Darunia-Saria 2012

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Darunia-Saria 2012
DS2012.png
Developer(s) VinnyVideo
Announce Date August 31, 2009
Release Date November 6, 2012
Genre Minigames
Players 1
Input Standard keyboard
Medium Game Maker 8
Platform Windows
Status Complete

Darunia-Saria 2012, also known as Affordable Care Act: The Game, is VinnyVideo's sequel to Darunia-Saria 2008. D-S 2012 parodies the absurdities of the 2012 U.S. presidential election, just as D-S 2008 addressed Election 2008. Regardless of its title, there has probably never been a fangame announced three years before its planned release. VinnyVideo had warned that there is no guarantee that this game will ever exist. D-S 2012 is the first game on MFGG with a fully functional Stop 'n' Swop system.

Story

In the original prototype of the story, Bowser had gotten tired of trying to influence the world by kidnapping the Princess, so he decided to run for president under the fictitious Neo-Whig Party. His campaign will take him to fundraisers, debates, and other public appearances.

In the released version of the game, there appears to be no story at all, and the minigames take place for no obvious reason, except to poke fun at the election process and the candidates.

It is unclear whether the unseen Pidgit, who is often portrayed as the mastermind behind every villain's evil scheme in VinnyVideo games, plays a role in the game's backstory.

Game Design

As with the original D-S 2008, many of the levels invoke the tough issues that pop up in debates and town-hall meetings - in this case, health care and foreign policy. The only complete minigames are the Hospital and Iraq. A broken demo of the "Mitt's Dog" level is also included in the game. Other levels were originally planned, but time constraints prevented any additional content from appearing in the game.

In the Hospital minigame, Saria must fend off the perils of the modern American healthcare system - staying healthy while remaining solvent! This concept was originally planned for the first D-S 2008.

In Iraq, the objective is to fend off a stream of Al-Qaeda terrorists using Thwomps. This game was the culmination of an old concept originally known as Thwomped!!.

In Mitt's Dog, the player must drive to Canada with a dog atop the roof, alluding to the oft-repeated story about Mitt Romney's dog Seamus. This minigame was not completed, and players can't earn high scores in this minigame.

Improvements since 2008

Despite its edgy wit and creative use of music, VinnyVideo's 2008 election game received mostly negative reviews, citing its inherently glitchy engine and the needless muddling of elements from Mario, Zelda, and Donkey Kong games. VinnyVideo planned to make the 2012 game clearer by removing some of the needless abstraction and making the sequence of events easier to understand.

D-S 2012 uses a more original art style, as all characters were drawn by hand, scanned in, colored, and edited into Game Maker sprite format. As an artist of unremarkable ability, Vinny found this to be a time-consuming process, contributing to the game's relative scarcity of content. The game uses higher quality Ogg Vorbis music instead of MIDIs, although one recurring motif returns - the use of the Croatian national anthem for the game's title screen.

D-S 2012 earned surprisingly little attention from the MFGG community, perhaps in part because of its late release. However, the few users who played the game seemed to enjoy it, especially the Healthcare level.

References in Other Games

The Mario Paint level in Aventura de Luigi includes a "campaign sign" marked, "Saria-Darunia 2012." One of the hidden levels in Revenge of the Walrus also pays tribute to this game.

While this game is not based on D-S 2012, Supernova's Super Mario - Turd Feast series has frequently alluded to the election.

Future

Vinny wanted to make a game based on the 2016 presidential election. While Vinny started a sequel called Groose-Strich 2016, he didn't have the time and motivation to finish it, as finishing Cheerwine Deluxe 3 and starting grad school occupied much of his time.

Links

Games Developed by VinnyVideo
Full Games
Mini Games
Joke Games
Engines