itch.io

thank you for the kind words!! Steam is coming (very) soon, hopefully other platforms later :)

thank you!

Another week, another update.

Since the first launch, Tic Tactic has been playable from start to finish. The start and finish have changed, but the game was always a linear roguelike experience, with some randomized encounters in between.

While the "what" has not changed, the "how" has changed many times. Each update has introduced new steps for the player to experience, from actively choosing loot to collecting gold to making deals with slimy-looking traders.

In the newest update, I added some changes to existing elements of the game, including new quality of life features, graphical updates, and new sound effects. I also introduced some new things, like a map to show you what your path will look like, and a trader that will take some of your tiles off your hands. If you're interested in a more detailed (and frankly, more engaging) breakdown of the changes, feel free to check out the dev log! 

I've also started ironing out the roadmap for the game. As the main Itch page loudly proclaims, I'm still considering this a pre-alpha. I hope to enter Alpha towards the end of October. Planned changes include:

• Alternate bosses for both areas
• New enemies and elites in the pond environment
• Another AI adjustment to make it a little more predictable at earlier stages
• An inventory system for items
• The ability to view acquired tiles as well as the tiles sitting in your draw pile
• Act three, where you will finally enter the fowl home of the chickens.

If you give the update a try, let me know what you think! I included a Discord link and a feedback form in the game, and you can always use the comments on the Itch page. Thanks for reading, and until next time!
- unbreaded

freezes like lags, or did it crash the game?

Thanks for the detailed feedback! I'm working on updates that will address points 1, 3, 5, and 6, especially 6. 

I'm designing a solution for the "endless ties" issue. I'll need to think about how it should work before I can implement anything, though.

Have you played tic-tac-toe? It's a simple game, but it's an easy way to waste a few minutes and fill the margins of your paper.

Well, what if it wasn't?

I had this idea of making tic-tac-toe into a strategic experience. A difficult experience. A game that actually made you play it, without immediately knowing how the match would turn out. That desire led me to create Tic Tactic, a roguelike deckbuilder where you play as a duck who fights his way through an army of chickens by playing tic-tac-toe. As you defeat enemies, you'll be able to add new tiles to your deck, which have unique properties and change the way the game is played.

The game is in active development, so each update brings new content and big changes. This week's update will include the start of several planned economy updates, introducing new ways to encounter tiles and add them to your deck.

I am also actively resolving bugs and adding QoL changes. A huge part of this is feedback through Discord or the in-game feedback form. I do my best to resolve issues as quickly as possible to keep the game fun, fair, and respectful of your time.

I hope you give it a shot!

I had a random thought: What if tic-tac-toe was a roguelike? 

My mind immediately flooded with ideas for mechanics, narratives, and enemies. I imagined it with a protagonist, in an RPG-style roguelike experience. Losing a match would be too easy, so I created a health system around the tic-tac-toe board. There should be some kind of progressive system, where you're collecting loot. Well, that's a natural fit for a deckbuilder, right?

About two months ago, these ideas snowballed into Tic Tactic, a deckbuilding roguelike where you play as a duck who seeks vengeance against an army of chickens by playing tic-tac-toe. Why chickens, you ask? Well, the protagonist is a duck, so naturally, he has to fight against chickens... Maybe it's best you don't ask.

The current state of the game is entirely focused on the combat system. Each turn, you add one tile to the board. If you complete a three-in-a-row, the enemy takes damage depending on the tiles used in the trio.

Different tiles have different gameplay effects that can change the course of a match, like exploding when damaged, falling and crushing tiles below them, or even spawning additional tiles to the board. You'll face a variety of grunts, elites, or bosses, with their own decks and playstyles.

As you defeat enemies, you will get the opportunity to add new tiles to your deck. In this weekend's update, you'll even be able to buy tiles from a merchant.

At the end of every run, you'll be scored based on the number of enemies defeated, the number of turns used, and the amount of health lost. The game isn't never-ending, so a perfect pull can improve your score towards a theoretical hyper-optimized calculation. Once the game is done, I'll actually calculate the perfect score; for now, it changes with every update.

I'm still early into development, so updates can add huge features or significant mechanical changes. I think it's part of the fun, and, in this developer's humble opinion, the game has gotten more interesting and more replayable the longer I've worked on it. I have a definite roadmap, so the project will not last forever, but for now, I'll do what I can and have a good time working on it.

Also, if you like reading about development progress, you'll love me. I'm a certified yapper, and discuss progress in Tic Tactic's dev logs, on Discord, and on Twitter. I prefer Discord, since I can respond to you, but I'll serve you news in whatever form you prefer. I'll even send you personal emails if you ask me nicely enough.

https://unbreaded.itch.io/tictactic
Here's a link to the game. Sorry to make you wait for it.

hello

The intro is great and I liked the innovative take on the chrome dinosaur! It's like a no-internet game... but it makes me feel bad.

I agree with the other comment -- the music feels like a mismatch. I would expect something a more somber given that we're chucking lizards at a wall to start a run.

