





🌟 Special thanks to our amazing supporters:
✨ $10 Tier: [Geeks Love Detail]
🌈 $5 Tier: [Arch Toasty][Benedikt][David Martínez Martí]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2167550/Creeping_Deck_Pharaohs_Curse/ [previewyoutube=pnqdn7bBHOU;full][/previewyoutube] We're working on Creeping Deck, a new game in collaboration with Miju Games. We are using our experience from Neurodeck and adding new RPG mechanics into the mix. Check out the steam page to see all current details about the project. Our team will do beta-tests like on Neurodeck so make sure to follow the game!
Hello, it's Tavrox, creative director of TavroxGames.
I'm glad to announce we're working on a new project after finishing Neurodeck. There are still some few things left on Neurodeck, but we need to keep up the pace and work on something new.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1736210/Match_On_The_Nile/
Here's a few concept from pre-production
Here's a glimpse of the team working on this new project:
Tavrox - Creative director, game designer, coder
Jrmy Forveille - Art director
Nicolas Gueguen - Sound designer
Whad Cremery - Developer
Niki Apergis - Admin
Tilia Weevers - Composer
Chlo Matz - Marketing
And thank you to our previous intern Chlo Morin for working on the game as well!
We'll share more details about the game during the next weeks.
Cheers,
Tavrox.
Hello everyone, Neurodeck 1.4.1 is live on beta branch! This is the last stretch for us and to make sure that everything works fine and that we can fix issues before we push it on the main app, we need testers to help us get a better overview of these issues. See you on our Discord server if you'd like to lend a hand on testing! Thank you for supporting us and welcoming the new features!
Hello everyone, We are happy to see that many of you enjoyed Neurodeck 1.2 and its features! Update 1.3 is up ahead and after the changes brought by 1.2, lets take a look at what 1.3 has to offer:
Hello everyone,
Thank you for following the updates of Neurodeck! Gostique and Nemrod joined us last month to help with Neurodeck updates and did great work for this new patch. Victoria has also created new great art with a dozen new illustrations.
We added around 15 cards, a new preview system, new unique effects and globally new content that add a lot of replayability to the game. Next month will bring new phobias and we hope youll enjoy these new features as much as we do!
Hospital Visit, Hiking & Drawing cards illustrations from the Balcony room made by Victoria Guareschi.
Hello everyone,
Hello everyone, Modding has always sounded fun and challenging. Things are quite WIP for now but there's still room for modding that can be added to Neurodeck. Of course, we're putting all our focuses on updates right now, so this is not an urgent project, but the earlier we think about it, the faster we can put things in place. It's also worth mentioning that it doesn't take time on Neurodeck content-coding and its updates.
Hello everyone,
Hello everyone,
Dear Neurodeck players,
Thank you for participating in the launch of Neurodeck. The game had a good start until we realized the quality was not high enough and disappointed some of you! We take this as a hint to keep working on it. Goblinz Studio & we have it in our DNA to not give up and provide updates to the game.
That said, development is expensive and its hard to say when some issues are just non-solvable because theyre in the DNA of the game.
So, we have decided to make updates to the game for the next 3 months. Were going to hire new people on the development side and reattribute tasks to people who can work on those updates. These are unplanned expenses for us but we know its necessary for the game. We will try to improve some aspects such as pacing, content and game feel.
Hello everyone! We've seen the reviews are mixed and we understand that the game has some problems or that some features of the game are less appreciated by the players and reviewers.
Hello everyone,
Today is a special day for Goblinz, as the studio is already celebrating its 5th anniversary!
For the past 5 years, we have been developing and publishing games we believe in. It's been quite an adventure, but this is just the beginning!
For the occasion, we have surprises for you including new games announcement and big sales on all our games!
Hello everyone, We are so excited to announce that
Hello everyone,
Im Tavrox, CEO of TavroxGames and Creative Director of Neurodeck. Tomorrow, the game will be out on PC, and will be later on Switch.
Neurodeck has been an extraordinary adventure. We made a game about mental health in the context of a global pandemic that has affected billions of people. Making a game is always difficult and its even harder when we cannot see people since interacting is sometimes complicated.
