Upcard Writ

by alec

co-authored: @whaies

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.98

Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.66

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★4.04

Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.66

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★4.39

Audio★★★★★★★★★★4.16

Humor★★★★★★★★★★3.82

Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.91

Summon Lawyers to court in this simple card game!

Your goal is to get the 4 resources within the green range after placing 6 cards. The resources are, from left to right.

- *Integrity*: ⚖️ icon. Think of this as your cards "suit", are you virtuous or sleazy?

- *Panache*: 🎩 Icon, how fancy and dashing are you??

- *Eye Witness*: 👁️ icon, spoken testimony in court.

- *Forensic Evidence*: 🔍 icon. stuff like the murder weapon!

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Some cards are special Lawyer Cards. These will have additional resources, or special abilities! Be sure to read their description in game before playing them.

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Each round you will be dealt 5 cards. All you have to do is pick one!

- Use ◀️ and ▶️ to move your focus

- Use 🔼 and 🔽 to switch from your hand to already played cards

- Select a card with ❎ or 🇾 (Z/X on your keyboard).

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After 6 Rounds we'll tally up all your resources and see which ranges your stayed within. Note your 4 resources start right in the middle!

Good luck!

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Made by

- Alec Troemel: art, music, coding, design

- Whaies: art, design

Made in TIC-80 , written in the Janet Language, for Ludum Dare 54

Tags: #pixel art, #retro, #singleplayer, #tic-80

Genres: card game

Tools: TIC-80

Comments18

LightningST15 Apr 2024, 23:35

Loved the game! Feels very polished!!

TurboLaser16 Apr 2024, 15:37

In such a tiny game, i wonder how much storytelling there is for me, and i really in love with art!

Rawb16 Apr 2024, 22:13

Cool game and a great idea. It was all very well polish with great art and music

congusbongus18 Apr 2024, 12:57

This game is really polished, love the effects everywhere and cozy music. The card descriptions are also very fun!

alecauthor19 Apr 2024, 00:03

thank you @rawb @turbolaser @lightningst and @congusbongus for the comments!

Ryan Lockhart19 Apr 2024, 00:38

Excellent work! A very polished experience. I liked the pixel art, the audio was crisp, and the references were amusing.

alpdogan19 Apr 2024, 00:40

Definitely feels really polished and well executed. Nice game!

Monogatari19 Apr 2024, 00:41

That game is so polished haha, the animation and the music just hit perfectly right ! I just think the resolution of the pixel art is a bit too low, it's not so easy to read the cards. Anyway, great job !

Goofte19 Apr 2024, 17:57

Loved it! I'm left wanting more!!!!

Emaigualmc2_art19 Apr 2024, 19:45

Great job! I really liked the artistic work, you can see those pixels XD The game is very complete and solid, it looks very polished. Well done!

citsua20 Apr 2024, 18:50

Excellent short game. Easy to understand, fun to play, super polished!

braktheman20 Apr 2024, 18:57

It took me a few games to understand what I was doing fully but it's a really creative take on the jam! Eventually won a round and felt accomplished. Wahoo!

Excellent job!

vivid-hallucination20 Apr 2024, 19:38

Technically impressive. I love the card sprites and how juicy everything is. Music is great, sound effects hit right. Flavor text on the cards is fun. Good vibes here.

The card mechanics were straightforward and easy to understand, after one round of flailing I had it down. Solid entry!

zeminyok20 Apr 2024, 19:45

Music and visuals come together so well, this is definitely a really nice execution! The descriptions on the cards were quite fun to read and I really liked how the stressed words have their letters floating.

Tyrannas20 Apr 2024, 21:40

Graphics and VFX are great, this feels really polished, sound and music fit pretty nicely in and I liked the descriptions of the cards, it was a nice touch even if I was a bit confused at first cause I thought I needed to understand what was written on the cards. The gameplay itself is a bit confusing, I know the concept it's simple but I could not get it at first, only after my first loss did I understand how this was working.
Also, I have the feeling that the green zones sometimes overlap their containers ? I think I can see it also on one of your screenshots.
Anyway, it's a great entry, well played !

gamebuilder20 Apr 2024, 21:45

A unique game, and a surprising interpretation of the theme. You are right, one can be "summoned" to court. That being said, I had a hard time understanding the pros and cons of each card. Mainly, I aimed for a balance as much as I could. I did fairly well, with just one or two categories "too high."

I especially liked your write-up on the TIC-80 on the main page. It is good to see people are still developing for this system.

Jamie Whitmarsh20 Apr 2024, 22:01

Really nice! I like the strategy involved and the elements of uncertainty involved in your current standing. I appreciate how it doesn't spoon feed us our current standing. I could see this being a great in-person board game concept!

LDJam user 37402823 Apr 2024, 03:17

I think I understood the concept but I don't think it really fits a court game because it is too dependent on chance. Maybe it it wasn't dependent on chance and you had to obtain the cards in a more deterministic way it would work. The music reminds me of Ace Attorney. Could make for an interesting game with a story and less chance. Good job!

Other games by @alec

★3.88

★3.98

★3.88