What can we do to make this game more popular?

I'm not surprised that we're the best out of all 100 CCG games on Kong, go team! All we have to beat now is Burrito Bison, and we'll be golden.

(That was a joke, we will never beat Burrito Bison. I played that game for far too long and I can see how it attracts so many people.)

 

I love the game but it is not for everyone. There is also a pretty big variety of "similar"(Move party hit stuff with skills) games that look "better"(Please see the quotation marks as i love the style.). This leads to a very niche playerbase that while expanded on by kongregate and later on by steam will still never be appealing to more than a certain 0.% of gamers. Personally i love the pve and dislike not so much the pvp it self but how mad it makes me and what kind of a person that makes me appear as. So that leaves me with pve which i sadly grinded to death in my quest to 100% all maps.

 

How would it be if there were more one-time incentives in MP? For instance, the first time your rating hits 500, 1000, and 1500 you get an epic chest? Or the first time you hit the top 200 players you get a special figure?

I was watching a newer player with a rating of 0 not having "direction" in MP. They also only get to play AIs for the first 5 or 6 matches because there are not alot of humans with ratings that low. These sorts of quests can make the transition into multiplayer easier.

 

I know I always try to use my special figures... and not just because the sparkly human wizard looks like Wesley Sniper to me or my anniversary cat figures mess with my wife when they meow!
I would put the thresholds at 1000, 1200 and 1500. I didn't play against a human until I was past 500 rating.

 

I agree with SirSrsly. The rewards you get from playing against other people shouldn't feel competitive at lower ranks. Checkpoints with rewards in ranked are a great idea. Another might be for the loser in PvP to get something too. Maybe one complimentary random item/treasure as well? Players in PvP playing and thinking against another playing and thinking human bean, for up to 35 minutes at a time. After long matches it sucks losing against other players and getting absolutely nothing for your troubles, and then losing elo to boot.

In League of Legends, you get half the IP you would've gotten for winning (and plenty of EXP (if you aren't already level 30)) for losing a game. CH should follow their example regarding PvP rewards.

 

I think I've said this a lot in other threads, but PvP rewards are probably one of the tiniest factors in the game's popularity if they even are one at all. I'm not going to repeat all the reasons here, but if you look up singleplayer / multiplayer rewards on the forums you can find a lot of existing discussion. That doesn't mean that we can't make improvements to PvP rewards, but it does mean that that is a separate discussion that should probably be in its own thread.

 

No disrespect, but I don't see how having a increased conversation rate from singleplayer to multiplayer doesn't increase popularity.

 

BM wasn't even going to have an MP feature in the initial design, it was kinda of a late stage addition... but with that said the game's bread and butter is still single player, even if MP players are more active and vocal. Take me for example, I almost never played MP but I bought the the treasure hunts and club membership before ever considering MP. But the real point is people will either enjoy MP or not, I don't see too many people grinding out wins in MP if they don't like it and any change to rewards won't change if people enjoy the 1 on 1 competition.

 

If someone enjoys SP more than MP they enjoy SP more than MP. By having incremental rewards in MP it simply makes MP easier to transition into. That doesn't mean every SP player has to play MP, but it's just another channel. Any channel that adds to the replayability/appeal of the game is a positive regardless of how many people it may affect.

This even applies to SP. There could be some sort of reward for being 50% done or having your collection be 50% full. Anything that sets a goal or direction helps keeps people retained. The idea of accomplishment or "I'm almost there" is a big one. I know the idea of "achievements" or "rewards" is a newer thing and can seem to baby down the gaming experience, but it's certainly a real thing.

 

Terrible, TERRIBLE name aside, Loot & Legends is promising to have a more elaborate class system, far less versatile but more potent loot structure, more colorful campaign, very graphically snazzy interfaces, et al. Putting aside the fact that, drawing tablets aside, I don't know a SINGLE PERSON with a tablet pc, much less an ipad, there's the very real risk that, especially if L&L can put more manpower in than CH's small team, we'll lose a number of players to that.

While imitating an imitator is hardly advisable, the fact is that CH currently plays out rather straightforwardly. Lack of class/race customization and the grindy (not a negative, I like the loot system; but the vast array of items available, while great for 'oh, I wish this was just a bit different; let me figure out how I can fit this in' does reduce impact of gaining loot) loot structure aside, there's no (Endless dungeon, PvP-themed PvE, etc) to encourage people to play anything other than multiplayer or loot fairy farming once the current campaign content is run through- and that's something that can be done within a week.

