I am really excited to see a tabletop in the jam :)
It was really well done. The game fitted the jam theme nicely, and the story of your game had a very 'Mice and Mystics' feel to it which was nice. The mechanics work surprisingly well and I loved how the special abilities of the enemies matches their character.
Definitely the game would be cool with some kind of looting and/or leveling (if you continue working on it after the jam)
I'm glad I got to play this game. It was charming in a Studio Ghibli kind of way -- a rare delight in the world of free print-and-play games.
Your mechanics do a nice job of dangling the player over the precipice of defeat before yanking them back with what feels like a clutch play. Your rules are simple and effective, with enough wiggle room for players to develop their own strategy.
The best part, though, was undoubtedly the campaign. Nine of the ten opponents were well thought out and interesting in a Slay the Spire kind of way. The arc of your story, the description of the enemies, and the way they matched the mechanics were excellent.
A few things I would take a look at.
Spelling and grammar! Proofread your work, and then have someone else proofread it, too. You'd be amazed how easily the wrong word can pull the reader out of a story.
The Flea Soldiers. The story and the idea is incredibly cute. Actually fighting them was an exercise in frustration. It's not that they were difficult -- it was that missing completely on five out of six rolls makes the player feel like they are incapable of making progress. Or at least makes me feel that way, and I assume others do, too. It also risks turning the best part of the game into busywork, as the player will generally have almost nothing to heal. Try something for me: fight the Flea Soldiers as you have them now, and then try them with 25 health, and with the following rule in place of only hitting on doubles: "Little Warrior's damage is reduced to 1 per die, unless he rolls doubles". See which one feels better. It might just be me, but being able to make at least a little progress each turn feels better than making no progress at all most turns.
I might see what other effects I could tie to certain poker hands, or shuffle around the ones that are already there. For example, I found straights to be surprisingly hard to get (much harder than flushes) and relatively lackluster compared to other options. Again, this might just be me and the way I play.
Finally, I would name the spells and give them some flavor text. You obviously have a talent for game narrative, and it was odd that you didn't apply this strength to your game's mechanical centerpiece. It's cool that a flush gives me three turns without damage, but you haven't shown me why it works that way in the narrative. Am I creating floating shields? Mirror images of Little Warrior that draw fire? Fireflies that dazzle the opponent so they can't see to attack?
Thank you for the feedback. I'm really glad you enjoyed the game. As for your feedback:
1) I know DX If I wasn't so close to the wire and exhausted I would have definitely proofread it.
2) Hm... I'll have to take a look at the soldiers again, because they didn't give me that much of a headache in testing, but given that they're random, it could've just been luck. I think making it a pure survival goes against their intended design, but I was thinking of toying around with overhealing Little Warrior (as in, more than his max HP would allow) will spill over into damage against these enemies, that way the player doesn't feel like they're just sitting around. Right now, my plan is to try your suggestion and also try mine, while also lowering their HP to around 8 or 6. That way you only need one or two doubles to finish them off.
3) I found straights to be useful in the right situation because you get some amount of free heals. I'll have to play around with them. I didn't get a chance to look up which poker hands are more common than others.
4) Ah! How could I have forgotten to give the spells some names? Thank you, for any updates I do to this game, they will definitely have names. So far, all I could think of is "heal, "heal-nya", and "heal-nyaga" .
This was an interesting read! I like how playing cards and dice were used to form the primary mechanics. You will have to balance out your options and go with the randomness of the dice. Also cool to see the main character is the healer instead of the warrior. A nice spin on the adventure story. I also enjoy how monsters roll different amounts of dice depending on the situation.
Have you considered adding in a leveling up system for the Little Warrior and the healer? Maybe a set of extra abilities they get for defeating major bosses or completing milestone events? That way each player can customize their healer. It will also provide an incentive to play again and try different styles of play.
Also just a quick question - does DMG stand for something specific? I believe you defined it as the number of six sided dice you get to roll. Higher DMG = higher potential to hit. Is that right? I play a lot of Dungeons and Dragons and every time I see DMG I read it as "Dungeon Master Guide". What does DMG stand for in your game?
1) DMG stands for damage. In retrospect, it might have made more sense to call it ATK for attack, but you know...game jam time limit.
