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A jam submission

Goblin GamblerView game page

Gamble your way out of gambling debts!
Submitted by BirdCat Nate, BirdCat Thatcher — 25 minutes, 41 seconds before the deadline
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Goblin Gambler's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Overall#44.0604.060
Concept#44.1384.138
Presentation#54.1384.138
Use of the Limitation#84.1384.138
Enjoyment#93.8283.828

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

Team members
BirdCatNate, BirdCatThatcher

Software used
Unity

Use of the limitation
You bet money on matches in the fight pit! Be conservative with your bets, or chance it all on one match! After betting - you play as the fighter you put money on. (No RNG tho)

Cookies eaten
We overdosed on diet coke!

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

This was probably the best implementation of the theme and limitation I've seen. Lots of games, including my own, picked a genre that didn't need RNG like a platformer. But really I feel it just took away from the games rather than adding something new.

In your game the fact that the bet outcomes aren't RNG and are replaced by you doing the fighting is absolutely great and is a way in which a game genre that normally relies on RNG (gambling) is given a creative change, via the limitation, which actually adds to the experience, rather than removing.

I think the game could do with polish, but that's understandable for a game jam. Things like audio, dialogue that is the same thing over and over (when you win/lose with shop keeper) that is non-skippable, balancing as currently I found that the ghost just dominated everything so much that I felt the most optimal course of action was to bet all my money and win small amounts each time as the ghost haha, adding content like different arenas (so fighters have different odds in different places, like in an arena without lava the ghost might be less effective etc), maybe the choice between multiple bets to choose from etc. But these are all things that can be done/added reasonably easily, the core idea is solid and well executed.

Very nice job!

Developer

Hey man, I appreciate the in-depth reply! I'm glad you liked the game, and the underlying idea behind it.

Bugfixes and polish are coming very soon. Balance is a hard one too, but we also have some ideas to add some more depth to the game so keep an eye out!

Submitted(+1)

Fun game and concept! I think it's really cool to be able to fight as the unit you bet for.  (Note to self, never bet everything on the idiot >.>;;)

Like some others have said cutting out the walking animation would be nice, or maybe giving us control of the goblin to to talk to the shopkeep ourselves would work too!

Great job! ^_^)b

Submitted(+1)

Very cool idea on removing the RNG from betting by letting you control the action yourself :D!

(+1)

Fun game. Could use a bit of balance / randomization (though I know you couldn't for the limitation for now).

Check out my review of your game at https://www.twitch.tv/scalphamission

Developer (1 edit)

Hey man, thanks for letting me know! The video gameplay + live feedback was really useful - it has a lotta good suggestions. Sound, randomization, balance, skippable cutscenes, etc. The no RNG rule kinda hurt because we had a cast of 7 characters but two of the better ones don't get seen because they're in the later end of the cast.

As for the gambling mechanics, I'm coming up with ideas to make it more in-depth while also not letting the player risk it all in one bet (cause then the margin for error is set by the player, and if they make one bad decision they lose the game on the spot which I think isn't very fun). Keep an eye out for updates!

Also I hate to disappoint but I didn't make the art :'(   -   there was a credits screen in the game but you can find the art I used for most of the game here: https://analogstudios.itch.io/

Submitted(+1)

Great game,  me encanta su diseño

Submitted(+1)

Great game! It's funny that our game ideas were so similar. I like that the player controls who they bet on in the battle, lots of fun. 

Submitted(+1)

I agree with others. Just some sounds please. It’s a little effort but it adds a lot of enjoyment. Otherwise, impressive!

Developer

Heyo - thanks for the feedback! Sounds are on the way :)

Submitted(+1)

Awesome Idea, nice concept, cute presentation. 

I would love to have sound for the Game that's the only im missing and have to complain about!!!

You should make a Full game out of it.


Good work!

Developer

I'm glad you liked it!

Submitted(+1)

Seriously, what a neat idea! Also funny - of course I was gonna take those low, low odds. And... go broke right away (annnnnd... a in couple different matches after that, lol). Hey, the game tried to warn me. I could see this being a fully-fledged game on steam, great submission.

Submitted(+1)

I love the humor and the art and the story in this game!!  This is such a cool idea -would love to play a full game like this -really awesome work!! :D

Developer(+1)

Thank you so much :D

Submitted(+1)

Dragon battle was very fun

Developer

Dragonfire go brrr

Submitted(+1)

Same here as what Manbo said, I liked Ghost the most. Great game. all 5s

Developer

Thank you!

Submitted(+1)

I absolutely destroyed it with the Ghost. The only one that came close for me was the Necromancer guy. Really awesome game! You definitely came up with a unique work-around for the limitation. Could used some more sound or music though!

Developer(+1)

I'm glad you enjoyed it! Do you have any recommendations for creating sound effects? I've heard of Bosca Ceoil as a good tool for creating music, but I haven't heard of anything similar for sound effects (like explosions, spooky ghost stuff, sword swings, etc.)

Submitted

For me, for jams, unless I need a really really specific sound effect, I just go with music or sound packs. I'm honestly pretty new to making sounds, so I just use Audacity and a mic. For example, in Leafsticuffs the sound Leaf makes when he lands a punch is actually me hitting a garbage bag.

Cafofo has some great sounds in the Medieval Combat Sounds pack that might work for a game like yours!

(+1)

I absolutely loved this game. It was fun to bet the entirety of my wallet until my eventually loss and bankruptcy. Amazing job!

Developer (1 edit)

You have a gambling problem, dummy :P

I'm glad you enjoyed it :)

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

Great game! I really liked how you fit the theme without RNG.

Submitted(+1)

Great Game! One thing I would change is to make it more obvious on how to wager, I was clicking for a while just realized that I had to type in the amount lol.

Developer

Heyo - thanks for playing! The game could definitely use a better tutorial.

Submitted(+1)

Enjoyed this quite a lot. Here's a list of things I liked about this game:
- Well defined story and clear motivation.

- Multiple unique characters for with arena style gameplay. And you  get to choose who to play with.

- Very clever use of the limitation.

What I'd add would be a bit more sounds and ability to make faster cutscene skip, since I replayed this a bunch of times.

Developer

Heyo!
Thank you so much for the feedback!

Submitted(+1)

I really enjoyed the game but I have a question, did you choose not to make it an html game or was it because you didn't know how to? I feel like more people would be willing to play the game if they didn't have to download it first.

Developer (2 edits)

I've built Unity games for WebGL/HTML before. I ran out of time for this jam.

I appreciate the feedback!

Developer

I uploaded a WebGL version!

(+1)

The idea is absolutely awesome and dragon is really fun because you can trick him to shoot himself.

Developer

I'm glad you liked it :D

Submitted (3 edits) (+1)

Dragon is overpowered, I won every battle with him. Betting on the favoured fighter seems to always result in success. I also wish there was an option to skip dialogue and animation of walking to arena and back. Nonetheless, great game overall, 10/10. 

Developer(+1)

Dragon is definitely a little bit overtuned. And the betting mechanics have some room for improvement. The idea behind it was you get more profit if you pick a worse-off character, so the player is incentivised to challenge themselves. However, the balance between the characters is a little bit whack. There's also no match limit so the player can pick a definite winner every time and slowly accrue money without much risk. Some things there should be revisited, for sure.

And you're right, the cutscenes can get annoying xD

Anyways, thanks for playing man!