CHARGEBUG

Every card you play makes you hotter. At 50 heat, you melt down.

That's the whole game. There's no mana here — the number on a card is heat, and
heat never refunds itself. Cooling costs you turns you'd rather spend killing.

You're a Chargebug: a small, cheerful machine sent to purge five hostile energy
cores. Each one telegraphs its next move, hits harder than the last, and physically
lunges across the chamber to reach you.

Three things pulling against each other

- HEAT  | every card adds some. Hit 50 and you take damage and half your gauge.
- CHARGE | ammunition, not energy. Power cards load it, weapons spend it, and
enemies drain it.
- OVERCHARGE | builds as you deal damage. Past 50% you can vent it for a big
hit, but venting dumps heat straight back into you.

Cards spoil

Every card carries a BEST BY turn, counted from the start of the current
fight. Play it after that and it does half as much. So you're always pushed to
close a core out quickly — and purging one refreshes your whole hand.

Build the frame as you go

You start with a single module. Every core you purge offers a choice of three:
fit a new one, or spend the salvage levelling something you already carry to II or
III. Once all three slots are full, anything new has to displace something.

Theme and wildcards — Godot Wild Jam #96

Theme: Charge. 

Charge is one of the game's three core resources, not a
reskin — 7 of the 15 cards generate or spend it, 4 of 13 modules store, cap or
regenerate it, and three enemy intents drain it. The overcharge gauge is its own
spendable system. And "charge" runs both ways: the cores don't just drain yours,
they *charge at you* — one of Slag Heap's telegraphed intents is literally CHARGE.

Modularity.  

Thirteen modules across seven effect types, three slots, and a
between-fight salvage screen where you fit, swap and level them. A run's loadout
is built, not rolled.

Best if used by.  

Every card has an expiry turn printed on it. Past it, the
card is halved. It's the pressure that stops you turtling.

Cutie. 

The Chargebug smiles at you while it slowly cooks. It has four faces —
happy, steady, toasty, melting — and which one you see depends on how hot you're
running.

Controls

| 1 – 5 | play a card |
| Space | end turn |
| V | vent overcharge |
| Esc | pause |
| M | mute |

There's a HOW TO PLAY panel on the title screen covering the four rules that
differ from a normal card game.

Credits

- Made with Godot 4. 7 for Godot Wild Jam #96

- Music by kary casey @ White Bat Audio

- Font used is eirian-font