Yet, the game is way more important. Many people dont understand mental health, they confuse it with mental illness. They think Neurodeck will treat or ease their mental illness or their mental health. It wont. Others find value in having phobias and problems of everyday life displayed on-screen. Those topics bring a lot of emotions and thoughts in-game, thats intended. Neurodeck is not a therapy. Go and see a therapist if you feel you need one, please.
Im really proud of the deckbuilding/card game part. It has known a lot of interesting tweaks and changes, always made by comparing the current deckbuilders gameplay, while still being an interesting take on the genre. It is not perfect and lacks rhythm, but I think it will be a solid short experience youll enjoy.
Thank you to everyone who worked on Neurodeck, Im far from being alone. Around 10 people spent months working on the game, and 30 contributed in other important ways (voice actors, translators, etc.). This is the thing Im most proud of: getting talented people together to create a whole game about mental health.
And thank you to all the players for playing the game, it means the world to me.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1253860/Neurodeck__Psychological_Deckbuilder/
Hello everyone, Neurodeck will release this Thursday, we are so excited about it!
Nicolas is never out of ideas when recording sound effects for video games. His know-how and his endless imagination allow him to use turn his environment into all the sounds he wants on Fmod.
What part of your job do you like the most?
Playing the game! And tweaking audio at the same time. Sometimes its hard to not get hooked and to stay focused on the audio.
Which sound effect was the craziest to record?
I recorded a sound that didnt make it in the game. Theres a room called Kitchen and at the beginning, we were testing some audio ambiances to fit in each room. I had to record myself cooking stuff, water boiling, pan-frying, cutting vegetables... Not very crazy but fun anyways.
Was it the first time you worked with voice actors? What did you learn from them and this experience?
I do a lot of vocal recording in my studio. So, this wasnt my first time. But this time was a bit special because they didnt have to say a word, just making onomatopeias. I learned that the key was to make them understand the context and the feeling of the character. My explanations had to be clear so they could perform this task with the game's intentions.
Little story: for blenophobia sound effect, Nicolas used actual slime.
How hard is it to make sure that the sound effect you produce is the sound you want? How do you make your choices?
I start with a mental image of the sound, then I start experimenting. Sometimes, I just know where to search and things are coming quickly together. But sometimes, I just realize that it won't work, so just I start over. And when I know that I have great sounds in the right range in sound libraries, I go for them. Its the more efficient method with often great results. If I cannot find a sound quickly, I go for recording, and I have to find a good-sounding prop. If it still sucks, I just look for another good-sounding object, I change the mic positioning or go back to library searching!
Is there a phobia or a card that reminds you of a special event in your life?
Nails Chew! thats me. As far as I remember, Ive always bitten my nails. I tried a few times to stop, but its still there. People say it occurs when youre stressed, maybe I am, but I don't feel like it.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1253860/Neurodeck__Psychological_Deckbuilder/
Victoria is a freelance artist whose role was to give shape to Neurodeck's phobias, cards and UI. She worked hard to provide this colorful touch in this dark atmosphere when fighting phobias!
How would you describe your job with your own words?
I like to think that my job is basically to give life to all those amazing ideas, concepts, stories that come my way.
What was the most challenging part of your work on Neurodeck?
Before Neurodeck, I had never worked on a deckbuilder card game before. It was really challenging for me to understand its features. I spent a lot of time thinking about the interface and all of the elements I had to show on-screen while keeping the whole thing elegant and refined. Representing phobias was a bit challenging for me too since I had never drawn monstrous things like this before. My usual style is more like the one you can see on card illustrations.
Some of Victoria's favorite card illustrations.
Did you find the mental health issue inspiring? Why?
Yes, I did. First off, because Ive always felt the need to give sense to my work. I love to learn about people, and being able to help them even just a little with what I do is really important to me. That's why I have always wanted to work on Serious Games, for example. Also, I have had mental health issues in my life, just like a lot of people, so I just inspired myself with those feelings to be as fair as possible in my representations of it.
What are your main and favorite tools?
Well, regarding the software, Photoshop is my realm but I gotta admit I had a recent crush on Procreate. I usually draw using a CINTIQ QHD 13 or my iPad Pro, and I use Pinterest a lot when looking for inspiration. Oh, and my cats belly is a really good wrist rest.
