Overview
Star Deck is a love-child of Slay the Spire, Smash Up, and all your childhood sci-fi movies! It's a roguelike deckbuilding adventure, set in a galaxy controlled by The Federation, a galactic force that won the Great War, and seized control of the democratically controlled powers before it. It rules with a totalitarian fist, asking for tribute from the citizens of each planet, and offering little in return.
In the game, you'll play as a galactic smuggler who's brother was abducted by The Federation. With little to go on, you embark on an adventure to find and rescue him. Using a randomized roguelite gameplay strategy that keeps things different in each play through, you'll battle your way through 4-6 different levels across the galaxy with varying biomes, ranging from the robot space-islands, to sand-swept deserts, to frozen waste-lands, all the while building up a deck comprised of 2 weapons with unique playstyles!
Weapons
In the final game, there will be 5-6 weapons to choose from when you begin a new run. In each run of the game, you'll get to pick 2 weapons to equip, and those weapons will each have their unique deck of cards that contribute to your card pool for that run.
Each unique weapon deck will have a minimum of 30 cards. Starting decks will be comprised of a few of those cards, and the rest you will encounter during your play through as battle rewards, event rewards, or shop purchases. You'll build the strongest deck you can, using strategies based on the strengths of your weapon classes to synergize together! Part of the fun will be experimenting with different combinations of weapons to see which work the best together.
In the current demo, there are 2 weapons available for use, the Blaster and the Ice Hammer.
The Blaster uses ammo slots in addition to each card's base Energy cost, so you'll need to closely manage your ammo and reload when needed, or else you won't be able to attack! The Blaster specializes in getting many attacks out quickly and dealing good damage.
The Ice Hammer is a defensive weapon that deals less damage, but makes up for that with it's freeze mechanic. Each attack from the hammer places a frost stack on the enemy, and once the enemy gets 3 stacks they'll be frozen until the next turn. Other cards in the hammer's deck will also revolve around this frost mechanic, allowing you to place stacks in other ways, and build your defenses up with passive Power and Skill cards.
Cards
In addition to the weapon card pools, there will be a plethora of non-weapon cards to choose from on a run. Events will have unique cards that you can obtain that will aid you on your adventure, and there will also be a general, non-weapon card pool accessible on card selection opportunities, and in the Shop.
Battles
Combat will be at the center of the game's core, where you use your cards to battle enemies that you encounter along your journey. A variety of different RPG-style battle mechanics are already in the game, including vulnerability, attack weakness, counter attacks/moves, shielding, healing, multi-attacks. Final game will include critical strike and poison mechanics, along with many more! Play the demo on Steam for the full immersive battle experience!
Explore colorful, intriguing world environments as you battle your way through multiple levels on your adventure to find your lost brother! I'm aiming for a vibrant, amusing, and sometimes silly vibe for the game.
Enemies next moves are shown atop their head so you can plan a strategy for battle. Status effects are shown under your HP, and hovering over explains their effects and duration.
In addition to regular enemy battles, elite enemies will spawn on the map that you can encounter as well. Players are encouraged to fight the elites as they have higher risk/rewards benefits. Players will be able to get a unique artifact from elite enemies that boosts their run in some way. At the end of each level, there will be a boss encounter with even more rewards! After each battle, you'll get to choose a new card to add to your deck, or if you need to you can heal instead.
Enemies
There will be a vibrant array of unique enemies to encounter through the game. The first level, Robotica is a city full of robots so there is a handful of different robot enemies to encounter. As you progress in the game to new levels, the enemies will be part of that unique biome. Think sand monsters in the desert, ice creatures in the frozen tundra, etc. Each level will have 8-12 unique enemies to encounter!
Events
Encounter unique events that may help or hurt you, all randomized on the map! Events are specific to each level to add to the story.
The Shop
The Shop! A necessary stop in an adventurer's journey. Use the Remover tool to remove cards from your deck, or the Duplicator to make copies of cards you love! Also stock up on consumables, like the Health Flask. Earn currency, or credits, as you win battles or through Events.
Consumables
Consumables can be used for a one time bonus in (or sometimes outside) battle to give you an edge. Purchase them in the Shop, get hem as Battle rewards, or from some Events.
Artifacts
Artifacts are permanent bonuses that you gain throughout your adventure. They might give you bonuses when you draw cards, or give you extra Energy or Ammo, or boost your chances at finding rare cards! Some artifacts may be so powerful that they completely change how your strategy for a run goes.
AI Disclaimer
This game contains art assets created by AI tools. As an independent, small game studio of 1 person, I have found AI generation tools to be incredibly helpful for creating my vision of this sprawling, colorful sci-fi galaxy. Human artists are amazing and can never be truly replaced by AI, but in my case, the resources to hire talented artists to work with daily would be significantly higher than I can afford, as this is my first game. Even though AI may have generated these assets, this is still the vision of a human who dreamt it all up. I hope you won't be dissuaded from giving this game a chance just because of that.