Soul Strip Is Out: Nine Months to My First Release
My roguelike deckbuilder Soul Strip launched on Steam on November 3. It’s the first game I’ve released, after nine months of active development. Back in April, though, I thought I was already close to the finish line.
I had a fully playable demo, and I estimated that the full game was about 80% complete. My original plan was to release it in late April or early May. But during another round of testing, I realized I hadn’t achieved the thing I’d set out to do: make a game I wanted to play myself.
Where it started
The idea came to me in late 2025. I love card games, especially roguelike deckbuilders such as Slay the Spire and HELLCARD. I’ve also always enjoyed opening card packs in FC and collecting characters in mobile gacha games: waiting to see what would turn up, then adding it to a collection.
What I don’t like is spending real money on in-game purchases. The part I enjoy is opening the packs and collecting what’s inside. At some point, I wondered whether I could bring that together with the things I love about roguelike deckbuilders.
That’s where Soul Strip began. I brought the things I liked playing into one project. Then I had to figure out how to make those parts work together as a game.
I started development at the beginning of 2026. I chose Godot and gave myself another challenge: build all the systems myself. I wanted to understand them better, and saving some money along the way wouldn’t hurt either.
Almost finished, but I didn’t want to play
By April, the demo was ready. I took a short break from development, then came back and started playing through the game again.
That was when I realized how little my estimate of “80% complete” said about the result. The project was getting closer to release, but it still wasn’t the game I’d wanted to make for myself.
I could have stuck to the original release window. Instead, I postponed the launch and started reworking things.
I changed card properties and added effects and events. Gradually, the changes reached almost every part of the game. By my own estimate, I reworked around 90% of what was there.
That’s why the release version of Soul Strip is so different from the demo. I deliberately left the demo as it was, so the two versions could still be compared and the game’s progress would remain visible.
Releasing the game was only part of the work
Getting to that first release took nine months of active development, spread across the period from the beginning of 2026 to November.
Along the way, I found the energy to set up accounts on X, Discord, and other platforms, and to build a website. But I still don’t know how to promote a game. I have no publisher or advertising, and sales have been disappointing.
Even so, I’m very glad I finished Soul Strip and released it.
In late 2025, it was an idea about bringing together the games I loved and the appeal of collecting. Now it’s my first game on Steam.
Soul Strip: Waifu Card Battler
A deckbuilding roguelike where every card is a waifu with her own element and personality. Battle through dark fantasy, craft combos, collect and level up your favorites.
Buy on Steam