Developing a trading card game that continues to meet the preferences and interests of vastly different player types over time is a significant challenge. Many game design decisions come down to personal taste—some players enjoy longer matches, while others prefer quick victories. Some have a passion for collecting, while others focus on optimizing their decks.

However, there are certain recurring issues in trading card games that all player types would like to see resolved. Here, we will highlight three of these issues and present our solutions:

Too Few Parameters

Trading card games thrive on change. With every new edition, more cards are released, which players can purchase and add to their collection to build new and improved decks. To keep the gameplay exciting and diverse, new mechanics and card parameters are occasionally introduced. However, this often creates issues with older cards, which were never designed with these new mechanics in mind and therefore integrate poorly—or not at all.

We aim to avoid this problem for as long as possible by starting with a high level of complexity from the outset. Our approach follows the principle of "better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it." However, this will not stand in the way of an easy entry into the game. While our initial cards will already feature numerous parameters, these will not be actively utilized in the early editions and formats. Later, if needed, we can introduce new mechanics based on these existing parameters, ensuring seamless compatibility with all cards.

Worthless Cards

It’s frustrating to open a booster pack and find that only one or two cards are actually useful, while the rest gather dust. In our view, every card in a booster should be something to get excited about. Naturally, the current game meta and a card’s rarity will always make some cards more desirable than others. However, that doesn’t mean that so-called "less valuable" cards should be entirely useless or have no purpose.

This is where our connection to our fantasy world’s lore comes into play. We plan to offer at least one game format that provides varied entertainment based on our world’s evolving story. You can think of it like an MMORPG, where players align with a faction or side and fight for their cause. Depending on the ongoing events in our fantasy world, different cards will be needed at different times to complete certain challenges or participate in special events. This means that even seemingly weak cards can suddenly become crucial, making it worthwhile to collect them.

This concept is one of the key reasons behind the "Evolving" in our game’s name. Beyond that, we have many more plans to make collecting and trading all our cards rewarding—one of which is card customization (though we’ll keep the details under wraps for now).

Resource Generation

In every trading card game, players need resources (such as mana) to play their cards. These resources are often generated through separate resource cards, which must be drawn and played (usually for free). In other games, resources are independent of cards and automatically increase each turn up to a certain maximum.

We didn’t want to fully separate resources from cards, as we see resource management as an important element of deck-building complexity. However, simply requiring players to include a fixed percentage of resource cards in their deck to ensure consistent draws doesn’t add meaningful depth. So, we sought a middle ground.

In our game, resources for playing cards are represented by Battle Morale. Battle Morale is generated at the start of each turn and must be used by the end of the turn—unused Battle Morale does not carry over to the next round.

Every player has a Fortress, a special card that serves as the foundation of their deck’s strategy. Fortresses differ in their secondary abilities as well as the base amount of Battle Morale they provide. Depending on the chosen Fortress, players receive between 1 and 3 Battle Morale per turn, without having to play any additional resource cards.

Players can also gain up to two extra Battle Morale by choosing not to draw a card during their turn, or one extra Battle Morale if they only draw a single card. Unlike most TCGs, our game allows players to draw one, two, or no cards per turn. This means that through Fortress selection and draw behavior, players can flexibly generate a basic income of Battle Morale.

Additionally, players can play Fortress Upgrades, which generate extra Battle Morale each round. However, these upgrades rarely provide only additional resources—they also grant unique buffs, actions, or mechanics. As a result, even cards dedicated to resource generation have multiple functions, making them a strategic part of deck-building rather than just filler cards.

Instead of simply filling 30% of a deck with "mana cards," players must consider multiple interactions and trade-offs, adding depth and flexibility to deck construction.