Not gonna lie, it’s a bit irritating that everyone is comparing it to Balatro when it’s a lot more like what came before it: very, very good solo card games, like Regicide, Scoundrel, etc. I’m willing to bet the designer is at least aware of that design space, if not downright adept at it.
Impeccable, right up my alley, the kind of card game that justifies its digital form by adding enough depth, variety and digital bookkeeping. LIKE BALATR-
Loved it. Though I wish there was a higher resolution version for the Steam release. I would've been ready to buy in that case. The text and some icons can get difficult to read. The perk icons have too little space to even be discerned imo. Despite the depth this version has, the pico-8 format still gives the game a prototype vibe. I might be alone in this opinion though so idk
Gameplay-wise, I got stuck on the 3rd floor with a single enemy and no attack points left. All that was left was to reset
Game has surprising amount of depth and atmosphere. Great work
Ok so, first off, I think the concept is very good, and the art and music really help with getting into the flow.
Just a couple of critiques from a design perspective:
- Firstly, the attack and block mechanics: There's little to no incentive to not use attack and block cards right away besides some specific scenarios where you have to wait for a slightly better hand combinations. This creates very little interesting situations (dynamics). A suggestion I have is making it so after combat, attack and block are reset to 0, so the player has to choose whether they want to "waste" that extra resources to ensure they won't be taking damage, or if they want to risk it and slowly deteriorate their health to not lose resources in the long run. This would also make health and block two resources which are situationally one better than the other, instead of having block as a straight up better version of health. These two conondrums combined would help players develop their own heuristics, seeing the game as a form of personal expression and getting more emotionally attached in the process.
- Secondly, the hand combinations: There's a clear inspiration from balatro, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but I think it clashes with the Solitaire aesthetic you were going for and makes this compact experience more complicated than it needs to be.
Then I think a couple of tweaks could be made to ensure a generated "floor" is always winnable, and less columns to force the player into tighter spots. But that's more of a matter of balance rather than design so it's up to preference, and can be sorted out later into the pipeline.
Your game is amazing! At first, I thought I wouldn’t have that much fun, but it was really enjoyable to plan my next move to avoid losing (not that it helped haha). Congratulations on the pixel art and the music—it reminded me of Donkey Kong Country and Nidhogg. The card game is very creative, congrats on the project!
The attached manual is a bit… I don’t know, in my opinion, it broke the immersion a little. I was able to understand the game just by playing, without reading the manual, but I think it would be good to have an in-game tutorial or at least for the manual to be inside the game rather than on a separate website.
Other than that, the gameplay, design, and soundtrack are all excellent! The progression system is great, but I didn’t see much purpose in the in-game currency I earned. I think it should have a more meaningful role to make that element feel more rewarding.
. bought game - cannot get to work on ambernic portable device. i have the paid version of pico 8 installed. i can get other games to work. it says runtime error line 546 tae 0
function ake:lg(c)
attempt to index global 'ake' (a nil value) at line 546
Solitomb is a multi-cart game, so please make sure:
that you have all 4 carts in the same directory
that you're starting the game from the "solitomb.p8.png" cart
An outdated PICO-8 version on the device can also cause trouble like this. In general, Solitomb is not that great to play on portable consoles just yet, if only because it has only mouse controls, so I don't want to get your hopes up too much. It is playable if your device has mouse emulation.
This game is awesome, If you'd like I can make amazing art for it and we can talk with my local game-dev community of remaking it in a different engine so that your steam release looks and feels like an amazing product.
I just wanted to try it, and I've been playing for an hour! It's super addictive! Btw, have you considered doing a Spanish localisation? I'm sure that there are a lot of people that would enjoy this game being in Spanish. Rogue-like and card games are really big in Spain right now, and I would love to localise it so that more people could know about it.
I hope to have a Spanish localization for the bigger Steam release, for sure. Not for the PICO-8 version, though - it's quite hard to translate a PICO-8 game to a new language and the cost/benefit is unfortunately usually not there.
