trading-card-game
Latest
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding September 8 - 21, 2013
In the oft changing world of crowdfunding hopefuls, faces come and faces go... and sometimes they come back again. If one of the newcomers to this edition of Make My MMO looks familiar, that's because the game ran a shorter, unsuccessful Kickstarter campaign last July. With a longer run this time around, perhaps Story Quest Online will fare better. On the flip side, one campaign flipped sections: We congratulate StarCraft Universe on meeting its goal and joining the ranks of the fully funded. Plenty of other news came from the funded ranks as well, from the crowdfunding king hit more funding goals (again) to progress reports and new feature reveals. You can catch all the details right here.
Marvel Super Hero Squad Online surpasses 6 million and offers free sub
When reaching a major milestone, it's pretty common to celebrate. Many even mark the occasion with gifts. And that's exactly what Marvel Super Hero Squad Online is doing for surpassing six million registrations -- and the players are the gift recipients! Until October 31st, 2013, Gazillion Entertainment is offering one week of paid subscription for the free-to-play game. Each account can claim this gift one time by entering the code 6MILPLYRS in the "Redeem a Game Code!" box on the official site. Marvel Super Hero Squad Online has over 100 playable heroes to choose from, including such favorites as Black Widow, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Hawkeye, Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, and more. The game also offers various game modes, sidekicks, titles, world events, arcade games, and even a collectible card game starring Super Heroes from the game. To play, head on over to the site to sign up. [Source: Gazillion Entertainment press release]
Hearthstone makes three music tracks available
Blizzard wants to give you an earful -- of Hearthstone, that is. The studio's released a handful of music tracks from the upcoming digital card game, and you can get them for free right the heck now. If the score sounds a little familiar, that's on purpose. Lead Designer Eric Dodds commented on the soundtrack's aim, saying, "Ultimately, we wanted the music to convey three important things -- Warcraft, whimsy, and warmth -- to reflect the lighthearted nature of the game, and to make players feel as though they were sitting in their favorite tavern from Warcraft." The released tracks are Hearthstone Revealed, Bad Reputation, and Tabletop Battles.
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding August 25 - September 7, 2013
If you build it, they will come. While that adage hold true for baseball diamonds in cornfields, it's a little bit different for MMOs. If you're set on developing a new virtual playground, you get them to come so you can build it! That's the philosophy behind crowdfunding, anyway, and many are latching onto it. So how fare the fields of crowdfunding lately? New projects (Alteil Horizons, Epic Space) sprouted up, one took root and grew stronger (Divergence), and others (Project Snowstorm, Realms of Creation, Enspira Online) withered away from lack of nourishment. See how your favorite projects are growing right here in Make My MMO.
Apocoplay unveils new digital CCG, Alteil: Horizons
Seems like everyone's getting into the digital card game business, with Blizzard's Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft and Cryptozoic's HEX leading a pack of big-budget, flashy releases due sooner rather than later. As of today, there's one more contender in the ring. Boston-based indie startup Apocoplay has just launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund Alteil: Horizons, a digital collectible card game that relies on "turn-based RPG-style tactics" and the introduction of a day and night cycle that changes the behavior of specific cards. Apocoplay is reaching out to notable artists for card designs; according to the studio, interest has been "secured" from the likes of Ctrl+Alt+Del's Tim Buckley and Saturday Morning Breakfast's Zach Weinersmith, along with artists who have worked on things like Pacific Rim and The Legend of Zelda. Here's head producer Sean Molyneaux (no relation to Peter Molyneux) on the announcement: I've been in this industry long enough to see collectible card games grow from a niche interest here in the US to a hugely popular mainstream genre. Fast growth like this means that new CCGs have to be very high-quality to get attention, and with the caliber of artists we've signed and our focus on deeper, tactical gameplay, Horizons can be the best out there. Apocoplay is seeking $100,000 for Alteil: Horizons' development and is offering decks and other bonuses to funders. [Source: Apocoplay press release]
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding August 11 - 24, 2013
Just when you think it will be a quiet couple of weeks on the crowdfunding scene... it isn't. Crowdfunding hopefuls seem to be following the advice of The Gambler this week: Know when to hold them, when to fold them, when to walk away, and even when to run! The funded crowd is holding steady with only a few bits of news, but two projects are on the brink of folding as they are both far short of their goals. Legends of Firestorm, on the other hand, didn't just walk away -- it high-tailed it out of Kickstarter without a word of explanation. In the meantime, thwo new projects (StarCraft Universe and Enspira Online) have joined the scene, and another project resurfaced. Check out the details right here.
Blizzard ending World of Warcraft trading card game
Blizzard Entertainment has announced that the World of Warcraft trading card game's recently released Timewalkers: Reign of Fire expansion will be the final new set brought to the series. Timewalkers has the distinction of including every previously released rare loot card, but will mark the end of new production for the World of Warcraft TCG. Blizzard thanked its players in the announcement, noting: You made ripping open booster packs, discovering the wonders they held, and then building decks and taking them into battle a truly awesome experience. Fans of card games and Blizzard can take solace in the fact that Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, is currently cruising through closed beta and should launch later this year.
