Game Overview

Project CardPunk is an in-development Roguelike Deckbuilding Card Battler that is being developed using Unreal's GAS framework, and intended to be released on Steam later this year. As the Lead Game Designer, Programmer and Project Manager, I am responsible for much of the game's design and programming.

Project CardPunk has a dimension-hopping narrative, where the cards, enemies, art and locales will themed around Cyberpunk, Steampunk and Medieval/Fantasy styles. The three dimensions each have separate card lists, but the player can add cards from any dimension to build their deck.

Game Loop

Project CardPunk is a game inspired by other RPG Deckbuilding roguelikes like Dawncaster and Slay the Spire, and it follows a similar game loop where:

1. The player prepares for a 'run' by selecting a starting deck of cards. This cards are used for battle and start with basic attacks and cards to help a particular build strategy.

2. The player progresses through a map of randomly selected battles or events, while managing their deck & health.

3. In a battle, the player faces off against a single enemy and uses their deck of cards to defeat them, being presented with random cards on success to add to their deck (weighted by rarity).

   • A player may aim to build a certain type/build of deck, or work with what the game presents for them.

4. The player will progress until they defeat a certain number of bosses to complete a run. If they run out of health before this, the run is lost and the player must start another one from the beginning.

5. Finishing runs (whether they win or lose) will help the player to unlock new cards, events and starting decks to be included in future runs.

Key Features

3 Dimensions

A key component of Project CardPunk is that the battles take place in 1 of 3 different dimensions - Medieval/Fantasy, Cyberpunk and Steampunk and most cards in the game will belong to one of those dimensions.

Cards in the same dimension have some shared traits that enable them to work well together.

Medieval/Fantasy Dimension

The Medieval/Fantasy dimension is based on Arthurian-style fantasy, with melee attack cards & actions being based on combat-savvy knights, who bravely face-off against legendary beasts who may be many times their size.

Medieval Cards - Yellow border

Medieval cards have yellow borders and include the most general and basic cards to start off with, but higher rarity cards and builds unlocked through gameplay include elemental magic cards, which can apply powerful buffs/debuffs with their damage, as well as advanced Combat Stance cards which help players make the most of their attacks.

Cyberpunk Dimension

The Cyberpunk dimension is ultra-high tech, with cards and enemies based on cyborgs cybernetic upgrades, automated modern machinery (e.g. turrets) whilst utilising advanced software, viruses and upgrades for efficient dismissal of any foe.

Cyber Cards - Purple border

Cyber cards have purple borders and are typically combo-focused builds, with low cost, but also low damage cards. A lot of Cyber builds enable you to draw or discard lots of cards, reduce card costs or generate Unstable (temporary) cards in hand, for low damage but high throughput gameplay. Cyber cards also include those that can be altered during a battle to gain new effects, or disruptive cards aimed at hindering the enemy. Also - all Cyber cards have software-themed names - Attacks are in PascalCase and end in .exe, for example.

Steampunk Dimension

The innovative Steampunk dimension is all about making the impossible possible. Harbouring everything from gadgets like smokebombs and explosives, to giant golems and firearms, the Steam dimension is where the biggest damage and defence cards lie. However, innovation comes at a cost, and success isn't always guaranteed.

Steam Cards - Red border

Steam cards have red borders and house the cards with the biggest damage and defensive potential, but often have very high costs, making it hard to play them without setup. Steam card strategies include generating mass energy, increasing the damage/defence output of your cards and breaking through troublesome defences, for a low throughput, high damage playstyle. The more you increase your cards output however, the more likely you are to miss your next attack, but there are a few ways to get around this.

Dimension Triangle of Power

There is a triangle of power between the three dimensions, which provides enemies with buffs or debuffs appropriate to the dimension the battle is taking place in.

The player will be able to see which dimension the most battles will take place in from the progression map. Some will be hidden however.

While players can build decks using cards from any dimension, appropriate balance testing is planned to ensure that players who choose to build a deck purely of one dimension will not have an inappropriate disadvantage against a dimension they are weak to.

However, it is intended that the dimension effects are just impactful enough to take into account when selecting whether to enter a battle or not. (Like deciding whether to aim for an elite battle in Slay the Spire).

Card Categories & Keywords

All cards are split into 3 Categories: Attack, Action, and Item.

• Attack cards deal damage, and may apply a bonus effect.

• Action cards do not deal explicit damage, but will help the player in various ways, like applying or removing an effect, or drawing cards, etc.

• Item cards are one-use consumables that are removed from the deck after use.

Cards will also have various Keywords which are very important and provide information on what the card does and how it affects the player or enemy. Some of the keywords that are more unique to Project CardPunk are listed below:

• Gate Cards

  Each battle is played in one of the three dimensions (Medieval/Fantasy, Cyberpunk or Steampunk). Cards with the Gate keyword can (in addition to the cards effect) change the dimension the battle takes place in for a set number of turns. This enables the player to turn a detrimental dimension into a beneficial one, but this will also change the visual art of the surroundings to the new dimension.

• Ultimate Cards Ultimate cards have powerful effects that can sometimes make or break a deck. They often will be designed to support a particular build strategy, and players are limited to only have 1 Ultimate card in their deck. Players may choose to build their deck around the Ultimate card(s) they pickup early in a run, or choose to wait until they find the Ultimate card that suits their strategy.

You can find the first draft of concept Cyber and Steam Cards below.

Cyber Card List (First Draft)

Click to view Steam Card List (First Draft)

Project Management

As the Project Manager, in addition to planning regular meetings, it is my duty to create and manage the team's Clickup workspace and documentation.

I chose to use ClickUp as the project management software, as my goal is to create an easily accessible environment for my team to have clear vision & guidance on the project and how we will work together effectively - so new and old members are all on the same page.

Some of the documentation I have created for the project during its pre-production phase include:

• Project Noticeboard - an overview doc where the current project status and departmental aims are held.

• Project Conventions - includes docs on repository branch and merging procedures, file naming conventions, folder structure and definition of done.

• Class Documentation - to record all custom classes created by developers, in BP or C++. Templates also created for the team to use.

• Input \ Control Schema - details the planned control setup, Input Mapping Contexts and their Input Actions.

• Design Overview FAQs - a selection of Q&As members can refer to, covering things like 'How many enemies on screen at a time?', 'Max hand size?', 'How do Energy & card costs work?' and more.