DEV Community: GameDecisionDiagram

[Guide] How to Bypass the Windows Security Warning to Play CIDER

GameDecisionDiagram — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 17:17:00 +0000

In our previous update, we introduced the "Void Card" system, which lies at the core of this game’s mechanics.

We are incredibly grateful to see the number of downloads steadily increasing. However, there is a "high hurdle" that is almost inevitable for solo indie game developers: the security warning (such as Windows SmartScreen) that appears when opening an executable file on Windows, stating "Windows protected your PC."

We understand that seeing an unfamiliar warning can make players hesitate to run the game. To ensure you can experience CIDER with peace of mind, we have released a video guide explaining the steps from download to launching the game.

YouTube Guide: How to Download & Run CIDER

Why does this warning appear?

This is a standard Windows behavior that occurs when an executable file does not have a "Digital Signature." Obtaining these signatures requires developers to pay significant annual fees (ranging from hundreds to over a thousand dollars).

As CIDER is currently in its early stages and available for free on itch.io, we have not yet acquired this signature. Please be assured that the program does not contain any malicious code; however, the OS simply flags it as an "Unknown Publisher."

3 Steps to Run the Game

As explained in the video, here is the process after downloading from itch.io:

Extract the ZIP file: Right-click the downloaded file and select "Extract All."
Open the executable: Double-click CIDER.exe inside the extracted folder.
Click "More info" on the warning screen: When the blue "Windows protected your PC" screen appears, click the "More info" link on the left. This will reveal the "Run anyway" button.

Building Trust

As mentioned previously, our ideal goal is to provide the game through platforms like Steam, where such warnings do not appear.

However, we are still in the middle of development. For now, we hope this guide removes any psychological barriers, allowing as many people as possible to experience the strategic depth of CIDER.

Play the CIDER Development Build on itch.io
Play CIDER on itch.io

We Value Your Feedback

If you successfully launch the game, or if you encounter any issues even after following these steps, please let us know via Discord or in the comments. Hearing "It worked!" from you is a huge motivation for our development.

Join our Discord Server for reports and community:
https://discord.gg/4HRQ6ppyaq

Game Dev Log: Designing the "Void Card" System – Turning Defense into Explosive Offense

GameDecisionDiagram — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 03:03:55 +0000

In my previous post, I discussed the "Attribute Collection and Granting" system, where players exploit enemy elemental weaknesses. Today, I want to introduce a core mechanic that holds the most "explosive potential" in the game.

Latest Gameplay Video: Watch the intense battle against the Necromancer to see the "Void Card" in action—a high-stakes move that requires perfect timing and preparation.

1. "Void" Cards: Power Born from Constraint

In the video, you’ll notice cards shrouded in a dark aura. These are Void Cards. Unlike standard cards, they cannot be played freely under normal circumstances.

Activation Condition

A Void Card can only be activated when your specific Weakness is currently "Nullified" by a skill or item.

In the footage, you can see the player using defensive cards like "Water Guard" to mitigate the Necromancer’s lethal assaults. That precise moment—when your defenses are perfected—is the trigger that unleashes the power of the Void.

2. The UX of "Calculated Retaliation"

The design goal for this system was to provide players with the catharsis of "Enduring, gathering strength, and turning the tides in a single stroke."

Tactical Dilemma

While Void Cards are devastatingly powerful, they pose a risk by clogging your hand. Players must decide: When should I draw into nullification skills? At what point should I drop the Void hammer? It’s a true test of deck-building and resource management.

The Dual Utility of "Nullification"

I wanted to transform a purely defensive action (protecting a weakness) into an offensive signal. It functions as a "switch" that shifts the player's stance from survival to total domination.

3. Play for Free: Conquer the Undead with Your Strategy

In this video, the dev team unfortunately fell just short of defeating the Necromancer. However, the game is balanced such that meticulous strategy will always guarantee victory.

Will you be the one to perfect the Void Card combo?

The development build is currently available for FREE on itch.io. I invite you to take revenge on the Necromancer yourself and experience the thrill when a complex strategy finally clicks!

