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This is a really impressive rendition of our corporate hellscape. It reminds me of games like cart life in that I appreciate what it's doing, but even though the frustration is intended it still makes it really unpleasant to play. I lasted until I needed to figure out how to pay the ISP bill before I threw in the towel.

Oh god this is vile. Phenomenal job.

If I can add a recommendation: the app search is far too fast. Add a random delay to the results after each letter is entered, and let them arrive out of order.

ooo, good idea. I might build that in.

Or build the China version that asks you for an SMS confirmation every time you click anything in the phone.

Why is that the China version? I already have to do that all the time with my European bank, and my Facebook and Google business accounts.

Too much in my opinion.

I had the pleasure of trying this out before it was released. I think it's one of those things I can imagine might have a high bounce rate, but I would really like to encourage anyone checking it out to really give it at least 10-15 minutes. There are so many details and easter eggs and the frustration that's baked into the game design compounds quite nicely given some time.

EDIT: it's also more rewarding if you delay looking under the hood for a while.

I played for a while on my phone but gave up because it's too much hassle to remember and enter things like phone numbers and passwords.

I know that's kind of the point, but I think it would be much more playable and still get the point across if you made text fields automatic.

As it is, I expect 99% of players will get to the create account screen on the phone and bail.

It would also help give the game some personality: when I have to create phone account, let me choose from 3 personas: one male, one female, and one clearly fake.

> As it is, I expect 99% of players will get to the create account screen on the phone and bail.

That's what I did, sorry. Didn't want to write down the generated user name and loong password etc.

You're missing the point.

Not saying you're wrong, but I don't really understand people's aversion to creating an account. It's like quitting an RPG once they reach the create a character screen.

Also, it seems like ~60% of people give up before creating an account.

You should use this as a sign that people don't understand "creating an account" as part of the game.

I guess if they can't figure that out then they probably wouldn't have a very good time with the rest of the game.

I stayed at an airbnb with all of this smarthome crap once. The game is accurate at reproducing the experience. I give it a full negative 10 out of 10.

A few comments:

1. It’s not very fun on iOS, especially because crypto mining makes the screen zoom in and it’s no good. Also the sound for the phone doesn’t work so that’s a big blocker. You probably know already.

2. Later, playing again on PC, I fist pumped when I finally was able to pay my ISP and the network clicked on. It felt like I defeated some boss in Dark Souls. You made that feel so horrible … thank you.

3. I sent this to a friend and he said that the browser was requesting microphone permissions so he turned it off. I didn’t encounter this but I’m wondering what that was?

Anyway I don’t know if I’ll continue to play and try to pony up the six thousand dollars I need to pay my rent and open the door to the endless staircase, but good job anyway :)

Thanks!

Yeah, even though most of the game takes place on your phone, I (ironically) couldn't think of great ways to port some of the mechanics to mobile in a satisfying way.

The microphone thing is just a small interaction when you try to talk to the intercom. It doesn't affect the game whether you accept or deny the permission

In any case, it sounds like you already know the ending, but I think it's worth sticking it out. Paying the ISP seems like it's the hardest/most frustrating part for a lot of people. Besides, some of my favorite parts are around the middle-end.

This is too realistic. I became annoyed after 5 minutes.

I bailed at create an account.

Same, thats for sure not the first thing I do after waking up.

Me too. I'd like to explore the tree and see what can happen but have zero interest creating an account, tracking progress or whatever. I got the gist of what the game was about in the first few minutes.

It's a dummy account for your phone. You will need to 'hack' the other admin account so you can install some stuff on it and find some helpful notes

Yeah, I realize it was part of the game, but I just have such a strong aversion to it that that was the line for me. Even creating a fictional account is too much.

Same. Luckily, you only need to provide a name. Still gave up at the next form. I don't even know what I "played".

