itch.io

Sorry it was so confusing, hopefully I can clarify some.  Craps seems complicated, but it's not as bad once you get the basics.

>What is "on point"

When the game starts, the "Point" is off.  When a 4, 5, 6 or 8,9,10 are rolled, the point is now "on" that number.  It stays on that number until it is rolled again, or a 7 is rolled.

So here's a breakdown, going through some imaginary rolls to see what happens.

Scenario 1:

>First roll is a 4.  The point is now "On" 4.
>The second roll is a 5.  The point is already "On", so there is no change.
>The third roll is a 4.  The point was "On" 4, and 4 has rolled again.  This is a win!  Yay!

Now the point moves "Off", and the cycle restarts.

Scenario 2:

>First roll is a 11.  Because that is not a 4, 5, 6 or 8,9,10, the point stays "Off"
>Second roll is a 5.  The point is now "On" 5.
>Third roll is a 8.  The point is already "On" 5, so nothing happens.
>Fourth roll is a 9.  The point is already "On" 5, so nothing happens.
>Fifth roll is a 3.  The point is already "On" 5, so nothing happens.
>Sixth roll is a 7.  This is a loss.  Boooo!!

Now the point moves "Off", and the cycle restarts.

I hope that makes sense, here's a youtube video that also explains it: 

Really nice progress, crazy how much things have changed since last DD.  I still have failed to beat the final level, but I got close. The gameplay here is pretty solid, and I don't have much input other then it feels fun, and I enjoyed it.  My only comment is I feel like having +1 hand size would have made things a bit easier for my smooth brain.  All in all though, it all does what it should do.

I do have some small notes which I'll list here:

- I wish the "current" score (40x5) would move to the "total" score somehow.  Or the total score would tick up visually as it gets added in.  At the moment there is nothing that draws my eye from the current score to the total score, and it feels a little odd.

- Along with this, maybe a visual cue when a turn is used?  I could see people missing they have turns at all, and just being confused when they run out.

- I wish I could hover over color tiles and just see what the tile does

- Me when the game ends and I have to hear the record scratch sound All joking aside, it's a bit loud compared to the rest of the game

- I felt a bit low on cash throughout the game, and never really had a chance to build up a big interest base.  I think maybe bumping the gold per level to +5 or even +6 might have an interesting effect.  But maybe that is a modifier I just never saw.

 Keep up the great progress! 

Very cool and fun, as people have said.  Waiter Waiter!  More content please!

Notes:

- Died after getting the shotgun and respawned with the pistol

- I can shoot with the mouse, but can't activate the options menu with it

- I wish I could shoot straight up

- Transitions and endings are SUPA cute

I want 5 levels by next demo day STAT

Awesome, hyped for the update!

There should definitely be a variety of NPCs, although it is just random, so you could end up with a lot of the same.  

I’ll definitly work on the tutorial.  I need to find a good balance of letting the player play, and telling them how stuff works.

thanks for playing!

I’m glad you enjoyed it!  I’ll take any feedback, I’m trying to make it accessible for non-craps players, so please share anything you want!

I think this is a really cool proof of concept.  Could go far with the right systems.

Feedback:

- Transition from animations to gameplay is very fast, makes it hard to react

- all the players move the same speed so there's no ability to catch up

- Kind of related, there's not much play in the middle of the field, it's just running to the goal, then passing/shooting

- Animations could be a *bit* faster, or give players a skip option

- I'm sure it's planned, but stats and RPG abilities would go crazy in a game like this

You've made great progress so far and i see the vision, keep it up!

Ahhh, I didn't realize it was based on a real game!  I remember that from Kaiji.  That makes more sense.

As a fellow dice game creator I wanted to check this out.  It was a little confusing at first, but I think I understood it at the end.
Feedback:

- The point is confusing.  i would stick to easily identifiable scoring

- On the note, why not just total up the dice rolls, then add bonuses on top of them? That would soften the impact of getting nothing. 

- I would check out this game for some inspiration: https://miltage.itch.io/rollcadium

- Abilities are half baked, didn't quite get them.  But thought that rolling certain dice combos to unlock them would be cool

I think the main thing this needs is clarity.  Make dice pulse when they can be locked, take some seconds to show who is winning  and why.  This would also be good for tallying score and showing roll values.

