Dominions'n'dominoes by Benjamin

[raw]
made by Benjamin for LD30 (JAM)
I had no time to finish for the 48h compo so I entered the 72h

RULES :
- On each round place your two diplomats token on free action spaces.
- Play new word on the map from your hand or the neutral space
- Connect your worlds by using trade, alliance or even tourism !
- At the end of each turn you score one prestige for each world connected on your longest chain.
- After 9 rounds the player with the highest prestige win the game.

ACTION SPACES :
Federate : Play a world.
Influence : Look at the first 3 events card, discad one and put the two next in the order you want
Explore : Draw 1 world cards.
Rule : Draw 1$ law card or Play a law card.
Presidate : Gain immediately 1 prestige point(s). Become the first player at the end of the phase.
Research : Draw 1 card
Colonize : Colonize every empty world of your board ||Play a world from your hand.
Trade : Draw 2 cards then discard 2 cards || Discard all your cards to gain 1 prestige for each.

Ratings

Coolness 80% 2
Overall(Jam) 4.52 1
Audio(Jam) 3.20 321
Fun(Jam) 4.28 5
Graphics(Jam) 4.52 21
Humor(Jam) 3.12 151
Innovation(Jam) 4.33 9
Mood(Jam) 3.90 56
Theme(Jam) 4.20 15

Feedback

Sestren
26. Aug 2014 · 02:30 UTC
I love games like this. It's taking me awhile to understand it, but each time I play it, I get it more and more. Really great entry, I can tell this is the kind of game I'll be coming back to time and again throughout the rating, much like when I got hooked on Super Strict Farmer.
becker929
26. Aug 2014 · 09:12 UTC
This is really really really awesome! Complex and with a fine attention to art and design, this is just downright fun that, like Sestren, I'll be coming back to! Hell I am going to play this with my friends. You rock, don't stop making games like this <3<3<3
JonathanG
26. Aug 2014 · 10:50 UTC
This is brilliant! Reminds me a lot of Agricola, Race for the Galaxy and Twilight Imperium ;) Very fun to play, and very polished appearance!

A few bugs:
- Sometimes the view is stuck on a board which is not the current player's - e.g. P2's turn but P1's board appears. In this case you need to mouseover the player icon in the top left until the right one appears.
- When this happens, the planet overlay icons and trade animations will often disappear too
- When choosing cards to discard when trading, the animated arrows get stuck on the screen
- When using the influence action, the two cards put on the top of the deck were never actually drawn afterwards.
- Scoring is confusing, we tried to figure out how the board related to the +X next to the player score, but couldn't. Sometimes the +X changes at the end of the round; is it not calculated until then? Does it include points from laws?
- On the victory screen the players are counted from P0, but in the rest of the game they count from P1
Bobzombi
26. Aug 2014 · 10:56 UTC
Thanks for this very good game. I thinks he deserve an full version :)
ncannasse
26. Aug 2014 · 12:09 UTC
Quite... complex :) But very interesting at the same. The UI is very good and helpful, but sometimes anoying (for instance no preview of resources I/O when you want to place a world). I also find Events/Laws to much disruptive especially since there's only one single Rule action allowed per round.

