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A jam submission

BackpacklessView game page

A dungeon crawler with some sudden twist regarding hero's backpack ;)
Submitted by Andrew — 1 day, 20 hours before the deadline
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Backpackless's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Adherence to the Theme#5884.0354.035
Overall#8853.4683.468
Design#8893.1933.193
Originality#12003.1753.175

Ranked from 57 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

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Comments

Viewing comments 25 to 6 of 45 · Next page · Previous page · First page · Last page
Submitted(+1)

This is a really well presented, simple to pick up but seemingly deep game! Unfortunately for me it's a bit too harsh with the RNG as half the time I'd start right next to something which would proceed to wipe out the majority of my health, or I'd start next to two things which I'd have no chance of beating it. Besides that I had a few runs which felt more fair and were really fun! I like the way you have to juggle which item you want to keep and I like the turn based movement (this reminded me a lot of desktop dungeons which I love!).  Awesome work :D

Developer

Thanks a lot! I'm glad you liked it :)

Due to time constraints I unfortunately haven't put too much time to the actual game balance, so yeah, you're basically in the hands of luck :)

Submitted

Brilliant game! It certainly has better presentation than mine, with all the gameplay gifs and videos.

Gameplay is fun, although I'm a bit disappointed at how both of my good runs ended. Game went into an infinite loop and never halted when I tried to throw away an item in a tight corridor where all adjacent tiles already had items. The second time I just got a "mobs.lua:58: bad argument #1 to 'add' (Quad expected, got nil)".

Apart from that, I couldn't figure out how to use repair scroll, lamps, shields. They don't seem to do anything in item slot and cannot be equipped.

Developer(+1)

Thanks a lot!

Ooh, you've stumbled on some rare bugs, sorry for it. Thanks for reporting, I'll have a look on them.

Unfortunately I haven't had the time to code the usage of repair scrolls and lamps, so they are sadly a dead weight. The shields are used in armor calculation when you just have them as your only "item".

By the way did you know that you can change how your game page looks in the judging period? You just can't upload new versions, but you certainly can change how the game is presented. This monday my game's page looked incredibly dull :D

Submitted

Cool idea!
It's not the first "carry only one" game I come across, but I love how you give it an explanation by saying the hero forgot his backpack. XD
So, yeah, that's a nice game. Kinda regret the controls aren't displayed on the screen, though.

Developer

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it :)

The controls could be shown on pressing the "?" button. It is shown on messages area when the game starts, but now I think I should've made it more intrusive. Thanks for your feedback!

Submitted(+1)

Pretty cool! I wish I didnt have to hit the button every time I wanted to move a space, but that's a pretty minor complaint. Cool game!

Developer

Oh yeah, that one is actually pesky bug I haven't had time to fix, sorry about that. 

Glad you liked it :)

(+1)

Once I obtained a cuirass and long-sword, the monsters were no longer monsters.

I was the monster.

Quite fun! I believe I would have won, but the maze that was generated had some unreachable monsters. 5ft of stone was the only thing standing between them and my bloodlust.

It would be nice to have some quality of life UI stuff, like if I hit equip when I'm standing over something on the ground and I'm not holding anything, I would like to equip it without the extra step of picking it up.

I *can* see the argument for making me perform each little step separately though, so I suppose it depends what you're going for!

Developer

Thanks for your feedback!

Yeah, the point was to expand on tiny inventory trope in roguelikes (think e.g. DoomRL, where you certainly can't have all the weapons you've had in Doom at the same time) to the point of awkwardness. But right now I'm thinking I could already add the key for action you've described :)

Submitted

Love games with the idea of a light following you, and the story and being able to take only one item is cool, good job :D

Developer

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it!

Submitted

Nice work! I found it pretty difficult, but that's just keeping true to the roguelike genre. Considering you're streamlining the roguelike inventory, I agree with others that you could probably go ahead and streamline the control system too. Cool game though, I liked this!

Developer

Thanks! I'll give a thought to the controls.

Submitted(+1)

Wow a rogue-like for a game jam takes guts! You did a great job with it though! I would have liked if visibility was a bit better, but other than that you created a challenging, but rewarding game! Fun concept and the twist was implemented well! Good job!

Developer

Thanks a lot!

