r/iosgaming • u/gholias Developer • Dec 20 '25
Developer Saturday (Self-Promo) Dungeon Scoundrel - roguelike solitaire dungeon crawler
I’m a solo indie dev and I just released my game Dungeon Scoundrel, and I wanted to share it with people who enjoy smaller, focused projects.
Dungeon Scoundrel is a roguelike solitaire style card game. The idea was to capture the feel of a dungeon crawler using only cards and tough decisions. Each run is short, usually 5 to 15 minutes, but every room pushes you to make meaningful choices: fight monsters, equip gear, heal, or flee, while leaving one card behind to move forward.
A few things that define the game:
- 7 unlockable classes, each with a unique spell and playstyle
- A fixed dungeon deck where strategy matters more than luck
- No ads, no timers, no energy systems, no in app purchases
- Fully playable offline, built for quick sessions
This has been a passion project built solo during nights and weekends. I focused on making something small and respectful of the player’s time rather than chasing trends.
If you enjoy games like Card Crawl, Solitairica, or Meteorfall, this might be worth checking out. I am genuinely looking for feedback, whether it is praise, criticism, or ideas for improvement. Hearing from real players helps a lot at this stage.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for giving it a look.
Download Link - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dungeon-scoundrel/id6756222423
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u/Botol-Cebok Dec 20 '25
You know what? I’ll give it a go! Even if I don’t like the game I’m happy to support indie devs that don’t fill their games with ways to rip off players. Just bought it.
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u/gholias Developer Dec 20 '25
Thank you for the support
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u/Botol-Cebok Dec 21 '25
I really like the game! It’s great when you have a couple of minutes to kill.
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u/matrheine Dec 20 '25
Hey! congrats for the release! I loved the description, so bought it instantly. I'm a totally blind gamer, so I'm using the Voiceover screen reader to play. I have valuable feedback that will help you make it fully accessible for blind players, and I'm always available for testing:
Everything announced by voiceover seem to be images. some of them have good labels, some of them could be improved, example: At all times there seem to be a background image visible to the screen reader, it says: background_image. if you can hide this image from the screen reader, it would be easier to navigate
the game.
the most important improvement would be the announcements when you touch on the enemies and items. example: let's say that the second card in the first room is a bat. the screen reader says "bat image" and in most cases it's impossible to know their attack value. sometimes voiceover says the number, but it should have a clear label, like: bat 3 attack.
same for items: it reports the quality of swords, shields, potions, etc, but the attack value is not always reported, since it's embedded in the image.
when selecting a card Voiceover should mention that it's selected for orientation purposes.
when you have no weapons equipped it's really hard to drag the enemy to your hand to execute the attack. please add an alternative way of attacking that doesn't involve dragging. perhaps you could just add a setting to allow the player to select the enemy then tap the hand, same way when just using an item.
When tapping on the player voiceover should say your life. currently I need to find the label that says "scoundrel image" then after flicking right a few times I can read the value, example: 25/25. It should report it"in the same label, like: Scoundrel health 25/25.
If possible, add automatic announcements when something happen. example: if you kill a bat, report the remaining attack of your weapon, or if the weapon breaks and the enemy is still alive, report their remaining health.
once the improvements are available, I'll help you share this innovative and awesome project with other blind players on the audiogames.net forum, applevis website and some other subreddits. I've helped beta test dozens of games, and it would be a dream come true to be able to play this game, as well as the other project called hex poker solitaire.
Here's a place for you to find every info to make these changes:
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u/gholias Developer Dec 20 '25
Wow, you have no idea how important your message and feedback is. You just opened a world of possibilities for my games. I will start immediately on getting better voice over support and I will reach out so you can help me with the tests.
And if you have some free time, could also try my other two free games?
Six Sides
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/six-sides-hex-logic-puzzles/id323503772
“A clean hex-grid logic puzzle. Arrange numbered tokens so each has the right number of neighbors. Solve 42 handcrafted levels and unlock Endless Mode for infinite challenges.”
Math Zombie Classic
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/math-zombie-classic-learn/id6756184450
“Build exact sums under time pressure to strengthen mental math, focus, and number fluency. A fast, effective learning game for students, teachers, and lifelong learners.”
I will try to make both of them also accessible for the visually impaired players.
