This is amazing! i think the game would fit best as an andoid app for smartphones. you could add hardcore mode, like a limited time to make a move, and as other had said, achievements would be great!
Weapons, too, have six stages. There is realistically no reason why you'd go for a weapon past the 15-damage sword, but hey, trying to get to this point was fun!
This is a good game overall. It builds up difficulty both with inventory storage (unremovable gems) and with enemy difficulty. I like the addition of black enemies that can't be merged with the reds, on top of the greater enemy variety as the difficulty increases. The turn economy is well-balanced and you can die quite easily if you make the wrong decisions.
The issues I have:
On my end, there's some kind of memory problem. The longer I play the game, the slower it (and everything else) runs. It gets better when I clear the cache, but I think there's room for optimization here.
Also, the weapon stack is not worth getting higher than fourth level - I think it may upgrade keys, but besides that, nothing of importance. You can only kill one enemy with each weapon, and each enemy has at most 9 hp. Maybe a weapon durability system for the higher-level weapons that would let you reuse them 2 or 3 times would be good? Though it would also interfere with inventory space.
The "reduce chest countdown by 7" spell is ridiculous, especially late-game. You basically eat the turn economy for breakfast, and you go back for lunch and dinner with the double spells relics.
Spells in general are the meta for this game. Build up paper stacks early on, get the free turn-economy eater spell, then focus on potions. Gold gives you the relics, but the spell-doubling relic has way more utility than the other ones. I do wish there were more variety in gameplay options.
I like that the game removes paper from the board/chest once you've gotten all the spells. However, late-game chests unlocks still include an option to add paper back into the chest. Picking this option is suicidal for late-game scoring, as it adds another non-removable resource.
Overall, though, I had a lot of fun with this game. For something made in a week, it's very good.
I see a lot of comments here about how they can't get past the beginning. I was in your camp. Then I realized that enemies can be combined together and blood can as well. So then I stopped worrying about fighting the enemies and just combined them; combined the blood; and then used a spell to easily clear them away. It made the game a million times easier.
Oh god. I think I put about 100 stacks of reduction on the chest clock and now i'm gonna have to get like 10 compasses. I currently have 3 and I've just been building up potions to keep spamming the reduction.
I find it frustrating that it isn’t possible to eliminate more categories of items from the chest.
I appreciate that if you rush scrolls until you get all six spells, you can stop getting scrolls.
I’d love to have a way to stop getting weapons; for instance, perhaps you shouldn’t get weapons if there are no enemies and the time-to-next-enemy is more than a certain threshold? Or, for that matter, I’d happily pick a chest upgrade that gave no weapons.
Got to 839 points and ran out of moves. If there was a noncompetitive mode where gems didn't spawn but monster strength ramped up faster I'd play that in a heartbeat
This is a great take on the merge puzzle genre though, it's been fun learning all the strategies
One thing that finally worked for me was rushing spells to get the blue book, abusing chest reset & keys to maximise breathing room, then focusing on a good balance of weapons/potions - broke me out of 60 point cap to 900ish
just got to top 337 with 856 points, but that took me over 50 tries losing at around 60 aswell.
From 0 to around 50 points, enemies are your main problem, so I focus on weapons and magic.
From 50 to 100 focus much more on magic and mana, by this point you’ll get your first gold bar, then I always select double magic.
From 100 points on the game shifts to space management, enemies are no longer a problem, so weapons become trash, and thats where I’m at now, still trying to figure better strategies for slot management, just lost a match because the grid was full.
always open a chest at the last possible moment, this way you’ll have consumed everything you could from the current chest and delay an enemy spawn.
don’t use area magic on a single enemy, instead stack potions in order of use, then use the magic on two or more enemies, two times in a row.
always try to clear enemies as soon as possible, if you don’t have weapons or items for a plan like the one above
dont let enemies turns stack in sequence (like having one enemy on turn 1, another on turn 2 and so on) this is a death sentence, cause every move means getting hit. So maybe its worth it to get hit before another enemy spawns, if that means they’ll be synchronized aftewards.
keep your grid organized, this helps with decision making
Didn't work for me in Firefox. It worked in Edge, but I stumbled through it for a while before everything clicked. It was really fun going from being baffled to taking no damage on an 839 point game. I'm still compelled to try for more. Excellent!
This was REALLY ANNOYING! The mechanics, tactics and strategy are unintuitive, but in hindsight they are clear and make sense. My board game friends get mad at me for taking too long on my turn, so this game really egged me on, particularly near the end of the run. The satisfaction I felt from figuring it out was fantastic.
Doesn't feel like a roguelike at all (what's the wincon?), but it's a pretty fun game. Can see myself playing this on mobile.
