This was probably the best implementation of the theme and limitation I've seen. Lots of games, including my own, picked a genre that didn't need RNG like a platformer. But really I feel it just took away from the games rather than adding something new.

In your game the fact that the bet outcomes aren't RNG and are replaced by you doing the fighting is absolutely great and is a way in which a game genre that normally relies on RNG (gambling) is given a creative change, via the limitation, which actually adds to the experience, rather than removing.

I think the game could do with polish, but that's understandable for a game jam. Things like audio, dialogue that is the same thing over and over (when you win/lose with shop keeper) that is non-skippable, balancing as currently I found that the ghost just dominated everything so much that I felt the most optimal course of action was to bet all my money and win small amounts each time as the ghost haha, adding content like different arenas (so fighters have different odds in different places, like in an arena without lava the ghost might be less effective etc), maybe the choice between multiple bets to choose from etc. But these are all things that can be done/added reasonably easily, the core idea is solid and well executed.

Very nice job!

Yeah I think it's a mechanic that will divide a lot of people on opinions of it for sure. It's pretty brutal and something I'd have to think very carefully about if I wanted to develop the game further. Thanks for playing! :D

Amazing! Thank you for giving it another go! :D

Thank you! Yeah it can get pretty intense in there. The controls are something I'd really like to make spot on if I was to work on the game further as if they're not then it makes the once per day thing a lot more frustrating haha.

Yeah, I'm still on the fence as to if it was a good idea or not haha. Thank you very much for playing! :D

True words! Thank you for playing :D

Haha yes that’s one way to do it! :D I mentioned this in another comment as well but when I was developing I also had a way to manually reopen the levels with a debug key so wasn’t too afraid of dying, but it all got so much more intense when I played the release version and could no longer rely on my precious debug key haha.

Thanks for playing! :)

Thank you so much!

Dang that was very intense watching you navigate through the levels, narrowly dodging the dangers haha. Thank you so much for giving it a go, much appreciated!

Thank you! Yes very high tension indeed haha. While I was developing I had a debug key to manually reset and reopen the levels so I could test stuff faster but then when I actually played the release version and could no longer rely on my debug function to reopen the levels it got very intense very quickly haha.

haha I actually found this while developing that in a few instances the walls could be used to more easily control/stop the horizontal movement and get to places. It felt good when I stumbled across it as it felt like I had found a sort of secret advantage in the game, so decided to leave it in and see if anyone else did it too. So it’s interesting it’s come up. I think if I worked on the game further then polishing and perfecting the controls would have to be super high priority in a game like this for sure. Thanks for giving it a play! :)

Thank you for the kind words! :D

One flap closer to freedom with every flap!

Yeah I totally agree. Stuff to do while the levels are destroyed is something I’ve been thinking about quite a bit as well. I haven’t come to any great ideas yet but it’s certainly something I believe I’d need to solve if I worked on the game further. Thank you for playing and the feedback :)

Absolutely! You made the right choice focusing on the atmosphere for the jam. I meant it more in regards to if you wanted to keep working on the game in the future etc :)

It was a lot to take in at first but once I learnt what was going on it was quite fun. I did kinda just power up one troop with everything though so maybe it would be good to add more incentives to use other troops like equipment that can only be used by certain troops or enemies that have to be countered by certain troops etc.

I think the main point though most people might find is that it's a lot to take in at the start. You're presented with a wall of text haha. Might be good to introduce certain features as you progress. Like introduce equipment when you defeat your first enemy. Introduce skills when you first level up etc.

Nice job!

I really like the concept! I think it could do with a lot of polishing but the root idea is really interesting. Well done!

Awesome! Everything was really well done and there was a surprising amount of content. The credits made me laugh. Very creative! The only thing I was craving a bit was some more player controller variety like wall jumping or a dash or something special to spice it up a bit. The music was great as well. Nice job!

Cool. I would have liked for it to go on further, which is a good thing. Maybe something like you slip between the real world and a dream state and a few more bits to do here and there. Nice job!

Pretty cool! The idea is nice and I think with some polish it could make for a decent game. Some quality of life features like having the fire not reject the dice but just exclude them etc, being able to directly swap one die for another, having the music not restart each level entry, something to spend the treasure on or some unlockables for collecting it etc. A little bit of narrative to build the story/world a bit and I could see it working out well. Nice job!

I should note though that I couldn't work out how to solve level 10. I can't figure it out or am missing something haha.

