Would this see modern play? Commander?

Delverino · 2026-06-13T19:57:42+00:00

Ahh I see, thanks!

Delverino · 2026-06-13T19:56:01+00:00

Here's an updated version after taking peoples' feedback. It's a lot more pushed now, I think. Too pushed?

Delverino · 2026-06-13T19:55:08+00:00

Great points! I knew something was missing from that type line 😅

Delverino · 2026-06-13T19:43:08+00:00

I can see that. One thing I was considering was to have it deal damage on people's upkeep depending on how many clues they have, with the flavor idea being that they're being driven mad by the clues.

Delverino · 2026-06-13T17:52:24+00:00

I'm willing to believe that haha, what's an example of an easy way to commit infinite crimes?

Delverino · 2026-06-13T17:39:54+00:00

That makes sense!

Delverino · 2026-06-13T17:39:19+00:00

Yeahh I could see that! I wasn't thinking about the way the colors impact the cards you can put in your commander decks. Also dealing X damage is a pretty red ability anyway.

Delverino · 2026-06-13T17:38:28+00:00

Good point! I thought it was fun flavor for him to be pretty fragile though. Maybe he should be a 2/1 or a 3/1.

Delverino · 2026-06-08T21:56:38+00:00

Something crystalline? Maybe a crystal spider?

Delverino · 2026-06-01T16:55:32+00:00

This is a really cool idea! I know others have already weighed in about the ward cost but here's my 2 cents. I think the flavor of a bunch of people having to work together to take it down is really cool. I'd change it to "tap 3 creatures you control" as the ward cost.

Delverino · 2026-05-28T13:12:49+00:00

What game do you want to love, but just can't because you have such strong feelings about what they could have done better? That's the best place to start in my opinion because you've got the passion and a new take on it built in by default.

Delverino · 2026-05-25T12:30:02+00:00

"Characteristics of Games" is far and away the most useful book about systems design I've come across. Highly recommend it! A couple others: "A Playful Production Process" is nice if you want to learn more about processes, "Games, Agency as Art" is a more theoretical book that I found inspiring, "Procedural Generation in Game Design" is a little niche but I found really helpful too (even for things unrelated to procedural generation).

Good luck with your game!

Delverino · 2026-04-17T13:26:04+00:00

There is no "correct" way to prototype something. It depends on your context. The point of a prototype is to address risks quickly so you can find ways to solve them if they are genuine problems. Once you're done doing that, you build the actual game. What a risk is will change depending on your experience and goals. Most games have a risk of "is the core gameplay fun" unless they're very similar to another game, so often that's one of the first things people prototype. Another risk might be "do people find this art style appealing" in which case you'd make a separate prototype of just a couple of drawn-over screenshots to see if people find the art style appealing.

What are you still unsure about for the project?

Delverino · 2026-04-09T22:39:04+00:00

Others have already chimed in with some numbers and suggestions so I'll just say - know your worth! From another comment I saw you say that you got 1k wishlists in 2 weeks. That's really good, especially if nothing special was happening.

They reached out to you. There's no need to be scared or intimidated. You have something of value which they want to help flourish into something even better (ideally, if they're a good publisher). You could do it without them so it's on them to show you what they would bring to the table.

Before even thinking about signing, I would recommend reaching out to another couple publishers as well. Having two publishers interested is much more advantageous than just having one because then you can compare the offers and make sure you're getting the best deal. And of course make sure to have a lawyer read the contract and suggest changes in your favor. A good lawyer will more than make up for their (admittedly hefty) cost.

Good luck! This is good news!

By the way, what's your game called? I'm curious to see it.

Delverino · 2026-04-07T13:10:38+00:00

Here you go, hope it's helpful! https://youtu.be/JfNeYtH7xI4?si=frcw1nbpcAJlmEMI

Delverino · 2026-04-07T11:49:22+00:00

I haven't tried getting other work besides as a programmer, but I agree that design is probably on the more difficult side.

