Wavelatro by ForsakenAginor

[raw]
made by ForsakenAginor for Ludum Dare 59 (JAM)

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ABOUT THE GAME You are a rogue signal operator. Play MHz frequency cards, overwhelm enemy Signal Arrays, and jam the airwaves before they jam you back.

FEATURES → Card-based frequency combat

→ Roguelike runs — no two games the same

→ Deck building between waves

→ Interference system — enemies fight back

→ Power economy — every card has a cost

HOW TO PLAY Draw 5 cards each turn. Read the enemy array. Play frequency cards to the Transmission zone. Hit SEND — or RETUNE to reconfigure. Drop the JAM LEVEL to zero.!

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Ratings

Overall 152th 3.965⭐ 59🧑‍⚖️
Fun 149th 3.816⭐ 59🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 622th 3.035⭐ 59🧑‍⚖️
Theme 308th 3.947⭐ 59🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 99th 4.422⭐ 60🧑‍⚖️
Audio 197th 3.821⭐ 58🧑‍⚖️
Humor 346th 2.99⭐ 53🧑‍⚖️
Mood 283th 3.882⭐ 57🧑‍⚖️
Given 133🗳️ 143🗨️

Feedback

LDJam user 424535
Apr 21st · 03:47 UTC
excellent visuals and sound design. the gameplay could have been sped up, but it's definitely a bomb!
Ilya Kr
Apr 21st · 05:27 UTC
The graphics are beautiful, the idea is cool.
semenov
Apr 21st · 06:49 UTC
Very interesting implementation of signals + cards.
Human Writes Code
Apr 21st · 10:59 UTC
![hiscore.png](///raw/e03/21/z/71e95.png)

Very satisfying and highly addictive, just like Balatro. Great implementation. Looks beautiful, plays really well and the music is perfect. My only criticism would be that once you make it past the first two rounds, it becomes a bit too easy. I feel like the upgrade cards should have pros and cons to balance it out. Overall, though, excellent game!
LLlarsO
Apr 21st · 11:02 UTC
Visuals and sound design are really good.
The audio feedback feels nice and I got addicted to the gameplay. :D

The implementation of a slider for the animation speed is a good idea.
The UI is good to read and fits to the rest of the gameplay.
You described the power-ups well.

Overall it is a polished game. Really enjoyed this...will play another round now. ;)
LDJam user 317693
Apr 21st · 11:05 UTC
A really fun submission, it feels like once you get the right upgrades at the beginning you very easily snowball to the end, but not being able to perfectly balance things is the norm for jam games. Really cool!
fae.pdf
Apr 21st · 11:13 UTC
That's an alright clone of balatro. The balance is completely out of whack, but that's to be expected for a jam. (Extremely easy to win, with a lot of choices that are just plainly better than competing options, so there's no real decision making.) Really like the visual presentation of the game, that's pretty slick!! However, I do think the joker activation beeps were quite jarring and kind of went against the atmosphere of the game. Overall though, cleanly executed for a jam game, good job!
LDJam user 236055
Apr 21st · 11:15 UTC
This game is so polished for a jam game, amazing work! I love how you even made the itch page CRT styled to fit the mood of the game :D I'm also a fan of balatro so this game was pretty fun for me!
alexhonor
Apr 21st · 11:36 UTC
Great job! Feels super smooth. Gameplay is easy to understand and flows naturally
Custodi
Apr 21st · 11:41 UTC
Like visuals and polishing, cool work for jam game!
For me it seems too easy, when you take x3 multipliers & +5000 score addition.
fkjaha
Apr 21st · 12:38 UTC
The visual style is excellent. The gameplay feels very different depending on first upgrades you get, but the gameplay loop is smooth and polished, a well-made submission!
Enad96
Apr 21st · 12:59 UTC
Too bad this power is all virtual ... You made some heads up plays!
FLOWERFIELD Games
Apr 21st · 13:06 UTC
Doesn't feel really innovative for me. But damn, it's so polished. Everything holds together just fine. The sound design is neat. And the old screen monitor aspect is perfect. Great entry!
LDJam user 423838
Apr 21st · 14:07 UTC
this game is super polished, basically like a balatro clone but with its own cool signal twist. the visuals and crt style are excellent, and the sound design feels really satisfying
Exio4
Apr 21st · 15:48 UTC
I liked it a lot!! I had to play a few times to get how to break it :D
cupofmilk7
Apr 21st · 18:36 UTC
this is really cool!! super engaging, I especially loved the animations, great work!!
Myokka
Apr 21st · 19:03 UTC
Nice visuals, good sounds, good idea with the card
Dywanix
Apr 21st · 21:31 UTC
lovely visuals!
Robert Rosenbrook
Apr 21st · 21:48 UTC
Very fun game! I loved Balatro so this was right up my alley. The wave signals were a very cool idea!
CrimsonTrouper
Apr 22nd · 03:37 UTC
Would be cool if you added something more original and tied with the theme on Balatro's base, but I understand that you had only 72 hours. Even so the game is fun to play and uses the formula good enough. Artstyle is great!
oxnh
Apr 22nd · 05:06 UTC
Very fun and pretty game. The sound effects are great too, but the music is kind of basic. It's chill but something more engaging would be great and truly make this slap.
Pavel.Cherepanov
Apr 22nd · 05:56 UTC
Really cool idea! It gives me Balatro vibes, which is definitely a good thing. The graphics, visual effects, music, and audio are all top-notch - you really nailed the presentation!

