ah yes unfortunately the number on the dice don't mean anything at the moment in the game, but you are prompted when a block will fall and from what direction based on the green bar above your pointer. The tutorial was a big complaint though from others which is definitely something i'll consider for next year :D
Perhaps you could give it another shot?
I beat the game :D
Overall I found this game to be amazing and strategic. The premise of the game wasn't too hard to grasp, it just took a bit of reading of the description to understand. The artstyle was awesome and the audio was fitting, alongside the music.
The progression of the game was also surprisingly fluent compared to other tower defense games, although at times I found it very easy, but that's probably because of some of the tactics I have found effective in beating the game, such as using freeze turrets early on in the game to increase the effectiveness of splash turret damage (since slower enemies end up grouping together more closely), and also that using earth magic is very effective for crowds.
If that description on itchio didn't exist, it would have probably have taken me far longer to understand the game mechanics, therefore to improve, I'd recommend having an in-game tutorial instead of a story, or both, if you can manage that!
Lastly, having some game juice may be nice for your game. The art is amazingly well made, but the effects of the magic itself aren't felt as much without things such as mild screen shakes, flashes when enemies get hit, damage counters, more shaking effects, and other fun little effects to maximize player feedback. In a game about magic, the more game juice the better! :D
Overall, I found this to be a fantastic game, well done!
I played the game around 4 or so times and maxed out a score of around 14 twice :D
I'd say the game was pretty interesting, with a unique take on the jam theme. The idea of dragging around dice to different slots was also pretty fun. I liked the way you wrote up your tutorial on itch, it made the game very easy to understand - You'd be surprised as to how many games don't do that :D
The game has a lot of RNG involved in your chances. It quite literally is based on a dice roll, and RNG is every game developer's kryptonite. I would say that going for a completely RNG based game is a very very risky idea as the player is very likely to blame the game for messing up instead of themselves.
Take a look at GMTK's review of a lot of games, e.g Celeste. The main point he tries to make here is that the game designers have made the controls and player movement precise enough so that the player can never blame the game for their mistakes. The second the player can pin blame on the game for losing, it slowly chips away at the fun of the game. This is also why bugs and errors in a game can make them less fun!
What I'm trying to say is, to make your game less focused on the RNG aspect and add some more tactical approaches or strategy to your idea. For example:
- Make the location of where you put your dice important, like having areas of the dice that rack up more points.
- Make the number of dice you have on the faces important, such as having less dice increasing the chance of picking that die.
- Add more than 20 draws. I feel like 20 is too little since you only get 4 turns to play the game and lowers the room for strategy.
Other things I'd want to include is:
- some sfx!
- More dice types
- increase the number of dice sides
That's all I have to say. Overall, I'd say the game had a unique concept and looked pretty nice, but the execution needs to rely less on the RNG to make the game fun. Good job!
I reached up to the ship which had 42 HP and a whole set of double cannons. Got destroyed :D
Overall the game was very unique and had a nice, fun progression.
The art was nice and the sound-effects were suitable, the upgrades and progression was really satisfying, like other progression-based games such as pip factory. Beating enemy ships is also tactical - here are two examples I found of this:
- when I end up low on health, I move my better crewmates to the back of the ship, but when the enemy can be realistically defeated I move my better crewmates to the front of the ship.
- If I found my current battle successful, I often take my chances and battle again for that double gold.
Both of these provide for an immensely enjoyable experience and make the player feel smart, even when they aren't , by providing decisions that can be justified both ways.
The progression was pretty gentle early on but went on to become very difficult in the late-game, with that 42HP ship. It was very hard to beat!
The fact that you get back less from selling an item you previously had makes sense, but it can be annoying sometimes, and I think it would have just been better to get back the same amount you payed for - I think it would make customizing your ship more fun!
Like other people have already said, it was a pretty rough start and it was a bit confusing in the beginning. You could fix this now by adding a tutorial in your itch.io description, it will help your ratings significantly!
Overall amazing game - very unique and well executed! GMTK would have a lot to talk about on your game if you make it to the top 100! :D
Thank you so much for the feedback!
