Enter the Cardgeon by Placeholders
Web Version is on Itch (link below!)
Collect dungeon cards and find the key of kings! :blackjoker: :europeancastle:
WASD to move. Arrows Keys to shoot.

| Link | https://experiments.itch.io/enter-the-cardgeon |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/58/enter-the-cardgeon |
Ratings
| Overall | 78th | 4.038⭐ | 54🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 78th | 3.942⭐ | 54🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 101th | 3.833⭐ | 53🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 99th | 4.173⭐ | 54🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 140th | 4.24⭐ | 54🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 47th | 4.16⭐ | 52🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 139th | 3.99⭐ | 53🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 21🗳️ | 29🗨️ |
Here are some suggestions for improvements, just because I like this game so much and I would love to play more of it. 💖
- Give the player some way to regain health. I had to invest a lot of time to finish the game and it feels bad to lose all of it just because of minor errors without any possibility to regain health.
- Different weapons, level layouts and level props would be awesome. I also missed impact sounds and screen shakes.
- On one play-through I maxxed out all card spots and constantly picked up more cards. I always took the higher card value and picked up each puzzle piece, with no king in sight and no more shuffles, because I got so many cards. I had to restart the game after 20 minutes, because I could not progress, which was kind of a bummer. That's what it looked like (i actually had a lot more cards):

- I think the player should somehow be able to influence the progression or have a way to discard cards. Hard to say how, but right now, it just feels too random.
But hey, other than that, I really had a great time! GJ!
you actually got me realize I left the +1 HP card mechanic disabled!
because i still have time until the jam ends, i updated it and added more things from your suggestions!
-Joker will now appear at a specific amount of cards on deck so it will not be missable.
-Health cards
-Screen shakes, impact sounds and even more polish all-around.
thanks for the catch! and i'd love to hear your Thoughts on the newer version.
cheers!
Only thing I saw were some z-fighting issues with overlapping sprites, but that's just a minor thing.
Keep up the good work! Cheers!
I love this idea that the player is collecting more dungeon rooms to play. It's an interesting idea that has infinite possibilities.
As others have said, it plays well, looks great and is nicely polished in general. Great entry.
I noticed when hugging the top wall that you cant shoot downwards and that the bullets collide with the wall there.
Would like it if there was a way to choose a card without having to use the mouse (by highlighting which one you want maybe?) since the game doesn't use the mouse for anything else, it's a bit annoying to have to get my hands off the keyboard to choose a card.
Overall loved the vibe of the game and the card mechanic with the puzzle pieces.

Animations and art are slick
one thing is that, i've been playing for like 20 minutes but the King wouldn't show up so i had to restart a round.
Good visual style and gameplay loop. It's a bit slow, i got a little tired of collecting pieces for a new card.
You achieved a good gameplay feeling with music, effects and feedback.
I have some suggestions:
* At first, I thought the V was the letter V instead of an arrow :laughing:
* It's strange to shoot and move with awsd and arrows and then use the mouse to select cards, using the keyboard for everything would be more comfortable
* I would make bigger the feedback when you hurt an enemy. When they hurt you, you feel it with the screen shake but when you hurt them no so much
* Quoting "Level Up!: The Guide to Great Video Game Design" by Scott Rogers "walking is never, ever gameplay". When you need to gather pieces, I would at least make them move or make some kind of interaction.
The few other things I can say are that I hope to play a full game further developed based on this gamejam project.
Aside from that, I encountered an issue while playing the game: when I stand at the top of the map and shoot, no matter which direction I shoot, the bullets are blocked by an invisible wall.
My critics :
- the very begining of the game is slow. I actually thought about quitting before getting my first card ; plus when taking the first one, I took an ace of spade, and wondered what it did. It lacked a bit of feedback on this card and I couldn't understand why it said it would go to my deck, but didn't appeared later in it.
- the rooms lack variety. Enemies become way too repetitive quickly. Randomizing the enemies appearing and / or their placement would have been nice (tho I know this is the kind of feature that get scrapped because of time limits).
Still a very nice entry, I insist that I LOVED the audio.
Would like to see more enemy types, but hey, 72 hours is not much.
I'm not sure I understand the card picks -- I just never picked the red cards and had a good time of it.
Same as another commenter, I have a 60% keyboard that doesn't let me use WASD and arrow keys at the same time, though that's my own idiocy for getting a keyboard like this. I made do with some jank Fn key stuff
Really fun idea, hope you develop it out further!
I really love the aesthetic theming, mixing playing cards and puzzle pieces never occurred to me but fits so well. The ending stages replacing the floor with an actual card looks really cool. Overall this is really well made, nice work!
The card-crafting system is quite unique — first you collect puzzle pieces, then use them to build cards for your deck. I liked the strategic choice between going with safer puzzle cards or taking a risk with enemy cards for more resources.
One observation about the enemy behavior: they tend to move directly toward you and cluster together, which can make combat feel a bit predictable. Mixing up their movement patterns could add more challenge.
Overall, it's a creative concept that captures the theme well. Solid work!