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Purgatorio: a poker roguelike against the demons of Hell. Did the rules make sense?

A topic by Aszariel created 3 days ago Views: 42 Replies: 2
Viewing posts 1 to 2

Hi! I'm making Purgatorio, a 3D poker roguelike where you sit at a table in Hell and play against Dante's demons, one Circle at a time. Each demon plays by its own sin: Lilith burns your best card into a 2 made of ash, Beelzebub eats a card you played, Mammon takes a cut of every raise.

There's no UI in the usual sense. Your souls, your lives and the pot all sit on the table, and whatever you do, you do there.

▶ Play: https://aszariel.itch.io/purgatorio-wip

- Browser: one Circle (Gluttony), about 10 minutes

- Windows: the first four Circles (Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed), free

I'm one month and version 0.1.2 in, and the next update is about clarity and balance. What I'd love to know:

1. Did you understand what to do without being told? Where did you get stuck?

2. Could you read the dice and the score at a glance?

3. Betting: was it clear when you were calling, raising or folding, and what it cost?

4. Did each demon feel different? Which one felt unfair?

5. Did you want one more run when it ended, or were you done?

6. Anything broken, slow or confusing: what happened just before?

Even one line helps. If you have time for more, tell me how far you got and how you died.

Thanks for sitting down at the table.

(+1)

Hey! I played a bit of Purgatorio and I really like the concept!

I did have some trouble understanding the gameplay at first, though. The tutorial does a good job explaining things, but I think it could guide the player a little more during their first match.

For example, highlighting the card you should play or walking the player through a specific move could help a lot.

When I had to choose a card against the opponent, I wasn't entirely sure how the cards were being compared or why mine would win or lose.

I think a more guided first round would make the mechanics much easier to understand before letting the player figure things out on their own.

Hope this helps! Looking forward to seeing how the game develops :)

Thank you so much for the time you too to play the game and the feedback you left, I will definetly improve the tutorial system to make it more hands-on for the first round!