House Rules by engoneer

[raw]
made by engoneer for Ludum Dare 57 (JAM)

Play a card game with a kind old lady in a train traveling downwards at a 45 degree angle. Don't be afraid to play the falling objects, as the lady's house rules permit it. Enjoy the ride and the good company for a little while.


All assets, art, music, sound effects, and models are custom! :)

Camrynn (cammyrnn): Art, music, sound effects, 3D models! (Commissions open: camrynn.wow@gmail.com)

Alex the worker (Engoneer): Programming, animation

Aria (dinosaur065): Programming, effects

Firebird (phoenix): Programming


Instructions:

LMB: Select card/item

RMB: Discard card

"=": Fullscreen

Matching cards in a column will multiply their values

Discarding a card clears other cards of the same type from the board

Highest score wins!


* Thank you for playing <3 *


{C806C160-6711-45D0-9F77-E0AB9D63473C}.png

{1448AB40-A684-4770-A273-D22A844683CA}.png


Ratings

Overall 521th 3.436⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Fun 607th 3.118⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 422th 3.263⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Theme 838th 2.408⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 333th 3.882⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Audio 127th 3.905⭐ 39🧑‍⚖️
Humor 243th 3.324⭐ 39🧑‍⚖️
Mood 163th 4.014⭐ 39🧑‍⚖️
Given 49🗳️ 62🗨️

Feedback

jester1454
08. Apr 2025 · 20:04 UTC
beautiful obscure card game Inscryption style, very bold choice for jam! lady reads rules for a long time, I would like to speed it up. and also I want fullscreen option. otherwise - interesting rules, beautiful implementation, I like it
Salaro
09. Apr 2025 · 00:09 UTC
What a fun little game, I can see the heavy inspiration from Inscryption. While I thought the theme was semi missing I appreciate the "depth" of the card game you were able to make
Riggen
09. Apr 2025 · 00:11 UTC
I didn't even catch the lady reading off any rules. I was too busy trying to grasp everything else I was seeing. Wild aesthetics. Very interesting. By the end of it I think I figured out the what you are supposed to do. Tried playing a second round but it refused to let me place down cards.
apt_prose7
09. Apr 2025 · 03:12 UTC
Cool game. Special thanks to the person who selected the sound effects.
Michael Parrish
09. Apr 2025 · 03:15 UTC
I'm really impressed that you were able to pull together a card game in such a short amount of time - that's not easy. The aesthetic was really great too - the art and sound design were really well executed. I loved the muffled, reverby voice of the old woman, it really added to the eeriness of it all. Nice job!
Brain Delay
09. Apr 2025 · 03:16 UTC
Immaculate vibes! I suck at reading though so the rules made no sense haha. Either way, a very enjoyable little experience.
Dominic Graziano
09. Apr 2025 · 03:19 UTC
moody, cool art style. I think I won a round but still didn't quiet get the rules of the game... overall nice!
manabreak
09. Apr 2025 · 03:19 UTC
I had to squint a bit to see everything there - I couldn't enter the fullscreen mode, probably because of the ISO / Nordic layout I'm using. If you could add another way of entering fullscreen mode, I'd love to give this a second try since this looks awesome. :smile:

That said, the graphics were quite reminiscent of Inscryption, which I liked. I also enjoyed the mood - it's a cohesive whole. Good job!
Wolfier
09. Apr 2025 · 03:23 UTC
It looks like the rules are the same as Cult Of The Lamb's card minigame only using cards instead of dice. I'm not entirely sure though cause she says the rules so slow. I think this is why text boxes are standard as it allows players to read at their own pace.
CallumLarge
09. Apr 2025 · 03:24 UTC
Very cool concept! Laughed out loud when I threw the brick at the lady XD
I got soft locked after completing the first match unfortunately but liked the game. Wish the rules were explained on the viewport rather than in world also, text got cut off occasionally when reading and it went by kinda quick.
Overall awesome job!!
Turquoise Moon
09. Apr 2025 · 03:29 UTC
The graphics are very cool! I agree with @jester1454 that there should be a way to skip the rules. Maybe if you place a card it could skip it? People might do that accidentally though.
The first time I played, I only got the teeth item and I don't really know what it did. The second time I got the brick, that one was more obvious ha ha.
Teist
09. Apr 2025 · 05:52 UTC
The art is absolutely awesome! Especially in such a short time! It made me want to play Inscription! Loved the art style, way too complex for a jam!
A big drawbag for me though is that i've got softlocked after first play though, and I didn't even managed to read the rules fast enough so I'm not even sure if I win or not lol
Bestdtang
09. Apr 2025 · 08:17 UTC
Cool artistic choice! Wish the instruction part could go slower~ But in general, a great game!
jtap
09. Apr 2025 · 15:06 UTC
Atmospheric game with great humor, you did a great job, thanks for the game!
mhorth
09. Apr 2025 · 22:35 UTC
Like some of the other comments, I felt overwhelmed when the text was rushing by to explain the game. It truly is an awesome choice to have the game be explained in-world like this rather than just a static page. So great choice going for it, just a few tweaks:
- The text going away when it wanted to, rather than letting the player dismiss it.
- The text had depth in the world and was covered up by the cards in her hand.
- The font was thin, combined with the shaking, made it harder to read.

