Really enjoying the game, but it feels a bit unbalanced to me. It's possible I'm still not good enough at the game to form these opinions, but I've played quite a few runs, so I'll try to elaborate on what I felt while playing:
Not being able to see enemy intentions makes it hard to understand how much damage they can deal and plan accordingly. I think their damage is a bit on the higher side, too. Low roll dice are pretty damn low and you're stuck spending energy in order to get rid of them. Those make it feel unfairly difficult to face certain enemies because you low roll and must face tank 10+ damage early on. The bee queen one-shot me even though counting shields I still had about 27 hp, so it feels very unjustified to just die because of a low roll when enemies deal so much damage. That also makes enemies that have sustain like heals/shields take too long to fight and makes the fight rather unsatisfying, especially in certain enemy setups. I'd recommend either improving low rolls or reducing the insane damage enemies deal across the board. A way to discard dice would be nice, but maybe glass dice could break if discarded.
Minor criticism would be that the random events could be improved imo. The one where you lose a random die or half hp feels like too much, while another, like the one that skips floors, I probably avoided about half the time. They feel either too punishing or just uninteresting, and I think it's more a conceptual issue than a numbers issue. Post-battle options can be a little unsatisfying more often than not, so maybe 3 choices could be good, if alongside a larger pool of options to possibly get. I'm less confident on this paragraph's suggestions as a whole though lol, just think these aspects could be improved is all.
In terms of general feel I think it already feels pretty good, but I'd suggest 2 QoL improvements: Confirmation if finishing the turn with energy left (and a less discrete Finish button), and a way to swap a die with another by dropping it on top.
All that said I've been enjoying the game a lot. Thank you!
This was the best update I have been following from the start and this is really starting to take an amazing path of potential. This was really great super excited to play the game more and might even make a fan poster.
I started playing just on a whim, and my monkey brain wasn't picking up on how the game worked. Whoops! But after slowing myself down and carefully taking note of the mechanics, I found myself hooked onto this game! It's very rare I find myself enthralled with strategy based games. But the elegant design and easy to understand rules made this a very enjoyable experience. I very much adore the art direction here as well. Along with the sound design. Overall, a very well done game!
Click on G and P when you're playing they are such fun little add-ons for the gameplay ^.^ I am still a little stuck on beating the Queen Bee: Do you have to put the honey ON the spot til it's x2 or put the honey IN the spot to stop the 25+ dmg?
This is an example of depth without complexity. I really like the combat system and the art style. My only little gripe is that its not quite well communicated what you have to do in the boss fight, and its an instant loss if you don't do the right thing, so my first death felt cheap. Anyway, the game es outstanding and very well done!
Gameplay is interesting and unique, the sprite work is cohesive and crisp. This deserves a lot more attention than it's getting. I hope getting this on steam is on your radar, it deserves to be the next Slay the Spire.
Very, very good game, despite its admirably steeper learning curve. The mechanics are refreshing and easy to understand. The RNG is implemented just enough that a skilled player can navigate and manipulate it to their advantage yet still grant the same rewarding feeling that RNG is associated with. I can honestly say I put more hours into this than some triple-A games and it is by far a better use of my time in comparison.
If the developer can grant me one wish, is to publish the formula used to calculate the game score. I would like to break the 10000+ score mark, but so far my attempts can only approach it like convergent series; getting ever closer, but never arriving.
Thank you for such a great game and the joy it brought me!
I wish that if a block had a status like hollow or heavy that if we turn it into a heal block that status remains when the fairy comes... and maybe the level dice block it is remains the same... ex: a gold heavy attack becomes a gold heavy heal
It would be lovely to reconsider battle rewards:
e.g if I chose to add a dice and I like none of them, I should be able to decline (maybe even chose the other option, but that is extra).
It would make the game easier, so some rebalancing might be required.
I bet it could feel better to discard useless die in some way?(I'm not sure if I've missed some relics or not.) In many cases I have to use healing with no effect to search for my powerful die.
I like the game. It’s my favorite genre, with dice! Which I am also very fond of. However, I have only one critique. When you pick a new dice there is no way of telling what the different attributes do. You can see only see it when you have acquired the die. It would be even better if you would be able to see what are the effects of said attributes.
