Ratzee

Created for the Portland Indie Game Squad's first Summer Slow Jam for 2026: Luck

Grab a cheeseboard and get those cheese-summoning paws ready as you step into the shoes of a very plucky mouse, ready for their first day as a waiter at the city's premier queer club: Rat Dungeon. Unfortunately, Rat Dungeon is experiencing financial difficulties and legal troubles, so you're the only waiter there, and with a horde of hungry customers around, you've got your work cut out for you.

Unfortunately, the kitchens can barely help due to a devastating cheese shortage.

Fortunately, as a practitioner of the eldritch arts of Cheesemancy, you are the perfect mouse for the job, able to summon cheese cubes from the Dairy Dimension to feed these hungry rats before their night is ruined - but watch out, offering unsatisfying spreads might cause customers to complain. Field enough complaints and you'll have to leave for the evening!

Summon cheese cubes for yourself to move, and summon them for customers to satisfy them. Customers are picky, so you might have to discard and resummon a few times to get the right combo. Satisfy enough customers and you'll level up, either gaining skill in Cheesemancy or getting authorization to use one of the few remaining tools from the kitchens. Feed customers guarding chests to gain access to their rewards.

Reach the top of the dungeon to help the owner of the club untangle the many issues facing Rat Dungeon and save the day! (Note. Day-saving may take multiple days of work)

Witty dialogue pairs with dice-based gameplay to deliver an unsqueakbly queer experience in Ratzee.

Arrow keys move after you've rolled movement; everything else is mouse-based. Dialogue may be advanced with spacebar or clicking the arrow. (Warning: Spacebar will also select the first dialogue option.)

Juniper Nystrom: Producer, Lead Designer, and Writer
Jasmine Brooks: Lead Game Engineer, Designer, and 3D Artist
Leo Bonasera: 2D and 3D Character Artist (also found here)
Mercury Nightstone: 2D Character and UI Artist
Silas Neumayer: Game Engineer and Pixel Artist
Ed Varga: Composer and Sound Designer
Lex Kornelis: Composer
Luci Moon: UI Engineer

Dungeon model assets by Kay Lousberg, www.kaylousberg.com
Title font: Ribeye Marrow
Game font: Aref Ruqaa Ink

Report bugs at juniper.nystrom@gmail.com