The concept for TOLKENTAUS came to me after playing an exciting round of Dicey Dungeons, I think it was the Thief's elimination round. It's such a beautiful turn based game roguelike that's exciting on every run. I can't say I know the inner workings of the randomness in it, but it feels rewarding on every win and just swingy enough that you can blame any loss on RNG. It asks meaningful strategy questions with every mechanic, and the considerations and optimizations of the many different characters/conditions is challenging and fun. An inspiring game for anyone who generally likes turn-based combat, roguelikes, tabletop games... If you like games, you'll probably find something to love in Dicey Dungeons.

I wanted to make a game that focused on randomness to the point of absurdity. A game that asks the player to reflect on randomness and make decisions around an indecisive mechanic. I also wanted to flex my muscles a bit more with making an RPG-styled game, as I enjoy the creative design touches that go into the UI and overall feel of this kind of game. So a coin flipping RPG was the game to be for LOWREZJAM.

The coin flipping battles in TOLKENTAUS serve as a satirical jab at RPGs of the past, while also relishing in both that feeling of triumph in victory and the dissociative sore loser mentality. The battles are totally random, there's no behind-the-scenes jockeying of probability. I found this simplicity to be somewhat divisive in the feedback I received, as the battles really don't matter. The only other mechanic is healing using potions, and the game quickly becomes about pushing your luck in exploration. The meaningful input is choosing where to go and if fighting an enemy to continue exploring is worth the risk. A lot of players got it, and a lot of players wanted more.

I didn't bother with random encounters and opted for overworld enemies. I liked the idea of honing in on the enemy and stopping movement with the target effect, I really like how that animation and feel turned out. It also makes for more fun when surprising the player with the mimic. I had a couple other ideas like hiding enemies in the snow or leaves, but didn't play around with it at all with the limited time I had in the jam.

As far as the design of the environment goes, I tried to signpost the three different key areas. Though players wanted to read the signposts, they are masked with walls and no text appears when interacting with them... Except for one. The "last" area with the hardest enemies is guarded by a mimic signpost, who comes alive and bears fangs, dishing out four points of damage. This seemed to go over pretty well with players, and I love that element of surprise. I didn't want to make a treasure chest a mimic since A.) It's the common or original application of the mimic, and B.) The act of getting potions is so central to getting through the game that I didn't want to dissuade players from going for them. Or maybe I should have?

There is a ton of room to expand the idea, and I wish I was able to do more for the jam. I didn't have the capacity to fully utilize the jam time, but there are so many avenues to explore. I had initially wanted to mess with probability by implementing a leveling system, and create an enemy that would be nearly impossible without grinding. I also wanted to have a dice rolling enemy, or maybe even a final boss. But I think by keeping it simple, I've found that the interesting decisions come from the environment rather than the battles. I've come up with many more ideas that emphasize curiosity and exploration rather than number crunching, should I return to the concept.

Overall, I had a ton of fun making it. I will admit I phoned in the audio at the last minute, it's not up to my standards. The aesthetics and mechanics are tight enough that I am willing to forgive that shortcoming. Working in the super low resolution was a fun constraint for the interface design and other art elements, and I will continue to work in (slightly higher) low resolutions for a while yet I think. Definitely will be joining this one again next year.

-Jonah

https://twitter.com/jonah_srg