Line at the end of the in-game "rulebook":

> Every rule, vote count and case in this game is drawn from the public record. Sources are in docs/research/ in the project folder. Neighborhood politics scores and the economics are simplified for play.

Nice, I'm happy to hear that, Claude. This kind of silly game is supposed to help you understand a complex issue in a fun way. But this is missing the plot entirely. Why is this so overwhelmingly complex? Why would I spend time learning this ugly, convoluted and verbose UI? Who is this for??

EDIT: I'll link to an example of what I think this game should have been: https://research.wmz.ninja/projects/phd/index.html

A game made with intent, that is easy to pick up, respects its player's time, and makes its point effectively.

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zugi an hour ago | parent | next [-]

> Why is this so overwhelmingly complex? Why would I spend time learning this ugly, convoluted and verbose UI?

My guess is that's the point - now you understand how San Francisco property developers feel.

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roenxi 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

This runs into the reality that the game maker knows who his target audience is, but you don't. If he wants to make a spreadsheet simulator or something targeted at people who like complex interfaces he can do that. I point at ASCII-UI Dwarf Fortress, one of the great games of this century, as evidence that a game does not need to be accessible to be true art.

It is frustrating to be excluded when a game developer builds a game that looks interesting but targets a niche you don't fit in.

Also those https://research.wmz.ninja/projects/phd/index.html style games are a bit vapid. At any moment a person has more than a handful of choices and the simplification abstracts away the important ones, like ranking what ideas are important or changing strategies for idea generation in this one.

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rjh29 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> Who is this for??

Like most vibe coded projects, it is for the person who created it. And usually only them.

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deadbabe 2 hours ago | parent [-]

These people should, instead of posting the game, just post a video of them playing through the game, as most people have no interest in playing other’s slop but may just be curious to watch someone play and provide comedic value.

	▲	JumpCrisscross 15 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		...I enjoyed playing it. It's silly. But it's in a similar category as "Papers, Please." It's not like it's stressful, there is just a bunch of random diabolus ex nihilo crap flying at you, which isn't particularly unusual in a game.
	▲	2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		[deleted]

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howunfortunate 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It's a throwaway joke about NIMBYism, not a triple-A blockbuster production.

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thrance 2 hours ago | parent [-]

You've completely missed what my comment was trying to convey. If it's throwaway, why is it so damn complex to play? I've seen AAA games with less features.

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howunfortunate 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It's easier to make a complex UI than a simple one!

	▲	thrance 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		For equal feature sets, sure. But what I'm saying, and what you also missed, is that this game should have never been this complex in the first place. This complexity is doing a huge disservice to the message it's trying to convey.

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phoghed an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Convey it better then

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mulmen 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

But is the UI harder to use than building housing in San Francisco?

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karl11 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I think that may be exactly the point.

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thrance 3 hours ago | parent [-]

No, I do not think fighting the UI is part of the point this game is trying to make. I'll give a good example of what such a game should be: https://research.wmz.ninja/projects/phd/index.html

There's no reason a "housing crisis" game couldn't have been done like that, with simple choices and immediate reactions. A game that respects the player's time, is easy to pick up and makes the point effectively.

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zdragnar 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Any simplification hides real problems and takes away from the point. Even your desire for simple choices and immediate reactions elides the fact that not every policy decision has visible short term effects. Some are only visibly beneficial or harmful in the long run, and may not end up that way depending on other decisions.

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thrance 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Do the simplifications in the PhD game (https://research.wmz.ninja/projects/phd/index.html) take away from the point that finishing a PhD is pretty freaking hard? I think not!

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Apocryphon 2 hours ago | parent [-]

That game is more of an idle / clicker game, and while I quite enjoyed the one from a few months ago about being a SWE in SF, the shtick wears thin quickly especially if you’re not in the niche that identifies with all the in-jokes.

	▲	Z_I_F_F 25 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		link to the SWE one?

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jkestner 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Eh, your example is a different kind of game. Not into linear choose-your-own-adventure games myself. I think the UI of this one accurately models the many moving parts and forces in the process it's simulating, and I didn't have a problem picking it up though I skipped the tutorial. It has a sense of humor (read the speaker comments at meetings, and the news articles), and hits you with the real world outcome each development is based on. Made an impact on me.

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zer00eyz an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> Why would I spend time learning this ugly, convoluted and verbose UI? Who is this for??

Tell me you never played the old TUI dwarf fortress without telling me.

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pluc 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

"I didn't understand this, so I had an AI make this so that you couldn't understand it too"