Hey I played it and made a video on it, The luck that you need is crazy but I find it very fun. I love the main character with his huge sword and tiny frog self, I think its awesome that the enemies are bugs ( since frogs eat bugs....) Fun short game.
I don't know if you've played Terry Cavanagh's Dicey Dungeons (don't worry, it's a different concept!) It makes a lot of good design choices about decision-making within runs that extend the idea of pushing your luck from the underlying dice manipulation mechanics into the wider experience of playing the game.
So rather than just sending the player from one fight into the next, the player begins in a dungeon map and has some degree of choice as to what and whether to fight. The dungeon map offers health restores, shops and item chests, the cost for which is usually whether you take a fight or not, and a core part of the overall decision-making is that each fight offers experience points with level-ups restoring and increasing your health pool, and to reach max-level you have to have fought everything.
I'm sure there are other ways of exploring that space, but it does feel that there's a lot of potential in your game to build out that wider loop beyond the current linear incarnation.
Thank you for your comment! We are planning to add much more stuff to the game, and rooms that are not only fights are some of them. This game was made for a Game Jam in a 1 week period so we had to think fast and for simple ideas to get that done in time with a nice feeling. Now that we have plenty of time we can add all those things that we initially wanted from the beginning
The core is ultra fun, but the balance ruin the fun in long run. Moth heal(2x wat!), beetle shield(boring battle) and purple fly(5x oof!) are too much. Appear impossible to complete the game without heavy heal dice - and the annoying proccess to loop through the dices until recover total heal.
I suspect that are only one optimal strategy that can beat the game, and the game balancing was created with this single strategy in mind. The problem is that the game allows many different strategies, and if the player chooses the wrong one, he will be doomed from the start 😥
Thank you for the feedback! I have beated the game with almost all possible strategies, upgrading only attacks, no heavy no hollows, no heal, etc... I believe the more you understand the game and what rewards you should chose in the current floor you are, the more probable it is to beat it.
That's shame on the game, really Nevertheless, the fact that you have 32 hp, tells that you wasted too much chance to improve your deck (and the shitty dices on the pic prove that)
In 10 floors I received almost only "heal"/"remove-die" options, no "upgrade" option, and the "new dice" below floor 10 you receive only weak dice. I learned later, the best option is to restart if you don't get many upgrade options until room 10.
That's exactly what I suspected, the game only allows few strategies. For example, it's impossible to win the game just by choosing/receive new dice and heal, without upgrades or removing dice.
I managed to finish the game with some regularity, but always following a strict strategy, which doesn't allow much improvisation and rely a lot on luck on receive upgrades and really useful new dice: - deck size 8 or 9 - start upgrade 2 attacks to max - then upgrade 2 defense and 2 boost while trying remove 1 boost and 1 attack - restart if you dont have 2 attacks max when reach floor 8 - new dice only after floor 10 (remove old dice after receive a good one) - heal only if no better option
edit: I loved that game played 20+ hours, but the situations like the first screenshot are really frustating
This is one of the most RNG games I have ever seen. I have played it over and over again and have yet to win. Game needs a soft* balance because frustrating does not equal fun.
The luck aspect can be annoying but I've found that upgrading blocking dice before anything else makes it more likely I'll survive. You could try that and maybe it would help.
I have tried various methods which includes upgrading the blocking die first, maxing health, maxing attack die, maxing multiplier die, going for new die, and combinations of those above.
The RNG is the one of the main focus of the game (since you are quite literally playing with dice). Must also mention that the game gets quite easy once you know what you are doing.
I must admit the game is great Alarts, and I didn't mean to imply that it wasn't as I wrote this out of frustration. I understand RNG is the main focus of the game, however, with the many combinations and numerous attempts at trying to beat the game it just doesn't happen - even though I know what I am doing, or believe I know what I am doing. It is not hard to get to high levels - it is just difficult to beat as luck plays such a hard role.
This is one of the greatest Roguelikes I'd ever played! The core mechanic is quite simple and extremely fun to use. Progression feels great, although it does need a little bit more balancing, like with the Max HP upgrade (it's a bit too less) and also the enemy attacks (the attack range is kind of annoying). Other than that, it's just plain awesome. I hope to see more of this in the future!
