"Insurance Fraud" is such a harsh choice of words

A game about choosing what to take with you, and what to leave behind

This game was made in about 3 days for the Jingle Game Jam 2024 with a theme of 'Everything Has A Cost'. It was reviewed on-stream (at the 14:00 mark). It has since been improved; see 'Updates' for details.

Content Warning

This game is about a house burning down. No one is harmed by this event, but it still references that idea very centrally, and if you are uncomfortable with themes of fire and the grief of losing treasured belongings, I recommend giving this one a miss.

The game also includes reference to insurance fraud. Neither the game nor creator condones this practice in general, and this game is in no way a researched or accurate depiction of the insurance claim process. Please don't burn your house down.

Controls

The game is played using on-screen buttons, and is controlled using the mouse.

Description

I was inspired by the theme of 'Everything Has a Cost' to remember the last time I was confronted with the cost of everyday objects: filling out customs paperwork while moving countries, which led me to the similar situation of inventorying your damaged property after a disaster.

The primary gameplay here is deciding whether to sacrifice an item in a house fire. If the item burns, you stand to potentially receive an insurance payout for its value (though there's a chance they'll deny the claim, of course). If you decide the item's too important to lose, you retroactively rescued it from the blaze - though this does require a small bribe for the fire marshal to ignore how pristine and suspiciously undamaged it appears to be. But isn't that worth it for a photo album containing priceless memories?

As you go, the different tracks will update: Money (gained by burning items, spent on keeping items), Keepsakes (gained by keeping any item), and Relationship (gained by keeping specific items, and engaging in flashbacks). Once any two tracks are full, the game ends. It isn't really a game that you win or lose, really - it's about figuring out what's important to you. There are no bad endings, only choices.

IMPORTANT: There are no "correct" items to save. In this respect, that game is a role-playing game, in that you are free to choose whatever items you believe your character (or you yourself) would not be able to give up in this situation.

There are, however, certain items that represent a shared memory between you and a partner. If the 'Recall' button appears, it means that this item can trigger an optional memory of a past conversation. Certain choices in that conversation might affect the Relationship bar. Items that this button appears for will increase the Relationship bar by 2 if saved, and decrease it by 1 if destroyed.

Credits

Design, Programming, Art and Writing by Matthew Marsland
Additional Narrative Design by Pip Andersen
The font is 'Pixel UniCode' by anonymous-1000937 (https://fontstruct.com/fontstructions/show/908795), used under a Creative Commons 3.0 license.

Updates

• 8th December: Updated description, icon, and screenshots.
• 13th December
  •  Fixed text clipping and overlapping
  • Added 'Recall' button and missing flashback cutscenes
  • Animated appearance of dialogue options
  • Shortened opening cutscene and increased dialogue speed
• 30th December
  • Added visible 'keepsake' stack to keep track of what you have saved
  • Displays saved keepsakes at the end of the game