MUC GAMES will release “Slot & Dungeons” on October 31st.SteamDeliver early access. The game is a deck-building roguelite. When you think of deck-building roguelites, it’s easy to think of games like “Slay the Spire” where you cut cards.
However, there are no cards in this game, it is a dungeon strategy game, and there is a “slot” element involved. When you start the game, the slots rotate in the dungeon at a dizzying pace, enemies begin to take damage, and after a while, the player can take action. The design is quite different from so-called deck-building roguelites. What kind of game is it and what is its goal? We spoke to the developer, Mr. Spaui.
——Please introduce yourself.
Mr. SparkWingGames (hereinafter referred to as Mr. Sparky):
My name is SparkWingGames. Currently developing “Slot & Dungeons”. After joining SIer as a new graduate, I changed jobs and have been involved in smartphone game development for over 10 years. After that, I became a freelancer and am currently an early member of MUC GAMES. Basically, I have always been an engineer, but I have experience in a variety of positions including server side, client (Unity), infrastructure (AWS/GCP), web front end, and technical artist, so perhaps my strength is the breadth of my field.
Since I was playing all kinds of games as a hobby, I was also good at being involved in game planning, drafting, and deciding on specifications. Right now, I’m really enjoying being able to create the specifications for Slot & Dungeons all by myself.
——What kind of game is “Slot & Dungeons”?
Mr. Spaui:
The genre is a deck-building roguelite game. Items and magic obtained from treasure chests will be added to the player’s bag (deck) and will appear in the dungeon. The game is often thought to be complicated due to the cluttered screen, but all the player has to do is move around and select rewards from treasure chests, so the gameplay is simple.
When you enter a dungeon, slots rotate to determine the positions of enemies and items, and magic is automatically activated. If you are lucky with your placement or have a powerful magic build, you may be able to wipe out all the enemies at this timing and move on to the next floor. If you are unable to annihilate them, move the player character yourself to defeat the remnants, open the treasure chests and strengthen them as you progress toward the final floor.
–thank you! Personally, I think the genre is a “deck-building roguelite,” but when I played it, it wasn’t exactly what I had imagined, and I felt that it was a very unique work. Don’t you have trouble when people ask you, “What game is it similar to?”
Mr. Spaui:
Well, I haven’t found a game that has the same mechanics so far, and I sometimes have trouble explaining that it’s just like that game. The games that have influenced me are “Lucky Landlord” and the “Mystery Dungeon” series, and if I had to guess, I would say it’s an image of players spinning slots and conquering monster houses.
A lot of the deck building part is based on Slay the Spire, and I wanted to create a fun way to find a build that would be explosively strong through synergy with relics. Also, in slots, where the placement is determined by chance, it may feel similar to a draw in a card game.
–Now that you mention it, the game’s stage strategy begins with you entering a “dungeon filled with monsters,” so the “Monster House Strategy” certainly fits right in! What are the themes and concepts behind the development of this work?
Mr. Spaui:
First of all, I decided on the concept, but instead of using words, I suddenly created something, and in the end, I felt like I arrived at this point. This is because “Slot & Dungeons” is based on the work we created at the 72-hour game jam, and we developed it without really putting it into words. I still have notes from when I participated in that game jam, and when I read them back, I realized that the first thing I did was try to create a slot system to learn about the new game engine I was using.
At Game Jam, we created a slot dungeon game using this mechanism, and it received high praise, so we decided to improve it further and release it on Steam, which became “Slot & Dungeons.”
When I was brushing up the game, I fleshed it out by referring to elements from games that I personally found interesting, such as “Lucky Landlord” and “Slay the Spire.” We didn’t have any specifications in place, so we just tried out various implementations and tried to find a direction that would make it more interesting.
——If you look at Spy’s X account, you’ll see that his development style has a strong live feel, like, “I put this in because I came up with this.”
Mr. Spaui:
It has a very strong live feel (lol).The “combo system” that was added later was so much fun in “StarVaders”, which I was addicted to at the time, that I thought I could somehow use this fun as a reference, so I immediately implemented the combo system in about two days. Thankfully, it received quite good feedback from users, so I’m glad I implemented it.
I’m the type of person who likes to keep changing things as I come up with them, so I prefer agile development. Especially when it comes to game development, it’s hard to know how well the game will turn out until you actually play it, so it’s easier to start by letting people play the game, get feedback, and then respond flexibly. I think this is difficult for large teams or projects with tight schedules…
By the way, it was exactly one year ago that we released the trial version of “Slot & Dungeons”, but thanks to the reviews and feedback we received, the level of perfection has improved significantly, and it can be said that the game is completely different from the first.
——I see, that aspect is unique to indie/individual development.
What kind of gaming experience did “Slot & Dungeons” aim to provide to players? Please tell us the key points to sell to users, “This is what makes this game so fun!”
Mr. Spaui:
To be honest, it’s a bit of a strange game, so you might not know what’s going on at first (lol) The slots will spin on their own, and you’ll be able to move after various spells are activated, so feel free to open treasure chests and defeat enemies. If you secure a few recovery items and acquire a lot of attack magic, the slots will become more and more flashy and visually more enjoyable. If you do the strategy well, it’s possible to defeat the final boss with just magic attacks without moving a single step, so I’d like you to aim for that.
