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Reginald P. Featherstone's Cache of Curios (DCJam 2025)'s itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Overall fun and playability | #2 | 4.381 | 4.381 |
Ranked from 21 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Theme incorporation
You are a treasure hunter that performs 2 treasure hunts and one heist.
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Comments
Great style, I really like how old stylied the game looks. The idea and quest difficulty was very good, it is a fun idea that adds a lot to the feel of the gameplay, I would really like to see it be expanded on. The mirror portals were also good to use, and were a fun way to escape from enemies.
The combat is a bit too basic , it would be nice for that to be expanded on with some skills or other effects to make it more fun. Beside combat the rest of the game was great, very good work on it and it was fun to play.
Thank you so much! I would also like to expand on this engine but there are things that would need to happen to make that a reality. I agree the combat is very basic, I figured since the game was mostly about avoiding enemies that would be fine but honestly you're right, a couple more options in there would be better. The mirror portals were my favorite idea, I'm glad you liked them!
I love the art and your implementation for it. Looks totally legit old school.
Game idea was interesting as well, I found myself bargaining with the collectors essentially setting the difficulty for the quest. I wasn’t able to find the treasure on the island though, looks like I’ve missed something in the description, but nonetheless I managed to gather the funds needed for the new ship and sail away.
I’ve also loved the second level, the way you can teleport with the mirrors to get away from enemies were brilliant.
Surely a great entry! Would love to see more of that.
Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked it and were able to sail away with your shiny new ship :). There is a puzzle to the island treasure, let me know if you want a spoiler.
I'm glad the mirror level worked out, I was trying to figure out something that wasn't too combat heavy and I really like this solution. As for more, I think I want to make more stuff with this engine but only if I can figure out a less cumbersome art pipeline. It was about 4 or 5 hours to create a single wall texture and I'm not doing that again.
Oh, I’ll totally explore it again if there’s something more than just randomly digging!
One of the best entries this year.
Thank you!
I was looking forward to this and you delivered.
The idea and implementation and art style are great!
Spend over an hour on this one and do not regret a single minute. Got away with 7500 Pound. While I found the secret entry to the mansion and got 5k there but then I failed to get around the captain and failed to lure the devils(?) away (1250 each) in the mirror section.
Certainly exceeds my expectations for a crawler made in 9 days!
Well done!
Any chance that you are you expanding on this one?
Thank you so much! Very kind of you to say so. Hearing that you played for an hour makes me really happy, I never know how my games will land with people but learning that it was worth the time for the challenge feels really good. As for expanding on it I'm not sure. I really like how it turned out but the art creation process was brutal so I'm not sure I want to go through more of that. Perhaps I'll figure out a good workflow and move forward with that, dunno. But also I don't know if I'm too excited to create stories in this world because the setting isn't one I'm really excited about. I mean I almost had a sci-fi level just for fun and my favorite level of the three is actually basically fantasy medieval despite that being a serious setting shift.
I'm strongly considering making a different game with this engine and technology if I can figure out a better workflow for the art, but I don't think I'll expand on this one.
I like the story around this one! I included it in my compilation video series of all of the games from the Dungeon Crawler Jam.
Thank you for playing!
Nice and interesting gameplay in this one!
Picking what happened and the level generating a level from that and then executing it is such a great idea.
Well Done!
Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked it.
Just lovely! The graphics, especially all of the enemies are really impressive and just gorgeous. The "classic" perspective takes a little getting used to and turns it into a bit of a puzzle to figure out exactly where enemies are standing :D. I only found 2 secret doors, but, I really like that the map highlights the walls that I've bumped into, so very satisfying. Took me a while (like, until the final level I played, which was the pirate island) to figure out _exactly_ what the aggro range of the enemies were (I figured it'd be either a diamond or a square pattern, neither of which was quite right, didn't expect the circleish pattern :). I managed to beat all levels on hard mode, and really enjoyed doing it, though I probably spent nearly 2 hours on it, with drawing a map by hand for one of the levels =).
Wow hardcore! I love that you made maps, that's excellent. As for distance from viewer I did do a distance check between cells using Pythagorean Theorem so it should be circular. So cool that you figured that out, it's really key for beating the levels at the highest difficulty.
Welcome to the club of people that beat the game on the highest difficulty. Well done!
Loved this game! Being able to layout the level and choose the difficulty while telling a story was incredible design. The game worked smoothly and was easy to follow and play. Great work!
Thank you so much!
I adore everything about this game. Perfect length. Perfect controls. Perfect interface. Perfect! Perfect! Perfect!
If you would like to rewatch my playthrough, you can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q-icuLI6K8&t=6670s
Aww, thank you so much for the super kind words!
