DISSENSO

 Lead the protest, resist the power.

DISSENSO is a turn-based strategy game where you organize and lead a political protest march through a contemporary European city. You don't command an army — you command a movement. Manage the tension between the protest's cohesion and the pressure of law enforcement, hex by hex, choice by choice.

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 The Core Loop

Each turn, move your squads one by one. Choose the right action: direct clash, charge, ranged throw, barricade, chanting, or sitting down as passive resistance. Every action has a cost and a consequence, and the outcome is always deterministic: Attack vs Defense, no dice. Every move is clear before you make it.

 When the protest reacts

The police don't wait. After your actions, law enforcement responds on the same grid, moving to contain and disperse. Awareness, readability, and managing the march are everything. Once the police finish their turn, the cycle repeats and you take control again.

 Losses matter

Anyone arrested or dispersed is gone for good. Every loss is permanent. Every choice you make to win a level carries a cost that you take with you into the next.

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Key Features

- Deterministic, never a dice: The outcome of your actions is predictable. It's you and your strategy, not luck.

- Movement management: Not just turn-based tactics, but a political movement with a roster of militants that grows, shrinks, and suffers permanent losses.

- Tension and choice: Every useful tactical decision has a cost elsewhere. Detaching a squad lowers Cohesion. Using violence gives tactical advantages but may cause Pacifists to abandon the roster.

- Politically neutral engine, political scenarios: The game takes a structural stance: you are the protest against power. The political affiliation of groups (Pacifists, Anarchists, etc.) is a mechanical choice, not a content one.

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How to Play

Goal: Hold the marked objective cells to build up Score before the level's turns run out. Each cell you control at the end of your turn adds points — reach the target score in time to win.

Your turn — Left-click a squad to select it. — Left-click a highlighted cell to move there, click again to confirm. — Left-click a police unit to target it, click again to confirm the attack. — Right-click anytime to cancel. — Press Space to end your turn.

Special actions (press the key to arm it, then click a target) —

C — Charge (3 cells away in a straight line, strong push) —

  T — Throw (ranged item) — 

B — Barricade (place a defensive item nearby) —

  R — Chant (restores Morale to you and nearby allies) — 

G — Sit down / Stand up (+5 Defense and immune to Charge while seated — but you can't move, and standing back up costs Action Points you won't have during the police's turn)

Camera: WASD to pan, Q/E to zoom.

Combat is fully deterministic — no dice. Attack beats Defense, you win the clash. Read the numbers before you commit.

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 Development Status (v0.2)

The game is currently a playable and functional prototype with a complete tactical loop, winnable and losable. Core mechanics are implemented and testable.

What's in the build:

- Complete tactical loop: Clash, Charge, Throw, Barricade, Chant, and Sit/Stand.

- Action Panel with 5 clickable buttons.

- Functional inventory with consumable items.

- Action highlighting system.

- Real-time police stats panel.

- Camera with pan, zoom, and follow on selected unit.

- Win and loss conditions.

What's missing for V1.0:

- Persistent Roster with permanent losses (in design).

- Cross-Level Management (in design).

- Differentiated political groups (in design).

- Defender impact animations (work in progress).

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Credits

DISSENSO  is developed by:

Edoardo Cirone — Game Design & Programming

MFE — Independent Game Studio