Thank you!
It’s a very engaging and evocative setting and concept. I’ve been making TTRPG adventure for friends and family for years, but nothing has ever resonated with me enough to try to make it for other people.
Until now!
Making strategic choices is not the same as making tactical choices.
In many games, you make both strategic as well as tactical choices.
For example, in a game like Warcraft, you define both the strategy (what types of units you will play, where the groups of units go) as well as tactical (what individual units do during a battle, flanking maneuvers, etc.)
In games like this, you take the role solely of a strategist. You guide the overarching strategy of the game, but an actor (in this case a computer program) takes over the tactical play; it makes the moment-to-moment decisions.
We actually can’t describe these games too thoroughly, as they’re part of a game jam which requires little to zero communication between participants in the jam.
The next person to pick this up can’t communicate directly with the original dev of the game, and they can’t communicate forward, either. :D
I interpret it as “Don’t explain what the game is or what it could be”.
I’m leaving comments in my coe explaining how certain things work and why, but not with the intention of guiding the paths of future devs, just as a way to say “I made this relatively complex thing and it’s important that you know how it works if you’re going to make something with it”.
I don’t think that’s against the spirit of the jam. I have a few hours before I need to worry about that, though.
I liked the concept, but it could have used a map. Maybe one that fills in over time. That, or it need to not be an endless runner. If it were me controlling it, I could make a map as I went.
In any case, well executed! I got stuck a couple times, and I never actually finished, but I still really liked it.
Yeah, I ended up dropping a few things (like a tutorial) due to time. We just recently had our second kid, so time is…well, even more limited than usual!
Thanks for giving it a try, glad you liked it!
P.S. I added a few more lines to the game description to help people understand a bit better. Hopefully that helps.