Phageborn Online Card Game
Meet the Team
After some time of unusual peace and quiet that crept into the vast city of Virenas, its streets are overflowing with life once again. It has been a while since the last time Phageborn's mighty generals strode through these roads. But now, after the victorious battle at G.Round and a little detour at the Good Game, they are here again even only to take a short respite. As the outlines of the first two Drakkoriths become clearer, the crowd's anticipation grows to the point where you can almost slice it with a knife.
Name: Jasmin Daniel Saračević
Role: 3D environment artist
First of the generals to put his foot on the streets of Virenas after being so far from home is Jasmin. A proud general from the ranks of the Cartographers Guild, Jasmin spends most of his time charting potential battlegrounds and revealing their secrets so his brothers-in-arms can use them to their advantage. Since he's well versed in the art of subterfuge as well, at least from the theoretical standpoint, his feedback on the potential strategies has been proved crucial more than once. Jasmin has gathered a lot of experience during his 86 years of age (that's almost 50 in human years), but the passion and enthusiasm he still has for his work could bring some less experienced Drakkoriths to shame. If he's not working you'll probably see him spending time with his two kids, and those moments when he's teaching them some of the more formidable skills every young Drakkorith should possess are by far his favourite. Genuine and benevolent with just the right amount of quirky, Jasmin is considered to be the team's favourite uncle.
Name: Matea Vujasinović
Role: Business Administrator
Adamantly swaying in the back, following the rhythm of the march, another Drakkorith will surely grab the attention of anyone who passes by. It is truly a rare sight to see a Drakkorith as graceful as Matea. And even that might be considered an understatement. But be careful, her looks can be quite deceiving. This member of the Fighters Guild has the tenacity of the hard-headed terrordactyl and the heart of a true warrior. She is willing to tackle any challenge and will not stop until she comes up to top. Most of her time Matea spends in the Market place though. There’s always a big chance you’ll find her rummaging through some trinkets or trying on a new pair of boots. Just because you can be deadly doesn't mean you can't look your best. And if she’s not there, well, you’ll most definitely find her next to the biggest piece of succulent meat you can find. Or sleeping next to its bones because it’s healthy to take a rest after a hearty meal. Matea takes great care of those she considers her family and is always ready to lend a helpful claw. But whatever you do, do NOT call her „Big Tough Sister“ or that Drakkorith spirit will resurface in the blink of an eye.
Feel free to join our Discord community and stay in loop with both the news about Phageborn and our new activities (Discord)!
Yours truly,
Games Revolted
Testing Updates II
Thanks to the plethora of your feedback and reviews we had the pleasure to read over this last two weeks, we managed to get a better understanding of things we can improve in Phageborn. So today, we will have a little run down on some updates and changes we are doing.
TUTORIAL
Phageborn brings some innovations as to how a card game can be played. We understand that the current Tutorial may not be the most optimal way to start the learning curve of the Phageborn mechanics. With that in mind, we will improve the basic tutorial to be more comprehensive and immersive for new players but also add an Advanced Tutorial to introduce you to some more advanced mechanics and strategies. It is important for us that you feel battle ready once you complete the tutorial.
2v2
If you had the chance to play Phageborn on some of the tests we did before, there is a big chance you managed to try out the 2v2 game mode. While 2v2 was disabled for testing on G.Round (at least for this time), we just wish to update you that we haven't forgotten about our beloved game mode and are working on making the 2v2 co-op experience much better by removing some of the limitations that existed.
LOBBY IMPROVEMENTS
Whether you decide to play single-player or multiplayer game modes, it's important that the lobby screen is not just functional but also intuitive and visually appealing. With your feedback in mind, we will continue to polish lobbies, especially for the custom games, so that they are more intuitive and aesthetically pleasing. We are also working on improving the stability so that you won't have to worry about potential bugs and delays.
GRAPHIC IMPROVEMENTS
Often it's the little things that make the biggest difference, especially when talking about visual appeal. To make the game more immersive and aesthetically satisfying, we will continue to work on upgrading existing card VFX (especially for Legendary cards) and improving Avatars and their visuals. But we do not plan to stop on that! You can expect things like adding weight to the cards, which will impact the way cards fall down on the battleground. It just doesn't seem fair that only Unchained Megadon makes a big stomp when it falls. We have bigger creatures in Issilith than that.
