I played your Tiny Pack game, and am playing the Dicewood demo on the Steam Deck. I've enjoyed both games and love the direction you've gone in with this idea! The dice rolling mechanic is fun and adds a layer of strategy to each turn that keeps the game engaging. I also love the artwork! The art in Tiny Pack was simpler and made the animals look more cute and innocent; the artwork in Dicewood is darker and gives off the vibe that the animals have gone through some hardship now. I enjoyed seeing how each die changed appearance when upgraded in different ways!
Here are some of my thoughts on the Dicewood gameplay:
It could be because I've played Slay the Spire too much, but the gameplay mechanics and storytelling style quickly started to feel too familiar. I think the cute dice are the most unique part of your game, and finding a way to make them more central to the gameplay will help differentiate it from more established games.
One idea is to develop the dice as characters with personality a bit more and allowing players to interact with them before entering the next room on the map. I'm thinking along the lines of the cult members in Cult of the Lamb whose behavior changes depending on the player's behavior, rather than the cards in Slay the Spire which don't react to anything beyond their direct functions. For example, there could be a function where the more scared a die is, the worse it will roll and the less health it will give you if sacrificed. I realize this might not be the direction you want to go in; it's just my take as someone who's spent many hours on Slay the Spire. I think finding some way to build a greater sense of attachment to the animal dice will make the game feel fresh.
Here are some technical issues I noticed in Dicewood:
- Add controller optimization please! It was very difficult to play using the small trackpad on the Steam Deck which made dragging and dropping the dice difficult. I missed my target a few times because of this.
- This might be an issue specific to the Steam Deck, but some of the icons were obstructed by the tree art on the map. Some of the targets on the monsters were also obstructed by the icons on the right side of the screen (the bone, key, lore icons).
- I found the path difficult to follow because the map as a whole was dark. Maybe add a bit of a glow to the footprints or change the color so it's easier to see.
- Maybe add an option to skip healing at campfires. I think this will add more risk to the player as the game goes on and fights get harder by forcing us to weigh the value of healing vs sacrificing a die. It will also prevent us from having to sacrifice a die unnecessarily if our health is full.
- The descriptions on some of the dice are confusing or inaccurate. Here are a few I noticed:
- The frog says it "replays the dice in front of it" which leads me to think it's going to completely replay the prior die's ability; however, it only gives a single reroll regardless of what die it is.
- The description of the Blue Cat is unclear. I played it a few times and still don't fully understand it's function.
- The description on the Beaver says it adds block if the sum of your dice is greater than 10, but it also gave me a shield when the sum of my dice was equal to 10.
- Some of the elite monsters felt easier than the regular monsters.
Overall, this is an inspiring game with unique art, and I'm excited to see the finished product! I hope you release the completed game on itchio so we can support the platform, but I'll definitely look for it on Steam if it's not available here :)