Ok so here is my unfiltered review. The game is really fun, a bit difficult with a lack of proper tutorial but it is fun even if i did need to die 6 times to fully understand the game and 3 more for a good strategy. Good game with one major issue. The Floor 25 fight. The boss is annoying as all hell to beat, I am running a more defensive build where all my damage comes from boost, mirror, and terrain die so the boss has become impossible to get past its second form. the first form took me 10 minutes to beat, a lot of that due to a visual glitch where the enemies die would appear places they aren't and appear to be other die, like a heal die secretly be an attack die or a boost die secretly being a blank space, such a obvious bug that I'm astonished it went past testing unless i am incredibly unlucky and this is a rare bug but I've had it happen 200 times in a row for me, this with the fact the boss has scaling healing and defense is making this so horrid to play, its impossible for me to beat the boss anyways because of the fact it just heals back up and any buffs you place it will place a heal die on it so you just heal the enemy more, pre level 25 8/10 at lv 25 0/10 I am honestly just disappointed and I wanted to beat the game too, spent hours of my life to do so but simply cannot. please please please in the future do more bug tests and balance tests before you release an update or playthrough or a good game can become a shit one real quick.
I know game jam games aren't always updated alot but i would love more content to explore. the game is great due to the uniqueness i loved the feeling of finding new and different dice (and was kinda mad that the names were just names) but all in all great replayability and a joy to see in my recomended 10/10 would play again
(Please note that this review is based on personal experience while playing this game)
Without beating around the bush, this game has me conflicted on whether or not I enjoyed playing it. From the difficulty spike, to the RNG involved in some situations, to bosses not really being balanced in coordination with each other, there's much that can leave you polarized on this experience.
The game has a simple premise: collect dice that can attack, add defense, heal, buff other dice, copy another dice, and two secret dice (explained later). Using these, you must climb a tower while defeating enemies and deciding on what you do during special events that can have a massive impact on what they do to your run. In fights, your dice each have six sides that can yield a number based on how powered up it is, which introduces RNG to whether or not you can attack, defend, and heal while also affecting what the value of each; while this amount of RNG isn't inherently an issue depending on the deck of dice you're running or if you've been leveling up/collecting high level dice, but it becomes glaringly obvious that you'll lose more runs to this than because of preparation.
In terms of glitches and bugs, I couldn't find any after 7+ hours of doing runs to finally beat one, but I'd like to create a quick starter tip/help section for anyone having issues with the game:
1. Complete as many floors as you can; some events will allow you to skip them, but it's better to progress naturally as finishing fights gives you health/dice upgrades, allows you to discard unwanted dice, and can give you new dice (some come fully upgraded)
2. Less is more: the more dice you have in your deck, the more likely you'll have lower level dice or not pull the dice that you want (you can only have 5 dice in your hand at one time). While you can play the cards and hope RNG gives you the dice you need when you need them, some enemies can heal/give shield which can lead to softlocks because neither side can deal enough damage
3. Prioritize targets: there are some targets that can heal, give shield to others, or mimic your dice. Without giving out all the details, you should remove targets that counter your dice or that can present more of an issue
4. Experiment with the special events in your first few runs and memorize what they do/say. You'll run into the same events that have different wording, so make sure to read them thoroughly and memorize the benefits/detriments that they can present
*SPOILERS* *Spoilers for floor 20* 5. The fight on this floor can be extremely annoying for anyone that doesn't experiment, and with it being on the 20th floor, losing here will almost assuredly cause people to give up the game. I'll spell out the trick to winning here: the honey blocks, when placed to where the honey that they spawn land on a spot that's "reserved for the boss" give a x2 bonus (up to x4 if two are stacked); because of the boss's high damage, you must use the extra buff in order to gain shield to be able to survive her damage (I've experienced hits of 30 damage on playthroughs)
*Spoilers for floors above 20* 6. Okay, from here on out, you're either going to have to rely heavily on RNG or have a small deck that is comprised of hitting hard and fast; floors 21 to 24 has only enhanced variants of the enemies that you encountered on lower floors that all hit harder, heal more, and shield more. If you have a healing/shield deck, unless you get the right enemies that you can defeat easily, you'll run into softlocks really quickly *END OF SPOILERS*
The major gripes I have with this game are it's heavy RNG elements, the lack of information for the first boss fight (noted on number 5), the lack of deck depth that's viable during late game due to difficulty spike, and the underwhelming fight against the final boss. With this in mind, the game was fun to figure out, but becomes extremely tedious and borderline boring when you find out that you have to complete two runs of the game in order to get the true ending. Keep in mind, nothing changes after completing the game the first time except for one interaction at the end. With these gripes in mind, this game was fun to replay a few times as I figured out different strats that worked; once you figure out how the first boss works, you'll likely never die to it again. It's sad that it ends up feeling more of a slog with hoping you are able to build a deck fast enough that can help you survive and dying to inevitable RNG.
