If you’re above about the age of 23, I’m betting there’s a good chance you have, at some point in your life, been obsessed with Pokemon trading cards and/or Magic: The Gathering. Recently, with no prior warning, the games industry seems to have renewed its love with the idea of trading cards – especially on tablets. From the Injustice mobile game to Tekken Card Tournament as well as the likes of Hearthstone, the several digital editions of Magic: The Gathering and even Steam Trading Cards, developers seem to be prepared to acknowledge that there’s a gap in the market for card games, at least to some extent.
Sadly, though, most of what’s on offer are card battle games gated with microtransactions rather than trading card games that capture the robust nuances of their physical predecessors.
It’s against this backdrop that Cory Jones, CEO of trading card specialist Cryptozoic started his Kickstarter campaign for Hex: Shards of Fate. Though the search for funding only officially began three weeks ago, in truth the project’s been in development for over two years. It shows; even the alpha walkthrough we were treated to last week looked impressive. It’s hardly a surprise, then, that the campaign has already smashed its $300,000 target; with just over a week to go, the total raised currently sits at $1.47 million.
“I see all these different casual, casual, casual abstractions of trading card games,” Cory explains. “All the things that make TCGs robust and complex scare these companies so they say, ‘Hey let’s make the version for everyone!’ You end up with card battle games, which really aren’t trading card games at all. What’s still missing is the real TCG, the one that features all the bells and whistles of a trading card game. That’s what we’re going to do.”
You end up with card battle games, which really aren’t trading card games at all. What’s still missing is the real TCG, the one that features all the bells and whistles of a trading card game. That’s what we’re going to do.
If all of this sounds a bit too inaccessible for you, never fear; one of the benefits of blending genres to create the first MMOTCG is that it’ll enable Cryptozoic to build a strong story-driven single-player PvE tutorial, in addition to creating a robust, competitive PvP environment for those who struggle to find time to make it to real-world tournaments.
Instantly, it’s this strong single-player “PvE” content that looks set to set the game apart from the (currently non-existent) competition. When the game launches, it’ll do so with around 40 dungeons that you’ll be able to progress through. Alongside the seven or eight main storyline dungeons you’ll encounter naturally whilst levelling, there’s a host of others that will provide varying challenges to mix things up and hone your skills.
“We’ve created a bunch of things that are standard TCG play with different sorts of parameters on top of it,” he reveals. “Then we created a bunch of dungeons that are puzzley, so we’ve set up puzzles for you, and you need to work your way around these and set up decks to take advantage of the conditions in play.”
One such special dungeon not heavily discussed before is an annual arena, where every year two conceptual creatures will be pitched against each other with players choosing one to champion. The first of these will feature giant fire-breathing Squirrel Titans and Dinosaurs. Once you’ve selected which one you want to represent, you’ll be given a deck themed to that faction, and be tasked with playing through the whole season. Wins will accrue you points that can be used to customise the deck to some extent and once the season’s over, victors will get an exclusive PvE card representative of their side…but the other faction’s card will be lost to them forever.
We’re not trying to monetise this with ‘power’, or your ability to play whatever else. The only things that we’re going to be selling are packs of cards, starter decks and this VIP programme.
The notion is that Cory and his team can create a game that will, as he puts it, “train people who’ve never played a TCG to become people who love and are good at them”. But intimidating complexity isn’t the only dissuading factor that stops people from jumping headfirst into the hobby; the prohibitive cost of getting the latest cards and making sure your deck is up to date is just as problematic.
While you’ll have to spend some money if you’re seriously interested in the PvP side of the game, which could be worth it considering real-cash prize tournaments are planned, the good news is that PvE at least will be completely free-to-play. Cory explains, “You can play the game on the PvE side without spending any money. I mean, I hope you spend money; we need the game to be successful so we can keep investing in it! But you can play the PvE side without spending any money and even collect some new packs, though there’s a limited number and it’s not a repeatable process.
“We’re not trying to monetise this with ‘power’, or your ability to play whatever else. The only things that we’re going to be selling are packs of cards, starter decks and this VIP programme that for $4 a month will give you a pack a week that’s of $8 value, and also give you access to a special VIP tournament, and some other little fun cosmetic functionality things.”
Considering Cryptozoic is adamant that players will never have to wait any longer than four months for complete new card sets along with additional dungeons or tournaments, four bucks a month for a regular shot at the latest additions to the game is hardly likely to break the bank.
If I have 200,000 people who are playing, that would be incredible, amazing. More importantly though it means every time you want to be in a tournament, it’ll be a big tournament and every time you want a five man draft, it’s firing right away.
Additionally, the team is adamant that they want to capture the magic sense of anticipation that comes with opening a pack of cards and seeing what it contains. To this end, booster packs will also drop chests colour-coded by rarity, which will contain cards, equipment, recipes and crafting materials. There’ll even be the chance of another pack of cards, so you could buy a pack and the receive another pack for free from the chest inside that pack, and then potentially even get a third pack from the chest inside the second.
As he explains, “That physical experience of opening a pack and seeing what’s in it is just so enjoyable and so much a part of why I love TCGs that in lieu of the kinetic component of it in a digital TCG, I wanted to make sure that digitally, sound effects, particles and all the bells and whistles are over the top.”
With funding assured, it’s clear this is only the beginning for Hex. Already, the topline story for the game and races have been outlined, and Cory admits it’s looking like it’ll take at least seven years to fully populate the 3D globe that we were shown in the Kickstarter video. There’s a long way to go between now and then; what does he want in the meantime?
“If I have 200,000 people who are playing, that would be incredible, amazing. More importantly though it means every time you want to be in a tournament, it’ll be a big tournament and every time you want a five man draft, it’s firing right away. Making sure that people have people to play with is so important. One of the sort of unintended outcomes of the Kickstarter was that it really started to build us this great community, and this kernel of community is going to be the backbone of everything we do.”
There’s still time to back the project if you’re interested, and keep your eyes on IGN for more on Hex in the weeks and months to come.
Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Junior Editor and has played more MMOs that you can cripple a social life with. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.
Source : ign[dot]com
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