POST-GAME REWARDS
After an exciting match of Phageborn, it's time for the well-deserved rewards!
Our current post-game screen doesn't leave that much room for the player to see clearly all they acquired after the match is over. So our post-game screen is going to get a revamp! We are planning to add more sounds and visual upgrades so that post-game rewards stand out more. Also, as a part of that rehaul, progress made in your active quests will be easier to see.
We will be testing until the 18th of May so it's still not too late to join if you haven't already! For more information on the testing and things that are happening with Phageborn feel free to join our Discord channel (Discord)!
Yours truly,
Games Revolted
Testing updates
It’s been a week since we started with our testing and we want to thank you for all your reviews. Today we are going to talk a bit about some of the feedback you left and what we are planning to do in the near future. As we have said before, your feedback is important to us and it is that feedback that has led us to look at some of these changes. Sadly, some of these won’t be implemented in the test build we have up, but they will (or something like them) be coming.
Game pop-up while minimized
It can be quite boring to just sit in the lobby while you’re waiting to find a match. And the last thing you need is to miss that Match found message. So in case you like to do other stuff while waiting, you won’t have to worry about that for long! We are working on making the game pop up when your match has been found. Also, we plan to implement the ability to browse over your Collection, Profile, and other features in Phageborn while you are waiting in the queue.
Bigger and cleaner turn timer
A lot of the feedback we got was about the turn timer and how it’s hard to see how much time you or your opponent have. So our turn timer is going to get a little makeover! We are going to make it bigger and more visible so players shouldn’t have any more trouble with finding it or assessing how much time they have left before the end of the turn.
Card fan-out
It would seem that it’s sometimes hard to see all the cards you have in your hand and hovering over them one by one can be a bit tedious at times. So we are going to implement a fan out option where you’ll be able to spread cards in your hand and look at all of them simultaneously with a simple click of the button. On this note, we want to make the game as accessible as possible, so if you have any troubles like this, please let us know.
Improving the action queue
Something that is really important to us is the game fluidity and while it is better than it was before, we will still work on making the game better paced. Having queued actions move smoothly and without delays is a goal we will continue to work on.
Better faction explanation and their lore
It can be hard to choose a starting faction before you even know what to expect, especially if you are a new player. To ease things up a bit we are planning to add more information about each faction and their specific mechanic, as well as implement more faction-related Lore in the game to make it more immersive.
Don’t forget that it’s still not too late to join and test Phageborn! For more information on the testing and things that are happening with Phageborn feel free to join our Discord channel if you haven’t already (Discord)!
Yours truly,
Games Revolted
Testing & Ascended Faction
You may have noticed that we posted this week's announcement earlier than usual. That is because today's a big day for us! Not only did we just start with the testing of Phageborn (more info on Discord) but today we will also introduce our long-awaited faction newly implemented in the game, The Ascended (some of you may have been asking about it on Discord already)!
Zealous and with a strong sense of justice. Most of the souls that have had a chance to cross their path with the Ascended would describe them as such, and they wouldn't be wrong.
Unlike Drakkorith, whose martial prowess is based on aggression in combat, the Ascended tend to have a more balanced fighting style. That is thanks to their two main philosophies which apply both on and off the battleground, Tey and Yul. Tey, or the Teaching of the Sun, favors offense over defense, and Yul, The Teaching of the Moon, that favors defense over offense. Finding balance in such surroundings is what makes the Ascended so formidable opponents.
This faction of great warriors is more than just that. In their midst, you can notice many different creatures, including humans and human-like beasts. Taking that into consideration along with their usually protective fight style, it may not come as such a shock that they were once a part of those races. However, when faced with almost certain death, some of them were saved. While their origin is shrouded by mystery, it is evident that every creature that became Ascended was touched by something, well, almost divine. Now, granted new life and imbued with spiritual power, the Ascended have only one thing on their mind, to fight against evil and prevent that horrid destiny of corruption and destruction that awaits all.
If you ever find yourself playing with or against The Ascended, knowing some basic mechanics that this faction relies on may be of great help on your way to victory. Just like in the Lore, while playing with Ascended you can expect a heavy emphasis on protecting your units and giving them the edge to survive long enough to make the maximum of every unit. And the main way to do it is usually through Shield Counters and Blessings.