–I see. What do you think of the demo version of “Slot & Dungeons”? What is your evaluation?
Mr. Spaui:
Thanks to repeated updates even after the demo version was released, the game has received “very positive” reviews on Steam. Even though it’s a demo version, there are quite a lot of users who play for more than 3 hours, so I think it’s a game that people who are addicted to it will be addicted to. There are some users who are challenging themselves to play such as “Clear level 1” or “Clear without recovery”, which I’m grateful for and also serves as a reference for balance adjustments.
–This is a somewhat unique game, so I think some people may be taken aback by its introduction. Are the players who are addicted to it the type of person who gets hooked once they understand the rules?
Mr. Spaui:
It’s often written in reviews, but it’s overwhelmingly the type of game where you’ll get hooked once you understand the rules! I think there are only a few people who have played both “Lucky Landlord” and “The Mysterious Dungeon Series” who understand that it’s a combination of both, but I don’t think many people understand it right away. The tutorials are still not very well made, so I would like to gradually improve them to make them easier to understand.
–By the way, how long have you been playing the most?
Mr. Spaui:
This is a user who has been playing tied up play for 88 hours…!
–That’s a lot of effort. Where is it that Mr. Spie himself thinks “this is probably addictive”?
Mr. Spaui:
I think it’s just a series of random things. First of all, the floor composition is determined randomly in the slot, and depending on the combination of items, magic, and relics, I think it’s fun to be able to lose or clear the game easily. There are currently quite a lot of types of relics and enemies available (about 200 types of relics and 150 types of enemies), so even if you try the same stage, the play experience will often change.
However, compared to other slot games, the randomness factor that affects whether you can clear the game may be small. After the slots stop, the player’s skill in how to attack enemies and obtain items becomes quite important, and once you get used to it, you will be able to clear the game every time.
–By the way, the demo version is updated frequently. How often will the early access version be updated?
Mr. Spaui:
I think we’ll be busy fixing bugs and making improvements for a while after release, but we’re also planning to add stages, higher difficulty levels, and new elements during early access. Big updates such as new characters and endless mode will be added at the time of the official release, so please wait.
–thank you! I’m looking forward to it! By the way, as Mr. Spie himself often tweets, there are currently more and more roguelikes that use slots as a theme. There isn’t anything that overlaps with those, right? (lol)
Mr. Spaui:
Well, it shouldn’t be! It just so happens that several slot-themed games are being released at the same time, so I’m glad to see the excitement. I’ve been checking them too, and I’m relieved that they all have different content.
–By the way, this game was made using the Godot Engine. Why did you choose that engine?
Mr. Spaui:
First of all, “light” is the most comfortable thing to use. Start-up and build times are short, so there is less stress on the engine.
At my previous job, I used Unity for work, and the UIs of Unity and Godot Engine are quite similar, so another big factor was that I was able to get used to it quickly. I tried a few other game engines, but the UI and philosophy were so different that I felt like it would take some time to understand, but when I tried Godot Engine, I was able to understand the UI right away.
Another reason for choosing it is that it is easy to develop 2D pixel art games. You can turn off 3D-related functions and displays, so you can concentrate on 2D development. The coordinates of objects in the game can also be expressed in only two dimensions, x and y, and the units are px (pixels) from the beginning. I was basically thinking of making 2D pixel art games, so I felt that it was a good match for me.
――By the way, I have the impression that the documentation is not as complete as Unity, but where did you study it?
Mr. Spaui:
First, I suddenly participated in a Godot Engine exclusive game jam called “Godot Wild Jam” and learned while actually making a game. Now that I think about it, I think I did something pretty reckless (lol). When I started it up, I found out that it was the same as Unity, so I completed the game while watching the official documentation and Youtube instruction videos to learn everything I didn’t know.
After that, there was a time when I participated in volunteer translations of official documents, and I learned a lot from reading documents for translation. There are a lot of tutorial videos on YouTube these days, so I think it’s pretty easy to learn.
I think that large game engines such as Unity have more functions, but because they have a limited number of functions, the engine is lightweight and easy to develop, so it may be advantageous for users that it is easier to update frequently and add many in-game elements. Also, I think the size of the completed app will be relatively small.
–Thank you very much. Rather than having many functions, I think it’s easy to use and the development went smoothly.
Mr. Spaui:
Well, I think it would be nice if it were a small-scale game development with a small number of people.
–Finally, could you give a message to users who are interested in the game?
Mr. Spaui:
Slot & Dungeons is a slightly different game that combines slots and roguelike. At first, you may be wondering, “What’s going on?”, but as you understand the mechanics, you’ll start to feel better about it, as you’ll be able to string together combos, or activate magic all at once to wipe out enemies. We plan to continue adding new elements in future updates, so we hope you’ll watch over us patiently.
–thank you very much.
“Slot & Dungeons” is available on PC (Steam) is available for early access from October 31st.