All in all, this is a nice turn based, deck building, roguelike that is definitely fun until it just becomes tedious. Although it feels like there's a lack of depth once you figure out what works and what doesn't, the journey is still worth giving this game some runs. Good luck, and remember that you will die in the dungeon.
A really good free game. Tho I wish I could see how the enemy heals, deal damage, or blocks. Is it random or has a set value? does it depend on how much the value of dice I placed?
Interesting games concept, though sadly not able to rise to the standards set by Monster Train, Dicey Dungeons, and the grand daddy of them all: Slay the Spire. However this is a free game with freakishly good sprite animations and an engaging concept. The game is carried exclusively by the unique enemies, however encounters a bizarre difficulty spike after the first boss. It's good but I feel it's not nearly addicting enough to warrant being a roguelike. However I'd give it a solid 7/10 for it's ability to hold more than one play though, the good sprites, and the execution of a decent concept. Good job.
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Really enjoying the game, but it feels a bit unbalanced to me. It's possible I'm still not good enough at the game to form these opinions, but I've played quite a few runs, so I'll try to elaborate on what I felt while playing:
Not being able to see enemy intentions makes it hard to understand how much damage they can deal and plan accordingly. I think their damage is a bit on the higher side, too. Low roll dice are pretty damn low and you're stuck spending energy in order to get rid of them. Those make it feel unfairly difficult to face certain enemies because you low roll and must face tank 10+ damage early on. The bee queen one-shot me even though counting shields I still had about 27 hp, so it feels very unjustified to just die because of a low roll when enemies deal so much damage. That also makes enemies that have sustain like heals/shields take too long to fight and makes the fight rather unsatisfying, especially in certain enemy setups. I'd recommend either improving low rolls or reducing the insane damage enemies deal across the board. A way to discard dice would be nice, but maybe glass dice could break if discarded.
Minor criticism would be that the random events could be improved imo. The one where you lose a random die or half hp feels like too much, while another, like the one that skips floors, I probably avoided about half the time. They feel either too punishing or just uninteresting, and I think it's more a conceptual issue than a numbers issue. Post-battle options can be a little unsatisfying more often than not, so maybe 3 choices could be good, if alongside a larger pool of options to possibly get. I'm less confident on this paragraph's suggestions as a whole though lol, just think these aspects could be improved is all.
In terms of general feel I think it already feels pretty good, but I'd suggest 2 QoL improvements: Confirmation if finishing the turn with energy left (and a less discrete Finish button), and a way to swap a die with another by dropping it on top.
All that said I've been enjoying the game a lot. Thank you!
This was the best update I have been following from the start and this is really starting to take an amazing path of potential. This was really great super excited to play the game more and might even make a fan poster.
This is nice.
This game fills me with rage and I hate it.
That being said I play it almost every day and I love it.
I started playing just on a whim, and my monkey brain wasn't picking up on how the game worked. Whoops! But after slowing myself down and carefully taking note of the mechanics, I found myself hooked onto this game! It's very rare I find myself enthralled with strategy based games. But the elegant design and easy to understand rules made this a very enjoyable experience. I very much adore the art direction here as well. Along with the sound design. Overall, a very well done game!
Click on G and P when you're playing they are such fun little add-ons for the gameplay ^.^ I am still a little stuck on beating the Queen Bee: Do you have to put the honey ON the spot til it's x2 or put the honey IN the spot to stop the 25+ dmg?
Stock up on good shield dice for Queen Bee. Use honey die to cover the Crown marked slots in honey, and it gives a x2 bonus to a die placed there.
Honestly my addiction to this game is not healthy
my wife is gone
13/11
I'm a big fan of your work
That's a great little game! Well done
This is an example of depth without complexity. I really like the combat system and the art style. My only little gripe is that its not quite well communicated what you have to do in the boss fight, and its an instant loss if you don't do the right thing, so my first death felt cheap. Anyway, the game es outstanding and very well done!
Gameplay is interesting and unique, the sprite work is cohesive and crisp. This deserves a lot more attention than it's getting. I hope getting this on steam is on your radar, it deserves to be the next Slay the Spire.
