Show HN: Number Gacha, a gacha game distilled to its essence

(isabisabel.com)

88 points | by babel16 6 days ago ago

33 comments

  • davidsojevic 2 hours ago ago

    This is actually a very well-polished game and I think you've definitely got that core gacha distillation down pat!

    I love that you can solve math problems to unlock more rolls and that you can buy packs and then the "slicing" of the packs is very satisfying too.

  • Supermancho 2 hours ago ago

    If the battle has numeric controls for blocking and other actions (assigned to 1,2,3...) the game would be more fun to try and optimize.

    • kingstnap an hour ago ago

      Exactly, clicking on the buttons is so slow. I want to be able to use keyboard keys.

  • AuthAuth 41 minutes ago ago

    OP probably made this as a joke on Gacha but all the comments are unironically enjoying it(including me, I got a legendary 3rd on my 2nd roll)

  • SarikayaKomzin 3 hours ago ago

    Reminds me of NumberWang from Mitchell and Webb’s skits.

    https://youtu.be/0obMRztklqU?si=CA5NWDE6FVSSM5Ih

  • xyzzy_plugh 4 hours ago ago

    This is very well done. Where are the microtransactions? You could be rich beyond your wildest dreams, dear author, if only you let me buy gems.

  • KaoruAoiShiho an hour ago ago

    Do people like "gacha"? I thought people played games for the game experience, story, etc, and the gacha is just the monetization mechanic. It's like making a big deal out of paying $20 bucks a month, or buying loads of DLCs for example.

    • ydj an hour ago ago

      I think some people do like the collection mechanics. And some games require specific team comps in order to beat the harder content.

    • LAAGU an hour ago ago

      idk i just like to play stuff like this where there is a random chance to get something rare

  • amarant 2 hours ago ago

    Love this! I wanna make parody games of all the game genres I don't like now, just to tease.

    This game is inspiring. And reinforces my previous view that gacha is a silly genre.

    Yet somehow addictive. What a let down it was when I finally managed to unlock the best number, 69, and it was just another number like the rest of them, because what else would it be?

    There are layers to this parody. Love it!

  • cheald 2 hours ago ago

    Very fun! There seems to be an exception when using the 10-roll function that might need some attention.

        index-BwvgcC1c.js:62 Uncaught TypeError:
          C is not a function at zi (index-BwvgcC1c.js:62:150798)
    
    Those lines of code are:

        for (var oe = [], ce = 0; ce < 10; ce++)
          oe.push(C());
  • nkrisc 3 hours ago ago

    Having never played gacha games but getting a good laugh out of this, is this really a thing people play? How different is the real gameplay?

    • pynappo 2 hours ago ago

      Generally speaking I think the allure of modern-day gachas is providing a near-premier gaming experience (like paid RPGs, open-world games, etc.) while being free-to-play, at the cost of slowly encouraging you to spend a lot of time and/or money to get better characters in order to actually keep up with the end-game content and/or PvP side of the game.

      If you commit to playing the gacha for an extended period of time, the system of:

      - daily rewards that encourages you to play for a couple minutes each day to get enough currency to get good characters from the gacha

      - newer characters being better than older ones (in visual design appeal and/or power-level)

      - harder end-game content requiring better rosters of characters (or more grind)

      - sales on the premium currency used to pull

      - the ol' sunk-cost fallacy

      all combine to encourage players to spend money over time

      In this regard, the game in the post obviously does not have the scope of a game that actually costs money, and doesn't have the goal of getting you to spend money, but it does cover the grind and gacha part of pulling for different rarity characters and such.

    • applfanboysbgon 2 hours ago ago

      No, this is nothing like a real gacha game at all. Gacha games have a wide variety of mechanics, and can have significant depth to them. Trading card games were the original gacha games, and those have entire competitive scenes with tournaments, etc. (Magic the Gathering, Yugioh, Pokemon TCG). Digital gacha games are similar. In a real gacha game you aren't rolling for a static number, you're rolling for a package of numbers and modifiers and mechanics that feed into a complicated combat system, and there's tons of strategizing around how you combine different packages of numbers together in deckbuilding/teambuilding, plus the decision-making in the battles themselves.

      Gacha is really just a monetization approach. The mechanics that accompany it are the real draw, and you can have card games, RPGs, tactics games, action games, etc.

      • wordpad 9 minutes ago ago

        You have all that with Gacha pulls and battle system.

    • auszeph 3 hours ago ago

      I think the idea is that many games in essence boil down to this. Gamified random number generators.

      It's really well done, and hilarious.

  • minimaxir 3 hours ago ago

    It's not a gacha essence unless there are numbers with increasingly sexy designs.

    • amarant 2 hours ago ago

      Oh you just didn't unlock 69 yet ;)

    • Forgeties79 2 hours ago ago

      Stupid, sexy integers

  • yakattak 2 hours ago ago

    This is so silly, but I’m really enjoying it lol. If you wanted to add some extra juice, haptic feedback on the rolls would be super cool!

  • knotalegend an hour ago ago

    I’m on level 11 and I’m now convinced the number 7 does not exist

  • bschwindHN 4 hours ago ago

    I love the sound design, and the dithered look is also great. Feels more polished than many "real" games.

  • soared 3 hours ago ago

    Fun! On iOS I can drag numbers into my battle team - it tries to refresh the page when I drag outside a very short range.

    Edit - refresh fixed it?

  • LAAGU an hour ago ago

    Its so satisfying to play

  • sanex 3 hours ago ago

    Pulled a 100, A tier for PVE but still holding out for a 69 and a 42.

    • Forgeties79 2 hours ago ago

      Don’t let your dreams be memes. Spend spend spend

  • soared 2 hours ago ago

    3rd pvp round is 852 and seems quite difficult

    • QuercusMax an hour ago ago

      Seems to be a fair bit of luck as to whether the boss attacks the same number twice in a row, or maybe it's based on who attacked most recently?

  • whichdan an hour ago ago

    Honestly the feedback loop of "do math to roll more" would make this an excellent game for kids IMO

  • qwertytyyuu 2 hours ago ago

    I hate how addicted immediately got addicted to this game

    • gavmor an hour ago ago

      Yeah, that's a scary way to lose 20 minutes...

      • malicka 17 minutes ago ago

        20 minutes? Try an hour!

  • Forgeties79 2 hours ago ago

    This is really clever and one of those projects that strikes the delicate balance of “I could’ve done this” and “actually no.” When I look more closely, the details (which I wouldn’t have nailed) sell it. The slow down as it lands on a number, the way it displays, etc.

    It really does distill the whole experience down. It’s so reductive yet somehow it makes me want to keep playing. Honestly the more I think about it the more impressive it is.