Dev Diary: "AI" is coming! Let’s talk about respawning

We haven't finalized that yet, but we are at the stage where it's one of the things we're about to finalize!

I can't guarantee anything but we will probably have a more comprehensive announcement about the expansion within the next couple weeks.

 

Unless they're changing the costs of the adventures, this seems to indiate that either that they're considering how many of the adventures will be free (possibly more than one, which is good), they're still figuring out how many levels there will be (possibly more than the traditional 6, which is good), or both (which is very good)

 

May be some prepurchase action? For example buy Bundle (Expansion+Figures +may be also month club) and get the figures 1 week before expansion=)

 

@Flaxative: Been almost 3 weeks since we last heard any official announcements from staff about AI, good sir. Is it still gonna be a thing? Is a Pizza price set, yet? Is there anything we Cardhuntrians can do to help? Is it just a really obvious April Fool's joke? Can you give us any more tiny morsels about it, at the very least? Please? Pretty please?

 

Well you don't expect it to arrive before AIpril do you?

*Disclaimer, I actually have no knowledge on its forecasted arrival.

 

Well, at least they haven't started saying that it will be arriving Soon(TM).

 

It will arrive within the hour, guaranteed, or all pizza purchases ever will be directly refunded. claims presidential candidate unaffiliated with Blue Manchu

 

Something makes me think reversal is a very big concept here. Maybe AI provides alternate endings to the original game and each expansion?

 

Adventure Inversion, that must be what it meant all along!

At the end of the Base Set campaign, the player never beats Xanthicus and Melvin is crowned the king of CH at CardStock II and gets a position at Blue Manchu.

Somehow Attack of the Artifacts is even harder thanks to Melvin, the bosses are now Grendel The Melvelicious, The Elder Melvelous and finally a rematch with Melvelous the Magnificent himself. Of course the player loses, since Melvelous was smart enough to bundle together all artifacts and bosses and attacks the party in the Keep while they were equipping for a low-level Handicap Quest.

Finally, unopposed by the player due to losing over and over to Melvelous, Cardotron3000 takes on Melvin, wins, and then goes on to take over Blue Manchu itself.

Adventure Inversion is all about Karen's secret plot to defeat the now even Stronger Cardotron4000, assembling the mighty team of the player and Gary and later Melvin to put an end to its reign once and for all. But then it turns out Cardotron4000 was really Mom all along who thought that Gary and Melvin were getting too obsessed over this Card Hunter thing. Whoops.

 

I personally think that AI stands for April I, myself.

 

Y'know, Flax already said he didn't have time for an "April I" joke this year. I've been biting my tongue, but I'd really like to help put the silly rumors to rest. In fact, (Farbs is probably gonna kill me,) I might've promised not to show any cards and concepts I got to see a short while back, but uh .. I didn't actually promise not to .. describe anything. $8^ | So yes, the expansion is happening. ~exhale~ I don't know how strongly I can safely insinuate that a man (who shares his last name with an orange, lazy, lasagna-loving feline) once again added his consulting voice to the whole endeavor, but fwiw, just to give you some verisimilitude, here are some of my favorite upcoming additions. (Just don't even read if you like surprises and you already know "AI" is not a months-long elaborate prank. I'm putting these into spoilers for a reason!)

Spoiler: a group of similar cards

A weird set of cards that make me think of Radiation and Roulette, the _____ Moxie cards (or just "the Moxies" I've heard them called). They're all the same except for the color they ask for. (You might get confused why the boring "green" and "purple" are used instead of the glowing-feeling "emerald" and "amethyst," but remember that the former is official, the latter is player-invented. Go figure. Despite timeracer's constant references to Cards.csv qualities, we might do better to play Punf's obscure trivia games in chat. But anyway, I digress.) They all basically sound like this, except obviously $F^ J a color instead of a blank:

=============
_____ Moxie
Rare; [card quality is same as the color in the name]
Assist

Create a random card with _____ quality and place it into your hand. Free Action. Free Draw. Cantrip.

