Dungeons and Degenerate Gamblers is an upcoming roguelike deckbuilder video game, that allows players to embark on some of the challenging blackjack games. The game begins with unique rules, with each card playing a role in the overall deck. Not only that, but you can also get your hands on new cards to get a competitive advantage over others.
The game promises unique outcomes during turn-based gameplay, enabling players to make efficient decisions and make the most out of the rewarding gameplay. With over four unique playstyles available, the game welcomes all kinds of players with a very easy learning curve. With such a unique game design, we took the discussion to Mike, the developer behind Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers, over an email interview.
Mike: Hi, I’m Mike, the developer of Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers. I also did the pixel art for almost all the cards. Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers is my first commercial game, and before making it, I worked in project management for a tech company.
Making games has been my dream for a long time, and writing games in Flash during high school was actually how I first started programming.
Mike: Funny story, I was watching an episode of Taskmaster where the players had to memorize the contents of a deck of cards. The deck was mostly normal playing cards, but it also had a birthday card and a yellow card. I adored the idea of challenging the idea of what fits in a deck of playing cards and really stretching the meaning of what could be considered a card.
From there, I wanted a well-known but easy-to-understand playing card game for the base mechanic, which is why I landed on blackjack. Run-based games are my favorite genre to play, and I was playing a lot of Slay the Spire and watching a lot of Luck Be a Landlord around that time.
Mike: The biggest difference is that instead of betting money or chips against a dealer you are betting your life against a series of other gamblers. When you lose at blackjack you lose health points equal to the difference between you and your foe’s score, and you lose even more health if you bust!
Being run-based, you have to preserve your health over multiple encounters, boss battles, and events to beat the game, and dying means you lose your progress and start over.
In addition to that, the cards you play blackjack with start from the normal 52 cards of a standard deck, but with each gambler you defeat, you add a new special card to your deck, so it gets wacky very quickly!
Mike: My goal is to have every kind of card you can imagine! For example, there is an SD Card, a Queen of Chess, a Get Out of Jail Free Card, and even one of those folding Credit Card Knives!
Currently, there are more than 250 cards, and each of them has an effect that is thematic to the card itself. For example, the Business Card lets you swap it for one of your foe’s cards, just like a real business card.
The Tarot cards all have effects that align with their divination meanings, like The Fool, which lets you take your opponent’s deck for a spin since the meaning of that card is about trusting the twists and turns of the journey.
Mike: Since the gameplay is based on a casino game I wanted the setting and story to be very clearly anti-gambling. So the setting for the game is a nasty tavern that takes advantage of the visitors, and the player’s goal is to take down the people running it.
This twisted tavern is massive though – with two branching paths that take you to a VIP area, an underground (literally) casino, a dungeon, the head office of the tavern, and more.
This environment is so fun to design since the power of the tavern means that characters can be from almost any period or setting – which fits well with the variety and anachronism of the cards.
Mike: The recent art overhaul has improved the game so much, I’m incredibly grateful for the work that the artists and composers have done to bring my ideas to life. The art combined with the music reinforces the feeling of discovery and experimentation with the gameplay, deckbuilding, and exploration of the tavern, but mixed with disgust towards the system that the player finds themselves taking part in while making their way through the tavern.
I really wanted it to feel like a manipulative, twisted place that feels endless in its size and depth, and to me, the art captures that so well.
Mike: In the first game of blackjack you play you start with a deck of Ace through King of a single suit, so your goal is to simply stand with a higher value than your opponent.
But as you progress, your deck might be focused on hurting yourself to deal damage, or building an enormous shield to deal damage with the Throwing Card, or maybe using the Rules Card to change your max score to 22 instead of 21 and going for 11 + 11 blackjacks. You can also disrupt your foe’s game plan by playing cards that change the values of their cards or remove them from play.
Mike: Between playing blackjack, there are events, shops, and minigames that help you shape your deck. You can play the crypto market to earn chips to spend at shops or play roulette to change the composition of your deck.
If you watch carefully, Three Card Monte can get you a powerful card, or if you’re feeling lucky, a slot machine might give you just the cards you’re looking for.
These are all chances to continue to improve your deck to keep up with the increasing power of your opponent’s decks throughout the run.
Mike: I’ve been working in my spare time as a solo developer since September 2021 and went full-time in November of 2023. I’ve also had the help of 3 amazing artists and a fantastic composer during 2024
Mike: The community response has been amazing. I couldn’t help but be nervous about how much was changing from the previous demo to the new one, so I was very glad to see that players loved the new version as much as I did.
I can’t wait to see what the reaction is going to be for the full release!
Mike: I’d like to take the chance to shout out the publisher for Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers – Yogscast Games. They’ve made this whole thing possible and have been great to work with. And finally, please don’t gamble; just stick to the casino roguelikes – this sub-genre is full of bangers.
Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers is an upcoming Strategy Deckbuilder video game, under development by Purple Moss Collectors. The game is planned for release in 2024 for PC.
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Laiba is a passionate writer who’s been covering the gaming industry for more than 2 years now and has a deep understanding of how this industry is evolving and what gamers love to read.
