Abolition Game - Current Project

@silver-guillotine.itch.io

1534 Followers 1111 Following

I have a small idea what I'm doing. I'm working on a prison abolition game that engages people deeply in the policy choices that have created mass incarceration in the U.S. Emphasis on choices because there are other ways. https://silver-guillotine.itch.io

A screenshot of an article by Jonathan Chait in The Atlantic. The title is "There's nothing democratic about these socialists." At the bottom, the social media graphic for the article is cut off, but it is a wilting rose representing, one can only assume, the failing strength of the DSA.

Above is a short summary which starts with what might be the silliest take in the article "The organization is still called democratic socialists, 'but the term does not necessarily mean 'liberal democracy as Americans have traditionally defined it,' Chait writes. 'Many socialist thinkers define what they call 'true democracy as a system in which capitalism has been overturned and the proletariat classes have seized political power through their representative vanguard (that is, them).'

'This is not, obviously, how the group sells itself to the broader universe of left-leaning, mostly Democratic voters it is trying to attract,' Chait continues at the link. 'One can easily imagine a feedback loop in which DSA influence makes it harder for Democrats to win back moderate and Republican voters [lol, lmao even], causing the party to lose , causing its base to grow more distrustful of the party's leaders, thus making them more likely to nominate DSA candidates. But even to conceive of the DSA's entry to the party as mainly an electoral setback, as some glue liberals appear to be doing, is to miss the deeper significance of the group's influence."

A screenshot of a LinkedIn message from a company called Outlier. It says "Sponsored - Earn $20 USD/hrs from Home! Teach AI Chinese"

Meme from The Incredibles where Syndrome explains "When everyone's super, no one will be." Here super is crossed out and replaced with the word sovereign

An image of Maslow's hierarchy of needs which is a pyramid with the base being physiological needs, then safety needs above it, love and belonging, esteem, and finally self-actualization on top. Self-actualization is crossed off and replaced with "Ownership" with the description "desire to own private property."

Screenshot of a LinkedIn post with corporate bullshit about employees which highlights that "Apple generates over $2.5 million per employeed. NVIDIA generates over $3 million per employee" and other facts unintentionally highlighting how undercompensated employees are.

A screenshot of Maryland Governor Wes Moore's linkedin post about the economic impact of building a gigantic sphere in Maryland

A screenshot of 2025 wrapped stats from Ultimate Guitar. It shows 1187 minutes played, 129 songs, and 39 genres. Top 3 bands are Mischief Brew, The Airborne Toxic Event, and The Taxpayers and top 3 songs are Shadow Stabbing, Every Town Will Celebrate, and Hungry Dog in the Street

Screenshot of a tweet saying "Before mass leaders seize the power to fit reality to their lies, their propaganda is marked by its extreme contempt for facts as such, for in their opinion fact depends entirely on the power of man who can fabricate it. - Hannah Arendt"

The "you wouldn't steal" meme about piracy with the text "you wouldn't create a society without borders", making a society without borders seem like a cool thing to do

Always has been meme. One astronaut behind another saying "always has been". The point is that police as a bloc have always been political actors for the right wing and use their influence in every election to advance the carceral state.

Always has been meme

A movie poster for the 1997 movie A Kid in Aladdin's Palace. A movie about a pizza delivery boy who accidentally time travels to the ancient Middle East.

WIRED headline reading "DHS tells police that common protest activities are 'violent tactics' with the subheading "DHS is urging law enforcement to treat even skateboarding and livestreaming as signs of violent intent during a protest, turning everyday behavior into a pretext for police action"

A screenshot of a poorly written headline from The Economist that reads "American cities are criminalising homelessness. Will that help?" The subheading is "How a Supreme Court decision paved the way for more punitive policies"

A passage from Open Veins of Latin America reading: "and there were plenty of machetes; the flag flew from any handy stick, and the peasants moved through mountain tickets wearing strips of hide called huaraches instead of boots. The guerrillas sang, to the tune of Adelita: in Nicaragua, gentlemen, the mouse kills the cat.

The land was as exhausted as the workers - the land was robbed of humus and the workers of their lungs - but there were always new lands to exploit and new workers to exterminate. Comic opera dictators watched over United Feuit's interests with knives between their teeth.

An image of a passage from The Open Veins of Latin America which reads as follows:
"It is much more profitable to consume coffee than to produce it. In the United States and Europe coffee creates income and jobs and mobilized substantial capital; in Latin America it pays hunger wages and sharpens economic deformation. It provides work for more than 600,000 people in the United States: those who distribute and sell Latin American coffee there earn infinitely more than the Brazilians, Colombians, Guatemalans, Salvadorans, and Haitians who plant and harvest it on the plantations. And incredible as it seems, coffee - so ECLA tells us - puts more wealth into European state coffers than it leaves in the hands of producing countries. In effect, in 1960 and 1961 the total taxes levied on Latin American coffee by European Economic Community countries amounted to about $700 million, while supplier countries (in terms of the f.o.b. value of exports) only got $600 million. The rich countries that preach free trade apply stern protecrionist policies against the poor countries: they turn everything they touch - including the underdeveloped countries' own production - into gold for themselves."

