v0.2.0 || First real gameplay

Summary

This update focuses on introducing a so called "encounter" system. This acts as a danger to the player which can be interacted with. Victory and defeat conditions are implemented. Making gameplay balanced, complex, fun and varied is not the intent of this release. This release is the minimum amount of change I could do to introduce the "encounter" system. I believe in getting as many systems running, and interacting with each other, before I start perfecting/refining them. Premature optimization is the root of all evil. Refinement will be done in later releases.

The cards that are part of this release have a vague rat hunting theme. This theme is mostly a proof of concept. But at least now the game is "playable", although just barely. Difficulty seems to be on the hard side, a result of not so good balancing/design.

New content & features

• Adds the encounter system. This system operates at the "enemy". Encounter cards are drawn each turn. They stay in play unless dealt with, and typically have a harmful effect each turn, or based on timers or events. The player can interact with some of the cards, paying some cost to get rid of them.

• Adds passive card effects. These are effects that last as long as a card is in play. For example the "Farm" card has a passive effect which increases the storage limit of the "Green" resource.
• Adds card functionality that can end they game. They contain the texts: "Win game" or "Lose game".

• Adds an end-game screen. This is triggered upon victory or defeat. Some key resources are displayed, the turn the game ended, and all the players cards at the end. From here the user will go back to the main menu.
• Adds resource limit functionality. Meaning some can be stored between turns. The limits can be changed during gameplay by cards.

Future

This last release has highlighted some GUI issues that need addressing before progressing much further. For example:

1. Card content not fitting on the card correctly. Makes readability bad, some cards are hard to understand from just reading the card GUI, without looking at underlying json data.
2. Lack of animations makes certain card actions hard to understand. This hurts understandability, and can cause confusion.

Here are two cards with problematic GUIs:

The next release will be focused on improving these quality of life/GUI quality issues. This means that no new major features will be implemented. 

After having made the GUI uplift I can see two major things that could be worked on:

1. Deck management:
   1. The possibility of having multiples decks of player/market/encounter cards. One or several decks are chosen when a new game session starts. This enables different decks to follow separate themes and design philosophies. This could make it easier and faster to experiment with new gameplay.
   2. The user should be able to supply these decks as .json templates. In the same way the developer does now. This enables users to experiment.
2. More card functionality:
   1. Spawning functionality: Cards that spawn new cards. For example a "Mine" could spawn "Gold"
   2. Upgrade functionality. For example: "Farm I" --> "Farm II" --> "Farm III".  This could enable a different type of ramp.
   3. Multiple choice actions.
   4. Discover functionality: This could be a way to add new cards into the market, that didn't originally start in the market.
   5. More market interaction.
      1. Refresh market
      2. Lock market slot
      3. Discard/Destroy in market

The improved deck management could help me explore new gameplay mechanics/interactions easier. But more card functionality would give me more tools to experiment with. Which of these two routes to take I will decide after the GUI uplift.