Standup Sim: Post Jam Updates!

Phwew. Game Jams are exhausting huh? Especially when you can't let go of the idea all the following week!

I've skipped out on the post-mortem, especially since the jam went pretty smoothly, all things considered. Largely the idea went unchanged from the initial plan (after it had gone through the reality check filter, of course), if a bit under-realised.
My biggest boon was using the trash emoji for send-to-back feature which lead the splitting of bin and recycle, giving the player chunkier decisions. My biggest hiccup was the emojis - the core of the game - not rendering on phones, which meant I had to package some (much less cool) looking ones with the game. Oh, and accidentally corrupting the upload files ten minutes before the deadline, but that's standard.

If you've played the original version of this you'll notice quite a few updates, aside from general post-jam polish (better UI, crowd animations, sound effects-) as I attempted to bring it closer to my final vision in my downtime.

A large part of the game-loop comes from knowing your material, allowing you to decide when to bin cards or to push your luck, and my playthroughs since posting have always been much more fun the second or third time I run a deck. To that end I added the Deck Viewer, available so long as you haven't played a card yet, so you can learn your punchlines and scout out potential plays.

Of course, a deck is only as good as its power cards. Some of those i've implemented this week I've had planned from the start, and others have been born from gameplay.

Switch and Improv being fairly basic Momentum Management cards, allowing you to keep momentum rolling. Improv in particular is a powerful filler card, and probably should be much rarer than I currently have it.

As I added more cards, I decided I wanted to make the Draw Pile larger, which is a very tough choice for what is essentially a Shedding game. Tangent cards, which don't do much for the audience, are a good way to quickly move through the draw pile and make the game feel much more manageable. 

Lastly the Set-Up card, which has been in since launch, has gained an ability that was planned for a different card. The card effectively wiping your momentum when played badly was always part of the design, but now it also reveals the next Punch-line in your Draw Pile. This sort of limited information definitely makes the player feel more in control, maybe a bit too much, but tying it to an already difficult-to-play card seems like good balance.
While I'm a bit worried about it making the tutorial even more overwhelming, it does have the added sideeffect of making the Recycle feature far more clear.

I think this is in a decent place now.

I would love to implement the cool deckbuilder mechanics I have in mind, and a big rouge-like touring map with different audience types, and even more card abilities, but for now this should be good enough for the big games-meet where I and several other jammers will be sharing our results from GGJ '24. Maybe i'll keep poking at this, especially once I get feedback from the community, but for now I need some rest 

😴