- Determining which way up you are is definitely a problem. I thought I could solve it by having a background (i.e the clouds, planes and city buildings) , but after a certain point the sky is pretty empty and its hard to tell.
- yep the lasers become less hazardous very soon. I added a "deathray" which was a very big laser that you can only avoid by hiding under your own dice as shelter, but the feature broke on release and was buggy :(
- you're supposed to win when you reach the moon, I think I might have made a mistake there woops.
- locking into blocks was something i wanted to do, like in snake, but I never got around to solving the clipping.
Thanks again for the feedback. it means a lot :)
I have actually made an updated version of the game that fixes *most* of these (apart from the clipping), but I can't really share it, because the jam is over :D
Hello again!
I just came back to my computer so I played it again. Yeah I'll have to stand by my previous statement, a bit more acceleration and deceleration would be better. Your jumping is a bit floaty! I'd recommend for a better jump to make your gravity stronger as the player falls, leading to tighter timing. having stronger gravity may also help.
anyways that's all I have to say, if you have any other questions I'll be happy to answer them :D
Hello again!
I just came back to my computer so I played it again. Yeah I'll have to stand by my previous statement, a bit more acceleration and deceleration would be better. Your jumping is a bit floaty! I'd recommend for a better jump to make your gravity stronger as the player falls, leading to tighter timing. having stronger gravity may also help.
anyways that's all I have to say, if you have any other questions I'll be happy to answer them :D
I found it a tad bit slidy from what I can remember. (I'm on mobile right now so I can't play the game). Generally you want a character to be snappy with short acceleration and deceleration. Also other little things like coyote time, jump buffers, etc also help, but may not be a good idea on such a short time. I do remember finding the fact that enemies followed you through scenes to be annoying, since sometimes the bats end up seeing you before you enter the room. Anyways, these are all really just minor things, the game overall was good for the time you had!
No worries, 48 hours is incredibly tight for making what is essentially software, my game sucks :D
As a role model for this type of game I'd recommend you check out DIE-SECTOR, it tells you what number you'll roll on, which reduces the hit-or-miss feeling. Its not my game and I'm not being endorsed to say it btw lol, I just think its great and follows the same concept you're doing. Good luck!
I beat the game :D
Overall despite the lack of gamejuice or length, I think this was an amazing and unique game!
Firstly, the idea behind it is super unique and its concept is one of the best I've seen for a puzzle. I'm finally not playing a puzzle game about moving a die across a board and landing on the right side :D
Fixing dice by moving through portals is very cool and actually gives me that "A-ha" moment that mark talks about in his videos, unlike the other dice puzzles which are more hit-or miss.
This game is also the first which I haven't muted or turned the music off, because its very relaxing! Good choice of music, what and where did you get it from? :D
As you read in the 2nd line of the review, the game lacks game juice. I'd recommend having a particle trail when the player moves, some squishing/clicking effect when the red dot goes into the target, some effects when you teleport and maybe some sfx.
The length of the game could also have been longer, and I would have loved to see how far you could have taken this if it was a 72 hour jam instead of a 48 hour one, like 20 sided dice, multiple holes or even multiple dice?
Overall amazing game, excellent job!
I beat the game :D
I really liked the art, and the sfx made shooting feel much more fun.
The enemy AI was not atrocious, there were others I've seen that have done worse, but this one did pretty well.
Having dice doors and dice "bats?" was also a very unique take on the jam. Also doing a platformer is also pretty unique, I've only seen a couple other platformers so far.
Downsides:
- it makes the game really frustrating to play when you have no checkpoints. Going all the way back to the beginning made the game less fun.
- Add more game juice! E.g make some juice when enemies die, or when you die!
- Add more levels and content!
- make your platforming character "feel" better. For that I recommend you watch GMTK's analysis of celeste, and play his "game", the platformer toolkit, you can find that on his itch account.
Overall, well done!
I reached past the part where a lot of people were complaining a glitch was. I got stuck on the floor, but I won't use it against the rating, I'll base it on what I've seen.