In case you don't have anyone yet for that, I would love to help with the Spanish localization for the Steam release. If you are interested, feel free to write me at jsatraduescritura@gmail.com
I'm really enjoying this game! Accessibility feedback: the font (while fitting) is very hard to read. I am dyslexic and it took me an embarrassingly long time to decipher the word "abandon." I've noticed games are starting to include a "simple font" setting, which I find incredibly helpful. Hoping something like that will be added to this game!
For the upcoming PC version, sure - we can add an accessibility font choice if necessary. Though I'm sure the default font will be quite a bit more readable than here.
For the PICO-8 version (this version), it's unfortunately hard to do anything about it - PICO-8 has a tiny resolution, making anything font related a hard proposition (the default font is 3x5 pixels).
That is a remarkable blend of strategy and card play. Achieving my first win on the second run was immensely satisfying, though the burrower elite provided a formidable challenge!
The game's mechanics are intuitive yet deep, and the art style is captivating. I appreciate the attention to detail, especially the ability to pet the demon was such a delightful touch! I'll wishlist the upcoming Steam version and look forward to future updates. Keep up the fantastic work!
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This gotta be the best game I've ever come across so far on itch. What makes it really stick out like crazy is the replayability. Massive kudos. <3
crazy fun
I just started learning about pico8 and this game really surprised me how a tiny engine can do a good game like this 10 out of 10!!
beautiful and very fun game!
Not gonna lie, it’s a bit irritating that everyone is comparing it to Balatro when it’s a lot more like what came before it: very, very good solo card games, like Regicide, Scoundrel, etc. I’m willing to bet the designer is at least aware of that design space, if not downright adept at it.
Impeccable, right up my alley, the kind of card game that justifies its digital form by adding enough depth, variety and digital bookkeeping. LIKE BALATR-
Loved it. Though I wish there was a higher resolution version for the Steam release. I would've been ready to buy in that case. The text and some icons can get difficult to read. The perk icons have too little space to even be discerned imo. Despite the depth this version has, the pico-8 format still gives the game a prototype vibe. I might be alone in this opinion though so idk
Gameplay-wise, I got stuck on the 3rd floor with a single enemy and no attack points left. All that was left was to reset
Game has surprising amount of depth and atmosphere. Great work
The mechanics are simple but the puzzles really make you think. The atmosphere and design add a cool touch, and the challenge ramps up nicely.
Ok so, first off, I think the concept is very good, and the art and music really help with getting into the flow.
Just a couple of critiques from a design perspective:
- Firstly, the attack and block mechanics: There's little to no incentive to not use attack and block cards right away besides some specific scenarios where you have to wait for a slightly better hand combinations. This creates very little interesting situations (dynamics). A suggestion I have is making it so after combat, attack and block are reset to 0, so the player has to choose whether they want to "waste" that extra resources to ensure they won't be taking damage, or if they want to risk it and slowly deteriorate their health to not lose resources in the long run. This would also make health and block two resources which are situationally one better than the other, instead of having block as a straight up better version of health. These two conondrums combined would help players develop their own heuristics, seeing the game as a form of personal expression and getting more emotionally attached in the process.
- Secondly, the hand combinations: There's a clear inspiration from balatro, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but I think it clashes with the Solitaire aesthetic you were going for and makes this compact experience more complicated than it needs to be.
Then I think a couple of tweaks could be made to ensure a generated "floor" is always winnable, and less columns to force the player into tighter spots. But that's more of a matter of balance rather than design so it's up to preference, and can be sorted out later into the pipeline.
So close…
Anyways, I love this game. In an hour and I’m already addicted…
Mayhaps android version?
Mayhaps! Steam version takes priority for noe, but mobile ports are not out of the question down the road.
i can't figure out what the evil eye description means. what does "when the eye sees you" mean???
When the card is face up and not covered by any other card. This happens when it's the front card of a column, or when it's in a battle.
Oh, this is great
Huh... well... this happened
IT HAPPENED AGAIN ON LEVEL 3
I love! So cute, the art and style is so good! Five stars! 🌠
Awesome, super eye catching as well!
Since the release of Balatro, I really like these rpgs that involve cards
Your game is amazing! At first, I thought I wouldn’t have that much fun, but it was really enjoyable to plan my next move to avoid losing (not that it helped haha). Congratulations on the pixel art and the music—it reminded me of Donkey Kong Country and Nidhogg. The card game is very creative, congrats on the project!
