itch.io

Why can't I just use my motorbike in the Olympics?  

Thanks for the good ideas.

I actually tried to make a non-combat stealth based roguelike myself.  It's called Rogue: Secret Shadows.  There's not many of these out there.  Most roguelikes just tack on stealth as a side option.

Thanks.  I did have stomping as a mechanic initially, but found that it just didn't fit.  Enemies would die when gravity took them out, which didn't feel satisfying and really looked off as if they just died for no apparent action on the player's part.  It also made the game too easy.  With one fall I was able to take out 5 enemies.  It works in real time platformers, but just doesn't translate to turn based combat.

This was a nice classic Roguelike.  Clearly, you've spent a lot of time and effort on it, which I really appreciate.  

The log is nicely done.  There's so much detail in the descriptions, but the info panels just seem small.  I'd increase their size.  The small dark grey font could be hard to read for some.

This game really needs the ability to more easily see what's on a tile.  I was able to see this info by constantly pressing tab.  Why not just show it?

Is it me or do the sound effects sound like phone touch tones?

I couldn't find any power ups or upgrades.  I guess new skills automatically unlock?  Enemies kept respawning at a high rate, but didn't seem to drop anything useful like weapons.  To fight the end of level boss, I had to keep rushing to and from the heal zones.  

Loads of enemies constantly spawn in the player spawn room, which gives you no chance to heal after a boss fight.

The procedural generation fluctuates too much.  Is it completely random?  In one game, I was surrounded by healing areas, in the next by searing ones!

This is a really nice genre mash up.  I liked the concept a lot, but would urge you to make switching to turn based play easier.

The game is easy to understand, but by default it's really tough.  I tried inputting the konami code, but died every time I did.  This isn't surprising as pressing any key just immediately starts the fast paced game.  And you die instantly.  Just one mistake and it's game over.

The classic Snake game gave people more room to manoeuvre around.  Some of the corridors become really tight and hitting a wall is an instakill.  Bumping into baddies is an instakill.  At one point I died crashing into a wall I couldn't even see as it was off to the top of the screen.

There's no shortage of human programmers on Itch.  Judging by your artwork, they'd be more than happy to team up with you.

It does sound like Itch market research.  Maybe they teamed up with a university?

I'm so glad you enjoyed it.  Thank you for your review.

All mistakes, code, and design by Frans van Bellen

This line made me chuckle.

Overall, I really enjoyed the game and can see a very solid base that needs a few improvements.  Clearly, this is a genre you are refining rather than learning.  I want to see more roguelikes like yours out there.  So, allow me to play co-designer, despite how unwelcome it may be ;)

The game looks beautiful.  It's very artistic.  UI looks great.  Everything is nice and clear too.  There's zero confusion.  Even a casual gamer would know what to do!

I really liked the menu system, it removes the need for memorising complex controls, which make so many roguelikes impenetrable.  Yet it doesn't reduce the game play down by cutting things out.  

It might be nice to give the player more info about the attacks.  I can see how much they cost, but not the amount of damage they do, for example.

You could also cancel the menu using right click or just when clicking elsewhere, as a convenient touch.

I found it hard to feel like John Wick when my only attack is a punch that only does 2 damage, whereas the first enemy does 3.  And early on, I'm facing 3 of them simultaneously.  This just makes the player feel weak and not like some badass.

For example, what should my play be here:

I'm just gonna lose, surely?

Sound effects would be a nice addition.

As a minor issue, the music was very repetitive and distorted, even at low volumes.  I had to turn it off.  It's an easy thing to fix.

Thanks for the detailed feedback.  A tutorial would be a good idea.

Thanks for the feedback.

I was afraid the player would become overwhelmed at the beginning and wanted to make them move around to get to grips with the controls, gravity, and the way the map wraps around.

That's the question and my answer is Roguefall: 

https://sundle.itch.io/roguefall

The idea came from the Roguelike game, Hoplite.  I thought hop, jump, platformer.  Many laughed and derided, but they did not deter me.

It's short and simple for an actual Roguelike.  I'd be pleased with any feedback, yes, even if it's negative.

Thanks so much for the detailed review.  

I should have made the mid-level and end-level items and power ups more clearer.

This looked really interesting, but on my first play through the game just froze on this screen:

I kept clicking everywhere, like it said to, but nothing happens.

The game looks excellent.  A lot of work must of gone into the 3D graphics.  Really beautiful music, sets an odd mood for a survival Roguelike though, surely?

Recommendations:

- The controls are odd.  Why not simply automatically move the player to where you left click?  And why not make right click cancel the current action?

- Make a view info panel that shows information about a tile/animal clicked on.  I'd like to know what actions I can take on a given tile.

- The player character looks really strange, especially in light of how nice the rest of the game world is, including what appear to be background elements!  The PC should be the highlight.  It only even shows up when moving.  After a battle, I couldn't even see where on the map I was.

- The combat screen could be improved.  You've got such nice scenery, but no Roguelike basics like weapons, or shields?

- I would leave out the free view camera mode.  Not only does it seem buggy, but it's unnecessary.

- Some of the UI elements disappear from view at lower resolutions.  I simply switched to fullscreen mode, but you'll want to fix the UI scaling.

I'll leave it there.  It's a lot of feedback and there's quite a lot of other games.

Incredible amount of polish and content for a one week game jam.  I almost made a chess Roguelike myself.  Glad I hadn't now.

My bishop couldn't got stuck on one level:

I really like the idea and execution of this.  The graphics are awesome.  The weapons were great to play with.  A highly enjoyable game that kept me playing.  Excellent job!

