CLASH LEGENDS
My Role
Core Mechanics | Combat Design
Level Design | Player Progression
AI System/Simulation | Game Balancing
Sci-fi Outerspace
13 to 25 yrs old
PvP Card Battle / Strategy
Unity / C++
8 weeks - Vertical Slice D7
Terra App - Android / iOS
Overview
Similar to Clash Royale, Clash Legends is a real-time 1v1 multiplayer strategy game where players battle using a deck of collectible cards representing troops, spells, and buildings. Matches are short, action-packed, and demand both quick thinking and long-term strategic planning.
Game Highlights
Card Mechanics
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Players build a deck of 8 cards from their collection.
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At any time, 4 random cards from the deck are available to play.
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Tap to tap and drag-drop deployment
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Types of Cards:
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Troops: Move / Fly and attack (melee / Range)
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Buildings: Stationary with utility or defense
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Summon Attacks (Spells): Instant effects
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Core Loop
R1 Release - Focusing more on core loop rather than full meta. (Vertical Slice)
Level Layout
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Cinematic Landscape approach - Wider screen means more horizontal lane space, allowing for more complex troop pathing, flanking, and lane-switching.
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2 lanes (left and right)
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Each player has 2 Crown Towers and 1 King Tower
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Arena is divided by cosmic waterbody, only certain cards can cross it
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FTUE Battle Design
The FTUE match is a guided, semi-scripted battle designed to onboard new players quickly and effectively. It introduces core mechanics, builds confidence, and provides a fun first win.
Objective:
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Introduce core gameplay in under 3 minutes
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Demonstrate the card deployment, elixir system, and tower mechanics
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Teach basic strategy (counterplay, pushing, defending)
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Ensure player wins the match to boost early engagement
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Unlock initial cards and rewards
Troops & Support
By drawing inspiration from the iconic archetypes in Clash Royale, while infusing them with fresh visuals, abilities, and lore. This approach ensures players feel comfortable with basic roles (tank, support, damage dealer, etc.) and engaged by new mechanics and styles.
Sandbox tool was used to determine the Simulation data of character’s combat profile.
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Time-to-Kill vs various unit types
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Survivability under ranged, melee, and AoE damage
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Damage per Elixir (DPE) to assess cost-efficiency
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Win rates in 1v1 and 2v2 test scenarios
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Visualize synergies between troop types
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Clarified troop roles and strategic use cases before Bot deck system
Simulations
System Design
Adopted the same system as clash royale with a very limited content in mind with respect to D7.
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Battle System – 1v1 matches where players deploy cards using Elixir to destroy enemy towers.
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Deck Building – Players create an 8-card deck, balancing attack, defense, and support to suit their strategy.
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Chests – Earned from battles, containing cards, gold, and resources; chests vary in rarity and unlock time.
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Arena Progression – Climb trophy-based arenas to unlock new cards, rewards, and tougher opponents.
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Tower Progression – Upgrade your King and Princess towers for better defense and higher hit points.
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Shop – Offers cards, chests, gold, and special deals for purchase with in-game currency or premium gems.
AI Deck Building with Archetypes
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AI checks the player’s Deck and categorizes all the cards based on archetype.
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Based on the categorized list, the AI starts to choose the counter cards
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After choosing the cards they are assigned to the deck and the levels are then assigned
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Impact of Stone-Paper-Scissor Archetype
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Streamlined Character Development
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Improved AI Decision-Making
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Enhanced Character Identification and Onboarding
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Simplified Future Character Integration
AI Battle States
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Broadly divided within the Time sections: Initial 10sec - Half Time - Last 10sec - Overtime
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AI states depends on the differences of Player v NPC - Health / Elixir Level / Damage per Sec
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The Action behaviour is also based on the Easy / Medium / Hard Deck difficulty
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Archetypes are considered for placing a counter card based on difficulty
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Progression / Difficulty
Trophy System:
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Trophies track your rank and arena progression.
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Winning battles earns trophies, while losing deducts them, potentially dropping you to a lower arena.
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The amount gained or lost depends on both players’ trophy counts, rewarding wins against tougher opponents and keeping competition intense.
AI Difficulty:
The AI will check for the player’s match history and based on the match history will assign the level of the AI:
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if the player has 0% victory, the AI level will be Player Level -1 (Easy)
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if the player has 33% victory, the AI level will be Player Level -1 (Medium)
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if the player has 66% victory, the AI level will be same as Player Level (Medium)
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if the player has 100% victory, the AI level will be Player Level +1 (Hard)
Game Meta
Unlocking & upgrading cards & climbing trophy-based arenas is same as clash royale. The content was put enough to achieve D7 retention. The only change in meta we did was chest system. The rewarded chest can be unlocked through no. of matches played rather than having a real time wait.