FAQ

[Fellow Traveller]

Who made The Invisible Hand?
The Invisible Hand was developed by Power Struggle Games [powerstruggle.games], Benjamin Martin. Nicolas Muller worked on the programming, and 3D modeling/animations. Plule worked closely with Benjamin on the game design. Will O'Neill was the narrative designer, and Felix Watson was the composer.

I don't know anything about the stock market? Is this game for me?
Absolutely! There is a “Story Mode” where you cannot be fired. The game will teach you about long and short selling, and how to lobby the market, as well as define what all these words mean while you play. There’s also a dictionary / info screen while you play, in case you forget what anything means.

What made you want to make a game about the stock market?
The idea to make a game about the stock market stemmed from a combination of influences, including, Papers Please, Orwell: Keeping an Eye on You, The Stanley Parable, and MMORPGs like Guild Wars 2 or EVE Online.

We want The Invisible Hand to show how anything can be turned into a commodity, how these commodities are valued in our society, and what happens when they end up being perceived only through numbers on a computer

We’ve aimed to show the contrast between the glamourous and ego-ridden representations of the financial world in movies like The Big Short or The Wolf of Wall Street, compared to the reality of the excesses of capitalism. We’ve also brought our personal experience of disillusion about biased meritocracy and the grey areas of work ethic to this market-driven dystopia.

What sort of research have you done on the stock market?
Most of Power Struggle’s research was from Heu?reka, a YouTube account about finance and economics, as well as investopedia and trading forums/networks, and most importantly, meme accounts such as StockCats.

More traditionally, documentaries and movies about the excesses of capitalism, including The Big Short, Betting on Zero, Capital In The Twenty-First Century, Margin Call, and The Wolf of Wall Street.

Was The Invisible Hand influenced by the recent Gamestop events?
The Invisible Hand has been in development since 2016. We were talking about short-selling before it was cool! The realities and issues of the stock market have long preceded the recent Gamestop events, but Gamestop and Reddit have been a great example of how easily the stock market can turn on its own.

Will you bring The Invisible Hand to other languages?
There are no current plans to localise the game. This may be reconsidered in the future.

SPOILER WARNING:

Are there multiple endings? Is this a linear game?
There are 4 main endings in The Invisible Hand, depending on the choices you make and how you play the game.

I followed the daily tasks and got a bad ending! What gives?
The Invisible Hand is a satire game about the stock market. The daily tasks you are given, as reflected in the new stories during the game, are directly harming the world and people around you. You’re dealing with the consequences of your actions from the playthrough.

I cannot get the Managing Director promotion! Is the game bugged?
You cannot win the last competition to become Managing Director. It's a way to represent companies that have you working harder and harder, whilst never giving you the promotion you deserve.

[Fabio Elker]

I want do a LOCALIZATION for this game(Portuguese-Brazil). Are you allow it? If yes, where I found the archive with the words, texts and phrases of this game?