Let’s try something different here! Rather than giving opinions on this game (aside from saying that I love the heck out of it, and your art is incredible as always!), I’m gonna actually share my play!

I got: a domino game (😅) for up to two players (OMG YES!) that feels emotional, yet it also feels serious. Goodness, that feels EXACTLY like something I’d make, I couldn’t have chosen better if I tried. I immediately had the idea for a domino game in which you want to focus on two aspects of your life, but if you can’t connect the dominos to those spaces, you start getting “distracted” by other stuff in life. At the end, you look at the layout and see how you did.

I wanna make this into a game actually, and since I’m trying to make a bunch of stuff for Minimalist TTRPG Jam 4, that’ll work perfectly! I might even get it out this week, we’ll see lol

The one word I used to describe the game is “balanced” because the goal of the game should be to balance the aspects you want in the game. But I also used the d20 to get a theme and I came up with “weapons/magic.” So maybe you’re balancing weapons and magic, and maybe these are metaphors for life: weapons being things that you do, and magic being things you think.

No, the game doesn’t need a GM; the players are two people who want this person to live their life to the fullest, but have different definitions of what “to the fullest” means; I imagine answering prompts throughout the game while placing dominos in place; you do them by placing the dominos; there’s an overarching story but players define a lot of it themselves; and I’m implementing the themes (mine and the game’s) via the two halves (which may become more than two lol) taking up space on the table via the dominos.

Oh my, and there’s a challenge lol, but the result actually worked perfectly with what I wanted: “Make your game fully print-and-play.” So I can make my own digital domino set and then people can print it and use that, they don’t need to own any. Which is great, because I don’t own any myself lol

I really like this, and I legitimately plan to use it again in the future. Heck, maybe I’ll use it every week or two for Minimalist TTRPG Jam 4 and make the ones I’m interested in! I’ll definitely credit The Dev Developer with the challenge, of course :D

- ✨Beth

This would be perfect for someone with creator’s block or just starting out. I enjoy the way this is set up. It gently walks the player through the creative process of really thinking through a game idea. Beth did a quick little game dev inspo zine for the hyper one hour game jam at one point (Just Good Cookin’). It works well for someone looking for a random challenge. But I really like how yours goes much deeper than just a randomized challenge generator. The questions set forth really get someone to make design decisions with purpose and to connect with intention on their decisions when they create. 

Note: Your Game Type d20 table has 22 options. The extra 2 being a repeat of prompt 1. 

I also really enjoyed the variety in your prompts, they cover a ton of options. It’s cool that there is a huge potential for mixing things into something I probably never would have combined on my own. That leads to an exciting creative space.

~Angel

I wish I had this tool kit at the beginning of brainstorming for the jam, because you may be subjected to my 4+ player scary, thoughtful LARP game about openings and closings (where the end is never the end). I think this a clever utility for early game ideation, especially when I have to work quickly like in jams! Well done.  

So, The Dev Developer Game Jam.  When?

This game really helped me when I started the jam myself. While eventually I did go with my own unhinged idea, it was really helpful to go through this experience of "building" a game like that. It felt like a really nice structure to build my ideas upon. Thank you!

This was a great game idea generator. I loved how creative and varied the different options were and am always a fan of rolling on tables. Love the challenge of being pushed to create something outside of my comfort zones. Great job, thanks!

This was so fun and really thought-provoking / inspirational as well! I worked my way through the prompts and ended up with an idea for a game I could genuinely imagine making, and the art and the tone of the writing really tie it all together :) Congratulations on making something so unique and useful :)