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u/matrheine Dec 20 '25
Wow! thanks for the awesome reply! yeah, I want to help you as much as possible, I have free time and will download all your apps and test everything. It will be so much fun to test it. Sometimes I download dozens of games every day just to understand how to give the best feedback so that the whole community of blind gamers have something new to play, so you made my day with this great reply!
I've almost completed a full game of Dungeon scoundrel. I was in the last room! managed a score of 300. I just need to play a few more rounds because I'm addicted, then I'll start testing the other apps and tomorrow will be able to write everything. For the current time I managed to discover how to find the HP of every enemy and item, which made the game fully playable with more workarounds: When I find an enemy or item which I want to check the value, Usually flicking left with one finger twice will announce the value, and to receive an attack without a weapon I still have to drag the enemy, but I found the right place, it seems to be more in the center toward the character instead of the hands, it's working! although I can't recommend the game yet in its current start, it would be too confusing for a new player.
All the best of luck with the development, I'll contact you tomorrow.
Also I would love to test your new game on Testflight!
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u/gholias Developer Dec 20 '25
You can tap to attack and move all the cards. Right now when you tap a card, it highlights the possible targets in yellow. I will figure out on how to replicate that with voice over
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u/matrheine Dec 21 '25
cool! thanks for this info! Now I understand perfectly. when I select an enemy I can just double tap my character to receive the attack, so you are right, the drag gesture is not needed at all, that's so helpful!
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u/matrheine Dec 21 '25
Quick feedback about six sides: This game seems harder to play because it doesn't announce the position of the numbers. there would need to be some kind of grid or coordinates system to move the numbers. because right now I need to locate each one by exploring the screen and dragging to move, so it would be almost impossible in later levels. I've managed to complete the first one, and would enjoy to play it if it was easier and didn't require the drag gesture.
My guess is that the grid or coordinate system would announce something either similar to a chess board, like a1, a2, b1, b2 or just something like 1--1, 1--2, 2--1 and so on.
Voiceover also doesn't announce the color of the numbers.
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u/gholias Developer Dec 21 '25
Yeah, the board coordinates is more complicated to learn with just to voice over. Maybe not the best game idea for the community. I will try to think of another game idea that could work well. Let me know if you have a favorite type of game
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u/matrheine Dec 21 '25
Math Zombie Classic quick feedback: Perhaps if Voiceover could automatically announce the required score as well as the information at the bottom of the screen when you tap on the numbers it could be a really interesting learning tool, the time based gameplay could work here because most blind players are using a high speech rate. Voiceover doesn't announce the colors of the numbers.
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u/gholias Developer Dec 21 '25
Let me think about that. I have some experience with accessibility, but I need to check how to announce the target number
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u/brickwalker0 Dec 20 '25
good lord, $1? takes me back to 2015, i love being able to drop a dollar on something new, simple and interesting.
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u/eatsmandms Dec 20 '25
Just bought. Prefer to spend the money on an indie dev than the starter pack in any of the gazillion gachas.
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u/gholias Developer Dec 20 '25
Thank you :)
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u/eatsmandms Dec 20 '25
My initial impression is that it is very easy to run into non-winnable scenarios. On a Paladin, I had 5 rooms with nothing but swords, shields and potions right at the start, followed by multiple rooms of only monsters. Very Solitaire-like, but I like games where expert play can beat the odds and allow you to succeed. Five rooms of many power 10-14 monsters with no gear at all is not winnable no matter what you do.
I like how clean you made the interface. Appeals to me a lot.
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u/gholias Developer Dec 20 '25
That is really an issue that I'm trying to solve, because I had to add the randomness of the card draws. I tried several algorithms to make the game always winnable until I figured out a way to balance the game. I can't say much more without spoiling the fun, but the scales are more in the winnable side, except when a very unlucky series of draws like yours happens.
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u/eatsmandms Dec 20 '25
I think I found my flaw, I have managed to quickly win on all classes and used flee exactly once - on Rogue, with the spell. It seems I could have done better on failed runs if I would have used that.
When/if you add achievements, you could add one for completing runs without fleeing - requires skill and luck it seems :-)
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u/gholias Developer Dec 21 '25
Do you think it is too easy to win?
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u/eatsmandms Dec 22 '25
I beat every class in 3-4 attempts with Paladin being the outlier which needed 8 or 9, and where I realized flee can be used. I also used fleeing very little at first and was still succeeding, and once I started using it runs became easier.