Play "CIDER" for free on itch.io

Closing Thoughts

We are constantly looking for feedback on Void Card balance and overall gameplay on our Discord server. Your tactical insights are the fuel that helps this project evolve.

Join our Discord Community

Behind the Scenes: The "Distribution" Hurdle for Indie Devs

As I started recruiting playtesters to get more eyes on the game, I hit a major roadblock: How do I actually deliver the game files?

The Dilemma of Trust and Safety

The easiest way to share a PC game build is uploading the .exe to cloud storage like Google Drive. However, as a player, clicking a random link from an unknown developer and bypassing Windows "SmartScreen" warnings is a huge psychological barrier. I know I’d be hesitant if the roles were reversed.

Choosing itch.io as a Compromise

To address this trust issue, I decided to use itch.io, a global standard for indie game hosting.

To be honest, even on a dedicated platform, unsigned executables still trigger OS

[Inside CIDER] Steal Their Power, Pierce Their Weakness: The "Elemental Cycle" System

GameDecisionDiagram — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 17:52:00 +0000

Greetings from the development team of "CIDER: ChallengIng DEck-building Roguelike." Today, we want to dive deep into the core mechanic of our combat system.

Our current focus is crafting a strategic experience where card selection directly shifts the tide of battle through "Tactical Weakness Exploitation."

Gameplay Preview (WIP)

Check out this prototype footage demonstrating the Elemental Absorption and Break mechanics in action:

1. Seizing Control: The "Break" System & Resource Recycling

Enemies in CIDER have specific weaknesses categorized by Weapon Types or Elemental Attributes. Reducing an enemy's Shield to zero by exploiting these weaknesses triggers a Break state.

In our current prototype, a Break provides the following benefits:

Instant Energy Recovery: Gain the resources needed to bridge into your next move.
Extra Card Draw: Expand your tactical options and maintain combo momentum.
Action Interruption/Alteration: Force the enemy to switch their intent from "Attack" to "Defend," effectively nullifying incoming damage.

Our goal is an aggressive game cycle where offense serves as the ultimate defense. (Note: Specific Break mechanics are subject to change as we continue balance tuning.)

2. Turning Threats into Resources: "Elemental Absorption"

What sets CIDER apart is the ability to "absorb" attributes from enemy attacks.

In most games, an elemental attack is purely a threat. In CIDER, it is a strategic resource. By enduring an elemental strike, you can stock that specific attribute for your own use.

3. From Absorption to Infusion: The Counter-Strategy

Once absorbed, these attributes can be infused into your hand or specific attacks:

An enemy prepares a powerful Fire attack.
You absorb that Fire essence.
You infuse the Fire into a neutral card.
You strike back at an enemy weak to Fire, securing a swift Break.

This cycle of "utilizing the enemy's strength to strike their weakness" blends the RNG of deck-building with high-stakes, real-time tactics.
(Note: Weapon and element types are currently placeholders and will be optimized during development.)

Refining the System Through Feedback

The "Challenging" in CIDER doesn't mean unfair difficulty; it means the satisfaction of seeing system mastery lead directly to victory. We are currently fine-tuning:

Is the resource gain from a Break balanced?
Does the enemy's shift from Attack to Defense provide enough of a tactical window?

We want to polish these "game feel" aspects with our community. We are especially looking for feedback from veteran deck-builder players on our Discord:

👉 Join the CIDER Discord Server

What's Next?

Now that the basic combat loop is established, we are moving into the next phase: designing cards (skills) that deepen this elemental cycle. In our next update, we’ll discuss our card design philosophy.

Behind the Scenes (Dev Log)

This is our second devlog for CIDER. We’ve noticed a steady growth in our community reach, especially on technical platforms like Qiita (114 views) compared to more general ones. It's encouraging to see the brand slowly taking shape.

Design Thoughts on "Break"

The "Break" mechanic is a staple in modern RPGs because the burst of damage is inherently satisfying. Integrating this into a roguelike deck-builder feels great—recovering energy and drawing cards while cancelling an enemy's move allows the player to stay in the "flow." The challenge now is balancing the "cost to break" vs. "player power during break" to ensure the game remains challenging.

