🎮 Game Design Document – Heart of Cards

Game Jam: LAGS Game Jam 2025
Platform: WebGL (Unity)
Genre: Card Game / Strategy / Exploration
Average playtime: 5–10 minutes
Game mode: Single player
Controls: Mouse

🧩 General Concept

Heart of Cards is a strategy game where the player explores a map made entirely of cards.
Each move is a tactical decision between empty paths, combat, or rewards.

The goal is to reach the final boss card and defeat it, using a deck built from previously collected cards.
Once a card is used in combat, it is removed from the deck for the rest of the run, forcing the player to manage their resources strategically.

🗺️ Core Mechanics

🔹 Exploration

• The map is generated from cards that act as nodes.
• The player clicks to move between adjacent cards.
• Node types:
  • 🟦 Empty: nothing happens.
  • 🟨 Reward: grants a new card to the deck.
  • 🔺 Combat: triggers a battle.

🔹 Combat System

• The player uses the available deck upon entering combat.
• Cards are removed from the deck until the end of the run once played.
• Cards can deal damage, block, heal, provide attack buffs, or defense buffs.

🔹 Victory Condition

• Reach the final boss card.
• Defeat it to complete the run.

📋 Content and Design

🃏 Cards

• Obtained by stepping on reward cards, which offer three options — the player must choose one.
• Cards can perform actions such as:
  • Basic attack
  • Defense
  • Healing
  • Buffs

💀 Enemies

• Enemies feature simple or unique attack patterns.
• The final boss has greater difficulty.

🎨 Visual Style

• 2D pixel art graphics.
• Clean and minimalist aesthetic.
• Stylized cards with a clear, readable UI.

🔊 Sound and Music

(To be defined)

🖱️ Controls

• Mouse only
  • Click to move across the card map.
  • Drag & drop or click to play cards during combat.

⚙️ Technology

• Engine: Unity
• Version: 2022 or later
• Target platform: WebGL
• Distribution: Itch.io

🙌 Credits

Name	Role
sounagix	Game Design, Programming
Reckoner	Art, Game Design, Management

📌 Additional Notes

• Fast-paced gameplay: 5–10 minutes per run.
• Easy to learn, hard to master.
• Inspired by games like Slay the Spire, Dicey Dungeons, and roguelike systems.
• Features an original mechanic: exploring a map made entirely of cards.

🌐 Links

• Itch.io page: https://randomplayerstudios.itch.io/heartofcards
• Play the game: https://sounagix.github.io/HeartOfCards/
• Source code (GitHub): https://github.com/Sounagix/LGJ2025