About
The Deck of Justice is a ridiculously frantic, yet highly tactical, hand-drawn card game for 1-6 players. Players take turns striking one another (with fully loaded heroes, armored vehicles and bulging biceps) in a series of quick cowboy standoffs until there is only one survivor.
A sample print and play demo version is available for download here!
The game is basically a parody of all the (weird) stuff we love about Japanese cartoon...with a Tarantino-ish homage style to the 70s (and 80s)...encapsulated in an outrageously fast-paced & novel (with a touch of retro) card battle mechanics.
The game takes less than 2-minutes to learn and each round takes 1-30 minutes to play. Yes! You read that right, some game modes are as quick as a 1-minute duel!
The deck’s complexity and replay-ability are rooted in each card’s special raging ability and the extravagant number of combos that result from combining and/or chaining different cards.
So get ready the most fun you can ever have...with a deck...
The Deck of Justice
You can find us here:
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
The Cheesy Holes Team (Omar, Hussein & Ahmed)
THE DECK IS THE WORD: REVIEWS & PREVIEWS
The coolest and cutest review ever!!!!
Thank you Baileigh (@nonzerosumgames) :D
The following is a sample of the game reviews and previews so far (click on an image for the full review):
HOW IT WORKS: ENTER THE DECK
Download the full guide by clicking the picture below:
First, get your deck out, shuffle it and deal some cards to each player. Then, start taking turns striking one another. One by one, players will get destroyed until only one survives. This is your winner.
There are 118 cards within 4 categories in this game:
1. Heroes: the most important cards in the game. You start with (at least) one hero. You strike with (at least) one hero, you defend with (at least) one hero and you are out of the game if you are out of heroes.
2. Load: the second most important card in the game. Loads are attached to heroes (each hero can carry at most 2 loads except those who have bigger hands) to add more horsepower (hp) to your strike or defence forces (Yes, we call it hp and it is the shiny number at the bottom right corner of each card).
3. Ride: the third most important card in the game. Rides allow you to add more heroes to the battle (when striking or defending) depending on the seating capacity, to carry more loaded weapons and therefore deal a much bigger damage. However, you can only have 1 ride in a battle and you need a load free hand to drive it (duh!).
4. Insta: the most hilariously strategic cards in the game. These are the special action cards that can be played anytime by anyone regardless of their turn. Besides, they can create temporal alliances and inevitable betrayals once other players start interrupting your turn (anyone can play them, remember!).
Now that you know what's in the cards, let's see how to take turns. Basically, each turn is a cowboy standoff between 2 players (striker and defender), where there is only 1 winner. There are 4 simple steps for that: strike, battle, execute & loot. Want more details? Okay...
STEP 1: STRIKE 'EM
In your turn, you basically select some heroes from your hand, load them with some powerful weapons and choose the right ride to grab more heroes (and hence more and more powerful weapons) then choose an opponent to strike. (one day they will have their revenge, so choose wisely!)
What makes things interesting is that your opponent will not know what hit them, because attackers show only 1 card and hide the rest (yeah, we got that from poker). This creates interesting and extremely fun and unpredictable moments of prediction, anticipation, planning and even decoy-setting.
STEP 2: BATTLE 'EM
Now the attacked player need to respond with a defense force from their hand of cards as well. After that, all played cards are revealed and the battle starts.
STEP 3: EXECUTE 'EM
Each hero has a special ability that you execute in each battle (rage). This is where you get to set up some ridiculous combos.You will see things like cheap chopping weaker opponents, self-destructing upon loss, seducing enemies, using your friends as catapulted weapons and much more crazy stuff and endless variations that will keep surprising you in every turn.
After executing these powers, the total hp of each side (attacker and defender) are calculated (or what is left of it after the raging phase anyway). The winner is the one with the higher total hp.
WATCH OUT!
Things are never that straightforward because anyone can play an Insta action card now, which can affect the battle outcome by bribing, stunning or even destroying a card.
and finally...
STEP 4: LOOT 'EM
To end a turn, the winner takes his played cards back (except loaded weapons as they are not loaded anymore of course) and the loser takes nothing (lose all played cards). They both then take 1 card each from the draw pile.
If at this point anyone is out of heroes, then they lose and are out of the game. Players continue taking turns clockwise, following the striking/defending/interrupting pattern until they are all demolished but one, who becomes our winner.
WHY IT WORKS: MAD MECHANICS
We wanted to create a bombastically endearing tribute to classic action movies and cartoons (and some other stuff). A simple and extremely fun parody with ever-changing and nuanced battles that never gets old. We focused on creating heavy layers of complex combinatorics underneath to produce more than 7 billion strategies to explore (more than a lifetime) yet within a game that takes only 2 minutes (or less) to learn.
Here is a video that shows a taster of the battles we all fantasised about in our childhood:
A glimpse of the possible mad scenarios that you can encounter in the game:
There are numerous game modes available as well, to add to the variability of the game. The best part is that those modes behave completely different but use (almost) the same game mechanics and rules. Although the rules and game modes are included with the game, house rules and creativity are facilitated through the special design of the game mechanics.
REWARDS: SHOW ME THE DECK
The following prices will be EXCLUSIVE for Kickstarter backers (about 20% cheaper than the final retail price after the campaign ends). All the decks will come in a nifty little box, with a campaign instruction set & a game guide. All backers will be mentioned on our page and will also get some FREE rewards once the corresponding stretch goal is unlocked (check the stretch goals section). Shipping will be charged separately after the campaign ends. Refer to the shipping section for rates of your regions.