Shield counters serve as a health protector for your units, Core, and Avatar. However, there is a catch, shield counters only last until the start of your next turn so use them wisely!
Blessings are, in their essence, ability cards specific to Ascended faction. Using them can give you that extra advantage needed to make advantageous trades with your opponent. They can be obtained only through a handful of units. So if you are feeling blessed, make sure to include them in your deck!
If you wish to try out the Ascended and with their help fight your way to victory, join our testing today! You can find more information about the test on our Discord channel: Discord. Feel free to join us, play some Phageborn, and leave feedback on our game. It is greatly appreciated!
Yours truly,
Games Revolted
Quests
If you find yourself testing Phageborn from the 21st of April you'll see that one of the new features we implemented is Quests. Their primary purpose is to boost your progression by helping you level up your Player level faster and to give you that slight edge you wouldn’t normally have. For now, we have several types of Quests, not including the ones in the Battle Pass. These main quests consist of Daily Quests, Epic Quests, and Guild Quests. Battle Pass Quests count only towards the Battle Pass levels and as such do not directly influence your Player, Faction, or Avatar Level.
Daily Quests usually have XP as their reward. You can have up to 3 Daily Quests active at a time and you'll get a new one every day until you reach that cap, so make sure you have space for more! Since they are usually things you will do in-game, (e.g. 'Energized' is a quest that requires you to spend 15 energy) it's not a problem to complete them passively, just by playing. However, just in case you don't like the quest or just don't think you'll be able to finish it in time, you can re-roll each quest once per day. Just keep in mind that the progression already made in the re-rolled quest won't be carried over to the new one.
When you open the Daily Quest side menu you will see it also contains a Daily Boost. Daily Boosts will give you extra XP for the first 3 wins of the day. Every 24 hours your Daily Boost is refreshed and you can use it again to boost your next 3 wins. After every win, the number of wins remaining is reduced by one, until all 3 win boosts are used.
We would like to add that it is planned that Daily Boost will apply to non-custom PvP game modes after the full release. For the duration of the testing it will also apply to the vs A.I. game mode (Tutorial excluded), so you can progress more easily and try out as many features and options in the game as you can during the testing period.
Epic Quests will grant you some major rewards upon their completion, however, they are not as easily acquired or completed as Daily Quests. You can get Epic Quest as a random drop when you win a ranked game. Only one Epic Quest can be active at the time. They cannot be re-rolled nor can they expire since they are not timed quests. It will usually take you some time to complete them as they consist of 3 subquests (e.g. Win 30 games + Deal 150 Acid damage + Heal your Avatar for 300 health).
Guild Quests track the progress of all members of the Guild that you are a part of. Guild Quest lasts for a week, 168 hours to be precise. Every week a Guild Master can choose one of the 4 suggested Quests as the next week's Guild Quest. If they don't, the Quest will be chosen at random. When the Guild Quests are completed and their time runs out, your Guild will be awarded XP that counts towards Guild levels as well as a reward for each member of the Guild that contributes to the Quest progress. You can contribute to the quest progression even after the quest is completed. That way everyone has a chance to fulfill the minimum requirements needed to collect the reward. Currently, the reward system for the Guild Quests is not completely in place and it will not have its full functionality for testing. The main reasons are rewards, in this case, Guild Points which you'll be able to use in the Shop for unique and special cosmetics. However, at this stage, we still don't have a Shop set so the full implementation will come at a later date.
As stated at the start of this post, Quests are a feature still in development. We will be dropping full details on the test on the 19th of April, so make sure you check our Discord then! So feel free to leave your input on them or any other part of the game as your feedback and data collected from the testing will help us shape the final look of Phageborn. Comment below or join our Discord channel (Discord) and share your preferences with other Residents of Issilith!
Yours truly,
Games Revolted
Player Progression and Card Acquisition
With the new Battle Pass plans in place and all the new updates we are currently adding to the game, a question “How will all this affect my progression?” may come to mind. So today we will walk you through some of the main progression elements and how we plan for them to look like in the future.
It is important to us that you know how this is an ongoing discussion, and that we may change the final look of the player progression according to the testing results and your feedback.
