Shoot your way though the hoards of bullets!
May 10, 2018 9:54 AM Subscribe
Roulette Knight is FourQuarters team's entry into Ludum Dare #41 (April 2018). This dare's theme is "Combine 2 Incompatible Genres." Roulette Knight combines RPG with Russian Roulette. Press your luck, upgrade your knight, and try not to kill yourself.
Via IndieGames weblog
I'm on my 8th playthrough and I'm here to say that they definitely, definitely can't be combined.
posted by saladin at 10:25 AM on May 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by saladin at 10:25 AM on May 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
This is surprisingly stressful. I'm not sure why the mechanic should be so much more frightening than monsters jumping out and saying boo, but I could only handle a couple of turns before eeking.
posted by mittens at 10:26 AM on May 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by mittens at 10:26 AM on May 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
way too much like real life
posted by From Bklyn at 11:07 AM on May 10, 2018
posted by From Bklyn at 11:07 AM on May 10, 2018
I love Ludlum Dare, and 7-Day Roguelike, and all these goofy and clever little quickie game competitions. So many ideas.
posted by JHarris at 11:07 AM on May 10, 2018
posted by JHarris at 11:07 AM on May 10, 2018
I could do with a bit more interface stuff.
It took me a little while to figure out that I needed to put a bullet in the gun and then spin the chamber and then shoot.
But also, I don't know numerically how much health I have, so I don't know if +5 health is good or bad or what.
Also, I keep dying.
Those are my main complaints.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 11:08 AM on May 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
It took me a little while to figure out that I needed to put a bullet in the gun and then spin the chamber and then shoot.
But also, I don't know numerically how much health I have, so I don't know if +5 health is good or bad or what.
Also, I keep dying.
Those are my main complaints.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 11:08 AM on May 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
Really enjoyed this. Love the concept and execution. Best Russian Roulette game I've played yet, granted, no experience with the classic.
posted by GoblinHoney at 11:22 AM on May 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by GoblinHoney at 11:22 AM on May 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
Does anyone know what misfire does for you?
posted by vibratory manner of working at 11:38 AM on May 10, 2018
posted by vibratory manner of working at 11:38 AM on May 10, 2018
It saves you from getting shot. A little explosion animation happens on the gun and all the bullets fall out.
posted by a car full of lions at 11:40 AM on May 10, 2018
posted by a car full of lions at 11:40 AM on May 10, 2018
It was pretty great, but at least needs a SMIDGEN of documentation.
posted by Samizdata at 12:10 PM on May 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Samizdata at 12:10 PM on May 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
wait wait "hoards" of bullets? Is somebody stocking up ammo? Or do you really mean "hordes" as in 'lots of"? I'm going with lots of bullets.
posted by MovableBookLady at 12:31 PM on May 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by MovableBookLady at 12:31 PM on May 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
Yeah, some documentation would really help. It really doesn't seem like the HP gain was at all useful since the only way to regain it that I could see was the other tree (and even then it never seemed to regain enough to actually get me back into 2-shot territory), and the MP stuff also seemed ludicrously expensive for what you get. Maybe some of the equipment would have helped there, but the only time I bought something and could tell it was working was one of the rings that also mysteriously vanished from my inventory, so I couldn't really tell what was going on with any of that.
posted by Copronymus at 4:32 PM on May 10, 2018
posted by Copronymus at 4:32 PM on May 10, 2018
Your three bars on the right:
top is EXP - when it fills up you go up a level
next is HP - goes down when you get hit with a bullet
last is MP - for casting spells
The items are really key - there's guns with up to 10 slots in them, which improves your odds by quite a bit. Get the healing spell as fast as you can, and then make sure you can regenerate your mana. You can always retreat back to the first level to heal - lowest damage, no criticals, and only one bullet. As long as you can regenerate mana for healing spells faster than you lose health to getting hit, you can hang out there and heal yourself back up to 100% before going back to the harder levels. Now you mostly only have to worry about critical damage that will kill you in one shot. Increasing your base health and getting damage protection will help here.
Helmets are the main source of damage protection, but some miscellaneous items have it too, plus the Armor Plate upgrade in the skills tree.
There's some items that give really good regeneration too.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 6:58 PM on May 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
top is EXP - when it fills up you go up a level
next is HP - goes down when you get hit with a bullet
last is MP - for casting spells
The items are really key - there's guns with up to 10 slots in them, which improves your odds by quite a bit. Get the healing spell as fast as you can, and then make sure you can regenerate your mana. You can always retreat back to the first level to heal - lowest damage, no criticals, and only one bullet. As long as you can regenerate mana for healing spells faster than you lose health to getting hit, you can hang out there and heal yourself back up to 100% before going back to the harder levels. Now you mostly only have to worry about critical damage that will kill you in one shot. Increasing your base health and getting damage protection will help here.
Helmets are the main source of damage protection, but some miscellaneous items have it too, plus the Armor Plate upgrade in the skills tree.
