Hello everyone! Cut the Cards 0.1.4 is out, but it only contains a few quality of life features. The main project I'm working on now is an art overhaul, including replacing some outdated enemy art and adding animations.
The process of learning better drawing techniques has taken longer than I expected, so I don't have a complete redo of the art ready to share yet. In lieu of that, here's a comic I drew for fun:
In addition to working on the new art and controller support, I also have on my radar some improvements for combat, dialogue, and events. Next time, I hope to have the art remastering complete!

Hello everyone! Cut the Cards 0.1.3 is done and it contains some of the largest changes to date! Most notably, there is now a settings menu.

The only major areas left before a demo can be released are the addition of controller support to combat/UIs and the revamping of some of placeholder art. This update includes:

• More bugfixes, particularly when taking screenshots
• Removed adaptive tutorial (sounded like a good idea, but during playtesting it confused a lot of players)
• A few new events
• Existing events are now significantly more random
• Nouns can now be attached to other nouns

Hello everyone! In the time since the last update, the game engine I'm using (Godot) has published a new update! Cut the Cards 0.1.2 is the first version to include this update. For me, this means more rapid development due to a number of quality of life improvements in the editor. For the playtesters, this means fewer bugs, less crashes, and better performance. Good stuff, all around!
In this round of testing, no crashes / game-breaking-bugs were discovered! I'm accelerating the invitations to new playtesters as the game gets into a more playable state. This update includes:

• More bugfixes than I can count
• New tutorial interface
• Completely redone card-cutting interface
• Dialogue interface now shows special options that you're missing the cards for
• 9 new nouns
• Enemy attacks are no longer just placeholders (though they still need some work!)

Hello everyone, good news! Steam has approved the playtest build, and I've just added the first group of playtesters into the game. A ton of bugs were discovered, and I've been hard at work fixing them. Here we are, already at version 0.1.1! I'm adding a progress bar here to show the percentage of playtesters who have been given access so far (and, by extension, progress towards a public demo that anyone can play)!
Most absurd bug discovered so far: "Taking a screenshot resets the music" This update includes:

• 4 crashes patched
• 12 bugs fixed
• Many quality-of-life improvements

Hello everyone! I started working on this game at the beginning of August 2023, so this marks the end of the 12th month of development! I'm taking this opportunity to show you just how far this game has come in such a short time. A year ago, this entire project was just an idea in my head, and a few weeks later, it was only a simple prototype:
For many months, it had barely any art to speak of:
The original logo (using Openclipart by gmad):
And one of the first iterations of the map:
I do indeed have version 0.1 ready -- I'm in the process of submitting it to Steam's reviewers! I'll start slowly adding people to the playtest once it's approved. Keep an eye on your email for a message from giganticbyte.com . I won't be adding everyone at once, because I want to have time to fix as many bugs as possible as soon as they come up. To end off this update, I have the draft of a new monster: I call it the Tentaculus!

Hello everyone! The tutorial system is now finished. I got some cool color-coding for words working for the tutorial to make it easier to understand:
This coloring was surprisingly difficult, actually. There are multiple ways the code can parse the text, and it has to inject colors at just the right locations. Either way, it's done now! Hopefully, it will make the card cutting mechanic a bit more intuitive (and just maybe look cool along the way). Here's another interesting thing I added:
I haven't seen any other games implement adaptive tutorials. I think it's a cool idea that the game could auto-skip parts of the tutorial that you already know. I picked two popular games with similar mechanics to Cut the Cards, and each tutorial message is specifically coded to only show up if you haven't played a game with a similar mechanic before. There are a few more things I need to polish up, mainly the enemy attacks and details in the shop, but I hope next time, I'll have version 0.1 to share: the first playable version that I can start handing out to playtesters! It is a bit later than my original plan of releasing it in the spring, but I think it will be well worth the wait with all these cool new features I've had time to cook up!