I already loved this game pre-update and holy WOW—awesome stuff with this new update. Can’t wait to see where this game continues to go! Gorgeous art, clever mechanics and really well balanced, so far! Great work team! 🐸⚔️
I wonder if the 'get new dice' option could use a rethink? Being forced to take one means that if you get a bad range of choices, your run can become a lot harder, as your efficacy on any given turn is diluted.
It might be more fair if the player was given a choice to take nothing (the waste of a fight reward being punishment enough), or more interesting if the player had the option of exchanging a dice instead of adding one.
Hmm, maybe that's a nice idea. Anyways, I also believe we should rework that a bit since getting a new dice is useless at the beginning and optimal at the end
very fun concept, played for about 2 hours. could use some slight balancing, and the music loop is way too short and a little annoying because of it's short length and it being a minor key. overall though very solid i would pay like $4 for this
The game is fun, but I kinda hate the music lol. I also don't like how the enemies seem to not deal consistent damage. That removes a lot of strategy options.
I get enemies dealing 1 damage one turn and then 3 damage the next. Not consistent. Also I know I can mute the game. The point is that I'd prefer better music, or the ability to turn only the music off without muting sound effects as well.
I know, but I don't like how it seems to just randomly pick a number in that range. I think it'd be cool if it was on a repeating pattern so that you could predict how much damage enemies will be doing when, and plan which dice to use, keep, or get rid of accordingly.
I get how that could give more strategy to the battles so the player has more control over it. However, we like the idea that all in this game is based on RNG (the dice you are getting, your rolls, the enemies, their damage, etc...)
We like this not only because it is related with how dice work IRL, but because of the thrill it gives, now knowing how hard the enemies are hitting so you have so block to prepare yourself for the next turn, having luck and surviving because of the enemy low rolls, getting one very good dice at the start or getting a very bad one that will make the game harder at the end because you were to confident.
One recommendation I have though is about the new 'choose enemy' feature. It's awesome, don't get me wrong, but it could definitely use a little tweaking. My recommendation would be to make it so that you can only target by layer.
I.e. you have 1 fly and an archer in the first row, and a buff bug in the back, so while you can target either of the first two, you can't choose the buffer until they're both dead.
The reason for this is because buff-based insects usually only spawn in said back row, and while yes ones like archers can deal immense damage very quickly, buff-bugs are always the more dangerous because they buff said damage dealers, making them harder to get rid of, so of course they're always going to go down first if they can be chosen.
With this change you still have to struggle with dealing enough damage to overpower the buffs benefits, but now you can at least target a specific damage dealer so you don't get stuck in a situation where you're getting annihilated by say, an archer because a fly's ahead of it and it keeps getting buffed enough that you can only deal one damage a turn, while getting shot for a possible 3x3 by said archer every turn (not to mention the damage from the other bugs stacked on top).
I do also have one other criticism, it's about the remove dice option.
I totally understand why you nerfed it, getting rid of 3 dice in one go was extremely useful, but it is now horrible to use, it either needs to be 2, or you need to start with less dice.
Upgrading is pointless until you knock them down to at least 2 each, you'll never pull said upgrade enough to actually assist you when it's competing against 2 non-upgraded, and if you have 3 of only one chances of you pulling all of 3 of said one, and only 1 of either of the others (dependent on if your heal is out or not, which can lead to you being forced to waste it), is too high a risk, because chances of it repeating the same pattern multiple rounds is pretty high, and I'm speaking from the experience of pulling 3 rounds where I only pulled boosts and defenses because I decided to try and grab a new dice and the only good one was a def-die, and had gotten rid of an attack a round earlier so I had a better chance of pulling my upgraded one.
This also means you can't add a die unless your collection of the type it's a part of has less than at least one other, especially if said group is at 3 or more, because then you might only pull said die, which will pretty much be an instant-kill on you dependent on both round #, how many of them are higher than basic, and what you pulled (i.e. shield maybe you can block, attack maybe you can kill, but boost or health you can't do anything, and the latter makes you waste all of them if they're crystal).