There's some items that give really good regeneration too.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 6:58 PM on May 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
Oh, and some of the items are one use only, which isn't labeled in game
posted by vibratory manner of working at 7:01 PM on May 10, 2018
posted by vibratory manner of working at 7:01 PM on May 10, 2018
That's probably what happened to your ring
posted by vibratory manner of working at 7:02 PM on May 10, 2018
posted by vibratory manner of working at 7:02 PM on May 10, 2018
Do you know what causes the shop to restock?
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 3:31 AM on May 11, 2018
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 3:31 AM on May 11, 2018
You can earn exp and gold much faster by loading additional bullets into your gun. Taking some big risks early, when there's less to lose, can help you get protected (by items or skills) much faster.
posted by ourobouros at 4:34 AM on May 11, 2018
posted by ourobouros at 4:34 AM on May 11, 2018
It looks like using up all five bullets in a zone causes the shop to restock.
Using that info I managed to cycle through till I got a nice gun and items and make it to the end.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 5:10 AM on May 11, 2018
Using that info I managed to cycle through till I got a nice gun and items and make it to the end.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 5:10 AM on May 11, 2018
You can earn exp and gold much faster by loading additional bullets into your gun. Taking some big risks early, when there's less to lose, can help you get protected (by items or skills) much faster.
You can also benefit from the Monty Hall effect by putting all the bullets together and (if you don't shoot yourself) pulling the trigger multiple times without spinning. If you put two (or three) bullets together and the gun doesn't fire the first time, you actually have better odds if you pull the trigger again, and the same odds as the initial pull on the third consecutive trigger pull. If you have a 7 chamber gun loaded with two or three adjacent bullets, your odds on the second and third pull are both better than the initial. Note this doesn't work if there's only a single bullet - in that case, each consecutive pull reduces your odds.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 9:26 AM on May 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
You can also benefit from the Monty Hall effect by putting all the bullets together and (if you don't shoot yourself) pulling the trigger multiple times without spinning. If you put two (or three) bullets together and the gun doesn't fire the first time, you actually have better odds if you pull the trigger again, and the same odds as the initial pull on the third consecutive trigger pull. If you have a 7 chamber gun loaded with two or three adjacent bullets, your odds on the second and third pull are both better than the initial. Note this doesn't work if there's only a single bullet - in that case, each consecutive pull reduces your odds.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 9:26 AM on May 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
There seem to be some items you can only get through loot drops (provided either by the magnetic glasses, or two squares on the skill tree). I got a "queen" chess piece with rather nice stats that way that I've never seen available in the store.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 5:36 PM on May 11, 2018
posted by vibratory manner of working at 5:36 PM on May 11, 2018
1. Get the 15 mana "double your rewards" spell. You'll need 8 skill points to do this— 1 point for hp regeneration, 1 point for mana regeneration, and 6 for the spell itself.
2. Cast it
3. Load bullets
4. Spin
5. You should be able to the preview of the result (!!) This is a bug. A split bullet means miss. An intact bullet means you'll shoot yourself.
6a. If it's a miss, then pull the trigger. Hurray.
6b. If it's a hit, then reload the bullets and respin to try again. Important: Always reload the bullets before respinning. If you respin immediately, then the spell deactivates and you'll have to recast it.
7. I was able to redo this trick over the course of multiple turns & map locations without having to recast the spell, as long as you always load the gun right before you spin.
And that's the least exciting way to cheat death :)
posted by yaymukund at 3:47 AM on May 13, 2018
2. Cast it
3. Load bullets
4. Spin
5. You should be able to the preview of the result (!!) This is a bug. A split bullet means miss. An intact bullet means you'll shoot yourself.
6a. If it's a miss, then pull the trigger. Hurray.
6b. If it's a hit, then reload the bullets and respin to try again. Important: Always reload the bullets before respinning. If you respin immediately, then the spell deactivates and you'll have to recast it.
7. I was able to redo this trick over the course of multiple turns & map locations without having to recast the spell, as long as you always load the gun right before you spin.
And that's the least exciting way to cheat death :)
posted by yaymukund at 3:47 AM on May 13, 2018
yaymukund: I think that's a bug but a less extraordinary one than you think --- the art and function of "Rich Knight" and "Insight" are switched. Whether Insight is supposed to be available that early, that might be a serious mistake, but I think that's the way Insight is supposed to work (that the spell doesn't end if you reload looks like a bug too, though).
That said, even as intended, Insight is awfully powerful in combination with a mana-regeneration equipment load (the "two dominoes" worked really well for me). Load a bullet with 8 or so chambers with 4 consecutive bullets, and you can keep your MP high by having a few consecutive good shots, just in case you need to cast Insight several times to get a safe chamber.
posted by jackbishop at 8:24 AM on May 13, 2018
That said, even as intended, Insight is awfully powerful in combination with a mana-regeneration equipment load (the "two dominoes" worked really well for me). Load a bullet with 8 or so chambers with 4 consecutive bullets, and you can keep your MP high by having a few consecutive good shots, just in case you need to cast Insight several times to get a safe chamber.
posted by jackbishop at 8:24 AM on May 13, 2018
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posted by Sangermaine at 10:21 AM on May 10, 2018 [7 favorites]