The commentary on how difficult it actually is to distribute accumulated wealth as charity (without outright cheating) shouldn't be lost on anyone. If there's a later post-Jam release, I suggest making this clearer. The gameplay itself is good and makes the point of the Jam well, but I see two issues that make the game world far more dystopian than was probably intended. I bring them up not to complain, but to suggest leaning into them.
First, the game is still working completely within capitalism and its restraints. Charity is something that mostly only exists as a result of capitalism, after all, and reliance on it as a social necessity is one way of maintaining the economic status quo. There no actual fucking over of billionaires here, and I think that's a missed opportunity for this game. (Charitable organizations also distribute information and - strictly at the on-the-ground face-to-face level for legal and social reasons - can nudge along social change.)
Second, the human(?) distribution workers are unable to distribute charitable assistance faster than the charity founder can, and this has implications. With or without an autoclicker, the founder is someone who can convert and distribute $0.1 trillion, $100 billion, $100,000 million in charity by themselves. This suggests something uncomfortably extraordinary about the founder - superhuman, inhuman, eldritch, mechanical, etc. - as well as that it's not possible for humans to effectively help themselves through charity.
I'm assuming the lack of in-game time is a deliberate choice, and I don't think it's necessary anyway. The game makes the difficulties of charity logistics clear enough without it.
And there's a bug: when Increase Storage resolves, it seems that you can't Buy to fill it without Distributing once first. (Just saying that the warehouse can't fill its new capacity, without first making some space to work in by distributing, would handwave it though.)
I like the pink/lemonade color scheme, and also how clean and simple the interface is.
Thank you for your comment and for playing so attentively, you're the first to mention the bug!
The game definitely has its limits. I wanted to keep the message simple and accessible considering the genre of the game. The goal was to use clicker game mechanics to show the "inhumanity" of a billionaire's fortune. I agree that charities are only a small band-aid on a broken system, but I believe it is still possible to show cracks in it from within, it helps people understand those concepts since they live in it and the charity pov justifies turning that amount of money into more graspable goods. Of course we would not need certain charities if there were basic income, free education and free healthcare, etc.
Games often offer exaggerated "god views" especially for resources management, so I doubt many players think of themselves/charity founder as "superhuman", but more in terms of agency and possible actions (realistic or not).
I did actually consider adding time and still think about it since a few people mentioned it, but it requires some design changes (and time ha!) so we'll see. I will definitely post an updated version after the jam, but mainly to balance the intesive clicking.
Having to manage stocks is an interesting twist on the clicker formula! I cut it short because clickers are very addictive, but it really puts in perspective how many meals you can give away with a fraction of an oligarch's fortune
← Return to game
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
The commentary on how difficult it actually is to distribute accumulated wealth as charity (without outright cheating) shouldn't be lost on anyone. If there's a later post-Jam release, I suggest making this clearer. The gameplay itself is good and makes the point of the Jam well, but I see two issues that make the game world far more dystopian than was probably intended. I bring them up not to complain, but to suggest leaning into them.
First, the game is still working completely within capitalism and its restraints. Charity is something that mostly only exists as a result of capitalism, after all, and reliance on it as a social necessity is one way of maintaining the economic status quo. There no actual fucking over of billionaires here, and I think that's a missed opportunity for this game. (Charitable organizations also distribute information and - strictly at the on-the-ground face-to-face level for legal and social reasons - can nudge along social change.)
Second, the human(?) distribution workers are unable to distribute charitable assistance faster than the charity founder can, and this has implications. With or without an autoclicker, the founder is someone who can convert and distribute $0.1 trillion, $100 billion, $100,000 million in charity by themselves. This suggests something uncomfortably extraordinary about the founder - superhuman, inhuman, eldritch, mechanical, etc. - as well as that it's not possible for humans to effectively help themselves through charity.
I'm assuming the lack of in-game time is a deliberate choice, and I don't think it's necessary anyway. The game makes the difficulties of charity logistics clear enough without it.And there's a bug: when Increase Storage resolves, it seems that you can't Buy to fill it without Distributing once first. (Just saying that the warehouse can't fill its new capacity, without first making some space to work in by distributing, would handwave it though.)
I like the pink/lemonade color scheme, and also how clean and simple the interface is.
Thank you for your comment and for playing so attentively, you're the first to mention the bug!
The game definitely has its limits. I wanted to keep the message simple and accessible considering the genre of the game. The goal was to use clicker game mechanics to show the "inhumanity" of a billionaire's fortune. I agree that charities are only a small band-aid on a broken system, but I believe it is still possible to show cracks in it from within, it helps people understand those concepts since they live in it and the charity pov justifies turning that amount of money into more graspable goods. Of course we would not need certain charities if there were basic income, free education and free healthcare, etc.
Games often offer exaggerated "god views" especially for resources management, so I doubt many players think of themselves/charity founder as "superhuman", but more in terms of agency and possible actions (realistic or not).
I did actually consider adding time and still think about it since a few people mentioned it, but it requires some design changes (and time ha!) so we'll see. I will definitely post an updated version after the jam, but mainly to balance the intesive clicking.
autoclicker for the win
hi love the game however this is a 100 billion
oops, you're right, I'll update the text
Having to manage stocks is an interesting twist on the clicker formula! I cut it short because clickers are very addictive, but it really puts in perspective how many meals you can give away with a fraction of an oligarch's fortune