And to even focus on removing dice can take up to 11 rounds to even be able to remove 2 because of said balancing issues meaning you either pull all of your boosts or all of your attacks, either of which means you're going to take damage, and dependent on how many enemies you have, and what types, means you have a very high chance of losing enough HP you have to sacrifice balancing with a remove to heal instead, and then it repeats because you're now a round higher and the enemies are stronger, unless you just outright die said round because you only made back 10 of the near 20 HP you lost during a round where you were full health.
Also, this is a pretty good example of why you can't add dice until you've both removed enough, and also upgraded what you had:
probably the best game i played in a looooong time! i played yesterday before the update and today after the update, a lot better! every time i play it takes like 5 deaths to beat, endless mode would be good
Wow, Great Game! Very fun. However, upgrading the purple boost dice seems pretty bad imo which is counterintuitive. Besides that, it's a great challenge.
I have played it dozens of times and won it dozens of times. But, sometimes I really hate the game and swear the authors. And I want them to be in my shoes at such moments, feel my frustration and misery and try to create some strategy when all the options are trolling you.
Because it's really not cool when the game doesn't give you the ability to acquire heavy attack and defense dices at all regardless the strategy you use, and you are feeling total frustration and misery on high levels. It's also not cool when you are fed up with shitty dices on low levels and game doesn't allow you to either acquire something good or upgrade something, because upgrade option not appear for a lot of levels and you acquire shit like basic dices.
And also there is a very annoying mechanic when you are trying to prolong the battle to get a better heal option. Especially when you have to do it against the last bug that is a healer, - battle becomes endless. Is it possible to change it somehow?
I get what you mean, we have also played it tons of times and know the game is very based on how much luck you get in a run, but we kinda like it that way, after all, the main mechanic are dice, which are always totally random IRL. We tried to make it as fair as possible so a good player nearly always wins his runs (although some might be harder than others).
The higher floor you are the best dices you are gonna get, but after all, it's also a probability.
Hey There! I played your game and it's super coool!! I like how you implement the dice as a way to heal, attack or defend. It made the rouge-like gameplay more fun somehow :D Although i didnt beat till level 20 it is so good!! 8/10!! Naisu JOB!!
Really fun game I hope a bigger version comes out there's so many things they could add and as the game is now it's still pretty intricate with limited options. Definitely a 5 out of 5 itch.io game, but screw them red archers for real though.
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That's an addicted mechanics!
I'm really enjoying playing it.
Congrats!
I really like the gimmick and the artstyle :P
It's a great balance between being simple and being tactical, and a random element makes it even more fun to play.
Not to flex (well, maybe just to flex a little bit), I finished your game on my first run
Hey I played it and made a video on it, The luck that you need is crazy but I find it very fun. I love the main character with his huge sword and tiny frog self, I think its awesome that the enemies are bugs ( since frogs eat bugs....) Fun short game.
Frog are cool, I think everyone can agree on that 🐸. Thank you for playing and the video!
Very cool game, cool strategy, art and ai. Great job for a one-week game. I am excited to see the updates for the future.
I don't know if you've played Terry Cavanagh's Dicey Dungeons (don't worry, it's a different concept!) It makes a lot of good design choices about decision-making within runs that extend the idea of pushing your luck from the underlying dice manipulation mechanics into the wider experience of playing the game.
So rather than just sending the player from one fight into the next, the player begins in a dungeon map and has some degree of choice as to what and whether to fight. The dungeon map offers health restores, shops and item chests, the cost for which is usually whether you take a fight or not, and a core part of the overall decision-making is that each fight offers experience points with level-ups restoring and increasing your health pool, and to reach max-level you have to have fought everything.
I'm sure there are other ways of exploring that space, but it does feel that there's a lot of potential in your game to build out that wider loop beyond the current linear incarnation.
Thank you for your comment! We are planning to add much more stuff to the game, and rooms that are not only fights are some of them. This game was made for a Game Jam in a 1 week period so we had to think fast and for simple ideas to get that done in time with a nice feeling. Now that we have plenty of time we can add all those things that we initially wanted from the beginning
Awesome!!! Im addicted haha :D
The core is ultra fun, but the balance ruin the fun in long run. Moth heal(2x wat!), beetle shield(boring battle) and purple fly(5x oof!) are too much. Appear impossible to complete the game without heavy heal dice - and the annoying proccess to loop through the dices until recover total heal.
