This was amazing! I beat it after only one death (to the mountain guy) because I wasn't paying enough attention lol. Would love to play any expanded version of this!
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Lady Luck's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Overall | #58 | 4.289 | 4.289 |
| Creativity | #78 | 4.368 | 4.368 |
| Presentation | #113 | 4.500 | 4.500 |
| Enjoyment | #194 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
Ranked from 38 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game fit the theme?
Instead of getting random cards from RNG and playing them as you see fit, you control how the deck is shuffled but not how the cards are played.
Did your team create the vast majority of the art during the 48 hours?
Yes
We created the vast majority of the art during the game jam
Did your team create the vast majority of the music during the 48 hours?
No
We used pre-existing audio
Comments
- Positives (miscellaneous great things that should probably be kept as they are)
- Core gameplay: duh, but also it's very good. Like, really good.
- Story and writing quality
- Dialogues and dialogue boxes (font, size, colors...)
- The ability to channel luck at any point, even right before a card is about to be drawn (and the prompt warning right before a draw)
- The music slowing down and Fortuna appearing when channeling luck
- I haven't touched upon it on my meaty review, but the balancing is surprisingly good, despite looking like a puzzle with only one solution, it's neither too hard nor too easy
- I just noticed now that the card icons are drawings made out of constellations, that's such a nice touch!
- UI
- Improved character portraits, with color (except for the hero boy he's perfect)
- Better background (maybe?? I'm no expert so I don't know what could be better, maybe a different background depending on the fight, or different colored lightings to set up the mood of the situation)
- UX
- Turn count
- A pause menu, with all the command buttons
- An explaination of all the card game rules
- A reset menu (either for the battle, or the entire game, maybe even both)
- An icon showing active buffs (and how many turns they're still active)
- An indicator showing how much Energy is restored each turn
- Remaining cards in deck (ok maybe not since D technically does this but I feel it should look more like a standard card playing game)
- Gameplay
- Give the hero a personality. It's just one trait and a short list of preferred actions, but at least it would allow the players to be able to at least predict their hero's attacks! For example: Cautious would play defensive cards first, Impatient would burn as much cards as possible in a single turn, starting from the cheapest, and Patient will always start with the best buffs, preferably the offensive ones.
- Make Energy matter more, I feel like by only starting with 3 cards and drawing once per turn, Energy doesn't feel like a hindrance and it's hard to capitalize on the fact that the foe gets too much too powerful cards too early and can't play them... maybe have remaining energy stack, but only gain +3 per turn?
- Music
- Add a main theme as well as one or two battle themes (one for lower fights and one for boss, or one theme for each deity)
- Have a proper music loop
- Content
- Sub enemies: rats that just happen to be here, other heroes chosen by completely unrelated gods for totally unrelated quests (the hero of the god of harvest, called upon to pick up the potatoes!)
- Champions: One or two big baddies chosen by the gods of strength, cunning and intellect, having to be defeated before the gods decide to handle matters personally
- Secret/Missable encounters: Either one at the end for some true/secret ending, or a few in-between, bosses that can only be encountered if the player has done specific requirements (maybe the potato god got angried from killing his chosen hero earlier?)
- Breaks via Random encounters: can be a laying chest, a wishing pond, or a humble shop, that would allow the non-vaillant hero, Fortuna and the player opportunities to get new items, heal HP, or trade off cards
- Psst, want to hear a secret?: The random encounters are random. IE, defined by pure luck. Guess what? Pressing D before one of them would allow smart players to choose which event will happen, depending on their current needs
- More cards: cards that allow to draw, or to restore a used card, vried attacks, poison... the possibilities are endless, but a small dozen of new effects would already change the flow of the game and add depth to the strategy
- Change decks: With the addition of shops, players can not only get new cards but also trade others out. Even getting a card that does nothing, or a flaming wooden branch that deals one damage to both the enemy and the player would get a long way in an attrition battle. Not the cleanest strategy but hey, as long as it works!
- Critical hits. Those only appears around once per fight, but wouldn't be great if they were to happen exactly at the time they'd be the most useful? That could raise the stakes, and add a little spice to the battles.
- Endings! Okay, we just want to see Fortuna prevail. Gotta root for the underdog goddess!
- Oh! How about this?
- Asymetrical PVP: How would a seasoned card game player would fare against a completely innefficient hero who happen to have luck on hteir side? Could be a great side mode!
Really appreciate the detailed feedback! It’s really great to hear that you noticed/appreciated a lot of the little details in the game that are somewhat subtle – e.g., the music slowing down when you’re “channeling luck” (which is a great way to describe that mechanic, by the way). We really pushed ourselves over the 48 hours, chugging a lot of coffee and warding away sleep, to try to pack in as many little improvements as possible. So hearing that a player really vibed with the game makes it all worthwhile!
No promises, but we’re considering expanding the game – that might mean finishing the third boss and throwing in some Quality of Life improvements, or it could mean trying to develop it into a proper-length title – and a lot of the things we have in mind for the expansion were in your list of suggestions! UX stuff like turn counters and status effect counters, improved AI for the card game “players” including different personalities and playstyles, more battles and content (potentially organized in a roguelike-type way like the Slay the Spire dungeon map), improved art and music, and more robust and expressive deckbuilding for the player are all things we absolutely thought about and wanted to do for the jam, but sadly had to cut just because of the time restraints of the 48-hour jam. But they’re all things we’d love to get to if we decide to keep working on it.
That said, one big question is – is this the sort of concept that would actually stay fun long enough to warrant a more fleshed-out title, or is it more a novelty? It’s hard to tell without playtesting, but that is the weird thing about jams – an idea that’s great for an experimental jam game may not necessarily pan out for a game that’s presumably designed to be played for many more hours.
The last thing I’ll say is that the asymmetrical PvP idea sounds really clever! It wouldn’t necessarily be too hard to implement either… Hm…
In any case, thanks for playing and glad you enjoyed the game!
*ahem*
Concept-wise, 10/10. The idea of controlling the RNG is honestly genius, and really hit a chord for lil' deck building enthousiast that I am. The enemies are great too (the scarecrow hitting by falling over the hapless hero is pretty hilarious, and this is probably one of the best first enemy / first boss I've seen in a video game)
Story-wise, 8/10. It's simplicity makes it all the better. Gods bickering? Hell yeah. Lady luck being the underdog, trying to prove herself probably out of some sort of cosmic bravado? Absolutely. Some random dude shrugging with a half-drawn asset (I assume you left some of the sketch outline on purpose as it's not really the case for other characters, rather than being just because of time constraints) that somehow will eventually fight the gods for a reason even he doesn't know? Now that's a trop subvertion I want to see more!
I think the game should be expanded(1) to give more opportunities for showing everyone personalities, and I can absolutely see some "random" encounters between two bosses, and some chosen champions fighting in lieu of the gods, to keep them longer until they appear as absolute threats
Ambiance-wise, I honestly can't give anything under 8/10. I know there's probably tonnes you can do more(2), but I just think the drawings are umbelivebly pretty (LOOK AT THE SCARECROW ISN'T HE THE CUTEST), the UI is pleasant (in a purely graphic standpoint, I'll elaborate on the clarity of the UI later), and the slow-mo effect when turnign the wheel of fortune is really one of those nice touches that makes the great games stand out among the good ones. Maybe the music is a tad repetitive, maybe the loop isn't great, maybe different themes would be nice, but even though there is clearly a lot of stuff that can be made(3), it's just too nice overall for me to rate it less.
Gameplay wise, I'd say a solid 6/10, as the gameplay loop is just raw dopamin injected straight into my brain, but the obvious lack of time gives a lot of room for refinement(4). First off, the obvious feedback that probably was told multiple times, is the AI that can sometimes feel a bit too random. But moreover, I feel the rules of the card game aren't properly explained (took me finishing the game once to realize there's energy points, and the first time I ran out of cards really felt like a punch in the gut), and it needs some time to really grasp the game. I guess the scarecrow is supposedly here to have an easy fight before getting into the real battles, but mistakenly letting it heal too early results in a almost guaranteed game over, so I feel that for a tutorial battle, it should be more forgiving.
Moreover, as clean and beautiful the UI is, I'm certain the UX could get some adjustments(5), such as showing the buffs and their turns, or the remaining deck of each player.
I would love to see a bit more variety(6) (if not directly player control) over some actions, such as picking cards from the fallen enemies, or getting shops, being able to swap some of your deck cards, etc. Of course that may be leaning too much on the traditional deck builder that this game is *not*, but I'm sure there are some leeway to explore and make two playthoughs more different.
TL;DR: (it's fine if you didn't read everything I wanted to be comprehensive) 8/10, absolutely fantastic game, can be improved upon but I counted the amount of times I wanted the game to be turned into a complete game (6 times) so yeah really if you extended this I am absolutely positive it'll be a hit.
ill drop another comment with all the positive and negative feedback i have if you ever need ideas or changes if you are actually continuing work on this game
Great submission! Loved the writing, the idea is really smart and the overall presentation is really good! I did feel like the difficulty spiked up a bit quickly but that might be on me. Awesome game!
Submitted
LedgePainterNice concept ! But it's too frustrating, especially for "turn 1" cards.
Submitted
Royal RumbleThere is indeed a good basis. I would have liked the bot to make "logical" choices between cards. For example, if a card has an extra effect on the first turn, the bot plays it.
The player must be able to anticipate his bot's actions at a minimum. Randomness shouldn't be too frustrating.
But the enemy robot could play in a non-optimal way, which would be a way of dosing the difficulty.
You're talking about opening gambit - Those are valid points. It would have been nice if we were able to get some basic AI into the game, but when we were getting to the point of designing the boss fights we knew we weren't going to get there. So we built these challenges assuming the player would use card costs to limit what can be played from hand. We definitely could have been clearer that the cards are played randomly (assuming the card's cost can be paid), so I can definitely see how the hero making bad moves could be frustrating. That's legitimately helpful feedback!
If you feel like giving the game another shot I'd love to know if thinking about using card costs to control what can be played from hand helps make the game more enjoyable for you. No worries either way, and thanks again!
i really like the artwork, the loose and expressive style feels really good
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Tower's Last StandCool game with pretty graphics ! There was a lot of text and I wished there was a way (maybe I missed it?) to make fights go faster once I planned everything. Good job :D
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It's Your TurnGreat game! The artwork and overall presentation are really good, I think it's my favourite game of this jam.
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Bluebell's TaleReally fun game! The only complaint I had is that I sometimes had a hard time keeping track of when the cards that boost stats for 2 or 3 turns would wear off. Aside from that the whole game was really good. I especially liked the character artwork, even if most of them weren't fully finished.
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Guitar Saviorawesome idea for the theme! I definitely think this could be taken further and become a very interested full game if you ever expanded on it. loved the art too!
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Kraken KonundrumI really enjoyed the concept of being able to alter the outcome of the battles. Great work overall, I think there's a lot of potential here!
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Insecticide: Bugs vs AliensAmazing game! As someone who loves playing card games, this was an interesting perspective and very enjoyable game to play. I think there is still a lot of room to explore. I also loved the storytelling, art and general atmosphere. Great job!
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Ollie's Ominous OrbVery interesting game. I usually don't play card games like this but the narration was very good that it kept me hooked. The beginning was a bit confusing with the mechanics until I figured out how card cost worked. The boss battles are pretty cool but also a challenging. Though the art and the music is really good, like I was pretty blown away by the amount of polish. Very solid game !
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GameBreaking!Thanks so much! Yea, the card costs is something we dropped the ball on explaining in the tutorial – it’s a mechanic pretty familiar to players of games like Hearthstone and Magic the Gathering but not necessarily intuitive if you haven’t played games like that. Glad to hear that the other aspects of the game kept you engaged long enough to figure it out!
I'm not really a card game fan, but this game might change my mind.
P.S. I hate Mu'ros. All the homies hate Mu'ros
Submitted
Cinnaroll ReversalWow, the presentation and polish is really impressive on this one! I would definitely play this if it was expanded into a full game, I love the idea. Seconding that I didn't quite understand that cards had costs until reading the comments, which made the game a bit tougher. I really appreciate how you handled the turns/text, where you only advance when clicking and can go as fast or slow as you want - I've played too many autobattle games like this where you have to watch every little move. Really adore the artstyle. I'd say this is probably my pick for hidden gem of the jam. Surprisingly strategic too. The game gets complex a bit fast, and I'm sure that's just because of it being a jam game. If expanded a bit more with a few more intermediate fights the complexity curve would probably feel pretty good.
The card sound effect is also *chef's kiss*, I don't even know why but it's just so good.
I really hope you expand this one out a bit more!
Submitted
PelletThank you so much! Yeah, we had "update the color of the costs to match how much energy you have" as a checklist item but ended up needing to prioritize a few other things to get it out on time.
As for the complexity, yeah, there's definitely not a lot of time to balance a bunch of cards in 48 hours, so we wanted to focus on making sure each fight was winnable. Still, I struggled to remember the winning combo for the third boss even after making sure you could guarantee a win with the right order lol, so I guess it can get pretty challenging. More fights with a softer difficulty curve would definitely be ideal. And we can't make any promises right now, but if we do expand it we'll make sure to let you know.
Glad you enjoyed it!
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