Welcome to Cupiclaw's very first Dev Log!
I'm starting a new series of blogs called Dev Logs. These blogs will be all about the development of Cupiclaw, including my experiences as a game developer, its conception, and everything in between. For our first Dev Log, I want to focus on the creation of Cupiclaw and talk about what It is. I hope you're as excited to read about this as I am to write about it.
First, though, while I have you here, I plan to launch Cupiclaw's first-ever playtest soon and would love your help! You can sign up for the test on the Cupiclaw Steam page using the link below. It would be of great help if you could participate and share your thoughts with me. I can't wait to make Cupiclaw even better with your help!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2967670/Cupiclaw/
How did I come up with the idea?
I have been developing Cupiclaw for a long time now, and it has undergone a massive amount of iteration since I first came up with the idea. When I first decided to make a Steam game, I wanted to start small. It felt like I made dozens of prototypes—I always jot down ideas that pop into my head whenever they come up. You never know when you might need them! I worked on so many ideas that some of them are mostly forgotten at this point. Some of these ideas worked, but I needed more time than I could handle as a solo developer to make them a reality, and some of them just weren't fun. Every concept requires this kind of evaluation. I had to look at what would be enjoyable for players and what was within my scope to create.
It wasn't until I started to plan a trip with my girlfriend to Japan that the idea for Cupiclaw hit me. She kept telling me how much she wanted to go to the arcades and try all the UFO catchers there. That's what sparked this idea I have been following for so long. It's excellent how ideas can spring up from nowhere. I created a prototype that is a shadow of what Cupiclaw has become today, and it fit into all my requirements. It was an absolute blast to play and met all my needs as a solo developer.
What is Cupiclaw
Cupiclaw is a claw machine roguelike deck-building game. The whole idea of the game revolves around using the claw machine to grab prizes and sell them to make money, progressing through the machines that have increasing costs over time. To make enough money, you will need upgrades, to customize your prizes by adding and removing them, and to find synergies between prizes that increase your gains in every machine you play.
You'll encounter dangers in every machine, though. Not only have people rudely been throwing in trash prizes, which can lose you money, but the machines are made to increase the difficulty of getting prizes; you'll encounter machines that throw your prizes around, to anti-gravity and awkwardly-shaped machines, and everything in between. You'll need to make the best of what you have and work against the struggles that the arcade master puts in your way to make as much money as possible.
Game Modes
Cupiclaw has been created with two modes - Story & Endless mode:
Story Mode:
Story mode focuses on Morris's adventure in the arcade after he loses his fiancée's engagement ring inside the most expensive claw machine in the entire arcade. At this moment, you will play 5 rounds of 7 machines—I'm still trying to find that sweet spot for the number of rounds and machines—where each machine costs a set amount per round, and the cost of machines increases with each round. You'll follow the story of Morris as he tries to overcome the challenges put in his way by the arcade boss with the help of The Claw.
Good luck saving your future marriage!
Endless Mode:
This is exactly as it sounds. It is an endless game of Cupiclaw where you must play five of a single machine in a row before changing to a new machine and repeat this until the increasing cost of the machines you play gets too expensive to afford! Your objective will be to make as much money as possible before you run out in the face of the overwhelming machine costs! How far can you get?
You'll have your work cut out to become the best in the arcade!
A final note
Cupiclaw is still a work in progress, so some of what is mentioned here may change in the future, but I hope you will stick around for that journey and to help make Cupiclaw the best game it can be with your feedback.
Thank you to everyone for reading this blog and for loving Cupiclaw. If you haven't tried it yet, head to the Steam page to try the demo and sign up for the playtest. I would love to hear your thoughts about the game on our social channels. You can discover my channels below:
X: https://x.com/Typin_
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/typin.bsky.social