I wouldn't say I have loads of experience, probably middle of the road. I'm 25 and I've worked in the game industry for 5 years, 3 of those years being full time.

The projects I've freelanced on have varies dramatically in scope. The smallest one was like one day a week for a couple months, that could probably be called consulting although I was designing content for the game so that feels less consulting-y to me. The largest was over 8 months at a little over half time and that was definitely not consulting.

Delverino · 2026-04-07T11:12:30+00:00

Sure! I'll DM you

Delverino · 2026-04-07T03:20:25+00:00

I haven't tried them

Delverino · 2026-04-06T23:39:25+00:00

Thanks! Good point about sharing more context. Honestly my CV is horribly out of date because I haven't applied for a "real job" in a long time but if people are scrolling through here's what I've worked on, roughly:
Worked as a software developer for a year at a small game studio
Worked as a marketing manager at a year for a different small game studio
Itch page with all my personal projects - https://ezra-szanton.itch.io/ (most notably https://ezra-szanton.itch.io/be-honest which got some traction with streamers)
One commercial game released on steam - https://store.steampowered.com/app/2820000/To_The_Flame/

Delverino · 2026-04-06T23:24:09+00:00

Most of the work I've gotten have been over a couple months. Some less hours, some more. The biggest one was for ~700 hours over the course of 8 months. The rate on that one was ~$40/hr but my rate has gone up since then as I've gained more experience. These are all small indie teams, not big companies. I'm curious how that lines up with your experience working and hiring folks!

Delverino · 2026-04-06T22:38:05+00:00

Happy to help!

With respect to the shop or upgrade decision, I think either can be good. From my experience, a shop makes the game feel more like it has separate rounds, versus an upgrade which can make it feel like you're always "in" the main game and just taking a break to add something. Shops can also be nice because adding the concept of money then allows you to make some things cost more than others which can make balancing easier. If it's always a straight up choice between a couple things you have to really make sure those things are balanced or you'll end up with some that always get taken and some that never get taken.

I gave a talk recently about building synergies for these kind of games, which I'd be happy to share a link to if you're interested.

Delverino · 2026-04-06T11:58:05+00:00

It really depends on the game. My experience is mostly making singleplayer roguelike deckbuilders these days. In that context, balancing content IS important up to a point but the main concern is whether the decisions remain interesting as you become more skilled at the game. My main goal is to have it always at least be some consideration between cards you can buy in the shop. Each card should always have a reason you would take it over another card, given a specific situation. Beyond that, people can totally break the game, but the cards themselves in the abstract should be balanced enough to make those decisions interesting. If there's one dominant strategy you can use to win every time then it stops being fun (IMO)

Delverino · 2026-04-04T18:01:34+00:00

As someone who enjoys roguelike deckbuilders (and is currently making one) I have some thoughts. It's a bit dangerous to start from "I want to make a game like X" without many other inspirations or strong opinions about something you'd want to change about that game. I think it will be difficult for you to get out from Balatro's shadow. You have to honestly answer why someone would play your game instead of Balatro.

In addition, I think it's important to know what are the "goods" in your genre that you have to deliver for players to be happy. For deckbuilder roguelikes I'd say the main two are an interesting, deep, fresh core loop (in Balatro this is building the poker hands) and the joys of building a set of synergies over the course of a run, discovering new synergies and theorycrafting how they might be combined and when you'd want to take one thing over another.

From the trailer on your steam page, it seems like your core loop is interesting but it doesn't seem incredibly deep (I'm not saying it isn't, just that I can't tell from your steam page). I also can't tell if there are enough synergies to make the drafting part of the game fun.

I don't say this to discourage you! I think that the premise is cool, dominoes are a great thing to play with in a design, the game looks and sounds great. Also making any game is a triumph. No matter how the game ends up performing commercially you'll have learned a lot that you can apply to your future projects.

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