Overall the game was pretty unique, this is the first platformer I'm playing! Having powers for your dice "roll" was pretty interesting and I can see it work for some puzzle games. It definitely works better than quite a few other dicerolling puzzle games I've played.
The art is also really nice, I would have hoped for some music/sfx too.
The mechanics were functional and quite fun to move around with, but the lack of game juice is really showing, since a lot of the time I never know if I took damage or if my bullets are even doing damage in the first place until the enemy just instantaneously disappears.
Overall I'd say the game is alright, good effort
I really shouldn't be judging a game based on the tools used, but I really do have to give praise for using Desmos for the jam!
The game was alright, pushing dice is definitely more unique than moving around as one, which most other games did
For desmos, the art was great!
Overall, I can see the effort you put into this, its great!
However, I'll have to rate the game a bit lower, I'm really sorry.
I did all the levels up to sector 8. Sector 7 was TOUGH.
Overall I think this game was amazing. By far one of the better versions of this concepts I've played so far while rating.
After playing just the tutorial I thought it was going to just be another die rolling on a surface to a goal with the right side facing up, but this game has so much more to it!
Firstly, the ice was a good idea, it helps for some interesting concepts, like going on the ice multiple times to get the right side that you need, or knowing that if a goal is surrounded by ice, you just need to get on the right side of the ice
Having the visual aid showing where you roll next is something I wish I saw in more games with this concept, this game did a great job on that!
The visuals were very nice, and the click sounds were satisfying, like a light switch!
I always put a bit of critique into every game I play, so please take this with a grain of salt, this game did wayy better than the other games that involved this concept:
- the purple changing dice was a no for me. The player gets confused and it makes the game into a hit-or-miss
- please make a walkthrough on this, sector 7 was hard, I want to see what the game offers!
- I have no idea what the red cube does
- for added satisfaction, let the player move on the board as fast as they want, i.e remove the roll animation or skip it if the player clicks again.
Overall amazing game, excellent job!
I reached level 5!
Overall, although the concept of the game is pretty common, its still technically unique - I would have never thought of it myself!
The game looked very aesthetic, very pleasing to the eyes :D
The sound effects were just right has well, no music was a good choice ( I'm assuming that was intentional lmao).
However, the game ran a bit slow on my laptop, which made redoing the level a bit annoying.
I've said this same thing for all the other puzzle games involving dice, so I'm just going to copy-paste something I've said for those games here, since i think it fits:
For a puzzle game, the game is more random to play, even for a dice game. I never really had that "A-ha" moment that mark had in his untitled magnet game. It was more just moving around randomly while restarting the level until the cubes died . So it was more like a "I won?" momentKnowing where your dice will land is not much of the players concern, since they focus more on just moving it around and its really up to chance whether they land on the right spot, which it isnt, but it feels like it.
Overall, I think it was fun to play, well done!
I reached up to the question on the holy paladin, the 3rd interview question after the field tests!
Overall the game was really unique and funny, I liked the idea of interview games, especially from the interview games ive played in the jam in the last 2 years!
This one is no different, its very fun to play!
Having a collection of minigames is a very neat idea as well, it reminded me of the human benchmark: My clicking speed and on the spot thinking were tested.
The game was a big jittery at times though. Here are 2 examples:
- On the sorting items in a cauldron minigame, the spoon wasn't turning when I wanted it to, and was very fiddly
- After I finished an interview section and the dialogue ended, the questions weren't showing up unless I kept clicking on the screen, which led to me accidentally clicking the wrong answer
The game, in my honest opinion, didn't fit the jam as much as I would have hoped, since it was only in the beginning, but I won't consider it, since I never beat the entire game!
Overall, great job!
I played the first 5 or so levels of the game. Overall I found it really fun to play and am leaning on this game to make the top 200 if not top 100. The visuals are simple, but daring given that you went for 3d, which not many do.
I think the theme of turned base dice movement on a board like bloxorz was overly saturated, but putting it into the context of satisfying-spell like destruction was not! It was a very interesting take on a common concept, essentially dipping a regular dice puzzle game into a bowl of game juice (weird analogy, but it works lol)
Its very satisfying to destroy the enemy cubes. On the level where there were a ton of cubes, destroying, i think 4, of them all at the same time felt amazing! The magic vfx looks very cool too!
Now to the downsides:
For a puzzle game, the game is more random to play, even for a dice game. I never really had that "A-ha" moment that mark had in his untitled magnet game. It was more just moving around randomly while restarting the level until the cubes died . So it was more like a "I won?" moment.
Its also really hard to see things clearly in 3d. Making the game in 2d might have been a better idea.
overall, great game for the time you had!
I only survived 50 seconds :D
From what I saw, the game is pretty fun to play, (might be biased though, JSAB is one of my favourite games!).
Dodging a bullet hell of dice sure was an interesting use of the theme, although it doesn't really fit the theme as much as other games. However, since there isn't a rating section on theme, I'd say you got off lucky :D
The music doesn't sync with the gameplay, but, like @foxtrot-roger said, its super addictive and fun, and I really enjoyed playing it!
You could genuinely make this into a custom JSAB level, it would be awesome!
A very creative twist on the theme!
At first I thought the game didn't fit the theme, but the use of dice to build what is essentially a youtubers life/tuber simulator is very interesting. Having the option to make higher level choices free for the player to use early on in the game is cool as well, like the date with an e-girl. It makes the reaction all the better when you succeed in the 1/6 chance.
I would recommend you play around with the randomness a bit more and make the feeling of losing a dice role as something far less annoying!
Besides that, great game!
I really enjoyed the premise of the game, and as far as I've seen, board games were a pretty rare concept taken advantage of in the jam! The ui was clean and the game had a nice mix between being fast and slow paced, sort of like chess! The gamemodes allowed for me to play with a few of my friends, and the rules seemed quite intuitive, which is a definite bonus. Great job for going 3d in some parts as well! I felt very little frustration during the game, as in nothing really put me off playing the game, which is what usually results in 3 star ratings in some categories.
The AI that you had to play against seemed pretty lacklustre and repetitive, making the same move throughout the game in one instance. Maybe adding difficulties, and making some more intelligent moves? Perhaps even some randomisation to the moves it makes? There was a lack of sounds in the game, which, although helped improve concentration i guess, did make the game feel a bit empty. Adding some sounds would help add impact to the moves you make or the buttons you press!
Although this is a board game, the usual dose of player feedback and game juice can never hurt :D. Perhaps try adding bouncy effects when you attach a rope to the pieces, or adding a tally to the number of counters on each person's side, adding vignette if you only have 1 or 2 pieces left. that sort of stuff.
OVERALL: An interesting, thought-provoking game. A solid 4,5,4 from me! Well done! I saw your comment from the other game, and thought I'd check out yours too! :D
thanks for submitting to the form!
I liked the puzzle aspect, the crafting was very unique and reminded me of 2048! The game itself was a nice mix between puzzle and story, I managed to get 2 of the endings! I don't get how a heart kills you but I guess Ill just roll with it :-). The gameplay was smooth and had a nice clicky feel!
There was audio unfortunately, and I think that including some music and sfx would have made the game provide more of an impact, for example having a sound effect for the text could add character to the narrator, maybe something like undertale, where more concerned/tense voices are slow and low-pitched, whilst ecstatic characters have higher-pitched faster text!
Maybe adding some game juice to the death effects or to combining the wood would be nice. Lastly, maybe adding some more mechanics apart from the wood, idk such as a cannon??
OVERALL: 5,4,3 awesome project, great job!
thanks for submitting to the form!
The game had a unique mechanic and allowed for you to chain what seemed like a rage game into a nice little rhythm based package! The music was fun, the artstyle was nice and upbeat. The difficulty curve was lenient and difficult, allowing for the player to actually get a full feel for the mechanics without dying inside XD
I feel like the game could have been better if there were more unique obstacles, such as moving platforms, or different songs for each level perhaps. Maybe you could include some more various people to connect to? such as ones that let you jump and move twice?