The major issue with player retainment is a lack of play complexity encouraging replayability.
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3x Dwarven Fighter
3x Human Priest
3x Elven Mage
1x Elven Priest
1x Elven Fighter
1x Dwarven Priest
1x Dwarven Mage
1x Human Fighter
1x Human Mage
--
Even if you're like me, and made every possible combination of party members, including 3x sets required for quests, and took them all to cap level, that's 5 playthroughs. If you play firmly, you can get that done within a month, and even if you don't, it's not exactly the most stimulating change of pace.

Without some sort of more intricate customization- be it subclasses, like L&L is pursuing, or just more added classes/races; and without some sort of stimulating content to play while waiting on new campaign content; there's just little compulsion to play.

I love hopping in every few days because I love the gameplay, and because this game is quite relaxing- the catering to player ease of access (from interface to saving your match if you crash; that frustrating forced-movement on move card aside) and the straightforward bite-size strategy play (versus, say, a 4x game that'd take you hours to make progress) is a delight when you want something with substance but not too much involvement to play.

But if you're not totally super into the game like [we] are, then yeah, it's a hard push to convince people to stick around till the next content update; and I've certainly had my breaks from the game, as well.

And on a related note, why are leagues so confusing? Every 10 hours is really hard to keep track of (versus every 8 hours, which would keep it steady per day). Even if that serves some sort of enhanced scope of player access over a span of time, the fact that it's hard to just think 'hey, it's time to log in' also discourages play for some players.


As far as what players can do to make this game more popular? Very little, I'm afraid. We already have a core community of excellent players, anyone that sticks around for a bit tends to recognize that easily, and, combined with the report and block functions for players that do cause trouble, there's little pressure to stray from the game due to community.

As far as marketing, more consistent player activity [by way of enhanced content] builds into that better than anything we can do past our [presumed] regular word of mouth efforts.

So, yeah. As soon as we get more gameplay options- co-op, some sort of PvE farming structure, etc- then the game will 'speak for itself', same as it has done so far.

What we can do is to continue supporting the devs with word of mouth, buying content, and providing a friendly, accessible community for new players to interact with.

 

Card Hunter has players from all over the world, who live in various time zones. If leagues started every 8 hours, then some players wouldn't be able to participate in them at all.

 

I think I may have emphasized the wrong factor, and you picked up on that instead of my point;

The irregular schedule, again, aside from any long-term benefits it provides to different time-zones and even people with unusual schedules within the same zones, is very difficult to keep track of casually. More involved CH players no doubt can keep track of it with ease, but it's a stress that at least some people won't want to deal with.

My phrasing may have been awkward- it often is- but I never intended to give the impression that it had to be changed, or set to a specific schedule [of 8 hours]. I was merely attributing that element [of day-to-day varied scheduling] as a factor in people finding it less compelling to keep tabs on the game, even just for signing up for guaranteed league chests.

My post was more to point out certain potentially detrimental factors in player retention, not to establish any specific changes needed.

 

would it be helpful to set up a notification service for league play?

Just a simple "confirm your email" flow and then emails every 10 hours.

Of course a way to unsubscribe too.

 

Even just a website, similar to the LF Tracker, so you don't have to sign in to the game to check when the next league is.

 

I gotta say, [combining it with the loot tracker is] a lot easier than loading the game up to remind yourself of the next league, and serves a double purpose, no-less. Since Flaxy runs the the tracker and he's about the most enthusiastically helpful dev in all of existence, that shouldn't be too hard for him to add in when he next has the free time for it [nudge, nudge].

The schedule is still pretty counter-intuitive by its nature, but your suggestion is the easiest solution to make without making any changes to the inherent structure of the league scheduling.

 

Did someone mention the League Schedule page...?

(Yes, I need to actually maintain it.)

 

Wait, that's not just a really unusual 404 page?
My bad.

 

Well then start maintaining it, or crowdsource that effort like you did with the faerie.

 

Background: I was one of the beta testers. I haven't played for about a year.

When the game was new I was hoping it was going to grow in the direction of extending the SP campaign and levels. Alternately I was hoping that we'd be able to do cooperative multiplayer, with one player in a group playing the DM, selecting the map and monsters, etc.

Allowing for DMs/GMs would create an almost NeverWinter Nights situation with basically limitless user-created content. All that the devs would need to do would be to create a nice stable of monsters with unique cardsets. It would be the community creating the rest of the content. I'd think that would be a win-win for the devs.

Instead we got an ever-increasing emphasis on MP. I didn't (and don't) have any real interest in competitive MP in a CCG. So I've found other games to play.

 

No, they do care about the campaign. The next expansion will add more modules to the campaign.