Hi and welcome to the first ever GrimKeep Devlog!
It’s been wondrous seeing the first reactions to this game of Dice and Darkness that we’re making. The biggest question has been “What’s a ‘dice-builder’?”, which we’ll try to answer here. But first, a brief introduction and backstory!
The Idea
At Resolution, we have an event called Gameplay Shares where anyone is welcome to pitch an idea or talk about something they are passionate about. In one of these events we presented the idea of a dice game with simple Yatch combos at its core with collectible items that are influenced by those dice combos. The idea resonated with a lot of us, and a few weeks later, we started on a prototype, and the idea just keeps growing stronger in our minds!
The Team
The GrimKeep, team consists of only two people! But also not really. At Resolution we have an extensive team of specialists that can be called into teams as needed. Besides the core team of Henrik and David, a bunch of others will make appearances during the development.
So who are we then?
Hi, we're Henrik Pettersson and David Filipe!
Henrik, Resolution's Studio Art Director, has been a full-time game developer since 1999, and is a bit of a jack-of-all-trades, with roots in visual arts.
David is an indie game aficionado, a regular game jammer and a game programmer with vast experience with all kinds of platforms.
The heck is a Dice-Builder?!
Just as a deck-builder, a dice-builder is a game where you manage a set of cards to optimize the power you get out of it, it’d make sense to assume that a dice-builder is about managing a set of dice to the same end.
In our case that is a half-truth probably. While you could imagine a game where all the little special rules are on the dice, that’s not really what we’re doing. Dice aren’t natural holders of rule texts in the same way cards are. So we’ve opted for a normal set of six-sided dice for the start of the game, and what you primarily manage are “Items” that react to the dice results, but there will be some choices to make with the dice as well over the course of a game.
If you’re already familiar with deck-builders and rogue-likes, a lot of GrimKeep will be known to you. We’re putting dice-rolling at the center of it, and going all in.
This is actually one of the things we’re most curious about; how will it feel to take an approachable puzzle game core, and apply it to a proper nerdy theme that takes itself way too seriously?! Another strength is that the game can start simple, as everyone knows yatzy/poker combinations, and over time, the game grows in complexity and depth.
Testing out our early prototype on Steam Deck!
We aim to make GrimKeep enjoyable for everyone, whether they have just 10 minutes during their commute or want to immerse themselves for hundreds of hours. GrimKeep should be fun for both of these.