I think you should have a better indicator for when you make joins with people or when you die, maybe add some game juice, that would make the game feel more satisfying, which is something that players would want if they are stuck on a level.
OVERALL: 5,4,3 amazing game, great work!
thanks for submitting to the form!
A very unique idea, with a fun setup! It reminded me of papers please, and the musics fits the new yorky, business-y theme of the game! I found the sound effects hilarious, and kept me de-stapling for around 10 minutes, which is something! finished 125 staples and worked overtime XD
I think adding a timer for each paper, so that the player is encouraged to work quicker (and therefore make more mistakes) would definitely make the game more challenging and fun! Perhaps adding some better assets for the paper itself, like something that looks like a newspaper may have been nice.
Having multiple tools and jobs to do for each paper. For example having a paper where not only do you have to remove the staple, but you also have to black out names and add sticky notes with text!
OVERALL: 4,4,3 awesome game!
thanks for submitting to the form! You're on stream, say hi!
I really liked the 3d aesthetic, it was really fun, and it genuinely made me feel awkward plugging in a ddr ram stick thing while everyone was staring to start the presentation XD. The sound effects were clicky and spot on, and the idea of the game was very very unique I'd say!
I guess you could improve the text ui for the tutorial? or make it a built in tutorial?
Make the game longer!
OVERALL: 4,4,5, amazing work!
Thanks for submitting to the form!
This was probably one of the more fun games I have played during the jam, with a nice mix of tower defense and action, as you move around to collect money and defend your bank! The visuals and audio were well thought out and the cutscenes were aesthetic. I managed to get a golden gun and quite a lot of bling.
I think that it was hard to actually understand how the game worked for a bit. It took a bit of figuring out. Maybe including some text in the tutorial or a built in-game tutorial? although i understand the strategy for having to fit in the carts so that you can actually collect money, perhaps having a way to extend the coal mine may have been a good idea? same goes for the town.
Having new enemies introduced earlier in the game? having enemies actually give you money? making the boss a bit easier?
OVERALL: 5,5,4 amazing work!
I found the physics and graphics very appealing, and the idea of the game was quite unique, and lead to some interesting mechanics such as being able to launch yourself while swinging, with momentum.
The difficulty ramp was a bit steep, and the physics was a tad bit buggy. Having A and D for moving the rope seemed a bit fiddly, and it would have been better to have used your mouse to aim.
Have some better death animations and game juice!
OVERALL: 4,4,4 good job!
One of the juiciest games I've played so far! Loads of particles, shakes and satisfying build ups that keep you wanting to play and get higher scores. I think I got around 380-ish as a high score! The difficulty ramp was modest and you get a nice dose of adrenaline trying to reach the harder stages of the game, usually being past the 2 minute mark. The art was also well made, a nice simplistic style! The audio was also very crisp and satisfying, so too is the music. A huge positive!
There was some weird visual glitches happening at the corners of the viewport where the enemies were flashing in and out. I think having some bounciness to the characters or a freeze frame when making large combos would make things even more satisfying!
I think you guys may want to add more unique and more various enemies for later stages of the game.
OVERALL: A very fun game! I rarely give 5 stars for fun, but I think this game deserves it, a solid 5,4,4!
THANKS FOR SUBMITTING TO MY FORM! I finished the entire game, 1000kg lets go!
I enjoyed the idea of the game, very unique. The premise was very,very fun and allowed for some interesting mechanics, such as being able to fly by repeatedly locking and attaching yourself to the dumbbell, or creating a height bridge by abusing the jump reset everytime you touch a weight. But the satisfaction for solving a level is beyond many other games, This game is very unique and fun to play, make it a full game!
there was a lack of sound in the game and the art was quite basic compared to other games, although quite comedic. Perhaps including much more game juice, such as when you jump and sfx for when you jump, or particles when hitting the weight measure at the right amount, or maybe fireworks at the end? the possibilities are endless
You could add a variety of different dumbbell types. Examples include: heavy, big dumbbells, heavyweight belts that don't stick out but give you weight anyways, jump boosts, or maybe even enemies?
