Do YOU want to build an empire of gold-hoarding little kobolds? Now you can!
This year’s entry for Weightgaming’s 2022 game jam! What could be greedier than roping shortstack little lizards into an app-based mlm~? Check out the page for more download/more info!
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DOWNLOAD LINK
(THE GAME IS FREE! You may have to click through an optional donation screen)
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If you enjoyed this project be sure to check out the team for more game projects/WG art!!!
“It’s not a pyramid scheme! It’s a reverse funnel!”
So from what I can tell, the kobolds can only make, at most, couple sales before the cost of making a new sale outgrows the potential payout, at which point I assume you’re supposed to eat them and take their minions. Is that correct? Just get Kobolds to scam other Kobolds until they run out of money and then eat them
I love this game! It plays so well into that feeling of being some ravenous god that consumes everything in their path and ceaselessly expands with nothing but pure avarice in mind.
Here is to hoping that there will be a post-jam version with more content and/or mechanics. Well done.
I got to max Dragon size pretty quickly. After a point deep in the tiers you just really hit the dialogue option that has 4 hearts and then either hit the 2 heart option after if the option had a positive impact or it’s negative hit the next 4 heart and hope it’s also not negative else the sale is gonna go bust.
Some possible bug :
During my game I got a dialogue with the boss dragon in very late of her weight stages, but no dialogues in between. Are these random or is it supposed to be triggered while she gains weight through the game ?
Just a few remarks and suggestions I would like to share :
● It would be lovely if we could interact more with the kobold minions (and have a few more sprites of them, like poses from different angles).
● I think it would be nice and fun if you could choose to make kobolds eat each other as well (and not only the dragon boss).
● The game was rather confusing for me at the beginning, partially because I didn’t know what makes a sale “won” or “lost”. Maybe I completely missed it myself, but maybe make these more clear :
- You need to have red hearts to win, and black hearts = you loose.
- bad emoji = you’ll get black hearts x amount, happy emoji = you’ll get red hearts x amount
I was pretty confused by it all at first, but once I figured out how to play, it made for a pretty fun little puzzle. My typical strategy when given no information is to start with the 2-heart option, and then pick either the 1-heart or 4-heart depending on whether I hit a positive or negative, respectively. I end up winning out more often than not, so the tiers just keep going and going.
I do think the types of kobolds could use a bit of balancing, though. Blue kobolds are guaranteed sales if you use the “cycle” option correctly, so it’s a no-brainer to pick blue whenever possible if you’re deep enough to be getting no info on the four choices. Also, once you get that deep, +1/-1 hidden emotions makes no appreciable difference, so if blue isn’t an option, it’s best to just pick the highest-value color other than pink. Pink is to be avoided anywhere beyond the first few tiers, as it’s more important to just maximize the odds of getting the sale.
Also, I’m not quite sure how the number of hidden emotions is calculated? I’ve gotten one visible emotion a couple times when the purported number of hidden emotions was in the dozens. It seems like the listed number mostly just gives the odds that you’ll have at least one visible emotion (which is all you need to guarantee the sale anyway), but I’m a bit curious about the exact formula.
I’ve actually kind of been meaning to answer this question about the hidden emotions. You’re very close it is a random odds calculation, not a guaranteed quantity of hidden emotions.
Basically for every hidden emotion the game rolls 1d4 and then “hides” that emotion. But if it lands on an emotion ALREADY hidden it doesn’t re-roll. Meaning you can have 2 hidden emotions, but if they both land on a 1 then they both “hide” the first emotion only. Resulting in only that emotion being the one hidden.
It was an easy answer, but not necessarily a smart one. I kind of liked the element of luck it added though.
Solid core concept. The fact that the hidden options can reach over 4 potentially quickly cann turn it into a guess game rather than planning. I also noticed that even at 4+ hidden emotions some emotions can end up unhidden.
Something else to spend money on, like emotion detectors or partial minion automation would add depth. Slow down growth for the characters and give them more sizes, it goes too fast and not far enough imo.
Training! Performance Improvement Plans! Personal Growth, Learning and Development! Other corporatized jargon!
*ahem* That might be a good direction if it was ever planned to take the game further into a more structured experience. A chapter in the game’s story where the dragoness has the ingenious idea to provide training packages for her trusted employees to upskill their performance and motivate them instead of outright eating them, at cost of course (note: she can and will still eat them)
