Well, we did some final jiggering, pressed a couple more interface buttons, and it's really real: as of a few moments ago both Socrates Jones: Pro Philosopher AND Pro Philosopher 2: Governments and Grievances are playable on Macintosh computers! Go tell all your Mac friends! And if you ARE a Mac friend, welcome!

The Complete Collection is Also Live!

With today's Mac launch, and the release of the Soundtrack for Pro Philosopher 2, we are also creating a new Pro Philosopher Complete Collection Bundle: the second game, and both soundtracks, for 10% off! Hey, if big AAA studios can do bundles, us small scrappy indies can, too. If you've enjoyed our strange philosophical venture of ours, it's certainly a good option. We appreciate each and every one of you: whether you are finding us now, have been with us since the steam launch, or way back since the first cult Flash release in 2013. Here's to many years of Philosophy to come!

[ 2024-10-23 16:56:11 CET ] [ Original post ]

We've been running a few secret tests behind the scenes and can now confirm, imperically, that the Pro Philosopher series is going to work on Mac! So, this next Wednesday, both Socrates Jones: Pro Philosopher AND Pro Philosopher 2: Governments and Grievances will go live on Macintosh computers! And to whet your appetite, Apple-ites, the Mac version of the Demo for Pro Philosopher 2 is live RIGHT NOW!
BUT THAT'S NOT ALL! This Wednesday will also see the official release of the Soundtrack for Pro Philosopher 2, both in MP3 and high-quality WAV format. This soundtrack will also contain the notoriously catchy "Who's a Pro Philosopher?" track we made for the trailer of 2! [previewyoutube=HXIV-PNX0mw;full][/previewyoutube] We're incredibly proud of this series, and happy with how people have been receiving it. We're excited to be able to bring it to a new platform where, let's be honest, a lot of the word nerds live. Like the Philosophy Professor we worked with in making these games, Andy Norman. Your dream is coming true, Andy! You will be able to play the game again! Happy NONSENSEing, The Pro Philosopher 2 Team

[ 2024-10-19 21:41:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

In developing the sequel Pro Philosopher 2: Governments and Grievances (out now!), there were a number of things we learned and improved that we're now back-porting to the original game! Benefits of using (mostly) the same engine! And some of these fixes are pretty significant. Here's the highlights list:

• All our art is using a higher quality compression algorithm! It's subtle, but the game definitely looks better!
• 1, 2, 3, and 4 are shortcuts for the various argument buttons on PC!
• Little gaps at the top and bottom of cutscenes (which you hopefully never noticed) are gone!
• Saves during notifications will now load correctly!
• Fixed an edge case where saves could be strange after a transition!

We also made the following script changes to the goofy bonus argument, just for fun:

• We once again updated Ari's game preferences to reflect the new hotness. Though really Ari needs to stop shilling for AAA games. Play more indies, Ari!
• We also updated the very end to reflect THAT PRO PHILOSOPHER 2 IS NOW OUT.

[ 2024-10-19 19:32:32 CET ] [ Original post ]

Pro Philosopher 2 has a new demo as part of Steam Next Fest, so we figured we'd take this opportunity to celebrate all things Pro Philosopher! And we couldn't do that without giving some love to the first game, where it all began! So! This Wednesday at 5:00 PM PST, we will be hosting a hangout on our Discord where we will stream the original game, give behind the scenes insights, and answer questions. I'm really looking forward to it, so I hope to see you all there!
Throughout the rest of the week, we'll also be having various Steam Streams to celebrate the release of the new Demo. You can learn more about THAT on the Pro Philosopher 2 Event Page here, but I suppose we could at least leave you with a teaser: [previewyoutube=tFBrzfQsnmQ;full][/previewyoutube] Thank you for all your support! Socrates Jones: Pro Philosopher was a blast to make, and I can't wait to play it with you all Wednesday! Don't forget to sign up for our Discord Community to get all the updates on both games going forward!

[ 2024-06-10 17:00:41 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey! Come join our AMA on r/AceAttorney! Ask us any questions you have about development, art, the game itself, anything really! Can't wait to see you there! We will be live from 12 et to 4 et. Click Here for AMA!

[ 2024-01-06 16:55:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone! Hope you are having a lovely holiday season and have some fun New Year's plans. We've been making steady progress on Pro Philosopher 2, but we took some time to circle back to the first game and fix some minor errors our new discord community pointed out to us!

• The idea Kant adds to the Idea Slate in the final chapter is actually the one the game says it is
• Socrates doesn't add an "e" to "argument" when being shamed for being an accountant

While I was in the script, I also made this goofy change to our already goofy bonus argument:

• Ari's game preferences have been updated to reflect the back half of 2023.

Who knows, maybe I'll wind up doing that bit every year.

[ 2023-12-31 04:08:01 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey! Did you know we have a Discord where you can see all the latest updates on everything Pro Philosopher and wait, who is that hiding in the background?
https://discord.gg/mtCyxYjFXZ Do you think if we can guess who it is, they might reveal themselves?

[ 2023-12-27 23:30:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Socrates Jones team is going to be at PAX, at Seattle Indies Expo! Here are the event deets: Sun, Sept 3rd, 12pm - 9pm 3rd floor @ Motif Hotel, 1415 5th Ave, Seattle WA It's also completely free! You can swing by without a PAX badge! Come meet us, say Hi, and tell us which philosopher was your favorite. :) At the event, we'll have some cards for Socrates Jones: Pro Philosopher, including some that preview the cast of the upcoming Pro Philosopher 2: Governments and Grievances. Oh, and an early demo of that, too! Hope to see you there :)
Check out the full list of awesome indies attending here: https://six.seattleindies.org/

[ 2023-08-31 20:06:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

If that's all you need to know, check out the Steam page here!

