builds are untested, as I didn't have the time or capabilities to test them during the gamejam.]
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Would it be possible to get a 64bit Mac version of this to support playing on Catalina? I'm quite interested in trying this :)
Hey! I'm actually not sure if I still have the project files for this game... But I'll have a look through my game design backups, and if I can find it I'll put together a quick Catalina version :)
Loved the concept! I uploaded a video with some gameplay to my YT channel
Testing on Mac. The game is larger than the window, even in full screen. I'm unable to read content at the top or bottom of it.
This was a lot of fun. Had a couple moments where it really tried my patience, but in the context of the game and theme (running out of power), it makes sense. Hope to see a full version of this someday. If this is the extent of it, it's something to be proud of.
Really really like it. Would love to see it with a story and more diverse gameplay and having an ending where you ultimatively cannot control the lights anymore and "run out of power". Would really love that, the french revolution is also a superb setting for this as it could be just a "gimmick" game but this really puts your feeling up.
I like it! Simple, but still requires stratagy!
The linux build dosn't have a binary :(.
You just have to chmod +x TheVisibleCity_Linux.x86 and launch it ;)
thx, but that not the problem.
i get "bash: ./TheVisibleCity_Linux.x86: No such file or directory" i think its only an x86 / 32bit build :(
Some annoyances I had:
With a few balancing tweaks, it could be a neat, little time-killer.
That's the point, I think. The game is rigged, to make you see how the city disappears, becomes invisible to you. To your "character", the state representative, the city is an ordered grid, a map you oversee and control. At first, you feel like you can keep everything in check - after all, you see the big picture. The intel on protesters flows in, you order squads around, all as it should be. But when the protest gets out of hand, the city turns more and more opaque to your all-seeing eye. Your controlling, policing, map-centered "government" vision literally becomes blind. Blind spots - dark spots in the city - become sources of even more trouble, and you can't see anything in them (no intel, no control, chaos). It gets to the point when you don't even know where your own squads are (a realistic notion that's implemented spot on). You feel fury and helplessness, pointless orders fly around, some flee the building, others start burning paperwork.
Note that this game is a brilliant double-meaning take on the game jam theme: "Running out of power". You run out of light (which BTW isn't electric here, technically), but with it, you're running out of control, out of power.
It's a symbolic / atmosphere game, which unfortunately makes it kinda bad as an entertaining game. In fact, for me it felt like an extremely irritating and clunky game. But it definitely translated the feeling of losing control very well!
I think your analysis and overview just made me like the game x10 more.
Thanks!