The twist of "you can merge more than you think" is an interesting one, but besides (rot13) zretvat gur guvatf sebz gur purfg, zretvat oybbq, naq zretvat rarzvrf it still feels like I'm missing something that lets you progress. After about 10 runs I still haven't been able to buy a relic or learn a spell that helps much.
Captivating game design, held my interest through beginning to end.
A tip: spell relic is easily the best relic, it practically doubles everything you do with spells, which is a lot. Just build for magic vials with the chest keys once you've got the spells. Also the best early-game spell is the chest clock delay, you gotta go for that first.
Ah ha, Sunil's advise to 'Merge everything" finally sunk in. I under estimated the depth of the game. Assuming a game jam game would be mostly luck of the draw, but no, this game is expertly balanced, requiring strategy not luck.
Same question, but in Rot13….Jnvgvat gb gur raq bs gur purfg pbhagqbja znxrf frafr, ohg zber fcrpvsvpnyyl, V jnf jbaqrevat vs V fubhyq nyjnlf hctenqr nf fbba nf cbffvoyr be jnvg hagvy V arrq gb fjvgpu cevbevgvrf (vr. vs V jnag yrff fpebyyf naq zber tbyq.)
i'm trying to understand how the top score is 1503.... 1503−(63×23)−31−3-(5×4) = 0, but there's no way to have all 25 slots filled with score gems. you'd need either a weapon or a potion in the final slot in order to kill the final monster. what am i missing
Very fun game! Extremely polished, and addicting. I was a bit confused by the lack of positional meaning. Being on a grid, I assumed that monster or item position would have an influence on the game. In an expanded version that could be a nice addition! Also as a roguelike I would have preferred more variety to each run. Something like Sol Cesto does a great job making abstract puzzles feel like levels of a dungeon, could be a game to look at and reference.
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This is amazing! i think the game would fit best as an andoid app for smartphones. you could add hardcore mode, like a limited time to make a move, and as other had said, achievements would be great!
What relic do?
Fun fact
Weapons, too, have six stages. There is realistically no reason why you'd go for a weapon past the 15-damage sword, but hey, trying to get to this point was fun!
If the game had achievements, you’d definitely get one for this!
Will there be updates in the future?
This is a good game overall. It builds up difficulty both with inventory storage (unremovable gems) and with enemy difficulty. I like the addition of black enemies that can't be merged with the reds, on top of the greater enemy variety as the difficulty increases. The turn economy is well-balanced and you can die quite easily if you make the wrong decisions.
The issues I have:
Overall, though, I had a lot of fun with this game. For something made in a week, it's very good.
amazing design!!
I see a lot of comments here about how they can't get past the beginning. I was in your camp. Then I realized that enemies can be combined together and blood can as well. So then I stopped worrying about fighting the enemies and just combined them; combined the blood; and then used a spell to easily clear them away. It made the game a million times easier.
Oh god. I think I put about 100 stacks of reduction on the chest clock and now i'm gonna have to get like 10 compasses. I currently have 3 and I've just been building up potions to keep spamming the reduction.
I think I'm really bad on it, but it's really cool!!!
What am I doing. Basic tutorial please . I am clicking on things and it is confusing.
After watching the video, playing it myself is much harder than I thought. I like the simplicity of the game.
i lost??? why???? is unfair!!!!
I find it frustrating that it isn’t possible to eliminate more categories of items from the chest.
I appreciate that if you rush scrolls until you get all six spells, you can stop getting scrolls.
I’d love to have a way to stop getting weapons; for instance, perhaps you shouldn’t get weapons if there are no enemies and the time-to-next-enemy is more than a certain threshold? Or, for that matter, I’d happily pick a chest upgrade that gave no weapons.
Got to 839 points and ran out of moves. If there was a noncompetitive mode where gems didn't spawn but monster strength ramped up faster I'd play that in a heartbeat
This is a great take on the merge puzzle genre though, it's been fun learning all the strategies
One thing that finally worked for me was rushing spells to get the blue book, abusing chest reset & keys to maximise breathing room, then focusing on a good balance of weapons/potions - broke me out of 60 point cap to 900ish
id kill for a easier and more diverse version of this
currently sitting at top 410, this is insanely addictive
How?? I can't get over 60 or so. Is there a trick I haven't seen?
just got to top 337 with 856 points, but that took me over 50 tries losing at around 60 aswell.
From 0 to around 50 points, enemies are your main problem, so I focus on weapons and magic.
From 50 to 100 focus much more on magic and mana, by this point you’ll get your first gold bar, then I always select double magic.
