
Papers, Please: A Dystopian Document Thriller - danso
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=138290904
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gambiting
To be honest, it's not dystopian at all. This is EXACTLY how crossing the
boarder to Czechoslovakia, Belarus, Ukraine or Russia looked like just 20
years ago, and probably still looks similar today. The only thing missing from
the game is people trying to bribe the guards, as that was a bread and butter
of their existence. Having crossed these borders hundreds of times I know that
border guards would hold you off for days even, if you didn't bring a "gift".
Russian guards told me to fuck off and wait in the car since they were playing
football and were busy. When I complained the guy took out his pistol and
threatened to shoot me if I don't get back to the car. I watched the entire
playthrough of this game on Giant Bomb and it did strike some familiar vibes.

~~~
westward
I've never thought that dystopia meant fictional. Does it have that
connotation for everyone?

~~~
cmelbye
Oxford and Webster include "imaginary place" as part of their definitions of
"dystopia".

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dmix
In Russia this already happened with their "state farms":

> a system of internal passports prevented movement of employees and members
> from rural areas to urban areas. In effect farmers became tied to their
> sovkhoz or kolkhoz in what is described by some as a system of "neo-
> serfdom".

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovkhoz>

~~~
mogrim
China still operates controls on rural to urban migration:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hukou_system#Effect_on_rural_wo...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hukou_system#Effect_on_rural_workers)

It's not a complete block, but a discriminatory limitation of access to
services.

~~~
solistice
There's 20 million people living in Beijing though, which allready makes it a
transportation and housing nightmare, with prices for rent skyrocketing. If
you've been to beijing around Spring Festival, where most people head back to
their families, you'll notice that it is almost empty. Like positively razed
of people. In a way, yes, controlling such migration is a horrible thing to
do, but I couldn't imagine Beijing with another 20 million migrant workers
trying to crowd their way through the city, along with the major Spring
Festival rush that'd happen.

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rangibaby
Choosing between having enough money for medicine for my son, or letting a
woman with incorrect documents come through (her husbands were OK, and she was
claiming that she would be murdered on deportation) was fairly harrowing.

This game is an excellent illustration of what allows evil to happen.

~~~
Kequc
I denied her entry even though I didn't have any citations. Rules are rules.
Her husband will have to think about how he thought he could tug on my heart
strings by going through first when he knew his wife's papers weren't in
order.

Next, please.

~~~
mynewwork
> Rules are rules.

I wonder how much injustice and how many atrocities have happened due to this
type of thinking.

~~~
rangibaby
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_defense>

~~~
TeMPOraL
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_defense>

This is different.

I don't know. I feel I'd let her through, but...

...it makes game-theoretic sense not to let that person pass. Even not
counting the fact they already tried to trick you into doing what they want
you to (by husband going first), you have no guarantee that she's telling you
the truth. And as soon as you let her through, you can expect dozens of people
trying to play the same trick on you.

Laws need to be upheld more-less consistently, otherwise they don't work at
all. An inconsistently enforced border check doesn't eliminate the "going
through with invalid papers" from the solution search space for people.

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eterpstra
Looks good, but I'll wait for the Department of Motor Vehicles simulator.
Can't wait to see the anguished look on all those pixelated faces when I tell
them their proof-of-address is not valid and send them to the back of the line
to wait another three hours for their license renewals.

~~~
epochwolf
The DMV I got my license from had an employee at the entrance to sort you into
the proper category and check to make sure you have the proper documents. Not
that this was 100% effective. Not all the tellers would agree though and would
require extra documents you didn't have.

One teller required my social security card even though I had a current US
passport with me.

~~~
gknoy
Isn't that against federal law (to require a SSN for anything)? Even the IRS
is willing to give you a different taxpayer ID number, if I recall right.

~~~
jimmaswell
What would be the point of the SSN if it were illegal for anything to require
it?

~~~
wmf
Anything besides Social Security itself, that is.

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tokenizer
I'd play it. If for at least an hour. Looks like you can play it here:

<http://pope.jeffsys.net/play.php?g=ppl>

~~~
danso
I finished the beta over the weekend, it's very playable (both Mac and PC)
despite an unbalanced Oregon Trail-like mechanic that's ancillary to the job-
mode (keeping your family alive).

It's incredibly well-polished for a one-man side project, apparently he did
all the music, graphics, and writing himself. I think it's a telling sign of
how effective he was at making bureaucracy "fun" that gamers are chiming in
with how to make the game even more of a video game...though I think that's
probably not the author's main intent. Definitely a work of political art,
though.

~~~
rangibaby
I think the "family" part is meant to be unbalanced. You are meant to be poor;
it was pretty heartbreaking (!) choosing between food for my hungry son, or
medicine for my wife.

~~~
colmvp
I let them die and hoarded the money. They don't have faces anyway.

~~~
gknoy
While that is surely efficient, I suspect that choosing to do that avoids much
of the point of the game -- like using an infinite ammo cheat in Resident
Evil, or patching Oregon Trail so that you don't run out of food and can't get
dysentery.

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pjonesdotca
Made with Haxe NME. Nice to see more and more adoption of my favourite
framework of late.

~~~
Egregore
For beginners I would suggest something like HaxeFlixel or HaxePunk (also
based on nme)

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hardik988
This looks really awesome. Also, you should check out Republia Times, one of
the author's other games - you're the editor of the major newspaper in some
country, and the pieces you put on the front page determine the mood of the
people etc. It's a really cool game : <http://dukope.com/play.php?g=trt>

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OSButler
Here's a beta gameplay video by PyrionFlax (NSFW language!):
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqLFFEX4Obg>

It feels a bit like a social experiment, as the gamer tries to advance through
the "levels" to make enough money to support his family, whereas the result
can have harsh consequences for the people denied from crossing the border.

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darxius
I tried the beta and I had some guy just come up to the desk and do nothing. I
wasn't sure what to do so I pulled down the security screen.

~~~
danso
You're supposed to use the discrepancy checker to note both the rule that he
needs a passport, and the emptiness of the counter in front of you...it's not
obvious that the counter is clickable...I think the author tried to make the
instructions more explicit in the daily briefing but I found it by accident

~~~
shaggyfrog
Thanks for clearing that up. I was clicking everything for a couple of minutes
at least.

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AUmrysh
I was pretty amazed that later on you can get a guy who is wanted on murder,
and then if you deny his passport you get a citation for denying it based on
invalid news!

~~~
shaggyfrog
Did you cross reference his passport name with the news item? Then the guards
will come to take him away.

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smickie
As well as being a great game so far, it's a real inspiration that one person
could put this together.

~~~
Kequc
Does it say what amount of time was spent developing it? It's very well done.

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anonymoushn
I got a strange gentleman with no documents. Since each person seems to have
only one flaw, I'm guessing he was from Arstotzka. He left before I could
stamp anything.

~~~
workbench
No documents is a flaw, discrepancy check the empty desk

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workbench
The animations, artwork and sounds of this are so satisfying

