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A jam submission

War is Heaven (game jam version)View game page

Play cards to neutralize your enemies, without killing them.
Submitted by cryy22 (@cryy22)
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War is Heaven (game jam version)'s itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Concept#24.2264.226
Overall#33.8553.855
Use of the Limitation#34.0654.065
Enjoyment#93.5483.548
Presentation#133.5813.581

Ranked from 31 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Team members
cryy22 (solo)

Software used
Unity (and Jetbrains Rider) -- Ableton Live -- Pixaki (iPad)

Use of the limitation
This is a Slay the Spire-style card battler where the player can target and kill things other than the enemy -- such as attacking the enemy's attack value, attacking the enemy's next-turn intent, etc. To make the game more "heavenly" I decided that even though the player *can* easily kill their enemy, that outcome is a loss condition and the player's goal is to save the life of the violent yet misguided enemy.

Cookies eaten
no cookies but LOTS of m&ms.

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Comments

Viewing comments 23 to 4 of 23 · Next page · Last page
Submitted(+1)

That was cool! I like this use of limitation a lot. I think it's a good start for a bigger game!

Developer

I’m glad you liked it ln404. I’m definitely going to add some more content to the game once the jam is over — more enemies and more effects. I might expand it into a slay the spire-style deckbuilding roguelike depending on how it goes after I’ve added some more content. thanks for playing and for the encouragement.

Submitted(+1)

got old school final fantasy vibes. Great submission. especially for your first go. Impressive

Developer (1 edit)

thank you mental this observation makes me so happy — Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is a huge personal art inspiration for me and to capture even a tiny amount of that spirit is a huge victory for me. almost makes me feel like using WASD/gamepad controls instead of mouse would better serve the aesthetic.

I appreciate you playing my game and the words of encouragement, thanks again.

Submitted(+1)

Really liked this! love the use of limitation here, being able to deal damage to your opponents stats is such a neat lil spin on a turn based combat framework.  Really cute concept and spritework too

Developer(+1)

thanks so much for playing, I’m glad you enjoyed it. also I’m very happy you liked the sprites, yours are really nice.

Submitted(+1)

My little brain can't handle this bro :( I love the idea behind it though. Also, having the acronym, instant win. The art could use some work, but other than that, phenomenal job!

Developer (1 edit) (+1)

thanks so much for playing my little game — I’m sure you can tell that graphic design is my passion. if I keep up with this one I’m definitely going to revamp the art but it will probably still be pretty bad until I get better at, uh, art.

Submitted(+1)

Go for it, I'm super excited to see this game evolve :)

Submitted(+1)

Hello fellow card game enjoyer haha.

This was a really awesome take, everything *can* die, enemy intents, power, status etc. But you don't want *something* to die was very clever! I am very impressed how clear everything was, I knew what I could and couldn't interact with at all times, and I was able to jump right into it with minimal instructions. 

Balance wise the healing felt really weak which becomes a bit of an issue imo when most of my attack options damage the enemy. I would end up with turns that I couldnt act because the enemy was at 1 HP and all my cards damaged them. But I did like the damage enemy cards, hell they are kinda core to the game. I suppose I would have just liked a spread  of more non damage enemy options, like maybe a attack that cant be used on enemy power specifically? hard to say! balance is hard haha.

This was really well done, a card game isnt easy to make and this one was fun, had strategy, and was just a blast. 

Fantastic work!

Developer(+1)

thanks for playing Prinni and for such detailed feedback. you are right balance is really hard, especially if, like me, you find yourself making changes like “Neffie’s health should be 30 instead of 3 and attacks should start at 8 damage instead of 1” roughly 10 minutes before the submission window closes… (I was very impressed at how well-tuned the difficulty was on your card game btw.)

healing is definitely something I’d like to improve and tune upwards, the initial intent was for Mend to apply a heal over time effect (like in your game), but I wasn’t able to implement the UX for long-term effects on ANY killable in time and had to take this cop-out.

thanks for the encouragement on Discord too – so glad you enjoyed the game, we obviously have similar taste in games so your opinion really means a lot to me!

Submitted(+1)

no problem! I uh 1000% got lucky balancing mine, cause I basically didn't balance it then gave the enemies +10 HP eheh.

Submitted(+1)

Such a cute game! Honestly you used the limitation so well and the art is just ADORABLE :) It's a bit loud at times but you already noted that so it's all good. Amazing job!

Developer(+1)

thank you so much Fabi I’m glad you enjoyed it. visual art is the gamedev skill I’m least confident in and your illustrations are incredible so this really means a lot.

Submitted(+1)

Awww you should absolutely be confident in your visual skills, the game looks so cute! And thank you, it really isn't much but I am so glad you like my drawings :)

Submitted(+1)

This is a great game!

Really cool creative use of the limitation and very well executed. Nice cohesive presentation with the graphics and sound. This is one of the best games of the jam.

Developer

wow that’s very kind of you to say kerneliron I’m glad you liked it. thanks for playing!

Submitted(+1)

One of the best interpretations of the limit in my opinion! All my suggestions were already said, so all I can say is that it is a great game!

Developer

that’s very kind of you, thanks so much for playing Arthur I appreciate it

Submitted(+1)

Very original concept, one of my favorite interpretation so far! Its very fun to play, i could be in there for hours

Also i really love the introduction, and in general, really liked the game! Great work!

Developer(+1)

thanks so much for playing Cactuuu and for the kind words, I’m glad you enjoyed it

Submitted(+1)

Really enjoyed this. It's a very cool concept, and thus far the best implementation of the limitation that I've seen.

It wasn't immediately obvious to me why I could sometimes not play some of the cards, though in retrospect, it probably should have been. Nonetheless, a UI notification "not enough mana" would have removed any potential confusion.

I could see how more card variety (including maybe cards that affect draws or allows redraws or shuffles or something) could enhance the concept even further. 

Overall, I don't have much to say. This is just excellent.

Developer

Thanks so much for playing and for your thoughtful feedback Jaco. A “not enough mana” notification is a great idea… I completely agree there’s something just kind of frustrating about clicking on a card and nothing happening.

More card variety is definitely on the menu, along with more enemy variety and status effects. I’m really glad you enjoyed it, thanks again.

Submitted(+1)

hi, I liked to concept and you put the limitation to the best use here. 

I kind of missed variety of the cards and strategies, but with the limited time you did a good job.

Specially as solo dev, this is impressive

Developer (1 edit)

thank you for playing richbomb and for the feedback. I had so many different ideas for killables and cards that I just wasn’t able to get into the game in time. I plan to add some more variety once the game jam judging period is over.

Submitted(+1)

I liked all the effort you put into the opening sequence! Aside from the small bug where it locks up (which you addressed so I could avoid it), it was a lot of fun. A bit of a lack of card variety, but given the time period we had to make these games it's understandable!

You also made good use of the limitation. I think it opens up a lot of potential strategies and playstyles even with the small card pool, which says a lot.

I also appreciate the lack of hand-holding. It was fun to figure it out for myself.

It was still the best game I've played in this jam so far, though I may be slightly biased because I love card-based combat like this.

Developer(+1)

wow, I’m so glad you liked it this much! you’re certainly right about card variety, I also think many more elements of the game should have been killable, I had/have lots of ideas but, of course, I ran out of time.

thanks so much for playing and exploring my little game, I really appreciate it.

Submitted(+1)

Nice sfx! 

And the "H.E.A.V.E.N." sounds so cool lol.

I took some time to understand the gameplay. I think the randomness of dealing cards can be removed in the 1st level , to make it more "tutorial".(something like giving same 3 cards in a turn until the right move is performed). If there are only 3 kinds of cards, the shuffling feels somehow meaningless.

I think it is a great ruleset for the battle part of a deck-building rouge-like game (SlaytheSpire-ish)! I like deck-building games so much.

Developer

thank you xlores I’m really glad you enjoyed it. having a deterministic first battle as a tutorial is a good idea. there are a lot of cards, effects and enemy types I’d like to add to this game in the future. deckbuilding is on my wish list!

Submitted(+1)

 Nice presentation. The concept makes it fun and challenging. Good work

Developer

thanks for playing copperfrog, I’m glad you found it fun.

Submitted(+1)

it's good game. It is somewhat confusing to disable the enemy.

Developer

thanks for playing, and sorry for the confusion. for the poisonous enemy, you need to kill their attack and their poisonousness as well to neutralize them.

Submitted(+1)

Fun to figure out the best strategy for keeping enemies alive while disabling them. Unique and interesting concept.

Developer

thanks for playing!

Submitted(+1)

The concept is very unique, and I enjoyed the game!

Developer

thank you cardvark, I’m glad you liked it.

Submitted(+1)

i like the presentation of your game ! really funny :)

Developer

Thanks for playing Herminee!

Submitted(+1)

Liked the card mechanic and the stats concept.

Nice one!

Developer

Thank you Nelson!

Submitted(+1)

Cool effects with cards. And a very interesting idea. I had a lot of fun playing this

Developer

I’m really glad you enjoyed it, thanks for playing!

Viewing comments 23 to 4 of 23 · Next page · Last page