Development Update

Greetings Deckbuilders!

I genuinely appreciate your interest in Decks. It has been a passion project of mine since 2019. As someone who loves collecting of all things pop-culture (from comics, to figures and trading card games), I wanted to make a game that blends the fun of collectables with the immersion of RPG worlds.

What's the plan?

The game has been in development since 2019. It now has a "stable" prototype including the core features. We test it internally with a handful of friends, collect feedback and regularly polish / implement / scrap systems. It's come a long way since the Steam trailer (recorded in March), but still has a long way to go. Some of the concepts aren't as fun as I'd like them to be, so I am constantly experimenting with new designs.

I am a big fan of community building and collaborative development. At the same time, there is a fine line between gathering feedback and releasing an early version that lacks the magic dust to make it fun. I'd love to hear what you think - would you be interested in testing very early prototypes, follow the development through updates, or simply wait for a stable release? I am open to all of these options.

What's been added since March?

Units / Cards

There were 50 cards scheduled for launch and all of these are implemented. This means each one has a unique art card, along with the in-game unit. Units have different models, stats and many of them have abilities. The variety is quite decent, with multiple viable playstyles at the moment. I love running quirky decks that rely on area spells or sacrifice. Other testers enjoy ranged unit decks or more stable decks based around buffs and healing.

Maps

The playable maps have undergone huge changes since the early days. There were 8 playable maps - some large, some small. Some with vast open environments, some with tight in-doors corridors. The general feedback was that small, dense maps are much more fun. This led me to develop the Blitz game mode - a pool of 10-minute maps that have a few progressively more difficult monster camps and a boss.

Going forward, I'd like to build on this mode. There is now a Blitz queue, which lets you join a random Blitz map with another player. The idea is to let you quickly queue for short, replayable maps. You get to earn rewards at a faster pace and enjoy the feeling of building up an army to confront a boss.

Randomization / Scaling

The early maps were entirely static, which made them fairly boring and predictable. Each of the Blitz maps now has fully randomized camps. This means the monsters are spawned from a thematic pool. Desert maps spawn various types of orcs, city maps spawn guards, etc. The difficulty scales both with the number of players and increases throughout the map. As a result, each playthrough is fairly challenging and lets you play solo or with a friend.

I have been thinking of randomising the map terrain as well, but that is a longer-term goal.

Rewards

The reward system has also undergone heavy changes since March. Initially, I envisioned a system where you earn currency for each completed match. You would then visit the store and spend your currency on new packs. This felt quite grindy and repetitive - it made the games more of a chore.

The second iteration was a free battle-pass. Each map would award a flat amount of experience, which would then progress you along a reward track. It broke down some of the repetitiveness. You'd get bigger rewards at key milestones and have stuff to look forward to. Still, I wasn't thrilled with the flat XP reward.

I am now implementing the third iteration. Each monster you kill has a chance to drop a loot item. These come in different rarities and have lore text. More difficult monsters are more likely to drop better loot. At the end of each match, your loot items are converted into experience that then progresses you along a reward track. I am hoping this will make the moment-to-moment gameplay feel more rewarding, as you are directly rewarded for killing enemies (not just receiving a flat reward per map).

Quality of Life

There were hundreds of smaller additions since March. This includes character voice lines, camera rotation/zoom, spells, control groups, boss monsters, chat improvements, new UI, tutorials - there is a lot being added each week.

At the same time, a lot of the unfun stuff is constantly removed and iterated over. Which brings me to the last section:

What's on the horizon?

Playtesting

If you are keen on helping develop the game, I'm always looking for more feedback. The majority of features have been implemented based on tester feedback. Keep in mind it's a very early prototype (much rougher than most Early Access games on Steam), but if this doesn't matter to you, get in touch.

Comment on this post, I'll add you to my Friend's List and send you an early Alpha code. You'll get to see the current version, and I'll explain how you can provide feedback!

Lore

Much of the world-building was put together to test gameplay. There are backstories for the characters and places, but nowhere near what I'd like them to be. I will be posting lore updates on some of the characters and am hoping to hear what themes you'd like to see in Decks.

Community

All of my previous projects always had amazing communities, many of which I keep in touch with to this day. Decks will be no exception - it is a community project and I'm hoping to slowly introduce it to more and more people. By the time Early Access launches, we will have a fun, vibrant group of people you can get to know.

We already have a Discord you are more than welcome to join. I'll also be more active through Steam, both on the forums and in terms of updates. The game is fully integrated with Steam/Discord, so these platforms are ideal homes for the Decks players.

Stay tuned for more...

Once again, I am extremely excited to have you onboard for the project! It's amazing to see others interested in the game, helping to provide feedback and follow along for the ride. There is a lot more on the horizon and I can't wait to share it with everyone else.

In the meantime, hop in our Discord and comment on this post if you're up for very early testing.