I was particularly pleased to see the speed-up feature - that's such a thoughtful addition and really improves the experience. I'm definitely taking notes on that for my own projects!

I think this game has genuine potential beyond the jam. Looking forward to seeing where you take it. Good luck with future development!
Melomaner
Apr 22nd · 14:33 UTC
I liked the game — it was quite interesting to play, and I think the theme is handled pretty well.

It already has a solid core, and with a bit more development — maybe adding some meta progression or extra layers — it could grow into something really strong. I could even see this being expanded into a full release.
MuzzLove
Apr 22nd · 15:27 UTC
great project!
i really liked it :)
redbull can in a corenr :D
Cornex
Apr 22nd · 15:57 UTC
That’s a really intriguing concept! It’s like poker, but instead of card suits, you have signal frequencies. I enjoyed it!
eklender
Apr 23rd · 19:06 UTC
The visuals are great. Every aspect of the UI feels coherent and smooth. The gameplay is engaging and rewarding. i really liked it
GARYglhf
Apr 24th · 07:23 UTC
Не очень люблю карточные игры, но эта зашла. Круто сделано)
adam-gould
Apr 24th · 11:02 UTC
Oh man I love Balatro and this is a cool take on it. I think you should keep at this one and develop it into a larger game which has something in it to make it stand out from being just a Balatro clone.

Other than that, very smooth, very polished. Can't really complain!
LDJam user 424943
Apr 27th · 16:34 UTC
This isn’t my genre, so I can’t really evaluate the gameplay, but it feels very well made. The visuals in particular stand out. I liked how the screen is rendered, the effects on it, and the items at the bottom.
LeReveur
May 02nd · 15:28 UTC
Well polished, challenging, innovative and fun!
It could use some balancing though, rng was not kind with me until my last try (or at least nerfing some, f.ex. the down to 2 transmission limit is almost unbearable, especially the first time - ie. lv 75000 - I had this one kill me trice in a row :sweat_smile:)
And maybe adding some clue about "retune", because it can't be used without selecting cards, but I didn't saw clearly if selected cards where used by it, nor if they all are, nor if it was to keep them or discard them…
![Wavelatro_LeReveur.png](///raw/b3/z/73078.png)

edit: gave it another try, and almost finished the game thanks to very big bufs, but… 2 transmission limit :rofl:
![Wavelatro_LeReveur2.png](///raw/b3/z/7307b.png)

edit bis: I wouldn't have stop on a failure :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:
![Wavelatro_LeReveur3.png](///raw/b3/z/73093.png)
Euler Moises
May 03rd · 02:29 UTC
A very simple and straight to the point game. Fun to play and addictive. It is a fun way of applying math to games, and the visuals have that nice retro-futuristic all bright neon colors. The music could have some improvements though, and it confused me that instead of getting harder, each level was easier than the last.
Alexandr Gerya
May 04th · 21:07 UTC
legit the most polished jam game ive seen the sound design and animations slap hard
zhangzhimu
May 05th · 07:23 UTC
It's amazing to represent the signal theme with sound waveforms! This turn-based card game is really interesting. The visual prompts and Ul are both very clear. It's particularly great.
alexey_bobrovskiy
May 05th · 12:50 UTC
good game, you did a great job
VenomousMouse
May 06th · 12:14 UTC
Very polished game. Cool idea and mechanic. Great job.
Itero Proto
May 06th · 20:34 UTC
😉 your game will definitely be in the top. I think
JamesGames1000
May 07th · 00:35 UTC
Very fun, good music :)
NuclMe
May 07th · 11:37 UTC
This is such a cool game! The gameplay is really engaging, and the overall atmosphere is super pleasant. Great job on putting this together:)
Tanjou
May 07th · 12:12 UTC
Pretty cool twist on Balatro! Love the presentation
Yorsh
May 07th · 14:30 UTC
It's really well made! It looks great, music is nice. It's very well polished too. Gameplay is nice, but the signal theme of the game does not change the Balatro gameplay in a meaningful way, so it feels a bit like Balatro with a different card skin. Overall great job!
Alex de la Cour
May 07th · 19:18 UTC
This was very cool! It took me a playthrough to realize that I had to make poker-esque hands (I should have read the tutorial straight away..)

A really liked it! I've seen the score necessary to win on a few other posts and don't think I could reach that, but I did play it about four or five times because I was having fun!
fabelay
May 09th · 10:42 UTC
wow, what a game! i love the graphics a lot, great atmosphere. I had a hard time to understand what i was doing and still won though, haha :)