Other than that, really impressive content in the game! A full card system, animated 3D models, and sounds to go along with it all. Great job!
pres2300
10. Apr 2025 · 00:30 UTC
I really liked the art style and the concept of random objects being used in a card game, however I really didn't understand what the objective was. I had to restart and carefully read the instructions at the beginning and still really didn't understand. I think I did win a round though? Even though I didn't really get it I think it has potential and, again, the art was great. Nice work!
dinosaur065
10. Apr 2025 · 02:54 UTC
@mhorth thank you for the feedback!
yeah the text system was done literally within the last 6 or so hours of the jam, so we were happy about it working in the first place lol
dinosaur065
10. Apr 2025 · 02:54 UTC
@pres2300 noted, gonna add instructions for the game on our game page for easier access, ty for the feedback!
OlenIkimid
10. Apr 2025 · 15:52 UTC
Cool concept - although it's a bit difficult to replay quickly because it bugs out after the first round and left clicking doesn't make the "left click to continue" prompt go away. I think if you were to patch that so you can just keep going onto the next round without interruption, it would be fine to dive into it a bit deeper. Currently I don't know what the teeth do - the brick's effects were quite obvious :laughing:
Tobius
10. Apr 2025 · 16:49 UTC
I like the design of the card game, I thought it was fun and like I had some options for how I’d like to try to win.

One thing I think would improve the game is more clarity on the card interactions and discarding. It took me a couple attempts before I understood what it was trying to tell me.
Tobius
10. Apr 2025 · 16:49 UTC
I like the design of the card game, I thought it was fun and like I had some options for how I’d like to try to win.

One thing I think would improve the game is more clarity on the card interactions and discarding. It took me a couple attempts before I understood what it was trying to tell me.
SurWeaver
10. Apr 2025 · 17:21 UTC
This was the most stylish game I played at this jam :D
When I saw this lady on the screenshot, I was a little scared to launch the game :D
It took me a few tries to understand the principles of the game, since the text disappears very quickly for me, confirmation by clicking the mouse would have fixed the tutorial section, although it does set some vibes: it feels like the lady needs to play, and she needs to quickly explain the rules to you and not wait for a long time :D
I would really like to play in Windows, Godot also stretches well (it would be possible to enable the fullscreen setting on itch, at the moment it works great.
I can’t select cards with the mouse after the lady calls for the second round, so I have to restart the page.

The relevance of the theme is not felt so much, but in fact, during the game I completely forgot about the fact that the topic is “depth”, and was more immersed in the game :D

The music and sounds are very suitable for the game, and these weak screams (in soundtrack) feel really cool!
Perovic2018
10. Apr 2025 · 17:39 UTC
Very addicting game! The music is mysterious and calming, i relly like the sound when you r putting down the card and its design is devine! Also i hit the lady with a brick, it was funny. but i didnt really understood what to do after the lady wants to spice things up, and the text goes away too fast:/
510
10. Apr 2025 · 17:59 UTC
Interesting mood, visuals and audio! The rules were simple enough to be understood quickly, but complex enough to be interesting. Had a good laugh at the "my eyes are up here", but you can't even look her in the eyes xD