2) I did consider leveling up and having like a deck building aspect to the game where defeating monsters adds new cards to your deck and LW's DMG stat gets bigger. But I tried to be scope conscious (this is really the first game jam game where I felt like I finished what I set out to do)
3) Yeah, I'm not sure how things skew balance wise, but in my playtesting LW could get pretty low and playing a flush protection spell or a big three of a kind healing spell made for some pretty exciting moments. I think against the final boss, he literally dropped to 5 HP and then I got a clutch flush which allowed LW to finish the boss off. It was very exciting.
Totally understood. Those deadlines are murder! I didn't fully finish my game and will have to go through an update at some point. The fact that you planned it out and had time to test the game was a wise move. Thanks again for posting!
Comments
I am really excited to see a tabletop in the jam :)
It was really well done. The game fitted the jam theme nicely, and the story of your game had a very 'Mice and Mystics' feel to it which was nice. The mechanics work surprisingly well and I loved how the special abilities of the enemies matches their character.
Definitely the game would be cool with some kind of looting and/or leveling (if you continue working on it after the jam)
I'm glad I got to play this game. It was charming in a Studio Ghibli kind of way -- a rare delight in the world of free print-and-play games.
Your mechanics do a nice job of dangling the player over the precipice of defeat before yanking them back with what feels like a clutch play. Your rules are simple and effective, with enough wiggle room for players to develop their own strategy.
The best part, though, was undoubtedly the campaign. Nine of the ten opponents were well thought out and interesting in a Slay the Spire kind of way. The arc of your story, the description of the enemies, and the way they matched the mechanics were excellent.
A few things I would take a look at.
Thank you for the feedback. I'm really glad you enjoyed the game. As for your feedback:
1) I know DX If I wasn't so close to the wire and exhausted I would have definitely proofread it.
2) Hm... I'll have to take a look at the soldiers again, because they didn't give me that much of a headache in testing, but given that they're random, it could've just been luck. I think making it a pure survival goes against their intended design, but I was thinking of toying around with overhealing Little Warrior (as in, more than his max HP would allow) will spill over into damage against these enemies, that way the player doesn't feel like they're just sitting around. Right now, my plan is to try your suggestion and also try mine, while also lowering their HP to around 8 or 6. That way you only need one or two doubles to finish them off.
3) I found straights to be useful in the right situation because you get some amount of free heals. I'll have to play around with them. I didn't get a chance to look up which poker hands are more common than others.
4) Ah! How could I have forgotten to give the spells some names? Thank you, for any updates I do to this game, they will definitely have names. So far, all I could think of is "heal, "heal-nya", and "heal-nyaga" .
This was an interesting read! I like how playing cards and dice were used to form the primary mechanics. You will have to balance out your options and go with the randomness of the dice. Also cool to see the main character is the healer instead of the warrior. A nice spin on the adventure story. I also enjoy how monsters roll different amounts of dice depending on the situation.
Have you considered adding in a leveling up system for the Little Warrior and the healer? Maybe a set of extra abilities they get for defeating major bosses or completing milestone events? That way each player can customize their healer. It will also provide an incentive to play again and try different styles of play.
Also just a quick question - does DMG stand for something specific? I believe you defined it as the number of six sided dice you get to roll. Higher DMG = higher potential to hit. Is that right? I play a lot of Dungeons and Dragons and every time I see DMG I read it as "Dungeon Master Guide". What does DMG stand for in your game?
Thanks for making your game!
Hi, thanks for the feedback.
1) DMG stands for damage. In retrospect, it might have made more sense to call it ATK for attack, but you know...game jam time limit.
2) I did consider leveling up and having like a deck building aspect to the game where defeating monsters adds new cards to your deck and LW's DMG stat gets bigger. But I tried to be scope conscious (this is really the first game jam game where I felt like I finished what I set out to do)
3) Yeah, I'm not sure how things skew balance wise, but in my playtesting LW could get pretty low and playing a flush protection spell or a big three of a kind healing spell made for some pretty exciting moments. I think against the final boss, he literally dropped to 5 HP and then I got a clutch flush which allowed LW to finish the boss off. It was very exciting.
Totally understood. Those deadlines are murder! I didn't fully finish my game and will have to go through an update at some point. The fact that you planned it out and had time to test the game was a wise move. Thanks again for posting!