Dev Log: A First Look at Cryptid Hunt

Mothman, Bigfoot, the Jersey Devil, the Loch Ness Monster. Every region has its legends, and I think they deserve a card game of their own. Cryptid Hunt (working title) is the card battler I’m building for Android, and it’s coming soon to Google Play. It’s still in development, so everything in this post reflects the current design and may change as playtesting continues. Here’s a look at what I’m making.

The idea in one sentence

Cryptid Hunt is a quick card battle, about three minutes long, where you secretly place creatures from folklore into three haunted locations, then reveal them to see who controls the most territory.

How a match works

Every match takes place across three lanes. Each lane is a Haunt, a spooky location with its own special rule. One Haunt might give extra Power to cards played there. Another might only allow cheap cards, and another might limit how many cards each side can squeeze in. Haunts start face down and flip over one at a time during the first three turns, so the battlefield keeps changing under your feet.

A match lasts six turns. Your energy is called Moonlight, and you get more of it each turn: one on turn one, two on turn two, and so on up to six. Unspent Moonlight doesn’t carry over, so every turn is a little puzzle about how to spend it.

Here’s the twist that makes every turn tense: both players place their cards at the same time, in secret. Once you’ve both ended your turn, the cards flip over one by one. You’re always guessing what your rival is planning.

After the sixth turn, whoever has more total Power in a lane controls it. Win two of the three lanes and you win the match. If you can see a match slipping away, you can retreat early to cut your losses.

Decks are small and quick to build: 12 cards, with no duplicates.

Ideas I’m excited about

I want Cryptid Hunt to feel fresh, not like a copy of anything else. A few mechanics are designed to give it a personality of its own:

Day and Night. Turns alternate between Day and Night. Many cryptids grow stronger after dark, while human Hunters do better in daylight. Planning around the clock is part of the strategy.
Sightings. Some creatures enter the board as a blurry Rumor, weak and mysterious to your opponent, then transform into their true form when a condition is met. It’s a perfect fit for creatures nobody can quite prove exist.
Habitats. Every card and every Haunt belongs to a habitat: Forest, Water, Sky, Underground or Mountain. Put a creature in its home habitat and it gets a boost.
Hunters and Gear. Not every card is a monster. Decks can include human Hunters, like a cryptozoologist, and Gear, like a trail camera. Some Hunters can Capture a weakened enemy creature and take it off the board.
Evidence. Some cards leave Evidence tokens in a lane, and other cards can spend that Evidence for big effects later in the match.
Lures. A few sneaky cards can be played on your opponent’s side of a lane, as bait that works against them.

A cast of legends

The creature roster leans into cryptids and modern folklore, with names like the Jackalope, the Chupacabra, Mothman, the Jersey Devil, Dogman, the Van Meter Visitor, the Hopkinsville Goblins and the Flatwoods Monster, each with its own lore to discover.

Cards come in five rarities at launch: Common, Rare, Epic, Legendary and Mythic. The plan is for a painted, dark-fantasy art style that’s spooky rather than cute, with a different frame for each rarity.

Play anywhere, earn everything

At launch, you’ll play against a computer opponent, fully offline, so you can battle on a plane or with a weak signal. The computer has three difficulty tiers, Rookie, Hunter and Legend, that match your progress as you level up. New players get a short tutorial of two guided matches to learn the basics.

My promise to players is simple: every card can be earned or crafted by playing. Duplicate cards turn into Ectoplasm, which you can use to craft the specific card you want.

The launch plans also include:

A Practice Lab where you can play the computer with every card unlocked, pick the Haunts and undo moves
A Bestiary collection book with lore pages for every creature, organized by region
Card Mastery, which unlocks cosmetic upgrades for the cards you play most
Daily and weekly missions, plus a daily play streak with rewards
Cloud saves through Google Play Games sign-in, so your collection is safe if you switch phones

The launch target is 60 cards and 12 Haunts. Online matches against real players are a goal for after launch.

When can you play?

Cryptid Hunt is coming soon to Google Play. I don’t have a release date to share yet, and I’d rather get it right than rush it. The best way to hear the news first is to join the KaeIce Games email list. Until then, keep your flashlight handy. Something walks the woods tonight.