As the first large game I ever worked on, Cards of Heart was my introduction to high-level scoping and goal-setting, namely for specific milestones.

For games with modular, often-linear gameplay core loops, developing in order of levels is an effective production strategy.

Although these are less-so “takeaways” than “items learned”, my role on the Cards of Heart team also introduced me to:
Sequencing with game macros, and how the macro is used by different discipline teams
The barriers between teams that implement and ones that are entirely out-of-engine, and the tools that can be used to facilitate communication and easy collaboration between the two
 What an amazing lead producer looks like! (Shoutout Will )

Cards of Heart is a narrative-focused cozy digital card game mixed with a fantasy top-down RPG about a young woman’s daily mental health struggles against her inner Shadows.

Cards of Heart was developed as a MFA thesis project and is available on Steam!