Man, this is a fusion between "Rust Bucket", "Balatro" & "Shotgun King".
It's pretty fun!
Play a jam game about pawns
Pawn's Gambit's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Enjoyment | #544 | 3.915 | 3.915 |
| Artwork | #914 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Creativity | #1124 | 3.966 | 3.966 |
| Audio | #1215 | 3.458 | 3.458 |
| Narrative | #1475 | 3.034 | 3.034 |
Ranked from 59 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game fit the theme?
The card deck loops, so you need to think about how to use that loop at your advantage
(Optional) Please credit all assets you've used
Game over sounds came from Undertale
Explosion sprites came from Anton Blast
Various sound effects are from Pixabay.
(Optional) What would you like to be called if GMTK features your game?
BlueAxolotl
Comments
This was so good already! I never knew I wanted roguelike combat chess but I loved it! :D
As others have mentioned, some quality of life stuff like autoplaying cards and auto-moving to shop would be great. Also some visual distinctions between cards would help.
Art and sound were both really good, I was super impressed with this one :D
Submitted
AkrasiaReally funny! I laughed when I noticed the shopkeeper just gives you random prices.
I think you can play around a bit with streamlining the playing of cards to require less clicks. + letting you move a bit more freely after you've defeated the enemies. I can see this game become really addicting! I would love to play the updates once they come out!
Submitted
Echo ChamberIt was interesting to play for one level. It could have gotten really interesting with a lot of pieces on the board.
Submitted
Room with a LOOP (GMTK 2025)I love a good chess based game! Really liked your game idea, the dialogs with the shop owner when I don't have enough money ahah. Clean visual and audio! The itch page is a wonder too.
I would have liked to move a bit more freely between each stage since it is a bit tedious as it is now but overall, liked the CHAOS ahah. Good job!
Submitted
Hi HoneyVery clever idea for the jam, loved the animation of the pawns, the felt satisfying to move around.
My only feedback would be that it would be nice if I didn't need to play cards to move after the round ended. It was a little time consuming getting to the shop/exit sometimes after the round was already over, but really enjoyable idea for a game.
We also created a roguelike for our jam game (we love choosing 1-of-3 things!). Would love your feedback if you wanted to give it a try too
Submitted
This Is ItI really like this game. I agree with some other commenters that I think that you can just make it so that you can manually open the shop rather than having to walk over to it. I also think the damage system is a bit unclear (e.g. two rooks and a queen did 2 damage to me but then two bishops did 8 damage and killed me). Still, a really fun game I had a good time playing, well done!
Submitted
Dungeon DeadlinePeak game. I've spent too long playing this.
I have run into a few bugs though: 1. I got softlocked in the shop. The gui popped up, but there was no option to leave, and my player kept playing the "move" animation while not moving. 2. I don't actually know if this is a bug or not, but enemies sometimes move to the same square and stack on top of each other.
Overall, my favorite jam game so far. I might like chess.
Submitted
Bite Mark!Nice variant of chess! The art and gameplay is smooth :) If you have a moment, we'd love for you to check out our team's project too. It's called "round-and-wound" , hope you enjoy it! --> /jam/gmtk-2025/rate/3780863
This game reminds me of a fun chess variant called dice chess with the randomized movement options, and I love how simple yet challenging this game is! Good job!
Submitted
Second First DateAwesome job! It gave me a similar vibe to pawnbarian. I had a lot of fun though I would have loved to see you all incorporate the loop theme a bit more.
Submitted
Stop Count Ing BackwardsLove the humor, the shopkeeper cracked me up! I just read a comment that said you can damage with moves as well so I'm off to replay your game with that knowledge in mind lol
Well done!
Submitted
Pod OperatorI learned how to play chess a few months ago, and I really enjoyed this game! I think it has a lot of potential to become a complete game. But there are still some things that affect the experience, like having to walk slowly to the shop and exit after clearing a room, and some enemies overlapping bug. But overall, it was fun to play!
Submitted
Space ImproviserLoved this one! I had a lot of fun, starts off easy and ramps up fast, quite challenging in the later stages. The shop keeper and the dialogue is awesome stuff as well. Surprised you got so much done in the time, well done! Inspired by Shotgun King I presume? But has its own identity. Took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out you can move into pieces to kill them too haha.
Submitted
Points Is Big
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