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A jam submission

Pacifist JukeboxView game page

A strictly pacifist procedural dungeon looter.
Submitted by sowomoz — 1 day, 1 hour before the deadline
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Pacifist Jukebox's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Fun#213.0003.000
Innovation#263.0003.000
Completeness#363.3333.333
Aesthethics#473.0003.000
Overall#572.9442.944
Scope#662.6672.667
Roguelikeness#832.6672.667

Ranked from 3 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.

  • Pacifist Jukebox is a pun of course as your character is a box that jukes. It's not a bad idea for a roguelike and we could use more of them that explore non-combat options. In this implementation, you have to steal keys from the one enemy type and then deposit all keys at the exit until you've unlocked it and move to the next floor.

    On paper I like the concept a lot, but the mechanics turned out to be somewhat frustrating. Though you move super fast around the level, the enemies slow you down when you get near them. And you have to get near them to steal their keys. It didn't feel great having my character slow to a crawl constantly. Perhaps with more practice I would get adept at timing the enemy movement or something, but the game's claustrophobic passageways and multiple enemies (that are effectively half the size of a hallway) make that very difficult.

    The game is a good effort though. I'm sure some will be put off by the dizzying camera that swings back and forth as you move, but I didn't mind it. It reminded me of Hotline Miami. Kudos for trying something different.

  • It's a great idea - there needs to be more pacifist roguelikes out there - the execution however did kill any enjoyment I had of this game, regrettably.

    The way the rooms moved made it hard for me to remember that I  was moving the player, not the room itself - meaning I often forgot how the physics worked, the player doesn't move like a marble, and it just kept throwing me off actually playing the game.

    The UI also perplexed me for a moment - I don't always associate green with speed, usually health. Took me a few plays to realise what was going on with the bars in the corner.

    As of this moment, I managed to get up to rooms with 3 keys to progress and kept dying to the monsters. I'd love ot play more, but not until the movement issue is addressed - because its seriously not clear.

  • Really excellent effort. I have spent more time playing this than any other 7DL thus far, and beat it.

    It's tough: really tough. It works for it though. A couple of things would have really helped me though: Firstly, Gamepad support. I beat it using a gamepad mapped to WASD (with reWASD) - which made it a far better experience for me (and hurt my hands less). Secondly, Ability to turn off the 'sway' - I think it was contributing to making me motion sick by the end. Thirdly, waiting until a keep press to start a level.

    I did encounter a few bugs - specifically jumping out of the level entering a level, and levels generated with a small space, no enemies and no exit.

    I particularly valued your enemy design. Even having just two types of enemy made my ability to run away that much harder. I also appreciated its 'fairness' - most of the deaths felt like my fault.

    The very quick movements required did hurt its roguelikeness score. Whilst a little planning helped, I felt far more benefit from very quick twitch (and far greater loss due to missing the twitch).

    Well done on completing.

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Comments

Lovely concept! I included it in my 7DRL Challenge compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look. :)