From 100 points on the game shifts to space management, enemies are no longer a problem, so weapons become trash, and thats where I’m at now, still trying to figure better strategies for slot management, just lost a match because the grid was full.
This game is amazing.
tips:
wow, thank you!! I will try this.
This is great fun, I love it. I wanna try and make a merge game too. I am already addicted to this. :)
Didn't work for me in Firefox. It worked in Edge, but I stumbled through it for a while before everything clicked. It was really fun going from being baffled to taking no damage on an 839 point game. I'm still compelled to try for more. Excellent!
this had something to do with the new tracking protection.. it worked when I turned this off.
This was REALLY ANNOYING! The mechanics, tactics and strategy are unintuitive, but in hindsight they are clear and make sense. My board game friends get mad at me for taking too long on my turn, so this game really egged me on, particularly near the end of the run. The satisfaction I felt from figuring it out was fantastic.
Not loading for me.
Doesn't feel like a roguelike at all (what's the wincon?), but it's a pretty fun game. Can see myself playing this on mobile.
The twist of "you can merge more than you think" is an interesting one, but besides (rot13) zretvat gur guvatf sebz gur purfg, zretvat oybbq, naq zretvat rarzvrf it still feels like I'm missing something that lets you progress. After about 10 runs I still haven't been able to buy a relic or learn a spell that helps much.
This is a masterpiece, got 545 pts currently at top 327
What is the condition to die? I dont see my HP
its the bar below the board, above where you craft
Amazing game, I'm in prison now do to Tax Evasion and playing this over and over again
I cant run this game on my Samsung smart refrigerator
I cant run this game on device Itel A55
Another tip: use the chest key on the last turn of the chest clock cycle to maximize the reset that the new chest grants.
Captivating game design, held my interest through beginning to end.
A tip: spell relic is easily the best relic, it practically doubles everything you do with spells, which is a lot. Just build for magic vials with the chest keys once you've got the spells. Also the best early-game spell is the chest clock delay, you gotta go for that first.
Well done!
Awesome game, I like the idea!
really addictive
Great game! Very addicting!
For those of you who (like me until 10min ago) can´t go past 100, try (spoiler alert)
merging the coins, once you get to max coin stage you can buy a relic and it gets much easier (i chose spell +1 cast if it helps yall).
Rn i have reached 776 score
Quick video here.
Ah ha, Sunil's advise to 'Merge everything" finally sunk in. I under estimated the depth of the game. Assuming a game jam game would be mostly luck of the draw, but no, this game is expertly balanced, requiring strategy not luck.
Could I get some advise on when to upgrade the chest?
Gel hctenqvat gb n arj purfg jura vg ybbxf yvxr n zbafgre vf nobhg gb pbzr bhg bs gur pheerag bar!
Dzrgrmt gl gsv vmw lu gsv xsvhg xlfmgwldm nzpvh hvmhv, yfg nliv hkvxrurxzoob, R dzh dlmwvirmt ru R hslfow zodzbh fktizwv zh hllm zh klhhryov li dzrg fmgro R mvvw gl hdrgxs kirlirgrvh (rv. ru R dzmg ovhh hxilooh zmw nliv tlow.)
Near as I can tell, you’ve replied to a helpful rot13-encoded answer with gibberish.
Eventually discovered it is in reverse alphabet (a<->z, b<->y, etc.), but I had the same thought at first!
~~Really? I’d pasted it into a rot13 converter and the response was sensible.~~
EDIT: oh, you meant the not-actually-gibberish. I’ll look for a decoder later.
Same question, but in Rot13….Jnvgvat gb gur raq bs gur purfg pbhagqbja znxrf frafr, ohg zber fcrpvsvpnyyl, V jnf jbaqrevat vs V fubhyq nyjnlf hctenqr nf fbba nf cbffvoyr be jnvg hagvy V arrq gb fjvgpu cevbevgvrf (vr. vs V jnag yrff fpebyyf naq zber tbyq.)
i'm trying to understand how the top score is 1503.... 1503−(63×23)−31−3-(5×4) = 0, but there's no way to have all 25 slots filled with score gems. you'd need either a weapon or a potion in the final slot in order to kill the final monster. what am i missing
gur svany purfg unf 3-cbvag trzf va vg, vafgrnq bs xrlf, n yhpxl qenj!
Very fun game! Extremely polished, and addicting. I was a bit confused by the lack of positional meaning. Being on a grid, I assumed that monster or item position would have an influence on the game. In an expanded version that could be a nice addition! Also as a roguelike I would have preferred more variety to each run. Something like Sol Cesto does a great job making abstract puzzles feel like levels of a dungeon, could be a game to look at and reference.
Great and fun game overall!
so awesome :)