Thank you, ha-ha, I didn't mean for it to have such an effect! I don't think you're stupid, it just has a bit of steep learning curve, I struggled with it myself at first during development.
It was, honestly, very surprising to see so few dice poker inspired games in the jam, and it's so cool this one does not only just that, but also introduces several really clever mechanics which transform the game into a stand-out experience of its own. All of the few problems this game has (like some balancing issues, lack of content and final polishing step) are due to the time limit and don't really take away from overall enjoyment.
Also there are a lot of roads you can go with this concept, can't wait to see what you might come up with. It would be fun if you could, for example, choose the effects of each combination strategically between levels from a pool, instead of just upgrading them, even lean more into the deck-building in the vein of Slay the Spire, which already is one of the inspirations, I think (correct me if I'm wrong).
And don't forget about presentation, it's fantastic! It must be my favorite from the 100+ I've seen, it just speaks to me the most on that raw personal level. I love the Tsutomu Nihei-esque art, I'm also a sucker for everything cyberpunk and cyberpunk-adjacent, and the music kills it too, always nice hearing something more rough than most of the games tend to use, it's a shame there's that loop bug.
I hope you keep working on this game and it will eventually become successful with a wider audience. Best of luck!
Thank you! Very valid criticism, it may be hard when you're just starting to play, but showing you just enough information was a conscious and deliberate decision, since the sum of the opposite sides is always 7, as the hint you see after failing for the first time tells you, it's just something you have to keep in mind. Showing you every side would be almost the same as just telling you directly which buttons to press, turning into a basic QTE, so showing you only half of them adds the needed depth. There are also a couple of other little things, listed in subsequent hints, that will help you understand the game more and use the mechanics to your advantage.
While not the most original submission, it has some very clever mechanics which compliment each other really well and put you into interesting situations. For example, I may not want to reroll, because I have a gun I like, but increasing amount of enemies forces me to, since the die also acts as a bomb, so I reroll and most of the enemies are gone, but I got low stats and now I want to reroll, but the charge is low, so I have to carefully charge up the die, before I can finally reroll again. It as very cool core gameplay loop, that keeps you engaged at all times and makes you constantly switch your gameplay style.
That said, it still can use a bit of polish and balancing. In the current state I found myself being underpowered too often, turning killings of the enemies into a chore. Also enemy deaths can be made more satisfying, add some of that juice.
What really made it for me, though, was the presentation. The pixel art is great: the colors are pretty and the little low-res sprites look cute. And the sound effects are very nostalgic. Well done.
Interesting ideas, but I don't think these would fit in very well. It's very important that the player only need to rotate once to match each new target number and taking away any control would ruin it, also the flow is no less important, since the countdown gets quite fast, and scrambling the die would only make the player disoriented and break the flow. To be frank, it looks like the core difficulty of having to match the number quickly is already high enough, judging from other comments and high-scores. Tuning the speed a bit better is what I would do at best here.
What I was actually trying to do during development is to make the target numbers appear randomly from all six sides. The problem with that is it introduces a third axis of rotation, which becomes confusing very quickly with the current type of input. The only way to solve it I saw, was rotating the die through mouse/touch input, but implementing it properly would require a lot of time, so I made a decision to go back to the simpler form, so I could finish until the end of the jam.
Thank you! You actually never have to rotate to the opposite side, so it's not almost but any face can be accessed in only one press of a key. I'll definitely at least think about doing something more with it, since I tried to make it more complex during development.
Thanks! My first impulse was actually to create a completely randomless game contrary to the theme, but I couldn't come up with anything fitting, so I made this.
A fellow arcadey high-score game! It's definitely one of the more unique and creative takes, reminds me of original Mario Bros. a bit. I had a lot of fun trying to keep the combo going and to get better at it each replay. I only wish the stage was a bit bigger with more enemies (maybe by making the roll determine a multiplier to amount of enemies instead of just amount), so you could really ramp up those combos. But even in the current state, it's an enjoyable experience.
Finally an FPS, don't know why I couldn't encounter one earlier. It was really clever allowing the player to hit the die back as it's flying and it feels very satisfying when you manage to do so, I just wish the window to hit it back was more generous closer to the player. The art is rough around the edge, but I understand it's hard to create everything from scratch especially in 48 hours, so good effort trying to go that route. The story is kind of nonsensical for no apparent reason, but voice acting made up for it, made me chuckle a couple of times. All and all, it was an interesting and definitely a unique entry, good job.
