This is great, very well designed with elegant gameplay that is simple and fun.
I managed to get to 33, curious how much is beyond Neptune but cant quite make it further.
My understanding was wrong, haha.
ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
This is great, but the other inhabitant of my station isn't pleased that I keep retreating from the loo in the morning due to hostile forces occupying it.
Some things I'd love to see in v5:
- EXP for exercise
- A game mechanism that might encourage journaling your activities and/or communicating with other stations
- A way to choose to spend survival points for an advantage against hostile forces?
Will there be an expansion game that covers away missions?
Brilliant prompt for improv gaming.
This game assumes some knowledge of improv, but the story prompt has universal appeal. Really pleasant recall back to the early days of the Famicom, and using genre tropes that are still enjoyable today.
Now, every time I reach for what is in my bag, there is another reason to smile and think of potential adventures.
This is really tight! I love the use of coloured dice, and the encouragement to interact with other players / have them answer your questions for you.
The treatment of secrets and the slow reveal is great.
As I read the file, each new rule that was explained was a treat. This seems like a blast and I'd love to give it a real play.
Great stuff!
I appreciate the limitations of the text format of this Jam. But if the game receives further revisions it would be helpful (for me, as a visual learner) to have a flowchart for how the questions and conversation work.
There are also a few problems with the markdown that are a detriment to the final layout. That is really trivial, though.
I love the passage of time and the growing permanence of untreated wounds. Very good stuff there.
I think some of the 'Outcome' questions could be rephrased slightly to emphasize implicit exchange.. Especially the first one where it seems to easy to answer "no" and narrate any happy outcome as may be desired.
Overall, this is wonderful.
Hey Ben and fellow 3-Forgers,
What are your thoughts on multiple submissions? We as the collaborators can see the progress of the games we worked on, but maybe people who did not participate in the Jam will also want to look through how this all happened?
Would it be interesting if each collaborator submitted the raw text file (as delivered from Ben) for their round-1 and round-2? So that they could be collected with the Jam?
Or maybe they could just be additional file downloads on the product page for the final submission? I suppose that method would leave it up to each trio's discretion. Maybe there is a desire to keep the early work mysterious, which would be a reason to leave it up to each group.
I'm not sure I have a preference at all, just thought that I would kick the idea around and see what others think.
It is so exciting seeing not just a sketch of a totally different kind of game, but also a different way of thinking about games. Different concepts that come first, different structures, what was left partially defined or intentionally left undefined.
The lack of feedback and real collaboration is a fascinating experience, also. Like, with the possible exception of "subtweeting" here, or whatever, this is essentially a collaboration without collaboration. No way to know or guess at what someone hoped would happen to their thing.
I'm excited to see what transformative processes are revealed at the final stage!
I like how the map reflects two "eras" concurrently -- pre and post colonization.
As I play through it, two strategies occur to me: Either evenly spacing all features around the map and attempting to protect each one individually, or concentrating all the features in one area to limit losses to two.
I don't think this is the intended way to interact with the game, perhaps these "optimal" paths could be removed by randomizing the placement of the cultural landmarks.
Thanks for the comments! I think you're right on all counts.
Ideally I suppose there should be a companion document with some samples of play. This could demonstrate how the map is filled out, and how the stat-blocks interact with it. I tried to use the stat block icons in line with the text to provide some breadcrumbs, but actual examples are probably necessary.
You are correct that there are no explicit instructions for using the game with multiple players. Some thoughts I had involve either playing collaboratively and coming to group decisions for all tasks, or dividing up responsibilities such that perhaps one player sets the course and another chooses how to spend artifacts.
The intention behind the light-lag is that you never know exactly what the conditions are on any world, until you get there. The further away it is, the greater the change might be when you arrive. I'm not sure it bears tracking as I instructed to do, though. All you really need to do is count the distance from your ship and it is self evident.
This is great, I really like things that embrace my weaknesses -- specifically being bad at drawing maps.
I'm not sure how it fills the theme of the jam, though, specifically how different map areas represent different eras. I'm also not clear if Lead Knights after the first are required to visit a landmark that they did not create. I assume so, but it isn't clear in the rules.
Altogether, a great collaborative story telling exercise.
This was my first one, and I found the schedule super tight!
I think that was a good thing in the end, it helped contain my concept to a very focused idea. This is the first time I've made anything that can be considered a "solo game" and I think it came out okay.
I might give it some additional revisions and expand it into a proper multiplayer game sometime in the future but, for now, it is what it is.
I made this little game for the Jam! https://mootootwo.itch.io/fading-light I am also sending it to https://itch.io/jam/pamphletjam so it is a map game made to print and play on a three panel bi-fold pamphlet.
I hope there is enough text to make the gameplay clear, I had to edit judiciously to fit into the space available.
The premise is that you travel between worlds on your starship, and can only peer at other worlds across the lightyears and see what they looked like several decades ago. As you travel, you update what you know about each destination, and try to reach one of several end-conditions.
As the worlds advance, models the same sort of cyclical advancement and cataclysmic transcendence that you might see in Vernor Vinge, or with VSCA's Diaspora.
I owe a special thanks to https://clockworkmonk.itch.io/ for suggesting the way the pamphlet can create an information-overlay when folded over. Super clever! Also super difficult to render a preview image of...
Cheers,
Luke