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I have two aims with jams: make something that someone can play to an end (offer a complete player experience, so reduce scope) and make something where I push the boundaries of my dev knowledge (skill upgrade - could be a tool, could be narrative writing, could be pixel art, ...?). So for the last few jams I've really been working on my Twine proficiency, and building on it every time, plus my not-yet-public dev build of The Mischievous Thievery Of Jessica The Cat has been teaching me new things too.

Combat is hard to program well (and quickly), partly because I've never done it before, so I wanted to ensure that I had something that at least worked and was a little bit more interesting than just hit hit hit (hence potions). If I'd had more time I would have made something that worked much better, which included having different weapons. The trick for now, really, is to flee the dungeon when not in combat, if you have nuggets to stock up on potions, and go back in. It's not ideal but it's the best tactic for the game as it is. If you have a lucky run (I have a friend who managed 231 moves in a game, which blows my mind, and something like 15 potions) you can keep going for quite a while.

If I'd had more time I also would have improved the randomisation (for everything), as I have mentioned in other comments. I made dev notes about tracking movement count (which the game does) and increasing the likelihood of finding the treasure the longer you are in a dungeon (also, decreasing the likelihood when you just start out) but it was another thing I didn't have time to implement. Even as I sit here now writing this I'm going "Oh! I could have just done xxx!", and I think I've figured out how to do it, but in the moment your brain just goes blank sometimes.

I did rush the enemy pixel art, and really wanted to make more, but I am still enamoured with my little guys, even as I see things I want to fix. Pixel art is another skill I've privately been working on, which is why I could rush it a little. (Also, jam crunch is about saying "That's good enough, let's move on."!)

Thank you so much for your kind comments and feedback.