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A jam submission

DEAD FACEView game page

A bullet hell/hacking roguelike
Submitted by jere — 2 days, 22 hours before the deadline
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DEAD FACE's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Completeness#14.0004.000
Scope#14.0004.000
Innovation#14.0004.000
Overall#13.7783.778
Fun#43.6673.667
Aesthethics#93.6673.667
Roguelikeness#523.3333.333

Ranked from 3 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.

  • Completeness

    I gave you a 4, which is the highest score we're "supposed" to give. This feels like a basically complete set of mechanics. I couldn't help but feel like something was missing, but I couldn't put my finger on it, so I didn't dock you points for it. It's missing some gameplay glue somewhere. But that's high-level criticism for a 7-day roguelike.

    Aesthetics

    This game is REALLY PRETTY. But I knocked off a point because I couldn't always tell why things were happening. I would take some damage, or the alert level would go up, or I would lose the game, and I would just have NO IDEA WHY. It was really frustrating. According to the scoring rubric, UI is part of Aesthetics, so 3/5 for you.

    Edit: Then I came back later and put it back up at 4/5 because this is the prettiest game in 7DRL, easy. It wouldn't be fair not to acknowledge that.

    Fun

    I agonized over this one, but in the end I had to go with my subjective experience: I loved the hacking minigame, and I avoided mech combat as much as possible. It always felt like getting into a gunfight was a bad idea. The times I tried it, it ended badly due to alert level explosion. The alert level mechanic felt a lot like it was kicking me while I was down - it would get up a bit, and then the fact that I was in a mech would make it shoot right up to 5 so there was no way for me to get out of a gunfight once I got in it. So I went for a 3/5 instead of 4/5 for feeling like I had to avoid a huge part of the game to do well.

    Innovation

    4/5 obviously. Excellent ideas. This is what 7DRL is for.

    Scope

    Solid scope from a 7DRL. Nice variety to pickups, mechanics, enemies, parts, and flavor. 4/5.

    Roguelikishness

    Had to do a 3/5 here because the hacking minigame is realtime. For me, a roguelike is all turn based, all the time, as a core requirement.

  • I went into this not knowing what to expect. Often with hacking games I get frustrated quickly, not understanding fast enough what I'm meant to do with usually dire consequences. This one however, took me a couple of goes to understand and once I got it, I found I loved it. It doesn't detract from the rest of the game at all, adding a great layer of gameplay to what seems like a typical roguelike on the surface.

    I didn't get control of mechs very often, but what I did play I loved as well for sheer strategy and intriguing mech-layout. I found when I wanted an easy playthrough, I'd just stealth it up and occasionally hack data points for the thrill of it, but if I wanted a challenge I'd happily take on a mech and pilot it very badly.

    The only time I won was through stealth, but that's not a surprise - it's the easy way. 

    Aesthetically, it's the typical roguelike but with extra UTF characters and a good use of colour - for something cyberpunk-inclined, it's a perfect style. The terminal screen is clear and easy to use, though I got annoyed I couldn't scroll up to repeat my previous command - but that's just because I use terminals regularly and I expect that functionality.

    Overall, I absolutely loved it - and would be glad to see a post 7DRL version if one was ever planned.

  • A really impressive 7DRL. The hacking mini-game is really really fun. I found the other elements to be a little dense and/or too difficult but will definitely return to up my game. It's easy to see how much thought and effort went into this entry - the controls are simple and the display is flawlessly integrated into the game.  This is a must-play from this batch. 

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Comments

(+1)

Just stumbled upon this one, and I loved it!

I'm not a fan of 'full scale' rougelikes, but do like simplified ones, and this one was just that. Who'd knew piloting ASCII Mecha is so much fun.

Awesome idea and game.

(+1)

Being able to hack other mechs to control them and progress was an absolute treat, in my opinion! And the puzzle-fight system was surprising, but clever. Also, the whole ASCII style gave me some real roguelike vibes, so I want to congratulate you here again for creating such a sweet jam entry! I hope others might find it just as good as I do, that's why I wrote an article about it and made a short gameplay video. :)

Best wishes,
Sebastian

Developer(+1)

Thanks a bunch. I think I had seen your video and article the first day you posted them, but thanks for leaving this comment too!

You are very welcome. Maybe it'll make the decision for other potential players easier to give it a try. I mean, it's absolutely worth it. Keep up your great work, I love your creative mind. <3

(+1)

I like the hacking mechanic and the cool combination of roguelike and bullet hell! :D

Interesting story! I included it in my 7DRL Challenge compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look. :)

Developer

As always, appreciate what you do Jupiter. Thanks!