Iskabon | Demo
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Iskabon is a game I've been working on for the past few months in Godot. This is going to be my first commercial game. Thanks for trying out the Demo and your feedback is welcome :)
The year is 2001. In your email, you receive the Demo build of Iskabon, a new game from POi Interactive. You download the game. And...well something goes horribly wrong. The game's code and your computer has somehow merged. And the only way to get your computer back is by completing the game!
Iskabon is a score chasing roguelike deckbuilder. As you progress, you build up your deck with newer cards that you unlock. Some cards affect other cards, some let you score higher, and some may even break the game.
But...Be careful of the evil card: The Iskabon!
Every round starts with you drawing blindly from a random selection of face-down cards, including Iskabons. Use special Item cards or heck, rely on probability to avoid picking the Iskabons. Guess wrong and Iskabon will destroy all cards in your hand. Get hit by 5 Iskabons during a run- and it's game over!
Each round ends with you playing the cards you have picked. Every card's effect is applied and their values are added up. Your score is the Round Score multiplied by the Mult. Some cards affect the Score, some affect the Mult, while others affect cards to their right- triggering compounding effect. So be sure to reorder cards before you play to maximize their impact, trigger synergies and score big.
The more cards you play the more cash you earn. The more risk you take the more you score. But you also risk losing it all. The best strategy is the one that works.
You can wishlist the game on Steam as well: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4024470/Iskabon
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Comments
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I've played A LOT of roguelikes, so I have a lot of feedback.
Wow such a slick interface!
Gameplay-wise, I REALLY dislike choosing from 3 cards. It feels like there's very little strategy. I pick card (is good), then I have a 50/50 chance of next card being bad. So either keep what I have, or HOPE the next one is good. This... just isn't an interesting choice? Do the hand sizes increase to over 3? If the hand sizes were 5 this could be an interesting choice as it continues to escalate, but 3 feels too low.
Yes you can buy one-time helper powers, but having played dozens of roguelikes I've been trained NOT to waste money on temporary consumables.
A surprisingly polished intro cinematic is a cool start. Not sure it's needed, but cool nonetheless.
I found many card effects to be confusing. Do words like Hortons or Iskabon have any real-world meaning? It can help to ground players using FAMILIAR terms.
Sounds are perfect.
I don't understand why you want to buy new cards. Each round appears to have TWO cards from my deck used, with one bad card added. Why exactly should I increase my deck size? Conventional roguelike wisdom is to DECREASE your deck size to ensure consistent hand draws.
I don't understand which draws have a bad card inserted. Is it just random? Is there 5 per deck? I have no idea. You just ALWAYS have to use the magnifying glass to look? If that's the case, it should just ALWAYS be visible and I shouldn't have to click anything.
The starting deck has too many cards with different effects. Too much to read, too much is initially hidden. Most players won't open their initial deck to view it, so you need to keep the starting deck simple, and then let players make VISIBLE decisions to customize it.
The first round is too hard! I feel players should NEVER lose the first round.
This is really promising! I look forward to see how this develops.
Hi, thanks for taking the time to right such detailed and useful feedback! Here're my thoughts:
- The hand size does increase with each level. But the demo only goes up to 4 cards. I agree that a bigger hand would be more interesting.
- About consumables, that's an interesting perspective. I do think it forces you to spend more, since that's pretty much the only way you can get a sense of where 'bad' cards are.
- Ruiton, Horton and Iskabon are actually the name of the suits in my native language. I know it's a bit unusual. I can use their English names / other more familiar names. Something to consider for sure.
- About deck size: first, like I said, your hand size do increase with each level. In that context, why you'd buy new cards would be to get better cards dealt. Also, you run through your whole deck before they start repeating (not explained). I do agree some/most people may want to minimize the deck size. The deck size is something I need to rethink, it is pretty large to start with.
- Agree that I should just say outright how many 'bad' cards are in the deck. I think it's still useful to have the magnifier as then you can see what cards are on the table for the round and if you want to take the risk of getting the bad card. Again this is useful when more cards are on the table to draw.
- And I need to lower the initial difficulty.