The Legend of Dev Diary: The Diary Begins

http://www.cardhunter.com/2011/08/dev-diary-5-deck-building-intro/

Yes, yes, YES! In one move, Card Hunter has claimed its domain in strategy-space. I don't even need to talk about the implications of the "equipment-decides-card-loadout" thing: you can see them for yourself ("Oh, look, that's how 'Dropped Guard' gets into your deck"). What matters to me is that this game now has a reason to exist:

As they said, they could have just modified someone else's ruleset. In that case, you would be playing a variant of a published game, using ways of thinking that you already developed. New graphics, (almost-) same strategy. It's like going from Warcraft to StarCraft.

However, they instead made something that is still a deck-building game, but with an "equipment" mechanic that fundamentally changes the "shape" of your building blocks. It's like going from Tetris to Dr. Mario: a veteran may find a comfortable sense of familiarity, but everybody has to think in a new way. As such, each game has its own place.

Card Hunter has found its place, and anything from here on out is the icing on the cake.

Edited P.S.: By the way, I never intended "The Diary Begins" to be the title for every dev diary post for all time. Now that we've done 5 of the things, shall someone start a new thread for when #6 comes out? I would encourage this.

P.S. to edited P.S.: I see the phrase "card suite" in the graphic for this "equipment cluster" idea, and I think it is an awesome one.

 

Wow. You guys just knocked the ball out of the park with this idea. My brain is in overdrive about all the possibilities this could bode.

Makes me wonder about trading between players now, as I assume you trade the equipment, and the cards there in are attached. Otherwise you'd be able to hand out 'crap pinatas' under the guise of being epic lootz.

Also, I would assume that the inclusion of backfire cards is dependent on the item, and how good it is. So in theory a masterwork broadsword of hackity-slash may have some really powerful attacks and three backfires, or it may only have one really bad one? Where as a poorly crafted rusty shiv (it's actually a spoon) may have 2 backfires (but they aren't too brutal to the user), and a few low powered attacks (3-4).

So very interesting. ^_^

 

Yes, but I was suggesting that someone start a new thread when diary #6 comes out. Maybe call this one the "Diaries 1-5" thread, then start a new "Diaries 6-10" thread.

Just an idea.

I hope there are few, if any, "backfire cards." In an ideal world, the "Wha?! Why would I want that card?!" reaction to "Dropped Guard" and "Cowardly" would be negated when we realize their strategic uses. They may be harder to use, but not actually punishing. Thus, it wouldn't be "25%-33% of your whole deck is pain," but rather "25%-33% is stuff that forces you to be more strategic than you were expecting."

In other words: the average players may refuse to think about "Dropped Guard" strategy, and refuse to put it in a deck. Now, if it's in a "card suite" they like, they have to learn. And so the game is more awesome.

Again, I hope they aren't really "backfiring." But if they are, I would hope "Masterwork Broadsword of Hackity-Slash" has zero backfires, while "It's Actually a Spoon" has backfires. As in, I don't want to be punished more if my sword is better.

 

I'm certain there are ways to get rid of backfires outside of playing them. Probably creatures that cause discard on attack, or special attacks that get stronger if you discard cards to fuel them. And for all we know the backfires could end up having somewhat advantageous effects (like dropped guard), just not as good as the 'real' cards. We shall see!

 

This is mostly a philosophical debate at this point. I think you can make a good game that works either way: most equipment provides both good abilities and Backfires, or equipment starts out having Backfires, but they rapidly disappear as the equipment improves. Or, hell, some other variation thereof.

As far as the path that Blue Manchu will take, I think the RPS interview is instructive here...

Delving right into Pure Speculation mode, I imagine equipment will have something like, say, a "Gold Value" which doubles as what the item would cost in soft attention currency, as well as how many "points" the item counts as when building a set of equipment for competitive multiplayer. Items with low Gold Values could either be on the weak side, or have Backfires compensating for their abilities. High Gold Value items could either be useful and Backfire-free, or very powerful with a Backfire or two compensating.

Thus, for the single-player side of the game, where the Gold Value you'd be allowed to take into battle is probably unlimited, you'd probably just end up steadily amassing a collection of equipment that straight up improves your abilities and increases your strategic options: fewer backfires, more damage, big money, big prizes! For multi-player, however, since your party's Gold Value would somehow be capped, you'd have to take into consideration all of the equipment in the game and build your "deck" accordingly. Thus, multi-player wouldn't be a game about simply equipping your Diamond Chainmail and Vorpal Longsword for the win: you'd hit your Gold Value cap. Instead, you'd have to creatively choose which equipment to bring along from the entire spectrum of Gold Values. Maybe the super-cheap Unwieldy Harpoon would find a place in your deck alongside some expensive defensive equipment!

As an aside, I could see there being room for both "Pauper" (rather low maximum Gold Value) and "Royal" (no maximum Gold Value) competitive game modes, for those so inclined. I'd personally be into "Pauper" play at least: BATTLE OF THE RUSTY SWORDS!

 

A data-point to consider: my current "playtest party" -- 3 decks -- contain 31%, 8% and 0% "backfire cards," respectively. (And in the one with 31%, I chose items whose backfire cards weren't as harmful to the deck's function.) Certainly there are plenty of items that don't contain backfire cards, and monsters *do* have backfire cards in their decks!

I find such cards a very interesting part of deck-building.

 

Here is a question i still have about the deck building diary, so can armor and accesories only get cards out of your deck or do they have added bonuses that come with them?

 

Dear, sweet, mushroom-flavoured dev, that is a good chunk of why I was so enthusiastic over it. Downsides! Downsides in a strategy game! That you actually have to incorporate into your strategy! Hook me up with those fumbles, man!

 

Prove it.

 

He's probably poisonous, like everything else in Australia.

 

So . . . what are we saying here? Send Dorian the otyugh in to check on the cleanliness of the fungal growth? This is getting to be a terribly tangled metaphor.

 

Jon, if you post another Dev diary, they will probably stop... Just sayin'...

 

This isn't really dev diary related, but I'll mention it. Dorian and I have played about five hours in the last few days, with me playing heroes and Dorian controlling monsters. Other than occasionally wanting to kick Dorian right in the zombies* -- seriously, I died an exceptionally embarrassing death against shambling undead because his strategy was simply better than my own -- I wish to report that it was a tremendous amount of fun. Lots of things need tuning, lots of things will change, there's only placeholder art in, there are bugs, but dang. When I'm playing on a Saturday night because I want to and not because I'm working, that's a good sign.

* That's a euphemism. Although if I HAD kicked him in the zombies, I probably wouldn't have died like a punk. Stupid zombies.