HTML - Shuffle Me [v0.0.9] [SifaGames]

[v0.1.0 beta]
(note: it seems 0.1.0 is slightly different, having been made into a side-scrolling (though you only walk to next enemy / event) card battler in GODOT, the review still applies.)

Game dev is allergic to game balancing, simple instructions, consistent mechanics and progress that isn't just visual (or corruptive).

• Game balance: terrible.
  Chance events, everything is a trade-off, overpowered enemies that (hopefully a bug. not design) don't use their own energy, cards not in starting deck provide less value.
• Simple instructions: wrong.
  Why choose simple "boosts attack" or "more draw" when you can have convoluted, multiple values for that.
  Then there's meta-game TF element values from cards.
• Consitent mechanics: quite the opposite.
  The cards you have can (basically) randomly transform, changing their values, effects, the possible changes aren't shown until they happen.
• Progress: trade-offs only.
  Already described changing your cards or equipment for alternatives that aren't actually better. Only body parts change and even that is random (maybe indirectly tied to the TF bar or enemy attacks)

Out of 2 games, the only consistent thing are TF themes and not making any sense. Perhaps if it were simplified and rebalanced from the ground up, it might resemble a game you can make choices in. Maybe.

YKW this is gonna be the first thing I post on this site. I mainly lurk like many others do on this site, but I had to review
I've played both games that the dev posted and they were alright for basic demos, this rebrand/rework of the game was usually better than the last.
Moving from HTML to Godot was... a interesting decision, but felt right to move from a framework that will support the game better.
I don't mind the idea of paywalling content that will be implemented into the game. The Ideal is how the dev at Course Of Temptation handles there Patreon/paid content. Realisticly that wont happen to every game/project, but I believe that all game devs should strive for that ideal.
HOWEVER, for this game there is literally nothing here for the free version, only a framework of a game. The only things that dev is paywalling is the MEAT OF THE GAME.
At the games current state there should not be ANYTHING behind paywalls. Once the game is actually a game or a chapter 1 demo you can start paywalling some content. Otherwise this "game" will feels a cash grab for people who LOVES this type of games.

This developer's arrogance is immediately apparent. He thinks his game is something wonderful and beautiful, but the gameplay here are just pictures of a poorly drawn character. If you're looking for a plot, there isn't one. Gameplay: The gameplay is practically empty and indistinguishable from his previous game, EP Backrooms. There are still some minor changes, but that's it. The game is nothing more than that. The worst part of the game: he's a developer who's clearly lost his mind and genuinely believes an HTML5 game should sell for $10 on his Patreon, where he also tells pirates to go to hell. If you want to try it for free, then please, he won't give you any art at all; just sit and stare at his "wonderful" text.

If we evaluate this game simply as a card game, I would consider it decent and give it a 3*. The problem is that it's not just a card game, but a porn card game, and as a porn game, it disappoints me greatly.

As for sexual content, the game only has photos from the card game and two porn videos upon defeating bosses. They don't take into account the player's status in a porn card game focused on TF.

This game has no story, no consequences (for a TF game), and the erotic content is lacking. Literally most of the content is what you can see in the photos and one of the two videos is in the third photo, with the protagonist lying in bed while licking the boss's ass.

As a card game 2.5*, as a porn game 1* because I can't put 0*

The free version is one star, if not zero. Don't play it, period. The paid version I give two stars- it's also bad, but it's not NOTHING.

The premise of a card game with TF mechanics is novel, and could be interesting. There are a few problems here. One is the UI- it's a huge pain to understand what exactly cards do, even when their effects are in fact very basic and mostly boring. The fights themselves are just stats going up and down, there is no art or animation associated with the battles. There's also no change mid-game: enemy portraits don't change to reflect low health, the TF doesn't occur until the fight is over, etc. Not great.

The loop is an improvement from the previous version of the game (EP:Backrooms) in that it FUNCTIONS, but it's very boring. You fight and that's it. No progression between runs, nothing to do between runs, and during runs it's just fights. No currency, no items to buy. In other words, the old version was so busted that stripping everything out has made it better, making it simply Nothing instead of Actively Annoying. Not exactly a credit to the game.

The art is improved, straight up. It looks decent. There's clearly work to be done but credit where credit is due, alright-looking game. It's a mistake to take that for granted in the era of AI trash. I have seen some accusations of AI on this one but it doesn't look like AI to me, and I haven't seen any evidence to back this claim up. If I see some reason to actually believe this, I'll update it. But not all art you dislike is AI, folks. Sometimes you just don't click with the art style, and that's fine. For me, this art style is alright.

Its second biggest problem is the TF stuff. It's a TF game where TF-ing is the loss condition. ...Sorry, what? It's not just that getting TFed makes you weaker, it is literally your HP bar. If you get fully TFed the run is over and you are reset to normal. It's such a blaring contradiction in the premise and concept of the game that it's staggering. You can switch on that changes to your lower genitals won't be reverted if you regain "HP" but you can't do that for any other body part. Stupid. Just blatantly bad design.

