Play roguelike
7 Day Rogue's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Roguelikeness | #1 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Fun | #10 | 3.500 | 3.500 |
| Completeness | #54 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
| Aesthetics | #64 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
| Overall | #68 | 3.083 | 3.083 |
| Scope | #88 | 2.500 | 2.500 |
| Innovation | #88 | 2.500 | 2.500 |
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.
- 7 Day Rogue is a fun, if minimally-featured, textbook roguelike. Descend 10 floors and kill the Balrog haunting a dungeon. The leveling curve of the game is pretty standardized, so in addition to managing a few basic tactics, along the way you have to figure out which equpiment is best to equip on a given floor, staying ahead of the general power-curve. When you equip an item lying on the ground (sight unseen), the equipment you had is discarded, with no chance to get it back. Since equipment's so important, and the bonuses vary widely, that makes this game a bit more luck-based than I'd like. Still, if the author decided to go in a direction embracing the sort of "gambling" sub-game that results from the equipment system, allow potion drops to be stored and used later, and work a bit to tone down the endgame "luck" elements, I think they would have a really solid minimalist roguelike on their hands. If you intend on finishing this game, multiple runs to level 10 and a somewhat high luck factor in completing the game may hurt your good time a bit, but this one is worth at least a few plays to see how a very basic roguelike can still be fun. Completeness: The game is complete and completable. I was unable to complete it after getting to the last boss 3-4 times, at least 2 of which were with (what seemed to be) decent gear. It is possible in the live vesion (as of the time of this writing) to go past the last floor and ruin your ability to complete the endgame, and I know this because that is how one of my attempts ended. Aesthetics: The game features pretty basic menus that 'stay out of the way' for the most part. It's not good to have the "descend?" question pop up every time you pass the ladders to the next floor, but nothing else sticks out as problematic. Bonus here for: 1. having the level grow in size each floor. That was a really neat way to show progression and keeps the early game from being too monotonous. 2. The themed weapon/armor/amulet names. Fun: The game features very basic hallway tactics and an emergent equipment-choice minigame. It's not clear why the player isn't allowed to move all 8 directions, since almost all of the monsters can, and the game (particularly the last boss) feels like a bit of a luck-based mission. Equipment makes or breaks as much if not more than tactics if you don't get the right equipment, you're pretty much doomed to fail. And when you equip an item lying on the ground (sight unseen), the equipment you had is discarded, with no chance to get it back. Since equipments usually come in groups of 2-5 per type (excepting amulets, which are much rare and also feel much more variable in their bonus levels), it becomes a bit of a gambling subgame to figure out if new equipment is worth it. It's fun, and (until the very end) pretty fair. Innovative: This is a basic hack'n'slash roguelike. Scope: The game has a win condition and is completable, and boasts a nice amount of content, but not an overwhelming amount for seven days. Roguelikeness: This is pretty much exactly a rogue-like.
- Thanks a lot for this entry! I had a lot of fun with it. I really enjoyed the random items names, along with knowing the name of the Goblin that killed me. It's an interesting set of spawn calculations for the mobs. Level 1-3 are a good set of "intro" levels to teach you the game - then Level 4 just hits you with a Mac Truck of mobs. A few sound effects would be a good addition...maybe even a quiet background music track. Thanks for submitting, and hopefully you had a great time putting this together!
- Great start to a game! Some work on the UI and more complex monsters and items would make this game really shine.
Successful or Incomplete?
Success
Did development of the game take place during the 7DRL Challenge week. (If not, please don't submit your game)
Yes
Is your game a roguelike or a roguelite? (If not, please don't submit your game)
Yes
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Comments
Simple but interesting. The random names generated for every piece of equipment can be quite fun. :)
The game has limited options of strategic gameplay, but there is some tactical movement and positioning. The player can only move in cardinal directions and cannot wait, while enemies also move in ordinal directions. This means they will catch up to you when you round a corner, but also that you can bait them to come closer by using corridor corners. As health is only replenished by level-ups and potions rarely dropped by defeated enemies, it's a good idea to always get the first strike to minimize damage taken.
Dungeon floors grow larger as you descend, and frankly a bit too large for the limited amount of content. The stairs down are, however, rather easy to find, so if you don't need to explore the whole level, just leave once you feel like it. Difficulty ramps up rapidly on floor 4, where trolls start to appear. Unless you found some weapon and armour, which is not always the case, you will probably die. Another jump is on floor 8 where suddenly there be dragons, and I have yet to survive those for more than a single encounter.
Thank you so much for playing! I honestly didn’t expect anyone to, especially since it was my first and my goal was to just make it mildly playable. Dragons are definitely bearable, but it’s pretty much just based on luck of drops.
As always during hackathons, timing crushed my ability to balance or add the fun stuff I wanted.
Thanks for the friendly review of a pretty minimal game.