We are starting a series of weekly posts with a goal to introduce real strategies for building powerful decks. Here, we will explain the ideas and core cards behind certain winners' builds.
Last week, a PRO player landed on top of the leaderboard with a score of over 5000 (!) points, beating the #2 with over 300 points. Let's take a peek at the deck they used!
The most shocking thing is, he did it all without inviting Partners!
The first card up his sleeve seems to be the "Unholy Body", which ensures decent HP recovery for a yet unformed deck.
Let's take a look at the damage dealing cards in this deck.
There are 2 "Blade Dancers" on the first page, each of which summons 3 "Stab" cards. As it seems, this deck mainly uses "Stab" cards to deal damage. To reinforce Stab cards, the player used the "Splash" card — it has the effect of making each Stab card be played twice! "Stab" card doesn’t deal much damage by itself alone. However, thanks to the Combo effect of adding +1 to damage and the “Butcher” card’s Coward effect (for each attack on target get +10% to damage), Stab cards in no time becomes an overwhelming force as they have 0 cost and come in HUGE quantities!
Let's talk about "Combo" effect mentioned earlier. After the 15th difficulty level, the starting Strike cards will be strengthened. Thus, “Combo” cards with gain +3 damage points! Unsightly before, these cards became the treasure now! Was it always THIS EASY to deal over 100 damage points IN A SINGLE TURN, huh?
Now that we are satisfied the damage quota, how do we actually draw these cards? 1. As you can see, there are 2 "Quick Load" cards in the deck — the ultimate card-drawing tool! This card not only lets you draw cards till you have 5 cards in hand, but it also heals you 2 HP for each Skill card drawn! 2. "Ripping Refinement" — don't underestimate it due to being a “common” card, it provides effects not inferior to some “epic” cards! Along with dealing damage, it casts the Weak effect upon the enemy! This debuff decreases enemy damage on 25%, which often can save your run at critical moments. 3. "Sharp Will" allows you to draw 2 cards while dealing 7 points damage 2 times. This Kelly’s exclusive card deals quite enough damage and has great functionality. Probably, this is one of the reasons why many players love Keely.
That's all for today! Next time we'll talk about auxiliary cards and Runes attachment strategies. For now, why don’t you try some of the ideas mentioned in this post? Who knows, maybe together with your own tactics today’s build will shine even brighter!
Join Us Live!
Our livestream as part of Enter the Dragon is about to begin! We'll be streaming Indies' Lies for 4.24 20:00 CST , and we would love for you to join us.
See you over on the Enter the Dragon Steam event page: [https://store.steampowered.com/sale/enterthedragon]
V0.9.4 Update Log
Story Mode
There's a strong demand from a lot of players to learn about the backstories of the characters, so we decided to lower the threshold for Story Mode, and make access to it easier!
How to Unlock Story Mode now: Clear any roguelike level with a character to unlock his/her Story Mode
Where to find Story Mode: Main Menu - Story Mode
Other changes: We have temporarily turned off the character clue system to keep the game running smoothly. But don't worry! Your clue collection progress will NOT be wiped. After the game gets out of Early Access, we will have a more fun and meaningful collection feedback system (with new content as well!) ready for you guys upon our full release!
Bugfix
Fixed the bug where a resurrected partner leads to incorrect partner deck display.
Fixed slight discrepancies in size and transparency for cards in hand.
Fixed the bug where some cards apply effects that don't match the description when the target's Strength drops to below zero.
Fixed incorrect display of the mouse in some cases.
Corrected the effect of the talent "Iron Arm" to match its description.
Fixed the animation for when playing the card "Destiny".
Effect Adjustment
Attach Rune can no longer be attached to Attack cards that attack two times.
Talents now can be triggered by gaining gold from discarding items.
Buff "Restricted" will now count cards played automatically.
Talent "Fancy Dance" now deals damage for multiple times when discarding multiple cards at once.
Other Optimization
[Art] Optimized the animation of the flame on Daniel's palm.
