Got five minutes? Then get to work! Created for the No Future Contest, Bart Bonte's short but surreal Off to Work We Go is part adventure game, part interactive art, and all punchline... provided you don't figure it out right away, that is. Use [WASD] to move and the mouse to look around as you explore the deserted island and factory you find yourself in, stepping on lighted yellow panels to alter the big screens in each room to display the obvious image so the next door unlocks.
Lacking any real story or even words or deviation at all, Off to Work We Go almost feels like the ending scene should come with either a ba-dum-tish drum riff or a wah-wah-waaaaah sad trombone noise. But it's an interesting approach to the contest's theme, where the simplicity and BEEP BOOP WELCOME WORKER NUMBER 476-A overall tone work both with the contest and the obvious source material. Too short? Too simple? That's for you to decide. But though it's perhaps best thought of more as an interactive short film than an actual game, Off to Work We Go is good for a short laugh and a smile before you get back to the drudgery of your own office assimilation.
Super Odd.
The object is
to cast one of the invaders you see outside
I assume
you die in the process as there's no way out from the mould.
Cool game though.
Gotta love Bart Bonte. I was about to accuse him of ripping off another game I remember playing. Then I realised the other game was 14 Locks... by Bart Bonte... (Facepalm)
@Googlepersonlongnameabove
I hope you die in the mould at the end. I don't think the aim is to cast an invader... I think it's to become an invader. Like a lamb to the slaughter. Hence No Future.
This is depressing. I can't even get the first step. Just wandering, jumping on some of these Galaga enemies...and nothing seems to be happening.
Alkalannar,
Find the brief case (since you need it to go to work) then go into the factory.
Elle:
Thanks! The Power of Posting had already struck. I am now at the third lock and trying to see what I've missed.
Is anyone else having trouble loading?
Compelling enough to keep you going with simple yet grand-looking puzzles... And the end was great. Actually alarming, in a casual game kinda way.
I've gotten to
a room where one whole wall is a blinking alien. It looks like pressing the yellow floor buttons make parts of the alien stop flashing, but I think I've gone over all of them several times.
I know I'm part of a small minority here, but Unity-based games make me seasick. Am I a minority of one or are there others who feel my pain/nausea? (I can't play Portal, either, for the same reason.)
3D navigation usually does that to me, too. This time, though, it didn't. I think the structure inside the factory really helped as well as the ability to use the mouse for where I looked...I was able to walk slowly and carefully.
@Lucie:
Are you sure you've pressed ALL the buttons? There's one you can only reach by jumping off from a high level.
Ugh It made me nauseous too. I couldn't finish.
I'm in the room
with the dotted/dashed line
and I've
lined up the image properly
but the door hasn't opened. What else do I need to do?
Ah, POP how I love you. Got it, I assumed too much.
I liked the game in general, especially since it shows a level of detail above and beyond what you normally see in browser game fare.
The ending seemed abrupt and anti-climactic to me, though. There wasn't any sort of build-up to it, and it didn't flow naturally from the puzzle design. I would have liked if there were a few more interesting setpieces like the locker room from the start - stumbling into a breakroom with vending machines or a manager's office would have also been a great opportunity to throw in clues that lead up to the ending.
The rest of the game was good, though. The relatively low difficulty of the puzzles was appropriate for a game with relatively interesting scenery.
Where is the in-game menu? I am unable to play because the y-mouse is default to non-inverted...
It's always really hard for me to judge these games made for contests, because a time constraint can affect everything in the process. Given the time constraint, I thought this was a clever and clean little web game that had an interesting conclusion! I never figured out why the shifting pixel puzzles worked, though, I just tried things and eventually got through. Very clean and good for a contest game, in my opinion!
This game was relaxing to play, and the plot twist at the end made me wish the game had more to it.
Just more proof that Bonte should do more collabs with Unity!!
Update