Ah, and the theme is well respected :)
ncannasse
26. Aug 2014 · 12:11 UTC
PS: too bad there's not a good music or even sounds ;)
bussiere
26. Aug 2014 · 12:25 UTC
nice one and gg but a tutorial could be nice ... it deserves a longer and better version
🎤 Benjamin
26. Aug 2014 · 13:50 UTC
@JonathanG : scoring ( should be ) the number of planet linked in your longest chain.
@ncannasse : The game have no music, but you should have some sfx... Nobody can hear sounds ? For the disruptive aspect of law / events, I totally agree. The game is rather unfinished and it lacks some action spots. Terraforming would have help you to change a planet landtype & build was previously designed to modify your planet production. Its seems that 72h was not enough to add them all :D
🎤 Benjamin
26. Aug 2014 · 14:17 UTC
@JonathanG : I made a quick fix for the influence & the trade bug thx for the report
dickpoelen
26. Aug 2014 · 18:54 UTC
Man that's complex! But very well made. I gotta dive deeper in to it later
deepnight
27. Aug 2014 · 11:57 UTC
This is simply the best game you ever made *_*
Totally awesome and quite well balanced! You HAVE to release this on mobile!
BadgerPriest
27. Aug 2014 · 13:51 UTC
I can't stop playing this game.
pLaw
27. Aug 2014 · 17:00 UTC
I really dig this game! Gorgeous graphics and very fun board game mechanics. Exellent work!
markusfisch
27. Aug 2014 · 21:36 UTC
Wow, that's a really complex, yet well balanced and very beautiful game! Very impressing!
nonetheless
28. Aug 2014 · 17:11 UTC
Hell, this is amazing
YopSolo
28. Aug 2014 · 20:59 UTC
amazing job !
Artamus
29. Aug 2014 · 17:54 UTC
Amazing game! I need to play this with friends!
TijmenTio
29. Aug 2014 · 23:54 UTC
Holy fucking shit dude, how in the world did you do this in 72 hours. Played two games and the second time I understood what I was doing. Your games are always awesome and this is no exception. I am still flabbergasted...
Carduus
30. Aug 2014 · 17:24 UTC
Absolutely outsanding game 0O, my favourite entry so far, i spend about 3 games to understand by reading tolltips, and hahem yes! it's awesome!
Tou made the best pixel art i've seen in this jam, the cover and colours are stellars ;)
Keep it up!
SiMouth
30. Aug 2014 · 18:09 UTC
It should definitely become a "real" game, I'd buy it with a few more competition features (i.e. with laws / events active only for 1 player)
GFM
30. Aug 2014 · 18:17 UTC
Woooow! Amazing game! I would really like to see this on an actual board and to play it with friends.

The game is really polished! Having sfx, flashed and animations for every action is great. Also, the UI is great at explaining what can be done at the current turn (and what is happening). Also, the graphics are amazing!

Congrats!! =D

On another note... seems like I found a bug... On the last round, I chose "colonize" to put a new world, but I only had one not colonized. The game, then, wouldn't allow me to take any action... (and thus, I wasn't able to finish my turn).
sP0CkEr2
30. Aug 2014 · 23:47 UTC
This game looks very well polished. I want to play it some more but what I saw so far was great. Nice job!
RodRoy1
31. Aug 2014 · 02:43 UTC
Amazing game, I am truly impressed about how polished it looks after such a short amount time. Also thanks again for what you did for my submission.
andrewkennedy
31. Aug 2014 · 02:45 UTC
I can tell you've seen your fair share of deck building games :) Good graphics and a really well thought out game!
lekochen
01. Sep 2014 · 07:06 UTC
Win the game with score of 76. This is really fun. Absolutely amazing.
SteveSalmond
01. Sep 2014 · 08:25 UTC
Seems like an extremely well thought out design. Played the single player and had really enjoyed it; have to try multiplayer with some buds later!
dancingmad
01. Sep 2014 · 10:03 UTC
Excellent jeu pas forcément évident à prendre en main au premier abord.
Les graphismes sont magnifiques et le style très original.

Un grand bravo !

PS: À quand la version avec tutoriel et localisée en français?
elefantopia
01. Sep 2014 · 16:49 UTC
Very polished, well thought out. Enjoyed playing it.
Silii
02. Sep 2014 · 13:35 UTC
Same as always, i love your game Benjamin. Really nice.
Lose my first game, but win ( http://puu.sh/bijsg/a3f61efa3d.png) the second !

Good game for this theme !
Digiraze
03. Sep 2014 · 13:13 UTC
Complex and engaging experience. Great game!
xRubbermaid
03. Sep 2014 · 17:24 UTC
Took me a while to figure certain things out, but once I got it I was completely hooked. I was going to use this break to play through a few games, changed my mind when this came first. Really well done, would love to see this as a board game.
lkr
03. Sep 2014 · 22:34 UTC
That was amazing. Easily my favorite entry so far. Would have loved to play a physical version with friends also.

