My Private Ambulance Service

Thank you for taking the time to check out my game. I developed it over a period of about three weeks for the Fuck Capitalism Jam 2023. Forgive me, but I would like to use this as a Dev log to discuss its development process and share some of the challenges I encountered.

This is the second game I have created entirely on my own, and I have been making games for about two months now. In my previous projects, I heavily relied on AI assistance, but for this game, I wanted to challenge myself and abstain from using AI, as the upcoming GMTK event (which I want to enter) explicitly prohibits its use. However, this endeavor proved to be quite difficult. I struggled to begin the project because I wasn't sure where to start, and I realized that achieving my vision without AI would be impossible. As a result, I felt stressed and kept delaying the game's development. Eventually, I decided to abandon my initial plan and utilize AI.

Once I integrated AI, I quickly regained momentum and managed to establish the basic gameplay loop within a few days. However, when it came to building the city, I found myself in a time crunch. Initially, I was thrilled by the prospect of creating my own little world, but leaving it late and last, I ended up rushing through the process. Consequently, I couldn't achieve the level of detail and intricacy I had envisioned for the world-building (little world building details are the thing I love the most in games). In hindsight, I realize that breaking up the development process, dedicating one day to coding and the next to art, would have alleviated the monotony and reduced stress.

Another issue I encountered was a persistent bug that I tried over several days to resolve, but could not. Specifically, it involved the double spawns in round 2 and onwards. The game was intended to spawn only two patients per round, but it erroneously spawned four. Despite my efforts, I couldn't fix the bug, and its existence disrupted the game's balance, particularly concerning a significant mechanic that I wanted players to discover on their own. However, I later realized that this setback turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The original subtle approach with two spawns would have made the anti-capitalism and anti-privatization message too subtle for this type of game. As it stands now, the message is pretty heavy-handed. Without giving away spoilers, let me just say that if a player reaches $2000 in the game, my design philosophy and intended message become quite explicit. Rather than requiring multiple playthroughs of around 10 minutes each, the message can now be grasped in just 1-3 plays lasting about 5 minutes each.

Originally I wanted to convey the underlying process subtly, as that reflects how capitalism often operates. It draws a comparison between public programs and their potential flaws, while downplaying or hiding the hidden costs of private solutions. By having players engage in the same actions necessary to provide any private service within the game, I aim to underscore the real costs of capitalism.

Thank you once again for your time, and I sincerely hope you enjoy playing the game.