Cool idea, very polished and really satisfying sound effects. I really like the use of the crank with the different weapons. My only complaint is using the d-pad to slowly move a cursor to aim, it just didn't feel that great to me especially in tandem with the crank movements. I think the game might still be fun if the aiming was locked to each rail and you changed rails by tapping the d-pad, I just think something like that might feel a lot tighter than dragging a cursor around. Really solid overall though!
Michael D'Agostino
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Love the art, sfx and the varying little tunes. The game is super stylized and polished! For some reason it took me a way too long to figure out how to beat level 10, but that might have been a me problem lol.
A minor gripe I have is that I didn't love the feel of the base platforming, IMO it feels a bit heavy and slow, and I think that works better in Raid on Rabbit because the platforming is so rigid that every jump must be pre-calculated; it takes on a whole different flow from a typical platformer, whereas the platforming in Dicey Dicey Devil to me falls awkwardly somewhere between rigid and fluid in comparison. I actually kinda wonder how the dice jumping might have felt if it appeared in RoR!
BUT the levels kept things interesting with quite a few introductions of new mechanics and clever blends with existing ones that kept me having fun most of the time with maybe a few annoying moments. Can't believe the number of interesting levels designed so quickly. Really impressive overall!
Thanks! I hadn't heard of Spellside but it does look pretty similar. I was sorta torn about turning the game into a movement puzzle or having the side facing up be used in a sort of combat mechanic, so the game was almost even more similar, but decided I would not finish in time if I went the combat route lol
I think the idea of rolling to place enemies and items on a fixed set of spaces is interesting and could lead to some strategic gameplay, but it feels a bit too random to strategize. Since the player can't influence their movement or combat in any way, combined with the bonuses that are hugely consequential to the player but also completely random, chance is such a major factor that there isn't much room left for strategy. I think adding some small ways the player could influence their combat and/or movement would go a long way in making the game more fun to replay. Props for the creativity and polished game though!
I was a bit confused at first but it clicked for me after a couple rounds and I started having fun. I really like the real-time repositioning of units, I think it's a fun twist on the usual tower defense. I like the idea of strategizing whether to save dice to spend them efficiently later or spend them sooner for immediate defenses. In the current state it feels a little bit inconsequential how I spent them, at least once I realized that I could heal my units with the cleric. But I think if the game were expanded with more units available at different prices and more different kinds of threats, that might work itself out. Cool game!
I was really impressed with the how ironed out the style of the game is for a jam, really well done there! I think the gameplay has potential to be fun, but in its current state I had a couple big issues that held it back for me.
I think the driving really needs some work as it just doesn't feel good to me right now. I would second Hekhound's comment about analog rotation - I think the 8-way makes the vehicle feel like its not very responsive to the crank, yet in 8th increments it actually turns on a dime no matter how fast you're moving.. it just feels very unnatural. You might even be able to get away with still drawing it as 8 ways but having the movement based on analog rotation, I think that might still feel intuitive enough to seem natural, though I could be wrong on that. You might also want to try limiting the actual turning speed so that your turning radius isn't always effectively zero. It also feels like the vehicle moves faster horizontally than vertically, though I think this might just be a consequence of the game's current isometric perspective and not really a huge problem on its own.
I also feel that the refueling mechanic doesn't really add anything to the game in its current state. It doesn't encourage the player to play any differently than they otherwise would - the craters already slow you down a lot and taking a long route is also going to slow you down a lot. It seems like an added slap in the face that slows the game down even more as a penalty for being too slow.
Sorry for ripping into your game! It's clear that you put a lot of care and effort into the game so I wanted to try to provide some constructive criticism as I think the game can be a lot more fun.
Omg I'm sorry to hear you were playing on hard mode!! If only I got that title screen in the game before the jam ended, ahh..
I'm glad you're having fun and enjoying the collage of trash that I turned into a level! It made me so happy to see a section referred to as "the Perfect Man area." That jump is the start of what I would consider to be the final challenge of the game as the difficulty ramps up significantly.
My tip for you is this: Try launching from a corner. Corners allow you to get a good mix of horizontal and vertical speed from the blast. Good luck!
I really liked this spin on a text adventure with the added dimension of the moon phases, and I like that the game leaned in on the sort of abstract nature of it. It felt foreign and confusing at first, but I soon learned to understand its language of interaction with a little bit of exploring and reflection. I love when games do this. Really cool!
Thank you for the feedback, glad you had fun!
The screen freezing was the main reason I had to submit this game late, and I observed the same behavior you described with the home menu. I thought when I added a title screen I completely broke the game because it suddenly seemed to be happening consistently.. but I was going nuts trying to figure out what changed that could be causing it, commenting out changes and rebuilding one by one and getting results that didn't seem to make any sense - at one point I was convinced that uncommenting a single random log statement that wasn't even running fixed the issue, lol.. I'm now starting to think it was just an intermittent issue the whole time or at least for a while caused by some other variable I haven't determined.