So what's its biggest problem, then? It's that this is NOT a new game, it's a continuation of EP:Backrooms as mentioned, and so this is a project two and a half years in with such huge huge problems at the most basic level. This could be made into something cool- and don't get me wrong, game dev takes time and effort that people CONSTANTLY underestimate. But for the time spent, progress seems slow, and more troubling, doesn't seem to be addressing the game's issues. Hard to be optimistic.

tl;dr free version is literally not worth touching, if you ~somehow~ get your hands on the paid version, there's potential but it feels very unlikely it'll ever be reached. What's here is pretty bad.

Absolute junk, a reskin of their other game, everything is locked behind a paywall, and the dev is shady as fuck about it and uses AI generated crap. They were so lazy about reselling their last game (which was the same damn game) that they didnt even CHANGE THE TITLE in the first version.

0/10, avoid, burn it, ban it, get rid of it.

Nothing but a patreon advert for a game that got reskinned. Don't waste your time, the demo is stripped of pretty much everything.


There is no real public version, just an intentionally shitty version to make players frustrated and want to buy the full version. It is not worth it.

If this really is just a rename of Backrooms then it not only requires a patreon paywall to unlock the features, but a second different patreon account to unlock the uncensored art. Calling the gameplay engaging is a stretch, and possibly insulting to the concept of stretching.

Shuffle_Me_v1.2.1_Alpha.zip ~ pixeldrain
After playing the public version, I wholeheartedly agree with the comments in the reviews. To be honest, it's not even as good as some game demos. I've never seen a public version that cuts out so many of the game's main features.
So... I found a strange file on a strange website. I had no idea what it was, but I downloaded it anyway. That's all

Incidentally, in my opinion, the reason why the public version has been stripped of a significant amount of core content is that once you have played the paid version, you will realize that the current version is not worth supporting. Therefore, he hides the core content behind a veil of requests for support, allowing those who pay to believe that everything is worthwhile before they actually see the core content.

This is an ad.

Not being hyperbolic - everything is locked, and there's screens with literally 5 ads/links/mentions of patreon.

It's probably the worst case of a cashgrab I've seen on this site, and we all know how low that bar is.

As many others have said, the paywall is bullshit. I can't test a game and decide if I want to support a creator if everything worth checking out is locked out. If a dev wants to make a game that people want to play, they need to make a game people are able to actually play and not just a glorified demo with none of the exciting features actually available. Plus this is just a card battle game. You're making a card battle game about transformations with most of the transformations locked out? It feels scummy.

Like all the other reviewers are saying, the vast majority of features for this game are locked behind a pay-wall. The sheer arrogance of this dev to post his own game on a pirate website while pay-walling the features should get them kicked off this platform in my opinion. They are only interacting with this community for the purposes of advertising.

Lets juxtapose this.

When the Star Knightess Aura dev found out about their game being posted here they made a statement against the piracy of their product and then proceeded to not only allow their game to stay posted but actively provided updates and support to the pirate community. The outcome of this was a patreon over twice the size of this shmuck's and a genuinely innovative H-JRPG instead of glorified HTML grift.

tldr: game is bad, dev is greedy, avoid.

Everything is locked behind the paywall. Transformation art itself is locked behind pay wall, everything you want from these type of games is available in patreon version only, nothing for us peasants. Buy it if you want to see if it is really worth it.

once non-patrons get to see the transformations this game will be great, I like the loop and the two different stamina bars with the transformation health. Hoping non-patrons get some more cool stuff soon but bills don't pay themselves. Cool concept, wishing all the best.

everything you would actually want to do is locked behind patreon, and everything else is mid. "game" is essentially a massive patreon ad, and also rebranded of his old game.
while still not really a concept super delved into, i swear something about card games brings out the worst in devs, this has potential if he can fix the story, gameplay, and absurd patreon walling (basically all the porn and character creation is patreon locked) like, jeez dude

a mediocre card battler by a leech developer.

all the porn features are exclusive to patreon. i have supported sifa in the past, for that other game he made, it's not worth it.

the UI is mid, the story is mid, nothing here can carry the expirience.

I thought for a long time, but even so I don't know how to describe this. Basically it's just that's developer previous game, but for some reason labled "1.0.0" (maybe developer doesn't know about meaning of this)
As the previous game, this is a paywalled card game advertising for their Patreon. Developer argued that there is a direct link somewhere (didn't find where), that leads to a patreon version of the game (includes character creation) which is meant to be free. But in reality, only public version is accessable on their Patreon for free, in order to download Patreon version you should sign up for a paid subscription

Without the View on the right its just a lazzy card battler with lewd intent. Therefore a not so good porn game. The Card battle mechanics are shallow. You cant have specific builds. its just random effects that hopefully are stronger than that of the enemies. So therefore also its a boring game where even the view on the right cant save.

Also its about principle. Dont put stuff behind paywalls.

There are some major formatting issues with this game, and then barely having any content as well as lazily scrubbing their last project while not really explaining how to play it just sucks. Then you've got the whole issue of naming is version 1.0 while having an empty husk of a game. This deserves the 1 star rating on launch.

Less than basic game with constant ads for supporting patreon.
This is the type of game I would have thought EA would have made, or at least sponsored with the amount of adds.
There is a good concept, but I would hesitate to even call this version 0.0.1 .
Card/deck games do not work well as HTML.
I will be keeping an eye on this because it seems very interesting as a concept, though I won't be recommending it as of its current state.