Nice game. I enjoyed playing it.

I did not exactly get how to play the cards, however. Are they played automatically in the given phase once selected ? Or do we have to do some action to play them?

Thank you for playing the game.

The cards/tactics mechanic was hard to present as I couldn't make it straightforward enough with a single iteration.

A phase is basically a turn that lasts for ~5 real time seconds in combat.
Every card is applied automatically during the beginning of a phase it's assigned to.
This is why order matters.

Amazing complexity for a Compo game! Really cool and atmospheric. Felt like watching from an old radar screen. It also reminded me a lot of Into the Breach, which I'm really fond of!

The cards was an interesting mechanic, but as stated a bit difficult to grasp. Maybe the actions could be visualized in some way during the fight. Maybe with some icons or similar.

PS. Fun to see that you're writing in Go!

@johnbrynte check out https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/56/maginot, it's even more complex. xD

I would use colors instead of category labels for cards, but the game was initially intended to be 2-bit colored. Then I used a few extra colors in the end to make the graphics a bit easier to read for the player and forgot that colors would be much better than category names. :)

Thinking about it in the retrospective, choosing a 2-bit style just for the sake of it was such a bad decision. :)

Really awesome game, expecially for compo. I got to the level 7 on normal and it kinda felt hard/rng:ish so i stopped.

I really like the auto battling mechanic and feeling. I would liked to have speed up button/automatic speed up after some rounds because its gets little boring to see 2 groups trying to snipe eachothers from the borders of the maps, but i understand there is no time for everything.

I think showing the map/enemies or atleast vaguelly before selecting the troops would have been better. I realized that best start is to just first skip buying any and then going to back to after seeing what enemy composition is.

THe concept of the cards is really cool but it felt too random at start since you have not really good idea what the card could be. Maybe show couple cards from the board so the player can make informed decicion at first or choose to gamble. After the first card the mechanic was fine imo.

Small quality of life could have been having reset deployment button when deploying units.

Sorry for my nitpicking and rambling but it comes from the love of seeing cool and highquality game in jam. I expect that you though some of this stuff but just didnt have time for everything :)

Interesting game with a good complexity for a compo game.

Liked the mechanic with tactic picking, although it makes everything a bit unpredictable. Kinda miss some verbosity, like a list of tactics which are planned for the next phases on the battle screen, a list of already picked tactics while picking (both by me and AI, so that you don't have to remember it).

@jack-d-taylor this whole "extra verbosity" would also make it more easy to understand as it would provide a flow chart of the tactics. Right now it can be hard for a player to figure out the phase-by-phase nature of the cards.

@prunus-padis thank you for the extended feedback!

> I think showing the map/enemies or atleast vaguelly before selecting the troops would have been better. I realized that best start is to just first skip buying any and then going to back to after seeing what enemy composition is.

The game initially didn't have unit shop available at all time, so you had to live with your mistakes, potentially soft-locking yourself unless you restart the game. Since it was too punishing, I added a shop revisit for the current level. I couldn't make a good flow like "see the enemy -> buy troops -> set tactics" from the first try, so it ended up being this weird.

The cards have categories that can have up to 2-3 different cards, so your first pick can be at least partially educated. E.g. you generally don't want to pick a Bonus first as it could be a First Aid that is useless during the start of the battle (because it will heal 0 hp). But you might still want to do it depending on the adjacent cards (because you want to reveal more).

> Small quality of life could have been having reset deployment button when deploying units.

Ah crap. I could have added that, it's like 10 minutes of coding. I had about 1-2 hours left by the end, but I didn't know what to add, so I ended up just playtesting the game, adjusting the balance a bit.

> Sorry for my nitpicking and rambling but it comes from the love of seeing cool and highquality game in jam.

Thank you for doing it. It's something that I needed from a jam. It's the reason I show the game here instead of just keeping it to myself - to get feedback and some random ideas about the game.

I'll make sure to play your game next.

Really neat game for a compo. Nice art with Dune vibes. It is has fair bit of randomness in it, but also requires strategic thinking. Currently I'm at level with 15 enemies charging through forest. There it became obvious that I should conserve more of starting troops. What I would like is a way to preview map, may be in form of briefing, like is it open terrain or attack from forest into field. Also I understand that this is like card game. Difference is in the input/output randomness. Here I click card and it's locked, instead of first drawing cards and playing them where player can control order.

> Also I understand that this is like card game. Difference is in the input/output randomness. Here I click card and it’s locked, instead of first drawing cards and playing them where player can control order.

