Publishing & Sharing

Once your game is ready, publish it so other players can find it in the Game Browser and jump into matchmaking.

Publishing

Open your game and make sure you're in Editor mode.
Click Publish in the header.

Publish is blocked until:

At least one starter deck exists (new players receive a copy of every starter deck, and choose one if there's more than one).
At least one AI-enabled deck exists.
Every required deck contains exactly the configured deck size.

If any of those checks fail, a toast explains what to fix.

Playing before you publish

You can play your own game against the AI before publishing it. While it's unpublished, the header has a Play vs AI button, next to Publish in Editor Mode and as the main button in Player Mode. It needs the same decks as publishing: if one is missing or the wrong size, Not ready to play tells you what to fix. Other players can't play the game until you publish it.

Public vs. private

Public games appear in the Game Browser and anyone can play them. The browser lists games picked by Card Forge first, under Promoted. Show all games reveals every other public game, newest update first, 9 per page. When nothing is promoted, the browser shows all games, 9 per page.
To restrict access, turn on Private in Details → General and use the Invite button in the header to share access with specific players.

Updating after launch

You can keep editing a published game. Existing players keep their collections and decks; new cards become available the next time they open a pack.

Three fields let you tell players where the game stands.

Release status and version

In Details → Release:

Status — Early development, Beta or Launched. It shows as a coloured pill on your game's card in the Game Browser and in the game page header, so players know how finished the game is before they invest in a collection.
Version — a free-text label. A version number, a season name, whatever fits; it appears next to the status in the game page header, prefixed with v. Leave it empty and nothing is shown.

Both are saved with the rest of the Details tab and are visible to every player who can see the game.

Changelog

Activity → Changelog is where you post dated updates. Click Add Entry, then fill in:

Released on — the entry's date. New entries default to today.
Version — optional, shown next to the date on the collapsed entry.
Title — what the entry is called, e.g. Balance pass. An entry with no title reads as Untitled entry.
Details — the body. Line breaks are preserved, so a list of changes stays a list.

Click an entry's header row to expand or collapse it — or select the row and press Enter. Use Remove entry on the row to delete one.

Nothing is stored until you click Save changelog, and saving publishes immediately: every player who can see the game sees the entry on their next visit. There is no draft state, so write the entry before you save it rather than saving a placeholder. While a save is running the whole tab is locked — the fields and buttons grey out until it finishes.

Players read the same entries in their own top-level Changelog tab, without the editing controls. Until the game is published, only you can see its changelog — so entries written during development are safe to post before launch.

Likes

Players can like a game they enjoy. When you're signed in, open someone else's game and click the heart next to the creator's name in the game page header. Click it again to take your like back.

You can't like your own game. On your own game page the heart just shows the count.
Every game card in the Game Browser and My Games shows its like count next to the card count, so creators can see how each of their games is doing. When you're signed in, the heart is filled red on games you've liked.
Only the number is public. Nobody, including the creator, can see who liked a game.

Sharing

Copy the game's URL directly.
Or point players at the Game Browser.

Getting help

Join the Discord to share your game, get feedback, or ask questions.