"You need to find your moxie!" - Red Jon
=============

So like, Black Moxie, Paper Moxie, Bronze Moxie, Silver Moxie, Gold Moxie, Green Moxie, and Purple Moxie will grant a random card of that color quality. My thoughts? At first glance, it seemed nonsensical to want to create a black quality card in your own hand. (Yeah, Black Moxie (being black quality itself) cheapens an item's cost, but still. Ugh, bad cards. I hate 'em.) However, the devs are much wiser than I on such things. It turns out, in execution, you'll often put a handicap trait into the player's hand (which we all know from Radiation isn't always horrendous) -- which then draws one of your own cards -- ohhhh, right, for an original cost of -3 card points! Wowee. I have to admit, that's pretty nifty. I still don't think I'd play it, but I know others are much, much more willing to take handicaps than I, thus there ya go. Otherwise, it makes perfect sense for Purple Moxie to be amethyst and "Create a random card with purple quality" etc. etc. That's .. you just don't even know how awesome it is until you see it! $E^ D Pulverizing Hack, obviously. Festering Guts, one of my favs (and a trait, oh wow oh wow). The one, the only, Super Team Heal. Just .. man .. good stuff. Of course, these cards are scary in the hands of minions with that whole Free Action thing. $8^ \ And since ~exhale~ most of AI is about Campaign stuff rather than MP, yeah, the Moxies are pretty rare for players to get to deal with. (Y'know, I don't even remember seeing "Gold Moxie" on a player item come to think of it... Weird...)

Spoiler: a kind of similar card to the first spoiler

=============
Onxy Lotus
Rare, Paper
Assist|Block (hybrid)

Every ally including yourself draws a card. Free Draw.

Block Any. Attach this card to yourself. Duration 1. At the start of each round, return this card to your hand.
=============

Now, frankly, I think it's really cool to see our first Assist|Block card! $:^ ] That's just kind of weird. $:^ P However, $8^ | that blocking mechanic is kind of insane. I guess the fact that it can shove off your own buffing attachments is why it's (in my inexperienced opinion anyway) so undercosted? I don't know. I said then and I say now, I hope that second part gets just flat-out removed in the upcoming rebalance. Please? Who knows what they'll do, though. "No rebalance details!" they keep repeating. $:^ `

Spoiler: my absolute favorite

Man oh man, I'm looking forward to seeing this on the live server! (Or even the normal public test server for that matter!) It's no wonder they've been saying AI isn't like any other expansion -- and this is just one card (although it certainly is my favorite, just absolute favorite! ...even if they do go through with the idea of making it purple quality before final release)...

=============
Aloyzo's Arena

Rare, Silver
Utility

Pause the current game and timers. Begin a new sub-battle using the same map, new timers, and the same parties with full health and with decks made from their current battle's deck and discard piles. The sub-battle's losing party, upon resuming the current battle, takes unpreventable damage on each ally equal to half that ally's current health.
=============

So again, yes, the expansion is happening. They're not pulling our legs. And again, I didn't actually show anything, so uh, don't hurt me for breaking any such agreement! Please? $:^ }

~whew~ All that feeling of arguing out of the way.. I'm gonna go play some goofy games of Card Hunter now.. See you in World! $:^ D

 

So I guess both types of ratings are valid.
Nevermind it was a April Foo's Joke.

 

I think you went over the boundaries. I got reproved for using a keyword which is a slighty differently phrased part of another existing keyword.

 

So what happens if you draw another Aloyzo's Arena in the sub battle?

 

Hence why Shahrazad is banned in nearly every MTG format.

 

You're right, timeracers. I need to apologize for my actions...

...if they were real. Which they weren't. Thus I don't. As if anyone didn't know already, "April Fool's!" $:^ P

$:^ D

My ultimate goal here was to bring great literal-laugh-out-loud amusement to those who could get the joke. $:^ b (I seriously hope I brought you there! Especially the devs, since you didn't even get to enjoy creating such for us!) Ironically, I've never played a game of Magic in my life. lol But yes, for anyone reading who might've thought I was just pulling random OP stupid junk out of my ears, here's a quick run-down of my (Legacy) Magic: The Gathering / Card Hunter crossover parody. $:^ ]

Spoiler: origins and spoofsmithing

Richard Garfield, Ph.D., is the original creator of M:TG. According to interviews and such, he enjoys chaotic rule-bending and turnarounds which, funnily enough, it seems many Magic players dislike and thus show gladness that his design philosophies have faded a lot from the game. He did in fact consult BM on CH in its early stages, which is pretty awesome. (I've seen ppl complain about him in World Chat during the context of discussing CH's random play elements, ha ha ha ha.)