Same idea as a a lot of other entries, but the execution here is on another level from the majority of those. The controls are snappy and the movement is fast, making it very enjoyable instead of cumbersome to roll the die even if you're struggling to find the correct solution. The progress is not reset when you fall off, and even cracked tiles come back, which, again, always keeps you in the flow with zero frustration. The levels are small and to the point. And the presentation neatly ties everything together, I especially loved the idea to show all of the levels at once, adds a lot to the feeling of progress and excitement for next puzzles. Right now the only downside is it ends pretty fast, but for 48 hours it's a fantastic game.
A very creative take on the theme, making the player throw the dice to both place as towers and roll for their type at the same time is really clever. The sounds are very juicy and elevate the fun factor, but the art can use work and polish. As for gameplay, right now it's too hard at the very beginning and the shop loses a lot of health, but with each additional die it gets easier and easier exponentially, leaving the player with nothing better to do than just watching the number of waves go up. Adding some additional depth, like making the towers have limited ammo so the player have to reroll them during the waves, making the different enemies impervious to different types of damage so the player have to adjust on the fly, would make it more engaging. Still, it's definitely a unique entry and was fun to play for a little while.
Thank you! I'm glad you've found the hints helpful. They were intentionally designed to give important information bit by bit, so the player would try just one more time after gaining a bit more insight, so I guess that worked. As for the sound, I tried to find something more pleasing to the ear, but nothing was also as fitting as the current one. I think you can just mute the tab and the visual effects will work well enough on their own.
Thanks! I went down complexity route for a good chunk of the time limit, but had to revert to initial simple idea, since it actually worked much better, at least with the current controls.
So many similar games where you roll the die on the floor, square by square, but seeing this unique take on how you control it was like a breath of fresh air, so it was fun to roll this die for a while. The level design is also well executed and guide the player in solving the puzzles.
P.S. It was funny how making my own entry prepared me for unusual controls in yours.
An original take on the theme and a really unique idea, and I mean it, haven't seen anything close to similar among many entries I've seen. Right now it's very short and on the easier side, but the core mechanic is very thought out, which makes it enjoyable to figure the puzzles out. Overall a solid entry, you should consider building on it post-jam.
I've seen plenty of entries tying character actions to values rolled by a die, but this game executes it much more elegantly by making all actions a simple click instead of drag-and-drop and also giving you the much needed freedom to walk any path you want and aim in any direction you want. The presentation is perfect, everything is very polished and a joy to look at.
That said, there's one core flaw, that almost ruins the whole game in my opinion - you can't see what enemies are about to do. And, since their actions are also random, it leaves the player with very scarce information to base their decisions off of, which, in some cases, makes the outcome be completely decided, ironically, by the roll of the dice.
I understand that such decision may have been made due to 48 hour time limit, otherwise it would've been a hassle to properly implement and balance, so, that issue aside, it's a very solid entry, well done.
One of the most original and inventive games in the jam. Really takes you back to the school days when you learn things like formula for odd numbers for the first time and math feels magical. I like that you focused on making the player mitigate the randomness instead of just dealing with it, and also gave the player proper and interesting ways to do so, very few entries managed this well.
It seems like a lot of people had a very similar idea, but brilliant execution really sets this game apart from all the rest. I like how it limits the playing space, so you can really focus on the solving the puzzles and understand how they work instead of mindlessly rolling around and brute-forcing your way through. It also has plenty of additional mechanics to spice up the further levels, compared to other games, which keeps you engaged. Also the amount of said mechanics and levels for 48 hours is truly an amazing feat.
Very inventive and clever puzzle game, it's like a mix between minesweeper and sudoku. Quite challenging but that only adds to overall enjoyment when you manage to solve each step. Right now I'm still trying to get a hang of it, but it's something I can see my self returning to from time to time for months to come, as it's certainly one of my top picks. I'm hoping to see it getting a final polish after the voting ends.
That's a very original and creative take on the theme, even if a bit stretching it, the only musical game I've seen among many other entries. I quite enjoyed my time with it, really sparked my "wanna-be musician" side, haha. I love that you can actually represent same beats with different dice, just like with real time signatures, and the game accepts it as being right. The graphics are a bit of a downside, but it doesn't take away from the fantastic experience.
Thank you! It actually came to a point where it feels too easy for me to play, but it's because I had to play it a lot while developing. Yes, Godot is great, especially for these kind of short game jams!
This is a clever and creative take on the theme and the amount of different effects and descriptions is really impressive for 48 hours. I was having so much fun, I didn't realize the game was looping (or is it a bug?). My only issue is you can become overpowered very fast - "rattlesnake" plus "longhorn" is basically an instakill.