The attached manual is a bit… I don’t know, in my opinion, it broke the immersion a little. I was able to understand the game just by playing, without reading the manual, but I think it would be good to have an in-game tutorial or at least for the manual to be inside the game rather than on a separate website.
Other than that, the gameplay, design, and soundtrack are all excellent! The progression system is great, but I didn’t see much purpose in the in-game currency I earned. I think it should have a more meaningful role to make that element feel more rewarding.
What specifically is not clear to understand. Please be specific and bring some prints so we can try and understand and fix those. Have a good one.
. bought game - cannot get to work on ambernic portable device. i have the paid version of pico 8 installed. i can get other games to work. it says runtime error line 546 tae 0
function ake:lg(c)
attempt to index global 'ake' (a nil value) at line 546
Solitomb is a multi-cart game, so please make sure:
An outdated PICO-8 version on the device can also cause trouble like this. In general, Solitomb is not that great to play on portable consoles just yet, if only because it has only mouse controls, so I don't want to get your hopes up too much. It is playable if your device has mouse emulation.
thanks for response
This game is awesome, If you'd like I can make amazing art for it and we can talk with my local game-dev community of remaking it in a different engine so that your steam release looks and feels like an amazing product.
first time playing and its amazing, got 3310 on first try (regular difficulty)
amazing game btw
Love this! it's lots of fun!
i like your arts, but the game I don’t really understand how to play, maybe you can just give a tutorial right away when player first play this game
I mean there is literally a how to play button right on the main menu
Love the card design, so tiny yet so readable. And the game is very addictive!
Thank you, Magory.
I just wanted to try it, and I've been playing for an hour! It's super addictive! Btw, have you considered doing a Spanish localisation? I'm sure that there are a lot of people that would enjoy this game being in Spanish. Rogue-like and card games are really big in Spain right now, and I would love to localise it so that more people could know about it.
I hope to have a Spanish localization for the bigger Steam release, for sure. Not for the PICO-8 version, though - it's quite hard to translate a PICO-8 game to a new language and the cost/benefit is unfortunately usually not there.
In case you don't have anyone yet for that, I would love to help with the Spanish localization for the Steam release. If you are interested, feel free to write me at jsatraduescritura@gmail.com
Super fun! I'm kinda addicted. X
The game is amazing!!!
Something that would be great to have is a history of what happened on the hands played and visual examples for some items and habilities.
Saying that, the game is great, is dificult the first times but then you find out whats going on is very enjoyable. now is whislisted on my steam
Solitussin'
i died 😞 (irl)
the pico 8 is not something many have heard of
those who have
elevate it to an art form
this is cool and i like it but im bad at it
I'm really enjoying this game! Accessibility feedback: the font (while fitting) is very hard to read. I am dyslexic and it took me an embarrassingly long time to decipher the word "abandon." I've noticed games are starting to include a "simple font" setting, which I find incredibly helpful. Hoping something like that will be added to this game!
For the upcoming PC version, sure - we can add an accessibility font choice if necessary. Though I'm sure the default font will be quite a bit more readable than here.
For the PICO-8 version (this version), it's unfortunately hard to do anything about it - PICO-8 has a tiny resolution, making anything font related a hard proposition (the default font is 3x5 pixels).
this is amazing and inspiring!
That is a remarkable blend of strategy and card play.
Achieving my first win on the second run was immensely satisfying, though the burrower elite provided a formidable challenge!
The game's mechanics are intuitive yet deep, and the art style is captivating. I appreciate the attention to detail, especially the ability to pet the demon was such a delightful touch!
I'll wishlist the upcoming Steam version and look forward to future updates. Keep up the fantastic work!
it would mess with some systems, but i'd love to able to move cards around while the "trick" is processing
What a good idea! A very entertaining game. I spent the whole time humming the music, and I really like the particles and fx
very good game
Amazing game! Got my first win on the second run.
Also, f that burrower elite.
It doesn't let you do straights it's gay
Fantastic game, well done! After losing enough runs to beat it twice, I wishlisted the upcoming steam version.