I think there is some fun to be found here, it's just very rough ATM.

Thanks, those tutorials are a little old at this point, I need to go over each one and clean them up.

It's fun!  Kind of wish the other modes had some enemy modifiers, because some of them are kind of boring starting out.

Very fun game!

Apologies for the late reply, I've been away from my PC for the week! 

The next update will have a very simple and new player friendly tutorial, which I hope will help with this!

Thanks for playing!

Apologies for the late reply, I've been away from my PC for the week!

Thanks so much for playing and recording your game-play!  I am working on a simplified tutorial that will hopefully ease players in better, then they can use the full tutorial or help hover to figure out the other bets.  My hope is this will get people to the "fun" faster, then they can learn more about craps as they want.

>What's the payout of gold, I don't think this is explained anywhere, 100$ won = 1 gold?

It's just 10 + level # on win.  And every 5 gold held is +1 interest.  I might make it a little lower in the future.

>I think what's here is a decent execution of a craps roguelike.

This is a very fair review.  and has been my main challenge through development.  People who enjoy craps like the game, but people who have never played it don't seem to get it.  I'm hoping my new tutorial will help people out.

Thanks for playing!

I put the traces in another comment, can upload the entire log file if it helps.

>I'm about to crash out over this log uploader.

Kek, it seems super useful, just a pain in the ass to get working.  I had a really good stats plugin(dead now rip) and even it said on a game crash your data is basically screwed.

Oh yeah whoops, here are the crash logs

First crash

Running Depart From Planet Primary

ERROR: Attempting to update unknown bay -1

   at: push_error (core/variant/variant_utility.cpp:1098)

ERROR: Attempting to update unknown bay -1

   at: push_error (core/variant/variant_utility.cpp:1098)

ERROR: Attempting to update unknown bay -1

   at: push_error (core/variant/variant_utility.cpp:1098)

ERROR: Attempting to update unknown bay -1

   at: push_error (core/variant/variant_utility.cpp:1098)

ERROR: Attempting to update unknown bay -1

   at: push_error (core/variant/variant_utility.cpp:1098)

ERROR: Attempting to update unknown bay -1

   at: push_error (core/variant/variant_utility.cpp:1098)

ERROR: Attempting to update unknown bay -1

   at: push_error (core/variant/variant_utility.cpp:1098)

ERROR: Condition "!is_inside_tree()" is true.

   at: _push_unhandled_input_internal (scene/main/viewport.cpp:3347)

Second Crash:

Running Depart From Planet Primary

ERROR: Attempting to update unknown bay -1

   at: push_error (core/variant/variant_utility.cpp:1098)

ERROR: Attempting to update unknown bay -1

   at: push_error (core/variant/variant_utility.cpp:1098)

ERROR: Attempting to update unknown bay -1

   at: push_error (core/variant/variant_utility.cpp:1098)

ERROR: Attempting to update unknown bay -1

   at: push_error (core/variant/variant_utility.cpp:1098)

ERROR: Attempting to update unknown bay -1

   at: push_error (core/variant/variant_utility.cpp:1098)

ERROR: Condition "!is_inside_tree()" is true.

   at: _push_unhandled_input_internal (scene/main/viewport.cpp:3347)

In game notes

- Make market scrollable

- Give the game an Icon!

- Had a crash after my first planet, hope it got uploaded!

- It'd be fun to be able to kick traders out if I know I can't complete their requests.   Just take the hit early

- Wish auSome exchange could select multiple in one go

- Gold rush never had the next button pop-up, soft-locking me

- Love the failed colony music

- A label on the line graph would be nice, or colors

- Be nice if I could hover resources on the planet screen

- Sadly another crash

After play thoughts:

I've played this before, so I know the gist of the game.  I felt like it was in a really good place balance wise.  I was never soooo rich I was just spamming mine -> sell, but I wasn't poor enough I couldn't do anything.  Also, this makes my modules feel more impactful, which was great.  I still really like the art and music, you should spruce up your itch page with some cool backgrounds or something.  Maybe  a collage of all the planet backgrouns?  IDK

Obviously main criticism is the crashes, which I know has been a problem.  Don't let it get you down, it happens.  I had a major softlock I never realized people hit it this DD.  Other then that, I have no major negative notes then the QOL stuff I mentioned in the game notes.

