[Pre-Alpha] Deckalgo: A Free, Account-Free, No-P2W Auto-Battler

Hey everyone! I’m excited to share the pre-alpha release of Deckalgo — a procedurally generated auto-battler you can play directly in your browser.

Why check it out?

• Instant Play (No Account Required): No sign-up or login. Open the page and play as a guest.
• Pure Strategy (Zero Pay-to-Win): No microtransactions, no paywalls, and no card pack buying. Everyone plays with the same rules and card pool.
• Procedural Drafting + 3x3 Grid Battles: Draft from a random selection of 15 generated cards, place 9 of them on a 3x3 grid, then watch combat play out based on placement, reach, and synergies.

Current Pre-Alpha Known Issues

This is an early build, so expect some bugs:

• Visual Glitches: Occasionally, defeated cards may still look “alive” on the board at the end of a battle, even though they’re counted as defeated.
• UI Polish: The interface is still rough and needs a lot of aesthetic improvements.

Play Now

• Website: https://deckalgo.com/

I’d love feedback on the gameplay flow, card drafting, and grid combat strategy!

Deckalgo Pre-Alpha · v0.0.6 update

TL;DR: The home page got a real visual pass, a bunch of combat and defense bugs were fixed, and the build is in a stable place to keep testing through pre-alpha.

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Home page & visuals

The landing / home screen was overdue for polish. v0.0.6 gives it a cleaner, more modern layout:

• Full-width look — less cramped, better spacing, softer background gradients
• Glass-style panels — hero, stats, and live sections read more clearly
• Activity + site stats — side-by-side “bento” layout instead of a thin strip squeezed in the middle
• Trend charts — replaced weak bar visuals with clearer 14-day charts (visits, guest play, ranked matches)
• Leaderboards — card and player top lists use a cleaner row design with at-a-glance damage bars
• Logged-in home hub — same visual treatment when you’re signed in, with quick links to Play, Discover, Market, etc.

Leaderboards should also feel more honest now: top cards rank by how much they’ve actually fought, not just “who has 1 win and never lost.”

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Combat & cards

Caster units (Fireball / spell cards)
Kitsune-style casters were basically firing their spell once and then doing nothing for the rest of the fight. Spells are now a one-time bonus on top of normal attacks — your unit keeps swinging for the whole match.

“When attacked” abilities
Cards that triggered every time they were hit were too strong. Those effects now fire once per battle, which matches how they’re described.

Card variety
Duplicate-looking pulls (same stats showing up back-to-back) should be much rarer. Necrotic and hybrid stat lines have more spread.

CPU opponents
Defense opponents were stale and repetitive (same name, odd ability text, predictable layouts). CPU decks refresh properly, pick from a rotating pool, and arrange units more sensibly — so idle defense and practice fights feel less broken.

Ability text
Misc wording fixes — e.g. death effects that grant Haste now say they buff adjacent allies, not a vague “applies Haste.”

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Defense earnings (idle)

Defense was confusing: you could claim too early, swap decks too freely, and the UI had buttons that didn’t match what was actually happening.

How it works now (player-facing):

1. Lock a grid to a defense slot → it earns for 24 hours
2. While locked, you cannot replace it with a new deck
3. When the timer ends → Claim Defense Earnings
4. After you claim → the slot opens → lock a new grid

The Defense tab no longer shows misleading “selected slot” controls, and the claim button only appears when the window is actually done.

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Deck building QoL

• Hand filters — filter your inventory hand by element, race, or archetype while building (Electric, Beast, etc.) without losing your place in the list

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Stability & release

• Tagged as v0.0.6 across the app (badge, footer, pre-alpha banner)
• Static assets cache-bust correctly so UI updates actually show up after a refresh
• README and local run docs updated for how we actually playtest today

Where we’re at: Pre-alpha, local/private, still iterating — but this is the most stable slice so far for continued play, defense grinding, and feedback. If something still feels off in a fight or on the home page, we want to hear it.

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What to try

1. Hard-refresh the home page and skim the new layout + charts
2. Lock a defense deck, wait for the window (or check the timer), claim, then lock something new
3. Run a few fights with a caster or Fireball unit and confirm they keep attacking after the spell
4. Filter your hand while building and queue a ranked match

Thanks for testing — more tweaks coming as pre-alpha continues.

https://deckalgo.com/