More info about the items would really have helped.

Some of the text was off screen.

The font was difficult to read.  I'd recommend using a more traditional pixel font instead.

It wasn't clear how I could equip/use some of the items.

I was eager to play the game from the description, but ended up getting stuck on the first level.  I teleported to the creature's area, but then didn't have enough teleports to get back out.  On my second go, I ignored the first animal and got instantly trapped by a cube, which one shot killed me.

Such a creative idea.  I hope you build on it.

Recommendations:

- Maybe you could make sure the animals don't spawn so close to the player's spawn point.  

- I'm sure if I missed it, but a skip turn key would have been handy.  Especially as you can wait quite some time in places, for example when a creature is blocking an exit.

- It wasn't clear which creatures were dangerous.  This info is needed as some can instakill the player.

- Maybe make the binocular tool something you could instantly access, instead of an item you have to keep selecting in the inventory.  This tool should also tell you if an animal is dangerous or not.

Fun little Binding of Isaac like game.  I thought the tutorial was good.  Game sets up everything clearly.

Like the other comment, it wasn't clear which turrets could be destroyed.

I think some of the purists might consider it a Roguelite rather than a Roguelike due to the fast paced, real-time action.

A fun and simple little Roguelike.  

You could give the player somewhere to hide like in ThiefRL, especially given how small the rooms can be.  

At times, it felt impossible due to so many enemies all in one single tile corridor:

Some sounds would also have been welcome.

This was a really interesting twist on the genre.  It was fun and engaging.  I feel like with more elements, this could be a really good game.  It's definitely the start of something.

I didn't mind that the enemy moves in real time and so absurdly fast!  But, I feel the player character should keep moving when w/a/s/d are pressed.  I was frantically key mashing at times.  Did you try out having them move on turns?  Perhaps try using multiple enemies?

Also, the game could have done with some background music, but that's a minor issue.

This was an incredibly fun game to play.  I spent longer on it than I intended to.  A really impressive and unique puzzle Roguelike.  Although the purists may argue about whether it's truly a Roguelike at all ;)

5 stars all round from me.  Well done.

https://sundle.itch.io/roguefall

Update:

• fixed bugs
• boss fight
• hunger clock
• lots of icons
• copied over my usual shaders

Next:

Not much time left, so I'll probably wrap up as best as I can. Don't want to add much more to it otherwise I won't have a complete game. It's better to release a short game than an over-scoped half-game. I might just add end of level upgrades and try to do them in a non-modal way.

Roguefall update

So, turns out platformer physics is tricky, especially when you add the complexity of wrapping the world Asteroids style and modern tropes like wall jumping and dashing. There are various edge cases. What started simple has now become a lot less so. Might have to just remove some of these altogether. Just shows you how much heavy lifting modern game engines do when it comes to physics. We get so used to it.

Still managed to add quite a bit, such as targeting and shooting projectiles. Enemies are recognisably different. Added a few items. Copied over a log messaging feature. Added Godot's new AudioStreamPlaylist that makes handling background music so trivial it doesn't even need a script!

Got quite a lot done since my last update 2 days ago.

• A name: Roguefall, because it's a roguelike platformer.
• Movement, jumping, bashing.
• Copied some enemies from previous games in.
• Changed the look by adding colours!!
• Added basic spikes.

During a game jam, you really don't have the time to explore different avenues and so are forced to just go with the flow. It means you get far into making an actual game/prototype, in a short period of time, but you end up with lots doubts over what could have been done better.

Moving forward:

• Ranged attacks.
• Make enemies behave differently. For example, ghosts should be able to just move through barriers.
• I'm considering adding some kind of hunger clock in the form of a turn countdown. Meaning the player has to slay the mob within a number of turns, but can increase this limit by collecting, err, sand timer drops? This could just ruin the game play, but rls often have mechanics to hurry the player along. I could alternatively just score the player based on how quickly they beat the level. That's a common aspect of roguelites.

Really like the art style.  That colour palette is very cool.

There's not much to show, but it's something.

I initially wanted to create a chess roguelike, but I feel like they're over done.  There are lots of these on Itch already.  So, I'm going for a turn based platformer roguelike instead.  

I got inspired by a truly brilliant, old mobile roguelike called Hoplite.  And I thought, Hoplite, hop, jump, platformer!

Good luck!

Great level of polish.  The fast motion is very satisfying.  Nice use of slow motion.  Good visuals, music, and sound effects.  I think the game would have benefited from more feedback and clarity when it comes to the mechanics, but that's obviously a level of polish beyond a game jam.

Nice and smooth drifting.  Cool destruction effect.  Reminds me of that mission in Saint's Row 3.

That's intentional.  Party games are often tricky.  It's what makes them so much fun to play with friends.  Check out videos of people playing overcooked together, for example.  Easy games would just be boring when competing against friends/family.

Now, that's a fun game.  Very whacky, but the game is crying out for enemies.

That's quite an impressive amount of work to accomplish in just one week.  What's your secret? ;P

Really interesting strategy game.  Looks absolutely amazing.  Well done.

Awesome chip tune music and really nice retro art.  The animation was excellent.  Takes me back to the snes days.

Game was quite tough though.  Even the very beginning.

Probably, I might have gotten carried away with the slick theme. :P

Interesting concept and challenge, especially with regards to memory.  

Amazing stealth game.  Really awesome work.  Best game I've played this jam.

It's a decent entry.  Just needed more levels and more cheese!

Very slick game.  Fits the theme well.  Good puzzles and mechanics.  Nice tutorial levels at the beginning.  Short and interesting levels.

I recommend adding some music to it.