u/Belakor159

Hey everyone! We're a small studio working on The Zibbo Show, a dice based deckbuilder roguelike

Our game leans pretty heavily on luck. Dice rolls, card draws, wheel spins... a lot of the "feel" comes from that randomness. Some of our playtesters love it. Others say it sometimes feels like outcomes aren't fully in their hands.

Here's the concrete case we're stuck on. We have a "Spin of Luck" mechanic: a second chance roulette. If you lose, you can spend a ticket to spin it and get another shot at the same opponent (with a trip back to the shop to adjust your build first). Right now that roulette is 100% random, pure RNG decides what you get.

We're debating whether to add some kind of system so it isn't completely down to chance. Something like: Internally, in the early rounds, the probability of ending up in the 'Lose' bracket is much lower than in the later rounds. This is to make the early rounds easier and avoid frustration.

Do you prefer roguelikes that embrace full uncontrolled randomness, or do you want randomness that's guided/mitigable?

Any games you think nail the balance, in either direction?

Any feedback is genuinely appreciatred. Thanks!

Steam:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/972450/The_Zibbo_Show

Game Title:

The Zibbo Show

Playable Link:
Steam Demo

Platform:
PC Steam

Description:

The Zibbo Show is a roguelike deckbuilder with dice, set inside a TV game show that drifts somewhere darker the longer you keep winning. You're a contestant on Zibbo's show, working through 12 rounds on a 3x3 grid: rolling dice, placing cards, chaining combos, and betting against escalating opponents to keep advancing.

The demo covers an opening slice of the game and gives a clean look at the core loop. We'd genuinely love feedback on whether the dice + cards combos feel satisfying, whether the first round teaches you the mechanics clearly enough, and at what point, if at all, you start to feel like something is off about Zibbo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8zcUea47Z8

Free to Play Status

- [ ] Free to play

- [x] Demo/Key available

- [ ] Paid

Demo avaliable right now!

Involvement:

I'm one of two developers at Tessera Studios handling the programming on The Zibbo Show. The rest of the team takes care of design, art and audio. We've been on this project for under a year, so the demo is genuinely fresh. Feedback right now still has time to land in the final build.

Thanks a lot for reading this far, any feedback, however small or brutal, is more than welcome. Cheers!