Wonderful game and good concept! The effort is really there and the aesthetics nailed the classic feel really well.
I was a bit scared that it's keyboard only the the controls are really simple and work perfectly without a mouse.
The SFX that's in the game is good. Only thing I was missing is some soundtrack, although it doesn't take away from the good gameplay.
Thank you so much Atanii! I completely agree about the soundtrack, I wanted to make one but ran out of time. I barely had time for the sound effects I made with my mouth. As for keyboard controls I was worried they would be a problem for some people but it seems like the were fine.
Thinking how much effort and time was put into the pixelart / visual look I think it was a good trade
As usual, this is such a fantastic entry!
I told you that the flashback is one of my favorite tropes in tabletop games. It lets the players set expectations and difficulty before jumping into a one-off adventure. You’ve captured that here beautifully.
Since you can set the constraints, each level can be replayed differently, encouraging us to keep playing it without relying on the usual replayability suspects (I’m looking at you, RNG).
The graphics are fantastic, the overall aesthetic is polished, and everything feels cohesive.
The only suggestion I’d have would be to allow for “narrator interference” during a level. What I mean is, it would be neat if you get stuck, or are losing a fight, being able to say use the Power of Narration(tm) to be able to have Reginald say “That’s how you’d think it would go down, but actually brought my trusty lockpicking kit and the lock posed no problem,” or “It was a that moment that my trusty manservant showed up, despite my having gone at this alone”.
Anyway, great concept, full of charm. I love it.
Wow Mass, your idea of narrative interference is brilliant. I love it! I wish I had thought of it, it's the perfect way to give the player a good mechanism to alter difficulty while playing and not immediately fail (which was the experience of many players).
Thank you for the kind words and for playing the game.
If you like that and are into TTRPGs, check out Blades in the Dark, a dark fantasy heist game in which the flashback is one of the core mechanics. You and your group decide on what the heist is about, who you’re stealing from, etc. then, rather than spending the next three hours coming up with a plan, you jump into the heist already in progress and use flashbacks as one of the ways to simulate having prepared.
I did it in the end.
I love that the optimal stealth gameplay is an alternative to implemented, traditional party-based crawler gameplay, it's infinitely more cool (and a more cool implementation of the matching theme) than if that latter part wasn't implemented, and the first runs playing this way before looking for the optimal way are fun too.
The visuals are awesome, a ton better than in your games from previous years which already looked pretty good, that's impressive.
the game plays as fast as you press the buttons, the plot is cool, the idea of choosing difficulty for rewards is a great implementation of the themes.
Overall a great game.
£15,000!? That's awesome! It's exactly 1/2 of the maximum (unless I screwed something up) and you got one of the all-time best endings. Well done! I'm glad you liked the art, it was where I spent most of my effort this year.
I'm glad you liked the game speed and the art! I leaned into just playing with my favorite bits of nostalgia - instant step, 2D graphics, text-based gameplay, text-based UI, etc and it makes me feel very good that it was enjoyed by you too.
Haha, I thought it was the maximum as I chose all the most rewarding options.
Hmm if you did pick all the most rewarding options and successfully escaped with the treasure for every story then it is the maximum and I miscalculated the maximum amount.
Short but sweet. Too short in fact. I would like it to be hours longer. The graphics and general feel hits hard and takes me back to the glory days. Visually and technically everything is spot on (and then some). Really cool way to tie in story telling and dungeon difficulties. Love the concept! The fact that it's also 100% keyboard controlled is a plus in my book. Fantastic job once again :)
I did find find two bugs but they were of little importance. Player can strafe through some stones, and if you try to load a game if you haven't saved before then it just goes to a black screen and dies.
Thank you for playing and for the kind words! I would also like it to be longer but not this time. I would also like the home of Reginald P. Featherstone to be completely covered with curios and treasures and oddities, like when you go into one of those touristy places full of gimmicky random stuff for sale. Oh well.
Good find on the bugs. You're absolutely right, I didn't bother to check for a save game file (oops!) and the sideways strafing I figured out an hour and a half before the jam ended after pulling an all-nighter and I figured it would be a "future problem." Hypothetical future where I update this game which will probably never happen.
I love that you enjoyed it, thank you again for playing.
What can I say, another awesome entry this year. Incredible art, awesome player choice to influence the story you are telling (playing), movement is on point and it feels like a crawler straight out of the early Might and Magic era. The mechanic reminds me of the entry from last year in a way, which is fine as it is different enough and you get to make some neat choices that impact the story you are retelling. There's really nothing to complain about except the difficulty for the "more money" scenarios but that goes along with the push your luck mechanic. I wanted to find the mask!
Great job, awesome entry!
