The Other Doctor
It is the 17th Century and the Plague is sweeping across the Kingdom. You were born to a noble title with the entitlements that come with it. You've went to the Royal Institute of Physicians. When the plague came to the Capital though, you naively thought that the Institute would step up and try to stem the tide. But all they did was retreat to their estates and impose sanctions on those that did try to help. You delved into esoteric research and found a means to combat the disease, but you were ridiculed for trying. The more you pressed, the more fed up they got, until they simply banished you.
You lost your title, your money. Disgraced and kicked out of the Institute, you grabbed whatever you could before they seized it, and set out for another city. Trying to make a difference, to prove that you were right.
The Other Doctor is a narrative approach to a simulation / management style game. This is a prototype of the game that uses a dialogue system that takes context into account. People will be desperate to come to you for help, and you can't let too many die. Rumours would spread, and the auditors of The Institute will find you.
Be sure to consult your trusty Journal, it is probably the most prized possession you took with you, as it holds the key to treating patients effectively.
GDD can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1P76nhv8SRwzqYCbgDl8YECg06bR2ALSsyQg6EEjotoo/...
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I like your game and I like your concept. The art style reminds me of Roadwarden. I’d like to see what you do with it after the jam.
I did find it confusing to know what to do to treat all of the diseases. The people who haven’t relieved themselves in a while implies that they need water to balance out the “common humors” (if I understand your manual correctly) but there’s no obvious way to do this. It’s also not obvious how many ingredients to use to create effective potions.
Finally, after playing it long enough, I ran into what I assume is a UI bug, where descriptions of NPCs did not update no matter what buttons I clicked.
Still, a good game. I hope you keep going with it.
I killed patient by bloodletting a little too much perhaps lol. idk she didn't say anything and then just died. poor thing had money tho but I couldn't find her family.
had fun and I felt like a true plague doctor. I just look at people and then say bloodletting!(I have no education)
Also found a bug I think? it's a little thing if I go to the mile and click explore but there's nothing it says "you wander the docks" well its not really a bug I guess.
Well, bloodletting was a genuine form of treatment back then! =D
And, in the game it can also be a genuine form of treatment. Just one with a more obvious risk attached alright!
Glad you enjoyed the experience =)
(And yes, that is a bug that we simply missed, we didn't have that much time left in the end to test through all the randomized content)
I like the art and the music, and I'm aware of the time constraint, but there needs to be a step by step easing into what you're doing, I know you have to get the player all the information they need, but dumping it all at the beginning then letting the player do whatever is tough to get through, the sounds startled me at how loud they are. I ran into a bug where if there are more than one patient clicking the options only affect the first patient, then the 2nd patient can't be treated, then they die, which dismissing that is the only way to fix the issue. Great work though, congrats on getting a game finished and submitted!
Congrats on finding that bug! XD We realized that specific bug a bit late on our part and couldn't take it into account or deal with it, unfortunately :') so apologies there. In terms of the guidance, it's as you said, we got caught between a rock and a hard place when we were designing the tutorial or a way for the player to learn how to interact with the game, so the journal was more of a patch up fix than a proper solution. Really appreciate the feedback buddo and thanks for playing! :)
I don't really have anything to add to what my team mate CasterColumn already said; but did want to express my appreciation for giving our game a play =)
I dig the setting and style of this one! the gameplay isn't my cup of tea personally but it's still really well made!
Thanks a bunch, amigo! Appreciate the honesty! :)
It is absolutely fine to acknowledge it isn't your type of game. We appreciate that you had a look despite that =)
Was a little confused on what ingredients to use for the potions (like the quantity), i also clicked fast through one by mistake and left them, didn't know they were still active as while i was exploring i only checked who was in the zone, but when i clicked the bottle it showed 2 others. If you continue maybe an indicator that "follows" the player to let them know how many active patients? i didn't save a person xD but it was fun tryin to figure out!
Ah, makes sense, the clinic (the bottle) does have patients pop in that we don't highlight in the UI. And don't worry about not saving a person, I myself played the game like 8 or 10 times trying to figure out how to save people and realized I didn't read the journal XD so most of my scores were in the negative numbers (Developed as a team, so as the person managing the art and UI code I was also a semi-playtester). Glad ta hear the experience was enjoyable :). Thanks for the feedback and for playing!
You have some good suggestions there to better keep track of the game state for the player, thank you for sharing them.
And thank you for playing our game!