Keep up the good work!

Gameplay video:  

This is a really solid game already.  I like the tileset, the graphics, and the pacing.  There's also some really good subtle mechanic teaching here, which is super impressive.

I do think I ran into a softlock, see the ending of my recording.  Or maybe I'm a dumb ass.  But the level did not reset to its original state (block not pushed) so there was no way to try anything else.

I wish I could interact with "Z" instead of "enter"

It may be a concession to the modern gamer, but a hint/solution button per level might help with overall player numbers.

Gameplay footage: 

These are good notes, I'll look into them, especially the full screen.  I always play in windowed so I never noticed.

>I managed to beat the game by picking field bonuses and the highest denomination dice available to stack impossible number bonuses on top of that. Therefore, even a newbie like me can pick up the game right away.

Honestly, that's fine with me.  I want there to be broken combos that people *can* get, I just need to make the path there more difficult, and not quite as stable when you get to a super broken build.  I have some ideas, but it's tough to walk between being frustrating and challenging.

Thanks for playing!

In game notes

- Walking noise is a little loud, also could maybe use some pitch shifting?

- I've played before, so I know I need to lock on first, but it'd be great if it locks on to start

- The characters are really funny and cute.  Love the dialog

- Enemies sometimes attack but do no damage?  Are they missing, or maybe a bug?

- I did  use one healing spell, not sure if needed or note

- Would be cool if the Queen had special attacks

After play notes

I still love the atmosphere, characters and the lore that's getting hinted at here.  I see in the comments you're dealing with lots of issues in the tactics engine, which I hope gets better.  That's my main negative feedback is the enemies whiffing attacks.  With that fixed, I think the combat would be a lot more challenging and fun.

Good work, I can see the improvements!

Gameplay video: 

Thanks so much for playing and the in-depth feedback, this is a great list.  I'll respond to what I feel needs it, but this is so helpful!

-Confirmation on buying dice in shop is weird, other items don't have that

This is leftover from when there used to be confirmation, good note to remove it.

>I couldn't find what do my dice do after I bought them (if it's something iconic like 8-sides it's easy but if it's roll frequency not so much)

There *should* be a hover tooltip if you hover long enough.  This is because of legacy stuff where you could sell/buy individual dice.  Will be fixed.

>Consider doing odds as "1 to 1" instead of "1.0 to 1", I know it can be 1.1 or 1.5 and than it's fine but it looks off to me (unless that's some gambler notation I'm not aware of)

Odds should never really even get a decimal, and I could always just expand the fraction.  Great note.

>If it marks me being in + or in - from all bets total if a number rolls than it's fine.

This is a great idea, as well as the third color.  The color is much easier to implement, but a + / - payout is an interesting idea.  

>The Point - I couldn't figure out why does it move when it flips, can't it just flip?

The point is number specific.  So if I set the point on 10, I need to specifically roll another 10 before a 7 to win.  The other numbers still payout, but they don't make the point, and win the pass line.  

I wonder if players would have more fun with *just* betting on 2-12 all in the same style, no pass line or other complicated junk. (At casinos this is called crapless craps).  It makes the UI a pain in the ass though.

>Recycler chip - Does it give free re-roll on chips or dice or on something else?

Should make both be 0 Gold when you enter a new shop.  If not it's a bug.

I really can't say thanks enough, this is a goldmine of fixes and things to work on.  I really appreciate it, and thanks for playing!

Yeah I saw this, I'll get a fix for it shortly.

in game notes

- IDK why my mouse is disconnected from the window.  This is pretty awkward

- Experienced weird crash back to main menu

- Kek'd at the bot reciting navy seal's pasta

Post game notes

Yeah it's super fun smashing shit up.  My only big issue was the mouse disconnection, which would cause the game to pause when I clicked out of the window.  Other then that, it's great.  The controls were fun, and it's hilarious smashing shit and flinging yourself into shit.   

I can't wait to see what this turns into, combat and stuff like that will be really interesting!

Gameplay video: 

in-game Notes:

- Music slider mutes after like 10% of the slider

- It'd be cool if I could re-order tiles in my hand, to make the tiles I want to save easier to see

- Game over effect is very loud!