Gameplay here, begins at the 1h 6m mark
No greater compliment than calling a game a "new Might & Magic," you really made my day with that! Thank you.
I love playthrough videos like these. It's very educational to me to learn what works and what doesn't work in my game. For example having a portrait on the wall where the rest of the walls are empty feels like something special that should be interacted with but that wasn't clear to me at all while building the game.
I think the difficulty ramp wasn't super obvious, something that was made clear watching your play through. As for finding the mask, well, you certainly can if you play well enough but there is an even greater reward waiting for you than even that!
It seems I need to go back and play it again to try and it the best reward!
What a neat way to frame the story!!! Really fun to build your own experience in a way and gamble on how far you'll be able to go with your BS. GORGEOUS Spritework. Whole thing comes together beautifully. Chef's kiss
Thank you so much for the very kind words! I'm really glad you liked it. As for the sprites, well, that was 80% of the effort of the game for me! :)
A delightful experience! Dave really knows his storytelling stuff and just like last year this game creates a unique atmosphere. This one is quite humorous and I really enjoyed the presentation. Combat was tight and fine, movement was solid, graphics charming and very retro.
One of my favorites so far!
Aww, thank you! I'm glad you liked it and I look forward to playing yours soon.
I think the setup, the general structure, is brilliant. It does remind me a bit of the books from last year but also very different. The graphics was really neat and I laughed when that guard did its jump animation. Very good one indeed.
The game does require you to focus up, and understanding what you are doing when building the story. But it also was quite forgiving. But for people with sometimes lacking attention, it would have been really good with a quest system or summary or such that allowed me to remember what I had committed to.
I think though, what mostly was lacking for me was the goal or a larger economy tied to how I did with the treasures. But that is probably not feasible within the jam scope. Now the final sum quite like a high-score which didn’t fit the game that well.
A bit could have been helped with having different outcomes depending on the amount and made it clear (without telling exactly what the others were) how well you did. Maybe the game did that, but it wasn’t obvious. Also a bit from not knowing what was a good amount or a bad one. Perhaps we could have seen a listing from a harbor newspaper with different boats and their costs, something like that, before starting.
Anyways very cool entry!
Thank you for the kind words! Yes, it has a lot in common with the books from last year. I like framing stories like this with self-contained missions because it makes a game easier to play balance.
Very good point about the quests system and signaling the different boats, I think that would have definitely improved the game. Having the players know in advance what kind of goal they were working towards would make the end feel like more of a reward and less like a surprise. As for the game having different outcomes, yes it had that but you are correct it wasn't clear. There are 8 different outcomes determined by how much money you get.
I retired with £650, having died for being a little bit too ambitious in the last two stories. I really like how you set the difficulty in advance by adjusting the parameters of your adventure. The 90's vibe is definitely there, and your sprites look positively amazing! I would have played for much longer 🙂
I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for your feedback. I still find it difficult to finish at the highest difficulty. As for the sprites I'm glad you liked them, I made many of them myself and they took the majority of the jam time.
Hi there. First of all: I love the game idea. This is a really smart and fun one. First I thought "Hey, that's easy! Just pick the most expensive ones and I am rolling in cash!" - just to figure out in the next minute, that there is a price to pay :-D I completed my 1st heist successfully. However, after that. with my pockets full of £££, I was left with all rooms empty and nothing else to do. Do I have to restart the game to explore another story/place, or am I missing something?
Thank you for playing and the kind words! There are three collectors in the starting area, I made the other two a bit tricky to find. I'm pretty sure they are still there, but if you can 100% the starting area map and you only see one character please let me know.
I told someone about how I found the chicken statue - died in my own story - and he bought the statue for £100. I told another man about how I once died trying to get a different statue in a dungeon of mirrors, he bought that for £50. I told the last man how I walked into a mansion, took a treasure and walked out the front door - he bought it for £125. I'm an incredible businessman. 10/10 no notes. This dungeon setup mechanic is a very cool idea.
I like the art style - everything is crisp. I especially like the guard hit sprite. Movement and combat is simple, but satisfying. I'm really glad the game includes fail-forward mechanics.
I suspect there's a lot of stuff I didn't see. It looks like your minimap highlights walls you touch - so maybe there are secret doors? Very cool stuff all around.
I think some background music would go a long way, but I didn't miss it during my initial playthough.
Thank you for the thoughtful feedback. I'm really glad you had fun. You are correct about the secret doors. I'm really glad you like the art style, the main engineering effort in preparation was setting up an engine that was so similar to the game engines of the early 1990s in how it renders things. Turns out drawing every single angle of every single wall by hand was a gargantuan amount of work! But worth it I think.
Fun fact you can get a lot more than £275 if you want the game to get, well, brutally difficult! ;)