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Great video, it's so cool that you're playing through all the submissions!!

I feel that the tutorialisation in Loose Ties may have let you down a little bit (tutorials are no fun in a youtube video anyway!). Thought I'd let you know that I've improved a few things to make that first playthrough a bit smoother, just in case you do revisit the game. Thanks again ((:

That’s very helpful, thank you!

In most of my recent runs the bad vibe rooms have felt doable because you can usually guess a bad vibe guest quickly to gain energy and then leave as soon as possible. The persona spawn rates are weighted now too, so if you get a very bad room it becomes more likely to get a very good room shortly after. I do think it’s too punishing at the moment though, trying to tune it to be more friendly now. The ex buff maybe have been a misstep lol.

If you do end up playing some more I’d love to hear what your rough win/loss rate is, that’ll help with tuning :))

(Just a side note on the weighted spawn rates - they shouldn’t affect deduction at all because only the possible personas are weighted, the actual personas are still chosen uniformly.)

Really enjoyed this!! Hovered right in the stressful sweet spot where I was locked in the whole time. Feel like I'm slowly learning some techniques for common situations so I can't wait to play some more to see if I improve.

All of the customisation on the visuals is lovely too. Nocturne forever.

this town ain't big enough for the one hundred and one of us

Ah this is great! The movement is so strange at first but I love it now. The way that manoeuvring around enemies on one side of the board spawns enemies on the other side is so cool, gives that feeling that every problem you run into is kind of your own fault.

The in-game art is really charming and the LABEL ART ARE YOU KIDDING ME. Levels of swag hitherto unseen.

Very funny twist at the end lol

Match 3 with no refills had a surprising amount of depth! Really cool game :))

Hey, no one talks about the guy who flew a comfortable distance from the sun lol

That's all super helpful, thank you!! Definitely need some way to more precisely communicate those details. The lonely thing may actually have been a bug! At some point there was an issue where the NPCs wouldn't update their vibe on the first turn which was very confusing lol.

Thank you for taking the time to let me know about this stuff! Very excited to try out your entry in the next couple of days ((:

Hey, thank you so much for the lovely feedback! I'm really glad it clicked for you in the end.

If you had any examples of behaviours that were unintuitive to start with I would love to hear it! I'm reworking the tutorial at the moment so I can iron out those kinds of kinks (:

That's fair! I have a couple of feelings about the leaderboard stuff. 

I didn't want to get too specific with the scores while the game is being tuned. Even over the last few days, small changes to the game make big changes to the scores you're able to get.

Even once the game has settled though, I think it'd be good for the very top scores to feel a little bit impossible.  For one, there's a chance that this pushes someone to break the game, which I would find entertaining. More importantly, the game is trying to create a feeling of chasing an escalating pleasure. I'm still working it out, but I think that players repeatedly failing in pursuit of a score that could be impossible might be a part of the intended thematic experience.

With that said though, once the tuning settles down I will adjust most of the scores so they're achievable!

Tysm! Have really enjoyed chatting about each of them with you :))

My best post-gossip score so far. The hearts are flying now 😎

Hell yeah, nice score 😎

That's some really great feedback, thank you! Afaik not being able to reach guests that are diagonal to you is one of the "spices" of traditional roguelikes (I think its usually called parity or polarity?). Its been really interesting figuring out how much of that spice to include.

Had also realised that making every party a huge bummer was pretty pessimistic, so I'm glad the vibes are better now!

Another small update today makes boogie a renewable resource. This should help out with the parity issues a little bit.

Haha you've got the influences dead to rights, thank you for playing!

That's very kind, thank you!!

Ah nice, I'm glad the new scoring is making things feel more intense! Thanks for letting me know.

I've just uploaded a new version which should (hopefully) be the last of the big system changes. The moment-to-moment tactics for getting hearts should be more interesting now.

Oh no! Might need to add a confirmation. Still not a bad score!!

