The Doll Factory
An interview at a mech factory. Featuring queer community in strange places, assimilation of language, flirty mechs, and surviving under capitalism. Made in a week for QGCon Game Jam. I'd love to come back to this at some point and flesh it out further but for now here's the sketch of it.
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Another commenter said “Made me uncomfortable in just the right ways.” and that’s the perfect way to put it. Brought up so many issues and ideas. The description of the mech in particular was really visceral with the flash of imaging it crushed in war. Excellent presentation and pacing, and top-notch world-building!
Great work with the worldbuilding (esp how you use the interview to set-up the background of war and ongoing political discussions of personhood and complicitness)! The two ending choices highlight one of the key themes here, is there ethical consumption / production under capitalism, and to what extent does it matter to someone who just needs to survive? I would be interested in reading a future version of this story : )
Made me uncomfortable in just the right ways. I know you're thinking of it as a sketch, but to me it works really well just as it is. The pacing and length feel perfect.
"Anders Metropole Locomotive is an equal-opportunity employer."
"--Today pronouns" are wildly the rudest words in the (queer) world.
I got the walk of shame at the end of the first round and then the OTHER ending... You know what, not getting that ending on the first go is good although applying for jobs over and over again is its own version of hell.
LOL If this were real life, they would auto-promote me to manager (again) and I'd have to work (very long and unpaid) overtime. Like my last three jobs. (Cries.)
This was awesome, Sasha! I've played a few Twine games that I've really enjoyed on Itch in their own ways but this was the deepest, and yet done in a way that feels so natural. There's no exposition, no "here's the backstory" dump of text, you're just tossed into it.
And I absolutely love that this game is created in such a way that you genuinely feel equally valid for either major choice in the end. I had to do both, of course, to see what happened 🤣 But, especially living in a small town, it almost felt evil (intentionally so, of course, and also equally realistic) to have such a queer-friendly, positive, lovely place be so entrenched in war. Like... I would dream of a workplace like that, and I'm sure I'm far from the only one. Heck, I've never even had a job with insurance, let alone the rest 🤣🤣🤣🤣
All of that to say that I love this so much and you captured it all so well in wonderful writing and world-building!
- ✨Beth