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A jam submission

Pascal's InvestmentView game page

Your money is your life!
Submitted by Abbi-Tato — 10 hours, 22 minutes before the deadline
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Pascal's Investment's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Fun#1783.6323.632
Creativity#2953.5793.579
Overall#3073.4913.491
Presentation#4713.2633.263

Ranked from 19 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Preferred Name
Abbie Burton (She/her) - Game Concept, Programming, Sprite Art
Bonnford (They/Them) - Monster Art, Playtesting, SFX Finding

Newbie?

Newbie

Yes - I'm new to game jams!

How does your game fit the theme?
The main character Pascal will in the future be a powerful interdimensional merchant, but right now is just starting out.

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Comments

(+1)

i’m not usually a big dungeon crawler kinda person but this was such a silly and joyous game :D the art was so good across the board but skeet sniper was 100% my fav character, i love skeet sniper. skeet sniper supremacy. the hit point system was actually super fun and i liked that it doubled as currency, made things feel more difficult but in a good way. difficulty ramped up nicely too, felt fair but still challenging. i had to replay twice bc i didn’t equip enough armour/weapons before the boss lol but lesson learned. boss music went hard tho so i didn’t even mind.

10/10  wish there were 100 more dungeons 

Developer

I'm so glad you had so much fun! You're the first person who's said their favourite monster. I appreciate the Skeet Sniper love ❤️ I had loads of fun designing them! - Bonnford

Submitted(+1)

Really enjoyable dungeon crawler, I like using gold as both health and resource. I was rewarded and punished for my greed in equal measure which fits with the game's theme. I like that in the game players are renting weapons and each time they choose to enter shop, they have to pay for the rental, I am not sure if players should get away with cashing out gems without paying for the rental weapons. The art and music is very good and on point. 

Developer(+1)

I appreciate the praise, thank you Picarune! I actually originally forced players into the shop to give their weapons back, but I was struggling to balance rental prices properly within the jam timeframe so gave players an easy out.  If I ever return to the game for a full version, I'd love to have a more impactful rental mechanic, maybe in some kind of "hard mode". -Abbie

Submitted(+1)

I loved this one so much, maybe my favorite of the jam so far, the visuals being the visual underworld esc scenarios or the lil guys sprite, the brutal gameplay that makes you always think of your decisions, specially the rental weapons mechanic, i'm in love please continue this project

Submitted(+1)

The dice rolling and the combat mechanics are fun. But I would like to see some sort of "bad luck protection" in the future implemented, I rolled 1 4 or 5 times in a row during the first encounter and I thought I was being punished for being a cheapskate haha.

Also super impressed to see this style of game being made today. However, to me it feels a bit stressful to see the timer of enemy encounter keep counting down. I don't know how different it would have made me feel if the countdown was just hidden.

Also I also find it a bit too stressful in these type of old-school classic inspired 3D games that it's really difficult to memorize the map while having to deal with combat encounter. i suppose you did provide a cheatsheet in the description but I would have like to see how it could be done inside the game itself (although I guess you could also argue that the maze part is part of the design since it staying true to its root).

Either way, pretty fun game, good job!

Developer

Thank you for your feedback! The idea was that the enemy countdown meter would help people plan around it, since the difficulty is based on resource management. If encounters appeared based on luck you might be stuck in situations where you know you have 5 steps to the shop to get more money, but no idea if you'll get ambushed before you get there.

During playtesting I also suggested we have a bad luck protector against rolling a 1! Abbie is planning the idea of ring accessories with special effects if we ever do an updated version someday. Things like a minimap are also ideas we just couldn't implement in the time limit. Thank you for your suggestions, they could be fun ideas for the future. - Bonnford

Submitted(+1)

as other person said it would be very good if it had checkpoints, but i like the gameplay and the fighting was fun

Submitted(+1)

It was really fun! Just wish it had checkpoints, since i died in the boss and then restarted the game! Still pretty solid, tho.

