Deep Space D6 4+

DS-D6 was my first PNP

You’ve done an amazing job with this, miss the layout of the ship and kinda having that worker placement feel but this works great for phones. I don’t know if you plan on making further updates but I have a few questions and suggestions ( I think should have a ship display toggle in the menu would make more use of drag and drop option as well. Do you have the rights to the game to allow you to utilize the other ships that are not just the one in the PNP? If you do have rights to the game it would be cool to see the expansion implemented.) it would be nice if you do plan on expanding in any of these areas to keep what you have now as free (like the PNP) but if you want the additional ships and the expansion have it be a paid DLC even at .99c this is a well loved game and the fact you made it so I don’t have to print a copy and scrounge up dice for my friends is great.

Developer Response ,

Thank you very much for your kind words! I do have some more updates planned out, including a horizontal mode where you can see the layout of the ship! It may take some time however since I do this in my free time. Unfortunately I don't have the rights for the additional ships, only for the basic print-and-play one.

It’s Just Bad

Firstly, this is an “unauthorized port” of someone else’s game. Secondly, that game isn’t even good. At first glance, this game looks like a cute little entry into the “dice placement” or “dice assignment” style of games, a genre where, in theory, the randomness comes from rolling a bunch of dice (shocker!) and the strategy comes from figuring out how to use those dice. Unfortunately, this game is pretty much all randomness and no strategy. Instead of having a bunch of different ways to use your dice to choose between, most of the time there will only be one currently useful thing to do with each of your dice and you will just… do that thing. Even when theoretically you have a couple options, the correct / optimal thing to do is almost always pretty obvious. “Threats” mostly have only one way to solve them, so you’re completely at the mercy of chance whether you roll what you need or not. Don’t get me started on the “Scanner” mechanic, which is literally just “Well you have a 1/6th chance of rolling the BAD face on every dice, and if you roll too many of them you get screwed.” Maybe the actual official board game version of this has some added complexities that actually add meaningful choices and strategy. If it does, this port is doing a disservice to DSD6 by making it seem worse than it actually is. If not, well, it’s just a bad game.

Developer Response ,

Hello, I appreciate the honest feedback, but this game (albeit unofficial) is very much authorized and appreciated by the board game's designer. You can check Tony Go's tweets from June 2nd 2021.

Excellent Implementation. So-so game.

This is one of the best implementations of a board game I’ve seen. Virtually no bugs, smooth play, good short tutorial, and very responsive. Art and interface are minimalistic but thematic.

My only problem is that the underlying game, while fun at first, quickly declines. The game comes down to rolling dice and assigning them, then drawing a random threat from a deck and rolling to see which threats trigger. Most dice have limited function so in many cases you’ll roll six and be able to use fewer than half of them. There are some interesting choices, but they aren’t every turn and they often don’t matter because a few turns of bad rolls and threats (which is very common) will take you from full health to destruction.

I’ve heard there’s expansions for this and would love to see them implemented. The system works and could be fun if more choices were available. As it stands, I’m neutral on this one. The implementation is a 10/10. The game is a 3. It’s worth trying out and it’s fun in the same way solitaire is fun, but don’t expect for it to stay fun if you play it too much.