I'm making a solo, dungeon crawling card game!

Source: Dev.to

Let me get the obvious out of the way – it’s ugly. This is what I have so far for the main game screen of my web‑based dungeon‑crawling card game, inspired by the board game Scoundrel.

If you haven’t heard of Scoundrel, you probably haven’t seen it much; a random video suggestion on YouTube sparked my interest, and I decided to build my own version.

Why is it so ugly?

The project is built with React JS, which I’m learning as part of my web‑development journey. The focus has been on getting the core game logic working and updating the UI correctly. For example, the screenshot below shows four cards on page load, including a monster card whose icon and power are generated dynamically. The cards are drawn from a deck and removed from it as they appear.

When I click the monster card, it is removed, the player loses health, and the remaining cards stay in order:

Challenges

Implementing these mechanics was a steep learning curve for someone new to React. Experienced developers may find it easier, but tackling the logic from scratch has been rewarding.

This is not an AI project

I occasionally use AI to answer quick questions (e.g., whether a useRef value can be placed in a useEffect dependency array or why an image from the public folder isn’t loading). However, about 99 % of the code is written by me, and I keep AI assistance to a minimum to focus on skill development.

Big Extreme Noobie Refactor

I don’t spend a lot of time planning; I prefer diving in and getting something running. After working late into the night (until 7 am), I refactored most of the game logic so that clicking a card can trigger effects elsewhere in the game, as demonstrated above. It was a tough refactor, but I learned a lot and have no regrets.

What is the idea of the game?

The game is a solo dungeon‑crawling card game, similar in spirit to Solitaire. Players explore rooms, encounter monsters, find weapons, and collect potions. You must decide whether to loot, fight, or flee. The goal is to survive through the rooms; if your health drops to zero, you die:

There are many detailed rules—such as which weapons can attack which monsters and how many times you can flee—but the core concept is simple: survive the dungeon.

If you’re curious about the finer details, feel free to ask (or look up Scoundrel for inspiration).

Tell me what you think!

I’d love to hear feedback on the game idea, the early visual design, or any similar challenges you’ve faced while building a game. Thanks for reading! 🥳