I tried to make it a bit more involved than drawing the cards. You can make an educated guess for the first pick based on categories. Then you "dig" into the direction with better options (both in terms of a direct card and cards that will be revealed after you pick it). I need to think about the final concept though as the current solution might not be the best one. E.g. maybe the player could form a deck for the cards so there are no cards that you don't ever need (like a tank rush for a player without tanks in the army).

Fun game ! I love the aesthetic and the concept. Seems like it could be a very good game if some mechanics were more polished (mainly the different effects of the tactical cards are not very understandable in game, I would love to have more graphic clue when they are triggered).

I really liked the concept with card mechanics and a strategic element. 🃏 It was fun to play and the atmosphere was reminiscent of old radar. Some mechanics can be a bit confusing, but that only adds to the fun! 🤔 Visualization of actions during combat and map preview could improve the gameplay. 🗺️ But overall, you did an impressive job in such a short time! 👏

It took me a while to beat the first level but the game was fun once i understood it. My only complaint would be that it feels unfair to pick the first card blindly, but i guess that's part of the depth of the game.

First off, I love the style and the effort behind this. Great work for a compo and really hangs together as a presentation. Unfortunately I just could not get past the first level. I tried nearly all the cards and was confused when it said the enemy uses suppressing fire, so I chose a card to make my troops immune from it? but they still died. I feel like I am missin something! :)
Still gets high marks from me though. Nice work!

Style is awesome!

@designernap the first level really expects the player to follow the hint literally. :D
It's like a tutorial to learn the basic mechanics, like you can't win without using the environment, but if you do use it, winning is possible even with inferior troops. :D
There is exactly one winning deployment in level 1, just to make things simpler (I guess?), it's the row with the most amount of trees, so your troops are in cover for the most duration of the battle.
The forest tiles grant ~75% defense bonus for infantry, which is a lot. :)

But fear not, this is probably the biggest blocker in the game right now (it's not just you), I failed the delivery, I guess.

@quasilyte aaah! my bad! I will give this another go :) got a lot of entries to play but will come back and try again on this one. It looks worth it :D

@designernap I'll make sure to play your game too (in fact, it's what I'm going to do right now). Thank you for the potential second chance. :)

I really love this game! It makes me think of it as a puzzle and I think it's pretty difficult. it took me a while to understand the card stuff which is an interesting mechanic but it felt a little frustrating I feel like later on the series of units you have to use and position are pretty specific and hard to pinpoint.

I would love a longer breakdown of what the characters actually do, maybe a little ticker for extra details?. for example the hunters were something I basically completely avoided because whenever I used them they would barely ever shoot and I didn't know why.

I really enjoyed this game and would love it more if it felt like I could make more informed choices rather than needing to trail and error as much as I needed to!

Super fun game. So many levels too! I played total ~30 minutes. The very first level is really hard comparing to levels 2, 3, 4. If you gonna expand this idea I recommend adding time speed up button (annoying when 2 laser bois fight across the map at wave 8). And may be add some visual stats for all the units (hp, reload, telemetry) on the left and right sides of the screen, you have plenty of empty space there.

Here is my second attempt (OBS did not work first time, lol):

https://youtu.be/r3QdG96topw

I had a lot of fun and think there are definitely some interesting ideas going on here - and the loop of building your team, choosing tactics, deploying, and fighting potentially has a lot to dig into.

I will echo some of the other comments that better feedback about the impact of choices the player is making would be helpful. I think the unpredictable nature of the card selection is cool but also can be a feelbad moment if you get into an awkward spot with your selections. Additionally it was not totally clear to me _how_ the tactics cards were actually applied - order, timing, etc.

Great job overall!

To be honest, I quite liked it, even though usually I'd say "it's not my type of game".

**Art:**

First of all, I like the visual style giving retro vibes, and how the window is small and cozy, and the palette is simple which gives a more cohesive look. I think I'd like my troops and enemy troops look a bit more different from each other, though.

**Audio:**

You mentioned your game has no music, but honestly it wasn't bothering me at all, and also you did COMPO so you had way less time than me! And, sound effects made up for the lack of music - because of them it didn't feel "too quiet", and I did like the choice of sounds.

**Gameplay:**

So, my first try I just placed my troops evenly in all the squares, and there was only 1 guy in the hills left quite soon. But, this madman almost killed entire enemy fleet from his spot in the hills. Honestly, I was on the edge of my seat rooting for him (unfortunately he did lose in the final 1 on 1, but he fought valiantly) and I liked that aspect of the game - even though it is a bit "idle", you can get invested.