Is there a phobia or a card that reminds you of a special event in your life?
I particularly like the Favourite Pillow card, representing a huge cat in the size and form of a pillow.
I have two cats at home, and when I feel down or lonely during the day since I work from home full time, I love to just take a break and cuddle them for a moment. It always makes me feel a lot better. For this reason, the cat I drew on this card is a mix of my two beloved cats!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1253860/Neurodeck__Psychological_Deckbuilder/
Tilia has an amazing musical sensibility and has a very good adaptation capacity. She composed and played the music for Neurodeck.
How would you describe your job in your own words?
I do lots of things actually! I give individual singing lessons, I use my voice for voice-over, logo jingles or other stuff, I compose music and write songs, I make photomontages of fantasy creatures that I stick on canvas, I sculpt masks... But the main thing that I do for a living is my singing lessons.
How was composing for Neurodeck different from what you used to work on?
It was so interesting to work with the staff and exchange ideas and impressions with them for the atmosphere that the music had to give. I work alone most of the time, composing my own songs or instrumentals. For Neurodeck, I worked with people and composed music for a game for the first time, an old dream came true.
How would you sum up your collaboration with Nicolas Gueguen, sound designer for Neurodeck?
The collaboration with Nicolas was very intuitive, he asked me to split some of the tracks so he could adapt the music in the game. For example, he needed a "stressful" track with sounds on top of the other instruments for the parts where it was needed. The communication was clear and easy, I liked that very much.
Once you had an idea of what you wanted to do for Neurodeck, how did you come up with the composition?
I was inspired by the graphic atmosphere, the inner thoughts that someone can have when having to cope with different psychological phases, and I played on my piano different themes that could be looped without sounding repetitive. I took great pleasure in working on this because I believe in introspection, I like searching inside of myself the emotions and making them "true" with music.
Which features do you take into consideration when composing for video games?
Naturally, a video game is made by a creator, so you have to work with someone else's ideas. It requires a lot of exchanges and understanding with the people developing it.
During the development process, the music had to meet their demands, and the composer have to adapt themselves permanently, change things, and also infuse ideas here and there. It is a real back and forth!
Is there a phobia or a card that reminds you of a special event in your life?
Nyctophobia reminds me of my childhood. I feared what lurked in the darkness, especially behind me. And one day, I decided to put myself in the dark and I turned around, and even if I could not see a lot, I felt better, as I decided to face my fear, and the monster I imagined just disappeared.
GIF made by Jeanne Prigent, 2D animator for Neurodeck.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1253860/Neurodeck__Psychological_Deckbuilder/
Flix is a passionate Game Designer specialized in balancing and ergonomics. He has freshly taken up his position at Globlinz Studio. He used his technical knowledge in roguelikes and deckbuilders for the development of Neurodeck as a freelance Game Designer.
What are the most important qualities for a Game Designer according to you?
In my opinion, the ability to communicate efficiently with other team members is one of the most important qualities for a Game Designer.
Video game creation is all about teamwork , and communication is an aspect of the job that is extremely important in my opinion. Being curious and eager to learn are also important qualities because you will always learn new things while working on a game!
What did Neurodeck teach you about mental health?
Even if I was already a bit aware of these themes, I think working on Neurodeck helped me to understand how important mental health is these days, especially through feedback from players, playtesters and content creators.
The game aims more to talk about mental health in a global way rather than describing a specific process, which I find interesting as an art direction because I think it'll allow people to relate to this subject with their own words and feelings. I also learned a bit more about the phobias during the development, and it helped me to better understand how they can affect someone.
What are the main tools you use in general? Was it different for Neurodeck?
While developing content for Neurodeck, I used some tools of Rational Game Design to create a distinct gameplay identity for each phobia and to differentiate the kind of challenges they gave to players. Concepts such as "set-up" and "pay-off" were used to create the structure of the main strategies of each character's emotion in order to maximize the importance of the players choices within the pools of cards. As a designer, Im specialized in balancing and making games ergonomic. I also brought methodologies from my previous experiences to work on these two subjects.
