Roguelite deckbuilder
Deal the Dungeon
Deal the Dungeon. Then live with it.
A roguelite deckbuilder with six crews, 180 hand-written cards printed in each crew's own ink, and head-to-head duels in the Arena.
A deck in one hand, a lantern in the other
Deal the Dungeon is the studio's first card game. Pick one of six crews, build a deck from its cards, and take it down into the dungeon. Each crew has its own way of fighting and its own color of ink, so you can read a table of cards at a glance and know exactly who played what.
There are 180 cards in the set. Every name and every line of rules text was written by hand, in the game's own vocabulary, and the engine underneath is our own C# code.
Every run, the dungeon itself is dealt: a spread of rooms, some face up and some face down, and a face-down card is the ruin's own deal. In a fight every enemy shows its next move, so the game is about reading the table and answering it, pushing and pulling enemies across the ranks and shoving them into each other. Your own deck even strikes out the bad fates when an event goes wrong. Between runs you forge runes into your cards and recruit new crews, and a fully voiced Quartermaster teaches you all of it.
Player versus player
The Arena: crew against crew
Deal the Dungeon also brings player-versus-player to the roguelite deckbuilder. In the Arena, two crews face each other across three fronts. Each round both sides write their orders in secret, deploying fighters and stepping them forward or back, and then everything resolves at once.
Every fighter's next two moves are printed on its card, so the guessing is about what your opponent is holding, not about the dice. Take on the ghosts of other players' crews, chase the day's best margin on a shared leaderboard, or challenge a friend from your lodge.
Six Crews, Six Inks
Each crew prints in a single color. The card on each tile is the one chosen to stand for its crew.
ember red-orange
Intimidate
Phalanx
The shield wall. Holds the line and decides where the fight happens.
Cards include Intimidate, Brutal Shove, Lock the Line, Collision Course
deep violet
Precision Cut
Inquisitor
The precise blade. Waits for the opening, then ends it in one stroke.
Cards include Precision Cut, Perfect Opening
cold ink blue
Alibi
Investigator
The one who notices. Turns what the enemy missed into an advantage.
Cards include Alibi, Blind Spot
acid sulphur
Toxic Gas
Artillerist
Damage at a distance and ground nobody wants to stand on.
Cards include Toxic Gas, Pitfall
dark bronze
Bellows
Foundry Master
Heat and pressure. Feeds the fire and turns it into output.
Cards include Bellows, Coal Feed
verdigris
Calculated Risk
Horologist
Time as a resource. Measures the odds and spends turns like coin.
Cards include Calculated Risk, Calibrate
From the Current Build
Two-block relief print
Black line on paper white, plus one flat color. That is the whole palette of any single card.
Printed, not painted
Every card illustration is drawn as a woodcut: a black key block and one color block in the crew's ink. The strongest images in the set are objects and traces rather than figures, a helm with a single red slot for the visor, a clock and one boot print, a cracked gear.
Frames, cost discs, and type are set the same way on all 180 cards, in Alegreya Sans, so the illustration is the only thing that changes from one card to the next.
Where it stands
Card set
180 cards designed
Art direction
Locked
Build
Playable on Windows
Common Questions
What kind of game is Deal the Dungeon?+
A roguelite deckbuilder. You choose one of six crews, build a deck from its cards, and play your way through a dungeon dealt from a deck of room cards, one hand at a time. Between runs you can take your crew into the Arena and duel another crew head to head.
How many crews and cards are there?+
Six crews and 180 cards. Every card's name and rules text was written by hand for this game.
What platforms will it be on?+
PC, iOS, and Android. Join the Foundry below and you will hear first when playtests open on each one.
Is there multiplayer?+
Yes. The Arena is a one-on-one duel across three fronts. Both sides write their orders in secret, and then the whole round resolves at once. You can take on the ghosts of other players' crews, chase the day's best margin on a shared leaderboard, or challenge a friend from your lodge.
When does it come out?+
A release date isn't set yet. The game is playable on Windows today, and the Android version runs on the same code. Join the Foundry below to hear first when playtests open.
Follow Deal the Dungeon
Get Deal the Dungeon updates and playtest news.
Follow the card game as it is built: new cards, crew reveals, engine progress, and the first playtest invitations when they open.