My only complaints (most were already mentioned):
* The text was too fast and can be covered by her hands. I had to restart twice to understand everything =)
* I got stuck after ending a game. I didn't know who won and I couldn't play a single card on the second game.
* I managed to somehow "lock" my field of view as my mouse pointer was already at a screen edge and couldn't scroll further
Anderson Job Loeffler
10. Apr 2025 · 23:08 UTC
Really loved the atmosphere in this game, the art style and eerie music work super well together and create a great vibe. The gameplay was fun too. Awesome entry!
LDJam user 287424
11. Apr 2025 · 02:54 UTC
Awesome work. I love the atmosphere of this game. The graphics and audio give the perfect ambience to a creepy card game on a train. It's so immersive and dreamlike and easy to get caught up in. Calm and yet spooky. I want to explore more of this world. I want to see it expanded out. I want a whole train full of weird old ladies to play card games against! :train:
dinosaur065
11. Apr 2025 · 05:13 UTC
@510 glad you liked our game, and ty for the feedback!
🎤 engoneer
11. Apr 2025 · 05:13 UTC
@olenikimid Thanks a ton! yeah we ran out of time to make the gameplay obvious sadly, and just balancing in general. Thanks so much for trying it multiple times, we think the game has potential it's just not explained right :)
🎤 engoneer
11. Apr 2025 · 05:16 UTC
@surweaver yes I agree the tutorial is probably one of the roughest thing about this game, next jam we'll try to spend more time in teaching a mechanic :) your review is so well thought out and put together thanks a lot!
cammyrnn
11. Apr 2025 · 05:16 UTC
@apt-prose7 Yay thank you, I was happy with the sound effects too. I actually took some inspiration from Bioshock Infinite in designing them lol. Given more time I'd have loved to have made adaptive music and more sound effects though :)
🎤 engoneer
11. Apr 2025 · 05:17 UTC
@perovic2018 yeah the second round is broken, if it's reasonable I think we'll post a fixed build since its an easy fix, we just had to work towards the last second barely getting it all together :sweat_smile:
🎤 engoneer
11. Apr 2025 · 05:17 UTC
@anderson-job-loeffler thanks for commenting on our vibe, we are very proud of our artist, she deserves a lot of praise!
🎤 engoneer
11. Apr 2025 · 05:18 UTC
@the3rdhunter awww thanks, this more fleshed out would be really fun, I was disappointed it was so short too :>
cammyrnn
11. Apr 2025 · 05:20 UTC
@michael-parrish Oh I'm so glad someone noticed the lady talking sound effect, it was the most intimidating one to make, but when I showed it to our group everyone got really excited. We wanted to have it loop the whole time she was talking, but we ran out of time lol. Thank you for playing!
cammyrnn
11. Apr 2025 · 05:26 UTC
@teist Thank you for playing!! Making the art was super time consuming so I'm really glad people are liking it. On Sunday I pulled an all-nighter trying to finish it, but still didn't have time so I had to do it in between my classes all day on Monday lol.
LDJam user 189270
15. Apr 2025 · 12:11 UTC
Enjoyed the eery visual style and overall mood of the game. Definitely reminds me a bit of Inscryption and maybe some Queen's Blood. I don't thin kthe card game itself is super compelling right now but there's the seed of something very cool here.
Haoro
15. Apr 2025 · 20:46 UTC
Nice game concept !
It would be really helpful to have the rules written directly in the itch.io page's description so we can understand and refer to it whenever we want ! 😁
🎤 engoneer
16. Apr 2025 · 14:31 UTC
@perrin thanks a lot! I agree, I think we should've put more time into making the card game more engaging :)
🎤 engoneer
16. Apr 2025 · 14:32 UTC
@haoro I really appreciate the feedback :> that is rly good advice, for our future games I think we'll do that
🎤 engoneer
16. Apr 2025 · 14:32 UTC
@haoro I really appreciate the feedback :> that is rly good advice, for our future games I think we'll do that
🎤 engoneer
16. Apr 2025 · 14:32 UTC
@haoro I really appreciate the feedback :> that is rly good advice, for our future games I think we'll do that
🎤 engoneer
16. Apr 2025 · 14:32 UTC
@haoro I really appreciate the feedback :> that is rly good advice, for our future games I think we'll do that
🎤 engoneer
16. Apr 2025 · 14:32 UTC
@haoro I really appreciate the feedback :> that is rly good advice, for our future games I think we'll do that
🎤 engoneer
16. Apr 2025 · 14:32 UTC
@haoro I really appreciate the feedback :> that is rly good advice, for our future games I think we'll do that
🎤 engoneer
16. Apr 2025 · 14:32 UTC
@haoro I really appreciate the feedback :> that is rly good advice, for our future games I think we'll do that
🎤 engoneer
16. Apr 2025 · 14:32 UTC
oh my gosh why did it comment so many times
ashia
20. Apr 2025 · 19:08 UTC
nteresting visual solution, pleasant music and good company. It is not very clear how the theme of Jem is implemented, but the impressions from the game remained good
Igor Korobeinikov
20. Apr 2025 · 19:08 UTC
Very nice game!
Reminds me of a case where I was in a same situation on a train and played some card games with an old lady
She somehow managed to sent me to sleep. Next morning i woke up without a kidney
Saryah
24. Apr 2025 · 01:40 UTC
Holy cow! I thought I killed the old lady for a minute there! Beautiful game and amazing audio, well done. I'm bad at card games I lost everytime. XD