Thermalwiz
A two-player hidden-information temperature-management card game. Made in 48 hours for the “Ice & Hot” Game Jam
Overview
Type: Card Game / Hidden Information Strategy
Role: Lead Artist, Card Designer
Tools: Godot, Procreate, photoshop
Team: 6-person Game Jam team
Time: 48 hours
ThermalWiz is a competitive two-player hidden-information card game created during a 48-hour game jam with the theme “Ice and Hot.” Each player has a secret temperature score that rises or falls depending on the cards they draw and play. You can see your opponent’s temperature but never your own. If you freeze or overheat, you lose.
The game blends bluffing, probability, and temperature manipulation into a quick and readable duel.
Click to play online or download on your computer!
Background & Inspiration
The theme Ice & Hot immediately suggested a system about balance and instability.
Our team wanted the game to feel like a tense back-and-forth where players always have partial information, forcing them to read their opponent instead of the board.
My Role
Lead Artist
Designed card illustrations and symbolic temperature icons
Created the visual language for “hot,” “cold,” and “neutral” effects
Built a clean and high-contrast icon system optimized for fast scanning
Aligned the overall art tone to match the quick, bluff-heavy pacing
Card Design (Mechanics + Layout)
Co-designed the card effects with emphasis on simple rules and emergent strategy
Balanced temperature shifts
Developed card categories
Outcome
The final game is fast, intuitive, and surprisingly psychological for something built in 48 hours. Players reported loving:
the mind games (“Do I heat them or cool myself accidentally?”)
the clarity of the art
the rapid swings in temperature
the “panic moment” when neither player knows who’s safe
The digital prototype built in Godot also helped clarify pacing and UI logic for future iteration.
Team
Liang Liang — Artist, Card Designer
June Matchavariani — Programmer, audio
Arcimax Nguyen — UI/UX
Sage Altman — Programmer
Yizan Fu — Artist,Card Designer