Don't worry, it is not a real account and does not send an email to you

Great game. Only issue, phone freezes now when I try to open it. Blank screen. I am kind of far, have all the money/coins, still missing some big picture stuff though. Here are the errors. mobilePhone.js:5698 Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read properties of null (reading 'toFixed') at Object.assign [as onRender] (mobilePhone.js:5698:101) at ReactStyleComponent.render ($.js:216:12) at ReactStyleComponent.connectedCallback ($.js:221:12) at createComponent ($.js:230:18) at mobilePhone.js:489:1 Object.assign @ mobilePhone.js:5698 render @ $.js:216 connectedCallback @ $.js:221 createComponent @ $.js:230 (anonymous) @ mobilePhone.js:489Understand this errorAI 6mobilePhone.js:5698 Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read properties of null (reading 'toFixed') at Object.assign [as onRender] (mobilePhone.js:5698:101) at ReactStyleComponent.render ($.js:216:12) at ReactStyleComponent.connectedCallback ($.js:221:12) at Object.assign [as onRender] (smartTV.js:489:25) at ReactStyleComponent.render ($.js:216:12) at ReactStyleComponent.connectedCallback ($.js:221:12) at createComponent ($.js:230:18) at smartTV.js:33:1

Excellent! This scenario has a precursor in Philip K. Dick's "Ubik" (1969). It's just a sub-plot there, but the parallels are striking.

He has had this theme in multiple works, the idea of paying your door to open was so on point. I think of it all the time when I see things like auto makers charging subscription fees for remote start, etc.

ooh - deliciously painful. I love these things, even if I can't commit more than 10min before the pain makes me stop.

Strong vibes of Douglas Adams' game Bureaucracy - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureaucracy_(video_game), the only game my Dad ever bought me.

I regret there is not a merciful option like "wait for death in a corner".

Great job! I had fun and got bored to death at the same time.

Try calling 1-800-666-0000. They might be able to help.

Thanks. I tried the AI assistant but ended up mindlessly mining crypto...

Is something supposed to happen when I call a number on the phone? If the number picks up I just have silence until I hang up.

Also I made the mistake of resetting the phone in an attempt to get into the admin account!

Some folks are having issues with the SpeechSynthesis on their device. Try refreshing. If that doesn't work, then go to Settings and disable sound.

Same for me. Iceraven 1.14.0

I hate it so, so much. Excellent job.

I like the style of the game, minimalist with a focus on language. It would be great to see this style with a story-line that doesn't intend to irritate the player.

Suggestion: phone calls always connect to call the Los Angeles Municipal Court phone menu system, and the experience replicates the song "LAMC (L.A. Municipal Court)" by Tool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTUUnbr5d4E

I'm guessing the Tool reference is due to the song Push It but aside from the tool cover art and that reference, I didn't find the linked video especially Tool-y

The linked audio only video is literally a song from the Tool album Salival, it is not a “reference.” I linked it because the song is a joke in the same vein as this game.

I got as far as having the cash to pay for the door before running out of time jumping through hoops to transfer it.

It’s horrifying. The only not-unpleasant thing, though, is that once you start making money it’s absurdly easy to make a massive sum. I was expecting something horrible to happen to my balance at some point but it never did. Maybe that’s a bug!

I have been tricked into reading a fake economics blog, and concurrency control

It's the morning, and there is no coffee and there is no way to get coffee

"The phone app appears to use text-to-speech based on the device's locale. On my laptop, it's speaking English with the worst French accent imaginable

Ah, sorry about that. If you go to https://smarthome.steviep.xyz/talk do you see any en-US voices on your device?

Yes I do

Oh well. Try playing with the sound disabled in Settings

Can I select the tts engine from your /talk link?

Try adding `?voice=` to the end of the url, and then the first name of the voice you want based on the /talk link. Example: `?voice=Samantha`

At least on mobile there is no way to copy and paste things from the main screen into the phone screen. Each time I navigate from the phone screen and return the state is lost which makes it impossible to copy/paste multiple long hard to remember strings.

spoiler:

trying to copy the required info to get data working is where I am running into this issue.