I suspect that are only one optimal strategy that can beat the game, and the game balancing was created with this single strategy in mind. The problem is that the game allows many different strategies, and if the player chooses the wrong one, he will be doomed from the start 😥
Thank you for the feedback!
I have beated the game with almost all possible strategies, upgrading only attacks, no heavy no hollows, no heal, etc...
I believe the more you understand the game and what rewards you should chose in the current floor you are, the more probable it is to beat it.
How to deal against a comp like this?
Because randomness, I upgraded only one blue dice and receive ony heal/remove-dice options, my attacks are very weak
If beginning attacking, the damage will be recovered by moth and beetle, and I receive 4 free hits(double hit from archer)
If I start defending, the archer just wipeout my blocks and the beetle boost the shield
The screenshot are after 2nd turn, started defending
That's shame on the game, really
Nevertheless, the fact that you have 32 hp, tells that you wasted too much chance to improve your deck (and the shitty dices on the pic prove that)
In 10 floors I received almost only "heal"/"remove-die" options, no "upgrade" option, and the "new dice" below floor 10 you receive only weak dice. I learned later, the best option is to restart if you don't get many upgrade options until room 10.
That's exactly what I suspected, the game only allows few strategies. For example, it's impossible to win the game just by choosing/receive new dice and heal, without upgrades or removing dice.
I managed to finish the game with some regularity, but always following a strict strategy, which doesn't allow much improvisation and rely a lot on luck on receive upgrades and really useful new dice:
- deck size 8 or 9
- start upgrade 2 attacks to max
- then upgrade 2 defense and 2 boost while trying remove 1 boost and 1 attack
- restart if you dont have 2 attacks max when reach floor 8
- new dice only after floor 10 (remove old dice after receive a good one)
- heal only if no better option
edit: I loved that game played 20+ hours, but the situations like the first screenshot are really frustating
This is one of the most RNG games I have ever seen. I have played it over and over again and have yet to win. Game needs a soft* balance because frustrating does not equal fun.
*edited from "hard"
The luck aspect can be annoying but I've found that upgrading blocking dice before anything else makes it more likely I'll survive. You could try that and maybe it would help.
I have tried various methods which includes upgrading the blocking die first, maxing health, maxing attack die, maxing multiplier die, going for new die, and combinations of those above.
The RNG is the one of the main focus of the game (since you are quite literally playing with dice). Must also mention that the game gets quite easy once you know what you are doing.
I must admit the game is great Alarts, and I didn't mean to imply that it wasn't as I wrote this out of frustration. I understand RNG is the main focus of the game, however, with the many combinations and numerous attempts at trying to beat the game it just doesn't happen - even though I know what I am doing, or believe I know what I am doing. It is not hard to get to high levels - it is just difficult to beat as luck plays such a hard role.
And ironically - on my next try I beat the game.
its not frustrating at all, since this last update ive probably done about 10 games... won atleast half
This is one of the greatest Roguelikes I'd ever played! The core mechanic is quite simple and extremely fun to use. Progression feels great, although it does need a little bit more balancing, like with the Max HP upgrade (it's a bit too less) and also the enemy attacks (the attack range is kind of annoying). Other than that, it's just plain awesome. I hope to see more of this in the future!
Thank you for your comment and feedback :)
I already loved this game pre-update and holy WOW—awesome stuff with this new update. Can’t wait to see where this game continues to go! Gorgeous art, clever mechanics and really well balanced, so far! Great work team! 🐸⚔️
I wonder if the 'get new dice' option could use a rethink? Being forced to take one means that if you get a bad range of choices, your run can become a lot harder, as your efficacy on any given turn is diluted.
It might be more fair if the player was given a choice to take nothing (the waste of a fight reward being punishment enough), or more interesting if the player had the option of exchanging a dice instead of adding one.
Hmm, maybe that's a nice idea. Anyways, I also believe we should rework that a bit since getting a new dice is useless at the beginning and optimal at the end
I think a never ending 'gauntlet' mode would be great for this
especially with the new hollow dice
It is fun but the end screen never appears? When I die , it just immediately starts again from floor 1.
