Great concept and aesthetics, just needs some balancing
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Pawnbarian Classic's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Scope | #4 | 3.333 | 3.333 |
| Aesthetics | #8 | 3.667 | 3.667 |
| Fun | #11 | 3.333 | 3.333 |
| Completeness | #11 | 3.667 | 3.667 |
| Innovation | #13 | 3.333 | 3.333 |
| Overall | #22 | 3.333 | 3.333 |
| Roguelikeness | #88 | 2.667 | 2.667 |
Ranked from 3 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Judge feedback
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Nice looking puzzle game.
Love this. There's some amount of busywork involved, just burning illegal pawn moves until the cards are right to do a safe attack, but that's just a matter of balance.
Pawnbarian is a great example of choosing the exact right amount of game to make for a 7drl. The author chose a single mechanic, presented it with a streamlined progression of simple levels, and then added a lot of very effective polish. The combination of the graphics and color palette, along with the nice, subtle movements of cards and icons makes this feel very finished. And the scale of the visuals, as big, chunky cards and icons really stands out from the typical density of roguelike entries – and make this feel like it would be at home on a phone or tablet. In addition, I find the interface of playing the cards, with the overlaid direction wheels to be surprising and surprisingly effective.
The author has chosen what I feel is a pretty permissive or forgiving version of the mechanic to implement. That is, players are not forced to use the cards they draw, players are given a generous 4 card hand, players are not punished if they run through their deck. I think this makes it wonderfully accessible as a proof of concept for the central mechanic, though, my personal inclination might have been to add at least one harsher element, to make the progression through the levels a little trickier.
There are some quality of life changes I could see making for clarity. Knowing which attack squares are coming from which enemies would help, particularly when facing off against the boss. Also, I wonder what an interface would look like where you drag a card from your hand and onto the square you are moving to…I did once or twice mis-move when using a Knight card. And to pick at something rather inconsequential, I found the “ninja” enemy to be a bit incongruous with the other enemy types.
A great project, a fun time to play through, and a nice example of what can be accomplished in 7 days.
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