You made a pretty complex system with tactics and troops, which is cool. I maybe wasn't very sure of what am I doing during choosing tactics&troops parts but I think it's because I am not quite used to this genre + and would just need more time to really notice the effects of my tactics. For example: when the battle is going on, it shows in stages what cards I have, but it doesn't seem like *I* can use them actively, but I am also not sure if they are being used properly on the field? Or quite see the different effects of me choosing different ranges/types of fire. It's just pew pew pew victory :)

**Overall:**

I feel like you did quite a lot, considering it's compo! The game looks complete and polished, it's a really good effort, and it feels satisfying to play.

Thanks for the game, I really enjoyed playing it! The graphics and sound are awesome—I love that lo-fi pixel style, it’s totally my weakness. I figured things out pretty quickly, but I couldn’t survive the enemy machine gunners rush, haha. At first, I wanted to complain a bit about having to build a counter-deck without seeing the enemy, but the quick reload and surrender button fix that issue nicely.

I really liked opening the cards and trying to think ahead of time what would be most useful in a fight. Getting First Aid as the first reveal doesn't feel that great though. 😁

The battles felt a little bit drawn out. I was getting to rounds 12+ with several guys at the opposite edges of the map trying to shoot each other and missing almost every time. I think it could be fixed with more deadly units or better accuracy, or with more aggressive opponent.

Overall, it's a great strategy game! There are a lot of moving parts involved and a lot of thinking about a perfect strategy for this particular situation. It doesn't fit the theme but I guess you didn't intend to.

Well done!

@kanity it's so heartwarming to see comments like this, thank you.
I enjoyed your game too. :)

@woona, we've met again! I remember myself remembering you during the previous LD because of your autopilot game. xD
I guess it's a tradition now!
I wonder how long this chain can last?

(And just in case, your salmoning game was also a great one; I need to check your LD56 game right now!)

> Getting First Aid as the first reveal doesn’t feel that great though.

Ahah, right. I usually try to avoid opening the bonus card first, so at least I can get the very much needed heal mid-combat.

Thank you for playing my game. :)
I hope to see you some other LD again!

@co5monaut

> I figured things out pretty quickly

This is quite a skill of yours, because I failed at pacing/delivery/onboarding or whatever part. :D

> but I couldn’t survive the enemy machine gunners rush

This is a tricky one! Enemies will play 2 ion storm cards, each of those disables laser troops (infantry and hunters) for 2 phases, so up to 4 phases without lasers. The best bet here of course is to not rely on laser troops heavily, but there are some other tricks that can help there depending on what you have.

A single tank on the lane 3 (I think) can do a rush action once and they will run over ~5 rifle infantries, which is a good win. This forward tank may also attract some fire.

You can use a take cover card to make your non-rifle infantries to enter the lane2 forest tile, which grants them 75% defense. This can be enough to wait these 4 phases and retaliate.

Missiles/tanks rock in this one, as enemies tend to be grouped a lot, and these two unit types can damage multiple target at once (due to an AoE).

And of course it should be possible to just buy ~10 rifle guys to counter the enemy directly, there should be enough money. These rifle troopers are usually a good bet anyway to have something cheap to attract enemy fire away from your more expensive units like missile launchers.

(Sorry, I got excited, ahah)

I'm gonna try out your game too!
Upd. Ah wait, I already did! I found it from the vas3k club. :D
Your game was hilarious, almost like taking a part on a show.

Enjoyed this a lot. Though I will say I think I completed it without really mastering the mechanics. I never found a compelling reason not to just clump all my units into one big death ball, and a reasonable mix of units and sesnible cards seemed to win most fights. Only time I had to change up my tactics was the map with a ton of infantry which I found easiest to win with a counter group of tons of infantry. Really enjoyed it a lot though, great work for the jam.

Graphics and sounds were on point. Took a while to understand the tactic choosing, but was a cool idea.

I think I got into phase 14. Very good game, I enjoyed. Top 5 of the polished game I played in this game jam.

Pretty good showing and a nice aesthetic. I have to admit to stumbling through the tactics card section more than planning though.

First I have to say that while I really actually like the graphics it took me embarrassingly long to notice that the first level had more mountains than at the top side of the grid... No wonder my men died so fast.
This has a lot of everything for a compo game. Pretty amazing. Not really my type of game but I really appreciate it. The first card click I still didn't quite get, was it supposed to be a blind pick or what do Special and Bonus mean? Also one round took 19 phases, it can get a bit boring just waiting two units to kill each other off...
But those are minor annoyances. It's a really well made game!

Very polished and fun or a 48 jam. I really liked the art style and enjoyed it despite not really liking auto-battlers that much.

The sounds did start to get a bit old after a while and some music would have been nice. I also second the request for an option to change the time scale. It was also a bit hard for me to tell the difference between forest and mountains at first.

cool hard game. neat idea and cool to game. liked the graphics, sounds, and tactics.