This is really a funny game. Easily one of, if not, my favorite game I've played this jam. It took a minute to get a good build but once I did, I got to round 16, and had a great time! I like all the different arms, as well as the shop mechanic. Only frustrating thing was the bad events/ bad shops that hurt you rather than give you potential items. I wish I could keep rolling, but that's part of the balance of the game, I guess :)
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Draft and Graft's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Originality | #50 | 4.306 | 4.306 |
| Fun | #71 | 3.833 | 3.833 |
| Presentation | #175 | 3.806 | 3.806 |
| Theme | #294 | 3.250 | 3.250 |
Ranked from 36 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game represent "Power"?
Our game represents Power because the player amasses power BY ANY MEANS, grafting limbs onto themselves and demonstrating their superior power to others in combat. The player additionally can purchase consumables to power up themselves and their limbs.
(note: this game was also submitted to the Pirate Software Game Jam 16, but work on the game was not started until January 25th, and the game was made to fit the themes of both jams.)
Comments
Loving the dudebuilder genre name haha, also love the art style and music/sfx, it's all really well put together. Effects are very chunky too. A very minor suggestion is that I think you could pick a font that is more representative of the style of the game. In my opinion, a font that matches the vibe of the game can take polish up to another level. Really nice work!
Submitted
Fugue Shot (Jam Version)This is a great idea. I've dabbled in auto-battlers and this is a compelling one.
The artwork looks interesting, but there's a lack of juice. The punches and kicks feel weak. You're kinda just sitting there watching the whole fight while doing nothing. All attacks are identical. It's the same failing animation, the same basic sound effect, the same standard health bar. I think people will want some spectacle when they're just watching. Other jam games use different visual and sound effects to enhance juiciness. Without this, watching these fights can just feel repetitive.
The items lack descriptions and even any stats. This makes every decision random, as it's difficult to discern what an item does during combat.
You go into each fight without replenished health and there are no health packs, which doesn't seem fair. So, you eventually lose even if you play well.
This game is definitely a great start. But your main problem is what do players do during fights.
I hope this helps.
Submitted
Drone TacticsReally fun! There's a good amount of strategy in here for an autobattler
Submitted
The Relic of ULTIMATE POWERNice Game and cool idea for an Autobattler. It's a bit macabre, but I like that.
At first I was a bit confused, but after playing it for a bit I figured things out.
Are some of the Sound Effects from Pizza Tower? At least one of the screams sounded very much one from Pizza Tower.
Submitted
A hat in SlimeNice Game and cool idea for an Autobattler. It's a bit macabre, but I like that.
At first I was a bit confused, but after playing it for a bit I figured things out.
Are some of the Sound Effects from Pizza Tower? At least one of the screams sounded very much one from Pizza Tower.
Submitted
A hat in SlimeOh dang I had written a huge wall of text feedback, but accidentally closed the page :'(
Here are the main points:
- The tips on the page's description are pretty good, but they are not a good solution, as most player will not read them.
- You can only learn the effect of each body part after buying it. Displaying the effects on the shop screen would allow the player to make better informed decisions, and also learn what each part actually does without needing to buy it.
- The way the reroll mechanic works is not clear at first. Even after figuring it out, I still don't have any way to know what are my chances of successfully rerolling.
- Starting the game on the shop screen can be very confusing for the first time player, since they don't know what the game is about or how it works, so there's no way to know which parts to buy.
One additional feedback about balancing:
- It would be nice if there was a way to know some of the upcoming opponents before fighting them, so the player could adapt their builds.
That's about it. I know teaching mechanics to new players can be quite hard, specially in a jam setting, but I think you did a good job overall, I really enjoyed the game!
Thank you for the feedback! Really appreciate you taking the time to think through our game's design like this. Reflecting on these points is making me consider it more deeply as well. Not necessarily disagreeing with your points, but some design justification for some of these decisions:
- I agree, the tips are an imperfect solution to our game's inability to convey itself. Much (but not all) of the tips hopefully convey themselves over a long enough time playing the game, but most of the pro tips are not at all easy or possible to intuit. Some, like the ability to place limbs in empty spaces or the increasing chance of ambush in the shop, could have been conveyed in-game.
