itch.io

i’m glad you enjoyed it! I know my entry isn’t as crunchy as some of the others but I’m glad the experience shows the concept I was going for.

Playable Tabletop Simulator workshop can be found at https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3358097224

Trying to tackle a complex Investigative Horror game is a daunting task for a game jam.  This entry does a good job of presenting this stye of game in a very narrow profile. However, the sheer volume of text involved overshadows the gameplay loop and make the game very daunting for a player to pick up and learn.

A key point to takeaway... Digital formats can drastically alter the utility of text compared to physical formats -- the font-size used for many of the cards makes the text nearly unreadable on a physical asset.  Yet the bordering and layout suggests the cards are meant to be printed and played as such.  Something in the design needs to alleviate this dichotomy in order to prevent a new player from feeling like they are about to get run over by a truck full of occult tomes.

The visual design of this entry lends itself well to the archetype it is exploring. The art assets are appropriate and mood-fitting when used.  The overall complexity seems appropriate for the archetype.  However,  while I am left feeling a sense of what this game COULD be... I am not sure if I want to plunge in. 

Given existing entries into this style of game, I would want a single player project to feel more like a "slice" of that type of game with its own unique system or simple gameplay loop.  Delivering the game in this form, on so few cards, I feel overwhelmed.

I struggled to catch the narrative of the game, and to inform how I should be learning to play it.  I like the use of flavor in some ways lent to the game (like crying over cutting onions), but on other cards, the flavor felt forced and generic.  Flavor is best when it describes the world/setting of your game and informs the gameplay.

I feel that this entry would benefit from more clearly establishing the gameplay loop/premise, and giving the player a reason to care about it.

I see where this game is trying to go, and I feel like there is a space in which it can succeed.  However, I feel like it would require a live demonstration for players to grokk the full mechanics.  The design could use some simplification of the core gameplay loop, or a more robust rulebook to demonstrate the first playthrough.

I appreciate the use of narrative.  However for a single player game, you might simply want to go with the theme: "Explore the dungeon, Defeat monsters for ingredients, Complete recipes to improve/evolve".  Unless you are tying the game to some sort of IP, you don't need to add narrative about things that don't affect or inform the gameplay/mechanics.

I love the aesthetic of this game and the idea feels very polished.  I appreciate the art assets used, and feel they contribute well to marrying mechanics to theme.  This entry feels like a single player option to a polished multiplayer version of the game.

The core gameplay loop is very clear and the rulebook does a good job of walking the player through setup to get to the meat of the game. In fact, the rulebook for this entry was a gorgeous addition. There is a good balance of simplicity and complexity to keep the player's attention without making them bored or frustrated.

I am not sure if misfortunes are needed to add difficulty as opposed to the inherent difficulty in using probabilities for card drawing.  Maybe nitpicky... I would also appreciate a little more clarity on how/when the misfortunes are supposed to be played/discarded/etc.  I was a little unsure if they were "on-draw" or "as played" -- and I wasn't sure how/when/if they were supposed to be discarded and/or reshuffled.  To be fair... the misfortunes almost felt like they were a re-used interaction mechanic from a multiplayer version.

I feel you would gain better player impression if players don't "lose the game" for not completing everyone's dish.  I would recommend:

• "Winning the game" - completing your starting witches dish before the end
• "Losing the game" - Not completing your starting witches dish before the end
• Completing a Guest's Dish - Bonus Points

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.

I like what the creator is trying to do, and I have a sense of the direction this design is attempting to move in. 

The mechanics of the combat system feel very fiddly.   I don't think the difficulty level of success matters so much... or at least I don't see a reason why I should care.  If I understood the "story" more this wouldn't stick out so much.  However in the game's current state, I feel the difficulty is immaterial, or should at least be variable based on how difficult of a challenge the player wants.

Given the complexity of the interactions (especially the "drawing table", the rule-book would have benefited much by having a sample diagram of the card layout. Alternately, using a tableau (card) showing that layout/priority visually to the player would be an opportunity to eliminate some of the complexity of moving from reading the rules to playing the game.

The game lacks a story or journey.  As a "proof of concept", this entry demonstrates a core game-play loop that functions by itself, but needs further narrative before it feels like an actual game.  The general "fantasy battler" theme is informative, but even as a mechanical prototype, I would like to see a little more flavor informing me of the setting that the player is engaging in and would also help to inform the choices in mechanical design.