[Art] Optimized the card attachment page.
[Text & Localization] Thanks to feedback from the community, we have fixed some text errors and polished texts in different languages.
[UI] You can now view your deck when selecting cards during battle.
Enter the Dragon
We're excited to be part of Enter the Dragon, an all-new event running from April 22-29 celebrating the fantastic games being developed by studios from across the Greater China region.
Enter the Dragon is the first event we're attending since our EA release. It's been almost a month since launch and we're thrilled to have received so much love and support from the indie game community! Enter the Dragon will have a great selection of indie games for you to check out, don't miss it!
Join us on April 24 at 8:00AM (EDT) when we'll be streaming our game Indies' Lies!
You can also try out the demo of Indies' Lies during the event!
Mark your calendars and set your alarms - Enter the Dragon kicks off on April 22 at 19:00(EDT) / 22:00(PDT)!There has been a lot of demand to have localized into French & German. And we need your help with the translation!
You need to: Translate card descriptions and lore
We offer:
A place in the credits section
Access to content not released to the public
Free copy of the PC version AND DLC
Your other demands
If you're interested, please leave a comment here or contact Lauren from our team on Discord: Laurenxy#4257
Thank you!
Message from
When I first started playing Deckbuilder games, I would be spending hours getting familiar with all the cards and items, without even clearing the starting level. Many of my friends shelved this genre for the same frustration.
To make Indies’ Lies less punishing, the first thing we did was to allow players to replace cards in deck directly with new cards. Players no long need to remove cards to trim the deck down, and they can build a deck faster to try out new cards and new strategies right away. This design does exactly what we intended, and we’ve received a lot of positive feedback about this. However, a lot of hardcore players found the game a bit too easy. This is not an easy balance and it’s something we’ll keep working on.
Indies’ Lies also offers a variety of characters to choose from. Each of the 9 heroes comes with 2 initial talents (1 class talent, and 1 character-exclusive talent) and 2 exclusive cards (more can be unlocked at higher levels). More options can be unlocked at higher levels, bringing more uniqueness to each character.
There’re 20 difficulty levels. After getting feedback about the game getting boring after some time with the same character, we added 3 extra talents for each hero, which can be unlocked by clearing story mode.
After all these changes, the balance of the game took some damage. Some cards are too OP, and some cards never get picked. A lot still needs to be done. This EA launch is a great chance for us to collect more feedback and brush up the game.
We also introduced a procedurally generated talent tree to the game. Some talents really beef up your act, but some are double-edge swords. However, you can only unlock and view talents adjacent to the ones you’ve already learned. Would you challenge an elite enemy to unlock more talents, or save your HP for other resources? The stakes can be high, but this brings a nice surprise element to each game.
We discarded the card upgrade system, which was not an easy decision. We integrated a Rune system instead, where players can attach Runes to cards to add bonus effects, such as higher damage, applying debuff, stealing HP, or gaining gold.
Most roguelikes are not really about the plot, but we created an original worldview for Indies’ Lies to appeal to more players. In the fantasy land of Mekaa, you can find medieval magic, steampunk aesthetics, and captivating tales about faith and science. Once we started, there was no way back until we completed stories for all the 9 heroes. We tried our best to bring the heroes to life, each with unique personality and a life-changing mission.
These were some of the key decisions we had to make for Indies’ Lies. I would love to share more with you once we have more feedback from this EA launch. See you next time!
Coffee Designer of Indies’ Lies
V0.9.3 Update Log
Optimized arts for Karma
Optimized the animation effects of books in events
Added special effects for enemy "Tyrant"
When dialogues occur before fights, hide fight info
Show card details for initial events that have card options
Players can now mouse over the cards to view card details
Different maps now share difficultly level progress
Fixed a bug where the talent "Astrology" gives out a wrong number of cards
Fixed the leaderboard scroll issue
Fixed the bug where the "You Are My Hero" achievement from Evelyn story mode could not be accomplished
Optimized some texts in terms of where new lines are formed
Fixed some card descriptions
Three maps now share level progress! For example, if you finish level 5 in one map, you can unlock level 6 for all three maps. Also, you can now mouse over the cards to view card details! But the animation was a bit rushed and we will work on that for the future updates.
