Arcane Grid Clash

Make a strategy game where winning comes from your choices, not luck, and that feels like a physical board game even though it's played online.

I kept noticing how many people have moved from physical games to digital ones, so I asked: can a digital game feel like a physical one? That became a grid where you beat your opponent with Warrior, Wizard, Dragon and Goblin cards.

Each turn you pick a card and place it on the grid. You score only by trapping an opponent's card between two of yours that beat it, and the first to 20 wins. So every card you place can set up a trap, or give your opponent one.

The first prototype was a plain Unity UI with buttons like "Buy WA" and "Host". It tested the rules: do who-beats-who and trapping make a fun strategy game?

Points do two jobs: they win the match, and they buy more cards in the shop. A new card can set up the next trap, but spending it takes you further from 20.

• The Goblin is worth 5 points but costs 5, and the shop only has 4, so it's strong but rare.
• The board is a tight 8x8, so every move can set up or break a trap, and four random double-score squares make each match different.
• The match runs on the host, so both players always see the same board, and a room code lets a friend join from anywhere.

The art is bold, flat fantasy in portrait: a castle night sky, a stone board and big, readable cards. The card art, logo and UI were made with an AI image tool.

The prototype worked, but it didn't feel like a game, so I redesigned the whole thing in portrait with real cards and screens. Playtests with friends and classmates found more:

• The rules were confusing, so I added How to Play and a rules card with curved arrows that show who beats who.
• A dropped connection ended the match, so I added Rejoin and Reconnect.
• A player could get stuck with no cards and no points, so that now counts as a loss.

The rules are simple to learn but leave a lot of room for strategy.

What I learned

• Rules need to be shown, not written. One clear picture of who beats who did more than any text.
• Making a strong card rare and expensive kept it exciting without breaking the game.

Next

A guided first match to teach the rules, then more card types.