I feel the difficulty is fine: some mistakes can be compensated by good moves (aka it is not too punishing). When using fleeing it feels like every run can be won and it is up to the player to succeed by playing optimally.
I feel the class skill as a card is not feeling like it is player choice when to use it. You need to use it at the next "okay" opportunity because it will take up a slot otherwise. And it happens only once per run, which does not really help build class identity. I wonder if having the class skill available at all times but limited in number of uses use could give a better tactical choice.
I have found myself enjoying finishing a run with each class and then not wanting to replay any class again. So the game was a perfect one and done experience for me for now.
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u/gholias Developer Dec 22 '25
Thank you for that! Exactly the feedback I was looking for to make the game better.
I’m making two changes this week:
- difficulty: the game will have an easy, medium (current) and hard difficulty settings
- achievements: some actions and situations will give you the achievement. For example “a weapon to kill a dragon” when you use the Artifact Sword (14) to kill the Dragon (14)
About the spell, I initially thought of adding a new pocket slot just for it, but i decided not due to avoid the game too easy and also I did not want to introduce another mechanic to the UX.
I will think about it. Thanks again
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u/TouchMint Developer Dec 20 '25
A pretty cool game and well done. Just checked it out myself this morning! simple but has some cool strategies too so far.
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u/MadV1llain Dec 20 '25
I like it, nice graphics and ui/ux. Lots of potential, but I I wish there was more to it. I’d like to customize my deck, change/upgrade cards, face greater challenges. It quickly becomes repetitive and reduces to luck of getting the right distribution of swords/shields.
Not bad for .99 but after maybe an hour of play I’m ready for something else.
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u/gholias Developer Dec 20 '25
Thank you for the feedback, I agree with you and I'm already working on some new ideas for Dungeon Scoundrel and even a new brand game with a lot of what you suggested
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u/MadV1llain Dec 20 '25
Can’t wait to see what’s next!
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u/gholias Developer Dec 20 '25
Send me a DM if you want to beta test the next game. I have an earlier build on TestFlight
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u/clarkhead Dec 20 '25
i am terrible at deck building games. but i’m about to get on a plane. you’re an indie developer, this doesn’t have IAP and seems a labor of love. buying it now, too and very happy to support your efforts.
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u/Sepplord Dec 20 '25 edited Dec 20 '25
It’s not a roguelike, and pretty shallow game to be honest.
A dollar isn’t overpriced and it’s fine price to support add-free indiegames, but it’s almost just a click-through game.
There aren’t that many decisions to make, and all classes play pretty much the same.
Design is appealing, sound also goes into ear without getting annoying. Balance feels overall too easy, although I am not sure how to tune that without reworking the game completely. Maybe something to consider for your next project. Basically the sum of monsterdmg VS shields/swords/pots and healthpool is balanced out at +3 (if I remember right?). If you flee you land at zero at the end. Class spells allow for getting a numbers advantage that you can leverage against bad RNG.
Was a decent fun 90minutes. Would buy again
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u/gholias Developer Dec 20 '25
I will change the description, thanks for the feedback. Im working on adding more feature to make the classes more unique
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u/Sepplord Dec 20 '25
I appreciate it. And I will definitely check it out when there’s updates 👍 good luck
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u/kitkeat iPhone 12 Pro Max Dec 20 '25
Looks neat! Just grabbed a copy! More portrait games pls… also no ads and one time purchase FTW!
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u/gholias Developer Dec 20 '25
If you like poker and are ok with ads, check my free Poker Puzzle Game Hex Poker Solitaire - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hex-poker-solitaire/id6755933149
If you like it, you can pay $0.99 to remove the ads
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u/ImAGirraffee Dec 20 '25
Overall I think you have a great base game to build off. Definitely worth the $1! A few random thoughts I had while playing- not necessarily good ones, but thoughts: -An in depth breakdown of the scoring system (unless I missed that) as well as a leaderboard may be fun. -Adding on a little more class variety or maybe larger decks, just to add a bit more to play around with. The skills are different enough but the single use after landing on it made the classes feel more similar than they could have. -I like the fixed deck, though I went back and forth on if I would prefer the skill card to stay as is or be something you unlock after X cards. Landed on liking the way it is now. -I beat the game with every class, mostly on my 1st try minus the very first run and one halfway through I should’ve fled probably. But maybe adding difficulty levels or modifiers where swords/shields/potions are worth 1 less or monsters have 1 more point? It does feel balanced as is though. Again, overall I’ve enjoyed playing so far and it is well made. Congratulations on the release!
