LudumData

Grid Commander by alstegodev

[raw]
made by alstegodev for Ludum Dare 58 (COMPO)

Hi there,

this is my very first game jam. After wanting to participate for so long, i finally managed to take some time and commit for a weekend.

Screenshot 2025-10-05 214434.png

Grid Commander is a turn-based retro game. Your objective is to destroy the enemie's spawn points, while collecting commands to build your commandline. The game mechanics is inspired by a boardgame i played recently with my friends called Mechs vs. Minions

Controls: - Every turn you can choose between 3 command cards or skip the turn - Drag them to a commandslot to lock them in - You can stack up to 3 cards of the same Color in one slot to power them up - Discover what each card does and experiment to find the best build - If you don't like, how one slot turns out, you can choose to eject the entire slot, emptying everything that's inside (But careful, you don't get to choose a card in this turn)

Feel free to give feedback and i hope you have some fun

GitHub https://github.com/alstegodev/LD58-Collector
Itch.io https://alstegodev.itch.io/grid-commander
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/58/grid-commander

Ratings

Overall 179th 2.976⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Fun 147th 3.05⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 69th 3.525⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Theme 198th 2.7⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 130th 3.275⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Humor 165th 2.059⭐ 19🧑‍⚖️
Mood 192th 2.5⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Given 26🗳️ 15🗨️

Feedback

mdotedot
Oct 06th · 04:02 UTC
This looks lovely. Unfortunately I do not seem to get the stacking to work. The items from 1 to 6 aren't disappearing from the left. I have only the Circle things to control. The ! and the navigational circle arrows in the game. I had to skip a lot since there was no more space on items 1 to 6.
SinusQuell
Oct 06th · 14:21 UTC
Looks great! The concept is interesting, though I would have liked some explanation on what the cards do :D
ThDudk
Oct 06th · 18:29 UTC
The game is fun! I'm a little confused on how the card work tho—some clarification on how they work would go a long way! Also I find having to constantly skip the pickup phase gets a little annoying once I have a build I'm happy with.

Overall really cool tho! Good job
Artificer
Oct 06th · 18:38 UTC
Once I got the hang of the cards and the different colors it was pretty fun. I ended up getting a good hand I didn't want to discard and as nice as the move cards are I was skipping a lot. Fun mechanic and I like the graphics!
ehtd
Oct 06th · 19:13 UTC
Not sure if I'm not getting it or something is broken
Void4
Oct 06th · 20:18 UTC
Excellent concept, definitely the most fun I've had in an LD game in a while. My only complaint is that some of the icons really don't help you understand what the cards do (especially the green and blue ones); even with a lot of restarting and experimenting I had to check the code to fully understand why the attacks sometimes don't hit all the enemies I was expecting them to. If you were to take it further, I would suggest making the cards change texture slightly as you stack them to make it clear what they are currently able to do and indicating the maximum number of targets more clearly on the cards.
🎤 alstegodev
Oct 06th · 21:52 UTC
@void4 Thank you for the kind words. I had a feeling when I first published the game that the card icons might not fully reflect what’s actually happening during gameplay. And the comments clearly show it. Just a case of not having enough time and the fact that I can’t really draw ^^. I’ve added an explanation image to the game's itch.io page, so feel free to check it out if anything’s still unclear.
Tim Eriksen
Oct 07th · 22:31 UTC
Huh, very interesting concept. Took me a little while to understand the command cards, but once I got it it was a pretty interesting way to move the character around. I like your graphics style. Good job!
Baluj
Oct 08th · 00:27 UTC
Interesting idea and found it enjoyable.
thingus
Oct 08th · 12:29 UTC
I second a couple of comments about the cards - it did take me a minute to figure out what they meant. Either tooltips or an indicator of which card is contributing to which action would go a long way towards fixing this.
That being said, this is great work for your first LD, especially as a compo entry- good job!
LDJam user 280624
Oct 08th · 17:23 UTC
A very stylish and complex game! I also had some trouble understanding the rules at first, but it's an excellent submission. Congratulations on your first Ludum Dare!
cogcomp
Oct 08th · 19:33 UTC
Look good but it suffers from the same problem as many other card games during the jam. Those of us who don't play these kind of card oriented games really have no idea what we're supposed to be doing here. Is there a system to the cards? Is it random? What does stacking even mean? Is there a strategy I should be following :laughing: As I mentioned it looks great but my feeble attempt at playing doesn't get me anywhere in the game.
Eugenik
Oct 09th · 04:53 UTC
fun game man, nice.
CodeRaurus
Oct 11th · 07:34 UTC
Interesting mechanics. I like how you combine the cards and order them to control your unit. Lots of variety. Though, I wish you could've eject a card for free and pick your card after that as part of the same action.
I would've also liked a description of each card in game just to make sure. On the other hand, I feel like part of the fun was to discover what they did.

I wasn't able to destroy any bases, my hand didn't allow me to move in place to shoot it.

Well done and congrats for your first submission! Welcome to the jamming.
LDJam user 243193
Oct 12th · 09:18 UTC
TBH I really don't know what I'm doing in this game. I put card in the left slots then move or rather try to move toward enemy spawn points. I don't know what each card does even after the cards did something.
Oh well, despite the confusion I've managed to clear 4 spawn points and kill multiple enemies before I got stuck in place and can't move anywhere. It's funny yet fun at the same time.
Shoalmuse
Oct 16th · 12:25 UTC
Really liked this one. Programming your little tank robo-rally-style was a blast! The retro graphics fit perfectly as well. There was no audio for me - which would have added a lot I think.
bentglasstube
Oct 16th · 21:24 UTC
Really interesting concept here. I played and even won, but I wouldn't say that I ever understood what the cards meant or what I was supposed to be doing. I just stacked a lot of red cards with an up arrow and that seemed to do it. Perhaps during the turn it could show which slot is doing what actions so you could more easily understand what's happening. Overall a really cool game especially for a first jam, nice work!
xpoho
Oct 17th · 05:31 UTC
Interesting game, but I can't figure it out. I think that some kind of help about cards wouldn't hurt ^_^
grid96
Oct 17th · 21:26 UTC
Wow, this game was really challenging but I made it! On easy atleast xD

I still didn't understand some of the icons on the cards, but figured out the walking ones soon enough. Was sometimes quiet tricky to get to a specific row or collumn but the world border helped with that. Good work!