u/Admirable-Arm-3106

Hey r/CardGames,

I’m a solo indie dev working on a new project called ASTRUM.
It’s a sci-fi card collection game where the universe is your board. The core theme revolves around discovering new stars, encountering extraterrestrial life, and ultimately building a deck capable of conquering planets.

I want to respect Rule 2 of the sub, so I'm not here just to drop a link. I want to break down my core mechanics because what I really need right now is your honest, critical feedback on the gameplay loop and dynamics.

What I need your help with: Building a game alone means I can sometimes get tunnel vision. I'd love your thoughts on a few specific points:

1. Does the core dynamic of planet-conquering sound engaging, or is there a risk of it becoming too repetitive?
2. What kind of progression or card synergies keep you hooked in similar games?
3. What are your biggest "pet peeves" or red flags when trying out a new card collection game?

Transparency / AI Disclosure: As a solo developer focusing 100% of my time on the code, database architecture, and game design, the artwork and visual aspects of the cards are currently generated using AI. However, please know that every single idea, game mechanic, card effect, and synergy is entirely hand-crafted, coded, and balanced by me.

I'd love to hear your thoughts, criticisms, or ideas in the comments. Thank you for your time

Hello !

I've been building Bob the Miner, a free browser match-3 puzzle game with a twist: matching 3 stones doesn't just clear them, it fuses them into a rarer gem (Ruby - Emerald - Sapphire, all the way up to Opal). Get 2 precious gems of the same tier next to each other and they fuse again into the tier above.

A few things I'm especially happy with:

• Bob, the mine mascot, wanders the screen on his own, leaves a little trail while walking, and has 50 different things he says if you click him
• Chain enough fusions and you fill a power gauge that lets you trigger an earthquake to clear the board
• 1000 levels (fair warning, the difficulty past level ~200 hasn't been properly playtested yet, so feedback there is extra welcome)
• A small shop to dress Bob up (yes, there's an astronaut costume), plus a leaderboard if you sign in with Google

AI disclosure: the game's artwork (Bob, gems, costumes, icons) was built with AI assistance . Procedurally generated as vector graphics (SVG/code), not hand-drawn by an artist or produced with an image-gen tool like Midjourney/DALL-E. Wanted to be upfront about that since it comes up a lot around here.

It's completely free: Bob the miner

Would really appreciate feedback on two things: does the fusion mechanic click for you in the first couple minutes? And if you hit a level that feels impossibly hard (or trivially easy), tell me which one . I'm actively tuning the balance.