Bringing my physical card game to Steam: How this paper prototype made it to Steam.

What started as a fun project, to play cards with my friends, quickly snowballed into more than I could have ever imagined.

At first, I made an ugly card game prototype, then a professional card game (Trick or Beat, german only). Now, years later, it is launching internationally on steam as a free to play online game!

But how did it get there?
Well, my prototype turned out to have some really nice mechanics. Trick or Beat plays like a trading card game, has a shared draw-pile. No Card-collection or pay-to-win. Mechanics like the trick-pile allow you to discard "bad" card for benefits. This introduces a dynamic deck building element to the gameplay loop.

This is what got the development process going. I kept playing and re-balancing the game. After a while, I published it in Germany. Where it also resonated with its audience, receiving positive feedback.

So together with a friend, who already published on steam before, we took the next step. Turning a game like this comes with challenges and benefits:

Challenges:
The rules are fixed: As the game was already physically printed, all rules had to be implemented as written. Even if they cause major problems. And they certainly did.

Layouts need to always work: When designing the physical cards, I could sometimes alter a font size or slightly move an icon. The code does not check for those small issues by itself.

Benefits:
The rules are strict: There is no ambiguity, on how a card effect is ment to be used. The game can do this for the player.

Highlights and glows: Honestly, I love this possibility. We can just show the player, what's important at any time, by making it glow.

Localisation: To translate the game, we only need to actually create the translation. There are no logistical issues with printing another version.

To me, this list seems absolutely worth it! It was difficult, yes. But the benefits allow for a way better experience - for even more people. And that is, why we all start - right?

It still feels surreal to me, how far this game has already come.

Do you have any thoughts about the game? Any feedback honestly means the world to me!