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Kershuffle's itch.io pageJudge feedback
Judge feedback is anonymous.
- The game plays well in the browser, a little heavy on the CPU but that's fine. The GDD is very detailed and explains a lot about the game. It is a great base for requirements to develop the game and its very well written. The card selection feels good, but the meaning behind the numbers are not as clear, having like numbers pop up during combat to see why a certain card beats another card would make it clearer to the player. Adding poker mechanics like in Balatro would make the selection of cards a bit easier as well, so like stacking a certain suit with the same level would form a squad or platoon to have higher chances to beat the other hand would give another tactics aspect to the game. The theme of the jam got a bit missed, as you wrote yourself "The player acts as a General that must decide their battle strategy." the general is normally not the weapon executing the action, so the player is leading the weapons into battle. Hopefully we will see more of the game in the future, keep it up.
Link to your Game Design Doc on Google Drive.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VgcY6It-3tJuaYOGCZQADFlE1XVqjhIJ0Woau5VpC70/edit?usp=sharing
Have you checked that your GDD is publicly accessible ?
Yes
Is your game set to public on itch.io so we can see it?
Yes
Summarise your game!
Kershuffle is a quick card game for 1-2 players where you take on the role of a General and are tasked with winning the war! You are provided units which have strengths and weaknesses but be careful - losing units will be destroyed. Organize your units, maximize your points, minimize your losses, and win the most battles to win the war!
Please explain how your game fits the theme:
Cards have suits which are based on weapons and certain weapons perform better or worse against others. As the player you must select and organize the weapons to be used during the round. Each match can be considered a “war” and each round can be considered a “battle” with each card being a single “unit”. The player acts as a General that must decide their battle strategy. As each battle is executed each unit has a chance to win or lose. Losing units are destroyed and removed from the war. Although the General may not be fighting themselves, they are the ones calling the shots and are just as much of a weapon as the units themselves.
Is there anything you'd like the judges to pay particular attention to?
Gameplay
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Comments
This plays really well and looks great! Well done! At first I wasn't sure what to do with the vulnerability system, but then I saw the sneek peek to the opponent's first card. Sure helped a lot!
Thanks for playing!
Hey this is a super cool game! Really liked the art and the animations looked great!
Loved how long the weapon loop was, that was pretty interesting. I think more ways to understand what the computer is playing like what happens in the second hand would be more interesting. Maybe through more modifiers or items the player can spend. Because the nice thing about games like Balatro is the player has a lot of agency over how/if they win. Here it's a bit up to chance.
Again really nice art and polished animations and UI. Cool entry!
Thanks for playing & the idea!
I do have instructions on how to play and a notice about the lack of a tutorial in the description already - not sure how to improve that. The GDD also contains further instructions if you want to play this game with a real deck of cards. (Well, technically 2 decks, but yeah)
I'm just blind. Carry on. Haha
Hey! I love Balatro, so when I saw the screenshots for this game, I had to try it out!
I really love the art style, it's very polished! Also, the suits strenghts/weaknesses mechanic it's pretty cool! Great job.
Thanks for playing :)
Nice polished game!
Gameplay seems to be too random. The only win strategy I figured out is for "Lowest score wins" modified - just pick 5 same cards
Thanks for playing!
Hey! Have given this a couple of plays and the game's presentation looks super clean. Congrats on your submission.
Thanks for playing :)
Really great work on the UI and polish of this game, I had to play it when I saw the balatro looking ui on the left. I'm not sure I understood the strategy of the game. Because I had no idea what the oponents cards were going to be I wasn't sure how I was supposed to strategize what a good hand would be to play. Was fun to play tho, great work!
Thanks for playing~!
Really nice polish and sound design. I think the lack of a tutorial really hurts it and that's why people feel like its RNG. Though even then I felt like RNG really over-ruled the game here. Nevertheless great job!
Thanks for playing :)
I like the balatro-inspired UI design! Feels like the game is a bit too RNG/luck based, unless I didn't understand the rules fully. It is still fun nonetheless. Good job!
Thanks for playing :)
Yes, I'm hearing there's a lot of RNG though I'm not too sure where that is coming from? Unfortunately reordering cards was cut from scope as outlined in the GDD so I can understand if that's the source of it...
If you don't mind: what did you think the rules of the game were? When you selected your cards what choices did you make? Did you think about the suit you first selected and build your hand from that? Or did you just select random cards?
Actually, yeah. I kind of did stuff randomly, but if I paid attention and played what would beat my first card then I think it'd be quite easy to guarantee a few cards win.
Very satisfying sounds, love it! The gameplay was interesting, a spin on rock paper scissors. If you continue it, adding more strategy to the game would be good, less rng.
Thanks for playing :)
I'm hearing about the RNG though I'm not too sure where that is coming from? Unfortunately reordering cards was cut from scope as outlined in the GDD so I can understand if that's the source of it...
