Slap Factory

Slap Factory is a 1-button game where you follow ridiculous rules to perform quality checks at a shape factory.

This prototype was inspired by Papers Please, and the comically nightmarish experience of trying to read parking signs here in DC.

I wanted to make something that emulated the exact feeling of trying to parse a bunch of self-contradicting rules while stopped in the middle of rush-hour traffic, desperate to park your car for less than $30.

In Slap Factory, you need to keep up with the rules behind you and mash the spacebar a few times to slap away objects that violate those rules before they get past you. If you mess up three times you lose your job.

Admittedly, the first two levels start a little too slowly. The game is at its best in the 3rd level, when the rules start flip flopping and becoming harder to follow. That’s when playtesters started panicking and really having to think about which products should be slapped away, and when you really understand what it’s like to park your car in the nation’s capital.