I never thought I would make it this far! Lets start with… a little sneak peak at the new CARD FRAMES!!! HOLY HELL!!! LOOK AT THOSE!!

This week I am going to answer questions from the community. I have gathered these from our HEX forum and hope this helps shine a bit of light on our process and where we are going.

So… Question #1

What features are going to be in the OPEN PVP BETA? Well this is the big question…

Here is our current list of features for the Open PVP BETA:

Deck Creation

Collection Management

1 vs. 1 PvP Battles

1 vs. AI Battles

Matchmaking

Socketed Cards

Chat

Friends

Constructed Tournaments

Sealed Tournaments

Draft Tournaments

Deck Sleeves

Store and Pack Opening

Primal Packs

Basic in-game Tutorial

Mail

Mac Support

VIP Program

Guilds

Auction House

Double-back

The launch of the game will come in several phases. The first monetized phase is the Closed PVP BETA, where your collection is wiped, we give you the Kickstarter rewards, and we start actually selling products. This phase will include all our current players, it will last several week then transition to Open PVP BETA.

As I am sure you have noticed from the above list, we are not including PVE content in this first phase. We have been working very hard to ensure that the core game systems are rock solid, because if we are going to take your money, we need to give you the best gaming experience possible. Be assured that the PVE content IS being worked on right now, and we have game designers and engineers currently building the content.

The issue was that the PVE content had been gated by core PVP systems engineering, so it was always going to be one of two scenarios: either the PVE comes after PVP, or we hold all of it and launch simultaneously. At one time I felt very strongly we should hold everything and launch it all at once, but as we got deeper into development and gathered more feedback from the community, I just could not imagine holding PVP (and specifically draft) if it’s working and playable.

I expect that we will be launching PVE features relatively quickly after the Open PVP BETA. PVE will start with an arena system that introduces you to mercenaries, leveling, and using equipment on cards. After that, we will roll out building your characters, dungeons, and raids.

Question #2

What feature has presented the largest problem for you thus far?

There really hasn’t been one large problem, it’s been a fair mix of little things, and by fair mix I mean many thousands of little things.

The one thing I find myself telling people in the games industry over and over about HEX is how people really don’t understand how hard it is to make a digital TCG. Leave all our MMO features out, leave out art and design, heck, even leave out CARD design. The raw engineering talent necessary to make a system that can handle thousands of cards and all the possible interactions between those cards is truly mind-boggling. And when you add all the other elements I said to leave out, plus the graphic designers, tournament system designers, sound engineers … and on and on.

Yikes, I really did underestimate this game’s size and difficulty. Lucky we are three years in and near to the finish line. I think if people had really understood what it was going to take to get here they would have recommended I come up with something else, maybe something a little easier.

Question #3

When will you be moving to more permanent and powerful hosting hardware?

Roughly 30 days before we begin the Closed PVP BETA, we will move everything over the more permanent and powerful hosting hardware for a final testing push before the Open PVP BETA.

Question #4

Are there different teams working on the various elements of HEX?

Yes and no. There are multiple groups that each handles different tasks, but some of the tasks will fall across more than one group’s task list. When that happens, the tasks stack and don’t run concurrently, so we have tried to keep this to a minimum.

At present we have these groups:

Engineering Core Systems

Engineering Art and Interface

Producers

MMO Design

PVP TCG Design

PVE TCG Design

Lore and Story

Graphic Design

Community

Systems Design (Economy and Esports)

QA / Scripting

We are coming up on 50 members for the HEX team. The largest group would be the engineers, but game designers are a close second. Its funny, I know we will have to grow once HEX comes out and becomes a massive success, but I am really enjoying the size of our team right now. Everyone is very close, and we have an amazing vibe in the work place. I consider each of these people my friend and it’s incredibly gratifying to do something as amazing as this with your friends.

Question #5

What moment in the future of HEX is the scariest for me?

Sorry for the lame answer, but I have no fear when it comes to HEX.

Having been on this roller-coaster for three years and having lived through the game going from about to die to Kickstarter mega-success, nothing can faze me now. I have total certainty when it comes to this game, and I am aware this attitude may be a form of mental disorder brought on by the stress of making this product, but what the hell, might as well go with it. Sadly, if players don’t like HEX, I have resigned myself to providing one last Kickstarter update, which will be a video of me driving my car off a cliff (everyone hates it when I make this joke).

