Unnamed TCG Game

This - currently unnamed - TCG is a passion project for me.

As a big fan of card-based games such as Yu-Gi-Oh!, Clash Royale and Stormbound, I wanted to create a TCG that takes the best parts of the current suite of available games and to combine them in a way that is fun, engaging and most of all, interactive.

The process of development for this game has had a good start. A card pool of around 115 cards have been created and prototype designs for card layout and art have been made. Rigorous testing of these cards has taken place and is still ongoing, with changes being made to keep the format balanced and fair. I am aiming to have a card pool of around 400 on release, with new packs containing around 60-80 cards releasing around every two months.

The technical side of development has started well too. The main technical problem that I had to face was the simple issue of time. If a full development team takes just under a month to implement a new set of cards (that they haven't needed to design), then how could I possibly hope to keep to my development schedule? My answer was to create a standardised language that all of the cards follow, so that I can program the effects to be read on the fly by the game, and apply them as required. Even with only a couple of effects having been introduced into the game, this is already showing signs of being an incredibly effective way to achieve my goals with this project. The initial set-up of these algorithms will be the biggest time investment, but they should allow the seamless and easy implementation of new cards in the future.

This game is a Yu-Gi-Oh! style TCG. It utilises many of the same mechanics, but has made striking changes to remove some of the issues that modern Yu-Gi-Oh! has, and fails to fix. These changes include (but are not limited to):

• The removal of overly complex mechanics - to help newer players learn the game;

• The significant rework of "Link" monsters - to reduce the "unbalanced nature" of the cards;

• A prize card mechanic - allowing for more deck-building creativity, whilst also creating counterplay for the losing player;

• A card design philosophy that has learnt from the mistakes that Yu-Gi-Oh! has made over the last 27 years; and most importantly;

• An intent to utilise the banlist to fix cards, not to remove them permanently, as well as a willingness to make adjustments to the banlist's functionality to ensure that every format is as fun, balanced and innovative as possible.