That's a premium feature, which will run you 1 Credit.

Do you mean that you phone doesn't let you long press the display to enable text selection?

I was able to copy text. I have typical ad/tracker blocking enabled on an Android device (Note even close to the latest release).

When trying to enter the SPTX address dictated over the phone, I'm only able to get a few digits at a time, but returning to the phone app to press 2 to repeat the address clears all progress in the other app where I'm trying to enter it.

I battled through it and even double checked the address but it still failed.

If that's part of the game, then fair enough, but I'm not doing that again so that's the end of the line for me.

Ah, the genuine phone experience!

Looking at you, Android dialer.

iOS isn’t much better. Paste in a number and just want to add a country code? No way.

pen and paper for the win!

https://smarthome.steviep.xyz/voices.js(3): Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'cancel')

Android 10, generic WebView browser (mobile chrome works)

Got it. Thanks!

It works now

It just occurred to me... Why have I not seen an Escape Room with this type of theme? I'm in LA, Calif. I would think there would have to be something like this in LA. Who would go to experience this ingenious hellscape?

I would imagine this kind of game - and thus escape room experience - is very solitary. Short of having someone be a stenographer for writing down the oppressively long bitcoin^W crypto addresses for you, I don't know what kind of teamwork would be involved

Now maybe if you have to secretly swindle your co-incarcerated peers out of their crypto to win, like a "werewolf meets Bernie Madoff" scenario, that could be interesting

The reminds me a lot of a dark room! Awesome game thanks for the adventure!

A Dark Room is great! I started playing it a lot mid way through developing this. That and Universal Paperclips are the gold standards of minimalist web-based games.

As best I can tell, it's this: https://adarkroom.doublespeakgames.com/ -> https://github.com/doublespeakgames/adarkroom (MPLv2) although when searching for that phrase this is the one that materializes: https://adarkroom.github.io/

And then, for the "happy 10,000 day" folks: https://hn.algolia.com/?q=universal+paperclips -> https://www.decisionproblem.com/paperclips/ but DO NOT CLICK THAT IF YOU HAVE AN ADDICTIVE PERSONALITY for just like "Multi Undergraduate Destroyer" it will "Oh, is that birds chirping I hear? Well, no problem, just one more click ..."

Agreed! Am I supposed to call the number on the bottom of the router lol. I called it.

If you mean in-game, then yes. If you mean IRL, then no one can answer that question but yourself.

Very unusual that new text appears at the top. Is there any specific reason why you chose to do it this way?

I played for a bit but the frustration soon became too real, haha :-D

Because all the buttons are in the top right, and I thought it looked nicer if the new text was even with the buttons :)

I managed to pay my internet bill and then quit, 5/5

My plant died about 2 minutes after I looked at SmartPlanter for the first time 45 minutes into the game. Is that supposed to happen?

Realistic plant

Must've been all the heat from mining crypto

Wow, fridge has a lot of memory.

Anyone know how to get out of the stairwell? The floors seem infinite.

It seems like that is actually the end.

02:34:39

You can always get up to Infinity on YieldFarmer2

But are the stairs a softlock?

loved the game until I entered the stairwell and was not able to proceed or go back. Having this as a softlock is sad, especially since this could be a continuation of the story by using the stairs as some kind of emergency exit

I was thinking that if I ever do an expansion or DLC, then maybe you'll be able to open the door to the roof.

Awesome man! well done

wow, a true horror game

Is it possible to reset progress somehow?

try to reset the phone. that sounded like it might do it. i didn't try it for fear it actually would.

Indeed, factory reset in the phone settings will reset your progress.

Thanks!

just went to the main website and wow, that guy really wanted to get some $$ out of the blockchain ‘technology’ boom

It's fun, you should try it some time

I love this!

very cool, loved the tv controls

What a Kafkaesque game.

Show HN: SmartHome – An Adventure Game