Hello everyone! Development has slowed as life has gotten busier. Nonetheless, here are some cool new features I added:
There's a whole number system in the game now! Funnily enough, the hardest part of getting it working was handling the articles (a/an), which required me roping in a pronunciation dictionary. It also works with multiple numbers (for example, "two dozen" = 24). Bonus: I had a new logo and concept art commissioned for the game! Check out this awesome art:

I'm still working on the tutorial system, and I hope to share some updates on that next time!

Hello everyone! I've spent the last couple of weeks seriously reworking the elements system, and I'm really happy with how it turned out! There's now a concept which I'm calling "phase invincibility" where attacks can pass through entities if they have the right elements:
Both entities and cards now have little icons to indicate what elements they have:
I've also added some fun physics to death animations, and I've been squashing bugs left, right, and center! You may also notice various art has been updated all across the game to improve readability and aesthetics.
Finally, as I promised last time, here's a cool new Hansel-and-Gretel-like event you can run across in the forest, showing off the new ability for events to change the background:
I've still been focusing most of my attention on the game itself, and I find this relaxed posting schedule to work out much better for me. In my next update, I'll share a boring but necessary part of every game (and one of the last things remaining before I can start sending the game out to playtesters)... the tutorial system!

Hello everyone! The new trailer has been taking longer than I expected, but I'm planning to post it within the next couple of weeks. I want this new trailer to be something that will really represent what the gameplay of the demo will be like, whereas the first trailer really just showed a prototype of the concept. (Some of you may have noticed that there is technically a new trailer and screenshots on this Steam page, but really they only have very minor updates.)
In addition to redoing the artwork of the main player character and the forest background, I've made this cool new death animation! This was what I was imagining when I made the prototype that is in the currently posted trailer, but it wasn't until now that I had the time to code it.
Also, we've got a fancy new animation mixer and hit effect. In practice, this means that many animations now look smoother, and hits now feel more impactful (both those hitting you, and those hitting enemies :) ). I've been spending so much of my time working on the game itself that I don't have time to post frequent updates, but within the next week or two, I hope to share some cool new events that I'm working on!

Hello everyone! Although it was a ton of work, I've finally got defensive cards up and working!
When you play a defensive card, it spawns a physical object in front of you. The defensive object only works if it physically blocks the attack, and it is part of the same elements system as other entities in the game, meaning that some defenses will work better against certain attacks than others (it's not just a certain number of defense points you get). And yes, any object you can attack with, you can also defend with (but that doesn't mean you should!) I've also been setting up the new game screen:
On the backend, I've been squashing a bunch of bugs that popped up over the course of development. Next week, I'll be sharing the new trailer for CUT THE CARDS! (P.S. I'll most likely have to delay the release of the closed playtest by about a week, as Valve will need time to review the build before posting.)

Hello everyone! After getting some feedback on the first specter art, I've decided to update it to a more medieval style:
Music composition is something I don't have any professional experience with, really -- but regardless of that, I've tried my hand at making a theme for the soundtrack for the game. You can find it on Youtube: [previewyoutube=3JRL-L6KRNg;full]https://youtu.be/3JRL-L6KRNg[/previewyoutube] I'll be composing several songs for the soundtrack, all pulling elements from this main theme. As always, this is just a draft, and I can't promise it'll sound the same when the game is released. And, as always, feedback is welcome :) On the backend, I've been fleshing out the events system. Each event now has specific biomes that it is allowed to appear in, and a corresponding rarity. The most rare events (legendary!) are 1000x less likely to show up than ordinary ones. Hopefully, it'll feel like you are actually part of a legend if you encounter them! Next week, I'll share one of the features I've had planned for a long time, but didn't make into the first trailer: defensive cards!

