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Hogwrath's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Overall | #3 | 4.121 | 4.121 |
| Adherence to the Theme | #4 | 4.091 | 4.091 |
| Design | #4 | 4.182 | 4.182 |
| Originality | #9 | 4.091 | 4.091 |
Ranked from 11 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
I'm on board everything except 2 spells per mini/game.
You could just make one of them basic and the other one more powerful and single use. I agree some walls or terrain would improve the game.
Not sure also about timing. I guess you tested it but 8 turns, mov 4, 25 tiles long board seems scarce.
Thank you for your feedback! I do agree with you regarding distances, they need some tweaking but bear in mind that each miniature can actually move twice per activation if they are not engaged with an enemy making it on average much more feasible to reach the Altar. I am waiting for the votes to be over to update the game with your feedbacks :) Regarding the spells, I hear what you say but they were designed accordingly so I am afraid they'd get a tad too powerful if one could use them at every activation. I'll have a look at it and see whether they should be changed to permit multiple usage or if I should instead a set of simple spells that one can decide to pick before the game. Anyways thank you very much for this comment, I'll keep you updated when these changes will be implemented !
I was very inspired and I couldn't help myself fixing and adding stuff to my game, I hope it isn't considered cheating or something D:
Gonna start by saying that I love that nothing dies. I do. I think it's on-point for the game's theme and it's a bold choice for a minis game. The objective is good, too. Your writing is concise and clear. You did a great job, here.
I think the game would be a lot more interesting with walls. Having a lot of open space makes it feel like an arena, and just having even 3-4 rooms, especially if they're all connected to the central room and each other, is going to deepen the tactical thinking and the usefulness of some spells.
If you're going to have a grid you have to have rules for diagonal movements. It should be noted that the biggest issue with grids is that diagonal movements allow for models to move much greater distances. This will be an especially exasperated issue in your game, because it's all about movement.
I love the big monster making things rough for players, but I can imagine situations where a player finds the Talisman early, then the monster keeps the other player at bay. Or, worse, the monster has no effect on the game at all. Your monster behavior could use some tweaking. Punishing the losing player by having the Monster go after the team without the Talisman is going to be a feels bad moment, but also leads to a less interesting game. A way to make the Monster affect things in addition to bashing would be good, too.
I think the IGO-UGO system you've got is a disservice to your design. Alternating Activations would allow for players to react to one another, would allow players to interrupt the plans of others, and presents a more fluid situation. It also decreases downtime and makes your game feel faster and more chaotic while increasing the tactical depth.
One last thing before spells. Not a huge fan of the Talisman pick-up being random. At least, not without something mitigating that randomness. I thought for sure I'd see an auto-pick-up option from the students but did not. Adding one would add a nice wrinkle into the design.
Spells: I dislike that they're once-per-game. Changing it will require some fine-tuning, of course. I think it's perfectly serviceable as is, and this is just preference, but if I'm going to play a game about wizards, I want to do wizarding.
Some spells are clearly just better than others. Without rooms to funnel pieces into specific places I think Magmatic Rift is going to be kind of pointless, for example.
I know you wanted me to go over ranges, but I just can't get a sense for that without sitting down to playtest it, and I think you've got bigger fish to fry at the moment without trying to square that away. What I said earlier stands, of course, and I really do think this could wind up being a pretty fun game.
Wow man, thank you very much for this feedback! Multi-room is actually a great idea, I'll wait for the end of rating to update it with additional rules but that's a neat idea. I actually forgot to mention that students could move in any direction, although I do agree with you it makes diagonal movements more valuable than orthographic ones.
Regarding the Talisman, I was considering adding more chests so that it'd decrease the risks of a player finding it too early, or even replace it by making the Talisman somehow droppable by the Monster if stunned (that'd make sure that both teams are staying close to it).
Alternative activation is also a good idea :)
Regarding the auto-pick-up option for one of the student types (I guess the Wind student, as it is designed to be the one running around carrying the Talisman) is also a neat idea.
About the spells, I hear what you say. At first I wanted players to feel that spells are somehow valuable and should not be used too lightly (and because of the way the spells were designed, the game could get a tad too chaotic if they could be reused at every activation).
Thank you for your time, I do appreciate it. These feedbacks will help me improving on this game and hopefully designing a better one for the next jam!
Np. I think if you included a way to "pass" the Talisman you could use the Tree/root/earth (? I can't remember their name atm) to guarantee pickup, then send it to the Wind player to "run" it. I don't think there's a ton of great reasons to take a Root wizard, currently.
Love the theme of this one! Quite engaging. This just seems like it would be fun to play and I look forward to trying it.
Thank you very much mate! Same goes for your game, I really enjoy the way you used tarot cards!