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This was an amazing entry.

Before I get to what I loved about this game, I want to play fair and note the opposite first and get all of the bad out of the way. It's the RNG. Dice tend to hate me irl, so I'm not surprised they were unkind to me here too. By all means, I do think the dice should have a negative on it, as you said in another post, it'd feel toothless if it didn't, but with the odds of not getting time back being 1/3, it sucks when you're like me and get four "-1"s in a row and die on what would have been a good run. The last level on normal fuse mode frustrated me to no end because while I feel I mastered the mechanics by that point, sometimes the game just commanded me to die. I got stuck on it for the longest time. My suggestion for a fix would be either to have only one negative space (probably the "-1" or heck bump it down to "-2" now that it's the only one there) OR to have the dice be unable to land on the last number it rolled. Outside of that, it mostly just felt like the fuse was tugging on a leash to keep me slowed down as I would have to stop playing to get some extra time. There were some good spots to just let your dice rest and not want to pick it up instantly in the last level, so maybe I was just bad at spotting moments where you should just let the dice roll. In short, the last thing I wanted to do in the game was funnily enough, was roll the dice.

Okay now for the part I actually want to write about, THIS GAME IS FANTASTIC. When the first thing I want to do upon learning the mechanics of a game is lab out using them, you know you've got something special. I'm really glad I chose to play slow mode first as it gave me time to get used to the controls and movement. It's a bit of a steep learning curve, but once you get it, oooooooooooh boy. The tech you can pull off feels great, and I'm particularly fond of doing all of the moves back to back (throw > dice kick > divebomb > regrab > dice jump). Gunjumper is also very cute and well designed and I enjoyed playing as her. The collectibles were also a lot of fun to get as most of them made me feel like I had to use my abilities to the fullest to reach. I made sure to grab all of the powdered donuts on my normal fuse run. Another thing I need to praise is the respawn time. I'm so thankful you took the Celeste approach and just brought the player back immediately. That alone cures a lot of potential frustration. This game was a genuine treat and I enjoyed it quite a bit. 5 stars across the board. Glad I follow you on Twitter and was able to see this on my feed!

Great job.

Also if I can find the time, expect some fan art of Gunjumper at some point! 

i am very sorry about your -1 chain, haha. i'm glad you understand my position on needing a bad roll to exist, but that sort of thing definitely doesn't need to. 

and yeah, I tried to incorperate spots in the level design that i think would be good places to throw the dice without having to stop moving too much, but its definitely a little esoteric, and depending on how your run is going you'll probably need more spaces anyway lol

it's sick you got so much out of the game though! i'm really happy it clicked with you still so much! i could definitely ease the learning curve a bit but yes!! once you get it its pretty cool. and yeah, the fast respawn timers, while also much more convenient for me to make, were important i think haha

ideally the game loop should push you into getting very efficient at each level, with the short lengths, pressured timer, and fast iteration times. it's not ideal, since it can also have the reverse effect of pushing a player into being incredibly cautious, but i suppose thats something to work on lol

but still, thank you so much! and i'd be flattered if you drew gunjumper at any point, i'm glad you like her too lol