- I kind of wish I got a bit more money

Overall thoughts:

I think this game is very solid.  It's not exactly my cup of tea in the scrabble sense, but I do enjoy these kind of roguelike games.  I think this game hits a lot of those notes, but could push the envelope a bit more.  This is kind of what I mean by  I want more money, so I could build bigger combos and have a bit more space to enjoy my build.  Right now, the game is most fun right in the mid game, when you have space and ability to make big words.  In the late game, when you need the most points, you are kind of scrapping for the last bit of space.

A lot of this is critical, but it's because everything else just works perfectly.   Great job!

Video of gameplay: 

General

• Did you have fun? (Be honest!)

Yes!  It's scrabble which is already kind of fun, with some more on top.

• Was the game too easy or too hard?

A little on the harder side, another token or more money would help.

• How long did you play before stopping?

30-45 minutes.  Played 2 sessions.

Bounties & Perks

• Did you engage with the bounty system?

Only one bounty, but I liked the effect

• Were any bounties too easy or too hard for their tier?

UI / UX

• Was the arrow-and-direction letter placement system intuitive?

Yes

• Was navigating the tabbed shop smooth, or did you avoid checking certain tabs?

Missed the bounty tab at first.

• Were there too many, too few, or about the right number of shop items?

Perfect.  I wish I could buy more.

Music

• Did the music add to the experience?

A bit

• Were there moments when the music felt especially good or distracting?

Not really

• Did you notice the music changes (e.g., shop, last turn)? If so, how did they feel?

I did not notice this.

Thanks a lot for playing!

The tutorial has been a big sticking point for a while now.  I do like the idea of just showing the player the basics at the start, and saying they can get more in the tutorial menu if they want.  Because honestly as long as you can just throw chips down on bets, you can do decently ok, and figure out what you need.

I'm glad you liked the rest though, thanks again for playing!

I had fun with this game, it reminds me of the boat levels in half life somehow, which is a good feeling.  The levels flowed nicely, and I never felt like I didn't know where to go.

Thoughts and comments:

>Some better kind of aiming would feel nice, especially on things like the spear gun

>A few levels felt a little too big, and could maybe use some more hidden collectables to make it feel less bad when you fall off and needing to backtrack

>The enemy variety was nice, and their AI was very solid to play against

>Liked the upgrade system that I saw, felt good when I found one

I like piloting the boat a lot, but it kind of felt like a side note to the gameplay.  Mainly I'd pull up, do the level, then ride the boat out.  I'm sure you have stuff like this planned, but levels were you need to stay on the boat, multi-tasking driving and fighting would be cool.

My main gripe was the final boss (Tribal leader) was way too hard. His final form had an annoying tendency to jump and hit a pillar in the arena, instantly triggering the damage and killing you.  Even then I  could never quite do enough damage to win the fight.  See the footage, I spent probably 20 minutes on him.

Recording of gameplay: 

Welcome back to 6 Ways to 7's 4th Demo day!

DD Blog post: https://axelstems.itch.io/6-ways-to-7/devlog/1023743/as-clear-as-mud

Changelist:

- Reorganized UI (Again) Roll indicator moved to the center of the screen

- Tutorial now has a menu for each bet type.

- Roll indicator is animated when you place bets, making it clear what each bet is doing

- Roll indicator shows loss numbers highlighted in red

- Starting bankroll increased to 300

- Start with 1 of 3 special Chips (WOWEE PICK 1 OF 3 THINGS????)

- Tooltip system (Very barebones needs expanding)

- Difficulty scaling adjusted (slightly easier early, harder later)

- New NPCs and Chips

- More Juice, screenshake, camera zoom wowee

- Tons of bugs fixed

- Tons of bugs added

Nice update, I'm interested to see how the economy changes things.  Also very funny about the telemetry

Thank you so much for all the bugtesting, streaming, and detail feedback!  I'd love to get a link to the VOD when it's up. (Although I did catch some live!)

>Ok! So I got through the tutorial, I wrote down all the stuff I needed to and I have a basic idea of how to crap... I mean how to play craps.

You probably spent more time on the tutorial then anyone else, and it's soooo helpful.  I'm probably going to use some of the notes you took to make the tutorial more clear, and add details in parts that were confusing. 

