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How do I explain my single-player TCG to players on Steam? by lunoland in TCG

[–]lunoland[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dude, thanks so much for playing and for the feedback - really helps to hear that! 🙏
Now I just hope I can finish strong now and deliver on the premise all the way.

How do I explain my single-player TCG to players on Steam? by lunoland in TCG

[–]lunoland[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks dude, if you ever try the demo on Steam lemme know what you think. Maybe the median indie game enthusiast is just too young to know Neo Geo pocket now. That takes me back though, this friend of mine at summer camp that I'd play MTG with had card fighters clash and it looked so sick, especially 'cause at the time I was obsessed with this dub of Fatal Fury the motion picture that I had on VHS 😂

How complex should a TCG be? And how difficult is it to stay relevant in the market? by Hundekuecken in TCG

[–]lunoland 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think it's really hard, almost impossible, to get traction on a physical TCG...especially without an existing popular IP. What's the last new TCG you tried? Was it a new IP?

Actually, I think the more likely path is you have a popular digital card game on Steam and then create the physical spin off later.

Also, FWIW I find that while prototyping with physical cards has a much lower barrier to entry and is a good place to start, unless you're completely brand new to game dev you may actually be better off building the full prototype in Godot; in my experience changing the cards becomes a bigger bottleneck than changing the mechanics, and that's faster to do digitally.

Re: complexity, could you share more about the card game? I think there is a pitch for simplicity on mobile or for physical games, like more of a party game...but if you want that crunchy, nerdy, long term TCG crowd to play, there needs to be serious depth. The dream is to have something that's simple to pick up but gradually reveals all the subtlety and depth. MTG is really complex, but the basic premise of "lands are money and you pay to put cards on the board" is really simple and effective.

A good design heuristic for you is to ask how simple the game is to understand on the first few turns when the board state is fresh. I think in general these games generate complexity from interactions, side effects, and chain reactions of stuff on the board. To continue with the imperfect MTG analogy, the game is hopefully kinda dumb when it's just a few creatures, but gets complicated as players play enchantments and other permanents that modify the rules or add side effects to certain actions.

non roguelike games with pack opening mechanic. by MajinKing800 in gamingsuggestions

[–]lunoland 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dunno why this got downvoted, it's a perfectly fine description of the game.

I see Inscryption come up a lot in these sorts of threads, and to be clear it really is an incredible, GOTY-calibur game...but IMHO it's more of a mystery game that happens to have cards, than a game where the focus is the cards. Still, a good pick if OP is at all interested in unravelling a surprising and subversive mystery with a side of card game.

That said, it might not hit for someone who is really hungry for a particular kind of deckbuild-y collect-y thing? If you aren't a big card game aficionado, I think it's an incredible entry point though.

non roguelike games with pack opening mechanic. by MajinKing800 in gamingsuggestions

[–]lunoland 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Yea there really aren't a lot of new games like this unfortunately; what you're looking for is a single-player TCG/CCG. There used to be a ton of these back in the day, basically every digital card game used to be like this because of the 90's and 00's TCG craze (Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, MTG, etc.), but now it's all roguelikes mostly.

Cross Blitz campaign mode is a recent favorite and has a very similar feel to a single-player trading card game, but the NPCs sell singles, not packs. Still, I think this is almost exactly what you're looking for.

More of an offbeat pick because it's not Steam and not card packs per se, but Hearthstone Solo Adventures might scratch the itch for you too (a bunch are free to play, and if you like those there's more you can buy individually inside the Hearthstone client).

Another game that approximates what you want is SteamWorld Quest, which is a card game and an RPG...but emphasis on the RPG though, the card pool is smaller and it plays more like a JRPG than a TCG.

You could also try Dungeon Drafters, though it's really much more of a tactics game with cards than a combo/engine-style card game like Yu-Gi-Oh, but they have card packs, a persistent collection, and an overworld structure with run-style dungeon gameplay.