Submitted

It's a neat game wich reminds classic games, however, the resolusion is too small and it's hard to see what happens in the game. Also, there it's bad that you didn't show controls in game. Anyway, I like the oldscool style of the game.

Developer

Thanks! I already have the idea how to fix visibility problems.

Care to elaborate about the controls? When you start the game, it says "Press ? for help" in the bottom of the window, and on pressing "?" button you can actually see full controls list. You mean I should've made help screen more intrusive?

Submitted

I think, you should write controls somethere in the game.

Submitted

You must be very brave to make a roguelike for a two-day game jam! Using LÖVE to develop a roguelike makes a lot of sense. I'll give it a try. Check our game: https://cerosware.itch.io/one-stick-shooter

Developer

Thanks :)

I reviewed your game, and, well, it has a plethora of different enemy kinds too (to be honest, the very same quantity as in my game :D)

Submitted(+1)

Just finished testing the game, I must say it's quite impressive to come up  with so much content in such a short period of time. The  theme is really well respected, and even a bit too much : It's really hard to keep up with all the enemies while memorizing the emplacements of all the items you've encountered as well as all the paths you've explord and yet to explore.  You can sometimes pick up two items, but that's pretty much it when it comes to practicality.

The controls don't do your game a favour either. They seem like scattared across the keyboard, and some actions are unecessarily convoluted. For example, if I want to switch between items, I shouldn't have to do Unequip > Throw > Pick up > Equip and only then be able to use the object, because each action consumes a turn, and when you're fighting enemies it quicklu becomes tiresome. Only one button should be enough.

Also, a minor thing I have noticed : When you run away frome an enemy, the enemy chases you AND deals you damage if they happen to be on the adjacent tile. And when your weapon just broke and you're trying to survive until you get a new one, it can feel really unfair.

Needless to say, I couldn't finish a level, but I salute the efforts you put into implementing your mechanics. Just make sure next time  to put ergonomy before complexity. Nice job nonetheless :)

Developer(+1)

Thanks a lot for your extensive feedback! I'll certainly address the controls issues you've mentioned.

Submitted

Hey there, before I rate your game : How do you open the doors ? The only items I found were pices of armor and there was no key in any of my playthroughs...

Developer(+1)

You just have to press O button when facing a door. You even can then close a door with the C button, so that mobs don't get you :)

Submitted (2 edits)

Thanks, gonna test it right away. Also, the '?' key doesn't seem to work on my keyboard (AZERTY just so you know), so that's why I couldn't get the controls.

Developer

Oh, I'm sorry about that. You can also try the / button for the help screen, that one might work.

Developer

The full controls list is also on the game page: https://awkravchuk.itch.io/backpackless

Submitted

Pretty neat game! It really remember me to the classics rpg text adeventures hahaha. Great style and it's fun!.

The only thing that bugs me a little are the controls... one you understand them you can play without problems, but they are a bit disperse trough the keyboard, maybe a better layout they could be great.

Nice work!

Developer

Thanks a lot! :)

I'll give a thought to the control scheme.

Submitted

It's a nice dungeon crawler with nice dungeon design and it was definitely fun to play. But would be nice, if i don't have to change the screen resolution in order to play the game ;)

Developer(+1)

Thanks, I'm glad you like it!

Got it, I already have some ideas how to fix the visibility problem :)

Submitted

Nice game, playing area could be slightly large.

Please check our too: https://itch.io/jam/gmtk-2019/rate/461656

Developer

Thanks!

I'm on it.

Submitted

Had a lot of fun playing your game! 

Developer

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it :)

Submitted

Fun dungeon crawler, like other comments though it was diffult to see the character on the screen, so a higher resolution would be nice.

But I really enjoyed that, I'll keep a copy on my desktop and play it some more over the week!

Developer

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it :)

Submitted

I agree w/one of the comments regarding  the Camera being too far. Besides that, this was a neat little dungeon crawler. Had a blast playing through the mazes- great job! 

Developer

Thanks! I'll put some thought on camera all right.

Submitted(+1)

Oldschool dungeon crawler! Window was a little small for me.

Developer

Oh, I'll probably add the fullscreen mode later.

Submitted

The camera could be closer the the character, I like the feeling of those old text adventure, telling you your facing directions and all

Developer

Thanks!

I'll definitely invent something about the camera after the jam ends.

Viewing comments 25 to 6 of 45 · Next page · Previous page · First page · Last page