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A jam submission

El DieritchView game page

Battle 'til you die
Submitted by ChrisDBrown (@ChrisDeeBrown), meghan0n (@meghan0n) — 1 hour, 47 minutes before the deadline
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El Dieritch's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Presentation#4534.0294.029
Overall#14643.2553.255
Creativity#16423.2653.265
Enjoyment#30202.4712.471

Ranked from 34 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

How does your game fit the theme?
We combined choice and chance to make an RPG where your moves are determined by a roll of the dice.

Did your team create the vast majority of the art during the 48 hours?

Yes

We created the vast majority of the art during the game jam

Did your team create the vast majority of the music during the 48 hours?

Yes

We created the vast majority of the music during the game jam

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Comments

Viewing comments 22 to 3 of 22 · Next page · Last page
Submitted(+1)

I don't get how boosts work? If I place them on a die and roll it, whatever (non-boost face) it rolls will be boosted? Also while ADH is a nice mnemonic, it can be a bit awkward to use.

I looks great and I think there is definitely something here,  it's just that the combat is a bit confusing for me!

Developer

Thanks for playing! Yes, maybe the gamepage or instructions didn't explain it clearly enough, but you are boosting the specific roll that you have set. Cheers!

Submitted(+1)

This is a fun RPG dice rolling game! It looks good and is pretty fun to play! Good Job!

Submitted(+1)

Solid presentation, nice music. It lack a little bit of something to be more strategic.

Right now I am 84% (5 on 6) sure of what will be my next roll as I put all face with same choice except one. More constraint would be better I think.

But overall a very nice entry, well done!

Developer (1 edit)

Thanks for playing! I guess the strategy comes from the fact you'll definitely lose if you do that, hah. Glad you enjoyed the style! :)

Submitted

oh wait a minute, I maybe did not understand one thing. The boost is only working on the current roll and if you roll it, it bring nothing?

In my first run I understood that the boost was for all roll, so I boost myself and then I heal and attack

Developer(+1)

Hi! Yes, the boost is only for your current roll, so you need to balance having a weak attack or heal with a 5/6 chance of success, or a strong attack with a 1/6 chance of success (or anything in between).

Submitted(+1)

I'm always a fan of a turn based battler and I love the art and sound of this one. It was also well implemented in the short timeframe of the Jam with an easy to use UI. I had fun with it. Kudos! 

Because I love turn based battlers, and if you will indulge me, I will provide some constructive feedback. 

  • The current setup has limited tactical options because the only resource at play is HP and Turn. As such, the optimal strategy is trading a Turn resource for enemy Damage with the optimal amount is some fixed mix of Attack + Boosts. Whilst there is RNG, it does not really impact this strategy. While Heal is technically different to Attack when enemy picks Defend, it is still another version of trading Turn for HP - and if you have the option to deal Damage versus gain HP, dealing Damage is almost always superior. Defence is entirely useless as it is never helps you achieve Damage. In fact, in each combination of Defend/Defend, Defend/Attack, and Defend/Heal you either Draw or Lose with respect to the player/enemy HP balanceby choosing Defend. 
  • A very similar game to your game, but that implements additional resources is https://itch.io/jam/gmtk-jam-2022/rate/1624181. Whilst it has less appealing aesthetics than your game, it has a deeper layer of strategy by introducing both offensive and defensive stats, and having the player decision last 3 rounds. This forces the player to a) think strategically about trading Turn (as you have to consider the next 3 trades in one go) and b) as each resource is needed to achieve Damage and Defence it provides a rock-paper-scissors where there can never be a single action that is always best.

Anyway, if you like turn based battlers like I do, I hope you have fun in the Jam - there are plenty of games out turn based battlers. In fact, if you have time and like to play battlers could I request you have a look at my submission, I would be interested in your feedback. My game is definitely not as pretty as yours, but I tried a different approach to add strategy. I relied on input rather than output randomness. That is, the dice roll first and then you have to decide which one of many options in a skill tree are most beneficial to your winning strategy. As the enemy does the same, I hoped to force the player to prioritise based on a) what they roll and b) what development path the enemy is taken (e.g. high ATK, high DEF) so there is no optimal strategy. It's definitely not polished or balance as I'd like, and has an occasional bug, but I'd be interested in your take on it and whether you think it achieves these goals.

Developer

Thanks so much for your detailed feedback! I don't have any real experience in game or UI design so I'm glad you enjoyed the style & presentation. I will definitely check out your game, I do enjoy a battler :)

Submitted(+1)

Fantastic art and sound. I wish the combat was a little more involved. Very well polished game. Great job.

Submitted(+1)

Solid concept with some great presentation :)

I did like the way you could pick A/H/D/+ to influence the randomness; although I think maybe the H/D could be beefed up a little as they often resulted in a net-loss for me :/

Submitted

nice pixel art. not succeeded pass the seconde moster. tip?

Developer(+1)

Take more risks! Every boost you choose makes your attacks and heals multiple times more powerful. If you put 1 attack and 5 boosts on and roll the attack you're likely to one-hit-kill your opponents.