Another of my inspirations was Mark Rosewater's article Timmy, Johnny, and Spike, in which he depicts three psychographic profiles of players identified by Magic: the Gathering's R&D. I think this kind of tools such as Bartle's Taxonomy and Brainhex, for example are great because they allow designers to consider what do different types of players like when designing a game experience.
What did you know about deckbuilders and roguelikes before starting to develop the game? Was there additional research you needed to do?
Prior to working on Neurodeck I gave a conference on the mechanic of "draft" and its use in card games, and worked on several roguelikes and deckbuilding games with the French publisher Goblinz Studio.
Before joining the team, I also played and analyzed around a dozen deckbuilding games: I could better understand the specificities of Neurodeck, and how to design the experience using the strengths of the core gameplay. When I joined the team, I also had the opportunity to play and analyze a few other games that were an influence for the team in my first weeks. Discussing these references and concepts helped me to better understand the creative inspirations of the game.
Is there a phobia or a card that reminds you of a special event in your life?
I always had pets as a child and teenager, so Favorite Pillow and Dog Petting remind me of them when I play the game. I especially like the former illustration, because one of my cats was very fluffy and liked to roll over while petting him!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1253860/Neurodeck__Psychological_Deckbuilder/
Jeanne is a talented and dynamic freelance 2D animator who worked on Neurodeck's phobia animation.
What is the part of your job that you like the most?
The part of my job I like the most might be making the rough animations. That's the step of the workflow where you bring life to the character for Neurodeck, they were phobias. That's the moment when you have to think about the movements you'll make, the personality of the subject and even what the player might feel while watching it. It's the most interesting part of the process and I am thrilled everytime I start a new animation!
What have you learned from your experience on Neurodeck?
I graduated less than a year ago when I started animating for Neurodeck. I had already worked on games, but they were student games, game jam projects or serious games that weren't supposed to reach as many players as Neurodeck. Thanks to this experience, I improved my animation skills since phobias' actions were movements I had never animated before it was very different from the usual walk cycle, for example. Thanks to the team who trusted me and my work, I gained a lot of self-confidence and I'm very grateful for this.
How was your experience on Neurodeck different from what you used to do? Was animating 15 phobias challenging?
The biggest difference from what I used to do is that this time, I was responsible for the animations only and had an Art Director and Creative Director to lead me. I had never been involved in a project which was at a fairly advanced stage either, and I rarely animate characters that I haven't designed myself.
Animating the 15 phobias wasn't too difficult. I found my own workflow I could repeat every time I'd begin working on a new one. They all share similar animations (Appearance, Idle, Hit and Defeat) and then they have their own actions. Idle is the priority because every other animation has to start or end with the idle pose. During the process, I would ask for some feedback from the team, especially from my leads, to make sure this animation would match the design before cleaning and exporting it. It went well and I could even rework some animations I wasn't happy with.
Is there a phobia or a card that reminds you of a special event in your life?
When I worked on Mysophobia and Nosophobia, I couldn't help myself but think about the current pandemic. Haptophobia as well. Those ones felt too real almost! Otherwise, even if I'm scared of spiders in real life, I feel like Agoraphobia is scarier than Arachnophobia for some reason.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1253860/Neurodeck__Psychological_Deckbuilder/
Lonard Bertos is a skilled and innovative Narrative Designer at Globlinz Studio. He also took part in the Neurodeck development.
What is the experience that definitely made you fall in love with your job?
I fell in love with the job before it was a job. This non-job was modding games. It started with Warcraft III, which was more like playing Playmobils at that age, then I discovered how powerful it could get with Starcraft and triggers and I made an infiltration game out of it. Years later, I released Castel Uvirith, a big and strange mod for Morrowind and les Chroniques Gargantuines, an Age-of-Empire campaign about Gargantua.
I wasnt even sure that writing for video games was an actual job back then. In fact, the position is still very new. The title itself is sometimes used to say either game designer working with the writer or actually a writer with game design skills. Im more like the second one.
What is the most challenging part of your job?
To me, designing is the most challenging part. In my job, I still prefer the game design first, then writing process rather than the other way around because I feel like it gives me a solid basis to work with. But when I need to create a whole narration system that must be fairly cheap, save space, not break the gameplay flow, not need too much reading, can generate random quests and be translated into every possible language? Oh, boy.
