Day one. We are playing random games. This is a new Steam mechanic — for the first two days of the festival you can play random games, after which the selection becomes personalized and Steam starts suggesting games similar to the ones you play. It is meant to help sell us more games and wishlists.
A card game, card management. A variety of card game where the cards are game entities themselves. In many card games the cards are a source of spells and monsters, but in this type of game the cards are units, monsters, and resources all at once.
Example of gameplay: you have a unit card and a tree card, you place one card onto the other and the unit “chops” the tree (shown with a progress bar), and as a result of this interaction new card types appear: logs and branches.
Another gameplay example: you place a unit card onto an apple card — and the unit eats the apple )
This is the core mechanic. You can get new cards, sell cards for coins, and buy other cards for coins.
The game has various events. For example, a merchant arrives and you trade an artifact from him for coins (also cards) or apples (some item or modifier for the player’s overall build).
You also get attacked by enemies, and there is combat.
The game has many different mechanics — that’s the genre. It is a systemic game with a complex system. Simplified art.
Developing a game like this requires good balance and looooots of engaging tests.
The demo plays well, you can get hooked. But not for long: after 15 minutes you feel a “dip” in progression that knocks you out of the flow.
A definite wishlist for the team. And good luck!
Game link — https://store.steampowered.com/app/4559060/Throne_of_Cards/
Similar games: Stacklands, WitchHand.