Cool! I'm a sucker for anything with time control in it so I loved it. I think the use of the limitation is great and actually adds to the concept of the game rather than just not using RNG. If you were thinking about expanding upon it maybe it would be good to have some challenges or achievements or goals etc might be interesting.

Nice job!

I can confirm that I also couldn't complete level 3 on hard mode if that helps at all haha.

Nice! That was a fun puzzle concept and I could see this being expanded on quite well. Perhaps with safe areas or objects you need to push or moving tiles etc. I especially liked the audio as well. Very nice!

Nice! I won with a time of 471. I failed a good few times before I completed it haha. I managed to glitch myself into the cave walls a couple of times using dashes and then I couldn't get back out but that was the only bug I saw. I thought the story and objectives maybe could have been spread out a bit more along the journey as currently I found out all the tasks I needed to do via the first trip to the village. Overall I really liked it. It had story, progression and some decent mechanics. Nice job!

Hey, what are the controls? I've mashed all the keys on my keyboard, controller and mouse. I found R seems to restart it but can't figure out how to move haha.

It kind of felt like pure randomness haha. Is there a way to win more or is it just random? I've been clicking space like a mad man.

Yeah it's pretty punishing, I tried experimenting more with multiple chances with the omegas and the last level but it's a bit half designed at the moment haha. Thanks for giving it a go and commenting! :D

Yeah it's too hard at the moment for sure haha pretty punishing. Thanks for trying it out! :D

Thanks for playing! I'm glad you liked it :)

It's pretty tough so I'm super impressed someone actually got all the way through haha.

Thank you for playing and commenting, it means a lot!

I haven't really played many visual novels to compare it to but it was a fun time, nice job! :)

Great! I did all 7 levels and loved it. More polish would be great but it's understandable for a time limited game jam. SFX, faster enemy turns, a manual way to restart perhaps. I found that the time between me knowing I've lost/messed up and when I can die and restart is a bit long which felt frustrating at times but not enough for me to stop playing.

Nice job!

Very nice concept! I feel like it would go really well as part of a larger game. Like this is a mini game that you do to pick locks or something haha. Or alternatively just keep expanding on this concept and have levels with limited dice or duplicates  or levels with faster or slower cycling through the dice etc.

Nice job!

I really liked it! I love the idea of being able to choose the negative attributes of the level.

I think if I was going to improve one thing it would be to make more use of the limitation. I did a platformer myself as well and saw it as just not using RNG, but the more I think about it we could have done things that actively involved the limitation rather than just stricktly not using RNG. Something like havng to remember a non-random sequence. Like if all the fading/moving/dropping platforms all happend on a music beat so when you played the game with sunglasses you could still do it with all the challenges if you learnt the right music beat/timing to jump.

I dunno, that might be a terrible idea haha but food for thought maybe.

Good job!

Pretty cool. I like the mechanics but I think it would be even better if there were upgrades or something for your weapon. I'm also not sure I understand how the theme of the enemies fit in. I think a couple of sentences explaining more about that at the start might have been nice to have to help understand haha. Nice job!

Nice gritty concept! I could see this being expanded into a sort of twin stick shooter with upgrades and different types of enemies quite nicely! Nice job!

This has some really cool mechanics that I haven't seen before. I think it would be cool if there was more story around this so we could find out why the bookcases are like this, why we're here etc. Nice job!

This game was charming. I really enjoyed the way you did the tutorial of telling the player what not to do and the devil's dialogue was great.

I think if I was to pick something to improve it would probably be to add more for the player to utilise to be able to find the door. Currently it feels like you just have to keep exploring to find it which is a bit random and less skill based. It might be fun to explore giving the player more options to see like shooting out a ball of light or a brighter flashlight usage ability. Then you could explore having negatives to these effects. Such as attracting enemies when you use more light so you have to think about when to use it safely etc.

Nice job!

I think the game is pretty cool and it fits the theme well. Like others have mentioned already though it is pretty buggy haha picking up multiple boxes, getting furniture stuck to yourself and I couldn't find a way to restart if you lose. But I still had fun :P Nice job!

I really liked this game. I think the only thing I can think of at the moment that would be nice to add is just more juice and polish. Like making the impacts/interactions feel more impactful :P. But that's only really if you wanted to work on it further after the jam as you can only really do so much in the limited time.

At the end I felt like I wanted more, which is a good thing! I was kind of hoping after getting into the elevator there would be a second phase, perhaps the boss comes out to say "oh no you're still not done!" and then you have some kind of final "boss" fight before you can actually go haha.

Nice job!