OVERALL: A very fun game, a solid 5,4,3. I don't rate many games with a 5 in fun, good job! And thanks for submitting to the stream!
THANK YOU FOR SUBMITTING TO MY FORMS!!! I couldn't show it on stream, but ill be featuring it as an exclusive in my next stream because of how good it is!
This is probably one of the best games I've played so far, and don't take those words lightly!
The game is hand-drawn, beautifully made, and has some awesome art. It had an emotional impact to me, especially the part where the monster leaves and there is a lost dependency in the child, it gives the "joined together" a whole new plane past the regular old reflection style games such as that brain one in 1st place right now. The platforming was much more responsive than I expected and the difficulty curve was amazingly well made, and allows for the players to keep seeing the story without an extremely difficult level mid-way. The vibe was somewhat eerie with the lack of sound, and the freeze frames were very impactful. You have to make this a full game! There was no need for any juice in this game, the lack of it adds that extra childlike tenseness, almost portraying the monster as a somewhat misunderstood entity, and I am inferring this from the first 12 or so levels from a 48 hour game jam, it's amazing, absolutely stunning!
There was a lack of audio, and although that adds impact in some way, having it may have made the game even better. Adding more animation, for example, to the text can really change the flow of emotion. For example, if the text had a writing animation when it appears, it can make it seem more childlike somewhat, and then making it more slow to show, or faster can imply tenseness or fear. It would make it a whole lot better, for the full release if you ever make one! Also...
EXPORT THE GAME FOR WEB, THEN MORE PEOPLE CAN SEE IT!!!! (smh gamemaker)
Maybe you could add some more unique obstacles that the characters could avoid, or some uniquely themed levels that reflect their state of mind. Having a vignette would be an example.
OVERALL: 5,5,5 an amazing all rounder, absolutely stunning, beautiful work!!!
THANK YOU FOR SUBMITTING TO MY GOOGLE FORMS STREAM!!!
I love the fact that you used high quality, poly 3d art for the game, it has a nice aesthetic! The game had a mix between lenience and challenge, alongside a display of physics that was generally well thought out. The controls were fluid and makes you feel, i don't know how to put it, "powerful" moving around the magnets!
The game ran unbelievably slow for me, at around 3-4 fps, even slower for the first few seconds of game loading, please improve your performance for lower end PC's, since a majority of gamedevs, especially godot users, tend to have lower end pc's. The difficulty curve did ramp quite a bit at some point, but it was generally doable. There was also some Z-fighting but I think that's to do with the fact that im running the game on linux WiNE.
I think you should have a better made UI and tutorial to help guide users.
OVERALL: A solid 4,4,5 Amazing job!
A very, very creative game with a nice mix between making your own amazing (sometimes monstrous) musical creations. I never know i could play the bagpipes and drums at the same time XD. I also quite enjoyed the artstyle, storyline/setting and the card-themed aspect to it. Being "joined together" with your enemy was a good decision! Enemy design was superb, I felt like I was going against a musician who really, really wanted to get laid by a princess and only barely managed to beat him.
Unfortunately, understanding the game was quite hard, and for me it felt like the card combinations were completely random (apart from bagpipes and drums. DONT do that). The melody was also slightly dissatisfying, since the tunes were always off tune to each other even if you get a ridiculously high score such as 100+. Having some harmony would make things more satisfying. It would be a good idea to include some labeling to your UI, such as to that of the enemy or indicating that something is a "health" bar.
I felt like the game loop was a bit repetitive and a bit too slow, maybe make it so that you can deal more damage!
It was a very aesthetic puzzle game. The light bulbs were very satisfying to solve, although I couldn't do the last one!
Having to rotate the wire twice made it very difficult to actually debug what part of the circuit was wrong. Its hard to tell which part of the circuit are actually turnable. Understanding how the game works was also a struggle, personally.
Having more design for the artstyle may have been nice
OVERALL 3,4,3 great!
