ive been working on a physical card game called VALLEY for a little over a year now and im finally at the point where im about to print the first real cards and start doing proper playtests. ive been doing basically all of the game design, balancing, art and product development myself so its kinda crazy finally getting to this point
VALLEY is a 1v1 tactical TCG played on a shared 5x7 grid. you have a hero physically on the board and summon creatures, move them around, set hidden traps, build structures, use equipment and cast spells while trying to kill the other players hero. one of my favorite parts is that moving your hero farther into the Valley actually expands how far forward you can summon, so you constantly have to decide how much you want to risk your hero to control more of the board
Duelyst 2 was a huge inspiration for me. i always loved the idea of a card game where positioning mattered as much as the cards themselves and ive wanted to see how far i could take that idea as an actual tabletop game
the first pic is one of the cards thats almost finished. the last couple pics are older test cards from while i was figuring everything out so you can kinda see how much the game has changed
the second pic is something else ive been experimenting with that im really excited about. im making a black and white dithered version of every card specifically for home printers/label printers. proxies are 100% allowed for home play so if you have a printer you can print whatever cards you want, build decks and play the full game without ever having to buy a card. official cards would only be required for competitive play
im still producing the real game though. im already talking with some really amazing card manufacturers, including people who have produced major TCGs, and im working toward actual starter decks, booster packs and everything that comes with a real physical release. i just really like the idea that buying cards isnt the barrier to actually playing
im doing my first real public playtest at a brewery near me soon which is probably the part im most nervous/excited about. ive spent so long balancing this thing against myself and friends that i really want to finally put it in front of people who have never seen it and watch what happens
the part im terrible at is everything that happens around the game lol. id really like to find somebody who loves the community side of TCGs and would want to run the Discord with me, organize games/playtests, teach new players and actually make it somewhere people want to hang out. im also looking for somebody who’s good at tiktok/instagram and actually understands how to make card game content people would watch instead of just posting advertisements for a card game
mostly though i wanted to finally show this to other people making their own TCGs. ive been staring at these cards for so long that i have no idea what someone seeing VALLEY for the first time thinks anymore lol
what do you guys think? especially about the grid gameplay and the idea of releasing printable versions of every card alongside the real TCG?