Rosabelle

loveschach 2024-04-16 04:51

I did it I just barely won with my very last die!

I don't think I fully understood the dice lock or burning mechanics but that's okay because I was just sitting there vibing with my candles.

unless-games 2024-04-26 14:13

A promising solitaire game with a nice atmosphere and design.

My biggest issue was that I don't know how to flip. My assumptions were

* clicking the yellow number on the hover popup on a dice * double clicking on a die * dragging the die onto some "flip area" on the table

Later I realized I had to pick up and put the die onto the flipped value which is something I thought of very late (after trying to complete the game without flipping), because the hover menu disappear normally when trying to click it without a dice which made me assume it is purely visual and non-interactable.

Other than a more intuitive or explained flip, here are a few improvements I could think of

* being able to drag dice onto cards instead of "pickup->drop", I was repeatedly trying to drag and drop on instinct, only to lock and having to unlock instead before being able to continue the proper way, not sure if locking alone is even an action that should be in the game as placing a die on a card already locks it and you usually want to lock with regard to a card anyway. * sets on die could be shown without having to hover, surely one can learn the sets but as a newcomer much of my gameplay was spent on hovering and inspecting different dice to find my targets were instead of making statistical decisions. I think this hurts the gameplay the most. * locked in the same round (unlockable) and permanently locked (from previous rounds) die should have some distinct visual clues, same-round locked die should be able to be burned without having to unlock first * die that were placed on a card to be locked could stay there for the next rounds

A couple of other nit-picks * different die could use some separate color scheme as well as being smooth/flat * having to roll the die after it was already rolled in a sense is a bit confusing, they could just spawn in the air or appear in the middle of the table without being thrown/rolled * the camera could use a smaller FOV and be farther so that the die on the sides don't get as much perspective distortion * the candle light sticking out of view at the top of the screen while everything else is contained inside feels a bit off * actions like burn could have audio clues to be more engaging * the die row could have the top numbers aligned upward or the die could be left on the table for a more authentic boardgame feel

Overall I think the game has potential but I feel like its presentation hurts it as it falls between not embracing the possibilities of showing enough information in the digital context and not going full analog simulation either. If the goal is to have an immersive experience * the camera could be zoomed in and die should not be picked up in a neat row but instead just lay where they landed after thrown * every interaction should be done by moving a die somewhere on the table * die should not be stacked on cards so that their sum can be read without additional UI * die sets could be shown as a permanent pamphlet on the table instead of the hover popup (which could also open up to show the rules as well)

If the goal is to be a thinky videogame, the game could have much more UI and information visible at once, there is much available space and hovering for information is not the best experience imo. Instead the game could show * each die type and their sets in a legend on the side or around each die at all times * incoming die in next rounds * the remaining values on cards * hovering should be reserved to highlight contextual stuff, like if you hover a diamond card, your die with diamond values get highlighted and vice-versa

I am tempted to suggest the first approach because the summoning mood and atmosphere is worth preserving.

Would be nice if the game summoned something at the end.