itch.io

Thanks for the feedback!

Yeah, player agency is a definite problem where the game ended up being by the end of the time limit. The only player agency in the current version is when the player reaches the end, they can choose to bet on a different number to place their final bet based on the stats gained from talking to the bar patrons (if you have maxed out talking to one, you can get a different ending).

You hit the nail on the head with finding that the development was spread thin! The game just drags on forever after the intro it seems. Focusing on the core of an idea like you said is definitely gonna be my main takeaway from this jam.

Love the art style and good choice of music. The music and watching the die with the face and the other smaller ones bouncing around it makes me so happy :). My dumb gamer brain wants there to be rogue-like power-ups for my cube buddy.

Wow, the color design, illustrations, mechanics, and music really came together into a cohesive whole. It's really kind of sad though at the end in a good but melancholic way.

Nice job with weapon variety! Clever what you did with rolling a 1 as well.  The cheese strat is just to launch yourself into a corner (or the ground)!

Great idea! I do think the combo system you mentioned in the comments of the game page is what it's missing though. Could see an expanded version of this being a big hit on mobile tbh. Maybe with a limited number of shots and a preset stack of dice to clear like Peggle?

I had a fun time with the first couple of levels but it got too difficult for me so fast! Also, the block movement sound is super satisfying.

Solid game. The art style is very pleasing. The ambient conversation sounds are a very important and nice touch. It's making me realize I should have included something similar in my game.

Saw your game when Mark played it on stream! Super creative!

The intro transitioning into the gameplay is the highlight for me.

I like WillowXs' idea of adding even more surreal stuff if you were to expand on the game.

Great idea. Fantastic execution!

My only nitpicks as others mentioned is the difficulty does seem to scale really fast in those first four levels and the die layout visual could be a little more intuitive.

Thank you for blessing us with an undo feature! Those are always a pain to implement for me. The puzzles are very clever too, especially the one with the three columns of security (I got to the end with the wrong die positioning and had to backtrack).

The artwork/theming/audio is spot on (kinda gives me DEFCON vibes).

Thank you so much for such detailed feedback! It really means a lot to me. Yeah, I totally get the pacing is super off for the game. A repeatable 3-day to week experience sounds like a much better format!

Player interactivity is something that as you pointed out is very lacking too. I think this may have just been due to time constraints from me though. I initially had CRPG stat checks and such planned for them (hence the more ambiguous names of the stats).

Thank you for your honest feedback. If I feel like revisiting this game, I'd likely employ the changes you mentioned. At the very least though, I'll keep your advice in mind for future games I make. I'll be sure to check out your entry as soon as I have time!

Hey! Thanks for the input and for trying my game.

There should be an option to "Just Watch" when you are out of money. I was trying to be a little artsy and show the main character still wanting to go to the casino even after blowing all their money but this probably wasn't super clear.

You just need to repeat the process of waking up and watching the game for the first week. When the in-game date hits around May 1st, there should be another option to visit the High Roller Bar (main gameplay) that opens up on the "Where to Today" page.

I think there is a bug when you hold right and jump for a couple of seconds after dying. I get stuck on the ground to the right of the spike and can't jump.

The game reminds me of the I Wanna Be the Guy kind of rage games. Could definitely be one of those viral games that get a bunch of people playing on Twitch if you expand on it even more!

Great concept with the random gem combinations.

I personally think the enemy spawning should get tweaked a bit. I found myself often sprinting past spawn points to not get one spawned on me and the enemies tend to build up into massive hordes. As you mentioned responding to VKChiuselli, the movement delay when shooting makes the enemies really difficult to fight.

If this idea were to be expanded I'd like to see the effects of the gems feel even more impactful! I think you have the basis for a super cool rogue-like game here. It kind of reminds me of things like Zelda randomizers.

Neat game. It really teaches some solid general cryptography principles.

I think maybe a Caesar Cipher could be employed to serve as a tutorial/example puzzle sorts as at first before going into the DVORAK and hex ciphers. It was a little confusing what I was supposed to be doing at first. I feel it would be even more difficult for someone new to those concepts (but maybe that's just not the intended audience!).

Nice ASCII art btw.  I think the terminal look suits code breaking super well.

As everyone has said, the art is super cute. I can tell you two put a lot of thought into the character animation. And wow, that planet in the background looks amazing!

I found it difficult to parse the foreground elements with the background. Maybe consider lowering or raising the background's brightness to contrast more? I was also in desperate need of a restart button for when I got stuck in the pits!

It's too bad you didn't have time for the main mechanic. I hope you guys can get it to work!

Fun game! Oddly satisfying watching the cube tumble around in the same spot when you land on an edge.

I couldn't figure out how to dodge the falling spikes! I couldn't move with WASD or the arrow keys. I think it would benefit from a simple control layout description if side-to-side movement was a feature.

I also like the STRETCHY boi behind the security guy.

That's alright! I'll rate your game right now. If you happen to read this, what part of the game did you not get? I do think the game is a little obtuse myself. Thanks for playing it.