Tech Stack & AI-Assisted Development

We are developing with Godot using Antigravity. The development speed has been incredible. This is our team's first time using Godot, but leveraging AI agents has removed the friction of learning a new engine's syntax.

Interestingly, we've optimized our workflow by using a single paid AI account shared across the team. This has effectively multiplied our available token pool, allowing for a much higher volume of code generation and troubleshooting without hitting limits.

Stay tuned for more updates!

[CIDER Devlog] The Core of Offense and Defense: The Thrill of "Break" and "Interrupt" via Weapon Attributes

GameDecisionDiagram — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 17:20:00 +0000

Today, we introduce developing ChallengIng DEck-building Roguelike CIDER (This is project phase name. Release name may changes.)

1. The Joy of "Hunting" Weaknesses

As you can see in the video, icons appear next to the Goblin. These represent the enemy's "Weaknesses." In CIDER, you can efficiently shred enemy shields by matching the weapon attributes of your cards (Slash, Blunt, Pierce, etc.) to these weaknesses.

When an encounter begins, weaknesses are hidden. They are revealed only after you land an attack, turning the opening turns into a tactical reconnaissance phase.

Development Insight: We focused on the "intellectual satisfaction" of analyzing which cards are effective—much like finding the perfect fit for a puzzle piece—to build your strategy.

2. The Overwhelming Advantage of a "Break"

Watch the mid-section of the video: the moment the enemy's shield hits zero, a "Break!" effect triggers. Breaking an enemy doesn't just increase damage; it triggers an Interrupt:

Action Cancel: It thwarts the enemy’s intent, forcing them to cancel powerful incoming attacks.

Resource Refund: As shown in the footage, breaking an enemy can trigger energy restoration or card draws, allowing you to maintain your momentum.

We’ve condensed the ultimate "catharsis" of battle—denying the enemy’s turn and launching a relentless one-sided assault—into this Break system.

Why start with "Weapon Attributes"?

While our cycle includes "Magical Elemental Attributes," we established physical "Weapon Attributes" as the fundamental framework. The direct feedback of a card choice physically stopping an enemy’s movement is the first step toward the challenging, logic-driven experience CIDER aims to deliver.

Coming Soon

In the next update, we’ll dig deeper into "Attribute Collection and Infusion," where you turn enemy attacks into your own resources. Stay tuned to see how "Counter-based Breaks" can completely flip the tides of battle.

Play the Alpha

You can download the current build on itch.io. It’s currently combat-only, but I believe it captures the core loop we're building.

https://game-decision-diagram.itch.io/cider-v0-2-10

We are also looking for feedback from deck-builder veterans on our Discord server regarding the "feel" of this combat system.

https://discord.gg/4HRQ6ppyaq

[Devlog] A Wake-Up Call: The Blind Spot in My Perspective

Recently, I hit a major milestone: completing the basic structure of the core combat system. Feeling confident, I asked a group of friends to playtest it and sent out a feedback survey. Days passed. Not a single response.

Panicked that there was a technical bug, I followed up individually. The truth was something I hadn't expected.

The "Wall" of the First Question

The culprit was the very first question: "Have you ever played a Roguelike Deck-builder?"

To me, this genre is second nature. I assumed everyone knew it. But my friends—all of whom are regular gamers—all answered "No."

The moment they saw that question, they felt: "I am not the target audience for this game," or "I don't have the expertise to provide valid feedback." They felt excluded before they even started.

What Comes Before "High Difficulty"

CIDER was originally conceived as a "high-difficulty challenge" for fans of the genre. However, this incident made me realize I was narrowing the entrance to the market far more than intended.

I want to maintain the depth for hardcore fans, but I don't want new players to walk away thinking the game "isn't for them."

Shifting Development Focus

Based on this feedback, I've added two key priorities to our roadmap:

Redesigning Intuitive Onboarding (Tutorial): Removing jargon and creating a flow where players learn the rules naturally through play.

Redefining "Difficulty": Moving away from "difficulty as a barrier" toward a learning curve where trial and error feels rewarding, even for beginners.

I’m moving past the self-centered idea that "only those in the know should play" and working to ensure more people can discover the incredible depth of this genre.