Dev Diary
How the game was made, from the first prompt to the next build. Every step is dated; days of bug hunting are left out.
The timeline
- 2026-09-19
The first prompt
An original card game with no rules text: the server holds every rule, the client holds none.
- 2026-09-22
M1: the rules engine
Duels decided by the server, the stack resolved one object at a time, twenty ways to summon, every action all or nothing.
- 2026-09-23
M2: the first 200 cards
Archetypes, nine starter decks and a balance simulation over every pair of decks.
- 2026-09-23
M3: the art pipeline
415 NovelAI paintings, card framing, hidden names and an audit of every pack.
- 2026-09-23
M4 and M5: online, with a face
A lobby of duel rooms, accounts, a priority clock; then the board, the effects and the sound.
- 2026-09-24
Opponents and rules cards
Three AI tiers, How to Play cards, the Summon button, icons, card backs and Health bars.
- 2026-09-25
The duel's story and the collection
History and chat, a finish on every card, Name Cards, the main menu, Collection and Deck Builder.
- 2026-09-27
Look and sound
The motion pass, booster key art, the four foil films, music, title screens and more boards.
- 2026-09-27
Playing with friends
A two-player test harness, a pack for every finished duel, and the first build for friends.
- 2026-09-28
Version 0.2.0: the deeper layer
The game's hidden side becomes something you can play, not only read about.
- 2026-09-29
The Journey
A world of 63 places and 27 characters, 16 puzzles, the Crown and the Pilgrimage.
- 2026-09-30
Rewards and gold ink
Card backs and postcards from the Journey, and gold ink for the words the game recognised.
- 2026-09-30
The effects art pass
The soft-light look, in five batches, from the everyday beats to the biggest moments.
- 2026-09-30
Beyond cards
A new card type that changes the whole table, and the first three worlds.
- 2026-10-01
Forgotten Words
The game gets its name, the Master AI, a friend system with invites, and three more Beyonds.
- 2026-10-01
Three hundred cards
A 91-card batch and five boosters with sixty designs each.
- 2026-10-02
Version 0.8.0
The first build of the whole game, packaged for friends.
- 2026-10-03
Version 0.9.0
Beyond characters inside their frames with films of their own, and the Journey's lines rewritten.
- 2026-10-04
The Doorkeeper's puppets
Puppet cards that play the parts of the threats.
- 2026-10-05
A Beyond for every character
21 new world cards with their own art, films, sounds and board changes.
- 2026-10-07
Version 0.10.0
A Beyond in one pack of fifteen, the Journey's characters carry their own, and the AI plays all 27.
- 2026-10-07
Version 0.11.0: toward 1.0
Settings, deck codes, replays, bug reports, draft, the tutorial, best of three and Pilgrimage records.
- 2026-10-07
Friends both ways, a title for every booster
Friend requests that both sides accept, a support notice, and five title paintings with their own soundscapes.
- 2026-10-07
Lighter on the wire
Compressed messages: a duel sends about a seventh of what it did.
- 2026-10-17
A face of its own
New lettering for the whole game, a repainted postcard and eleven postcards lettered again.
- 2026-10-24
Version 0.12.0
Fixes a variety of design things behind the scene.
- 2026-10-25
Version 1.0.0: Custom Calamity
The Card Maker, custom cards on any server, Custom Calamity, 141 new effects, a new Draft table and Godot credited.
- 2026-10-25
Version 1.0.1: Come and play
The public server opens, with a download to play online and one to host your own table; privacy in the game.