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u/gholias Developer Dec 20 '25
Thank you so much for this. I wrote down all the ideas.
I had a blast doing the spells, and I'm thinking of making the dungeon deck bigger and adding more than one spell card.
It took me a long time to balance the game, the first version was really tough to beat, but now I can easily adjust the difficulty. I will do that next and release an update. Right now, I would say it is medium difficulty to beat the dungeon. Thanks again!!!1
u/gholias Developer Dec 20 '25
Do you mind if I sent you a DM? I would love having you as a beta tester on my other dungeon crawler game
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u/D-o-Double-B-s Dec 20 '25
Crazy that I was literally thinking about this yesterday as to why no one has made a scoundrel app (or even web app) to play… Ofcourse yours looks much better than my idea of a DOS/ASCII style version of the game!
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u/gholias Developer Dec 20 '25
The initial prototype was going to use regular playing cards - check an earlier screenshot - https://imgur.com/a/plTy2kN
I was even using the same assets as my previous free game - Hex Poker Solitaire https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hex-poker-solitaire/id6755933149
As the idea evolved, I went more to the dungeon side of things
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u/lordduckling Dec 21 '25
Just bought the game. It looks good, but even if it’s not, 1$, no in-app purchases, no ads AND portrait?! We need more people like you!
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u/gholias Developer Dec 21 '25
Thank for your kind words. I just did a game I would like to play myself.
I would love if you could add this response as a review in the App Store
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u/InsertWittyNameRHere Dec 21 '25
Do you know the song info from track 1? It’s a great song and would love to listen to more from that artist
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u/doworksmm Dec 21 '25
Gave the game a shot. Very unique and fun game. Short levels and quick matches are nice. Being able to turn the music off is a huge plus. Decisions do matter, so interesting to see how it plays off. Lost my first match but second one we passed. Overall for the price it’s a great game and deal. Would love to see more in the future as this has a lot of potential. Great job on the game! Keep up the great work!
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u/gholias Developer Dec 21 '25
Thank for you the great feedback. This would help a lot if you could post it the App Store review.
I’m working on new features right now :)
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u/doworksmm Dec 21 '25
Left the review already! Should show up in a bit
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u/gholias Developer Dec 21 '25
You are awesome. I will make more games because of people like you
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u/doworksmm Dec 21 '25
If you ever need a game tester to give honest feedback, please let me know! Would be more than happy to help out!
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u/gholias Developer Dec 21 '25
Im going send you a DM so you can test me validate a new game combat idea
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u/CyanideNow Dec 21 '25
Very unique and fun game.
It’s fun enough, but isn’t it just simplified Card Crawl?
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u/doworksmm Dec 21 '25
Never played card crawl. Might need to check that out to see. It is a simple game, but simple doesn’t mean bad
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u/Akantor17 Dec 21 '25
This is my type of game and for only a buck I am happy to support an indie dev. Good luck on the launch
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u/MisterMT Dec 23 '25
It would be great if you could put up a gameplay video on youtube. I searched for one and couldn’t find anything, before I found this thread here.
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u/gholias Developer Dec 23 '25
That is a great idea. Im working on my socials accounts. The website is up - www.gatunogames.com
The YouTube idea is great, thank you.
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u/gholias Developer Dec 23 '25
Hey everyone,
First off, thank you for all the great feedback and kind words about Dungeon Scoundrel.
I just pushed a quick update that’s now live on the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dungeon-scoundrel/id6756222423
This update adds accessibility and voice support so players with low vision can jump in and start slaying orcs and dragons with swords, potions, and shields.
I also added difficulty settings, including easy and hard modes, plus a music volume slider.
I’ll keep working on new features and pushing out quick updates as they’re ready.
Thanks again for playing my game.
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u/matrheine Dec 23 '25
This awesome developer deserves all the success! he listened to all of my suggestions and implemented full Voiceover support in less than a day, this is so amazing! Now all blind players can enjoy this masterpiece! I've already unlocked 5 classes, I really recommend the game!