Hello everyone! I've been working on sketching up some new enemies this week! Here's the first draft of the ultra-powerful SPECTER who will zap you with his eyes if he happens to catch you!
There are a few other enemies that I'm putting together, but I'll hold off on announcing them until I post the new trailer, which is coming March 21st! The original trailer has some programmer art that I'm all too eager to get rid of. Not coincidentally, March 21st is also the date when I will be starting to give playtesters access to the game (one at a time, over the course of a few months, so don't worry if you don't get access instantly :) ). If you haven't already, make sure you apply for the playtest if you're interested in testing an early version of the game! I'll be closing the form within the next couple of weeks. And, as promised, here's the shop system in all its glory!
The plan here is to have a new card appear every time you purchase one, so there's always more interesting choices to make. I can't promise this will be the final system -- I may end up changing it if playtesters find this ability to be too overpowered. Also, each shop will sell cards specific to the biome in the final build of the game. On the backend, I've been working to add controller icons to each button, as well as a virtual keyboard, to make sure the game is fully controller-friendly. Next week, I'll share some sneak peeks of the soundtrack for the game!

Hello everyone! The deckbuilding system has evolved quite a bit over the last week! Now, there are special non-combat cards that you can play in dialogue events, but they will never be drawn when in combat. Furthermore, you can enable/disable combat cards to set whether they will be drawn in combat. This is all indicated with a small circle in the top right of the card, only visible when you're in the view deck screen:
To prevent a single over-powered card from dominating a run, if you have less than 10 cards in your combat deck, you'll be forced to add "Nothing" cards until you have at least 10. I considered just requiring at least 10 cards to be selected, but I think it'll be more fun this way. Imagine trying a strategy where you sell all your starter cards to buy a really powerful one -- but now 9/10 cards in your deck are worthless! Risky, but if you're lucky, it might just work out. I hope this additional player choice is as exciting to you as it is to me. Last week, I also looked into the possibility of adding controller support, and I've got great news! I expect that the playtest and demo will both have full controller support -- the store page has been updated!
On the backend, I've been setting up save games, including cross-platform saves via steam cloud. So far, everything works! But it'll be up to the playtesters to help identify any bugs I've missed. Next week, I'll discuss how shops work in the game.

Hello everyone once again! As promised, here's a first draft of the elemental system:
Originally, I planned on having effects just do X damage per round, with that damage scaled by the enemy's properties. But that seemed kind of boring, so I've upped the complexity! Each element has the ability to modify attack, defense, and health at any point during combat. Here's some examples of the new elements: Fire: 5 damage per round until extinguished Poison: 10 damage per round until cured, at which point 60% of all poison damage dealt is healed Ice: 50% reduction in enemy's attack and defense points, but 20% reduction in damage taken Vampiric: 10% of damage dealt is healed by attacker *all effects are subject to change during balancing Next time, I'll chat a bit more about the deckbuilding system -- particularly the ability to remove certain cards from your combat deck while retaining them in your inventory.

Hello again everyone! As promised, here is the fleshed-out Elluin (non-final draft):
Elluin have teal skin, a lanky body, and are about six to seven feet tall when fully grown. They are nimble hunters who spend most of their time high up in trees, watching down on prey with their sharp eyesight, waiting to strike. Their favorite weapon is their famously hand-crafted longbow, and they've mastered the art of extracting poison from local flora and fauna to add to their arrows. This week, I've been spending most of my time working on the main menu -- boring, I know. But here's a fun animation I added to it!
I've also set up a wiki! It's mostly for my own use in planning the worldbuilding and keeping everything consistent, but it's all publicly accessible. I'm planning out the settings menu here. Please drop a comment below if there are any settings you'd like to see that aren't yet there! Finally, thanks to Akihiro Sakurai for sharing my game with the Japanese audience at Automaton Media, and thanks to everyone who has signed up for playtesting already! If you haven't done so yet, you can apply here. We're still on track for the closed beta being ready by the end of March, and I'll be closing the form a few days before the playtest begins. I'll be back next week with some updates on the elemental system!

Hi everyone! Thanks so much for your interest in Cut the Cards! This is the very first version to be released to the public, and it'd be great to hear your feedback on what you see so far. Got some cool ideas for enemies, cards, actions, or events? Comment them below, and I'll consider adding them to the game. Next up, I've got the first draft of a new creature: the Elluin.
I'll be posting some Elluin lore next weekend, so if you like what you see so far, you can follow to make sure you don't miss any future updates! Also, don't forget to apply for the playtest here if you want to get an sneak peek at the gameplay ~~~