If I HAD to pick one thing that might bite us temporarily, it would be the server issues. We have the growing pains now, which is the point of an alpha, but the day one crush is something you cannot emulate. Look at how many billion dollar video game companies’ servers’ crash and burn for the first week of product launch, and it gives you an idea of how real that challenge is.

Question #6

Are there going to be a variety of different PVP options, including a budget friendly mode?

I think PVP will offer a VERY wide and enjoyable array of play options that don’t tap into spending money, not to mention simply playing constructed games with your buddies.

When it comes to limited play (draft, sealed, etc.) we have a pretty large number of formats and unique spins on it that we want to try (single elimination, marathon, asynchronous, etc.), but most revolve around actually purchasing cards. Currently we do not have a phantom draft in the plan.

We have tried to make this game actually have a free to play component that isn’t layered with invisible paywalls and other nonsense, but to make that work, a pretty traditional TCG business model is necessary when it comes to limited play.

Question #7

What single feature currently in development would I be most excited to show off?

Hmm… that’s a tough one. As much as I want to say the leveling and equipment system because you have NEVER EVER EVER seen anything like it and it’s going to blow your mind, I would have to say the one feature I am most excited to get into your hands is… multiplayer raids!

The raids are the continuation of something I created when I came up with the WOW TCG concept. The idea was simple and originally a house rules variant I would use to get people over for Tuesday “Magic night”. I would build a super powerful deck and theme it, and everyone else would play against me as a team using decks that had cool synergies. When I expanded this in the WOW TCG, it became about very unique and cool themed gaming experiences (like fighting Onyxia) and the REALLY fun part was getting together with friends and working as a team to build a deck that solved the “puzzle” of the raid boss.

This team based puzzle solving in a TCG setting is VERY gratifying. As popular as the WOW TCG was, I never thought our raids got the credit they deserved, so I am very happy to see the general concept live on in HEX.

Question #8

Let’s call these questions… How popular will HEX be?

How have the retention and activity rates been in the closed Alpha?

VERY good, shockingly good, we still have about 80% of the number of players logging in each day as we did at the very end of the year. Pretty amazing considering we have not invited anyone during that type except the new Slacker Backers.

How large a community do we expect HEX to have?

I have consistently said HEX will be HUGE, and I honestly believe it. My guess is that we will have an active base of over 1 million worldwide players, at a minimum.

What are the biggest non-engineering hurdles getting to an audience that big?

Managing the community component of a group that large is pretty daunting.

How will you overcome these challenges?

It’s going to come down to understanding the community’s needs and aggressively hiring the resources necessary to make it work. I feel strongly that community management is a core component of the game’s long term success and its something we will invest in dramatically, hiring the best talent for our players worldwide.

How many refunds have been processed?

Roughly 75 slacker backers and about 150 Kickstarter backers, not bad with over 20,000 people in our community of backers! Seems like the vast majority of our HEX community are enjoying the alpha and are looking forward to the game’s full release.

Question #9

When will we get a PVE update?

I am sorry about the lack of updates on PVE. As I mentioned earlier, we have been focused on core systems, and PVE is coming after that. We do have engineers currently working on PVE, but it’s farther out than PVP (clearly).

The good news is we have had additional time to iterate on the dungeons, and as any game designer will tell you, the more time you have to iterate, the better the game will be. And man, these dungeons are really shaping up to be amazing (as the players that have come into the office and tried the physical version can attest). But in the spirit of actually giving you some solid PVE info, here is a class system…

The Class system and leveling in general is a bit different in HEX. (As compared to what? Well there really is nothing like HEX, so I guess it isn’t different, its exactly what a MMO-TCG should be!) HEX needs to accommodate the core TCG component of change; it wouldn’t be to fun to lock in choices and have that limit your deck building or overall experience.

With that in mind we have two systems. One leveling system is meta-based and affects your entire account. This system will supply perks to your account that you can pick and choose and use with each champion. Stuff like additional gold drops in dungeons, no limit to hand size, or an extra beginning game re-draw. (As a side note, this re-draw is commonly called a mulligan, but I think we should change the name of it after Matt Hyra, who invented the concept of a TCG mulligan many years ago, Matt also happens to be our lead board game designer. Maybe we call it a Hydration? Hmmm… need to think about that.)

