itch.io

This is a fun idea and you've executed it well. I enjoy the main gameplay but the game starts dragging a bit close to the end when you either have plenty of pieces in the upper rows but the enemies keep spawning in such a pattern that you just quite can't manage to snuff them all out in the same turn, or you're getting overrun with no realistic shot of turning the tide but the enemy turns take longer and longer.

If you find a way to balance the win/loss conditions, this game will be a total winner. You've already done a great job with this.

Also, the rule that you can continue your turn as long as you keep capturing pieces should be told more prominently.

Such a wonderful game from both aesthetic and mechanical perspective. I mean, it looks gorgeous (and it did already in Ludum Dare form) and the main idea is very clever and allows for subtly different approaches. I don't know whether the game naturally tends towards more extensive freeform levels or more focused puzzles with precise solutions, but it certainly feels like you might have something special in your hands.

There are 2 additions I'd like to see in the game: an undo button and more predictability for knowing which tiles will be sucked into the vortex in which order.

The need for an undo action was more obvious in the puzzle levels. It can become clear that the path you've chosen won't allow you to pick enough resources but the other route you were pondering 4 moves ago just might. Unfortunately the only way to return to that state is restarting the whole level.

The vortex tile issue would be partially resolved by an undo action. Planning a route in puzzle levels is a blind process since you have no knowledge beforehand which tiles will be sucked into the vortex a few turns from now. One route you take might result in loss of a wagon while the other might not. Again, the only solution is a restart.

I understand that changing the game this way would nudge it towards embracing the full-information puzzle part of its nature and you might be philosophically opposed to that. And besides, a world-ending cataclysm is supposed to be chaotic! The decision to take a detour to forage some berries should not be taken lightly when the world is disintegrating around you! Maybe there's a decent permadeath roguelite mechanic lurking there somewhere. A (pseudo?-)procedurally generated terrain with random disintegration pattern in a continuous campaign with caravan wagons persisting in some form from one world to another.