Hi everyone, this is Coffee, the designer of Indies’ Lies. Having been in the game industry for over a decade, I’ve always wanted to develop an outstanding game for all the players out there, as well as for myself. For years me and my team have worked hard towards that goal, and we’re proud to present our first indie game project — Indies’ Lies.
The roguelike deckbuilder genre has long been known as a hardcore niche. From the very start of our project, it was our goal to create a more beginner-friendly roguelike deckbuilder that could reach and touch more players.
Before launching the Steam EA version, we’ve also released Indies’ Lies on mobile. Although the game is still far from perfect, but it’s exceeded my expectation by a lot. For that, I owe a sincere thank you to my team, all the players, and everyone who followed the project.
When it comes to roguelike deckbuilding, Slay the Spire is the undisputable masterpiece of the genre, and there’s a lot to learn from its strategic depth and balance.
When we started, we had the idea to introduce the charm of deckbuilding to more players, for example players looking for a more casual gaming experience. With that in mind, we wanted to create a new deckbuilding gameplay, which would allow players to spend less time on building a powerful deck to smash enemies within a few turns. We tried many designs, came up with then threw away many ideas. The result, well, is certainly mixed.
There was a time when the team would be literally fighting every day about the game design. Although the stress was overwhelming, I was so grateful to have found a group of like-minded friends that I proudly call my team. Back then, we didn’t know where it could all go. It was scary, but we kept going, as a team.
In April 2021, we released our first beta test on mobile. We were so lucky to have a flood of players try out the game and leave us positive reviews and constructive feedback. It felt like hard work had paid off, and of course, more work needed to be done. In October and November, we participated in several indie game exhibitions. It made my heart swell to finally meet players and talk to them in person. We got a lot of new ideas and suggestions from fellow developers, which helped us keep polishing the game.
It’s the team efforts and community support that got us to this far to the Steam EA release. My deepest gratitude goes to everyone who made this possible.
(In the next part, I will talk about what kind of differences we bring to the genre. Stay tuned!)