Give the player a card whose value depends on where it lands. A device on the right floor can stop a threat. Put it one floor away and it may do nothing this round. Keep the threat’s route visible so the player can decide whether to act now or prepare the next floor.
In the fictional Siltglass Stack, a faulty survey capsule is descending a three-floor tower toward a receiver. The player can deploy a brake coil, move it between adjacent floors, or use a Pulse card at the capsule’s current floor. The first prototype uses fixed hands so you can replay both plans.
Make the floor part of the card
The official Monster Train listing credits Shiny Shoe and Good Shepherd Entertainment and describes a deckbuilding roguelike with vertical battlegrounds. The Xbox launch post specifies three playing fields. For your own game, make the player consider where a card will matter as well as what it does. The tower, route and cards below are original.
Start with a visible capsule on F3, the highest floor. It has six stability. The receiver below F1 has two integrity, and the tower starts without a coil. Give the player one charge per round and show the current floor of the capsule and coil before they play a card.
Give one threat a visible route
| Round | Hand | Legal effect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Deploy Coil | Place the single coil on F1, F2 or F3. Deployment itself deals no damage. |
| 2 | Winch or Pulse | Winch moves the coil to an adjacent floor. Pulse removes one stability from the capsule on its current floor. |
| 3 | Winch | Move the coil one floor within the tower. |
Each card costs the round’s one charge. The player can also Resolve without playing. Reject a card aimed at an invalid floor without spending charge or changing position. On Resolve, first check whether a card already brought the capsule to zero. If it is still active, the coil removes two stability when it shares the capsule’s floor.
Check again before moving the capsule. At zero stability, the battle ends successfully. Otherwise the capsule descends one floor. If it survives on F1, it hits the receiver for two and the battle ends in failure. The remaining hand goes away between rounds. A coil on another floor deals no damage.
Replay two coil placements
| Round | Follow the capsule | Stage the coil on F2 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Deploy on F3. Coil removes two. Capsule reaches F2 with four stability. | Deploy on F2. No hit on F3. Capsule reaches F2 with six stability. |
| 2 | Winch from F3 to F2. Coil removes two. Capsule reaches F1 with two stability. | Pulse on F2 removes one. Coil removes two. Capsule reaches F1 with three stability. |
| 3 | Winch to F1. Coil removes two and stops the capsule. Receiver stays at two integrity. | Winch to F1. Coil removes two, leaving one stability. Receiver drops to zero. |
In the first route, try to Winch directly from F3 to F1 in round two. The command is rejected and the player can still move the coil to F2. In the second route, Pulse aimed at F1 is rejected in round two because the capsule is on F2. Show the reason beside the target so the player can correct the attempt before resolving.
Give AI one battle to check
Give the SEELE workspace the written fixture and ask for a browser prototype with three floors, card controls and a round readout. Use a fixed hand sequence in the first draft. Check the two traces before asking for random draws or another threat.
Build an original browser card battle called Siltglass Stack.
Use floors F3, F2 and F1 from highest to lowest. Put a receiver below.
Start a capsule on F3 at stability 6. Receiver integrity is 2.
No coil initially. Give one charge per round and one card costs 1.
Round 1 has Deploy Coil. Place the single coil on any floor.
Round 2 has Winch and Pulse. Round 3 has Winch.
Winch moves the coil one adjacent floor within the tower.
Pulse targets the current capsule floor and removes 1 stability.
Reject invalid card or target without changing the state.
Allow Resolve without playing. Clear unused cards between rounds.
Resolve checks for zero stability, then applies a coil hit of 2
only if coil and capsule share a floor. Check for zero again.
At zero, win before descent. Otherwise move the capsule down
one floor. A survivor at F1 instead hits the receiver for 2 and loses.
Show charge, floor and stability. Reset all state and hands.
Use original props and cards.Change only the Pulse damage
Raise Pulse damage from one to two and replay the same F2 plan. Round one still leaves the capsule at six stability. In round two Pulse and the coil remove two each, leaving two. Winch the coil to F1 in round three and its hit stops the capsule before the receiver takes damage.
The follow route still works because it never plays Pulse. Keep the hands, placement, coil damage and descent fixed while comparing the F2 route. Use the guide to revising one rule at a time to isolate that damage change.
Finish one vertical battle
Start an original card battler with SEELE’s AI Game Maker. Replay one threat through three floors and check that a player can explain which floor choice changed the ending.
Frequently asked questions
Why start with fixed hands?
Fixed hands make the next round reproducible. If a route fails, you can trace the result to the cards, positions or resolution order. Introduce shuffled draws once you have checked both baseline plans and can replay a known hand when something goes wrong.
How should a floor target appear in the interface?
Mark the legal floors before a card is committed and keep the current capsule and coil positions visible. If a player tries a floor that cannot be targeted, show the reason. A rejected attempt should leave the card and charge available.
Should a stopped threat still descend?
Decide when success is checked and keep that order explicit. Here, the capsule stops before descent if either the card or the coil reduces stability to zero. Test a final hit on F1 to make sure the receiver does not take damage afterward.
When should I add more cards or threats?
Add one when it creates a floor choice the first fixture cannot express. A second threat might take a different route or move on another turn. Check that each threat’s position and next action remain readable before expanding the hand.
