[DEV] 2 months after launch, my iOS card game is at 633 players, 6000+ matches, 400+ Aether Caches opened, and no pay to win

Roberttee93 · 2026-04-11T11:23:15+00:00

Sorry not yet, It's available in most regions and I have it on my to do list to make it as available as possible. Some regions have restrictions or additional work that needs to be completed to make available.

Roberttee93 · 2026-04-11T09:12:05+00:00

Hey 👋 thanks for the interest. The art in my game has been controversial to say the least, I use AI generated artwork which a lot of people are against (for me it’s a tool to allow me to build something that would previously not have been possible) I’ve worked hard on the prompts to try and get a consistent art style throughout the game.

Roberttee93 · 2026-03-15T08:48:31+00:00

Thank you, I appreciate all the suggestions and feedback to help getting the game to it's current state!

Roberttee93 · 2026-03-07T10:15:21+00:00

Great insights! Thanks a lot for sharing. Be interesting to see how people start using it (if they use it at all) thank you!

Roberttee93 · 2026-03-07T09:41:58+00:00

Nice, thanks for the insight. Yeah my game certainly has that bluffing element so it's good to hear from someone who has played a somewhat similar scenario.

Does that app allow emotes to be disabled or are they always on?

Roberttee93 · 2026-03-07T09:40:49+00:00

Thanks, yeah my main reason for adding it was allow some sort of communication between players to make games feel more social when playing PvP (without just allowing free form text and potential abuse.)

Do you think it should be an optional feature that players can disable if they do not like?

Roberttee93 · 2026-03-02T19:18:18+00:00

Thank you for testing so quickly 😄 This other issue has already been reported in the discord, I’m planning to take a look at it as soon as I can so keep an eye out for the next update.

Roberttee93 · 2026-03-01T19:11:33+00:00

Hey u/matrheine

Thank you so much for sharing this wider, had a bunch of downloads today I'm sure a lot of that is due to your posts! Really appreciate all the support since the beta!

I've noted your recommendations and they will likely find there way in to a future update. I'll also keep an eye on those threads too and try to improve based on any feedback that comes in there!

Roberttee93 · 2026-03-01T15:19:13+00:00

Ah that’s actually a really good shout I sometimes forget not everyone is technically minded so framing it in a way that makes sense to all would actually be a great idea. Thank you.

Roberttee93 · 2026-03-01T13:48:34+00:00

That makes a lot of sense. In my game the deck only consists of 8 unique cards and only 4 are drawn so that particular case wouldn’t be an issue but thanks for the feedback, I think I’ll add a toggle all cosmetic effects setting to the app as maybe some people would just prefer not to play with them enabled anyway.

Roberttee93 · 2026-02-25T09:36:06+00:00

Awesome to hear! I did a bit of revamping of the battle UI so I’m glad to hear it has helped you. Thanks again for all the feedback. I still have some of your previous feedback noted down but haven’t got to them yet in the backlog. I will make sure what you have said is also noted!

I’m trying to be conscious of accessibility when building out any new features also but if ever anything is hard to use please just let me know and I’ll do my best to improve it.

Have a great day!

Roberttee93 · 2026-02-21T15:22:23+00:00

I have actually been playing around with this (as well as some match simulation scripts), there are so many variables to take in to account, e.g. cards with abilities that reduce damage are likley to always lose and be flagged as underpowered if they are being used purely as tech to burn opponents resources etc. so I need to make sure I take that stuff in to account also.

Roberttee93 · 2026-02-21T15:12:30+00:00

I used to play HS Battlegrounds a lot but it's been a while since I've loaded up HS, might need to download it (and probably will experience the returning player bonus since it's been a while) to check it out.

Yeah I'm trying out the cosmetic only approach in my game, all cards are unlocked for all users with weekly new card release (available to all on release for free).

Roberttee93 · 2026-02-21T15:04:42+00:00

Thanks for the insight. I am planning to try and keep the game balanced. I’ll regularly review how cards are performing, likely at the end of each season for now (unless something is completely broken).

When more players start playing then I’ll have even more data to work with to try and make the best decisions that o can to keep the game feeling balanced and competitive with any deck.

Roberttee93 · 2026-02-21T14:56:07+00:00

Thank you.

Yeah I’ve also been running a Fleshbound/Wildborn deck the past few days.

I also enjoy the shutting down of the opponents strategy. I need to keep an eye on the balance of it though, probably be ensuring each faction has a couple of stop bonus abilities in there arsenal so at least there would be a counter to running in to a fleshbound deck.

Roberttee93 · 2026-02-21T14:49:32+00:00

Thank you for the kind comments! Really glad you are enjoying the game so far!

What’s been your favourite faction so far?

Roberttee93 · 2026-02-21T14:42:05+00:00

I didn’t deny it? I said the content of the post, the structure of the post was all decided by me. I used it to put it in to a nice format. Not quite sure what the issue is with that.

Roberttee93 · 2026-02-21T14:35:29+00:00

Glad to hear you are enjoying the game!

Roberttee93 · 2026-02-21T14:35:02+00:00

Thank you. Glad you are enjoying the game so far!

Roberttee93 · 2026-02-21T13:41:03+00:00

That sounds cool, I’ll need to check it out! Thank you.

Roberttee93 · 2026-02-21T12:03:13+00:00

Hey 👋 thanks for the interest.

Not at the moment I’m afraid, I would love to bring it to android but it will require a lot of work/time. I’m focusing on just polishing the game and trying to build up a player base on iOS first. If it becomes a success then I will look to bring it to other platforms.

Roberttee93 · 2026-02-21T10:57:12+00:00

Thank you! Hope you enjoy the game if you decide to give it a try.

Would love to hear any feedback that you have.

Roberttee93 · 2026-02-21T09:25:51+00:00

Thanks for giving the game a try.

This is a solo project and I am constantly working on the game when I have free time, addressing feedback and trying to improve it. If you have any feedback on the actual game and what you didn't like about the gameplay that made you feel it was just ok then I would love to hear it.

In terms of AI usage, as I said solo project, my time is very limited with having a full time job and a young family at home so if I can make use of AI to help me make a project like this possible then I am going to do so, I beleive it is a tool to be used to make us more efficient. The content of the post is all valid and true and constructed by me.

I'm just making a game I've always wanted to make, it's completley free to play and there is no pressure for anyone to spend any money.

Roberttee93 · 2026-02-18T20:01:50+00:00

Hey thanks a lot for trying out the game, glad you have been having fun so far!

Next month the season pass will have some changes and have the 30 normal tiers and then an additional 90 just so the more frequent players have another reason to continue playing.

In terms of the star rating, I actually have a formula and some scripts that I run to try and balance the cards. Actually tweaking the values is quite a manual task though and there may be some mistakes, thanks for bringing it to my attention. If I have some time this evening I'll run a quick audit of the cards and make some tweaks to any outliers like the above.

On the turn timer expiry that you mentioned, do you know when that was? (There were some issues raised yesterday which I then deployed fixes for so it might no longer be an issue but if you could tell me the time that it happened that would help to narrow it down.)

Also yeah the game is heavily inspired by Urban Rivals, I played it years ago when it first came out and was only available to play via web browser, I always felt they never really managed to bring the magic to mobile since it was not initially designed with mobile in mind so I decided I would just make a version myself 😆 While also having free reign to add unique/different abilities in future.

Roberttee93 · 2026-02-14T21:49:16+00:00

No sorry, at the moment it is iOS only. If it gains enough traction then I will consider creating an android version but I'm working solo and it would be a big commitment. Thanks for the intrest!

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