We have a dedicated Ask Us Anything channel on Discord where we will be waiting to answer your questions. We will also wait on Steam stream chat. From gamedev to cooking fighting horse-sized ducks. Truth be told the channel was there before the Festival and will stay up afterward, but on this day we will keep a double vigil.


Hellcard is a truly multiplayer cooperative roguelike deckbuilder. It's a kind of spin-off sequel to Book of Demons too. We often wondered how BoD would play if it was a multiplayer and a deckbuilder to the core and Hellcard is the answer.

Designed for up to three players (also a features solo campaign mode, of course) it pitches heroes in a series of encounters and battles against progressively more tricky enemies. You not only build your own deck adapting to the dungeons and looking for synergies but also try to synergize with your friends' decks. Or you can try your luck fighting back to back with strangers.


The demo you can play during this event is our pre-alpha prototype. We originally built it to test selected core combat mechanics and test drive the multiplayer net code with our community. Once the event is over we will scrap the code and create the final game using what we learned during the event. This means that it would be super helpful if you would report bugs (either on Discord or using in-game widget).

This is only the beginning of this adventure and we will keep testing builds as we go. In case you would like to be a part of that process hop on Sneak Peek channel on our Discord.

Good luck and as always,
Stay safe in paper dungeons ːarchduckː
Konstanty

I will be streaming our early Hellcard prototype. During this public test, we added a singleplayer mode but the old multiplayer build is, of course, also included. So if you would like to play with me download the demo and try to catch me in the matchmaking ːarchduckː


Hellcard is a truly multiplayer cooperative roguelike deckbuilder. It's a kind of spin-off sequel to Book of Demons too. We often wondered how BoD would play if it was a multiplayer and a deckbuilder to the core and Hellcard is the answer.

Designed for up to three players (while also featuring solo campaign mode, of course) it pitches heroes in a series of encounters and battles against progressively more tricky enemies. You not only build your own deck adapting to the dungeons and looking for synergies but also try to synergize with your friends' decks. Or you can try your luck fighting back to back with strangers.



The demo you can play during this event is our pre-alpha prototype. We originally built it to test selected core combat mechanics and test drive the multiplayer net code with our community. Once the event is over we will scrap the code and create the final game using what we learned during the event. This means that it would be super helpful if you would report bugs (either on Discord or using in-game widget).

This is only the beginning of this adventure and we will keep testing builds as we go. In case you would like to be a part of that process hop on Sneak Peek channel on our Discord.

Good luck and as always,
Stay safe in paper dungeons ːarchduckː
Konstanty

I will be streaming our early Hellcard prototype.


Hellcard is a truly multiplayer cooperative roguelike deckbuilder. It's a kind of spin-off sequel to Book of Demons too. We often wondered how BoD would play if it was a multiplayer and a deckbuilder to the core and Hellcard is the answer.

Designed for up to three players (while also featuring solo campaign mode, of course) it pitches heroes in a series of encounters and battles against progressively more tricky enemies. You not only build your own deck adapting to the dungeons and looking for synergies but also try to synergize with your friends' decks. Or you can try your luck fighting back to back with strangers.



The demo you can play during this event is our pre-alpha prototype. We originally built it to test selected core combat mechanics and test drive the multiplayer net code with our community. Once the event is over we will scrap the code and create the final game using what we learned during the event. This means that it would be super helpful if you would report bugs (either on Discord or using in-game widget).

This is only the beginning of this adventure and we will keep testing builds as we go. In case you would like to be a part of that process hop on Sneak Peek channel on our Discord.

Good luck and as always,
Stay safe in paper dungeons ːarchduckː
Konstanty

Hello everyone! It's been an intense few weeks for us. The work is progressing on the game and there are cool events coming up. Both these things are connected but let me start with:

We are overhauling the GUI to make it more readable. This means both the player's icons and the lower bar and GUI over the monsters. Ideally, we will also fit a way to peek at other players' cards during battles.

At the same time, we are internally testing the single player mode prototype. It's fun, but the true test will come once you get to play it! We are biased ːarchduckː



If all goes well we will be participating in a series of events in the upcoming months.