Experience (XP) is the basic progression element you passively gain while playing Phageborn. Every time you finish a match you will be rewarded with a certain amount of XP, depending on your performance. There are minimal requirements for a game to count for awarding XP to prevent players from gaining XP by surrendering at the start of a match. Completing Quests gives XP as well, but more on that next time.
Gained XP is assigned to each progression element in its full amount. In Phageborn, progression elements are Player level, Faction level, and Avatar level.
Player Level may very well be the main cornerstone of the progression system. XP required to level up will increase with each level until it reaches its cap. With each level up you will gain Progress Points (PP) and Soul Fragments (SF). Once you have reached the maximum amount of PP and SF they will be replaced by various other rewards.
Progress Points (PP) are used in the Blacksmith to unlock seals from the Seal trees. Seals always cost 1PP to unlock. When you unlock a seal you acquire the cards behind it (more on that when we talk Card Acquisition).
Soul Fragments (SF) are acquired through leveling up your account. You can use 5 of them and combine them into a complete Avatar Soul.
Avatar Souls (AS) are acquired when you collect 5 SF. You can use it in the Shrine to unlock additional Avatars. All Avatars cost 1 AS.
Faction Level is increased when you collect enough XP while playing with a specific faction. Each faction has its own Faction level. Your Faction level is important for a few reasons: it allows you access to more unlockable content (cosmetics), it's tied to your range of influence (more on that when we talk Card Acquisition, it’s coming honest), and it serves as a catch-up function. The catch-up function will help a higher-level player speed up progression in any faction. This bonus will automatically start once the player reaches the point where XP required to level up the Player Level will become uniform. The bonus will be greater the larger the difference between the Faction and Player Level is.
Avatar Levels' primary function is to give players time to adapt to using an Avatar by restricting their second and third traits behind a level gate. This level gate is removed at some point, depending on the Player Level.
CARD ACQUISITION
As stated before, we will not sell card packs! In Phageborn, apart from the Battle Passes, you can acquire cards through the seals. Every faction has its own Seal tree alongside the Neutral cards as well.
There are certain requirements you need to have so you can unlock a seal. You have to: have the required previous seal, have unspent PP, and the seal you wish to unlock has to be in your range of influence.
As seen in the screenshot, every seal is positioned somewhere along with one of the 3 paths. To unlock a seal you will need to unlock the one before that is connected to the seal you wish to unlock. Unlocking the final seal on the path requires 3 seals from the previous range of influence to be unlocked. Once you start unlocking seals along the path you don't have to finish that path to begin to unlock other seals outside of it. You can unlock any other seal in a different path or even another faction as long as you have prerequisites to unlock that seal. Each seal always costs 1 PP no matter where it is situated on the Seal tree. Seals that are outside your range of influence cannot be unlocked and you'll have to level up that faction's level.
Once you unlock a seal you cannot refund it! As soon as you unlock a seal, cards behind it are added to your account and that can't be reversed. So take your time to explore all that Seal trees have to offer to you.
There are a few differences in how the Neutral Seal Tree looks in comparison to the Faction Seal trees. First, Neutral Seal trees do NOT have a range of influence. That means that you can unlock cards from it as long as you have enough PP and have the required previous seal unlocked. The second difference is that the Neutral Seal tree has an additional, separate group of seals that are not bound by any path and can be unlocked in any order. Each of them contains 3 legendary neutral cards.
There are two main reasons why we implemented this. This way we have cleared up the Neutral Seal tree, giving it the same look and amount of cards behind each seal as in Faction Seal trees. But besides the esthetic, the main reason is that it gives you more options for deckbuilding, especially if you haven't been playing for long. Since the legendary cards can be the main focus of some strategies or an extremely big help in the right circumstances, we felt that locking all of them at the end of the paths may have as a result a needless grind just so you can try out some new legendary cards and their potential synergies. So we decided to put them separately so you can unlock new legendary cards even as a new player!
Once you start the game and choose your faction you will be given that faction's base deck, starting Avatar of that faction, and 3 Progress Points. The way you want to use your resources is entirely up to you. So feel free to browse a bit and strategize, and most importantly, don't forget to have fun!
Keep in mind that during the testing we will look over data and your feedback so there is a possibility that some things may change in the future. That is why your input is important to us! Feel free to comment below or join our Discord channel (Discord) and talk with Residents of Issilith about things you like and don't like about our current player progression.
Yours truly,
Games Revolted
Tutorial
One reoccurring comments we get regarding the game is that Phageborn can be a bit too complex for beginner players. It's very important for us that all our players can enjoy our game regardless of their experience in this game genre. So, after a lot of hard work, we are proud to present to you our first Tutorial!
For now, while it is still a work in progress, the tutorial is divided into 4 short lessons, each of them introducing some of the fundamental mechanics Phageborn uses.
First, the Intro lesson, explains the basics of the game, like win condition and how the zones work. In the second lesson, Positioning, you will learn more about moving, how the combat works, and things every Avatar can do. Skill Mastery will illustrate how Energy, Avatar skills, and targeting works. And the final lesson, On the Draw, is made to give you a bit more insight into Attributes and their leveling, as well as into subduing the Avatars.
In-game screenshot
We're looking to start the testing on the 21st of April (check out our Discord for more info). Once that happens, the tutorial will be one of the things which will be looked at heavily. So feel free to leave your feedback on it again once you've been able to try the tutorial for yourself, it would be greatly appreciated!
Do you prefer shorter, less detailed tutorials or are more in-depth tutorials your jam? What specifics do you think should be included in the tutorial? Let us know by commenting below or join our Discord channel and share your insights with other Residents of Issilith by clicking on the following link: Discord.
Yours truly,
Games Revolted
Basic Mechanics: Avatar Playstyles
If you remember, Avatars are like your extension. At their every turn they can make up to three actions: move, make a basic attack, and use their skill. Every faction has four unique avatars and each of them has a unique skill and three traits you can choose from. That is... One, two, three… 12 Avatars, 12 unique skills, and more than 30 different traits! You really have your work cut out for you. Depending on the trait you use, the way you play your Avatar can change drastically. That allows you to adapt Avatar’s playstyle to your own. When talking about Avatar playstyles, it is possible to divide them into five types: Leaders, Warriors, Casters, Assassins, and Specialists.
Avatars who have offensive and defensive abilities which are centered around your units are Leader Avatars. They buff and protect your units enabling you to maximize their efficiency and get the most value out of each of them. Tyberiuth, The Warrior King of Drakkoriths, is a perfect example of the Leader type Avatar. His skill will allow you to increase the power of one of your units until your next turn, and with his traits, you can either increase your leadership or further buff your units.
When was the last time you managed to kill a mighty dragon or some badass aberrations? If your answer is not long ago, then Warrior Avatars are most likely right up your alley! Their skills and traits usually give them more sustainability which in turn allows them to fight more dangerous creatures and create a meaningful board advantage. Especially if you add Avatar supporting units to your deck. Saffron, The Sentinel in service of the Vestige witches, has some very interesting traits you can choose from. If you wish to be able to kill strong, buffed enemy units with your Avatar the trait that makes it so that it can’t take more than 3 retaliation damage is probably the best choice for you. Or you realize that oftentimes you find yourself on 2 or less health with your Avatar. Saffron has a trait that will in that case unmute its skill. And since you can’t use Saffron’s skill to deal damage directly to the enemy Core unless Saffron has taken damage, those traits can really come in handy and influence your playstyle.
Casters are perfect for those who prefer to stand back and focus primarily on their skills. They usually have traits that allow them to modify the way their spells work, so if you ever find yourself against a Caster type Avatar make sure you check its trait as it can be a major factor in creating the best possible strategy against them. Caster Avatars are most often paired with energy heavy decks which means they have fewer units in their deck. However, it does not mean they should be taken lightly. You can expect heavy ability support from them and some combo finishers. For example, Ozzordomu, Drakkorith’s Cinder Archon, has a skill with which he can target any wounded unit or enemy Core and deal damage to it. Depending on the trait you choose you can add REAP effect which will heal Ozzordomu every time he kills a unit or Avatar, have an extra attack every time you play 7+ cost unit, or obtain an Overpower card which will add +1 on your Avatar’s basic attack and REAP effect that allows you to draw a card.