ORIGIN STORY: RISE OF THE DECK
I have been developing video games for so long and I have been playing card games even longer. I have always wanted to play a proper Expendables-ish card game that is extremely fun, highly strategic and has a deck. Couldn't find one, so decided to make one.
The idea was simple. I love corny action movies. I love over-the-top Japanese cartoon (aka anime). I love very fast-paced duels. So one day it struck me: Why not make a corny, over-the-top, cartoony card game with fast paced duels?
I called my Cheesy Holes team and told them I have an idea. Let's develop the craziest deck of them all. Let's imagine we are in the 70s and want to make the most ridiculous card game ever as a love letter to all the beefed up action heroes (and heroines) we love (and hate).
I wanted 2 things: quick fights & massive fights. So no health points, mana or any of that stuff. A cowboy standoff was the answer. A series of win or lose standoffs between massively assembled armies. Players also get to choose how to play: go all in (with the risk of losing all their heroes in one turn) or get more tactical (and even use some stealth mechanics).
We also managed to come up with the horsepower idea. One number for everything, without bombarding the cards with tons of attributes. Surprisingly this did not take away from the game, but added more depth, especially when combined with each card special ability.
One important thing for me was to make every card count and avoid useless ones. So I spent months crafting a rock-paper-scissor mechanic to maintain a hard-to-win but fair game, where every player has a chance of winning regardless of their starting hand (surprises are frequent in this game).
After nights of brainstorming and numerous trials, the Deck of Justice was born. I quickly started sketching some characters and showed them to my team and they loved it. In case you missed it, we have Easter eggs and implicit (sometimes explicit) references everywhere, all meant to be as a loving parody and not intentional of course.
Hussein started digitizing my drawing and added some of his own. We then kept testing and testing and testing with everyone we knew (and didn't know as well). The feedback was hilariously positive, which motivated us to keep tweaking it and polish it till we had our first fully playable version.
Why Kickstarter?
Now because we fell in love with this game and how it came to be, we want the whole world to play it with us, so here we are on Kickstarter. We need this push to take the current playable prototype to the next level, add the expansion pack, enhance the card materials and enable mass production as we would like to make the game available to the public after the campaign (through game stores, retailers and online shops such as Amazon and ebay). We are contineously enhancing the game, so some art may slightly differ upon release. However, some items will still be EXCLUSIVE to Kickstarter such as the Big Bad Deck and the Big Fat Deck. Beside, Kickstarter backers get to have own and play the game way before the rest of the world.
For the craziest deck of them all...
The Deck of Justcie
-The Cheesy Holes Team (Omar, Hussein & Ahmed)
STRETCH GOALS
All the goals except for the video game should be delivered within the estimated delivery time of each reward. The video game is currently estimated to take a bit longer and should be digitally delivered later in 2019.
However, there is a surprise gift for all our backers that we are currently planning. We don't want to ruin the surprise, but we are planning to send another video game that we are currently working on (called Deep Shift) as a THANK YOU gift early in 2019 for backers (Free for the Big Fat Deck backers and discounted for all other backers).
Because we love you all so much and really appreciate your support in building and making this game even better, we will set out some achievements (just like the guys from Exploding Kittens, because we love them as well). For every 5 achievements we unlock we will add a hero/ride/load to our game based on your choice (if we unlock 10 then will add 2 and so on). So we will create a survey of potential add-ons and pick your top voted cards based on the number of achievements we unlock. So you get to pick who you would like to see next!
For posting, please use any of our Facebook, Twitter or Instagram pages (found in the final section of this page). We can't wait to see your awesome and creative posts!
SHIPPING
We are currently trying to get the best rates for delivering your game quickly and efficiently on time. The product will be shipped from the US and UK and is US, EU, Canada & Australia friendly. We should be able to deliver it anywhere in the world (except for very few places in the FAQs). The rates may differ, but will be around the following estimates (per deck):
USA ............................. £5
UK……..................…….£6
EU ................................ £8
Anywhere else ............ £10
This should cover Canada, Australia, Asia, Middle East, Central & South America (and the rest of the world).
We will still try and negotiate better prices.
SPECIAL THANKS
Music for the videos was created by Kevin MacLeod
Awesome voice over for the gameplay video by Jason Voices
Special thanks to all those who played and tested the game.
Risks and challenges
Although this is our first Kickstarter project, we have been making games for 15 years and we know that we'll be delivering you a high-quality and extremely fun product.
THE GAME
The game's prototype has already been developed beside building the box (the first version at least). We have been testing it with almost everyone we get hold of and the reviews are extremely positive and nearly everyone is in love with it.
SHIPPING AND FULFILLMENT
We didn't want to reinvent the wheel, so we are approaching several printing and shipping companies that are are extremely experienced in these types of projects like Ad Magic (printing) and Blackbox (Shipping) that are known for very successful products like Exploding Kittens, Cards Against Humanity and Bears vs Babies. We also got our backup plans with other companies just in case, because we want to deliver everything ON TIME if not earlier.
We are trying to keep it as simple as possible. We are focusing our rewards around the main product to avoid any distractions that may get in the way of us delivering the game to you as promised.
STRETCH GOALS
We have limited, and pre-planned, the number of stretch goals. One of which is the game, which we are making ourselves. Collectively, we have designed and published numerous apps and games, already. We already have an awesome game developer (Ahmed) and video game designers in the team for this.
The other stretch goals that involve expansion packs and other production items have largely been pre-planned and some prototypes are already in development. This campaign will hugely help in facilitating, speeding up and finalizing all of the promised items (A playable prototype of the core deck is ready, but still need a push for the expansion and mass production).
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Funding period
- (60 days)