TBF #5 – Time to Build

Are you lootmaxing?

This week has been good. A lot of work has been accomplished towards the demo build that should ship by the end of May. Let me tell you, that makes me happy after the terrible previous week that was disrupted due to me falling sick.

One of the first elements I was able to add to the game was a card selection between rounds. You can now pick one choice out of three to add to your deck as you advance through your ascension.

This seemingly simple « mechanic » is actually quite complex. You would think that I just took all the cards and applied a randomizer to get you 3 cards that would be valid. But that's very far from it.

It has been implemented as a loot table with multiple conditions and requirements to get you cards that make sense at the moment the choice is made. For example, you cannot receive a card that would reference another card you have never seen. Such an example would happen with The Treasure and The Boat.

It would make no sense to have the choice to pick the boat without a treasure in your deck.

In the same vein, some cards are only introduced in key moments, such as when you reach a given ascension level or when the card could make an interesting combo with a card already in your deck. And on top of all this, there is a little bit of randomization added to make it interesting. For example, if you pull a card, the chance of seeing it again is reduced by 90% to give a more interesting pool of choices for the next picks.

Sadly, it's not yet perfect, as sometimes it pulls the same card twice, which is way less interesting for the player.

Wow, so much choice, so much gameplay…

During the next weeks, this will be heavily modified, adjusted and balanced so that you get the best possible result. My goal is to make it fun for you and to propose choices that matter at every step.

The idea behind this mechanic is that you either design a great deck that allows you to roll at the end of your ascension, or you design your own death. In some way, it's reminiscent of a game like Loop Hero, where you choose both your enemies and your rewards by placing key elements around the map.

Currently, you can only pick one card at a time, but in the future, you will see choices with a card paired with something else. Maybe you will have a choice like "pick The King and receive 1 more heart". What do you think?

I believe the better this pull mechanic is, the more you want to continue playing and the more you want to try different combinations. It will take a lot of work, but I believe it will be worth it.

Future Blog Post

I want to take this opportunity to let you know that the next blog posts might be a bit more technical. As we get closer and closer to the demo build, we will have fewer design changes and way more touchups and fixes to make the game look better, run faster and ship everywhere (like web and mobile). Sadly, this means I won't be able to show you some awesome new cards or combos.

But do not worry, I'll keep things easy to read so you can still enjoy the ride with us towards our first demo. You might even be interested to know more about some technical aspect of the game! End of May is sneaking up fast, and you'll be playing before you know it.

As always, if you want to talk with us, join us on Discord and come say hi!