The end screen only appears when you beat the game, when you die there is no game over screen
I didn't realize it was possible to beat the game lol
gahhhh
i was on floor 20, and the queen was on 9 health, but all my purple dice rolled low ;-;
Lots of fun!!!!!
it's interesting
sometimes the ending is usual, and sometimes something black appears)
;)
very fun concept, played for about 2 hours. could use some slight balancing, and the music loop is way too short and a little annoying because of it's short length and it being a minor key. overall though very solid i would pay like $4 for this
maybe even just add a separate music mute button instead of all sound
The update made it lag WAY more
Do you play in the browser version?
Good game.
Great game, would be nice to add a save feature tho.
The game is fun, but I kinda hate the music lol. I also don't like how the enemies seem to not deal consistent damage. That removes a lot of strategy options.
enemy damage is fairly consistent
as for music... mute it and play ur own lol
I get enemies dealing 1 damage one turn and then 3 damage the next. Not consistent. Also I know I can mute the game. The point is that I'd prefer better music, or the ability to turn only the music off without muting sound effects as well.
enemies have a damage range, doesnt make it inconsistent
enemies have a damage range. for example the weakest fly enemy has a damage rand of 1-3.
I know, but I don't like how it seems to just randomly pick a number in that range. I think it'd be cool if it was on a repeating pattern so that you could predict how much damage enemies will be doing when, and plan which dice to use, keep, or get rid of accordingly.
I get how that could give more strategy to the battles so the player has more control over it. However, we like the idea that all in this game is based on RNG (the dice you are getting, your rolls, the enemies, their damage, etc...)
We like this not only because it is related with how dice work IRL, but because of the thrill it gives, now knowing how hard the enemies are hitting so you have so block to prepare yourself for the next turn, having luck and surviving because of the enemy low rolls, getting one very good dice at the start or getting a very bad one that will make the game harder at the end because you were to confident.
Ah! An update! I love what you've added so far!
One recommendation I have though is about the new 'choose enemy' feature. It's awesome, don't get me wrong, but it could definitely use a little tweaking. My recommendation would be to make it so that you can only target by layer.
I.e. you have 1 fly and an archer in the first row, and a buff bug in the back, so while you can target either of the first two, you can't choose the buffer until they're both dead.
The reason for this is because buff-based insects usually only spawn in said back row, and while yes ones like archers can deal immense damage very quickly, buff-bugs are always the more dangerous because they buff said damage dealers, making them harder to get rid of, so of course they're always going to go down first if they can be chosen.
With this change you still have to struggle with dealing enough damage to overpower the buffs benefits, but now you can at least target a specific damage dealer so you don't get stuck in a situation where you're getting annihilated by say, an archer because a fly's ahead of it and it keeps getting buffed enough that you can only deal one damage a turn, while getting shot for a possible 3x3 by said archer every turn (not to mention the damage from the other bugs stacked on top).
(Now just to find that secret)
I do also have one other criticism, it's about the remove dice option.
I totally understand why you nerfed it, getting rid of 3 dice in one go was extremely useful, but it is now horrible to use, it either needs to be 2, or you need to start with less dice.
Upgrading is pointless until you knock them down to at least 2 each, you'll never pull said upgrade enough to actually assist you when it's competing against 2 non-upgraded, and if you have 3 of only one chances of you pulling all of 3 of said one, and only 1 of either of the others (dependent on if your heal is out or not, which can lead to you being forced to waste it), is too high a risk, because chances of it repeating the same pattern multiple rounds is pretty high, and I'm speaking from the experience of pulling 3 rounds where I only pulled boosts and defenses because I decided to try and grab a new dice and the only good one was a def-die, and had gotten rid of an attack a round earlier so I had a better chance of pulling my upgraded one.
This also means you can't add a die unless your collection of the type it's a part of has less than at least one other, especially if said group is at 3 or more, because then you might only pull said die, which will pretty much be an instant-kill on you dependent on both round #, how many of them are higher than basic, and what you pulled (i.e. shield maybe you can block, attack maybe you can kill, but boost or health you can't do anything, and the latter makes you waste all of them if they're crystal).
And to even focus on removing dice can take up to 11 rounds to even be able to remove 2 because of said balancing issues meaning you either pull all of your boosts or all of your attacks, either of which means you're going to take damage, and dependent on how many enemies you have, and what types, means you have a very high chance of losing enough HP you have to sacrifice balancing with a remove to heal instead, and then it repeats because you're now a round higher and the enemies are stronger, unless you just outright die said round because you only made back 10 of the near 20 HP you lost during a round where you were full health.
Also, this is a pretty good example of why you can't add dice until you've both removed enough, and also upgraded what you had:
disagree with ur upgrading topic
just beat the game focusing on upgrading right away lol
First you have to regularly get those, with my usual RNG I hit one upgrade ever 3-4 rounds, so that's generally a less than viable 'meta' for my runs
You should get an upgrade every 2-3 rounds which results in plenty of upgrades over the course of the game.
Unless they show up with a heal while you need it, which, with my RNG, is usually when they show up
I don't really understand your criticism here. Upgrading is a great strategy,
very cool
Fun !! :)
love seeing new updates
but gotta say being able to pick target makes this game very easy lol
Very fun and addicting!
probably the best game i played in a looooong time! i played yesterday before the update and today after the update, a lot better! every time i play it takes like 5 deaths to beat, endless mode would be good
OMG I love this! Keep it up ^^
Español:
WOW es increíble, esta muy bien hecho.
Aunque se le podrían añadir ciertas cosas, como un modo de PvP multijugador en linea, un modo historia un modo cooperativo...
Pero eso ya es decisión tuya.
English:
WOW is incredible, it is very well done.
Although certain things could be added, such as an online multiplayer PvP mode, a story mode, a cooperative mode ...
But that is already your decision.
Thank you for your comment and feedback! ^^
Español:
¿Eso significa que lo intentarás añadir?
English:
That mean that you will try to add it?
Wow, Great Game! Very fun. However, upgrading the purple boost dice seems pretty bad imo which is counterintuitive. Besides that, it's a great challenge.
Thank you! We might change a bit the boost dice since it's true that 4 is pretty bad and definetely not an upgrade
I have played it dozens of times and won it dozens of times. But, sometimes I really hate the game and swear the authors. And I want them to be in my shoes at such moments, feel my frustration and misery and try to create some strategy when all the options are trolling you.
Because it's really not cool when the game doesn't give you the ability to acquire heavy attack and defense dices at all regardless the strategy you use, and you are feeling total frustration and misery on high levels. It's also not cool when you are fed up with shitty dices on low levels and game doesn't allow you to either acquire something good or upgrade something, because upgrade option not appear for a lot of levels and you acquire shit like basic dices.
And also there is a very annoying mechanic when you are trying to prolong the battle to get a better heal option. Especially when you have to do it against the last bug that is a healer, - battle becomes endless. Is it possible to change it somehow?
I get what you mean, we have also played it tons of times and know the game is very based on how much luck you get in a run, but we kinda like it that way, after all, the main mechanic are dice, which are always totally random IRL. We tried to make it as fair as possible so a good player nearly always wins his runs (although some might be harder than others).
The higher floor you are the best dices you are gonna get, but after all, it's also a probability.
Hey There! I played your game and it's super coool!! I like how you implement the dice as a way to heal, attack or defend. It made the rouge-like gameplay more fun somehow :D Although i didnt beat till level 20 it is so good!! 8/10!! Naisu JOB!!
We are glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for making a video ;)
really fun and addictive game, also it runs on my potato pc so thats good
We gotchu fam
playthrough here:
Really fun game I hope a bigger version comes out there's so many things they could add and as the game is now it's still pretty intricate with limited options. Definitely a 5 out of 5 itch.io game, but screw them red archers for real though.We are planning on releasing updates for the game and one should drop soon with some QoL changes and some new mechanics ;)
is fantastic game. Now, i am a fallower
Thank you! ^^
Very cool game
Amazing game
wait, do heavy dice disappear for the rest of the floor once used once?
They go back to your discard pile, and eventually back to your deck so you can draw them again.
I thought they were like crystals
The last boss was easy :D
Hahaha, good job! (´∀`)b
Welp, i just beat it (first try) and my health never went under 14 ;)
It was really fun :)
I want a sequel or more floors please!
Luigi sells sea shells on a seashore to take over the world