The Dealer

Oleksii Rybnikov Developer

Oleksii Rybnikov Publisher

2020-11-01 Release

IndieSingleplayer Tags

Game News Posts: 14

🎹🖱️Keyboard + Mouse

7 user reviews (7 reviews)

http://thedealergame.com

Steam Store

The Dealer is a dialogue driven game where you play as a street dealer in Winterfield, the most troubled city in the fictional version of the United States, set against catastrophic economic and political situation. After losing poker game with the local mob boss, you are given 10 days to get 10000$, otherwise you are dead. Left without job because of mass layoffs in the city and blacklisted from every bank and credit service out there, your only choice is to ask your shady friend, Lenny, for help. With his support, you have to dive deep into the world of spontaneous trade in order to survive. You need to sell everything you can get, from bottle caps to drugs and guns, to different strangers; face hard moral decisions; avoid cops and dangerous customers; pay the rent; and also deal with the increasingly difficult political situation in the country that directly affects both your life and the city.

• Story Mode. You have 10 days to get 10000$. You need to sell everything you can get to different strangers, avoid cops and pay the rent in order to survive as things in the city get worse and worse.
  
• Survival Mode. Survive as long as you can in the increasingly challenging and hostile environment.
  
• Dialogue System with a wide variety of interactions and potential choices. Mix of scripted and non-scripted dialogues.
  
• Morality System. The way you treat customers affects both gameplay and game's ending.
  
• Political Events System. One of the core features of the game that makes it more diverse and increasingly challenging.
  
• Many different characters, both procedural and handmade.
  
• Lots of different items with 3 levels of rarity.
  
• Dark humor.
  
• Multiple endings.
  
• Developed by one person.
  
• You can sell bottle caps for 100$ with the power of conviction!
  
• You can also sell a random druggie his own hand ;)

Winterfield, Michigan. Year 2019. The crime rate and corruption level are at record high. The mayor and city council are nothing, but puppets for two gangs which control the city. Police barely exists because of massive budget cuts, those who remained basically live on bribes. This is not a place for dreams or ambitions, people are just trying to survive, slowly losing all hope.

After losing poker game with Jack Coin, one of the big bosses of Winterfield mob, you are given 10 days to pay the debt. Left without job and options like taking loans because of economic crisis in the country and your own personal failures, you have to ask your shady friend, Lenny, for help. Lenny is a travelling dealer who hides from cops in city's sewerage. He lends you his old hot dog cart for storing stuff and covering your deeds. Ready to go, you need to get 10000$ in 10 days by selling everything you can get to different strangers. During your journey, you will meet some eccentric and even dangerous characters, which may help or get you killed. You also have to pay the rent every day and deal with the increasing difficult economic and political situation as the whole country is falling apart.



Survival Mode has 2 major differences from Story Mode:

• Your goal is to survive as long as you can in the increasingly challenging environment, you can go far beyond 10 days and 10000$.
  
• All events in the city and newspaper headlines are randomized (In Story Mode they are scripted), so you'll be facing new challenges every day, while still dealing with old ones.

This mode won't feature story related customers/quests, it'll be its own thing.



Political Events System is one of the core features of the game. Every day you start with a fresh issue of Winterfield Daily newspaper which tells us news about game's world. Those news directly affect many game stats, including:

• Dialogues;
  
• Prices;
  
• Bribes;
  
• Your rent;
  
• Which items are legal or not etc.

It allows to make the game increasingly challenging and add some cool details to dialogues and game's world. Political Events are scripted in Story Mode, but randomized in Survival Mode, so your experience in both modes will be different.



The way you treat customers affects both gameplay and game's ending. You have a choice in every dialogue with a potential customer. Deceive or insult customers, sell drugs or stolen stuff, get someone killed and cops will come for you. You may get some quick cash and talk yourself out of trouble with police, but the ending won't be great. If you choose a better path, you'll probably going to have a harder time getting money, but cops won't be bothering you and you'll have a shot at good ending. You can also balance between two gameplay styles, you don't have to be just good or bad, this is not black and white story.