This is my first 7DRL since 2021. Time flies, I didn't think it had been that long....

I've always done fairly classic, traditional roguelikes. This time I decided to try something different.

My design is heavily inspired by Kerkerkruip - a hybrid of roguelike and interactive fiction. However, the fact that English is not my native language complicates the interactive fiction part a bit. That's why I decided to make a game that's more UI- and symbol-heavy, and instead of traditional roguelike or if levels, use a roguelite node system, with nodes generated on the fly.

The first three days were quite fruitful, although I was hoping for more, but on Sunday I got blocked on a strange (trivial as it turned out later) bug, today I had a hard day at work. I guess I'm booth pleased and slightly disappointed with the progress.

The project is slowly starting to look like a game. The dice throwing mechanics and the use of these mechanics in combat is fairly complete. Traveling from node to node works, and most of the menus already work, too.

I post updates more regularly on roguelike Discord server (hi, I'm Ved). You can also download an archive that contains both windows and linux version from my GitHub: https://github.com/VedVid/7drl-2025/releases Actually, I would really appreciate some feedback how it works on Linux as currently I don't have access to physical or virtual machine running Linux. It should work fine because I was testing the engine itself on Linux earlier. I hope that instruction on the release page how to run and play the game are sufficient.

After five days, I have all the main gameplay elements implemented.

I'm very happy to have reached this stage two days before the end of the event. This leaves some time to refine the game. However, I don't know how much more work I'll be able to put into it due to the family bonds the day after tomorrow.

On the other hand, however, there are still a lot of things to do to make this game completely complete. At this point it is missing a start screen, a game over screen, some sort of in-game goal or at least a list of high scores. A tutorial would be useful, too.

Some thoughts after 5 days:

1. I had forgotten how much fun it is to participate in 7DRL. Great experience, and I mean both this minimarathon of design and programming and the social aspects.

2. In many ways, I'm happy with my game. I've wanted to do a hybrid of roguelike and interactive fiction for years, but always focused on something else. Now I have a reasonable completed game, all thanks to 7DRL.

3. I've been fortunate that I haven't encountered any long-term blockers. In fact, I had a significant problem on Sunday, but it didn't stop me for _too_ long. Other than that, rather smooth sailing. The menus system is rather fragile but fortunately nothing sprinkled in the course.

4 That said, I am not happy with the direction gameplay has taken over these 5 days. The game is definitely less roguelike than it was intended to be!

5. I think the recipe for a good 7DRL is to design one main mechanic in a very good way, and build the rest of the game around that mechanic. I adopted a similar premise this year, and made dice rolls the main mechanic. It worked out well...

6. ...well, partially well. Throwing dice and using consumable super dice, while a nice gimmick, is not an interesting enough mechanic to serve as a single focal point of the entire game – which is what it was intended to do. This could be a very cool basis for a game that relies more on a lot of content. But it's 7DRL, no time to create tens of dozens of random events.

Obligatory screenshot:

I made a pre-release (as every other day), but now all elements that make this game, well, a game, are present. Except win / lose conditions. If you want to give it a try, you might download archive from there: https://github.com/VedVid/7drl-2025/releases/tag/day-5

Yup, I still didn't set up a game page. A couple of notes

There are three types of rooms: merchant, random event, combat event.

Every interaction within combat event ends with rolling a dice. Size of the base dice pool is always equal to the player attribute related to the action. Relevant attributes are always highlighted. You can also always add a consumable dice to the dice pool.

To do so, you need to use right arrow key when you have an action highlighted, use up and down arrows and enter key to mark dice you want to add to the dice pool, go back to the menu on the left side by pressing left arrow or escape key, and proceed with pressing enter key. Please note that changing action resets markers on the dice in the inventory.

The attached archive contains both linux and windows builds.

For linux, you can either start game by running start_linux_full file that uses included in the archive Love2D AppImage, or by running start_linux_small that will try to use system-wide Love installation.

To start game on Windows, simply run start_windows file.

End of the day 6! I'm too tired to write a longer write-up, so cutting to the chase: I added list of the high scores, main menu, and game over screen with a simple morgue info.

It made a world of difference. I always underestimate how much of an impact the menus have on the overall feeling of "yes, this is a game".

And for the next, last day... Well, game is more or less finished. I would love to add a tutorial, especially that some interactions and symbols might not be obvious... We'll see, if I won't manage to implement an in-game tutorial, at least I will provide a text or pdf file with instructions.

Below, some screenshots of menus

It's finished! At exactly 8 minutes before the deadline.

If I had to pick one single reason why I'm happy with Unsure, it's optimal scope.
Not once was I in a big rush, I didn't have to cut corners during the last stages of development.... It all, like, organically ended exactly when it should end.

And while I wish I had more time for playtesting and balancing the game, all the major planned systems are included in the game (including high scores and a tutorial), and I believe there are no game breaking bugs.

If there's anything I'm dissatisfied with, it's the level of roguelikeness of this game. The game was intended to be much more roguelike than it actually is.

I was on the fence whether to ship this entry or not. I have this feeling that Unsure is on the edge between an innovative take on a roguelike and being too far removed from the most distinctive elements of traditional roguelikes. After some thought, however, I decided to ship it. I still believe that deep in its roots and premise, Unsure is a roguelike.... But we'll see what the community has to say about it.

Anyway, this 7DRL was a blast. Everything went rather well. The atmosphere was, as always, amazing. And I can't wait to try all the awesome game made by the roguelike community. Maybe even I'll sign up for reviewing process? I wasn't participate in that part of event for years...

https://vedor.itch.io/unsure-7drl-2025