When I first started playing Deckbuilder games, I would be spending hours getting familiar with all the cards and items, without even clearing the starting level. Many of my friends shelved this genre for the same frustration.
To make Indies’ Lies less punishing, the first thing we did was to allow players to replace cards in deck directly with new cards. Players no long need to remove cards to trim the deck down, and they can build a deck faster to try out new cards and new strategies right away. This design does exactly what we intended, and we’ve received a lot of positive feedback about this. However, a lot of hardcore players found the game a bit too easy. This is not an easy balance and it’s something we’ll keep working on.
Indies’ Lies also offers a variety of characters to choose from. Each of the 9 heroes comes with 2 initial talents (1 class talent, and 1 character-exclusive talent) and 2 exclusive cards (more can be unlocked at higher levels). More options can be unlocked at higher levels, bringing more uniqueness to each character.
There’re 20 difficulty levels. After getting feedback about the game getting boring after some time with the same character, we added 3 extra talents for each hero, which can be unlocked by clearing story mode.
After all these changes, the balance of the game took some damage. Some cards are too OP, and some cards never get picked. A lot still needs to be done. This EA launch is a great chance for us to collect more feedback and brush up the game.
We also introduced a procedurally generated talent tree to the game. Some talents really beef up your act, but some are double-edge swords. However, you can only unlock and view talents adjacent to the ones you’ve already learned. Would you challenge an elite enemy to unlock more talents, or save your HP for other resources? The stakes can be high, but this brings a nice surprise element to each game.
We discarded the card upgrade system, which was not an easy decision. We integrated a Rune system instead, where players can attach Runes to cards to add bonus effects, such as higher damage, applying debuff, stealing HP, or gaining gold.
Most roguelikes are not really about the plot, but we created an original worldview for Indies’ Lies to appeal to more players. In the fantasy land of Mekaa, you can find medieval magic, steampunk aesthetics, and captivating tales about faith and science. Once we started, there was no way back until we completed stories for all the 9 heroes. We tried our best to bring the heroes to life, each with unique personality and a life-changing mission.
These were some of the key decisions we had to make for Indies’ Lies. I would love to share more with you once we have more feedback from this EA launch. See you next time!
Coffee
Designer of Indies’ Lies