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A jam submission

Tomb of AbsolutionView game page

Submitted by Matt Kimball (@KimballCode), Jammmz, LolHank (@JLSounds) — 11 hours, 8 minutes before the deadline
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Tomb of Absolution's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Completeness - Is it an unfinished tech-demo, prototype or a complete game?#64.3454.345
Overall#93.9723.972
Gameplay - How fun is it to play?#153.8623.862
Audio - Does the game have nice sfx and music?#243.8283.828
Graphics - Is the game aesthetically pleasing?#274.1724.172
Theme - How well does it incorporate the theme?#283.6553.655

Ranked from 29 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

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Comments

Submitted(+3)

Excellent game with unique gameplay and decent graphics!


I made time to get it about the altar expecting you to drop a One on it, maybe there should be some sort of hint to make a connection with the dice as at first I thought I had to find an item or hidden area.


But for the rest, it's an excellent work and to be frank, I definitely want more of this game and hope there will be some extension! :D

Thank you for this experience!

Developer(+1)

thank you so much of the detailed review and who knows maybe we will expand on it 


Thanks for playing :)

Submitted(+3)

The dice mechanic was very fun and nicely implemented!  I did not get past the throne. Audio and Narrative where convincing too.

Submitted(+3)

That was very cool, art and sound create a very strong atmosphere and the game features the right balance between fights, puzzles and hidden dice you can miss, that really gives a more complete feel to the game even if it's not that long.

Developer

thanks for the kind words and for playing!

Submitted(+3)

I missed a lot of the extra dice it seems but it still felt like a pretty balanced challenge! I really liked the style for the sprites too, something about that higher quality player sprite with dithering is just 👌. Was a little rough having to redo everything when I died but wasn't annoying enough to really put me off. Overall, was a blast to play!

Submitted(+3)

I really like the dice mechanic, and the simple and effective interface. The controls worked great. I did get stuck right at the beginning because I wasn't sure how to be humble.

Developer

haha yeah can be tricky to be humble sometimes 

Submitted(+3)

Wow. That was really fun to play. We actually had to force ourselves to stop playing to do the review or we'd have no time to play other games! The dice combat was really innovative and worked extremely well. You really had to think about your next move and whether to block or attack or lock a dice. Then you added the extra abilities and it had a whole new dimension. Brilliant.

It wasn't just one level either, it kept going with levers and more enemy types. The sword and shield graphics were great and overall the graphics gelled nicely. Movement was smooth and also responsive. The lighting was good, especially switching into the shadow world (your duality theme we assume). 

The game probably plays really well on a touch screen, like an iPad, which is a nice feature. However, the alignment (also possibly sizing) of those movement buttons on the UI is randomly a few pixels off here and there. It's really trivial but it bugged the hell out of us. 

It also wasn't obvious that you had to place the 1 die onto the altar directly since there wasn't a box for you to drag it to like the combat abilities. We nearly stopped playtesting when we couldn't work that out at first and it would have been travesty had we done our review only on the game to that point.

Well done with your game. This has got to be high up there in the jam ratings and it's well deserved. A simple but also deep and strategic mechanic that's a winner for us. We'll be playing this one again!

Developer(+1)

Haha, I redid the movement buttons really quickly late on the last day of the jam. Good eye to spot the misalignment!

I agree that the action to activate the altar is too unmotivated and easy for a player to get stuck.

Thanks for playing!

Submitted(+2)

I thought this game was really solid! The graphics were well done and the like blue/purple/red effect for the shadow realm really gave the other world a nice look! I do really love the dice mechanic! Gives the game a great strategic element; making the player think of their actions!

