I didn’t always plan for Starfire Skies to be a card game. Initially, the idea was a firework tycoon game—something inspired by one of my all-time favorite games, Lemonade Tycoon. The idea would be, you’d spend money gathering ingredients for a firework show, invest in better suppliers to lower costs, and design unique fireworks to dazzle an audience. It sounded fun, but as I thought about it more, I realized it might not hold a player’s interest for more than an hour.

As much as I love Lemonade Tycoon, I wanted Starfire Skies to have more depth and strategy—a game you could come back to over and over. That’s when the idea of a deckbuilder took shape.

Deckbuilders are incredibly versatile. You can build almost any kind of concept on top of them. Want to battle monsters in a spire? Play Slay the Spire. Interested in a survival game where you build a village? Try Stacklands. How about a card game with superheroes? Check out Marvel Snap. Deckbuilders are more than just card games—they’re strategic sandboxes that can adapt to almost any theme, even fireworks.

But as a first-time developer, I was left with a big question: How do I make a fun and engaging card game about fireworks?

The Challenges of a Deckbuilder

Creating a deckbuilder involves solving two key challenges for the player:

1. Understanding the cards: What do they do, and how do you use them?
2. Understanding how to play the cards: How do you strategically use the card to reach some goal?

In a deckbuilder, the fun lies in making choices—deciding which cards to play, which to keep, and which to remove from your deck entirely. But to make those decisions meaningful, there has to be something pushing back against the player.

In classic card games like Poker, that pressure comes from your opponents. Everyone starts with an equal chance, and your decisions dictate the outcome. But in a single-player deckbuilder, you need to build that tension into the game itself. Without it, there’s no reason to choose one card over another. For example, if every card in Starfire Skies simply “launches a firework” and makes the audience happy, there’s no strategy—just a button-mashing simulator.

So, I needed to design three things:

1. An interesting and simple way to play cards.
2. A system that pushes back against the player.
3. A reason to play one card over another.

From Brainstorming to Design

Knowing I wanted Starfire Skies to feel like a firework show, I drew inspiration directly from real-life displays. A typical show has two distinct phases:

• The main show: Fireworks launch in a steady rhythm, building anticipation.
• The finale: A breathtaking burst of fireworks all at once.

This gave me an idea for how players could use their cards. Each card could represent a firework, and players would decide whether to use it in the main show (for a steady performance) or save it for the finale (for maximum impact).

But what about the audience? They became the game’s main obstacle. If you don’t meet their expectations, they rate your show poorly. Their demands create the pressure that forces the player to strategize.

Finally, I looked at the fireworks themselves. Each firework could have a unique effect, making it a reason to play one card over another. Some might keep you from losing, while others would help you win the game. 

Keeping it Simple

Even with all these mechanics, simplicity is key. A deckbuilder works best when its core mechanics are easy to grasp, even as the strategy becomes deeper over time. My goal was to create a system that feels intuitive but offers enough complexity to keep players engaged for hours.

In my next post, I’ll dive into how I combined these ideas to create a satisfying gameplay loop for Starfire Skies. Thanks for reading!