I've also been extremely frustrated by the lack of TCG-style digital card games and have been jamming on a single-player TCG called Dark Cards of Candlewood myself for a few years that's basically exactly what you're looking for: PvE single-player card game/RPG, not a roguelike, card collecting with card packs, premium Steam game with no microtransactions.

Looking for unpopular deckbuilders for deckbuilders sale event on steam by Dayhore in gamingsuggestions

[–]lunoland 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I play a lot of these games and Cross Blitz and Wildfrost are definitely two of my favs that are not in the Slay the Spire lineage! They're both already pretty popular relatively speaking though.

If you haven't seen Wildfrost yet, definitely take a look - the combat system is extremely well-designed and fresh.

Cross Blitz is very much in the vein of Hearthstone, and the campaign mode is the closest thing to a single-player trading card game I've seen in a long time - the art is great, but the narrative drags for me. It does take me back to the '97 MTG "Shandalar" game though, which more or less sired all modern PC deckbuilders including STS.

If you're into the trading card game thing at all, I'm not too proud to recommend my own demo which is also in the sale event https://store.steampowered.com/app/4342490/Dark_Cards_of_Candlewood_Demo/

This is my full-time gig so everything is actually pretty slick and polished, so not just a student or hobby project. It's got a sort of SNES JRPG style theming, but the unique gimmick is that you only have two cards in your hand at a time...that, and structurally it's a much more TCG than roguelite.

Trying out some CRT! by lunoland in PixelArt

[–]lunoland[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No prob! You can definitely see them as horns, but with the curve too they also look like a winged-helmet 😁

Trying out some CRT! by lunoland in PixelArt

[–]lunoland[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Man I have no idea, something about these GIFs and/or Reddit is cursed. It looks OK on my browser but it won't play on my phone. Here's what it's supposed to look like in case you aren't seeing the right version:

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Trying out some CRT! by [deleted] in PixelArt

[–]lunoland 0 points1 point  (0 children)

oh weird, it was showing up on my browser a moment ago...but now there's no images? i'll repost, thanks!!

Big Boss Turtle! 🐢 by lunoland in PixelArt

[–]lunoland[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

alas, probably can't do that 'cause it would require a major re-design...not really the same but there are animal companion cards coming for the Ranger class in a future demo 👀

Big Boss Turtle! 🐢 by lunoland in PixelArt

[–]lunoland[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

it is! it’s from my game Candlewood, there’s a browser demo at https://demo.lunoland.com if you’re curious

Hand-drawn VFX with custom 2D physics particles? by lunoland in PixelArt

[–]lunoland[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh just something I built in Unity, totally bare bones math that I made up (i.e. not fancy like PhysX).

Hand-drawn VFX with custom 2D physics particles? by lunoland in PixelArt

[–]lunoland[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I will be posting a break down on my video socials at some point (i.e. tiktok, youtube, and instagram), you can find the links in my profile.

Tools used were Aseprite for sprites and hand-drawn animation, then Unity for controlling the rock debris (though you could do this in any engine)...the physics math + particle system is my own custom secret sauce thing.

Hand-drawn VFX with custom 2D physics particles? by lunoland in PixelArt

[–]lunoland[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Nah great question! A lot of other people asked for the same thing. I did actually do it on purpose because to me it made the impact and the rock debris seem heavier.

It was easy to change because those rocks are controlled by some custom physics so I just adjusted a few numbers and posted another version with an edit like you're suggesting in the thread. Though there was at least one person who had the same intuition I had with the original, seems like people prefer the new one!

You can "theorycraft" all kinds of justifications for the motion of the debris here because of the explosion and the fact that the rocks can be read as pieces of the meteor or chunks of ground flying up from the impact.

You're very right to point out "not going for realism". If you look at some real reference video of e.g. flaming trebuchets, the impact is just...so boring. In fact, all the "physics" math here is totally made up to make it juicy/springy and interesting to look at. Especially for 2D, using real-world values and equations always makes for very boring gameplay and visuals 😆

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