The game is fully released now (v1.0.1), and I need some extra pairs of eyes on the game again! Feel free to leave any feedback.

I strongly recommend you to download the game for the best framerate and audio quality.

Released a small update focused on polish and better game balance.

I've got some plans for future updates, but I think I need to learn more about how to implement them first before anything can appear as code. Also have to smooth out some unintended behaviours/minor bugs currently in-game.

Hey, it's been a while but the game is properly released now. Would you like to try it out again? 

I've just released the game in full yesterday, with many new mechanics and improved graphics/sound. There are 3 different difficulties now, so I'm sure you'll find one that's right for you. The UI has also been overhauled to improve clarity. I'm sure you'll enjoy the new version a lot, so feel free to try it out!

I've just released the full version of the game, which has more content and polish compared to the jam version. Feel free to try it out! I'm sure you'll enjoy it much more than the version you first played.

Hey, I know it's been a while but I've finally released the game in full. There are multiple background soundtracks now, and the visuals are much more polished. Would you mind trying out the new version?

Hey, I know it's been a while, but I've just released the full version of the game. There are many new mechanics, and the character count is now shown in the cell highlight, right underneath the cell. Feel free to try it again!

v1.0.0 out now!

Full release (finally!) after a month of work starting from zero. Apart from the score system, there aren't any major new mechanics, but almost every part of the game's interface has been improved in some way (I did start from a blank project, after all). My experience in developing the previous version helped me avoid pitfalls in programming and project organization. I was able to redo 5 months of work in 1 both because I had a direction (re-implement all existing features, but better) and because of the projects I worked on during the hiatus. Here are some ramblings that I'm finally writing down. 

Font

The previous font, Roboto, was a good choice as it had variants for different font weights and italic text, which I used to indicate enemy size and attack speed. However it looked too generic, so I replaced it with Tomorrow, a more angular font, to give the game a distinct character. I'm honestly surprised that it had as many variants as Roboto, as most fonts I found didn't even had separate bold font file, let alone all the different font weights I needed. It fits the rest of the UI really well and is readable and stylized at the same time.

Sound effects/animations

One thing I realized during development was how important a game's presentation is. After all, mechanics are meaningless when no one plays your game.

I wrote a script to fade between soundtracks, which allows me to change the music smoothly. Menus, win and death screens, and gameplay now all have different background music. A big improvement from all previous versions, where there was one infinitely-looping track. As for sound effects, all five elements now have unique attack sounds, and I've added many other gameplay sounds as well to give feedback to the player.

Most developers want their players to win, so they pay attention to their win screen above everything else. But a game that most players win first-try can't be fun. I added a proper death animation and sound effect, as well as a unique soundtrack for the lose screen. A new player will probably see that much more than my win screen, so I prepared by putting more effort into designing that.

Had to adjust some sound effects over and over again because they didn't sound right, but eventually got them to a place where they were half-decent.

Code changes

The least glamorous but most useful change by far is the code restructuring. It won't go on any changelog, and players will never see it directly, but with a well-organized project I can actually add features and fix bugs without having to rip everything apart.

Wrestled for a few hours with the script execution order to fix cell values/modifiers not being set properly during floor initialization. I had to wait for the code to recompile every time I changed it. Learnt a lot about function execution orders from this. While it was frustrating, I solved the problems by refactoring so each task was done on as few scripts as possible, accessing values from others if needed, and resulted in much more modular and extensible code.

Finishing with a quote from a friend:

"it seems like an actual game now"

Really encouraging!

Changelog/more formal announcement here

You can always use the arrow keys instead of tab and enter, just like in Excel.

By the way, I’ve just released the game in full with many improvements today. I think it’s worth your time to try the game again (although the carpal tunnel treatment fees get pretty steep once you’re addicted)

I’d really appreciate it if you could play Grid of Yendor and perhaps leave some feedback. It’s a minimalistic roguelike set on a spreadsheet. It has procedural level generation along with a intuitive typing-based combat system. To keep things interesting, enemies on the spreadsheet have modifiers and special abilities that make them harder to fight. I’ve just released it today and want to keep improving it.

Gameplay GIF:

Play in the browser or download now

Grid of Yendor is a minimalistic roguelike set on a spreadsheet where typing is your attack, and the characters you type are your health. With procedural level generation but deterministic combat, you always know the fight you’re getting into, but each level remains a mystery before you explore it. To keep things interesting, enemies on the spreadsheet have modifiers and special abilities that keeps GY from being just another typing game.

• Choose between 3 difficulties: there’s fun for everyone!
• Type enemies before they defeat you!
• Scrunch your hands to fight bosses!
• Look for hints in the landscape that guide you to the exit
• Destroy your wrists in less than 30 minutes!

Sneak peaks of the gameplay:

Grid of Yendor, freshly released today (!)

Every feature listed above, and plenty more, are now implemented. Just some testing and last-minute polishing to do before I can release the game, which will likely happen tomorrow. Too tired to write anything else right now, I’ll put full details in the release devlog post.

(Re-)implemented cell modifiers, bosses, and most of the GUI. Worked too quickly last week and was burnt out, but I’m back to normal now.

Features that still need to be implemented:

• Elemental effects
• Settings (i.e. adjusting volume)
• Score
• Background music changing depending on environment

One thing that has consistently surprised me is how small the new codebase is right now, even with most features implemented, which is an encouraging sign and shows how bloated the old version was.

Just posted a devlog entry marking one year since GY was published on itch. Time really flies ;)

I changed the font to a more angular one to fit the rest of the game, and added an in-game help screen so people won’t get too confused on how to play.

Here’s a screenshot from the new version, which I plan to release next week:

Grid of Yendor

drhippo.itch.io/grid-of-yendor/devlog/739958/one-year-anniversary-new-version-in-the-works

A big announcement to make: I finally came back (yay!) and GY is being rewritten from the ground up to accomodate new features. I took the break because of exams, but those are mostly done now.

In hindsight, the jam version’s code was badly written, and I should have started back from scratch afterwards. Many features I want to implement require refactoring, which will only take more of my time as I update the game. Better late than never at least ;)

On the bright side I can reuse the art and sound effects, and adapt (better) code from the old codebase instead of completely rewriting.

You guys know how accurate update time estimates are, so I won’t make any right now. I should be able to add most existing features during the next week though.

In terms of new features, more exciting boss interaction (minigames?) is the priority. I also want to add comprehensive in-game help and start on permanent progression to retain players.

Core mechanics will stay the same, but there are some visual changes to make gameplay more engaging. More info on that, and more, coming next week. Until then, have a nice weekend!

Space originally did make the snakecharmer jump, but since that also sent you from the win screen to the start screen some playtesters accidentally skipped it. In the end I removed the keybind for that reason.

I recommend playing all 10 levels as there are more mechanics introduced later on. Thanks for rating and leaving a comment!

Please try out the puzzle-platformer I submitted, Guido the Snake Charmer. Thanks in advance!

The voiceover and the art style both fit the setting. The amount of content is seriously impressive for a month, and the battle dialogue was funny as heck.

I couldn’t exit the settings screen and had to restart the game. Also, the game crashed after level 3 for me.

In terms of improvements, there could be more than 6 upgrades every round so players have to choose boons to miss out on. The UI could also be a bit more polished, and I noticed the health info was sometimes inaccurate. Still, great job for making such an engaging game!

The concept is fun but the controls took some getting used to. You can look into having realistic gravity in-game or showing the player’s top score.

Some sound effects would have really improved the game. A background would have made it more atmospheric.

You can use pyinstaller to compile to a standalone build fairly easily (although cross-compilation isn’t possible).

I’ve had a chance to play and rate games this jam, but lots of games still don’t have that many ratings. If you want me to rate your game, post it here. I don’t mind downloading as long as there’s a windows build.

I’ll prioritise your game if you rate mine first.

My game Guido the Snake Charmer has some custom css, come check it out!

I have studied composition, in case you wanted to know. I agree the soundtrack’s a bit simple though, and I will add some more instruments to back up the main theme.

I added the eat mechanic so you can’t make the snake lift you straight up. I’ll consider making it smaller if I make a post-jam version.

