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Dragonsweeper — A minesweeper game that requires observation

danielben.itch.io

11–20 of 106 posts

Re: Dragonsweeper — A minesweeper game that requires observation

#11
post #9

I feel like I'm grokking the rules after a couple of runthroughs and a peek at the help page (the button on the bottom right). I'm liking the idea of this game but need to make better use of the monster counts that you see in the help page - mostly because a 100+ score will usually mean exactly on 100 level mine, so can be treated as "there is an adjacent mine" rather than "there are 100 points of monsters adjacent.…

> The thing that I continue to find most confusing is that sometimes a square has a question mark instead of a number. From looking at boards after I lose there does not appear any pattern to this.

It took me a second to figure this out, too. Here's a couple hints (base64 encoded to prevent spoilers for other folks:

Hint: QXQgdGhlIGRlYXRoIHNjcmVlbiwgdGFrZSBhIGNhcmVmdWwgbG9vayBhdCB3aGF0J3MgKipuZWFyYnkqKiB0aGUgcXVlc3Rpb24tbWFyayBzcXVhcmVzCg==

Answer: VGhlIGdhemVyIGVuZW15IG1ha2VzIGFkamFjZW50IHNxdWFyZXMgc2hvdyBhID8uIFRoaXMgZWZmZWN0IGV4dGVuZHMgcGFzdCB3YWxscyBhcyB3ZWxsLgo=

Re: Dragonsweeper — A minesweeper game that requires observation

#12

Quite difficult! Form another slightly similar game, they used a trick to avoid stupid errors. When the user clicks on a monster that would kill them, the game ignores the first click. If the moron clicks again, they die. You can implement the same trick to squares marked with a red number too. (And perhaps to upgrade or hearts when you are too healthy.) [spoiler alert] Most of the time you have to buy knowledge in e…

Yes, I died a few times just because I miscounted my hearts by 1

Re: Dragonsweeper — A minesweeper game that requires observation

#13
post #4

What does marking a square with different numbers (or an X) mean?

The numbers on explored spaces show the total level of monsters in the 8 spaces around it. Mark squares with numbers to remind yourself what level of monster is on that space (using deduction). Later you'll come back and defeat monsters of specific levels, because you want to get to exactly 0 HP before you level up.

Okay; I wish I could mark up to 11.

Re: Dragonsweeper — A minesweeper game that requires observation

#15
post #9

I feel like I'm grokking the rules after a couple of runthroughs and a peek at the help page (the button on the bottom right). I'm liking the idea of this game but need to make better use of the monster counts that you see in the help page - mostly because a 100+ score will usually mean exactly on 100 level mine, so can be treated as "there is an adjacent mine" rather than "there are 100 points of monsters adjacent.…

[deleted]

Re: Dragonsweeper — A minesweeper game that requires observation

#17
post #3

To anyone else who's puzzled by how this could be possible to beat - after fighting an enemy, you need to click the square _again_ to collect the diamonds ("XP", I guess?) to allow you to level up.

You also don't want to level up immediately since that is a free health refill

You want to empty the health to 0 before leveling up, because any extra experience goes into the next level. For each level, heart only goes up by 1 but experience needed to level goes up by 3. You need to reach 15 to kill the dragon.

Re: Dragonsweeper — A minesweeper game that requires observation

#18
I've been playing this game all week.

A few essential things you should know: 8's are only on the 2 rows/columns next to the edge. 11's are always in the corner and if you see a '?' the purple 5 point monster is 2 blocks away, which direction you'll need to figure out!

Not essential: Mice look at a specific direction for a reason. You might figure out why later

Re: Dragonsweeper — A minesweeper game that requires observation

#19
post #9

I feel like I'm grokking the rules after a couple of runthroughs and a peek at the help page (the button on the bottom right). I'm liking the idea of this game but need to make better use of the monster counts that you see in the help page - mostly because a 100+ score will usually mean exactly on 100 level mine, so can be treated as "there is an adjacent mine" rather than "there are 100 points of monsters adjacent.…

See my comment above. After I learned a few essentials that are not mentioned the game became very reasonable and more enjoyable

Re: Dragonsweeper — A minesweeper game that requires observation

#20

There is a comment in the help book about observing patterns at the death screen. Has anyone figured out what that means?

There are a couple of mechanics that can only be observed on a fully visible board (the death screen), such as the purple slime mage who is level 1 but is always surrounded by level 8 tiles or the basilisk that marks number tiles with a ? in a diamond shape.
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