"The people in the King's city of Kamesham thought that these highvalley folk lived like animals. But in truth these villagers lived pure human life. They needed each other to survive, and knew it. They had no conspiracies and no secrets, no ambitions and no feuds. They couldn't afford the luxury of treating any man or woman or child as expendable."

A screenshot of a WhatsApp message. The text reads, "Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) advocates for stricter vote-by-mail requirements and led a national campaign to purge voter roles by sending threatening letters to state election officials. PILF is one of more than 100 organizations in Project 2025. The organization's budget was $1.7 million in 2019 and more than doubled by 2023, to $3.7 million."

Underneath is a caption reading, "Next season on PILF Island, will Debórah have her ballot rejected?" A reference to the fictional TV show on 30 Rock, MILF Island.

A video of a zombie character moving around on a checkerboard background. As they move and NPC character moves to the right. A yellow rectangle representing an explosive barrel turns red when touched.

A short video clip of a green player character moving across a grid and entering a small enclosure. Upon touching the NPC character in the enclosure it turns green, becoming infected.

A short video of a green zombie character moving around a checkered grid before banging into the edge and being stopped.

Meme from the TV show Arthur with the caption "you really think someone would do that, just go on the internet and tell lies?"

A boy stands in a dark alley facing two men. It is late and all of them are shadowy silhouettes. Clothes hang on a line above and buildings are visible in the background.

I like work i just hate my boss mug and smile mug on an office desk in the game The Stanley Parable.

Image of a TV screen with Stanley Parable on it. On the screen is an office desk with filing cabinets behind it and a mug on the desk that says "I hate Mondays"

Notes app screenshot saying "Cake Mania but tombstones"

Research paper title: "Penny Wise But Pound Roolish: How Permanent Supportive Housing Can Prevent a World of Hurt"

Closeup of Grima Wormtongue from Lord of the Rings, creepy advisor to a king.

A 3D rendered graveyard scene with tombstones, coffins, jack-o-lanterns, and a plague mask guy with a top hat and scythe. Dead trees in background.

"Get to know my music taste: for every like, I will post one song I love"

A short clip of the game screen of a prison abolition game with three policy choices to be selected. When the choice on the right is selected, reducing public opinion to zero, a message pops up telling the player they've been defenestrated.

A quotation on a background pixel art image looking out at a city from in a prison yard. The quotation says "From what I hear from people who come in, they talk about me on the street as if I'm dead. A life sentence, in essence, is death. It's one step away from it.

- Harry Twiggs, lifer, Doing Life: Reflections of Men and Women Serving Life Sentences"

This doing numbers meme. A man sitting in a chair looking at a screen saying "skeet activity" and showing 2 retweets and 3 likes with a thought bubble saying "Oh man... this doin numbers".

The first video sample of this prison abolition game. It first shows the title screen with a menu and once "start game" is clicked it goes to the game screen with three policy choices detailed. One option is related to setting a goal of 90% decarceration, one is for decriminalizing marijuana, and one is for dissolving the police. All are placeholders and will change in the final version. Both scenes have background music played on the acoustic guitar.

A quotation from a book on a pixel art background from the perspective of a person in prison looking over the prison walls toward a city with the sun starting to rise. The quotation says "In most of our discussions about these issues we talk about abstractions; we tend to use stereotypes and symbols. Offenders are faceless enemies who embody our worst fears. Victims - if we think about them at all - become planks in our campaigns, pawns in the judicial and political processes. We tend not to see victims or offenders as real people." - Howard Zehr, Doing Life: Reflections of Men and Women Serving Life Sentences

On a pixel art background of the view looking out of a prison at a city is the text: I was taught that in this country of mine, a person is redeemable. That is taught in this country and in religion. You deserve another chance: you get good for good. I have tried to pursue the good. My greatest fear is that I will have to go down knowing that I had been told a lie.

- James Taylor, lifer, Doing Life: Reflections of Men and Women Serving Life Sentences

"I don't have any problem with doing time for the crime I committed. I own up to that. My only problem is how much time should I do? When is it going to end? I don't mind dying. I just don't want to die in prison."

- Bruce Norris, lifer, Doing Life: Reflections of Men and Women Serving Life Sentences

Meme of a farmer edited to have a top hat, tuxedo, and cigar. The text reads "Wage thieves counting their money: It ain't honest, but it's much"

Pixel art commission created by Smeet. The perspective is from inside a prison block looking out at a city with multiple layers of buildings at different focal points. The sun is rising and starting to brighten the sky and touch the buildings while inside the prison block everything is dark and gray. There is a barbed wire fence and a concrete wall between the viewer and the city.