Little Witch's Herbary by lord_blackheart

[raw]
made by lord_blackheart for Ludum Dare 52 (JAM)

There once was a little witch who wanted to grow plants in her herbary. She was excited and already got her hands on some seeds, but then learned that these seeds would take a LOOOOOONG time to grow. Devastated by the dullness of her future project she had no choice but to ask the DARK LORD for help. The DARK LORD was eager to help, but of course had a condition:

"I will help you", he said. "But should you ever run out of seeds to grow your soul will be mine!"

The little witch agreed and so the DARK LORD gave her a magical clock with the power to speed up time and change the weather to whichever season she needed. The little witch immediately began her new herbaceous endeavor, but soon noticed that the DARK LORD‘s offer might not have been as friendly as she first thought…

Help the little witch grow her plants. Try to raise as many plants as you can at the same time, but be careful as they all need different seasons. When a plant is all grown up and ready to harvest it will yield more seeds. You will lose if the stack ever runs out of cards (seeds) to draw.

Bildschirmfoto vom 2023-01-09 17-10-57.png

plantfriends.png

Ratings

Given 6🗳️ 10🗨️

Feedback

Creamsicle42
09. Jan 2023 · 22:09 UTC
Very cute game, I loved the art. The game did feel a little pointless without an end goal, but the core mechanic is an interesting idea!
Loig
09. Jan 2023 · 22:15 UTC
I liked the atmosphere of this game! The mechanics are nice as well.

I was always surprised when loosing because I had no cards left: it was not clear to me how to anticipate this. Also, I would have liked some kind of scoring in order to make me want to play again and again to beat my score.
boostas
09. Jan 2023 · 22:22 UTC
Nice concept, good execution, I love the card/paper art-style, really fits the game. I found the win-loss condition a bit confusing - like previously mentioned, the running out of cards mechanic is a bit abrupt and I didn't understand how I ran out. Either way, nice game and potentially worth polishing further!
owca
09. Jan 2023 · 22:38 UTC
I love the graphics but I guess I don't understand the rules because my plants die randomly (at least for me)
owca
09. Jan 2023 · 22:39 UTC
I love the graphics but I guess I don't understand the rules because my plants die randomly (at least for me)
mde
09. Jan 2023 · 23:01 UTC
@owca Thanks for your feedback. I guess we didn't make that clear enough: You can see which seasons a plant will not survive on their cards or if you hover over them. The rose for example will only die in winter. (Plants also die if you don't harvest them)
const_arch
09. Jan 2023 · 23:06 UTC
Once I got the hang of the mechanics I got into a pretty good flow. Some sort of score would've been nice, so I could tell if I did better than my previous try.

Heads up that if you try to fullscreen it on an ultrawide it cuts off some pretty important information.
Fluburbio
09. Jan 2023 · 23:44 UTC
Fantastic-looking game, great job! I enjoyed playing a lot. I wish there was a score, but besides that, this is very imaginative and cool.
Manan
09. Jan 2023 · 23:51 UTC
I love the idea of this game and I particularly like the animation of the clock. It's a very original concept. Unfortunately, I wasn't really able to figure out how to play. I couldn't figure out how to remove the fallow, and the game kept ending when I still had cards.
🎤 lord_blackheart
10. Jan 2023 · 01:03 UTC
Hey,

the running out of cards is a problem we encountered too. its depending on the draw pile. normally you should have enough. we couldnt find the root cause, in the end it was a balancing issue.

We didnt had ultrawide in mind in our tight time, sorry. fullscreen was implemented in the last few hours and no one of us has one.
wastedsince99
10. Jan 2023 · 12:33 UTC
@manan There is a card called "Deadshroom" that sets adjacent fallow tiles back to usable, it states the effect on the card. You could also grow "Corpseflowers" next to them, but that doesn't clear them.
LDJam user 315038
10. Jan 2023 · 20:27 UTC
I really dig the idea, it's cool twist on a traditional "end turn" in card games. Also nice work on the clock model and those card arts <3
LDJam user 251967
11. Jan 2023 · 15:32 UTC
Great game!
Bloodfin
12. Jan 2023 · 00:13 UTC
What a lovely little game. Took me a second to realize I could pick each individual season and I was longing a little bit for some nice chill background music. No matter though, I had a great time playing and will likely come back to this one. Good work!