If you don't mind: what did you think the rules of the game were? When you selected your cards what choices did you make? Did you think about the suit you first selected and build your hand from that? Or did you just select random cards?
If I got the modifier that shows your opponent's first card then yes I would pick something to counter that. But other than that I didn't see much strategy to the game and just picked random cards. A more detailed strategy element is what would keep me coming back. Maybe add combo pairs. For example if you get two wand cards then that makes a fireball which takes out the first two cards of your opponent's hand. Or you could add a shield card, if you match two shield cards together you will block your opponents first two attacks. Then it becomes a gamble. Do I hold onto my shield card and hope that next turn I am able to get two? Maybe give the player a choice to stash one card to the side that will definitely end up in their next hand. Hope that helps :)
Thanks for getting back to me! It's made the problem a little easier to understand. Some cool ideas too :)
GREAT STYLE AND GOOD CARD FEEL. I FEEL I HAD TOO LITTLE AGENCY IN THE GAMES AND HAD THE MOST FUN WHEN I WAS PEAKING AT MY OPPONENT'S FIRST CARD. IF YOU ITERATED ON THIS I WOULD RECOMMENDED LOOKING FOR WAYS TO ADD MORE AGENCY IN THE SYSTEM RATHER THAN IT FEELING LIKE IM PICKING RANDOM HANDS. GREAT JOB ON THE JAM OVERALL!
THANK YOU FOR PLAYING!
I AM HEARING ABOUT THE AGENCY THING AND UNFORTUNATELY REORDERING CARDS WAS CUT FROM THE SCOPE AS I MENTIONED IN THE GDD SO I CAN UNDERSTAND IF THAT'S THE SOURCE OF IT BUT...
IF YOU DON'T MIND: WHEN YOU WERE SELECTING THE CARDS WHAT CHOICES DID YOU MAKE? DID YOU THINK ABOUT THE SUIT YOU FIRST SELECTED AND BUILD YOUR HAND FROM THAT? OR DID YOU JUST SELECT RANDOM CARDS?
I feel like this game could be VERY good. With a nice tutorial (which I know is a nightmare to get done in a 2 week game jam), it would also be a bit easier to pick up quickly.
Thanks for playing!
And yes I wanted to add a tutorial but ran out of time :(
Same, I just put together a terrible "how to play" page that I toss the player into on first start. Game jams are brutal.
Beautiful art style! Short game but I can see many replays.
Thanks for playing :)
Short pretty game although a bit hard to understand without a tutorial.
Thanks for playing! Yes, I wanted to add a tutorial but ran out of time :(
I put the how to play instructs in the description though so I hope that helped?
I feel like this game has a lot of potential. I was kind of lost at first since the gameplay is not that intuitive (thankfully I had the common sense of reading the instructions provided by the devs and was able to figure out how to actually play). I like the art style and I'm fond of rock-paper-sissors type gameplay since it forces you to be strategic, the only thing is that there is really no strategy in this game, but more luck and RnG based elements. I can't really plan out a move since I don't know if my card is going to be weak against my opponent's (even if I have the higher number card) and it was weird how I almost never got other types of cards other than the boxing glove, the knife and the cane. It was also too short, so I didn't really get to experience the other win conditions you guys implemented. Other than that, I like the sound design, the music is sweet and the visuals are nice. If I could give some feedback, try adding a tutorial to explain how your game works for those (like me) that didn't bother reading the instructions before playing. Still, I hope the development of this game continues and shows us what's what! 7/10. Good job!
Thanks for playing! Yes, I wanted to have a tutorial but didn't have enough time :(
As for why you were only getting those three suits - it's mentioned in the GDD - but at the beginning of each match a random number of suits are in play. I didn't have time to generate the strength/weakness chart based on what's in play so the global one is what was used. If you hit replay at the end for another match you should've (hopefully) gotten a different set of suits.
I was lost at first, but I was able to win on my second try! Very good card sounds
Thanks for playing :)
This is awesome, really satisfying to play.
Thank you!
The style behind this game is great and its a very cool concept. I do have a few critiques however, as for one it seems to be very heavily RNG based, which would be fine if you were able to somehow predict the cards the opponent has. If there was a tutorial as well I feel this game would feel much more comprehensible, but overall its a great idea! I wish you the best of luck in the jam
Thanks for playing! And yes I wanted to add a tutorial but didn't have the time for it. :(
a simple game. Art style looks great. the game is short and leaves something to be desired. beat the game twice in a row by playing first five cards given.
Thanks for playing~
Good jobs looks really cool :)
Thank you!
Good job on finishing game! I must notice that game is mising the strategic element. I feel I just like select 5 random cards and hope for best. There is no actual way to reliably win. You said in your GDD it's inspired by "Rock Paper Scissors", and gameplay is just that but with more complexity.
Thanks for playing the game!
I'd say you can put your first card up then after that one put a card type three types back to most likely beat the opponent if they beat you.