Sweatshop (Management Game)

Opening screen.

Sweatshop on Kongregate is a management game where the player manages a factory producing goods. It has decent gameplay with a good/evil achievement system. It also has a funny story told in cutscenes. In addition to that, at the end of each stage, the game tells interesting facts about real world sweatshops.

A day at work.

The player hires workers and places them next to the conveyor belt. The workers will assemble items as they pass on the conveyor belt. Each type of worker (except the child) has bonuses for a specific type of product. Each completed item rewards the player with cash. The player is only allowed a certain number of incomplete items in each stage. The stage is a failure if too many incomplete items reach the end of the conveyor belt.

The gameplay is a lot like that of a tower defense game.

Facilities may also be bought to give bonuses, such as improved working speed and profits. There are also facilities that refreshes workers that get tired, a serious possibility when made to work hard. And workers can be made to work harder by increasing the conveyor belt speed, at the risk it being too fast for the workers to keep up with the work.

In addition to that, workers may be upgraded to be more efficient. As the player progresses through the game, more and more features are introduced.

Looks a lot like an exam grade.

At the end of each stage, the player receives feedback on his/her success in that stage. The player's score depends on the ratio of completed orders, the amount of time taken and the cash remaining at the end. The player will be awarded a gold medal for achieving a score of 80+%.

The player may also be awarded with trophies based on how he/she plays the game. There is a karma system to rate whether the player is good or evil based on the trophies collected.

WAHHH!!!

Another fun part of the game are the funny cutscenes at the start of each stage. It tells of the outrageous measures the boss takes to increase profits (and other disturbing things he does) along with the response of the kid working in the factory.

Real stories.

At the end of the stage, there will be a real life fact about real life sweatshop. Suddenly, the funny cutscenes do not seem so exaggerated. I have not looked up the facts to check if they are true, but the claims do make one wonder how the goods one buys are made.

Sweatshop is a simple management game with many similarities to tower defense. The cutscenes are funny to watch but it also delivers facts to spread awareness about real life sweatshops.

We work next to toilets!