I agree that most players will not read the tips, so I hope that the most important information from them can be discerned through enough play time. - The lack of detailed information in the shop was a deliberate design decision, and definitely one that I can understand taking issue with. We made this decision for a number of good reasons
- We do not want to overload the player with information. Generally, players (especially new ones) will prefer simpler effects over complex ones that require too much reading and understanding. By leaving every effect as a one sentence summary rather than detailed stats, we hope we have given them enough to make an informed decision on whether they want to purchase the item without overwhelming them. For example, "Critical laser blasts" (hopefully) conveys that the laser vision eye attacks with increased critical hit chance, whereas the detailed (~8 line) description might just cause someone to move past it without understanding. However, your mileage may vary on how accurate or descriptive these descriptions are. With more time, they definitely could've used a second or third pass to make their effects more clear.
- There is also (hopefully) a fun novelty in the discovery of learning what a limb does. We want players to experiment with limbs early on and see their effects in battle, so needing to buy them first forces you to bring them into battle. Needing to learn the effects of 40+ items may cause friction for new players, but we hope that this discovery makes their effects stick in your head.
- For aesthetic reasons, we like that you don't actually know precisely what something does until you stick it onto your body. This fits nicely with the sketchy black market theme. Also, we think its fun when games are a little bit mean.
- While I do not want to explicitly show the exact probability of a successful reroll, we definitely could have done more to convey the relative chance of danger increasing with each subsequent roll.
- I agree with your point about starting in the shop. We start in the shop because starting in a battle would have no meaningful decisions to make, and would be a hindrance for returning players. On reflection however, showing a battle early would immediately introduce the combat system, which would help contextualize the shop purchases. It could also be used as an impetus for an actual plot, which the game sort of lacks at the moment.
- It would be interesting to show the upcoming opponent to prepare. I'm not sure how much that would actually influence shop decisions, but it's an idea worth testing should we expand this game.
Sorry for my giant wall of text, you inspired me to think more about our design though, so thanks! I'm very glad you enjoyed the game.
I love discussing about game design in depth, so no worries about the wall of text haha.
- About the lack of info on the shop, I feel like it's a fine line on encouraging discovery and making the player feel lost. The fact that the enemies use the same parts as the players places pressure on the player knowing what each part does, so they can properly counter/build around it. I played for quite a bit before I got the chance to get the +150 health legs and finally understood why some enemies had so much more health than others. Maybe having an optional way to see detailed stats on the shop (like pressing a key while hovering) could be a way to let the players learn while not overwhelming them? I think the game only really clicked for me when I found out I could see the detailed stats for the equipped limbs.
- On a related note, I only found out about this by reading the tips, since that menu is a bit hidden.
- On the reroll chance, I'm a bit biased because as player, I like to see all the relevant stats before making a decision. Having some kind of approximate indicator of the chance for a bad roll could be a middle ground that doesn't give too much away, but communicates there's a risk and how high it might be.
- About starting the game on the shop, I think that was no problem at all after I learned the mechanics, It was only confusing on my first few runs. Maybe having an introductory battle for the first time players could help making things clearer. If you do plan on expanding the game, you'll also might have to consider that the player is very encouraged to reroll as much as possible on the first shop screen, as there's no investment on the run yet.
- After playing a bit more, I do agree knowing the future opponents wouldn't help the decision proccess that much. Having the player think up builds according to his opponents could be an interesting path to consider though!
This is a super in depth game for a game jam, good job! I love the aesthetic too!
Submitted
VENI VIDI VROOMThis is awesome! The sfx and vibe are so cool and the idea is super original. I love how it plays and how goofy and grotesque it is. Nice work!
Submitted
Night Sweep
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