Page 6 of the full game walkthrough for The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. Spawns a Slot Machine or Fortune Teller Machine. Spawns poop behind Isaac in a similar fashion to Explosive Diarrhea.
If you download the slot machine in the secret room with the ready, you can convert these with a bomb in the Items. To do this, place a bomb next to it and remove yourself, until the bomb exploded. Secret chamber: the Binding of Isaac.

R/bindingofisaac: The official subreddit for Edmund McMillen's Zelda-inspired roguelike, The Binding of Isaac! Press J to jump to the feed. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts.

Hi everybody!

Over the summer I put in a good number of hours to a little game from the creator of Super Meat Boy (Edmund McMullen) called The Binding of Isaac. It’s a unique roguelike dungeon crawler in which each gameplay session lasts 5-40 minutes because of it’s permanent death. Here’s a few elements from it’s overall game design and a few particulars in regards to its level design which I find interesting.

Game design:

Unique theme:

A good look at the enemy variety and the overall theme.

The Binding of Isaac has a really unique theme that I haven’t come across before – weird, morbid, cartoony and perhaps even a little bit offensive all wrapped up into a single package. It wastes no time in touching upon a taboo subject – religion. The story (and opening cutscene) is basically all about Isaac’s mother hearing God’s voice while watching Christian broadcasts on the TV. The voice from above progressively asks the mother to do and more things to her son in order to purify the evilness that has tainted him (according to the voice). Finally, though, the voice asks for the crazy mother to prove her faith to God by killing her son, which she obliges in doing. Afraid for his life, little Isaac jumps down a trap door in their house and begins his venture into the basement.

The enemies, items and environments all center around the religious, the weird, and the random things that might be found in a basement. For example, enemies range from spiders and maggots to dead fetuses and personifications of the 7 deadly sins. Items include body parts from the family’s dead cat Guppy and a bullet modification that turns your projectiles (normally Isaac’s tears) into urine. The music ranges from the mysterious and creepy to throbbing heavy metal. An important aspect of any game’s acceptance by it’s intended audience is it’s cohesion – how well all the pieces fit together. In terms of the art, music and theme, The Binding of Isaac has a clear goal which each and every aspect works towards.

Binding of isaac stuck behind slot machine jackpots

Randomness:

There’s another full page of items and trinkets alongside this one. Slot machine tech training online.

In a great interview with the designer (link at the end), he mentions how one of the most core elements of the game is it’s randomness. In a very broad sense, the game is designed to be played in short intervals with no persistence between sessions. Each and every mechanic lends itself to a random element, and they work together wonderfully. There’s no persistence – death is the end of the game. The multitude of items, trinkets and powerups are all randomly generated. The levels are randomly generated, as well as the enemies within them. The boss at the end of every floor (stage/level) is randomly chosen. Pickups can sometimes give you a random ability instead of a set “your projectiles are now X”. Clearing a room will sometimes drop an item, be it coins, bombs or keys. Some destructible terrain within the levels will randomly be blue – an indication that it will give a reward if destroyed. Destroying a pile of poo (fit’s the theme, right?) might spit out a coin. There’s even an arcade with a slot machine and an NPC playing the hidden ball under the cup game!

One of the reason’s I’ve put 30+ hours into a game with 30-40m sessions is because of how random it is. Every time I play is completely different, and not just because one or two mechanics give themselves to randomness. Every single little detail is designed with replay-ability in mind and it certainly paid off in the end.

Role Playing:

The stats – movement speed, firing speed, attack damage and projectile range.

I’ve used the role playing term loose here to indicate the relationship between the player and the main character. The game presents a few ways for you to feel attached to little Isaac running through the basement maze – a visually changing representation and player stats. There’s 7 characters in total (6 unlockable) with different starting items, stats and looks for each. Stats include movement speed, firing speed, attack damage and projectile range. There’s a character for Mary Magdelene, one of Jesus’ disciples (theme) and the apparent mother of Jesus’ baby? She gets the largest health stat from the beginning and an activated item that replenishes her hearts. There’s a character for Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Jesus (theme)? He starts with a high damage stat but a low health stat. These variations give the player a meaningful decision to make right before they even enter the labyrinth, which is both reflected in the gameplay and visual appeal of each. Furthermore, almost every item gives the character some sort of visual change. It might seem silly but it fits with the theme of finding random things within the basement and it gives the player a personalized representation of themselves within the game world.

The basic Isaac (on the left) is heavily modified by picked up items.

Level Design:

Binding Of Isaac Stuck Behind Slot Machine Jackpots

Following along with the game’s complete randomization – floor lengths, room locations, terrain variance and item placement, it’s individual level design follows this idea quite closely.

Difficulty Ramping:

Beginning levels will be short and sweet, but beware of huge mazes in later stages!

Difficulty ramping might seem like a hurdle to overcome when the central theme is randomness – how will the difficulty always become harder on the fine line of the average player’s skill when everything isn’t set in stone? Simple – content sharing and level length. The first level is only a few rooms, let’s keep it below 10. However, as you delve deeper and deeper into the basement the stages will become longer and longer. This is a very effective way of also ramping up the amount of decisions in terms of risk vs. reward that the player is faced with. If I know where the boss’ room is but I have the entire level left to explore, should I explore the level and find more items (might be difficult immediately but will pay off later with better gear), or should I avoid the risk and just deal with the boss with my current health right now? Furthermore, each stage unlocks the possibility for harder enemies to spawn, so the challenges the player has to face become harder while still being randomized every time!

Terrain:

A floor design that limits your abilities to use linear projectiles while strengthening an enemy’s flying ability.

One thing that really works well in terms of item possibilities, fits within the game’s limits and rules and gives plenty of variations is the terrain. Come upon a room with narrow walkways? The enemies might be the bull-type, charging relentlessly in a straight line right towards you! Where are you going to escape – wouldn’t it be nice if you had that item that lets you hover over gaps? What if all the enemies are flying, and swarm around you with ease while you’re stuck to the lanes? Wouldn’t it be nice if you grabbed that item that gives you homing shots instead of the default horizontal/vertical linear ones? What if you come across a completely flat and open room? Isn’t that the perfect place to introduce some barrel bombs, destructible rocks (using the bombs you find), and slowing spiderwebs?

Conclusion:

Binding Of Isaac Stuck Behind Slot Machine Invented

Each and every aspect of this game has been designed to work together towards the common theme and randomization goal. Levels, items, enemies, characters and stats all complement each other, rather than being individual mechanics and rules that are strangers packed together in the same small space. This has been a great insight that I’ve learned over the summer (while playing games… doesn’t our line of work rock?). Select your core mechanic. What makes the game fun? What is the goal of th