Use a honey die to cover that slot in honey, and it gives a x2 bonus to a die used in the honey-covered Crown marked slot.
Very, very good game, despite its admirably steeper learning curve. The mechanics are refreshing and easy to understand. The RNG is implemented just enough that a skilled player can navigate and manipulate it to their advantage yet still grant the same rewarding feeling that RNG is associated with. I can honestly say I put more hours into this than some triple-A games and it is by far a better use of my time in comparison.
If the developer can grant me one wish, is to publish the formula used to calculate the game score. I would like to break the 10000+ score mark, but so far my attempts can only approach it like convergent series; getting ever closer, but never arriving.
Thank you for such a great game and the joy it brought me!
I wish that if a block had a status like hollow or heavy that if we turn it into a heal block that status remains when the fairy comes... and maybe the level dice block it is remains the same... ex: a gold heavy attack becomes a gold heavy heal
just an fyi, when if you dont play fullscreen, it doesn't let you click on the pause button
i can click the pause button without playing in full screen
It would be lovely to reconsider battle rewards: e.g if I chose to add a dice and I like none of them, I should be able to decline (maybe even chose the other option, but that is extra). It would make the game easier, so some rebalancing might be required.
Other than that, I give it a perfect 5/7.
cool
I bet it could feel better to discard useless die in some way?(I'm not sure if I've missed some relics or not.) In many cases I have to use healing with no effect to search for my powerful die.
17:36
Finally, S-tier run. I can rest now.
Geez, you've been playing a while.
Great game! I do find it very hard to get to floor 20. I wish there were more options/choices after every battle.
if you choose to upgrade with all gold dice you get soft-locked (unable to continue/play) , same thing if you choose to discard without any dice.
I like the game. It’s my favorite genre, with dice! Which I am also very fond of. However, I have only one critique. When you pick a new dice there is no way of telling what the different attributes do. You can see only see it when you have acquired the die. It would be even better if you would be able to see what are the effects of said attributes.
But other than that it’s a fun game.
Ok so here is my unfiltered review. The game is really fun, a bit difficult with a lack of proper tutorial but it is fun even if i did need to die 6 times to fully understand the game and 3 more for a good strategy. Good game with one major issue. The Floor 25 fight. The boss is annoying as all hell to beat, I am running a more defensive build where all my damage comes from boost, mirror, and terrain die so the boss has become impossible to get past its second form. the first form took me 10 minutes to beat, a lot of that due to a visual glitch where the enemies die would appear places they aren't and appear to be other die, like a heal die secretly be an attack die or a boost die secretly being a blank space, such a obvious bug that I'm astonished it went past testing unless i am incredibly unlucky and this is a rare bug but I've had it happen 200 times in a row for me, this with the fact the boss has scaling healing and defense is making this so horrid to play, its impossible for me to beat the boss anyways because of the fact it just heals back up and any buffs you place it will place a heal die on it so you just heal the enemy more, pre level 25 8/10 at lv 25 0/10 I am honestly just disappointed and I wanted to beat the game too, spent hours of my life to do so but simply cannot. please please please in the future do more bug tests and balance tests before you release an update or playthrough or a good game can become a shit one real quick.
really cool game !!! congrats
is this supposed to happen
i think its bc the dice is basic when u upgrade it it stoped doing that
I know game jam games aren't always updated alot but i would love more content to explore. the game is great due to the uniqueness i loved the feeling of finding new and different dice (and was kinda mad that the names were just names) but all in all great replayability and a joy to see in my recomended 10/10 would play again
omg i love this game
Extremely solid idea and fun gameplay, looking forward to updates!
this is the new froggy book froggy died in the dungeon
I love this game, thought I wish there was an android version.
That was great. Thank you for the fun distraction.
(Please note that this review is based on personal experience while playing this game)
Without beating around the bush, this game has me conflicted on whether or not I enjoyed playing it. From the difficulty spike, to the RNG involved in some situations, to bosses not really being balanced in coordination with each other, there's much that can leave you polarized on this experience.
The game has a simple premise: collect dice that can attack, add defense, heal, buff other dice, copy another dice, and two secret dice (explained later). Using these, you must climb a tower while defeating enemies and deciding on what you do during special events that can have a massive impact on what they do to your run. In fights, your dice each have six sides that can yield a number based on how powered up it is, which introduces RNG to whether or not you can attack, defend, and heal while also affecting what the value of each; while this amount of RNG isn't inherently an issue depending on the deck of dice you're running or if you've been leveling up/collecting high level dice, but it becomes glaringly obvious that you'll lose more runs to this than because of preparation.