Hope you had fun playing all 10 levels and thanks for the feedback.

Amazing quality considering the time constraints. I’m not great with FPS games but I still had a lot of fun (although I had to punch the first boss to death because I ran out of ammo). BGM/SFX kept me on the edge of my seat. The art style captured early FPS games well and the intro sequence really set the scene. It would be even better with more polish, especially with the UI and level transitions.

You guys must have been really well organised to get that much done in a month.

If the game is too hard, you can play with a friend and control one character each ;)

Satisfying game! The graphics fit together well, and music would be the cherry on the cake. Hope you’ll expand it in the future.

Hey, I’ve got a nice puzzle-platformer for you! Here’s the game.

Nice little game! Liked the stories and funny quips when you do something you’re not meant to. I think the ticket lady’s my favourite.

Pretty fun game! Mechanics are nice. Art assets are well selected. UI is basic but functional. Some music would really improve the atmosphere in this kind of game.

Great game, really reminds me of the prisoner’s dilemma. Art style fit the theme of the game, and the backstory was compelling. Shame there wasn’t any sound. Inputting transmission heiroglyphs was a bit tedious and LAN functionality would make the game much better.

Fun and well implemented puzzle mechanics. The art could be improved though. In particular, lines became pixellated when zoomed in, but that’s unavoidable in this kind of game. Really liked the “real cherry” level.

A good sense of atmosphere conveyed by the ambience and VFX. The visuals were nice, but badly lit. I had to increase my display brightness quite a bit to see properly. The medkit(?) also blocks most of the player’s FOV. The white text in default Unity font really broke the immersion.

If you want this to be an open-world exploration game you should improve the tutorial and add more mechanics/story.

Really liked the 3d environment combined with 2d sprites, SFX was nice too. Impressed that you had enough time to add a highscore system. Not sure if you’re generating them or putting them together from predesigned segments, but the levels felt really good either way.

Spikes felt a bit too punishing. Maybe they could take 2 hearts off instead of being immediately fatal. The player could be a bit smaller to make fitting into 1-block wide openings easier. Also, the UI was a bit small on my (larger-than-average) screen.

These issues were all minor though and I still had a great time playing your game!

Good job for getting your first game out! The concept is good, and the sound and art was nice too. Some things that can be improved:

• You should show where the player spawns before the level starts
• Dying should restart the current level rather than go back to the very first one
• Instead of stretching the sprites you could tile it so it looks better
• “Guide” button doesn’t do anything
• Try to find/make some custom UI elements instead of the default ones
• You uploaded a debug build, which is larger than a release build and contains unnecessary files

Great game! The art fits together really well and I liked the animations. The sound feels nostalgic like old flash games. Hope you’ll add more mechanics to make this a full game.

Really great and funny meta-game. Graphics fit the theme. I liked the different contingencies. “Furry interference” is such a good phrase to use.

Some suggestions:

• Finding features was difficult. They could be divided into sections.
• Features should show how much time they take for each team member.
• Some features (like 2d and 3d graphics) should be mutually exclusive.
• Maybe have each team member actively work on tasks, so you have to keep them busy to get maximum efficiency.

Liked the title screen and ambience. Random dungeon generation and navigation must have been hard to implement. Well done! Some suggestions:

• Players and enemies being capsules and the finish being a cuboid really let down the graphics.
• You should be able to use WASD and arrow keys alongside mouse controls.
• There should be passive blue bar regeneration, as running out of it basically means you can’t continue.
• It was hard to see things, I think there should be more light.

Played your game for a bit. It’s very unpolished as you said, so I focused on mechanics instead of appearance.

Some things to consider if you want to finish this project or start another similar one:

• Players should be able to jump with W in addition to Space.
• Check the player’s colliders: When sliding down walls the player is visually separated from them.
• There’s no need to have a magenta line guiding the player to the goal: players prefer to discover things on their own. You just have to help them with good level design.
• Web builds: it’s easy with most engines (incl. Godot) and many more people will play your game if they don’t have to download anything.

Hope you’ll have better luck next time and make a more completed game.