I have been working on my push-your-luck card game, Dungeon Draw, since the 2014 PnP contest. It has undergone many redesigns and iterations but the consistent feedback was players wanted more player interactions and less downtime. Previously, I was trying to make a more advanced "Zombie Dice" filler game which has no real player interaction and nothing to do between turns.
So, while trying to come up with new abilities and mechanics for Dungeon Draw I kept having an issue of matching theme with more advanced abilities and mechanics.
Recently, I decided to make two major changes:
1) Shift from one shared deck that was passed to each player to individual decks that players kept for the entire game. This changed the game from a micro <24 card filler that worked with 2-unlimited players to a 100+ card game for only 2-4 players. I know this majorly changes things and have been testing the pros vs cons.
2) I changed the theme from exploring a dungeon for Gold and Items and avoiding monsters to exploring galaxies to visit planets and encounter unique items and entities while avoiding asteroids. This has REALLY opened up the design space and where I am at.
Below is a preview of 1/2 the cards from the re-theme:
