Backstab Bakeoff

Submitted by jessmwoodward on Sun, 11/27/2022 - 19:32

On your marks, get set - bake!

Well. Once you manage to get enough ingredients to do so. 

Will you cooperate with your fellow finalist, and share the ingredients that pop out? Or are you a backstabbing baker, willing to do anything to get your cake finished so you can impress the judges - including... your baking idol (gasp). Experiment with your choices to discover five different endings.

[This silly little Prisoner's Dilemma simulation explores the intersection of cooperation and protecting our own interests.]

Content warning: cartoon violence, swearing.

Title Screen - the game name is portrayed in chalkboard style with a knife and light blood spatter.
Chalkboard style Visual Novel UI - "You examine the tools at your disposal - bowls, whisks, cake tins, a knife... perfect."
Chalkboard style Visual Novel UI - Finalist says "Looks like they did restock the butter afterall! Not gunna lie, I was a little worried. This whole competition has felt a bit... loosey goosey."
Chalkboard style Visual Novel UI - the player is given the option to share the ingredient or steal it.
UI - a cake recipe, and the ingredients the player has collected so far.
Credits
Full project by JessMWoodward

Comments

Submitted by LeslieLlama on Mon, 11/28/2022 - 00:07

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This was cool! liked the art, I went with the "Share" route the whole way through and liked the ending. I wouldn't have minded a lil bit more variety in the prompts, or just context to make me think about the prisoners dilemma more, felt very morally easy to be nice every time. Looks really presentable and I think a good job with the theme, great work!

Thank you very much! Yeah, I agree - I would love to go back and flesh out the dialogue more, especially for the "Share" choices. It's the 'morally correct' way to play and yet the most unengaging way to play it, ahahah. The dialogue wound up accidentally being much more entertaining when you steal.

I had been considering for the share route that the fellow finalist would start commenting on how unfair this system was that it was engineering scarcity to pit you against each other, but now that you've suggested it I love the idea that they also start expressing their own uncertainty about whether they should steal from you, what the consequences of that might be, etc etc. Thank you for the feedback. :D

Submitted by OlivierYC on Mon, 11/28/2022 - 07:40

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This looks great. I don't know why a blackboard visually works with a kitchen, but it does. Maybe it's the chalk as flour concepts crossing over.