Because of the pandemic, a lot of events and festivals are moving to digital form. Some of these events will be accompanied by events here on Steam and the Hellcard pre-alpha demo will be made publicly available again for the duration.

Which will create an opportunity to test new features with you! While we would like to be present in as many events as possible, we don't want to stress the production plan and risk large delays. That's why we will be using the pre-alpha prototype demo as a base and test the features in it, then move the features to the final build after changing them in accordance with the feedback from the community.



We can't guarantee that there will be new features for every event: there is a lot of events and things are a tad chaotic, we are still not sure in which we will participate so making a precise production plan is impossible.

The first event we have confirmed is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p55uCmjxmWI

We will be building a virtual booth and everything. And the event itself is going to be an actual MMO game where you wander and visit booths with other visitors. Looks super cool if you ask me.

Oh, and if you would like to test all the stuff before the public tests and be a part of that fantastic community here is the link to our Discord. If you prefer to be notified via e-mail instead, sign up to our newsletter ːpaperheartː

As always,
stay safe in paper dungeons ːarchduckː
Konstanty

The Steam Games Festival was a blast, to say the least! We scrambled to get the demo up and running and tested for it but it was well worth it. We got a ton of valuable feedback from all of you. What's more, we also tested the network backend. You are all amazing, thank you ːpaperheartː

As you might already know from the past updates we are now scrapping the demo and writing the net code and the game from scratch. We will use all of that knowledge gathered to power-up the production of Hellcard. With more content, less Infernal Network Errors... aaaand without small cards sticking to a mouse cursor from time to time ːarchduckː



Curious how the playtests went? Here are some data we can share!

• It was quite crowded - over 3000 players tested the demo ːpaperheartː
  
• DemoN, the community boss, was slain over 100 times! We expected him to die maybe twice, nice ːpaperdeathː
  
• You did a great job spreading the news - 1 out of 7 players told about the game to their friends, almost half of the players played with a friend!
  
• You were real brothers-in-arms - almost 9 out of 10 players stayed with their initial party for good and for bad
  
• I streamed the game for 16 hours using my homemade jury-rigged setup (green curtain bought for 10 bucks and my phone). Streaming the game is something we will be doing more often in the future (maybe we will even get a real camera not to use my mobile phone!).
  
• At one point there were over 7000 viewers on the stream and Hellcard was #1 stream on the whole Steam - that’s INSANE!
  
• I also ate 4 candy bars, 2 dinners, and showed my cats twice three times while streaming

But most importantly, we got tons of feedback messages and surveys filled! We were flooded and floored by the amount of feedback we got ːarchduckː It was very positive too, which is a good sign since the demo had only a sliver of the final content of the game!

Oh, and to celebrate the 100th death of the Community Boss, we are working on a special wallpaper. Here is a sneak peek of the early speed paint concept:




Some of you also mentioned it wasn't clear for them what differs the demo from the full version of Hellcard. As we’ve mentioned before, the demo was supposed to test the core mechanics and multiplayer with the new code only.

This demo prototype sported 28 cards, the final game will have well over 100 cards. There were only a few monsters and two bosses in the demo. The final game will have a lot more, it will be impossible to see all of them in a single run or to play a similar run twice.



In the demo, you got to pick one card or heal between fights. This was obviously a placeholder. In the final game, there will be story events between fights. I don't want to spoil too much as I plan to focus on this in another post.

Last but not least - the singleplayer mode. Obviously, in the final game, there will be a single-player mode. It won't be simply playing with bots either, but a more complex system of companions. Again, it's something I will focus more in a separate post.



This is also the time to thank all the Supporters and Discord beta testers who answered the call and tested the game before it hit Steam Games Festival. Without you, this demo wouldn't be anywhere near the quality it was.

Also, a separate BIG thank you goes to all our friends on Discord who helped us answer the questions during the AmA on Stream. The Discord community even wrote a standalone debug tool and save manager! You are amazing! ːpaperheartː For anyone who would like to be a part of that fantastic community here is the link to our Discord.