The first game was confusing, but I had a blast playing the second one. I love board- and card games, and the system where you pick an action for the round, and it can't be picked again until the next round.
Gorgeous visuals definitely don't hurt either :) Impressive how you got all this done - this polished - in such a short time.

I'd buy the full version of this game.
mildmojo
04. Sep 2014 · 21:53 UTC
This is really great. I love board games, and this feels like a well-planned game. It took me a while to realize that what a world "wants" is not what it needs to operate; just needs to be colonized.

This would probably be more competitive if I tried it with friends. Like other role-taking games (San Juan, Puerto Rico, Race for the Galaxy), a lot of the strategy is in taking roles to deny other players the benefit they most need, and the AI doesn't seem to do that.

This is a great example of a computer board game. IRL, those directed graphs of trades would be difficult to score every round, but the computer makes short work of it.

There were a few UI issues that I think others have mentioned:
- When other players are taking their turns, you can hover over their cards to get descriptions. Not a huge deal.
- Each planet's production/consumption should always be visible, IMHO. Hovering is kinda sorta okay, but there are times when hovering *doesn't* show planet info (like when placing a new planet), and that's frustrating.

Nicely done, overall. Hard to believe you made it in such a short time. =)
mechabit
04. Sep 2014 · 22:54 UTC
this game is awesome, good combination of worker placement and event cards, very deep gameplay and tactics!
Robot Souls Games
04. Sep 2014 · 23:35 UTC
It was difficult to understand, so a tutorial or help section would have been useful. Other than that, it was amazing. You did a lot in 72 hours.
lotusgame
05. Sep 2014 · 08:08 UTC
What a game ! So complex, deep, interesting, challenging, polished... A must see ! Huge !
Pierrec
05. Sep 2014 · 08:53 UTC
Woaaaah...
I can't believe you made this in 72h! This is AMAZING! (well, I do believe you since I watched the timelapse, but I'm so impressed)
Agricola, Cuba, Megablast linked together in a rich and balanced game?! I never thought this could be done that fast. I REALLY want to play a boardgame version of this, because the computer AI isn't really smart (I won 63 to 30 & 26) and playing with humans on the same computer isn't the funniest.

I think this is my new favorite
Pierrec
05. Sep 2014 · 09:12 UTC
I played another time. Maybe the AI isn't that dumb, I won, but only 44 to 43/23.The civil war harmed me a lot!
I though about how converting this into a boardgame but it might not be that easy eventually, because counting points (without forgetting any of the rules/event applied might be very tedious...
Maybe, like in Cuba or Agricola, the whole game should be divided in 3 counting phases but then Events and Rules would be REALLY powerful...
Zerkruemler
05. Sep 2014 · 19:25 UTC
Very polished and complex game. Well done.
tbam
05. Sep 2014 · 23:29 UTC
Really great game. Complex, but not overly so. Add online multiplayer and I'd pay for the game.
PapyGaragos
06. Sep 2014 · 14:45 UTC
Won my first game while I was still working out how this works... lost every games after that :(

Really good job
alpha_rat
07. Sep 2014 · 16:20 UTC
Very well done in 48 hours!
The game feels very neat and polished.
NicePenguins
07. Sep 2014 · 17:13 UTC
Awesome boardgame-like game :D ! I just find the trade action too OP : I won by drawing a huge amount of cards and trading them for prestige points. Great game anyway :) !
DrCicero
08. Sep 2014 · 00:56 UTC
I had to read the instructions 3 times, and play the game twice, before i understood what to do xD Then i won 2 times in a row!

At first i was confused about what you can actually click, then you notice that despite the pointer changing above all cards only the left ones are clickable.