It could have been for the best anyway, if you fail a room the score gets discarded.

no rest for the GOAT 😔

first attempt at the new scoring system! chickened out under absolutely zero pressure

Just a little heads up, I made an update today that changed scoring and a few other systems. It should hopefully make it a little more open ended and engaging. If you do end up picking it up again I'd love to hear what you think :)

(I'll also keep a link to the original version on this page so it's not lost)

oh my god look at em go!!! im pretty sure thats the first ever 14100+, congrats!!

Number 2 on the leaderboard, nice one!!

I have some plans for a post-jam version that should make the score chasing a bit more engaging.

tysm!! congrats on getting through it ((:

Such a cool entry for the jam!

The illustrations are obviously to die for, and give such a lovely character to the project. I really like the idea too, the vibe of a tight and simple tactics game powered by dice is really compelling. If you guys decide to take it any further I can't wait to see where it goes!

a rat broke my crown so I killed his brother to take its top hat and that felt like a fair trade.

I find the snake so charming, especially the squiggly animation. Its fun figuring out the different item effects and trying to navigate with an increasingly awkward body lol. Really cool game!

So much meat on the bone here! I love how entangled everything is, where starting a spell swaps the world, swapping the world unlocks certain movement options, and certain movement options are need to cast spells. It creates a nice knot that has completely melted my brain lol. Excited to spend some time improving at it (: 

Gorgeous style and a unique setting! I found some of the set pieces and enemies really unsettling. I'm not very good at roguelikes but I'm excited to come back and finish it!!

genius (:

This is so sick!! the generative sound stuff works so well in the worlds, the atmosphere is great. I love how alien it feels trying to bend the automaton to your will.

Oooo if you have any recommendations of other game poems that you like I’d love to hear them!

Poetry in games has been rattling around my mind a surprising amount lately. Gameplay loops and poetry both share this trait of rewarding repetition and study, I’d love to explore that at some point.

This is sick!! I know I mentioned it on bluesky but the sprite stacking looks so good. Having to squash zombies to get points and making the zombies damage the car was really neat. I love how even though the map stays the same, there's this constant ebb and flow between wanting to hit the zombies and wanting to avoid them. Took me a second to figure out the drift mechanics but damn do they feel cool 😎

This is the best I've been able to do so far. One day I'll crack 100K. 

Me and my gf will often play point and click games together, voicing the different characters ourselves. I literally can't think of a better fit for that than something like this. Its such a cool idea, can't wait to see where you take it!

I really enjoyed this. Its a very potent depiction of an experience I've only had a few times in my life - being awake in the city before everyone else, and having nowhere to be. I love how at times you play the eye, wandering around the skyline, looking for something that might provoke a thought. I found it really striking that as the lights are turning on one by one throughout the game you can digest each one, but when they turn on all at once towards the end they stop communicating to you.

Really cool experience, I don't think I've played a game poem before so thank you for introducing them to me! 

Hahaha I know exactly what you mean, I really love being in spots where you have to decide whether you can intervene and fix the vibe or whether you’ve just gotta leave the situation alone.

I’m glad that you enjoyed the bad vibe meter thing! To be honest with you I feel that its one of the weaker parts of the design at the minute. The numbers get big and move slowly so it lacks an immediacy that I suspect would make the game and theme resound a bit more. It’s something I’d like to revisit after the jam!

Ty for playing! I hope the memories of your 20s were welcome ones (its about 50/50 on fun/embarrassing for me lol)

welcome to the leaderboard btw 😎

Thank you!! I’m hoping that moving through the party starts out awkward and claustrophobic and becomes a little bit more natural as you play. Something like a memoir to my gangly teenage self lol.

and the first leaderboard entry from my gf! (Lauren HS)

Here's where we're at 😎

Such a lovely game!! Its designed with a very generous touch, feels like it just wants to grab you by the hand and show you delightful things. 

Super gripping, by the second or third area I was being pulled through by no will of my own. Very direct in its writing which feels more necessary as our times become less subtle. Sorry I'm late to the party, but thank you for making this (: