I like the overall idea behind the game and the narrative it presents.  However the game's mechanics quickly became overbearing especially given the layout/design of the cards.

I like the subtle yin/yang theory of design that the creator tried to represent, however I feel that more cards should have been used for the components of the engine. I quickly became confused and frustrated, trying to track what was going on with each card having 4-sides I was supposed to care about.

I feel that simplifying to Top vs Bottom is more than sufficient to marry the theme to the mechanics, especially when you also utilize portrait and landscape layouts.  While this may have lead to fewer cards being in the prototype for the JAM, it would have eased the difficulty of learning/adoption.  Also, the design could benefit from using different backs for the life stage cards to ease the complexity of setup.