If you tried the demo and liked what you saw, please consider spreading the word and wishlisting the game - it's the only way Hellcard can reach new players as Steam shows wishlisted games to more people. This means a bigger player base and thus more people to play with! Not to mention you will get notified once it's released ːarchduckː

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1201540/HELLCARD/


As Always,
Stay safe in the paper dungeons!
Konstanty ːarchduckː

To kick-off the Summer Festival in style we will stream ourselves playing Hellcard pre-alpha demo build. Which you can also play during this festival! Who knows, maybe even with us.

Since we are working from home it will be no bells and whistles stream - just our sexy voices and the game. Let's see if we can get to the final demo boss.

Hellcard is a truly multiplayer cooperative roguelike deckbuilder. It's a kind of spin-off sequel to Book of Demons too. We often wondered how BoD would play if it was a multiplayer and a deckbuilder to the core and Hellcard is the answer.

Designed for up to three players (will also feature solo campaign mode, of course) it pitches heroes in a series of encounters and battles against progressively more tricky enemies. You not only build your own deck adapting to the dungeons and looking for synergies but also try to synergize with your friends' decks. Or you can try your luck fighting back to back with strangers.



The demo you can play during this event is our pre-alpha prototype. We originally built it to test selected core combat mechanics and test drive the multiplayer net code with our community. Once the event is over we will scrap the code and create the final game using what we learned during the event. This means that it would be super helpful if you would report bugs (either on Discord or using in-game widget).

This is only the beginning of this adventure and we will keep testing builds as we go. In case you would like to be a part of that process hop on our Sneak Peek channel on our Discord.

Good luck and as always,
Stay safe in paper dungeons ːarchduckː
Konstanty

Since Hellcard is going to be a multiplayer game, it's crucial to get the netcode right. We want to squeeze as much as we can from the available solutions and that calls for a lot of testing ːarchduckː

That's why a few weeks ago we have started tests with the players over at our Discord Sneak Peek channel. Testing raw net code is no fun, which is why we are doing that on a pre-alpha Hellcard prototype. It has only a few enemies and some early cards but is playable and a challenge. It also gives us a "two birds one stone" type opportunity. Not only we can test the netcode but also core mechanics. By the way, if you would like to be part of similar closed tests in the future consider joining our server:



We have already learned a lot, switched the network topology as a result and we know how we will rework netcode and architecture for the final game. We have almost all the data we need to scrap the prototype and get back to work.

One missing piece is a large scale stress test. We already invited our supporters for closed tests but now it is time to hold an open pre-alpha demo test. And what better time to do that than during Steam Summer Game Festival.



Please keep in mind, that what we are testing here is a pre-alpha prototype build. It will actually be scrapped after the public test and we will use what we learned to improve the actual game. The demo focuses on battles, contains only a fraction of final gameplay and content. Still, it shows what we are going after, can be played and can be won. It features our feedback widget so if at any point you spot bugs or have an idea for improvement write to us! And expect to see a lot of our Work in Progress Skeleton Crew, who came to symbolize the pre-alpha state of the build:




As always,
Stay safe in paper dungeons ːarchduckː
Konstanty

It's a truly multiplayer cooperative roguelike deckbuilder. It's a kind of spin-off sequel to Book of Demons too. We often wondered how BoD would play if it was a multiplayer and a deckbuilder to the core and Hellcard is the answer.

Designed for up to three players (will also feature solo campaign mode, of course) it pitches heroes in a series of encounters and battles against progressively more tricky enemies. You not only build your own deck adapting to the dungeons and looking for synergies but also try to synergize with your friends' decks. Or you can try your luck fighting back to back with strangers.



The demo you can play during this event is our pre-alpha prototype. We originally built it to test selected core combat mechanics and test drive the multiplayer net code with our community. Once the event is over we will scrap the code and create the final game using what we learned during the event. This means that it would be super helpful if you would report bugs (either on Discord or using the in-game widget).

This is only the beginning of this adventure and we will keep testing builds as we go. In case you would like to be a part of that process hop on our Sneak Peek channel on our Discord.



This also means that the demo offers only a sliver of the final content of the game. It focuses on battles and core mechanics but skips events, encounters and there is no single-player mode (it's meant to test multiplayer code, after all). Not to mention *a lot* more cards, monsters, and mechanics.

