Play story
Detritus Deck: The Medieval Garden's itch.io pageArtistic Statement / Use of Theme
We wanted to create an educational card game that taught about the interconnectedness of ecosystems through discovered gameplay. We attempt to express that even when some of your actions may harm the earth, others could help. We were inspired by old medieval art and created a storybook where you protect your earth.
Development Summary
Originally we wanted our game to progress from ancient times with dinosaurs to modern times with data centers. We decided to cut that to keep in theme with our medieval story book. We also cut out a weather system in lieu of different hazard events. Some surprises we found were that designing card actions was difficult to translate to programming. Our team was made up of a narrative designer, 2 programmers, 2 artists, a musician, and a UI/UX designer.
Topic Tags
Ecosystem, Biodiversity
Sprint Participation
yes
Game Engine, Platform, Format
Unreal Engine
Generative AI Disclosure
no
(optional) Promotional Video
will post on page
(Optional) Feedback Form
https://forms.gle/9RiwzrNpjJQPN8oF9
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Comments
Absolutely loved the art in this! The music was the right amount of being different enough to not sound droning but added to the atmosphere. I really wish there were an indicator of when an card was selected. Since the basis of this game was a "figure it out" I didn't know if I had selected a card incorrectly or if it was just unplayable for that environment.
I really like the art on this one. I did not feel what I believe was the intended systematicity between my actions, or the choices I was making. I did not expect to win when I did. The most exciting part of the core loop was on Round 2, when I repeatedly drew Rain and Water cards from using Rain, until I used Rain twice in a row and drew a Flood card. Which I used far AWAY from the plots I had been cultivating, and ultimately did nothing, I believe. Altogether, I think I could have used some micro-objectives as a player to get a clear sense of good versus bad synergies. Thanks for making!
i think it's lacking a bit in depth and explanations of mechanics, i ended up "winning" on my second turn with two apple trees and raining on them would give me a bunch of water and rain cards, and just by trying to use them up i ended up winning, which felt like a hollow victory to me. in a second run, i ran out of space to plant things and was unable to remove the unusable cards from my hand, which resulted in a softlock. i do think it's pretty cool though, especially the art, just wish it was more clear what exactly to do.