Shandalar Clone

[DennisBergkamp]

I've been copying a bunch of stuff from the regular fantasy quest mode, but a lot of things will be different also:

Credits -> Gold (just a rename).
Winning cards after a match -> Winning a 15-card booster pack after a match (see screenshot).
Winning random rares after a match -> Finding random rares as treasure while exploring the map.

I'm also thinking of giving the shops a big overhaul, certain towns will only have certain shops, and the pet shops will be different (you'd only be able to buy the bird in a "white" town, only the wolf in a "green" town, etc. etc.... this also means you can buy pets out of the current order).

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Are you planning to make this an addition to the fantasy quest mode? Or will this become a 3rd quest mode?

It would probably just be a 3rd quest mode... although the booster code could easily be transferred over.
I dunno, I don't want to change too many things on the current quest mode (it seems pretty fun/balanced already).

Thanks Rob, I'll check and see if the results are satisfactory It might also need some color balancing (that's how I generated the night image in photoshop - just bumped up the blues).

[Rob Cashwalker]

The ImageFilter class that this code shows can be adapted to bumping up the blues...

[Rob Cashwalker]

Something just occured to me....

Thinking about how we start the game with pets, I realized something cool we could do in the future. We could purchase a "special version" of some otherwise regular artifact, but by paying the extra cost, (like the pets) the artifact starts in play.
Certainly not just ANY artifact from the entire game, but a few select ones.... Ones that have useful, often-printed effects, with variety in "strength". The "upgrade" process just switches the weak artifact for a stronger one.

[silly freak]

such things can quickly go out of hand. I think you should only be able to choose one or two of those whenever a game starts. to make the feature interesting, you want to implement many of these artifacts, and being able to have all at the same time is just crazy

another idea: how about "equipping" certain cards in your deck: you don't get the artifact at the beginning of the match, but once you play a special card, you automatically get it.

[DennisBergkamp]

I was thinking about something like that too, we could either use just plain artifacts, or even equipment or enchantments.

[Rob Cashwalker]

We can currently only start with one pet and the plant right now, correct? So, we can only start with a single artifact. It's just as vulnerable to destruction as our pets are now....

[silly freak]

yes, but a single card out by default is already a great deal. Black Lotus and Dark Ritual are very powerful cards because they give early access to big spells, and they still cost you cards from your hand, the lotus itself and the card you really care about. having a pet is like that, but without spending two cards from your hand. Of course the card you played using the lotus can be destroyed, but so what?

[Rob Cashwalker]

And if you spent enough gold to upgrade through a few mana-source type artifacts until you had a Black Lotus, then why should it be over-powering that late into a quest?

[silly freak]

because magic is only fun if it's a challenge to play. if you can entirely trust your pets/artifact to win a match, there's no point in building a deck or buying other cards.
It's of course a completely different matter if, for example, late-quest opponents also started out with creatures

IMO, these bonuses are not to make the quest easier but to keep up with the increasing difficulty of the quest, and there is the need for balancing

[Chris H.]

because magic is only fun if it's a challenge to play. if you can entirely trust your pets/artifact to win a match, there's no point in building a deck or buying other cards.
It's of course a completely different matter if, for example, late-quest opponents also started out with creatures.

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That is an interesting concept.

[DennisBergkamp]

Yes, I agree with Silly Freak here. Of course we shouldn't add too powerful of an artifact, but if you're facing opponents that have permanents starting on their side already (and/or that have a very high starting life) later on in the campaign, it shouldn't be too unbalanced.

[Sloth]

We can also come up with story reasons, that in some battles pets will not appear. For example you have to fight bosses in places your pet can't follow or in a mage guild contest you have to fight fair with your magic powers only.

[Marek14]

One of fun things in Shandalar were the dungeons with global effects

[Rob Cashwalker]

Marek- kinda sorta like the planes of Planechase?

[Marek14]

Basically, yes, though only their basic effect.

Basically, an ideal card to be made into a global effect is an artifact or enchantment that has no "player interactivity", i.e. something where players don't have any choices (except possibly triggered ability ordering). This means it shouldn't have any activated abilities, only static/triggered.

Symmetrical effects are "beginners", while asymmetrical are "advanced", since they are basically free bonuses for opponent.

So a Crusade dungeon would be easier since you can exploit the effect by building a white deck. Honor of the Pure dungeon would be harder, and Glorious Anthem dungeon would be even harder