First release

Pentakrupt - initial prototype

I released the first version of my prototype for Pentakrupt, a quick card game I created for the Weekly Game Jam 152 (theme: Shelter). The game idea is very basic: use cards to get to a specific hidden (kruptos) card in a 5 x 5 (penta) grid. 

Mechanics

The core mechanics of the game are very basic. Use a specific number of cards to establish a grid based board (in case of the prototype, 25 cards equalling 2 colors of a standard deck minus 1). 

The second key mechanic is having a limited number of moves, meaning there's a time/move critical element: you have 13 moves to get to the end of the game. 13 moves is very limited but is motivated currently by using a single color of cards to move. With the non-changing board, it should be feasible but the idea of the game is that you'll face multiple games where you're simply unable to win. The playing piece limit is another limiting factor.

Scoring 

The scoring mechanic is a complement to winning the game and is meant mostly to record scores e.g. for multiple rounds, or to have a competitive overview when playing multiple games, as winning the game shouldn't be too easy anyway. 

Players

The game can be played solo or cooperatively although the game rules are currently still too much solo-based. For proper co-op, a trading mechanic needs to be in place or players should be able to play as a "single player" (the premise currently taken as the rules don't specify taking turns specifically). 

Comments re prototype, unfinished business

I note the initial prototype does not yet clearly specify, that you're supposed to return all playing cards to the playing deck, reshuffle and restart. That should have been more clear in the rules otherwise at playing piece 5 you'll have very little moves left. However I'm contemplating including the "no new cards" rule in the "extra challenge" section that currently only includes reshuffling the board.

I also need to address the exact coop mechanics which could e.g. include dropping one card when trading cards (i.e. taking it out of the game).

Further development

As the current version is based on a standard 52 card deck of playing cards, board size remains a bit limited which could of course be addressed by using several decks of cards (which is an idea I'll include in a following prototypes).

The game has a bit of background story which I'm intending to flesh out further in tandem with developing artwork. Avenues I'm looking at are pixel/ voxel art and repurposing / editing classic playing cards images / colors. 

Finally, I'm hoping to develop (also as a learning exercise) a video game version of the game (in the same art style) which will include the possibility to play larger boards etc. 

So many ideas from such a basic premise - please let me know what you think.