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Psychostasia's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Creativity | #1026 | 4.024 | 4.024 |
| Artwork | #1431 | 3.881 | 3.881 |
| Enjoyment | #1678 | 3.571 | 3.571 |
| Audio | #2095 | 3.286 | 3.286 |
| Narrative | #3461 | 2.667 | 2.667 |
Ranked from 42 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game fit the theme?
You spend your dice to lower your score, but also each roll is a "count down" to judgement of your soul
(Optional) Please credit all assets you've used
see description for full credits
(Optional) What would you like to be called if GMTK features your game?
Sonny Williams
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Comments
Very cool game, reminds me a lot of inscription. The rule about the winner being the one closer to zero seems to conflict with the visual of the scale, my intuition was to try to add as much "weight" to my side and it wasn't until I lost that I realized I misunderstood the rules.
Thanks for playing!
I can definitely see the scale thing. I was trying to go for it, thematically, not being straightforward to remove the weight of your sins, or it being non-linear in that no one is a black or white evil, typically.
But it's definitely an incongruous visual, maybe I could have made a circular scale or something that indicates "closeness" to the target.
Much to think on :D
Awesome vibe/concept. I do wish it was a bit more fair for the player, but I still thought it was very cool!
I'm curious what you mean by that! If you're happy to explain.
There is a mathematical "best way to play" that should slightly favour the player, as you always have your things trigger first.
Does it feel unfair because of the CPU's tendency to play abilities later in the match? Or that there's no way to know if it will make a play?
For sure! I think I was a bit unclear about what I meant. Because the CPU tends to play abilities later, and is often very passive,it made me feel as if there was an imbalance between how the player and CPU were able to interact with the game. I would describe the CPU as seeming to be more like a dealer in blackjack than a direct opponent.
While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, because there is so much luck involved, new players can struggle to win consistently, even if proper strategy does give them an edge. This can make the outcome of the game feel outside of their control.
I think that it was a combination of these two factors that gave me the initial impression that the game felt unfair. A coin toss is an example of a perfectly fair game, but may feel unfair if one player gets to call heads or tails every time, since the other player isn't given any control.
While probably outside of the scope of a game jam, some form of progression where different opponents play in unique ways and become more difficult would be a good way to introduce players to the mechanics and teach them how to develop their skills, similar to other luck-related games like Balatro.
Please don't take this as me saying the game was bad, as I really enjoyed it and thought it was very creative. Just wanted to provide some form of feedback for improvement, in case you were interested!
This is extremely useful thank you!
It's funny you mention blackjack, as my original concept was inverted blackjack with dice but it felt out of control to have a one dimensional bust that many iterations later I got to this haha.
Progression would be wonderful yeah haha but I definitely didn't have time for that solo in the jam.
The coin toss example is useful I think I get what you're going for :) I will think on this, the passivity of the CPU in general was another issue I want to fix.
Thanks :)
Glad I could help!
A really solid entry, I just wish there were more of it. I hope you keep working on it because I think there's some real potential there. One gripe I had is that it's a little tricky to strategise when the opponent always gets to make a move right at the end, they can mess up your plans with zero predictability which doesn't feel great. Blargis on Youtube has a good video on this, they talk about a few different things but their points on "locus of control" and player agency I think are particularly relevant here, also their game has a similar aesthetic. Anyway, cool concept and I had fun playing it.
Thanks for this! Really insightful post :)
Multiple people have suggested a Slay the Spire style "next move display". My intention was the player would have to mitigate the "best" move, but ultimately it keeps the wide potential space for the opponent. I think knowing the AI will do something may be enough. But it's really hard to tell where the best position for player agency is in a game where there's no hidden info EXCEPT the simultaneous turn choice.
I'll have a look at the vid though :) Thank you again for such wonderful feedback
Feels like a dice version blackjack with abilities! Nice try on combining randomness and countdown :)
Really nice vibes and art. The game was simple but fun and I could feel a lot of similarities to games like Buckshot Roulette. I lost like 4 times in a row oof.
It's a nice take on the concept, I like the idea of it being tied to weight instead of time.
I did run into a bug with Firefox based browsers where it runs very, very poorly (but seems to run fine on chromium).
Great game, I enjoyed my time playing it. Especially love your aesthetic
It’s really got that Inscryption-Balatro style with the chunky PSX aesthetic, and I actually really appreciated that the complexity came from the simple game rules, rather than from modifiers at the end of each turn or from a shop. Good job.
I like this a lot. Probably the best entry I've played so far! The gameplay was fun and interesting, and the atmosphere was executed really well. Good sound design, good game feel, just good all around. It's always a good sign when a game has got me saying "just one more round". Good job!
Oh wow that's a huge compliment. Thank you!
You got there really cool mechanic. Simple and really addictive. Good job!
good game with a nice atmosphere.
It's the kind of game that keeps me saying, just one more...
good game with a nice atmosphere.
It's the kind of game that keeps me saying, just one more...
really fun! never thought to use the mechanics like this :)
enjoyable experience, will be following your work !
Thank you! I love your username :P
These mechanics are INSANE! I'm turning this into a real life boardgame, thanks for the great game concept!
Make it into a multiplayer game please!
Nice gameplay loop. At the start it was hard but after a some losses i figured out a strategy. Te setting is also really nice.
Really cool concept, and so atmospheric!
Thanks for playing:)
Gameplay is not trivial, but it was good designed. I think it could be also a nice tabletop-game! Cool idea!
Thanks for playing!
One of the most interesting gameplays in the entire jam. A surprising amount of depth and prediction-based choices. Well done!
This is good game design! I'd like to see this fleshed out a bit. It's a solid game.
Thanks for playing!