And, exclusively for this festival demo, we added a Community Boss at the end of it! It's called DemoN. Because it's a demon and a final boss in the demo. Get it? Sorry, can't hear your groans over the self-congratulatory grunts and sound of patting our own backs over here! Anyway, it is tough as nails and will slay you. However, all the damage dealt by every player is summed up and dealt again when another party fights him. So there is a chance that eventually he might die. Death by a thousand cuts, a fitting fate ːpaperdeathː

Good luck and as always,
Stay safe in paper dungeons ːarchduckː
Konstanty

PS Whenever you see our "work in progress" skeleton you can assume something else will be there eventually.

We have a dedicated Ask Us Anything channel on Discord where we will be waiting to answer your questions. We will also wait on Steam chat. From gamedev to cooking fighting horse-sized ducks. Truth be told the channel was there before the Festival and will stay up afterward, but on this day we will keep a double vigil.


Hellcard is a truly multiplayer cooperative roguelike deckbuilder. It's a kind of spin-off sequel to Book of Demons too. We often wondered how BoD would play if it was a multiplayer and a deckbuilder to the core and Hellcard is the answer.

Designed for up to three players (also a features solo campaign mode, of course) it pitches heroes in a series of encounters and battles against progressively more tricky enemies. You not only build your own deck adapting to the dungeons and looking for synergies but also try to synergize with your friends' decks. Or you can try your luck fighting back to back with strangers.


The demo you can play during this event is our pre-alpha prototype. We originally built it to test selected core combat mechanics and test drive the multiplayer net code with our community. Once the event is over we will scrap the code and create the final game using what we learned during the event. This means that it would be super helpful if you would report bugs (either on Discord or using in-game widget).

This is only the beginning of this adventure and we will keep testing builds as we go. In case you would like to be a part of that process hop on Sneak Peek channel on our Discord.

Good luck and as always,
Stay safe in paper dungeons ːarchduckː
Konstanty

I thought it would be cool to share what we are doing, hence this update. First of all, although the Town might seem deserted, the work continues behind the shutters!

We have switched to a home office model early during the pandemic. As a team, our origin story is that of working from our bedrooms and we always encouraged working from home when someone was feeling under the weather, so the transition was smooth. We are now scattered all over the country and kept alive thanks to brave pizza delivery people (seriously, everyone who keeps the infrastructure going in these grim times is a hero, kudos to you!).

Meanwhile, we keep working on both Book of Demons: HELLCARD and Book of Aliens. For those of you who are not on our Discord, I will do a quick recap. And encourage you to join the server, of course. It's where we post sneak peeks and where we will organize alpha and beta tests: http://Discord.gg/bookofdemons

So, without further ado...


We finished card rendering subsystems. Sounds straightforward but it was a lot of work actually, we want cards to be super readable, smooth, and clear regardless of scaling and we are using a custom engine. We will probably write a separate post about that later on.



I will also have a better quality gif, Steam size requirements are atrocious ːarchduckː

The card art was a subject of hot debate both internally and with the community on our Discord. We have written a blog post on how the art style evolved and what motivated our decisions.



We are also in the process of reforging the prototype into a production-ready engine. Yet another topic for an upcoming post! The work is progressing smoothly, all things considered.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1201540/

In the case of Book of Aliens, we are still tinkering with low-level mechanics, so a lot can (and will) change before release (planned for 2021). We are preserving our playable prototypes, so if all goes according to the plan we would love to show you what the game could have been.



While we tinker, our more artistically inclined part of the team is coming up with coolest ways to render scenes, shaders and, effects. But it all always begins with early concept sketches. Here is a sneak peek of the very earliest paper aliens concepts




https://store.steampowered.com/app/1196230/Book_of_Aliens/


If you don't want to miss sneak peeks like that and have an opportunity to discuss them with us, consider joining our Discord and the Sneak Peek channel there: http://Discord.gg/bookofdemons

Aside from that, if you would like to support us further simply wishlist the game you are interested in (or both, if that's the case!). Steam offers more visibility to often wishlisted games and that's the best an indie studio without big marketing bucks can count on!

As always,
Stay safe in the paper dungeons ːpaperheartː
Konstanty