itch.io

I'm sad about my performance on this one, but it is a growing experience.

I had a very tightly constrained and minimalist feature list, with some fun stretch-goals if I got ahead.  Unfortunately, due to a combination of factors, I only got through my planned day-2 progress by the end of the jam.

I'll try to update this project as I get time, and will maintain a 7DRL release tag to preserve the initial incomplete submission to this jam.

Congratulations to everyone participating, and thank you to the judges.

This is my first one of these!  I've never released a game before!

I remember when the first one of these was announced, I was in my mid-20s and a very smart technology professional.  I thought, "wow, you must need to be a very skilled and experienced software developer to create a game from start to finish in seven days, even a simple one."

Today, I am in my mid-40s and a complete idiot.  I think "Lol, I'm gonna make a game."  I have no experience, but going to try.

Over the last two decades I've seen a lot of impressive games being made for the 7DRL challenge, and there are real luminaries who are participating in this.  I know there are no real qualifications for showing up, but I'm still thrilled just to be here.  We are all going to make some great stuff.

This is great, very well designed with elegant gameplay that is simple and fun.

I managed to get to 33, curious how much is beyond Neptune but cant quite make it further.

only one side, and you have to clean the rollers!

Are there restrictions around what you are able to stream?  

For example, if someone made you a game for Mac, Linux, Android, or PalmOS, would you be able to stream those or should people focus on PC if they want to see it on stream?

I am making you a tabletop game, what kind of dice do you have?

I took some inspiration from the amazing ProspectorRL, where your red-shirt away team members are basically your hitpoints.

My understanding was wrong, haha.

ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.

I had understood that they could separate any of their own product-identity as long as they redistributed any directly copied content under the same terms, but if there is any confusion I'm totally happy to use cc BY or even CC0 instead.

I assume CC BY-SA satisfies the conditions for this jam?

This is great, but the other inhabitant of my station isn't pleased that I keep retreating from the loo in the morning due to hostile forces occupying it.

Some things I'd love to see in v5: 

- EXP for exercise

- A game mechanism that might encourage journaling your activities and/or communicating with other stations

- A way to choose to spend survival points for an advantage against hostile forces?

Will there be an expansion game that covers away missions?  

Brilliant prompt for improv gaming.

This game assumes some knowledge of improv, but the story prompt has universal appeal.  Really pleasant recall back to the early days of the Famicom, and using genre tropes that are still enjoyable today.

Now, every time I reach for what is in my bag, there is another reason to smile and think of potential adventures.

Some great Breca and Beowulf action here!

I love the different levels of play, but it seems like only the Tavern level has game mechanisms around it.  

It would have been cool to see the Game level also represented with stakes and some sort of resolution system similar to the dice and clocks used for the Tavern level.

This seems quite avant-garde

I was unsure if face cards count towards success, if they are black?  Or are they given to the GM before they are counted?

I like how Beliefs are tied into Smoke, Challenges, and Recovery.  It would be cool if Identity had similar hooks into the game mechanisms.

I like how the cards turn into a sort of map as they are laid out, this is a clever use of the tarot deck!

I like the suggestion of the dinner party with rotating hosts!

Fun!  

I find myself wondering about advancement, if not through character improvement then possibly through ladder climbing.  Maybe this could crossbreed with iHunt and the haunting spirits are working the gig economy.  

There is a ton of potential in this, and it is a goldmine of great ideas.

I feel like this lets you play the backstory of an original series 'Trek episode.  The creation of Nomad or V'ger or something.

Has a nice classic 60s era sci-fi vibe.  

An end-state or denouement would have been a good addition, but open-ended sandbox experiences like this are great too!

Wild!  I like the themes and imagery.  I found the rules of the game a little hard to follow, but got it figured out after a few reads.  

I like that there is no prescribed goal or win/lose state for the goblin's next evolution, rather it is up to the people playing the game.  

What a wild multi-media ride.  

I think it is a great choice making a game about a contemplative AI as a single player experience, and the pressure to constantly be doing your actual job does a great job of setting the tone.

Wow, too real, haha. It seems like in part a deep gamification of session-zero, and part a meta-satire of the entire tradition RPG experience.  And of life.

Well done!

Well done, reminds me of some halcyon times.  I especially like how there is no pressure to actually resolve any of the customers' problems, and the collaborative supportive nature of the whole thing.

High cozy quotient.

This is really tight!  I love the use of coloured dice, and the encouragement to interact with other players / have them answer your questions for you.

The treatment of secrets and the slow reveal is great.

As I read the file, each new rule that was explained was a treat.  This seems like a blast and I'd love to give it a real play.

Great stuff!  