Developer

This was an idea we wanted to implement but just didn't have enough time before the deadline. It's good feedback for future development, thank you. - Bonnford

Submitted(+1)

Woah, awesome concepts with money representing health mixed with this style of game.

Submitted(+2)

This was super fun. I didn't win but I died a gambling man...

I loved the art style and the music. This is super impressive for a Jam! and it's also your first time? amazing!

I really really liked playing it. It was one of the best games I played in this jam 

if only I had known to cash in the coins before the boss fight...

Kudos Devs this was such a fun experience!

Submitted(+1)

Cool dungeon crawler with interesting battle system. Good work!

Submitted(+1)

Really dug this! I love the dungeon traversal, the money system takes some getting used too. Loved the overall vibe. Took a sec to get used to the UI. Awesome first jam entry regardless!!

Submitted

The concept is great, but the 'weight' of the money resource isn't properly conveyed in my opinion - especially as it is displayed only by a static number - getting money or losing money doesn't feel impactful as its just a number going up and down. The enemy art is really cool and the level layouts are well designed. Maybe the 2d art and 3d environment could have some more cohesiveness.

Developer(+1)

Thanks for your feedback! I'm sorry, is it ok if I ask for clarification on what you mean about making money loss feel weightier? What would you suggest as a solution? - Bonnford

Submitted(+1)

Since money = life remaining, gaining or losing money should give strong feedback - right now there's no visual difference between 100 and 500, and it's hard to appreciate the effect of gaining or losing money. Suggestions would be having a rolling shuffle of the digits whenever value is changed, having a gauge representing the amount left, or if you prefer the numerical counter, having color signifiers (as money gets lower, the counter becomes red, starts shaking, maybe there's a portrait attached that gets progressively scared and anxious looking). You can take a look at how balatro makes numbers feel weighty through a mixture of small animations, SFX and text effects. You could also have an indicator on the UI when choosing the dice roll which tell you how much money you would have left after the roll, and a large money lost indicator (for eg. -500!!!) when you take a hit

Developer (1 edit) (+1)

Thank you for all your suggestions! I understand what you mean now. - Bonnford

Submitted(+1)

Condensing every single resource, that you'd usually see in a dungeon crawler, into money is an interesting concept.

Overall this is really well designed: Somewhat complicated maps that reward you for exploring; Every enemy feels unique both from an audiovisual and gameplay perspective; well-balanced combat; the clear feeling of growth with each dungeon level; the unique renting system makes you actually pay attention and memorize the items. Combat controls took me a minute to understand but it turned out to be quite simple.

Congrats on making this game! It's really impressive given the timeframe.

Submitted(+1)

Dude this one is actually one of my favourites in the jam

I love a good looping system and the interesting gold mechanic as health and it harkens back to an era that i hold fondly (really enjoyed watching the maze in windows 96)
Thanks for the nostalgia trip!

Developer

Thank you so much, we're absolutely honoured! Glad you had a great time!- Bonnford

Submitted(+1)

Love all the cute little skeets they were all really well done and fun to fight. the progression system is really good and i love that the movement reminds me of Fight Knight and Cryptmaster. I think my only issue is the randomness of the combat it did get me a few times by rolling low early on into the game

Submitted

Loved the art style, but the UI could get some work and the encounters are a bit luck based

Submitted(+1)

I love the little monsters ! They seem really happy for people(?) living in dungeon.

The game is hard to get into because of the UI (a bit huge and not super obvious).

I like the system where you can bet your hp/money, use it to move, or buy stuff. This was a huge scope for a first game jam!!

Good work !!

Developer (2 edits) (+1)

Thanks Christophe! The UI is definitely something I'd touch up if I ever do a second pass on the game, especially the shop. The monsters are called Skeets (Based on mosquitos), their design and art come from my wonderful friend Bonnford. I appreciate the praise ^_^ -Abbie