We've also received some feedback on black screen issues and network connection problems. These need to be fixed on a case-by-case basis, so please contact us in our Discord server if you encounter said issues. Thanks a lot for your feedback and support!
v0.9.2 Update Log
Adjusted difficulty for starting levels
Fixed the issue that would cause the game to get stuck when players check the deck
Fixed the issue where the name did not display when checking player info in leaderboard
Optimized some special effects during fights to avoid frame loss
Optimized tutorial texts for choosing cards during fights
Adjusted UI display for different languages
The feedback we have received about the game difficulty has been quite divided. Some players find the starting levels too easy and thus boring, but some like the fact that it's easier to get the hang of game. For now, we've made the starting levels a bit more challenging, but it will be a long-term task for us to adjust the difficulty curve to try and deliver a great experience for everyone.
Message from
Hi everyone, this is Coffee, the designer of Indies’ Lies. Having been in the game industry for over a decade, I’ve always wanted to develop an outstanding game for all the players out there, as well as for myself. For years me and my team have worked hard towards that goal, and we’re proud to present our first indie game project — Indies’ Lies.
The roguelike deckbuilder genre has long been known as a hardcore niche. From the very start of our project, it was our goal to create a more beginner-friendly roguelike deckbuilder that could reach and touch more players.
Before launching the Steam EA version, we’ve also released Indies’ Lies on mobile. Although the game is still far from perfect, but it’s exceeded my expectation by a lot. For that, I owe a sincere thank you to my team, all the players, and everyone who followed the project.
When it comes to roguelike deckbuilding, Slay the Spire is the undisputable masterpiece of the genre, and there’s a lot to learn from its strategic depth and balance.
When we started, we had the idea to introduce the charm of deckbuilding to more players, for example players looking for a more casual gaming experience. With that in mind, we wanted to create a new deckbuilding gameplay, which would allow players to spend less time on building a powerful deck to smash enemies within a few turns. We tried many designs, came up with then threw away many ideas. The result, well, is certainly mixed.
There was a time when the team would be literally fighting every day about the game design. Although the stress was overwhelming, I was so grateful to have found a group of like-minded friends that I proudly call my team. Back then, we didn’t know where it could all go. It was scary, but we kept going, as a team.
In April 2021, we released our first beta test on mobile. We were so lucky to have a flood of players try out the game and leave us positive reviews and constructive feedback. It felt like hard work had paid off, and of course, more work needed to be done. In October and November, we participated in several indie game exhibitions. It made my heart swell to finally meet players and talk to them in person. We got a lot of new ideas and suggestions from fellow developers, which helped us keep polishing the game.
It’s the team efforts and community support that got us to this far to the Steam EA release. My deepest gratitude goes to everyone who made this possible.
(In the next part, I will talk about what kind of differences we bring to the genre. Stay tuned!)
V0.9.1 Update Log
Hi Mekaa Adventurers!
We're here with a new patch for Indies' Lies that will take care of the following:
Bugfixes 1. Fixed the following issues which might stop the game from continuing: 1.1Closing shop too fast 1.2Failure to return to map 1.3Tutorial screen issues 1.4Display order of deck 2. Shut down the special effects on the Talent screen that caused lower fps 3. Fixed some text description on the Rune screen
Art 1. Made changes to costumes on Grace and Karma 2. Adjusted special effect layers on some monsters
We understand that some of you find the game too easy in the beginning levels. We'll definitely work on that, but difficulty adjustment will take time so please be patient! We've also scheduled the new feature where you can view card details by hovering over it.
Thanks for all the prompt feedback! I'm sure a lot of you have made it to the more challenging levels. And have you tried out our story mode? Let us know what you think!