The "Moxen" (as they are colloquially called) are "Mox _____" cards (generally with a gemstone of a certain color, like Mox Sapphire for blue mana) that give free mana of that color -- mana being how you do stuff in the game, and most basically acquired by playing only one mana-granting land at the beginning of your turn. Therefore, the Moxen are OP by themselves and became extremely restricted in decks when even allowed into games at all.

I had a lot of choices to consider when creating my "Moxie" cards. I considered being more accurate and saying something like, target draws a card, free action, free draw, cantrip -- or even, draw a card, discard if not some specified 'color' [a.k.a. utility, assist, attack, etc.], repeat until either get it or draw 6 cards, etc. -- but I decided it'd be too Lotus-similar for humor's sake, plus "a card" with no color defeats the fun of the different Moxies. Furthermore, in the vein of ultimately trolling, I figured that making it create something random (and even somewhat arbitrary) might cause some readers' eyes to bleed.​

The Black Lotus is probably the most famous Magic card for if nothing else getting one copy sold for over $27,000. $8^ | The card itself grants three mana for free. This card therefore became extremely restricted (when allowed at all), but there's another OP part of the card that the official rules say simply doesn't exist anymore, the "interrupt." You used to be able to "tap" the card to cancel another player's spell once per turn also for free -- barring hypothetical shenanigans to "untap" it before the turn's end for even more canceling.

It took me some serious time and creative juice to develop the answer to the old MtG "interrupt" mechanic in a way that uses existing CH mechanics while entirely keeping the original's feel -- block once and store the card (purgeably) for next turn. I believe (and really hope) I finally hit the nail on the head. (Btw, eventually "interrupt" became re-ruled as "instant" for most cards (one-time use, no more keep every turn,) and just plain non-existent for mana cards, hence my adding the bit about removing for the rebalance, lol).

Sadly, in all my hours of research some weeks ago to try to understand enough of a game developed continuously for over twenty years which I've never played -- for a mere elaborate joke $F^ } -- I somehow missed/overlooked the fact that the original Moxen have the same obsolete text as the Lotus. Oh well! Again, though, it's nice for humor's sake that they're different.)​

I read an interview which asked Dr. Garfield his favorite card (out of thousands). Answer? Shahrazad. Modern official text: "Players play a MAGIC subgame, using their libraries as their decks. Each player who doesn't win the subgame loses half his or her life, rounded up." It's a weird, neat little card as a singleton tucked away in a deck for a pretty cheap mana cost. It's a headache when abused. (Now, how many people do you think are willing to run it and not abuse it?)

$F^ }

Dr. Garfield described loving someone's deck (long before that whole "no more than four copies of a card" rule) that had nothing but Shahrazad and Plains cards, iirc. (Shahrazad requires only two white mana; Plains grants white mana.) He said he'd leave it up to the audience to figure out for themselves how to win with it...

These days? You've got to see the Legacy-legal deck -- The Neverending Story -- someone not only postulated about, not only theoretically tweaked to optimal efficiency, but eventually broke down and spent the $300+ to collect and build. It indeed wins in a very special way.* $}^ D Lol.

