My favorite indie game of 2023 started as a Slay the Spire-style roguelike card game about arranged marriage before switching to an RPG about fighting exes
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Thirsty Suitors started out as a concept surrounding a playable card game, its director has revealed.
It turns out that when Thirsty Suitors was first discussed, it was envisioned as a card-based game. It would play out like something akin to Slay the Spire, the hit roguelike card game, with a story focusing on arranged marriage. You can even see Ekanayake’s message to writer Meghna Jayanth pitching her on the concept.
Afollow-up tweetreveals that Ekayanake actually pitched the concept, pretty stealthily, at the Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco that month. The feedback to the game, which was slotted in during a talk from Ekayanake, was received well, which helped spur on the game itself.
Obviously, Thirsty Suitors eventually evolved from a card-based game into a turn-based strategy RPG. I can sort of see the through-line, though - card-based games are played out in turns, and so too are RPG battles. I’d be interested to know if there was an exploration feature in this iteration of Thirsty Suitors.
Additionally, Ekanayake reveals the development team scrapped the core theme surrounding arranged marriage. It turns out none of the team had actually been through an arranged marriage, so they understandably felt like they couldn’t really tackle it properly in the overarching plot.
The development team also got concept artist Vijay Krish to do some early artwork for Thirsty Suitors, but revolving around a late-90s setting. You can see the artwork below, which is a really lovely blend of comic book-style effects surrounding the characters, with old-school outfits to boot.
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But now, Thirsty Suitors is a turn-based game with RPG elements about fighting off evil exes, and it absolutely slaps. Our fullThirsty Suitors reviewlavished it with praise, calling it a “witty, heartfelt adventure about going home.”
You can also read ourupcoming indie gamesguide for a look at some other small-time games soon to release.
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