>With that said, wow did I get a very fun build early on. Got the coin that rerolls a dice if one dice is 1 or 2 but the other isn't, then immediately after I got the dice that only roll 1 through 4 but favour 1 and 2. I started making big wins, as all I needed to do was bet on the 2 and 3 Horn bets, and a safety bet on the double 2 Hardway.

This is a great strategy, and also pretty lucky to get those coins + dice!  I'm glad though, I do want specific combinations to feel very powerful.  Maybe they were a bit *too* powerful in this case, but it's better then previous builds were people complained they had low impact.

>Unfortunately, I was doomed to lose once the required win amount was over $1.8 million.

The scaling gets very high at those later levels haha, even making it to level 15 is really tough.  Getting past level 10 counts as "winning" as far as the demo is concerned, the endless mode is just for crazy big numbers.

>there should be a way to convert your winnings into bankroll, or at least more of your wins should be added to your bankroll.

Right now, any "extra" you earn above the win goal is added back to bankroll.  So if you win 140 at a goal of 100, you get 40 back.  I could definitely look into scaling this at higher levels, maybe give it like 2x per 5 levels or something.

>Oh, also I think one of the coins is bugged.

Yeah, I know what is happening. When I made that chip I only had the place bets, so horn/hardway weren't implemented.  I bet there are more like that honestly...  Good thing to go test.

Thanks again so much for the stream and really in-depth feedback.  It's super helpful and appreciated!

Wow, of course this was on the level right after I stopped testing...  Thank you again!  It should be fixed now! 

Hey thanks a lot for catching that!  It should be fixed now!

Feel free to skip the tutorial too once you get the basics, that's all you need to get started.

This is really cool, and honestly not a bad way to intro people to knots.

thanks for playing and the kind words!

im glad to hear you liked it, especially if you have craps experience:

A graphic for roll distributions is a really good idea.  I’ll see how hard it is to add.  And 12 sided dice just makes hardware not work, which I’m not sure how to fix.

thanks again for playing!  Share it around if you think any craps fans would like it!

>I could understand the basics of placing the bets, and then if the dice rolled on the correct number, I would get it back

That's really all you need!  I do have some ideas for blocking bets, similar to blinds in balatro, so people might have to use other strategies or chips.

Thanks again for playing!

>I set out to play this for 5 mins and sat there for 20+ mins playing it...
This is very high praise!  Thank you!

>even though I did not really know what I was doing

Did the number indicator help at all?  What bets did you make in general?

Thanks for the note about fullscreen, I've fixed that.  And thanks for playing!  I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks so much for playing!  That's really good feedback, IDK why I didn't make NPC's the block specific bets, wouldn't be that hard to send in one's the block the player's best bet.

>Placing very high bets crashes the game: I won a 200000$ bet on 2-2 in round 11 -> this crashed the game

Haha,  yeah I really need to make a max bet or something

Come and don't come bets don't work correctly.

In Game Notes:

• Everything looks good, consistent pixel size, readable text etc.

• Sfx are serviceable
• I like the tone of the professor, it’s funny and engaging
• Gameplay is fun, personally I really enjoy autobattles, and can definitely see the niche for a pokemon style one
• Some slowness when facing gym leaders, but maybe it’s making decisions?
• Maybe some indication of the difficulty of spaces?  It’s easy as a new player to wander into something I am not leveled for
• A bit more of an indicator when to click the ‘mons for upgrade/release
• Weird glitch against Barry where I couldn’t battle him (See VOD)
• I got out scaled at the end of my run

Post Game notes:

This is pretty amazing, I feel like I could see northerlion playing this already.  Maybe it could use a bit more player input in some regards (I saw items mentioned) but it’s a perfectly fun, clean and easy to use/learn auto battler right now.  Great job, I’m sure this is going to blow up.  Hope you don’t get sued!

Gameplay (3rd run):

Crash:

Thanks so much for trying it out!  It's not your fault, lots of people are having issues with the rules.  Just sticking with the field bet is fine!  It is one of the worst bets mathematically, but it's certainly the easiest to understand!

I have fixed that embarrassing typo, thanks for catching it!

Hit a crash playing some more today