Making the enemy start fresh after each round is a good idea! Though if the enemy cards were harder then maybe it wouldn't be as important?
Yes, the "no other effects" is just there to signify that it could be built upon in the future.
Thank you so much for playing, how long did it take you to get to level 70? And did you have any other suggestions? :)
I think it took 30-40 minutes or so? Once I got established in my strategy I was zooming through rounds.
As far as suggestions, I dont really know. You have a unique fusion of genres here, deck builder and incremental game. People are recommending Balatro, but Balatro's more of a rougelike than an incremental, where you try to make the most out of the cards you get in a run and try to build around it. Rougelikes tend to have alot of build diversity, with many different options that can work well given the right circumstances and deck. They're also run-based, where (almost) all of your progress is wiped clean each playthrough.
With incremental games, there usually arent ways you can lose, not doing well just makes it take longer to get to the next unlock. Your progress starts slow, then builds up to that satisfying 'number go up' feeling. Most incrementals have points where your progress starts to plateau and it slows down to a crawl, and at that point another 'layer' gets introduced, adding more mechanics that, again, start slow and build up to even more number go up. A prime example I can think of as a pure incremental game is Antimatter Dimensions. The numbers in that game go absurdly high, and there are multiple different layers of progression which add new mechanics. And each layer incentivizes you to shift your strategy accordingly to help push you past the plateaus. Also, incremental games tend to let players leave and come back, with some sort of offline progress.
With your game, I'm not really sure. There's many avenues you can take here if you plan to keep developing this. You could lean into a more Balatro type game, and make a bunch of different kinds of rocks papers and scissors that have different synergies and a more exponential difficulty that you'll need a strong build to overcome, sort of expecting players to fail at a certain point. You could lean more towards an incremental, and introduce new mechanics once you earn enough money and your progress slows down. Hell, you could even make it a multiplayer game, where you alternate between playing like the current gameplay and matchmaking someone who's at the same-ish progress as you. Sort of like a Super Auto Pets or like Teamfight Tactics or something but with rock paper scissors. Just some ideas, as the current game you have feels like its not quite committed to any one direction past the core loop.
Again, I do think its pretty cool, and I wish you luck with whatever you decide to do :)
Wow thanks for the very detailed feedback!
I definitely think this would be a run based game too, and you'd be able to die too (just not in the jam version as it's too easy).
Your point about progress plateauing and then having another layer appearing over the top is a really good point, I'll have to think about how that could apply here.
I'll have to check out Antimatter dimensions! Thanks for the recommendation.
I don't think this one would have offline progress, it's a game you have to play actively.
A bunch of different kinds of cards with different synergies is probably the way I'd go with it, and multiplayer is a cool idea - maybe if it's very successful down the line!
If you have any other thoughts I'm listening!
No problem :) I fear I've been too wordy lol
From what it sounds like, Antimatter dimensions and other pure incremental games are pretty far from what you want, but if you're trying to make a number go up game, you may be able to take something from it. I'm not so sure trying to introduce layers in the way those games do would make sense here, since gameplay is more passive in those games. But I think games like Balatro are different, and probably closer to what you're going for, in that the early parts of a run challenge the player to figure out how to scale fast enough, and after a tipping point they become a number go up game. Lots of rougelikes are like that where you get some crazy run and scale way past the normal end of the game, if you wanted.
Something else to consider is cross-run progression, if you want stuff people can unlock between runs to give them better options. Alot of rougelikes do this, some have permanent buffs, some only unlock things for you to find during a run, some unlock different characters or decks, some have no cross run progression at all, I think its all valid.