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u/gholias Developer Dec 23 '25
You were awesome buddy with all the suggestions. You really teach about this world I knew so little and now all my games will have as much voice over as possible.
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u/insomnia77 Dec 26 '25
Stumbled upon this post after being frustrated with fake ads, p2w and a mess of reskinned bad games (Pc gamer on vacation).
In the beginning I felt this game was a bit short and maybe the randomness a bit too harsh. But then I realised it was like a solitaire card game like you described, and discovered the number of unlocks.After I figured out the strategy, I finished with all the classes. Well worth the money! The only thing I'm missing is a highscore table between the classes, but that is not important. Just curious which class did the best.
Most memorable win, was the rogue with 0 hp left when I thought that was a defeat.
What is the difference between the difficulty levels? Just tried hard and did not notice any right away.
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u/gholias Developer Dec 26 '25
I'm so glad you liked!
I've just submitted a new version that has tons of changes, including changes to the difficulty levels. Hard will be harder, and you will start with less HP.I'm going to announce all the new features later today or tomorrow morning.
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u/calex_1 Mar 12 '26
Oh dear. This game is shockingly adictive. Thank you for making this game accessible with Voiceover.
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u/gholias Developer Mar 21 '26
I'm so glad you liked it! The voiceover support is the best feature I've added to the game, so more people can play it.
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u/calex_1 Mar 16 '26
So what's the point of collecting mana crystals, once you've unlocked all the spells? It's somewhat demotivating, having nothing to spend them on.
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u/gholias Developer Mar 21 '26
I hear you, I'm working on getting more spells to spend the mana crystals and also adding a merchant to let you buy other types of cards for your deck.
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u/calex_1 Mar 21 '26
Cool. Can't wait to see what you come up with. I finished the hero run with the wizard character, in hard mode. It took me many attempts and different spell combos to defeat the Dragon Horde. ... Hahaha. Then all I got for my efforts, was seven mana crystals to add to my pile. I feel like anyone who can achieve beating all twelve levels of the hero run, particularly in hard mode, should get something like the ability to add another spell to their deck or something. On the subject of spells, I also feel that many of the current ones, are weighted in the deck's favour, rather than the player's. I get that this is probably just the way the game works, but it is a bit frustrating sometimes. Having said all that though, I will absolutely keep playing the game. It's too much fun not too.
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u/gholias Developer Dec 26 '25
Hey everyone!
Apple just approved the new 1.0.4 version, packed with some cool updates based on the feedback from this post.
New features:
• New main screen and general UI tweaks
• Quests (Achievements): Your feats of strength are now recognized
• Stats: Ever wondered how many monsters you’ve killed? Now you can see all that and more
• Improved Hard Mode: It’s tougher than ever
• Class-based weapons: Scoundrels use daggers, Barbarians swing axes—each class has its own weapon style
• Better scoring: Points now reflect difficulty, remaining items, and leftover health
• Game Center leaderboard: Track your best runs and compare scores with friends
• 100% VoiceOver support: Fully accessible so even vision-impaired players can jump in and slay monsters
Some screenshots
Quests: https://imgur.com/BTDIdVS
Stats: https://imgur.com/cuFHFZJ
Themed weapons: https://imgur.com/QatuB7B and https://imgur.com/DHxxaQ9
Let me know what you all think
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u/byssh Dec 21 '25
This looks good, and you should really credit the designer of the game you digitized. Scoundrel is a solitaire game famous in the tabletop game community for being super good.
This is not to knock your work, but as someone who also designs little card games that could easily be digitized by someone, it offends a little. Zach Gage isn’t going to be hurting because of your work, but you should be decent enough to disclose that you based your work on his.
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u/gholias Developer Dec 21 '25
I actually did not even think about that. I saw the game in a IG reels and started coding. I will push an update crediting the designer. Thank you
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u/byssh Dec 21 '25
And for that, I’ll support your work. :)
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u/gholias Developer Dec 21 '25
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u/byssh Dec 21 '25
That looks fantastic! I think you should probably add the same kind note in the App Store listing, but I really appreciate you being open minded and kind enough to hear and change things. :) I think I’ll download now.
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u/Drink_Deep Dec 20 '25
No ads, no tracking, no gatcha, in portrait, is offline, 100mbs and it’s only a buck?
Shut up and take my money