HEX Update – Into the Forest

Hi HEXers! Here we are with your favorite part of the week: Friday update time. Post-Gen Con, post-Gamescom, we released a patch this week and continue to work on the next one. You can read the patch notes here. We fixed an infrequent bug where games would fail to start properly. You can now mail chests, and the Frost Ring Arena bonus loot roll is now working. Our next patch will focus on more bug fixing and take a look at tournaments with no player cap. We’re also continuing to make progress on the PVE campaign part of HEX.

A Wild Time

Both Gen Con and Gamescom were incredible for us on the development side. We love being able to meet players, talk to them one-on-one, and in general just have a great time with all of you. When we took our Gen Con build of HEX to the convention (as we run it on a LAN, not on the live server), an in-development PVE experience was available and working within that build. Well, working enough. Players asked if they could see it. Though it wasn’t ready for official public display, we decided to let those curious players take it for a spin. We have two screenshots of the campaign below.

On the first screen, you can see that you’re a level 3 elf ranger with your party of mercenaries. Each spot on the map is an encounter, and you’re exploring the forest path. You have a quest that you picked up before entering this “dungeon” and you’re not packing any consumables. Maybe you’ll pick up some along the way.

On the forest battle board, you spent some talent points to add a second charge power on your champion. The first one creates your pet, and the second one buffs it. On the right, you see some information about this zone. The forest is filled with strange seed, which makes sense as each champion starts with one Seed Pod in play. The second one about forest fires is a bit more vague, but you can probably put it all together if you take a close enough look at the board. The third piece of information is outright telling you that when a beast enters play, that troop’s controller gains 1 health. So, you can see a range of game effects from rules to riddles for you to piece together.

There’s still plenty of work to be done to deliver the PVE experience that you expect. Some of the stuff you see, like the “Explore” box is just a placeholder, for example, and the visuals for every dungeon still have lots of polish coming. That said, the convention attendees saw this small slice of HEX, so we wanted to show you all as well. We continue to work on PVE every day and that is our number one focus. Heck, even maybe number one, two, and three. We are a ways away from announcing a release date. When we are able to announce a date for PVE, we will share it the first moment we can and yell it from the top of Kog’tepetl.

Now, our art director Tyler James would like to introduce you to one of the artists we have paint some of your favorite HEX cards. Hear what she has to say, and then take a look at the gallery below.

Artist Feature – Tatiana Vetrova

Hello! Tyler James here, Art Director on HEX bringing you another artist spotlight! This week we are featuring an amazing artist who we’ve had the pleasure of working with since Shattered Destiny. I really appreciate the attitude of her characters and the vibrant colors she uses. I’m sure you will recognize her work, especially the recent Armies of Myth vampire themed cards. Those sure turned out great and we are excited to see what her imagination brings to future sets of HEX. Here is a special word from the artist herself, Tatiana Vetrova:

I’m 28 years old and currently living in Saint Petersburg, Russia. I started to study CG art in 2008, and since 2010 I’ve been working in the game industry doing different types of concept art and illustrations. And I think it’s the best job ever!

Most of all I love dark fantasy art, villains, creepy creatures and devilish beasts. One of the reasons why I love being an artist is if something doesn’t exist in the real world I can create it. I like to watch other artists and I’m glad we have such a strong community. My biggest inspiration and influence is Gerald Brom. Without his art perhaps I’d never have become an artist myself. For me art is not just a job or a hobby. It is a way of life, and I hope it will remain that way.

About my work on HEX – I really like it! Fantasy card illustrations are my favorite type of work. And I’m glad that I have a lot of art freedom here. Freedom of creation and the possibility to do what I like in the way I think it will work out. I thank the HEX team for the opportunity!

Best,

Tatiana

FiveShards Results

Last weekend, FiveShards ran their Diamond Cup as an Armies of Myth-only constructed format. You can take a look at the Top 8 Decklists and watch highlights from Season 2 with some of our streamers shoutcasting the matches.

Gamescom Pics

If you want to check out a few Gamescom pics, Gameforge has posted them on their HEX website. Take a look at that beautiful booth!

That’s all for this week. Please leave any questions or comments in the forums, and don’t forget to Follow us on Twitter, Like us on Facebook, Follow us on Twitch, and register on our forums.

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