In terms of glitches and bugs, I couldn't find any after 7+ hours of doing runs to finally beat one, but I'd like to create a quick starter tip/help section for anyone having issues with the game:
1. Complete as many floors as you can; some events will allow you to skip them, but it's better to progress naturally as finishing fights gives you health/dice upgrades, allows you to discard unwanted dice, and can give you new dice (some come fully upgraded)
2. Less is more: the more dice you have in your deck, the more likely you'll have lower level dice or not pull the dice that you want (you can only have 5 dice in your hand at one time). While you can play the cards and hope RNG gives you the dice you need when you need them, some enemies can heal/give shield which can lead to softlocks because neither side can deal enough damage
3. Prioritize targets: there are some targets that can heal, give shield to others, or mimic your dice. Without giving out all the details, you should remove targets that counter your dice or that can present more of an issue
4. Experiment with the special events in your first few runs and memorize what they do/say. You'll run into the same events that have different wording, so make sure to read them thoroughly and memorize the benefits/detriments that they can present
*SPOILERS*
*Spoilers for floor 20*
5. The fight on this floor can be extremely annoying for anyone that doesn't experiment, and with it being on the 20th floor, losing here will almost assuredly cause people to give up the game. I'll spell out the trick to winning here: the honey blocks, when placed to where the honey that they spawn land on a spot that's "reserved for the boss" give a x2 bonus (up to x4 if two are stacked); because of the boss's high damage, you must use the extra buff in order to gain shield to be able to survive her damage (I've experienced hits of 30 damage on playthroughs)
*Spoilers for floors above 20*
6. Okay, from here on out, you're either going to have to rely heavily on RNG or have a small deck that is comprised of hitting hard and fast; floors 21 to 24 has only enhanced variants of the enemies that you encountered on lower floors that all hit harder, heal more, and shield more. If you have a healing/shield deck, unless you get the right enemies that you can defeat easily, you'll run into softlocks really quickly
*END OF SPOILERS*
The major gripes I have with this game are it's heavy RNG elements, the lack of information for the first boss fight (noted on number 5), the lack of deck depth that's viable during late game due to difficulty spike, and the underwhelming fight against the final boss. With this in mind, the game was fun to figure out, but becomes extremely tedious and borderline boring when you find out that you have to complete two runs of the game in order to get the true ending. Keep in mind, nothing changes after completing the game the first time except for one interaction at the end. With these gripes in mind, this game was fun to replay a few times as I figured out different strats that worked; once you figure out how the first boss works, you'll likely never die to it again. It's sad that it ends up feeling more of a slog with hoping you are able to build a deck fast enough that can help you survive and dying to inevitable RNG.
All in all, this is a nice turn based, deck building, roguelike that is definitely fun until it just becomes tedious. Although it feels like there's a lack of depth once you figure out what works and what doesn't, the journey is still worth giving this game some runs. Good luck, and remember that you will die in the dungeon.
My playthrough:
A really good free game. Tho I wish I could see how the enemy heals, deal damage, or blocks. Is it random or has a set value? does it depend on how much the value of dice I placed?
overall it took me a few hours to complete, I had a great time playing
Does anyone know of any similar games?
Backpack hero , kinda similar
i tried it but i dont really get it its a bit confusing
shogun showdown is great
already beat it lmao
Dicey dungeons is a game I would recommend.
a few flaws but overall this game is amazing a bit of tuning and it would be perfect
Interesting games concept, though sadly not able to rise to the standards set by Monster Train, Dicey Dungeons, and the grand daddy of them all: Slay the Spire. However this is a free game with freakishly good sprite animations and an engaging concept. The game is carried exclusively by the unique enemies, however encounters a bizarre difficulty spike after the first boss. It's good but I feel it's not nearly addicting enough to warrant being a roguelike. However I'd give it a solid 7/10 for it's ability to hold more than one play though, the good sprites, and the execution of a decent concept. Good job.
If you ever redesign the UI again, I'd be more than happy to help do the pixel art for it
(I can do .gifs)
I love it. Took me around 5 hours to clear the game. Got 4 medals, and killed the evil cursed frog.
Got to floor 20.