Hey there! We hope you've been keeping safe, well, and happy in a year that becomes more demanding and unusual with each and every passing day. While we can't do much to help, we hope that our new puzzle / tower defence game Rip Them Off will provide some fun, lighthearted relief to you and your friends. Speaking of lighthearted relief, what are your thoughts on that there CAPITALISM?! Of course, Rip Them Off features a healthy dose of satire on the subject, with the overbearing "Board" demanding that you rip off the keen shoppers (or "Dupes") as much as you possibly can. Now, we've had a few questions from the community in the last few days wondering where the idea for the capitalism satire theme in Rip Them Off came from so we thought we'd answer a few of them here today! *For full disclosure, this Q&A was answered by Ava and Mat of Lozange Lab only - there was categorically no input from any "Board" or "Board"-like entity that would call into question the validity of the following answers. *Ahem* Right then...

Did Rip Them Off always feature the capitalism satire angle?

We didn't start development by saying "hey, let's make a capitalist satire game". The starting point was these little Lemmings-like characters moving forwards on every street, then finally invading the whole city in a very chaotic way. Then came the idea of having them enter and leave different shops in their path, and after many different ideas and iteration, the satirical angle surfaced. We decided to accentuate this angle, and Rik, who worked on the texts, seemed to have a lot of fun writing the tongue-in-cheek sentences when we approached him with this idea.

What was the primary inspiration for the satirical theme?

As our prototype was evolving, we had to take a step back to the basic concept of a flow of people walking in the streets, and the idea of "people selling useless items for other people to happily buy them" naturally came about. We found that it was giving an interesting angle to the game, and brings a lot of funny elements to the game. We think it's quite fun to have business-oriented vocabulary in the game, with these notions of profits, expectations and milestones, all treated with a tongue-in-cheek tone of course!

Whose side should we be on, The Board or the Dupes?

We're going to let everyone have their own opinion on that once they play the game in September! ;) Rip Them Off raises a few questions, though. Do you really need to always win more money? Do you really need to defend these big corporations? Do you really need to buy all these items? Why do people follow a trend? We don't want to make the player think too much, or feel uneasy about it, it's all suggested with a humorous and light tone. Also, as its a game with a lot of trials and errors, we decided that losing should be treated in a light and funny manner too. Thats why, in addition to the miffed message from The Board when you dont meet the profit objectives, we added cute minimalist scenes saying "on the bright side The Dupes seems happy and free from their shopping obsessionfor now!". Don't tell The Board, but from the very start we were emotionally attached to the little characters, we were on their side and didnt want them to be seen as the waves of enemies in more traditional tower defense games.

If there was a message that you wanted to send with the satirical nature of Rip Them Off, what would it be?

Isn't having fun more important than having more and more money? Rip Them Off is not intended to have a strong ethical message, our goals with the capitalism satire elements is mostly just to make the player smile! We do love the contrasting, but always very serious messages from The Board when you win or lose in the game though. Losing money is catastrophic for them, but they couldn't care less about the Dupes. Perhaps we can encourage players to think about the way economics work, and hopefully by presenting this different perspective, make them feel empathy for the Dupes. -- So there you have it. Asked and answered and The Board still have no idea we were talking to you... In all seriousness, thank you for your interest in Rip Them Off, and if you haven't already, please do add the game to your Wishlist on this very page - just there on the top right! Wishlisting our game is so helpful to us, and will allow our hard work to be seen by so many more people, which in turn means we'll be able to keep making games that we know you'll fall in love with. Thank you, and stay safe. Ava and Mat x Be sure to follow us on your favourite social media platforms to stay up-to-date on everything Rip Them Off as we approach the exciting launch on September 24th: Twitter: https://twitter.com/Lozange_Lab Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LozangeLab/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lozange.lab/ Imgur: https://imgur.com/user/LozangeLab

[ 2020-08-06 14:17:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

Rip Them Off is a minimalistic new puzzle game of economic management and tower defence. The Board needs its profit, and it’s up to you to line the streets with shops the masses can’t resist. Choose your locations, pick your stores and earn enough to advance up the corporate ladder with its increasingly difficult challenges!




Welcome [New Hire Name Here]. We’re proud¹ to have you as the newest member² of our [Product Name Here] sales team. Here at [Subsidiary Company Name Here] we’re passionately committed to [Vague Passionate Commitment Here] and we know you are too³.

Here at [Company Name] we’re all about giving the people what they want, and what they want is [Product Name] (the ad boys have seen to that!⁴).

As a valuable member of our [Company] family⁵ this is where you come in.

¹ Any assertion of pride is purely performative and does not reflect the Board’s opinion of individual employees
² Unless otherwise stated new employees shall be referred to as “Office Drone”
³ Please see Standard Employee Contract section 11b Subsection 12: “Your New Personal Opinions”
⁴ Any suggestion of consumer manipulation by [Company Name] advertising practices is purely hypothetical
⁵ [Company Name] is a registered corporation and not a familial unit. Please see Employee Contract section 154a, “Knowing Your {Lack Of} Rights”

Choose

Maximising profit and satisfying the board will require planning. In each city, utilise suspiciously* empty locations and create an inescapable maze of retail opportunities the masses simply won’t be able to refuse!

*not suspicious at all

Spend

Those stores aren’t gonna build themselves*! Make sure to prioritise your earning potential by managing your budget: buy the right stores in the right locations at the right price.

*Self-building stores coming in [Unobtainable Release Date Here]!

Earn

Once you build it, they will come. And keep coming! But it’ll take more than one location to satisfy the Board’s exponential profiteering*. Combine locations and store types to really take them for all they’re worth and open up exciting new opportunities around the world!

*Year on year growth is currently set at a more-than-reasonable 3015%

• An innovative new type of game: Combining puzzle mechanics with tower defence games, Rip Them Off is a new breed of challenge, easy to pick up but hard to master.
  
• Gorgeous design: Evoke your inner Mad Man with 1950s inspired music and graphics.
  
• Addictive gameplay: Each new city provides an increasingly devilish challenge. Can you make it all the way to the biggest metropoles?
  
• Go fast or slow: Control the flow of time to make sure your strategies unfold with perfection.

Choose your location, choose your stores, give the people what they want. And of course, don’t forget to…

Rip them off!