"Each turn you win prestige equal to your longest chain."
This was kind of ambiguous: Does a chain have to be in one direction? Are two way tradings actually counted twice?
Also the number of points i will get at the end of the turn in the top left corner seemed strange. Does this number include the event/law cards, and when is it updated?

The most confusing part (and it got me even in the fourth play) is which of down and up corresponds to source and sink. I guess a circle with four arrows pointing inside and a circle with four arrows pointing outside would be more intuitive.

It was a bit surprising that a turn is actually two turns :)

BUG:
* During enemies turns you can read their cards by hovering! But the time span is so short that its no use.
* When placing a card)you cannot get hover information. That was surprising and unfair.

All in all i enjoyed the game very much!
dunin
10. Sep 2014 · 17:53 UTC
I see you entry because you made a web version for RodRoy1's game, and I understand why. Congratulations for this generous action and for your game. I like the board game style and the deep of the gameplay.
mcapraro
13. Sep 2014 · 14:42 UTC
wow, very complex game. i dont know if i fully got it, it felt like it need a walkthrough to really get the gist, but a lot of amazing work for 72h!
X-0r
14. Sep 2014 · 23:49 UTC
Cool game mechanics and design!

I must admit that I haven't played many games of that genre so far. It was a bit hard to get into but became "easier", once I started planning ahead.

I didn't beat the AI yet, but victory will be mine soon!
TobiasW
15. Sep 2014 · 02:39 UTC
Damn, I'm really impressed. You wrote that you entered the jam because you were missing time - so you still did all of this alone? Everything looks gorgeous, and as a fan of board games I can say: This is fun and works really well! It obviously doesn't feel the same when you're playing alone like I'm doing right now, but I can still appreciate and enjoy the mechanics. I think I played for nearly an hour :)

There's only one thing I don't like: That I have to point at planets to see what they produce/need. That's such a vital information, there's really no need to hide it.
PixelFeet
15. Sep 2014 · 03:47 UTC
nice Job! its a really fun game to play.
Lianne Booton
15. Sep 2014 · 09:44 UTC
This is really awesome, love the audio and graphics. Really well polished entry!
Linus Lindberg
15. Sep 2014 · 15:16 UTC
BEst game ever. Not even kidding. Please turn it into an iPad game1 I want to buy it so bad! O_O
Frankus
15. Sep 2014 · 15:20 UTC
Wow, fantastic game. Would make a great board game. A manual on how to play would be great also. Amazing job!
Alexandre Szybiak
15. Sep 2014 · 18:31 UTC
Amazing, I'm still playing after 3 games. There's a lot of depth and a lot to learn but it comes pretty quick.
Alexandre Szybiak
15. Sep 2014 · 18:33 UTC
Maybe you could add a cancel button for certain actions, when it's possible...
klianc09
15. Sep 2014 · 20:30 UTC
Really awesome board/strategy game. My weapon trade ring was going really well, with all those grants on weapon trading ;). I like the depth it has, while staying rather simple. I could play it without reading any instructions, just with the ingame tooltips. (Only rarely something was unclear.)
I could see me playing this a lot, after some more balancing (law cards are pretty strong, and can only be changed 9 times per game).
Morusque
15. Sep 2014 · 22:27 UTC
impressive
Schrodinger Games
15. Sep 2014 · 22:39 UTC
Gorgeous!
silentlamb
15. Sep 2014 · 23:34 UTC
I really wish you port your game to Android. It's hard, but awesome!
RookMage
16. Sep 2014 · 04:29 UTC
A mobile version would be amazing. AI is great to play against. Awesome, wish I had rated this before the contest was over
zavoloka
09. Oct 2014 · 18:09 UTC
Your game has very serious bug that radically affects gameplay. Only 1 of 4 "banish" law cards is working. The one that bans Leokai race. When the other 3 cards are in action there is an animation of Leokai inhabitant vanishing, but the actual inhabitant of the planet stays still. Please, fix it. BTW thx for the game, it's very addictive.