Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.

• ## General review A roguelike implemented in MegaZeux (an engine in the style of ZZT). It's fun, it runs well, it definitely has the rogue feel and aesthetics. Congrats on a very successful 7DRL ! ## Detailed review Completeness: 4 It's a full game, winnable. I did not experience any bugs. Note that I played the post-7DRL version, which includes a few fixes. Aesthetics: 4 Great ! I like beautiful graphics but I find ASCII symbols easier to read most of the time. This game is using the old code page 437 characters in a clear and intuitive way. The interface is mostly easy to read and supports the game well. Fun: 4 I have not won the game yet, but I want to keep trying. Losing is fun ;) I definitely recommend this game ! Innovation: 3 The gameplay itself is classic, but I will award one additional point for the unusual choice of this game engine. Not many roguelikes are being written in ZZT nowadays ! Scope: 3 What I expect from a 7DRL. Traditional Roguelikeness: 4 Disclaimer: For me, a roguelike must "feel" like Rogue. It does not have to be a procedural dungeon crawling with perma-death, but I need that sense of exploring the unknown, the chess-like thinking to get out of tough situations, and the relief when you succeed. EndGame 437 succeeds in all of that :)
• What can I say that hasn't already been said about Endgame 437? In a certain sense, this game feels like an ideal 7DRL: it takes a self-contained, well-scoped, fun idea and executes on it wonderfully. The game has the right amount of content to keep you engaged until your victory; has great music for each of the different levels; the art is well-thought out (I realized just how well when I looked at the different characters for XP counting). Special mention to the character selection ability - a seemingly useless but super fun addition! On the side of improvements, the game is pretty easy to finish, and dying is usually a result of carelessness more so than a difficult situation you should need complicated reasoning to get out of. I didn't mind this too much, as I was happy to explore the content, but replayability really suffers because of the lack of challenge. Related to this, optimization of different dimensions (torch, backpack, armor, etc.) becomes less meaningful after the first level because your goal is usually to just not get hit at all. With Ruffians hitting for 6, the breakpoints on hp+armor are really 7 and 13, and anything in between makes little difference.
• One of my favorites from this year. This one is definitely on the easy side since once you have a handle on the mechanics and start to level up it's hard to die except to stupid mistakes, but that's fine for a 7DRL and makes it easier to experience all of the content. Plus the interface and audio design is just great. Higher enemy density to occasionally create more tense situations and actually needing to use the huge number of resources scattered around would be be an improvement.