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding July 28 - August 10, 2013
Ah, the joys of bringing more games into the fold. Sadly, we don't know whether this will be just a brief passing in the night or a more permanent stay; that all depends on how newcomers Project Snowstorm and Legends of Firestorm do on their respective Kickstarter campaigns. Will the community help them make their MMOs? We'll keep watch and keep you informed. Speaking of keeping informed, a few of the funded projects found themselves in the news lately -- and we mean more than just crowdfunding king Star Citizen! And we've got it all rounded up right here for your perusing pleasure.
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding July 14 - 27, 2013
Another fortnight down; another MMO hopeful lost. The casualty? Story Quest Online, which didn't come close to meeting its Kickstarter goal. The newest addition to this list, Realms of Creation, is still moving toward its goal and has another 34 days left to reach it. To see more about it, check out the new video after the break. In other news, Pathfinder Online also has a new video, and Star Citizen's Chris Robert's talked at length in an exclusive Massively interview. Even controversial Greed Monger headlined with a demonstration of its house building feature. Catch all the links to these stories right here in Make My MMO.
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding June 30 - July 13, 2013
The last two weeks haven't been quiet on the crowdfunding front. While Star Citizen takes the lead with the most news (from ever-expanding coffers to just "finding ways to make the game more awesome"), other titles had their own snippets to report as well. There's also some upheaval in our ranks: We gained a new MMORTS/MMORPG mix project but lost two others from our list when both Skara: The Blade Remains and Anthym didn't meet their goals. And yet another title makes its final appearance before moving on to Betawatch! That's right, folks; TUG is saying hasta la vista to Make My MMO in favor of alpha land. Curious as to what all else has transpired? Then check out the details after the break.
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding June 16 - 29, 2013
Go ahead -- make my MMO. And here you thought this phrase only worked when interrupting a robbery! What was a unique phenomenon in the not-too-distant past has become an increasingly popular trend: crowdfunding new MMOs. Whether they're using the Kickstarter funding platform or another, more and more developers are turning to the public instead of publishers to take their designs from the drawing board and into reality. In fact, sometimes it feels like there are just too many to keep up with! Besides the new campaigns that seem to be popping up like dandelions, there are the successfully funded games to keep an eye on. So here's what we're going to do for you: We'll make it easier for you to keep tabs on both the new campaigns hitting the crowdfunding scene and the progress of those MMOs that already made their goal and have moved on in their development journeys (but haven't made beta yet). Join us past the break for the inaugural Make My MMO, a biweekly accounting of all MMOs crowdfunded. Have you heard about new campaigns that aren't listed? Send us a note and let us know!
E3 2013: Taking another look at HEX
HEX. It's a difficult concept to grasp: a massively multiplayer online trading card game, combining elements of roleplaying goodness and the thrill of building a deck of powerful cards to combat the next evil underlord monster. At this year's E3, Massively sat down with Cory Jones, president of Cryptozoic Studios, to get the skinny on what HEX is all about.
HEX: The MMO is in the cards
Massively was recently invited to meet with Cory Jones, president and chief creative officer of Cryptozoic, to get some greater insight into HEX, the studio's upcoming MMOTCG -- that is, massively multiplayer trading card game. At first, I had a difficult time associating a "massively multiplayer" aspect with a trading card game. My two-decade-old memories of very briefly playing Magic: The Gathering simply wouldn't let me get past my initial assumption about the head-to-head nature of these types of games. Even the online version of Magic used essentially the same structure as the offline version, with digital representations of Magic cards and an online challenge ladder. So imagine my surprise when a well-established box-and-trading-card-game company like Cryptozoic announced it was producing HEX, an MMOTCG using Kickstarter as a funding vehicle.
Kings and Legends Global melds the TCG with the MMO
Watch out: It's an unholy fusion of addictive trading card games with addictive massively multiplayer online roleplaying games! The clinics will be overrun and crime will run rampant as police will be too captivated by the bleeps and bloops of their computer boxes to do anything about it. That's the dire future that Kings and Legends Global could usher in. Or it could just be an interesting title that mixes CCGs with MMOs to create a novel experience. The cards themselves can be customized, crafted, and traded by players and then used to battle in PvP and PvE environments. Knights and Legends will have four classes, seven races, an auction house, guild halls, a crafting system, and plenty of deck building to keep folks interested. GameFuse is tempting potential fans into registering by promising a free starter pack to those who sign up. You can do so on the website and then check out the game trailer after the break. [Source: GameFuse press release]
MMOTCG HEX doubles Kickstarter goal with 3 weeks left
HEX: Shards of Fate, the MMO trading card game that we first introduced last week, is doing fairly well in its current Kickstarter campaign. How well, you ask? So far the company has raised over $600,000 of the game's $300,000 goal with 21 days still to go! That's thanks to almost 5,000 backers so far. While these numbers are impressive one week into the campaign, it should be no surprise considering the talent working on this MMOTDG. Cryptozoic Entertainment is a veteran studio that has developed and published several other trading card and board games for The Walking Dead, Lord of the Rings, DC Comics, World of Warcraft, and more. With the game already funded at this point, it's still worth checking out the game's reward tiers and stretch goals to see if it's something you might be interested in supporting. You have only 21 more days! [Thanks for the tip, Sounder!]