The second leveling system is dungeon-by-dungeon. As your champion traverses a dungeon, we track their MIGHT. The deeper you go in the dungeon, the more MIGHT your champion generates. As you generate MIGHT, you spend it to add effects to your champion.

Here is an example of the Ranger MIGHT system. (Each encounter in a dungeon has the ability to add to the next MIGHT level and open up a new choice.)

Might Level 1

Charge Power

Train Pet: 2 Charges - Put your companion into play (1/1). If it is already in play, it permanently gains +1/+1.

Might Level 2

PICK ONE

Passive: Pounce: When an opposing troop damages you, there is a 25% chance your pet deals damage to that troop equal to its [ATK].

Passive: Fetch: When your pet deals damage to an opposing champion, reveal the top card of your deck. If it’s a resource, put it into your hand.

Might Level 3

Passive: Scouting: At the start of the game, reveal 3-7 random cards from your opponent’s hand.

Might Level 4

PICK ONE

Passive: Head Shot: When an opposing troop with 3 or less [DEF] enters play, there is a 25% chance you destroy it.

Passive: Suppression Fire: At the start of combat on your turn, there is a 50% chance a random opposing troop gets “This troop cannot block.” this turn.

Might Level 5

Passive: Stealthy Pet: When you train your pet, it also gains “This troop is unblockable.” this turn.

Might Level 6 CAPSTONE ABILITY

PICK ONE

Passive: Tactical Advantage: Your cards can be played at any time you could play a Quick Action.

Passive: Master Trainer: When you Train your Pet, it gains permanent Swiftstrike, Lifedrain, Steadfast, or an additional +1[ATK].

During development, we have had SO MANY versions of what it means to level up a champion in an MMO-TCG, and I think we have finally built a system that serves many masters, not the least of which is FUN.

Question #10

When are you going to shut down the Kickstarter slacker backer?

April 1st (no joke).

Question #11

What is your stance on card ability changes?

This is an easy one! And we have talked about it in the past.

We will not change PVP cards once they are released. We will, in extreme situations, BAN a card for tournament play. Banned cards will still be playable in PVE and for casual play.

When it comes to balance in PVE, we will be allowing ourselves a little more wiggle room. I feel this is necessary as we are really pushing the boundaries of what a TCG can do in terms of customization, plus I want to try and really come up with some wacky designs and not have to worry about them breaking the entire game. In the end, PVE should be primarily about FUN and taking design risks is a part of finding that fun.

Question #12

Where the hell is the novel, and is it free?

The novel is in great shape and I would expect a release date beginning of May. Christie Golden has done a tremendous job, I am so happy with her work and vision.

And YES, the digital version of the novel will be free to Kickstarter backers. We will also be making a physical version and selling it, because I want a hardcopy HEX novel sitting on my desk.

Question #13

Will there be video of the HEXCON event?

YES! We have talked about a streaming solution and would like to make it happen, but technical issues may stymie that desire. We will be recording select sessions and events and uploading them as quickly as possible, the goal being later that same day.

Question #14

How effective is the feedback on card designs from the community, are the designers listening?

YES! We have found the community feedback to be VERY valuable. As a matter of fact, we will miss this open testing process and we are actively discussing how to build this into the game moving forward. Perhaps a test server that we can preview cards on? This is something that would come much later, if at all, as it creates a host of issues. But it’s good to dream and this is something I would love to build into our eventual ecosystem.

There it is! Answers to a bunch of your questions!

I hope you found this informative. Also, I hope you loved the new card frames as much I do, Tyler (our art director) really has a passion for taking our existing elements and giving them a fresh pass that takes into account our learning over the last 3 years and also gives us more room to grow the game in the many years to come. I am so totally in love with what he has done!

Remember this is the flat image, wait until you see it in the game with the proper lighting and glows, it’s incredibly good looking.

Now I need to think about next week’s blog… maybe we should talk about Epic Spell Wars 2! I could sneak a look at one of the Wizards you can play… CUDDLY WIZARD, Sir KITTY PURRRINGTON!

By coryhudsonjones - Feb 12, 2014