Dysfunctional Systems

Gameplay

Dysfunctional Systems is a visual novel series, where the player reads text to progress the story. At certain points, the novel will present the player with a choice of different dialogue or actions for the series protagonist, Winter Harrison, which will affect events and their consequences. The novel includes a "codex" feature, where the reader can find background information on the current world, such as its geography and politics, as well as topics related to the problems the world is experiencing. The novel also implements a "profile" feature. The choices made during a play-through of an episode can be saved in a profile, such that their consequences can be carried over to the next episode.

Setting and characters

In Dysfunctional Systems, Earth bears a utopian society with a school called "School Mediātōrum", composed of individuals called "mediators". Mediators are humans who resolve chaotic situations in other worlds. Though these worlds exist in different planes, and range in themes from "dystopian, to futuristic or fantastical", it is believed that the chaos of any one world can adversely affect Earth as well.

The protagonist of the series, Winter Harrison, is a 14-year-old mediator-in-training. A moral individual, she still finds the concept of "other worlds" hard to grasp. On her second mission (the focus of Episode 1) she is paired with Cyrus Addington, a tough and infamous senior mediator, to act as her guide and mentor.

Episode 1: Learning to Manage Chaos

In the first episode, Winter and Cyrus travel to Sule, a sporadically-progressing industrial planet. They arrive in Brighton, a poor and minor country on Sule. There, the two find that the President of Brighton is attempting to negotiate his society's freedom from its oppressor, the wealthy state of Gabrea. The key object of his threat is an untested nuclear bomb, waiting to be launched at Gabrea via intercontinental ballistic missile.

Cyrus devises a plan to contain the chaos: to assassinate the President and have him declared a martyr. Cyrus' plan horrifies Winter; at this point, the player can choose whether Winter will go along with Cyrus' plan, or to rebel against him and try to reason with the President instead. If Cyrus' plan is taken, the President is killed and his government decides to launch the weapon at Gabrea. If Winter's plan is taken, she and Cyrus manage to convince the President to change his mind and fire his weapon into a nearby sea as a warning shot instead.

However, in both cases, the detonation of the weapon goes badly wrong, igniting the atmosphere and completely destroying Sule. Winter and Cyrus are teleported back to the school on Earth just in time, where they are immediately treated for radiation poisoning that they had obtained before Sule's destruction. Winter is carried back to her room, where she recounts to her room-mate Waverly of Sule's demise. The next day, Waverly fends off well-wishers from seeing Winter, then helps her to her debriefing, ending the episode.

Development

In Dischan's earlier work, Juniper's Knot, the player can unlock bonus art featuring the protagonists of the story with two other characters, Winter and Cyrus.

On January 5, 2013, Dischan leader Jeremy Miller announced the company's first series of visual novels, titled Dysfunctional Systems. On June 5, 2013, Dischan posted Episode 1 of Dysfunctional Systems on Steam Greenlight. On September 26, 2013, Episode 1 was released on Steam.

Kickstarter campaign

Despite reporting "decent sales" of Episode 1, Dischan admitted that the project was not a financial success. Dischan turned to the crowd-funding site Kickstarter to raise funds for the production of the second and third installments of the novel. The campaign was opened for funding in February 2014, with the goal of raising C$49,000. By the end of the campaign in March 2014, the campaign had successfully raised C$67,450. Because the original goal was exceeded, Dischan stated that it would add more characters and environments to the second and third episodes than they had originally intended, as well as producing a bonus visual novel depicting Winter's first week as a mediator-in-training.

The project was cancelled in a January 2, 2015 announcement by Dischan and began issuing partial refunds through Kickstarter to backers.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack to Episode 1, written and performed by Kristian "CombatPlayer" Jensen, was released on 4 April 2013. It is distributed with Episode 1 and can also be played in the jukebox within the game.

Episode 1

Episode 1 has received very positive reviews from critics, being widely praised for its art and music, as well as its political and character-driven story. Gamezebo criticised the novel for not striking a good balance between story and interaction, giving the user few options throughout gameplay. However, it stated that the novel did "give the audience a solid tale over lots of decision-making", which it considered favourably. Nekoshiritori praised the presentation of the novel, noting that the interface was "very slick" and presented in 720p. Game Podunk noted the novel's departure from traditional visual novels, stating that "it decides to try something other than the typical romance and slice of life visual novels that we’re accustomed to". It praised the science fantasy direction of the novel.