Submitted(+1)

Congrats on completing your jam game!

So, I love the idea of building your own die for combat. And the spritework is really cute and wonderful. But I felt a lack of direction. I didn't really why I would want anything other than attack, and when I tried to use D and H, they felt like they were always less than the damage I received anyway, making it feel pointless. That lead to me repeating the same inputs every turn which just ended up feeling monotonous and unrewarding. 

Very cool idea, but it looks like you didn't get the time to maybe flesh out and play test. There definitely potential there!

Keep making cool games!

Submitted(+1)

Nice game! Feels super polished and the art is lovely. I agree with the comments that a bit more restrictions for the player would prevent players (like me) from simply putting the action I wanted next in 5/6 sides.  Maybe the enemy type could add some limitations for the player's roll? But overall, amazing job!

Submitted(+1)

I really like the pixel art and presentation!

Submitted(+1)

A very nice game with lots polish. The art was phenomenal and fits well with the entire theme. The design for Eldieritch I especially love and the music is really good as well making me even more engaged. I feel like adding more restriction to the player would be good because it encourages players to only pick either full attack or full heal removing the whole chance aspect of the game. A very impressive game you made in just two days even with that small problem. It has lots of potential with great visuals and audio. Good luck on the jam!

Submitted(+1)

Cute style and nice mechanic!

Submitted(+1)

Really nice game! I loved the art style and the fact that you could choose the outcome of the dice. I did feel that I ended up just selecting all attack or all healing rather than selecting a variety of different outcomes because I wanted to choose what I wanted but other than that a really cool concept, well done :)

Submitted(+1)

Really liked the art and presentation! I feel like gameplay could use a little more strategic depth, though. For example, the player could roll multiple dice at once and some of them could synergize (e.g. 2 attacks rolls can deal extra damage or maybe some elemental reactions?). Also, you could dip into the autochess mechancis a bit, allowing the player to freeze a dice to retain some control. Otherwise, a really lovely game, good job!

Submitted(+2)

Really cool concept, weighing up how many boosts to add to your roll is fun. I think if the player rolled more than one dice per round it would be even more strategic as then they could aim to get both an attack and a defence while also boosting both? Just thinking about that makes me a excited haha, I really hope you continue work on this after the jam.

Gorgeous pixel art, really crisp and nice with perfect colour choices. The enemies being different sized die was also a very witty addition and how each of them was turned into an enemy was very fun and creative. My one issue with the presentation was I wish attacks had more feedback/juice.

Wonderful work, really hope you keep updating post-jam!

Developer(+1)

Oh wow, thanks so much! I like your idea about having multiple dice - I think given more time & a wider scope we'd have you setting up a number of dice before the battle and then just picking which you want to roll each round. After a while I feel like you'd get used to a set pattern of choices anyway, so this would maybe make combat feel a bit snappier while keeping the tactical choice element.

Submitted(+2)

This concept has great potential for a full release. The art is also amazing!!

Submitted(+1)

Interesting concept! I think you nailed the art and music. The game looks and feels great. From a game design perspective I found there was little incentive to actually change up your strategies, perhaps you could've forced the player to use each option once, and make the numbers on the dice random. I also found the controls to be a tad unintuitive, but I figured it out after about a minute or two. Overall though, neat game with great polish, good stuff.

Submitted(+1)

I like the art and the concept is fun! Though I do wish you could keep the dice you set for the next round instead of having to set it every time.

Submitted(+1)

The art is stunning and 100% fit with the theme! Checking the comments after the playtrought I noticed that I was "cheating" too seting all the faces as the input that I wanted (except one because the limitation)

Submitted(+1)

Looks awesome. I have to say, I was not playing the game correctly, I just put all dices on whatever I wanted to get the outcome I wanted. Maybe it would be better to limit the things we can put on side of dices? Also, it would be really nice if the setting wouldn't go away after roll, set just one and roll.

Hm now that I think of it, the game would be really cool, if You would first prepare a dice for a fight, and then the fight would go without player input. That way You would have to strategize the game at the beginning and later see how well it went. Correct, optimize, fight, repeat.

Developer (1 edit)

Thanks for playing! 

If I'm understanding you correctly, then this is the intended way to play! You need to balance setting, for example, 4 attack and 2 boost, which gives you a 4/6 chance for the roll to land on attack, or setting 2 attack and 4 boost, which gives you a 2/6 chance for the roll to land on attack. The 2/6 attack will be much stronger than the 4/6 attack, so you're balancing whether to opt for a strong attack or a more probable attack. You also cannot set 6 of the same actions, so there will always be an element of chance. Hope that clarifies!

Submitted (2 edits) (+1)

But still I can do something like this which just gives me 1/6 chance of failing. Picture is not displaying in comment but I meant: A A A A A and D.

If You want to know what I mean, check out submission number 1615852, I think they nailed it.

Developer

Thanks for clarifying! We've balanced it so that the 1/6 chance of failing results in a very weak attack, and you'll be killed first if you only ever do that option. I'll check out that submission.

Viewing comments 22 to 3 of 22 · Next page · Last page