Here's one last little bit of game dev before the semester starts and I disappear for the next four months.
The first is: I've made a print version of Card Games vs Literary Characters at the End of the World! Since the game's original title only describes the narrative and not the theme of the game itself, I named the print version Cardinger. Its like"harbinger," but... card.
I'm really happy with how they turned out! I tried to mimic the original digital card design as much as possible while making enough changes to make them actually readable in-person. I also added flavor text to the cards, space permitting!
I printed the game through The Game Crafter, so if there's interest, I'll make it publicly available for purchase. Otherwise, card sets will be available as prizes at Underground Arcade events, whenever the world reopens.
Working on the print version of the game also has implications for the digital version. Before immortalizing the game in print, I wanted to make improvements to the rules that I wasn't able to do during the game's original brief development cycle. I used the digital game to test these changes against the AI, so I've released an "Enhanced Edition" of Card Games vs Literary Characters reflecting these changes.
The list of changes is as follows:
- A point is only earned at the start of your turn when your deck replenishes, instead of every turn. The previous system was implemented as an easy way to stop the game from locking into a state where neither player can advance their win condition, but it was too passive.
- You can now retire cards when you have five or more in play, discarding the old card and replacing it with a new one from your hand. This prevents the lock scenario described above.
- If you do nothing during your turn, you may draw an extra card.
- Cards with the "devour" ability can have no more than 4 HP, instead of 5. Formerly, a devouring card at max HP was practically invincible.
- Cards with the "prosperity" ability now score a bonus point for every 5 cards in hand instead of every 4. If a deck is built to maximize draw power, the prosperity ability quickly becomes overpowered.
- "Miner Bee," "Combo Miner," "Idealogue," "Evening Tears," and "Vampire Princess" have been buffed. The draw power of the first three has been improved, as has the durability of the latter two.
- "Blood Knight" has been reworked. He now has an extra HP, but he also now has the "decay" ability, so he's harder to pick off on the turn he's put into play, but easier to defeat after that.
- The Oz cards: "The Lion," "The Tin Man," "The Scare Crow," and "The Wizard" have all been nerfed. Even with their high cost, they were otherwise absurdly powerful.
- The final opponent's cards - those from Booster X - have all been nerfed. It is clear that she is way too challenging an opponent, and improvements made to the game's AI have made her invincible with her old deck.
The game also features some small improvements to the AI and UI, as well as bug and typo fixes. A version with the original rules is still available for download.
That's it for now! Enjoy.