Cryptozoic smashes funding goal for new Hex TCG
You've no doubt heard about Cryptozoic, who makes the World of Warcraft trading card game. But these days, Blizzard is focusing on its home-brewed digital TCG Hearthstone and Cryptozoic is working on a new project: Hex, which they call an MMO trading card game. Hex takes advantage of its all-digital nature to add some MMO elements like characters, gear, and guilds to a traditional TCG game. And, while it's not out yet -- Cryptozoic expects the beta to start this September -- the Kickstarter campaign to fund the game is happening now. With 21 days to go, Cryptozoic has already blown past their $300,000 funding goal with $567,000 raised at the time of this writing. Now they're working on stretch goals which will add new gameplay features for everyone -- and new bonuses for backers -- as they're reached. If you're interested in a different kind of TCG -- or a change of pace from World of Warcraft -- you might want to check out Cryptozoic's Kickstarter. Contributing $10 will get you into the beta this fall and $20 and up gets you beta access and cards once the game launches -- including some special cards you'll only ever be able to get through this Kickstarter campaign.
Introducing HEX, the MMOTCG by Cryptozoic
Cryptozoic Entertainment has just revealed the Kickstarter for its upcoming MMO trading card game, HEX: Shards of Fate. Cryptozoic is claiming that the game "combines the amazing community and storytelling aspects" of MMOs with the "compelling collectible and strategic game play" of TCGs. Players will roll a character (from a selection of six classes and eight races), collect gear, explore dungeons and raids, join guilds, and do other stuff that you'd usually associate with an MMORPG. They'll also be able to unlock and utilize more than 350 cards (in the first set), socket those cards for customization, and compete in a manner fairly typical of TCGs. Each card tracks its own leveling bar (the completion of which will transform the card into its foil variant), a trophy case for showing off what you've won while using that card, card-specific achievements, and more. Cards can also be transformed mid-match, giving you the ability to, say, hatch an egg to produce a dragon to help you out during your fight. The Kickstarter project is trying to reach $300,000. Rewards start as low as beta access at the $10 level and go on up to the "producer tier" for the five people who first choose to throw $10,000 or more into the hat.
Paladin and Warrior go mano-a-mano in new Hearthstone video
Blizzard's online World of Warcraft CCG, Hearthstone, is supposed to be heading into beta sometime soon™. But to hold fans over until then, the studio has released a new video featuring a duel between the Warrior and Paladin classes, complete with play-by-play commentary. Whether you're looking to wrap your head around the basic rules of the game or trying to pick up on some more advanced strategies to get a leg-up on the competition, this video has something for you. So what are you waiting for? Click on past the cut for the full video; it's time to d-d-d-d-duel! Or something like that, anyway.
Watch Might and Magic: Duel of Champions' producer destroy Massively
Might and Magic: Duel of Champions is a new collectible card game brought to us by Ubisoft Quebec. Some folks might say that trading card games are a dime a dozen and that once you've played one, you've played them all. But I think the genre is always moving forward and expanding, introducing new designs and interesting ways to play, which is true of Might and Magic's latest go at the TCG market. During my tour, I found myself up against producer Stephane Jankowski. Unfortunately for me, he is no stranger to the game. He takes it quite seriously, going so far as to "go easy" on me so that I was not embarrassed. Little did he know that I am a noob at every game out there, so no harm was done. Might and Magic: Duel of Champions is a great game for those who want not only more strategy but also a faster pace. The tutorial walked me through some of the basics, but I learned more in the hour I played with Stephane than I had playing during the previous week. Click past the cut to watch the livestream and read up on what makes this one stand out.
PAX 2013: Hands-on with Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is a brand-spankin'-new online collectible card game from Blizzard, announced just yesterday here at PAX East 2013. And since I love you guys soooo much, I took the time to stand in line to take a look for myself. It certainly had nothing to do with the fact that I flock to CCGs like a moth to flame. No sirree. Of course, this isn't your traditional MMO, so it's difficult to write a traditional review, especially considering I was able to play only a single match (which I won by a landslide, thank you very much), so instead I'm just going to give y'all a rundown of how the game plays and let you draw your own conclusions. Shuffle your cards, cut your decks, and read on for the skinny on Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft.
