tehnoodnub
Team Captain
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2012
- Posts
- 394
- Reaction score
- 245
- AFL Club
- Collingwood
Hi all,
I came across Chromancer, a new online CCG, recently. They were funded through Kickstarter last year with a modest total of just under $70k and 570 backers but guys behind it have been attending some gaming conventions like GenCon and PAX to try and get as much media attention and interest as possible. The team creating the game are life long card players (some of them are very highly ranked in some other CCGs) and guys from professional backgrounds with a real knowledge of what it will take for a game and business to succeed in this space so I actually have a lot of confidence that they will deliver in spades.
Before I go any further, please know that I'm not in any way affiliated with the team in any way and I'm not trying to advertise the game. This is a legitimate thread to tell you guys about the game because I think it looks like it's going to be pretty good and I'm looking forward to it.
The game is currently in closed beta (open beta coming in October) but you visit the forums, create an account and you can play a basic tutorial (you can do this without an account if you want) which introduces the basics of the game. It looks like PayPal pledges are also still open so you can get the same stuff as you would have if you'd backed through KS.
As a brief overview, Chromancer is medieval/fantasy themed PvP (PvE elements will likely be added a later date) CCG where you place fields and structures, and use spells, items, feats and monsters to defeat your opponent. You play in nine, single depth, 'lanes'. There are 12 colours/factions (4 currently implemented - Red, Blue, Yellow, Brown), each with their own abilities and playstyle so you can really find something that naturally fits your play style. For example, Red is a very fast and aggressive colour so it's good for rush decks while Brown is very defensive and slow so good for stall decks. Decks are currently set to a limit of 30 cards (it might feel small and limiting but cards cycle from the graveyard to the deck each turn) and games last roughly 10-20 minutes.
It's still a bit raw at the moment but there are some great things about it which I'm really excited about including:
- Not a Magic clone. Rather than hitting your opponent's life points, your objective is to destroy three structures on your opponent's side of the field. The three structures - Castle, Graveyard and Bank (which you place, along with fields, during the set-up phase) represent your deck, discard pile and resource pool and the 'health' of each structure is defined by the value (cards or resources) within it.
- Adaptive strategy. Deck construction will be quite varied in the final game because you need to decide not only which cards to build your deck with but how your strategy will work if one of your structures is destroyed. If your Castle is destroyed then you cannot draw cards (you can cycle cards from the graveyard however but there are limits to this), if your Graveyard is destroyed then any time a card is discarded, it is removed from play and if your Bank is destroyed then you cannot save resources (more on this below) from turn to turn. So, if you play as a faction (more on these below) which is very resource intensive and your opponent destroys your bank then you could be in a lot of trouble.
- Persistent and freely tradeable virtual goods. Each individual card has a serial number and ownership history attached to it. Furthermore, every item you can acquire in Chromancer can be traded. So you can trade unopened packs for their virtual currency (Chroma), or for single cards, or tournament entry stubs or avatar and forum accessories. Note that, currently, because the game is in closed beta, people don't actually have access to their own cards or other items. Rather, during public playtests (which happen most weekends but you need to create and account and add your name to the sign-up sheet on the forums) you can access all cards that have been implemented in the system and create whatever decks you want.
- Not P2W. A lot of game say this but I think these guys have put a lot of work into their model and economy. It's based on the fact that their approach is to keep card rarity and power separate. So you can build great decks using all common cards and still win every game against an equally skilled opponent who has cards of greater rarity in his deck. The rarity of the cards only means that they are being 'printed' in fewer numbers. Also, it's not time intensive to earn Chroma. When they say they aren't pay to win they also mean you shouldn't have to pay with your personal time so you can accumulate cards easily enough without having to play for hundreds of hours.
- Artwork and Lore. You can see that a lot of effort has gone into the artwork and lore for the game. There is an area in the forums where you can view a lot of the artwork and read some great written pieces. There is only one writer on the team so not a lot of Lore or flavour text has been written but the stuff that is there is excellent. The artwork is being done by a variety of freelancers and most of it is seriously top notch.
Anyway, there's a heap more I could say about it but this post is getting a little long. But seriously if you are into CCGs at all then take a look. As I said there's a fair bit of work to be done but there is a mountain of potential in the game and the ideas the team have.