Yep, it's official. A sequel to Socrates Jones: Pro Philosopher will be coming to Steam next year! Pro Philosopher 2: Governments and Grievances takes on a whole new domain of debate Political Philosophy! (Oh boi.) Here's the first teaser for the game: [previewyoutube=wEsQj1Y0IIk;full][/previewyoutube] The broad strokes for Pro Philosopher 2 have been floating around since the release of the original game, with the first serious pass at a script back in 2015. This one's been slow-cooking for a very long time, building on everything we learned from making the first game and all our other projects. We're thrilled to finally share it with you! We've got additional info and screenshots on the Steam page! If you like what you see, be sure to wishlist helps the almighty algorithm know people care.

[ 2023-06-14 16:08:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

It's been a little while since we got the Socrates Jones: Pro Philosopher remake out the door, and it's been really wonderful to see people enjoy this release both those who are experiencing it for the first time, and those who've been with us since 2013. This game is a "nights and weekends" labor of love for us, and knowing so many people appreciate our efforts means everything. But though the game is out now, we're not done yet! Now, this isnt going to be a "live service" situation. We're not planning a season pass here no purchasable hat DLC for Socrates, dont worry. (If you want to give us money, buy the soundtrack!) But we DO have a number of exciting things in the pipe, starting with:

A new Bonus Argument!

When promoting this game, I wrote a goofy argument where Billy the Salesman tries to convince Socrates to buy Pro Philosopher. Some chunks of that are in the video on the Steam Page, but...hell, I made an entire functioning argument, and it's just been sitting in my files since. Why not let people play it?
It's not like anyone reading this needs to be convinced to play Pro Philosopher, but I hope you'll still get some enjoyment from it. Maybe you'll make your friends play it, and those friends will be like "Hot damn, I need to see the rest of this." WHO KNOWS! Regardless, that argument is in-game NOW. Anyone who has finished the game can access it by hitting "Bonus" in the chapter select menu.

Community Loc Projects!

We've had a lot of people ask us about Pro Philosopher in other languages over the years. We'd love to be able to reach as many people as possible, but as a project we're running on the side, that's quite an intimidating proposition for us to take on for ourselves. But all hope is not lost! Back in 2013, a number of fans stepped up to localize the game into various languages. The implementation of that content is a little further off, but we won't let that effort go to waste, so stay tuned for more information! (Maybe once the game is in Japanese, Shu Takumi will answer my calls...)

WAIT! I finished the game and I have questions about that stinger!!

Yes! Of course you do. And don't worry, those questions will be answered in due time. We're not QUITE ready to pull back the curtain on everything the scene implies, but needless to say it's where most of our efforts are going right now. Stay tuned to this Steam Page, our twitter or our tumblr, and you'll hear when we have more to share. It shouldn't be too far off now. Aw, hell, okay. I can give you a little something:

[ 2023-05-23 15:31:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

It's finally here! We've hit the big release button, and Socrates Jones: Pro Philosopher is available to all! This release was a labor of love created over years of nights and weekends, with improved UI, improved art, additional gameplay features like achievements and full controller support, and a few new script additions for the eagle-eyed vets... A loving homage to a certain lawyerly game series, Pro Philosopher introduces its own mechanical twists to cross-examination gameplay, all wrapped up in a charming story and healthy helping of humor. Face off in interactive debates against a host of famous philosophers and a deer repellent salesman. Ask questions and present counterpoints to find problems in your opponent's ideas and cut through their NONSENSE! We're very proud of how this new version turned out, and hope you'll enjoy playing it as much as we enjoyed making it! If you want to follow future developments or get in touch, check us out on twitter or here on the Steam forums! Love, The Pro Philosopher Team

[ 2023-03-28 14:07:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

Everyone Socrates Jones knows seems to love philosophy— everyone except Socrates himself. A simple accountant from New York, Socrates was never interested in philosophical questions or the art of arguing. But when he finds himself debating for his life against a queue of famous philosophers, Socrates Jones has no choice but to expand his horizons in a quest to find the nature of morality.

The classic game, rebuilt for Steam!
Face off in interactive debates against a host of famous philosophers— and a deer repellent salesman. Ask questions and present counterpoints to find problems in your opponent's ideas and cut through their NONSENSE!

A loving homage to a certain lawyerly game series, Pro Philosopher introduces its own mechanical twists to cross-examination gameplay, all wrapped up in a charming story and healthy helping of humor.

If you've never played Pro Philosopher before, now's a great time to discover why people enjoyed it the first time around— It's free! And fans of the original release can look forward to:

Greatly polished presentation!

• Higher resolution assets across the board!
  
• New 16:9 layout!
  
• Improved UI during debates. Improved UI in general!

New gameplay features!

• Controller Support!
  
• Achievements!
  
• Dynamic conversation logging!
  
• The groundbreaking ability to save whenever you want!

Additional script polish!

• A few weirdly worded lines are a little less weird!
  
• Em dashes instead of double hyphens! Double hyphens are a categorical evil.
  
• Perhaps a little something extra somewhere...