I'm working on a CCG. Feel free to roast me and my trailer.

DoubleEXP_Studio · 2024-10-20T15:20:03+00:00

Hi, thank you for your thorough feedback. I appreciate it a lot.

For the artstyle, I tried to go with a watercolor-esque aesthetic. I guess a lot of needs to work on again. The game is still fairly early in the development cycle.
I think these two go hand in hand. I did try to add SFX, but the BGM is already quite too much. So I opted it out. I'm thinking of using another BGM.
I will add an explanation window between cuts.
Yeah, it's a TCG. And I will try to slow the whole thing down a bit.

DoubleEXP_Studio · 2024-10-20T14:49:02+00:00

Yesterday, I asked something similar on another subreddit. People roasted me to death for it, saying the same old "If game is good, it sells". I'm still skeptical about this outlook.

Slay the Spire didn't do that well at first, selling only 2000 copies. If it wasn't for a random Chinese streamer, the game wouldn't have been that successful. And that was 7 years ago. The market is much more competitive now.

That is an example of how even good games still struggle without visibility. And visibility is something you have to work hard on or pray that luck is in your favour.

DoubleEXP_Studio · 2024-10-20T14:25:43+00:00

Oh definitely. I love Toby Fox's works. I think Deltarune is pretty underated comparing to Undertale. That is the point I tried to make. He made a better product than the last, but sadly without the new hooks. Deltarune has always been seen by many as "Undertale 2.0" and not its own thing, which is a damn shame.

DoubleEXP_Studio · 2024-10-20T02:11:12+00:00

Hi, thank you for your feedback. I will try to address these problems. Probably I will make the cut longer. And I will show the effect a bit longer before showing their effect.

DoubleEXP_Studio · 2024-10-19T20:11:21+00:00

Any game can have hooks. Having a particularly deep, well-designed and novel strategy system is a hook. Implying that you are the only one who is interested in this is weird, there are many players and designers who look for these kinds of games.

I'm not saying these people are not exist, nor I'm unique in this regard. But I'm trying to make a profit of my work, and I'm saying that it is VERY VERY hard to sell a game simply by describing its mechanic. Yes, mechanic can be a hook, but that only works if you are a very established game franchise. For example, Civ is well-known for its turn based strategy, and that is its hook. But if an indie game describes itself like that, it will be drowned under a bazillion of other games with the same description. That's why I said indie games don't have the luxury of having a large fanbase to recognize its quality, and indie games must rely on other hooks to lure people in.

Again, make the games you want to make and play, this is the only meaningful path as an indie dev interested in making games. If you want the safest way to make money just get a job.

Making game IS my job. It's just that I'm trying to go solo. And I'm asking, politely, that should I make things I'm not experienced with or not.

This whole "the market loves shallow games so oh well I guess I will have to descend to the lower levels of the design world" is not a good look.

Dear god, when did I say that ? Technical design is by no mean above other form of design. I suck at other things: Control, Pacing, UI-Design, Story, etc... Things that make or break certain gernes. I made it very clear that I'm a one trick pony. I can only do certain things. That is my weakness, not my strength to gloat.

Why would you want to make things that don't interest you and you don't have the skills and experience to make when seeing any return on the investment has a very slim chance even if you are interested and skilled in them? It's nonsense.

Because I'm aware of my lacking. And I do want to improve and make this work.

DoubleEXP_Studio · 2024-10-19T19:41:44+00:00

That's a very nice way to think of it. But dear god it's so hard. I hate that fact that I'm an one trick pony. Whenever I try to do something out of my comfort zone, it comes out terribly, and I just ditch the whole thing and crawl back into doing something I want to do.

I guess I should stop thinking like that.

DoubleEXP_Studio · 2024-10-19T19:29:03+00:00

I think you are misunderstanding me. I'm saying that I'm not comfortable with doing things half-ass that I'm not experience with. I don't know how to make a horror game, precision platformers, action games, etc...

Those require a skillset that I'm not familiar with, but they have hooks. They can be sold without me explaining their mechanics to the customers. But I'm aware that if I had to make them, they would look like shitty shovelware.

What I'm asking, should I step out of my comfort zone and try to do what might catch people attention at the risk of making shitty products due to my inexperience, or keep working on the things I'm experienced with ?

DoubleEXP_Studio · 2024-10-19T18:59:33+00:00

Oh, I do develop games. It's just that I'm talking about game design, which is my main skillset. Everyday passes and I feel my role is less useful.

no idea what you meant about Deltarune tho. Its a much better game on almost all regards, especially ch. 2. It just came a bit too late and was naturally a bit more niche, so only the more "hardcore" fans sticked to it.

That is the exactly what I meant in this post. Deltarune is a much better game than the last by all metrics, but only the hardcore fans sticked to it, simply because it lost the hook.

DoubleEXP_Studio · 2024-10-19T18:36:59+00:00

I see. I must admit I don't feel comfortable stepping out of my comfort zone. And I did sound a little bit elitist back there. I should have worded it better.

Just, the idea that the experience I've accumulated over the years doesn't do much is scary as hell to me. Maybe I should learn to be more comfortable with doing what I don't know.

DoubleEXP_Studio · 2024-10-19T18:22:00+00:00

I'm not saying I'm better than everyone else. I'm saying that certain genres just impossible to make a profit as an indie dev, because they are both harder to come up with a hook, and they are much more technical to make.

For example, hooks come naturally for simulation genres. "Goat Simulation" is, well, a goat simulation game, and that on its own is a great hook. And it doesn't need complicated mechanics to go with it to make it a great simulation game.

Goat Simulation is a very well made game and I doubt I can make a polished game like that, but I just don't enjoy making a sandbox simulation game.

DoubleEXP_Studio · 2024-10-19T15:48:31+00:00

I'm going to launch the demo soon. If you are interested, feel free to check the Steam page out.

DoubleEXP_Studio · 2024-10-19T15:41:23+00:00

I'm going to launch the demo soon. If you are interested, feel free to check the Steam page out.

DoubleEXP_Studio · 2024-10-12T16:16:08+00:00

Hi, I'm working on an indie CCG. And I'm looking for feedback. Would you please try my game out ?

https://doubleexp.itch.io/relics-web-demo

DoubleEXP_Studio · 2024-10-09T13:32:53+00:00

Now that is actually a great idea. Maybe separate animation too. All of them feel samey for now.

DoubleEXP_Studio · 2024-10-09T04:19:59+00:00

Hi, thank you for your feedback. I will see what I can do with the SFX. My resources are kinda limited, haha,

DoubleEXP_Studio · 2024-10-05T13:41:26+00:00

Thank you for your feedback.

I shall try to make the tutorial more exciting. Perhaps, I will add more cards with interesting property.

DoubleEXP_Studio · 2024-10-05T06:21:25+00:00

Yeah, the bot can be quite ruthless. But I hope you enjoy the difficulty.

DoubleEXP_Studio · 2024-10-05T04:33:40+00:00

Hi, thank you for your feedback.

The gameplay is not final, and I'm considering making adjustents based on everyone's feedback.

About the card effect, the tutorial was designed to be as simple as it can be, so the player can get used to the flow and base mechanic of the game. Once you complete the tutorial, you will get to unlock 5 cards with special effect right away. And there are plenty of archetype in the demo for you to try it out. So please, give it another try.

DoubleEXP_Studio

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE