The game really proves a point well, love it! Difficult but it brings the message loud and clear. Great game.
Reviews for "You Are Disabled"
Good concept, failed mechanics.
While it's great that the controls really give a good sense of how powerless you are with certain disabilities, it does this TOO well. The platforming itself isn't very hard, but the implementation of the "disabled" mechanics make the gameplay frustrating, and doesn't make me want to keep on playing. My first try was with the near-sighted disability, and it became a tedious chore of trial and error when completing each section. It didn't help that the death explosion SFX is grating and annoying. If this was intentional, tone it down. With the disability mechanic implemented, the player is going to fail.... A LOT. It would help if the death explosion wasn't so loud and in your face.
There comes a point where imposed difficulty and bad mechanics get near each other on the spectrum of good taste, and I think this game steps into the bounds of bad mechanics.
If the point of the game was to show how hard people with disabilities have it in their daily lives, good job. You just did so well, I don't want to complete the game, and in that case you did a terrible job.
1 star for concept.
Kcori responds:
Yes, I'd imagine being disabled would be frustrating.
Why does the player moves itself? Is it a glitch or should it be so? Everytime I step forward, the player either jump another way or jump into a fireball!
I can understand that some people are complaining about the game because of its difficulty, but since when should a game be voted down just because you can't beat it or because it was hard to beat? I wouldn't listen to people like dreamsfan because I'm pretty sure he didn't finish the game or playthrough all of the disabilities (because then he'd know nearly blind, spastic, and illiterate are the same length). The game shows that you can accomplish a difficult task, despite a disability, but it also shows the unfair limitations, shown at the end of the game. Gracik from the comments below was right when he said spastic feels like the game is going against you, impeding your progress (I played through it and it sure felt that way). Perhaps that's how people with spastic feel.
This game voices what many have thought in passing, but never dared voice. I've thought the same way as the antagonists of this game sometimes and I'm not proud. Those who have no disability don't feel the need to take care of those who have disabilities, because they believe they have the luxury to not help when they could very easily end up in the same situation tomorrow. It is so easy to take life for granted when nothing is wrong, but it does nothing to complain about your situation, despite how unfair it seems.
Very good game. I'd suggest adding some type of save feature where once you move onto a screen, you will reappear on that screen until you move to the next level, no matter where you die (this is mostly for the spastic disability because when I went backwards, I would fall into lava, and be forced to redo a screen). By the way, I have a feeling that I would have never beaten nearly blind had I not played spastic first.
Kcori responds:
Thanks for the thoughtful review.
i do intend to make it so you reappear on the side of the screen you died on. Always appearing on the left is something annoying completely unrelated to your character's disability and has no reason to exist in the game.
I know this was supposed to teach a lesson about the difficulties in 'everyday' tasks for people who have these disabilities, but unless one of those signs in the Illiterate section said 'GO THIS WAY TO AVOID FIREBALLS' I think the point was a little moot. Fuck fireballs. Otherwise, a great effort, and a memorable entry to the Jam.