[Demo/Prototype] Deadbeat Simulator

A game about not having the energy to do things.

According to the world around him, Lewis Weaver is a deadbeat. There are things he can do, and things he has trouble doing - whether he manages them or not is up to you.
Match and beat cards in mini- and main Tasks to work up the motivation to complete tasks of varying importance; from the daily chores, to running into people from your past, to weirdly supernatural attempts at disrupting the world order - at least, there will be in the actual game.

This chunk of 10-15min playtime was  put together to be critiqued and messed with to make the actual foundation good before I continue with the rest of the project. I'd love to hear about any bugs or issues, but especially feedback regarding the "card game" mechanics (of mini- and main tasks) and beyond would be greatly appreciated.

I'd really like to continue this project but only with a foundation that actually has potential since whether or not the gameplay itself is fun/boring/rewarding/annoying/bad is obviously more important than what comes next.

Basic Gameplay:

• walk around Lewis' home, the street he lives on and his go-to corner store

• mini-tasks include ordering cards in a memorised sequence, stopping a roulette wheel and a guitar-hero-esque matching game

• in main tasks, you choose cards from your hand to beat the opponent's selected card

  • all cards begin face-down, but turn face-up once played

    • at the beginning, as a starting bonus, one card on each side of the field is flipped face-up

  • winning cards have their value decreased by 1, and ties result in both cards being redrawn - in every other incident, cards remain on the field

  • cards with a value of 1 that are beaten turn into 0's - which can beat anything, but are immediately discarded on use

    • the only exception is that 1's can beat 0's, becoming 0's when they do so

  • ties also grant Lewis Support points that can be used on Tool cards he has at his disposal - Reveal a card, Redraw a card, and Boost the value of one of your cards by 2

    • The third Tool must be unlocked somewhere in the city

• There are several Goals that can be achieved and Coins to collect throughout the city, which contribute to a completion report at the end of the 'chapter'

Full disclosure, it's intentionally impossible to achieve 100% completion. Life's hard for a "deadbeat".

Some bugfixes and edits were made after recieving some feedback including a crash in the store. It's hopefully fixed, but in case the new build is somehow worse I've left the original one available. For full details see the devlog on the game's itch.io page: https://pseudofanboy.itch.io/deadbeat-sim

#adventure #retro #strategy #cards #solitaire #memory #pixelart