I came across Chromancer, a new online CCG, recently. They were funded through Kickstarter last year with a modest total of just under $70k and 570 backers but guys behind it have been attending some gaming conventions like GenCon and PAX to try and get as much media attention and interest as possible. The team creating the game are life long card players (some of them are very highly ranked in some other CCGs) and guys from professional backgrounds with a real knowledge of what it will take for a game and business to succeed in this space so I actually have a lot of confidence that they will deliver in spades.
Before I go any further, please know that I'm not in any way affiliated with the team in any way and I'm not trying to advertise the game. This is a legitimate thread to tell you guys about the game because I think it looks like it's going to be pretty good and I'm looking forward to it.
The game is currently in closed beta (open beta coming in October) but you visit the forums, create an account and you can play a basic tutorial (you can do this without an account if you want) which introduces the basics of the game. It looks like PayPal pledges are also still open so you can get the same stuff as you would have if you'd backed through KS.
As a brief overview, Chromancer is medieval/fantasy themed PvP (PvE elements will likely be added a later date) CCG where you place fields and structures, and use spells, items, feats and monsters to defeat your opponent. You play in nine, single depth, 'lanes'. There are 12 colours/factions (4 currently implemented - Red, Blue, Yellow, Brown), each with their own abilities and playstyle so you can really find something that naturally fits your play style. For example, Red is a very fast and aggressive colour so it's good for rush decks while Brown is very defensive and slow so good for stall decks. Decks are currently set to a limit of 30 cards (it might feel small and limiting but cards cycle from the graveyard to the deck each turn) and games last roughly 10-20 minutes.
It's still a bit raw at the moment but there are some great things about it which I'm really excited about including:
- Not a Magic clone. Rather than hitting your opponent's life points, your objective is to destroy three structures on your opponent's side of the field. The three structures - Castle, Graveyard and Bank (which you place, along with fields, during the set-up phase) represent your deck, discard pile and resource pool and the 'health' of each structure is defined by the value (cards or resources) within it.
- Adaptive strategy. Deck construction will be quite varied in the final game because you need to decide not only which cards to build your deck with but how your strategy will work if one of your structures is destroyed. If your Castle is destroyed then you cannot draw cards (you can cycle cards from the graveyard however but there are limits to this), if your Graveyard is destroyed then any time a card is discarded, it is removed from play and if your Bank is destroyed then you cannot save resources (more on this below) from turn to turn. So, if you play as a faction (more on these below) which is very resource intensive and your opponent destroys your bank then you could be in a lot of trouble.
- Persistent and freely tradeable virtual goods. Each individual card has a serial number and ownership history attached to it. Furthermore, every item you can acquire in Chromancer can be traded. So you can trade unopened packs for their virtual currency (Chroma), or for single cards, or tournament entry stubs or avatar and forum accessories. Note that, currently, because the game is in closed beta, people don't actually have access to their own cards or other items. Rather, during public playtests (which happen most weekends but you need to create and account and add your name to the sign-up sheet on the forums) you can access all cards that have been implemented in the system and create whatever decks you want.
- Not P2W. A lot of game say this but I think these guys have put a lot of work into their model and economy. It's based on the fact that their approach is to keep card rarity and power separate. So you can build great decks using all common cards and still win every game against an equally skilled opponent who has cards of greater rarity in his deck. The rarity of the cards only means that they are being 'printed' in fewer numbers. Also, it's not time intensive to earn Chroma. When they say they aren't pay to win they also mean you shouldn't have to pay with your personal time so you can accumulate cards easily enough without having to play for hundreds of hours.
- Artwork and Lore. You can see that a lot of effort has gone into the artwork and lore for the game. There is an area in the forums where you can view a lot of the artwork and read some great written pieces. There is only one writer on the team so not a lot of Lore or flavour text has been written but the stuff that is there is excellent. The artwork is being done by a variety of freelancers and most of it is seriously top notch.
Anyway, there's a heap more I could say about it but this post is getting a little long. But seriously if you are into CCGs at all then take a look. As I said there's a fair bit of work to be done but there is a mountain of potential in the game and the ideas the team have.