Nine Lives to Ruin a Kingdom — Narrative Card Game

A — WORLD-BUILDING

Before any game design, the world had to hold together. A world-building map laid out how gods, humans and demons are tied to each other; a character mood board fixed each figure’s personality, palette and symbol.

The intro animation and the main game story were written to meet, and a branching story map marks every key decision and where it leads.

B — CHARACTER & RELATIONSHIPS

Early exploration stayed loose — colour blocks, silhouettes, proportion tests. Sharp angular forms read as danger; flowing contours read as allure.

Three figures carry it. Nüwa issues the divine command but never strikes. Daji, a nine-tailed fox in human form, is sent to bring King Zhou down and begins to waver. King Zhou resists both the gods and Daji, and destroys himself doing it.

C — ESTABLISHING GAME TONE & STORY STYLE

Not just a story-driven card game — a psychological duel between fate and freedom, divinity and desire. The tone is dark and absurd: the solemnity of epic myth crossed with a cold reading of faith and human nature, carried by black humour and cruel irony.

D — GAME CORE LOOP

Draw a Card → Make a Decision → Change Stats.

Every card is a moral event. Each choice shifts four attributes — Love, Corruption, Divine Favour, Freedom — which decide the branches and endings you reach. Mini-games sit at key decision points to raise the emotional stakes.

E — FIRST PROTOTYPE

A playable prototype in under two weeks, to test whether the narrative flow and the interaction held up.

The structure was fairly complete — dialogue choices, branching, the core loop — but testers were only moderately engaged. They understood the concept and did not care about the story. The loop lacked appeal and reward; the next iteration has to be more dynamic.

F — PRODUCTION FLOW

I handled the core loop, card system, storytelling visuals, early character concept and user testing.

The workflow stayed simple: script and rough boards → thumbnails to fix the tone → AI for initial motion → After Effects and TouchDesigner → sound last. Detailed narrative art takes a lot of time, so the storytelling leans abstract.

G — CARD DESIGN

Three card types are planned — Fate, Element and Artifact. Only Element Cards are fully implemented, and they carry combat.

In Taoist philosophy each of the Five Elements has a Yin and a Yang form, so every element here has two personalities, drawn as totems. Yang Earth is an unbreakable wall, Yin Earth is soil that feeds. Yang Metal a battle axe, Yin Metal an ornamental hairpin. Yang Fire explodes; Yin Fire glows like a ritual flame.

H — GAME ASSETS

H.1 — NARRATIVE SEQUENCES

H.2 — SYMBOLS & ICONS

H.3 — UI & INTERFACE