Deck of Ascent is a roguelite deckbuilder with a twist: cards you earn persist between runs, but so do the curses you accumulate.
The architecture centers on a serializable card state system. Every card is a ScriptableObject with modifier slots — buffs and debuffs attach as components, not hardcoded values. This made balancing significantly easier because effects could be tuned in data, not code.
The meta-progression layer tracks player tendencies and subtly nudges card offers toward underused archetypes, encouraging experimentation without forcing it.
Building a fair but punishing economy was the core design puzzle. The solution was making every loss feel like information, not failure.