What happens, when you mix rogue-lite deck building with real-time, autobattler-style gameplay? Add permanent progression, an unfolding narrative, and the premise behind Into the Underworld – our newest project here at Awesome Games Studio – starts to form.
Hi, my name is Krzysztof (Kris for short), and I'm the newest addition to the Awesome Games Studio team – though no stranger to the studio! Those of you who keep a close eye on game credits can perhaps recognize me from having contributed my writing know-how to Fury Unleashed...
...but that was a while ago. So what am I doing at the studio at this time? Working as a game designer on Into the Underworld, our real-time card game / autobattler hybrid, which we'll be discussing today.
Having joined Awesome Games Studio full-time halfway through 2024, it's now been almost a year that I've worked with the team here, and I was attached to Into the Underworld from day one. The game started as a proof of concept demo, and it was my task to take the core gameplay- using cards to summon creatures and cast spells in real-time battles - and flesh it out, refining what's most fun about it in the process.
If you take a look at the gif above and compare the game I was introduced to and its current, work in progress version, I'm sure you'll see many similarities, but also notice a lot of differences. The interfaces are much different, the visuals have been refined and many quality-of-life indicators and other features were added. Naturally, that's just the presentation layer – underneath the hood, a great deal has changed in the last 12 months, and the game's progression systems were much expanded.
Probably most significant, the game's format is undergoing a complete overhaul – from just a series of connected battles, to a fully fledged gameplay structure, complete with unlockables, permanent progression and an evolving narrative. This all centers around your home base, with its cast of NPCs, structures and upgrades, that allow you to change the starting conditions of each run and improve both your deck and your character – given the right resources.
We have also put a lot of focus into refining the combat and card balance, which is now completely altered from what it used to be a year ago. Each summonable unit and spell have unique properties, balanced out by their mana cost and rarity – that's all standard stuff for this genre, but getting it right is always tricky when you have so many variables to work with. This basic balancing work is just the first step, leading into more subtle and time-consuming tinkering.
Because the game takes place in real time, and your summoned units behave autonomously, there's a part of the equation that similar turn-based games don't really have to consider – unit AI. And because we're also using 3D models, things like attack range, attack animations, and collisions all have to be taken into consideration. Any unit whose stats seem sensibly balanced must then be tested against many different scenarios, and tweaked, often multiple times, to really fill a niche in the roster and make it a viable strategic option to use.
On top of that, there are a few other gameplay elements that are a tried-and-true component of rogue-like deckbuilders which we're adapting to our specific project – things like Relics which change certain rules of the game, boss fights, and of course interactions with the deck itself. We have revisited these topics several times over the last 12 months, exploring different ideas and trying out features which seemed promising. While we're keeping some of the conventions that "just work" in this genre, we're charting our own path in many other aspects. After all, we've already branched out by deciding to make a card game that you play in real-time!
You probably already know this from our other titles – we take our time iterating on ideas, because we believe in creating solid designs that take what's familiar and makes it our own. And, once the game releases in Early Access, we engage you in that process as well to steer the game towards what players want to see.
Into the Underworld's Early Access period is still some time away, but the game's store page on Steam is already live, so you can wishlist and follow the game there. If you already did, thank you – it helps us a lot!
As development news are concerned, we won't leave you hanging. We're hoping to continue updating this blog every now and again to share some more insight into our design philosophy for this project.
Stay awesome,
Kris @ Awesome Games Studio