Other than that, my only qualm was that I had a really hard time timing the jump. It felt like it went up higher than I anticipated and I never made it over the obstacles. Otherwise, I liked that there were obstacles to keep an eye on in both areas of the screen. Using both the shadow and the treadmill was clever, and it would be really cool to see a platformer in this style. 

it’s supposed to, but the text box doesn’t work apparently. I didn’t fix it since the time for the jam elapsed and that felt like cheating 

It’s my fault either way for not fixing it haha

Thank you!

What do you mean “wish the upgrade button worked?” I haven’t noticed any issues with it other than the messed up the raycast (if you click the text the button doesn’t work)

Thank you!

I like this type of game a lot and could definitely see myself getting lost in it for a while, with a few updates.

First off, I did notice some bugs around photos. Whenever photos appear, the text reacts strongly and moves around. Sometimes, it doesn't immediately recover (https://imgur.com/a/fzykbFi) and you can't read the next few lines.

I understand the vision here, but a bit more UI would be a huge help without detracting from the overall design. I had a hard time keeping track of the hunger level, because it changes without telling you. I died in the middle of Day 2 because I had no food and didn't realize I was on death's door.

The story seemed a little too outlandish. There were random details that didn't make sense and took away from the overall game. I went to Elon's factory and met Billie Eilish in the park on Day 1. It was funny, but I had a hard time caring much about my character (Justin Beaver). I would have more fun and feel more connected to the game if the world became absurd due to something I did, rather than me having to do normal stuff in this absurd world.

Overall, I see a lot you could do with the game. It's a good start for a project that could be a huge time sink. It could even be a cool mobile game - I could see myself playing this on a cross-country flight. Great job!

I really like the idea - like Hill Climb Racing meets Death Stranding. 

I couldn't really figure out how to play. My car wouldn't drive in certain environments, and I couldn't understand what the objectives were with different items.  The controls also didn't feel intuitive; clicking to go or stop felt weird, and I didn't understand where the engine comes into play.

I like the idea a lot and I see the potential here, I would just need the game to be a little clearer.

There were a couple areas where I felt the game could have been better. For example, the UI at the right side of the screen was confusing - I couldn't tell which was my currency at the start, because they're all just lines of white text. Later, I started collecting power crystals, but I didn't see any purpose for them. Maybe I needed to upgrade the towers more? 

The enemies never posed a threat. I stopped adding more towers after round 3 and still made it to round 9, where the enemies just started circling the island on the right until my towers eventually picked them off. 

There's also no feedback on the enemies. They don't make any sounds or react to being hit or killed. I think that's a huge area that can be improved, since the majority of gameplay is watching the towers shoot the enemies.

Overall, I think this is a solid representative of a TD game, but I can definitely see a few things you can do to make the game better!

This was a fun idea! An omelet-station deckbuilder is clever and the sound design was great!

The rounds themselves felt a little static. There's not enough randomness - the rounds are mostly the same as the one before it. It also makes it difficult to keep up with the increasing score thresholds. I was fine through round 3, but after that, I had a hard time getting enough points to move along unless I got lucky with the ingredients.

It would be great to have a background of some kind - even just a stainless-steel commercial kitchen counter would add a lot of atmosphere to the game.

Once I hit an enemy, I couldn't seem to deal damage again until I ran away and came back. I also couldn't really read the text above my head, so I wasn't sure how much health I had.

Another issue I noticed was that the character can easily outpace the camera, so I would be running blindly until the camera caught up. 

It feels like there's a mismatch between the movement system and the combat system, but there's definitely potential there. Movement is fast and snappy, but combat feels like it intends for you to stop moving, wait, then strike - more like a traditional dungeon crawler. It would be a huge improvement if you focused on dashing or fast motion to damage enemies, as I had a lot more fun when I did that. It also worked better; I had to run away to get the attack to register again. Some ideas are dealing more damage when moving faster, causing enemies to burst when you hit them fast enough, or letting you combo through enemies if you strike multiple without stopping.

Keep up the good work!

Hey! Just gave your game a try. 

Off the bat, I had a hard time understanding what to do, but not because I was unfamiliar with the mechanics. It's hard to tell the blue and green apart in the UI, so I couldn't tell that some of the numbers were towards power, and some were towards your funds. I also found it weird that if you buy too many turrets, none of them work. I ended up having a bunch of unpowered turrets all over the map and had to try again.

The battle phase felt boring. The enemies have no health indicators, and I have no actions to complete, so I got a little disengaged. Maybe the enemies could have a chance to drop money or powerups that I can click to collect? That way the player stays engaged during longer fight sequences. The battle sound effects were great, though.

Otherwise, this was a good take on a tower-defense game. The bones are there; I think you just need to make some little changes to make the gameplay more engaging!

The page here doesn't allow me to actually view or manage the leaderboard. I can use the leaderboard in the game, but when I come here to manage it, it says not found.