Bigmode Game Jam 2023

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A jam submission

Evershifting DungeonView game page

A match-3 dungeon crawl hybrid

Submitted by AvengingCondor — 2 hours, 18 minutes before the deadline

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Evershifting Dungeon's itch.io page

Results

Criteria	Rank	Score*	Raw Score
Originality	#20	4.333	4.333
Theme	#36	4.095	4.095
Fun	#88	3.571	3.571
Presentation (graphics, audio)	#225	3.143	3.143

Ranked from 21 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

How does your game represent Mode?
The game features two completely different modes of play that you swap between as part of gameplay--a puzzle mode that plays like a match-3 game, and a dungeon mode where you explore the game board with top-down action gameplay

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Comments

TzeryushiSubmitted357 days ago(+1)

Very interesting and unique idea! I love games that match together conventionally disparate systems. Navigating the spaces you personally make (also suffering the consequences of your actions) is very gratifying. Unfortunately I did get stuck in the corner once with no exit on spawn, but other than that, a very smooth an satisfying experience. Excellent work!

Submitted

nlmr358 days ago(+1)

This game is so clever and unique, I enjoyed it so so much! There are many more layers to it than I originally realized and it was so exciting when I figured it out and made it to the skull for the first time! The addition of color-blind mode was such a thoughtful touch.

Can't wait to see where you go from here!

discopandazSubmitted360 days ago(+1)

Really unique interpretation of the theme and well executed too! Not too much to add that others haven't already touched on, but nice job!

Submitted

topoftheyearSubmitted361 days ago(+1)

This is a real cool idea! It was quick to intuit what to do even without reading the instructions too much. I'm not much of a match 3 player so I'd swap between the different modes decently often, building a path, navigating it, then matching again until I can get closer.

Submitted

Transmogrification

LeyzaSubmitted361 days ago(+1)

Very cool idea! It took me a while to figure out how the match-3 mode connected to the dungeon mode, but really liked the concept when I did. I think there is very little incentive right now to swap between modes, as the best method imo is to collect gold and create a easy path in match-3, then just run to it in dungeon. Maybe making obtaining gold be mainly through dungeon would create a stronger incentive to switch?

Submitted

Grow BIG (or go home)

AvengingCondorDeveloper357 days ago

Glad you liked it, and thanks for the feedback! I definitely agree that there needs to be a better balance between modes, I had a few ideas for ways to intertwine the two better and push you to swap more instead of being able to easily just freely play the match-3 mode until you have enough gold to do whatever you want, but unfortunately I wasn't able to finish much more than the basic proof of concept in time. I'm hoping to revisit and refine this idea in the future though!

VerburnerSubmitted363 days ago(+1)

I had a lot of fun with this one! Super creative idea. There were definitely a few things that could've been improved for a final release. Combat is pretty clunky and the best way to play is to interact with enemies as little as possible anyway. Also, getting gold was too trivial. Matching a couple of blocks was easy and the only thing gating you is your own patience. But either way: amazing game, loved it

Submitted

Michael GrieshoferSubmitted1 year ago(+1)

Really clever idea that I think could have some potential for iteration.

At the moment I think the way you interact with the dungeon is a bit too simple. There should be more reason to switch between the modes. The best way to play atm is to get a really short path to the dungeon and then just rush through it while skipping all the enemies. The actual dungeon and the combat is honestly the one part that I enjoy the least in this game, but if there was a way to tie it in more with the match 3 puzzles than I think there is potential here.

Great proof of concept tho and extremely unique.

Submitted

Legend of Lu: Remastered

AvengingCondorDeveloper362 days ago(+1)

Thank you for the feedback, I'm glad to hear you liked the concept! There's definitely a lot of room to expand and improve on it, I had a lot more ideas than what I was able to fit in for the jam

ToroSubmitted1 year ago(+1)

This is really clever and actually addictive!! Also I highly appreciate that colorblind mode, it's so thoughtful!

Submitted

Legend of Lu: Remastered

DrillSoft GamesSubmitted1 year ago(+1)

Evershifting Dungeon was a great idea! I think it was a strong application of the theme with a very innovative gameplay loop. In a future version, I'd like to see a block that can take you up and to the left, as well as a check of the board state to make sure that the dungeon you spawned into is solvable.