Few things that irked me, however…

  • The lock on the dice! It does it’s job, but it confused me in that the dice itself shifted on the screen causing me to think the lock didn’t work. This is a minor thing, really (as the mechanic worked), but I was expecting the lock to not just keep the number, but position as well.
  • The introduction to the shadow realm was otherwise solid with the exception of talking about extending the time within. At the very first portal, I spent a lot of time exploring that area thinking I was missing something because the dialog kind-of suggested there was more. I think holding off on describing how to extend the time in the shadow world until the second portal (where it’s more important) would have been better.
  • I’m not entirely sure snapping the player right back to the portal when exiting the shadow realm is the way to go. It’s very jarring and if I have turns left in the shadow realm, but not enough to accomplish anything, there’s little reason to explore because any progress you make is taken back when returned to the portal.

Ultimately, though, these are minor quibbles to an otherwise very well made game! Excellent entry! Here is the link to me playing the game on my stream if you’re interested :)

Developer (1 edit) (+1)

Thanks for playing the game! I agree with the issues you raise in your feedback.

Submitted(+3)

Very well made game, the sound design perfectly compliments the visuals and the game feels responsive and fast. the dice mechanic feels extremely fair and balanced overall a perfect entry imo!

Developer(+1)

thank you so much for the feedback kind sir!

Host(+3)

What a great game! I also watched this being played on stream but I had to try it for myself. I am glad I did because this is a gem. Movement and perspective view is on point. The graphics and atmosphere is really nice. The dice mechanics works surprisingly well and I can see this being expanded further with more skills and tactical options.

Great job!

Developer

glad to hear the positive feedback! 

Submitted(+3)

Very nice!  I "played" the first half of the game watching someone else on stream, but I'm glad I went and finished it myself =).  I like the idea of the dice mechanics, however the options felt pretty limited, really there was often just one "right answer" in any situation and I was hoping to get the right die.  I'd have liked a little more option - say I rolled a 5 and 6, have 5 be "1 pt of damage, but +1 shield" and 6 be "2 pts of damage" or something for just a little bit of trade-offs.

I quite liked the "one" pun/riddle, I wished each of the altars had one with a different number, although the rest might be harder to come up with...

Developer

Yeah, the abilities are often obvious now. I wanted to add more powerful abilities which required more dice, but time is always short in the jam. I think keeping the existing basic abilities, but adding additional abilities which are both more powerful but more demanding on the dice rolls would possibly give you more trade-offs to make.

The reactions to the ‘one’ puzzle/riddle have been mixed.

Thanks for the kind words!

Submitted(+3)

Very nice! This reminds me of many dice placement games and this is perfect for short games!

Submitted(+3)

I love the way this game looks and feels. Controls are smooth even with the transitions. The ambience is nice and the sounds are not overbearing.

The dice mechanic was really great!

Loved this entry. I would love to see a bigger game with this mechanic.

Developer (1 edit) (+1)

Thank you. Yes our programmer did a really good job with the gameplay loop

Submitted(+3)

I like the dice mechanics where you have to move or lose an action to reroll. Did not know you can't just walk into an enemy without taking damage so I am just casually throwing by walking back to reroll after making my mistake. Will spend more time on this after the jam ends.

Submitted(+1)

This was a nice entry.

I learned the word "absolvation", which dictionary dot com doesn't know about.

I did not figure out what I needed to do in order to get through the door of humility, and I know I'm a million times as humble as thou art!

Developer

thank you for playing!

Sorry about the grammar was working on fumes when I was writing 

The red altar thing is a puzzle u need to read the inscription carefully!

Submitted(+1)

I also got stuck there. I really love the dice mechanic though!

Submitted(+2)

Check out my live review at https://www.twitch.tv/scalphamission

Submitted (1 edit) (+3)

The realisation is good and the dice battle system is really interesting ! That’s a solid entry and a nice job. (Tips if you’re blocked : In doubt use the dice)

Developer

Thank you so much for the positive words!

Submitted(+3)

Fun game! Felt like I had to do a lot of backtracking cause I got so much lost though.

Developer

Yeah, with more time we should have added a minimap. Thanks for playing though.

Submitted

I dont think the minimap is that really necessary, it got me focused to orientate and explore. 

Maybe adding some iconic structures or props would help people dont get lost as much.

Developer

thanks for playing!