In general, I see that the core mechanics are there, for the most part, but the game needs a lot of polish. I think the biggest issue is there’s no information about what kind of items have been forged. There’s no inventory to see what I have. I think being able to see what “items” I’ve actually made vs. what items are being requested at the market would reduce a lot of the guess work for the player.
Regarding the market… the player gets paid the same for everything. More powerful items should net the player more coin. That gives the player incentive to try forging the more powerful items.
Lastly, I’m not sure a “Buy Random Block” is the best choice for this style of game. I can understand a game jam’s time restraint can make developing more complex system difficult, but, if you were to build this game out more, then I think it would be better if the player could buy from a list of blocks. The more powerful ones costing more money… again, this is similar to the risk/reward I mentioned about forging.
If you were to improve the above, and tie it all together with a tutorial, I think you could have a decent game here.
Thank you for sharing this game on with me on my stream last night! If you’re interested in rewatching, here’s a link to me playing your game :)