Submitted

DrillSoft GamesSubmitted1 year ago(+1)

AvengingCondorDeveloper1 year ago

Thanks, glad you liked it! I appreciate the feedback! I'm honestly a little embarrassed I never caught that oversight with blue tiles allowing for a broken spawn if you get unlucky, there's even one in that position that causes it in the screenshot I used here for puzzle mode. I might even put out a patch to fix that for this iteration of the game after voting is over!

ElmgroveSubmitted1 year ago(+1)

I really like the idea of the shifting the dungeon via puzzle game. Took me a sec to realize I wasn't beholden to Bejeweled rules but after that it was a lot of fun. Good Job!

Submitted

CatIcedTeaSubmitted1 year ago(+1)

Really unique and good game loop! Once I figured out that each color has a their unique path, I was able to really start enjoying and planning my moves. Though I feel like the match-3 mode gave you way too much consistent money to be able to easily cheese it and enemy also often get stuck on the octogonal obstacle.

Submitted

foodwadSubmitted1 year ago(+1)

What a cool idea! It took me a couple tries to get a hang of it, but it's really straightforward and has a lot of replayability. I like how customizable everything is. I do think that there could be more variety with combat and items. Best idea I've seen yet and I hope you continue to work on it!

Submitted

AvengingCondorDeveloper1 year ago

Thank you! I am hoping to revisit and refine this concept down the road, I had a lot more ideas during development and as you point out there's a ton of room to expand on the dungeon mode gameplay in particular!

TreemoloSubmitted1 year ago(+1)

I got up to dungeon 5 after my 3rd try :) and had a great time playing it. Neatly polished game, balanced learning curve and a concept prone to a lot of variety and expansion if you decide to keep working on it.

PS: kudos to you for adding accesibility settings (color blind mode)

Submitted

Color alchemist

AvengingCondorDeveloper1 year ago(+1)

Glad you enjoyed it! I've definitely got a lot of ideas to expand on the concept if I come back to revisit it down the road

Lerg BwoSubmitted1 year ago(+1)

the dungeon mode and puzzle modes where both enjoyable and i dig the music

i did find a couple ways to cheese the game though:

you could safely farm gold and gain a bunch very quickly

enemies would get stuck and edges and are unable to move

i also started on a purple in the bottom right one time and was immediately stuck

Submitted

Gridlock Jumpers

AvengingCondorDeveloper1 year ago(+1)

Thanks for the feedback! Sorry you ran into that issue with the unlucky spawn point, I unfortunately didn't catch that oversight until the day after the jam

HardplunkSubmitted1 year ago (1 edit) (+2)

What an unique game! a lot more complex and tricky that it seems at first sight. I honestly enjoyed the art and music a lot too, while super simple it works perfectly with the concept and feel of the game, also a very smart representation of the theme.
The only things I can think of to add are maybe having a little more combat variety (maybe a different enemy) and I was really hoping for a boss fight when reaching the skull room. Nevertheless those two things are in no way a must, for this game is already really fun and creative.

Excellent job!

PS: props for adding a colorblind mode!!

Submitted

AvengingCondorDeveloper1 year ago(+1)

Thanks for the kind words and feedback, I'm glad you enjoyed it! The exit being marked with a skull might give away that I really wanted to have a boss fight at the end—in fact it was the very next thing on my agenda before the final day rolled around and I had to shift focus to polishing up the presentation—but sadly there just wasn't time. If I end up revisiting this concept to expand into a more fully fledged game down the road, you can be certain there will be something a bit more exciting waiting at the end of each dungeon!

GhostBombSubmitted1 year ago(+1)

Really unique little game! I like the little tricks you learn like how each room shape is always the same color (maybe this is supposed to be obvious but it took me a bit to notice).

Submitted

AvengingCondorDeveloper1 year ago

Glad you liked it! Early on the room shapes actually weren't tied to color, but I thought it would be better to have some consistency you could rely on while thinking things through in puzzle mode. Good to see that change was well received!

IceifritSubmitted1 year ago(+1)

Super fun game, loved the way the match 3 worked to change the layout. Our game intended to have a similar map aspect in the way it was structured but I'm just not good at programming lol.

Submitted

AvengingCondorDeveloper1 year ago

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!

WayneMadeAGameSubmitted1 year ago(+1)

The dungeons combat was a bit too punishing for me but I love the idea!

Submitted

Bon Voyage Charlie!

AvengingCondorDeveloper1 year ago(+1)

Thanks! The dungeon mode gameplay definitely could have used more refining, but getting the mode swap working smoothly took so long that I ran short on time