Spoiler: *

Hover/click to read what each card does to see the gist of how utterly vicious The Neverending Story deck gets! Afterward, if you still don't understand, my research (for self-entertainment more than anything) concludes that it amounts to this: Multiply sub-game after sub-game after sub-game, including within sub- and sub-sub- games, meanwhile keeping yourself alive and preventing your opp's every attempt at stopping you from this goal. Most opponents won't try any sub-game, although some might try at least one or two -- until the full onslaught nature of the deck is revealed -- and a quick resignation (a "scoop") of a sub-game costs half the player's current life; scoop back to the main game enough times, and the opp dies. Playing "Hive Mind" during a five-player free-for-all -- meaning a single Shahrazad can instantly force five sub-games in a row -- will nearly guarantee you win by your four opps immediately scooping all five games! Half-life scoop combo! lol -- And again, even if someone scoops all but the final sub-game, insert sub-sub-games within until either the final game gets scooped-back-to for a win, or someone actually dares to tactically play minimal (sub-)sub-games (and wins those) to come back to the main game with you at half health and (if 5-player Hive Mind) the opp at 1 health point remaining; at that point, through either another physical copy of the card itself or yet another spell replicator, just throw in another Shahrazad for the scary, scary finishing blow. $:^ D

You just don't even know how many hours it took me to craft the poetry of instruction for Aloyzo's Arena. CH lets you reshuffle your discard pile when your "deck" (draw pile) goes empty whereas Magic does not and in fact costs you the game if you cannot draw from your empty "library" (draw pile). I wanted to write a seriously playable and tactical send-up -- hence deck and discard go to sub-battle, implying hands and char/terrain attachments do not! Also, what to award a player for winning the sub-battle? A victory point sounded obvious, but too already-done (Jeweler) and not-recoverable-from; healing is (intentionally) underpowered in CH, but I get the same impression of underpowered recovery in Magic, too; therefore, half-health seemed most analogous. However, I knew strictly writing the intent would be a mess, thus I avoided half-health for probably days; the instructions needed to be short and precise and clear for two reasons; 1. it had to make sense, to be imaginable within real play; 2. you needed to get the punchline without a second thought. $X^ D (1+2. it needed to bring immediate, literal smiles and hopefully laughs of understanding to those familiar with the source material -- and immediate, figurative tears of agony to the eyes of players (especially who think ranked matches should have 10- or 5- minute timers) as they instantly envisioned the unspeakable horrors. You know. Punchline without a second thought. $;^ b )​

And just in case you're wondering: Weeks ago, I developed some hackneyed play strategies using Aloyzo's Arena. For example. Max per char, which would probably be one per char. Wait for my disadvantageous cards to be in play / in hand, let opp attach lots of good stuff, then into the Arena we go! Lol! (Just be glad all of CH's replicating cards -- e.g. Contagion, Good For Us, Bad For Them -- require a target. $;^ b Just be glad the mechanics would probably be too much of a hassle to program for only the one card. Just be glad BM aren't sick freaks who'd infect us with the card in the first place! lol)

Aloyzo's Arena really is my favorite of what I listed. $}^ } I've come to learn I'm totally a three-way cross between Timmy, Johnny, and Spike. (I've been considering posting on this topic elsewhere on the forum as it relates to Card Hunter in general... Maybe I'll do this next...)​

I originally was going to write up a whole bunch of Magic parodies (including all "The Power Nine") and post it under Card Ideas. I eventually considered seeing if @Pawndawan wanted to put his artistic spin on stuff. $F^ } As April approached, though, and BM bowed out of the holiday, (and Flax expressed consequential appreciation for the "rumors" thread), yet I lacked time to develop any of this much further, I just refined my Moxies and submitted here what I had, adapting the post to all the recent rumors about AI being a prank, lol. (Btw, I used all kinds of misleading language in the original post, knowing it was all going to be obvious anyway, but just to keep in the spirit of things, I still did what I could to keep it all technically truthful! aaahhh ha ha ha ha ha ha)

Okidoky. Again, I hope I brought good laughter to those Likes. $;^ J

[/DERAIL]

Regards, $:^ ]

 

Me, @Sir Veza and bunch of others were thinking of spreading April Fool's rumors about recent PayPal upgrades and AI (Afterlife Investments, Absolute / Avaricious Interest).

The joke draft included collecting debts for Interdimensional Bank of Cardhuntria (IBC), battling Loan Shark(bears) and banishing respawning gamblers for good.

 

But, is AI still a thing, though?

 

Yes - it'll be our next release.