May 2025 update

It's been a while since my last update. Well, my partner and I had a baby in February, so things have been a little busy. But I've still managed to get some progress in, and this is a big update.

Major Changes

Title and Theme

When I originally came up with this solitaire game (with actual physical playing cards), I called it "Heart's War". This is a play on the title of a Bruce Willis movie that no one remembers (Hart's War). When I started this digital version of the game, I called it "Hearts Attack", another kind of dumb play on words. It was intended to be temporary - such a bad pun that I would be forced to change it later.

My original rules were absurdly non-specific when it came to the theme of the solitaire game. They let you know it was "tactical", but you could sub in any theme you wanted to, whether you wanted the cards to be units of WW2 infantry or orcs or robots. For a time I was tempted to go with a medieval theme because playing cards have kings and queens on them, and I started creating those kinds of characters for the face cards.

But alas, we live in times where some of us need outlets to express our discontent with the state of the world. Themes of oppression began springing up within these medieval dialogues and I found I wanted the context to be more blunt and modern. The new enemies became contemporary forces of oppression, and the Hearts became the people who stand up to them. (While the gameplay is still tactical, thematically I'm embracing mostly non-violent ways to resist oppression.)

The new title: Heart Power. 

Refreshing Heart Cards with a Mini-game

In the previous version, when you run out of Hearts, you "spend" the defeated enemy cards and there was a formula for how many cards you get to draw. One of my friends got stuck on an early version of this and called it "some kind of card matching screen I couldn't figure out". In reality, there wasn't anything to it before - the result was predetermined and you just had to click through the cards to add them up. But it made me think: what if it was a matching mini-game?

In this version, I took inspiration from the classic card game Set. Now, you match up defeated cards to form sets of three, and the difficulty of the match changes the number of Heart cards you earn. This creates a little strategy, e.g. you might target different enemy cards knowing you need them to complete a good set.

Progression and Dialog

I'm working on some different options for unlocking new Heart card powers as you play through each hand. This turns the game from a single-run solitaire into more of a deck-building roguelite. 

With my theme in place, I have filled in a good chunk of dialog. So as you unlock and confront face cards, you get to read my snark about the power structures of our modern era and their fallacies.

Like most roguelites, you are meant to lose the first few attempts. Unfortunately, this release doesn't include any of the new cards I'm planning to add, so the deck-building aspect is still in progress. The game is still winnable if you optimize both the main game strategy and the matching mini-game - but I'll be looking for ways to balance it, so feedback is welcome!

Next on the Roadmap

I have plans to expand the progression, with repeated appearances of elite cards getting more difficult - and more rewarding. There's a whole lineup of different face card abilities for your Hearts in the works, as well as some other ways to carry over bonuses from one run to the next. 

In the meantime, hit me with your feedback on the game so far!