I appreciate the limitations of the text format of this Jam.  But if the game receives further revisions it would be helpful (for me, as a visual learner) to have a flowchart for how the questions and conversation work.

There are also a few problems with the markdown that are a detriment to the final layout.  That is really trivial, though.  

I love the passage of time and the growing permanence of untreated wounds.  Very good stuff there.

I think some of the 'Outcome' questions could be rephrased slightly to emphasize implicit exchange.. Especially the first one where it seems to easy to answer "no" and narrate any happy outcome as may be desired.

Overall, this is wonderful.

Hey Ben and fellow 3-Forgers,

What are your thoughts on multiple submissions?  We as the collaborators can see the progress of the games we worked on, but maybe people who did not participate in the Jam will also want to look through how this all happened?

Would it be interesting if each collaborator submitted the raw text file (as delivered from Ben) for their round-1 and round-2?  So that they could be collected with the Jam?  

Or maybe they could just be additional file downloads on the product page for the final submission?  I suppose that method would leave it up to each trio's discretion.  Maybe there is a desire to keep the early work mysterious, which would be a reason to leave it up to each group.

I'm not sure I have a preference at all, just thought that I would kick the idea around and see what others think.

It is so exciting seeing not just a sketch of a totally different kind of game, but also a different way of thinking about games.  Different concepts that come first, different structures, what was left partially defined or intentionally left undefined.

The lack of feedback and real collaboration is a fascinating experience, also.  Like, with the possible exception of "subtweeting" here, or whatever, this is essentially a collaboration without collaboration.  No way to know or guess at what someone hoped would happen to their thing.

I'm excited to see what transformative processes are revealed at the final stage!

Just sent in my first round submission!

I hope it transforms into something completely unrecognizable by the end of the third round;  I'm excited to see things take on new lives and what subtle or drastic changes people are inspired to make based on their own experiences and dispositions.

Is the final contributor also supposed to submit in .txt?  Or does layout fall to them?

If the final contributor is submitting a fully formatted document (such as PDF) are there guidelines for making sure that fonts and art are appropriately licensed?

Very nice production value, design, and layout.

Great use of the examples of play, in the grey boxes.  Everything is very clear and simple to understand.  I like the themes, and the use of limited choice and interpretation.

This is a lovely design, I can imagine using it to collaboratively create the story of a great hero or villain which will feature in a game.

I like how the map reflects two "eras" concurrently -- pre and post colonization.  

As I play through it, two strategies occur to me:  Either evenly spacing all features around the map and attempting to protect each one individually, or concentrating all the features in one area to limit losses to two.

I don't think this is the intended way to interact with the game, perhaps these "optimal" paths could be removed by randomizing the placement of the cultural landmarks.

This is the most clearly written submission that I have read so far.  The design is elegant, uses maps well, truly it checks all the right boxes.

I have not had a chance to play it with a group, but I love the ideas and themes and I admire how well they are presented here.  

Great job all around.

I like the tragic story telling:  The overall outcome is predetermined, and each mission is also predetermined as we walk through history to see how it unfolded.

Clever and concise.

This is a nice guided conversation for collaborative setting building, I could see it being used in a lot of contexts.

Thanks for the comments!  I think you're right on all counts.

Ideally I suppose there should be a companion document with some samples of play.  This could demonstrate how the map is filled out, and how the stat-blocks interact with it.  I tried to use the stat block icons in line with the text to provide some breadcrumbs, but actual examples are probably necessary.

You are correct that there are no explicit instructions for using the game with multiple players.  Some thoughts I had involve either playing collaboratively and coming to group decisions for all tasks, or dividing up responsibilities such that perhaps one player sets the course and another chooses how to spend artifacts.

The intention behind the light-lag is that you never know exactly what the conditions are on any world, until you get there.  The further away it is, the greater the change might be when you arrive.  I'm not sure it bears tracking as I instructed to do, though.  All you really need to do is count the distance from your ship and it is self evident.

Well done!  I like how you have a common history being viewed from different perspectives, and each player taking different lessons away regarding how their new culture differentiates its self.

This is great, I really like things that embrace my weaknesses -- specifically being bad at drawing maps.

I'm not sure how it fills the theme of the jam, though, specifically how different map areas represent different eras.  I'm also not clear if Lead Knights after the first are required to visit a landmark that they did not create.  I assume so, but it isn't clear in the rules.

Altogether, a great collaborative story telling exercise. 

This was my first one, and I found the schedule super tight!

I think that was a good thing in the end, it helped contain my concept to a very focused idea.  This is the first time I've made anything that can be considered a "solo game" and I think it came out okay.

I might give it some additional revisions and expand it into a proper multiplayer game sometime in the future but, for now, it is what it is.