Game idea review
Hey,
I’ve been building a carrom-board roguelike called Carrom Gods for the past month and made decent progress. But the further I get, the more I’m second-guessing whether the core concept has legs. Would love a sanity check from this sub before I go deeper.
The pitch: Carrom-board physics meets Slay the Spire / Balatro-style run-based progression. You play levels with score thresholds, build a “deck” of pucks with enchants, collect relics for synergies, and fight bosses that mess with your board.
What’s in or planned:
• Scoring system built on carrom rules, with a score target to clear each level
• Passive relics that boost scores and enable synergies (the Balatro-style engine)
• Puck tiers (1–5) — rarity/power progression for your pieces
• Per-puck enchants, stackable — this is the deckbuilding layer
• Roguelike shop between levels
• Deity-based consumables — themed one-shot items tied to in-game gods
• “Eye of Relics” — pick 1 of 3 reward choice
• Bosses with disabling effects / board restrictions — e.g. lock a pocket, disable an enchant type, shrink the board
Where my doubt is coming from:
- Carrom isn’t a globally familiar game. Is the physics-based novelty enough of a hook for players who’ve never played it, or is the unfamiliarity a wall?
- Physics + deckbuilding is a known combo (Peglin, Ballionaire, Roundguard), so the genre slot exists — but does carrom specifically bring anything those don’t already do better?
- Am I just reskinning Balatro with a board, or is there a real game underneath?