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

92 points by babel16 ago | 37 comments
Number Gacha is a half-parody, half-real gacha game where you roll, unwrap, and battle numbers. Play on Desktop for the best experience!

hofrogs |next [-]

Awesome game! I guess that makes the first (and probably the last) game I've played in that genre. Completed the collection in about 2 hours. Would like to know how many math problems (microtransactions) I had to do and how much resources I spent on rolls/packs/lost battles. The battle system is frustrating and I don't know if that's by design or not. Being able to block and heal with hotkeys would make it significantly easier, but there's still RNG. Loved the visuals, the sound effects, the quotes, and the general look and feel.

davidsojevic |next |previous [-]

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 |next |previous [-]

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 |root |parent [-]

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

xyzzy_plugh |next |previous [-]

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.

AuthAuth |next |previous [-]

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 |next |previous [-]

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

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

KaoruAoiShiho |next |previous [-]

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.

Iron_Ninja5 |root |parent |next [-]

Do people like slot machines at casinos?

ydj |root |parent |next |previous [-]

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

LAAGU |root |parent |previous [-]

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

amarant |next |previous [-]

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!

djvu97 |next |previous [-]

Is there any way to decrease block cooldown??

cheald |next |previous [-]

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 |next |previous [-]

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 |root |parent |next [-]

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 |root |parent |next |previous [-]

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 |root |parent [-]

You have all that with Gacha pulls and battle system.

applfanboysbgon |root |parent [-]

The battle system is too rudimentary to capture the essence of gacha. Insofar as gacha lends itself to gameplay mechanics and not just monetization, deck/teambuilding is absolutely integral. Obviously, the game is a parody, but even as a parody I think it does a poor job of capturing that aspect of building and experimenting with your deck/team. Which is fine, not a criticism of a silly little app, but the person I was responding to asked if this is what real gacha games play like and why people play them and I do not believe this is sufficiently representative.

auszeph |root |parent |previous [-]

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 |next |previous [-]

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

amarant |root |parent |next [-]

Oh you just didn't unlock 69 yet ;)

Forgeties79 |root |parent |previous [-]

Stupid, sexy integers

yakattak |next |previous [-]

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!

bschwindHN |next |previous [-]

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

knotalegend |next |previous [-]

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

soared |next |previous [-]

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 |next |previous [-]

Its so satisfying to play

sanex |next |previous [-]

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

Forgeties79 |root |parent [-]

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

soared |next |previous [-]

3rd pvp round is 852 and seems quite difficult

QuercusMax |root |parent [-]

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 |next |previous [-]

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

qwertytyyuu |next |previous [-]

I hate how addicted immediately got addicted to this game

gavmor |root |parent [-]

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

malicka |root |parent [-]

20 minutes? Try an hour!

Forgeties79 |next |previous [-]

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.

xorgun |previous [-]

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