Luckily, I keep in touch with other narrative designers if I get stuck. Turns out, sometimes, that what seems impossible to solve actually is. And you must make choices. Then, you must be able to work within this tight scope which can stimulate your creativity very much.
What has Neurodeck taught you about mental health?
Maybe the virtue of plain, explicit allegory? Tavrox had a specific vision of the effect he wanted to make on the player but he needed a hand on the achievement. I just helped the team to find a way to achieve it, mostly during brainstorming sessions. According to the players, it seems to work pretty well. Using Hug to get rid of Something-phobia takes part in an inner ritual.
I was already kind of convinced that catharsis was a real thing, including in video games. For instance, Doom has a splendid effect on my mood. Neurodeck only raises awareness on the process and approaches a lot of different fears.
Did you sometimes feel like you lacked information about mental health?
Im not sure but since we considered making a game much sharper about actual psychiatry and psychology than it turns out to be, and since Im deeply convinced it works better as it is now, I guess I learned that mental health is not only about talking to a professional (therapist, priest or mom) but also using simple hygienic everyday helpers to face someones problems?
Clinging to day-to-day life to fight inner fears is particularly eloquent nowadays with the pandemic because we dont have access to a huge part of our hobbies that help us to bear the difficulties of life.
Is there a phobia or a card that reminds you of a special event in your life?
I guess Tattoos is a good example. I used to be scared a lot about not having enough food, probably because of some childhood events and student poverty. I ended up getting a venison tattoo on my belly, giving the impression that it was always full or as if I have always been able to fulfill my hunter-gatherer duty. I have never been afraid of hunger since then.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1253860/Neurodeck__Psychological_Deckbuilder/
Hello everyone,
Hi everyone,
Goblinz Studio is releasing a new game with developer TeaForTwo.
Snowtopia is a ski resort tycoon in which you build your ideal ski resort.
Keep skiers smiling with fresh pistes and fine facilities. Ski, build and chill in the wintry world of Snowtopia where everyone is welcome!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvNzqfBlyAY&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=GoblinzStudio
For two years now, the Snowtopia community has been accompanying us on Discord as well as on different social networks. Thank you for all your feedback since the first version of the game in December 2018, and on all the updates. Your enthusiasm helps us a great bunch! The early access will allow us to be even closer to the players, who will have more than ever a decisive role in the development of our game.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1124260/Snowtopia_Ski_Resort_Tycoon/
Cheers,
TeaForTwo & Goblinz Studio
Hello there! We're close to the release and should have fixed all critical bugs. We still have a good list of things remaining, but the game looks stable. If it's not, don't hesitate to tell us! Demo & Beta have been updated. The demo is still limited to one emotion, while the beta is open to the whole content. Localization is still very WIP!
We're still hard at work on the game. Most of the content is now done, and we're entering the final versions of the game!
We're debugging as much as possible, finish theophobia, the last phobia to be done, and add the translations.
It's kind of tedious, but really needed work! The game will be released in full version on Q1 2021, with PC & Switch simultaneously, so we want it to be rock solid!
Some things we're working on:
This beginning of November brings us closer to release! There are a lot of new stuff, but we'll not start to differentiate the beta and public demo branch. Private Beta : ask for access on Discord. Features the whole content. Public Demo : play easily on Steam, but you can only play the first character and the first emotion. What changed : Gameplay
Hello everyone!
Thank you for supporting us during all this time, Neurodeck is finally entering the Beta Stage. It will be released around January 2021.
It means we have a game that looks like the final one. For better of for worse, most of the game won't change and we're entering the "content & polish" phase.
We released this version in the preparation of Steam Autumn Festival!
The 2 latest updates include:
Hello everyone!
A lot of changes going into the alpha version! It will only be an alpha (access through our Discord!). It is very hard to process through all the changes that went into this update, sorry if it's not complete!
What changed :
Gameplay
Hello here, A short message to tell you we have a new demo for PAX/EGX event! You can download it here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1322750/
Hello everyone,
Hi everyone, Update V.0.2.7 is here! It adds new trials, new traits and UX improvements/bug fixing.
Hi @everyone, update V.0.2.6 is here! This one adds a new game mode and UX/UI improvements.
[ 6081 ]
[ 1294 ]
[ 4061 ]