this mechanic is really fun! i hope you have time to further develop it.
just spitballin' here:
- a designated "hold" space
- I recognize that functionally, one of the cards is "held back" because more cards are drawn after four of the five are played, but I feel like it would help extend gameplay and allow for more strategizing (which I find most fun) to have more options.
- a plant removal card or tool
- 1. a trowel tool that the player can use after gathering a certain number of plants or placing a certain number of cards.
- 2. a trowel card that can be played on top of another card that removes that card without awarding points.
- basket variations
- 1. a type of basket that could be played on top of another card that would reduce the counter on that single card.
- 2. a plant-specific basket that would reduce the counter by one (or more) of all linked cards of that type.
- the ability to toggle the water on and off, or maybe pause it for a few turns
- "wildcard" or variety-pack cards
- a discard or "compost bin"
- this could reduce the player's score by the point value on the card as a penalty for discarding and/or be on a cooldown that requires a certain number of cards be placed before becoming available again
I think there's a good core gameplay loop and I'm excited by the potential for complexity that it offers. And the game itself it just nice to look at! The details around the play area like the path and flowers and rocks are really cute, and I like how you used a little forest area in the lower right of the screen to reduce the amount of negative space there. Also, the way the cards wiggle and bounce are fun without being too visually noisy, and that the cursor changes from the arrow to hand to closed hand is a cute and thoughtful detail. :3
The "tool" cards as we called them were supposed to do similar things to what you mentioned. we cut them out for time purposes, though I'll admit they weren't as interesting as they sound.
I agree usually you feel like you'd like water to be optional instead of mandatory, though I think thats more the result of simplifying the water layout and raising the card value maximum, both of which butchered the original water mechanism lol. I like the sound of the compost bin! If we work on this further I'll give a try and see if discarding the highest cards isn't always obvious.
Thanks a lot for the suggestions!