Sometimes you just want to dive in behind the enemy lines and cripple their defenses. Usually, the best way to do that is to eliminate their Avatar. If it is subdued, the enemy Avatar can’t attack and that player can’t play energy cards. That can take a lot of pressure off of you and put your opponent into an unfavourable position. Perfect Avatars to do this are Assassins. Their skills and traits allow them to get close and personal with the enemy Avatar, and if your opponent isn’t careful, you can even subdue their Avatar multiple times in the game. That is also 5 extra damage to the enemy Core each time their Avatar is subdued! Lyxia, Oblivion’s very own Voidwraith, has mastered this ability. Her skill allows her to target an enemy unit after which her attacks can’t be blocked by it that turn. The traits you can choose from can influence the way you play her. She can deal 1 more damage to Avatars with equal or more health, deal damage to the enemy Core every time she deals damage to the enemy Avatar, or you can just choose that her base skill costs 2 energy less. There is something for everyone.
They are the odd ones, the misfits, the outcasts. At least when we are talking about playstyles. This merry bunch of Specialist Avatars are here to test you and your deck-building skills. With their specific skills, a different type of approach is usually needed and your strategic thinking will be crucial if you wish to fully use their potential. Zhtugg, Oblivion's Lord of Frailty, Theodora, Vestige's Daughter of Thorns, Reina, Drakkorith's very own Crimson Cultist… These are just some of the Specialist Avatars and every one of them brings something different to the table. Zhtugg's skill will target a local unit and reduce its power by 1 until your next turn. You can modify his spell with his traits and choose if he will buff your random local-owned unit with 1 power or if he can use his skill twice per turn. But if that doesn't suit your playstyle, you can always opt for a +1 leadership trait. On the other hand, Theodora can target a local unit after which that unit can't use its move action until your next turn. Her traits can enable you to buff a random local friendly unit with +1 power during the enemy turn, or, if you expect Theodora to be subdued, a trait that spawns a Spirit of Vengeance (a 3/3 unit) may be a better fit for you. And Reina, well, she will deal 1 damage to your local owned unit and deal 1 damage to it, and in return, she will heal your Core for 2. That works quite well with her trait which gives her +1 power as long as your Core is at full health, especially during the early stages of the game. Perhaps you like to strategize a bit more and her trait to obtain a Sanguine Enchantment (a 2 Energy cost card which gives +1/+1 to targeted unit) every time she kills a unit is more interesting to you. Or you want to have a card more than your opponent at the start of the game. There is a sea of possibilities!
Feel free to explore and experiment with different combinations Avatars can add to your arsenal. If you utilize them properly you can easily turn the tides in your favour.
“As you can see, my dear child, it is possible for you not only to lead your units or support them, you can be in the front rows with them, taking down creatures your soldiers wouldn’t even dare to dream of encountering. Or you can shift your focus and do everything in your power to destroy the enemy’s Avatar, making its army weaker and yours closer to victory. Which path to choose is entirely up to you… However, if you find yourself overwhelmed with doubt, feel free to join our Discord channel: Discord. Its Residents are always happy to help.“
Meet the Team: Nikša Lučev
It is our greatest pleasure to (re)introduce to you our Lead game designer and one of our Phages, the great Nikša Lučev! Today, Nikša will answer the game design question and give us some insight into his vision and thought process regarding Phageborn.
Q: Tell us something about yourself.
A: My name is Nikša and I’ve been working here in Games Revolted on Phageborn for the past five, six years. I’m an avid card game player. Well, mostly Magic, I’ve been playing it for more than 10 years, I can’t really remember the first time, it was around the Kamigawa block, and I’ve been a Magic judge for around five years. That’s my preferred card game of choice. I did play Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Hearthstone, Runaterra and that’s pretty much it. I do like board games in general and I play computer games. So yeah, I did start my career in game development by being a QA and then I basically came here by accident. It was by recommendation of a friend who worked with me in the past. So I came here, I talked with the guys, showed them some of my work, like the board game and the card game I did in college. And they loved it so much they gave me full-time employment here to do a bunch of stuff. Since at the beginning we were a really small team, all of us had to do a bunch of stuff. So I did UI/UX design, concepts, managing assets, and such. And yeah, I just think about all the cool stuff we can make. That’s it.
Q: What’s a typical workday like for you?
A: Well, a typical workday is… Dealing with stuff. Since I’ve been here for a pretty long time, I do an overview of all things that are going on so that we all have the same vision, then I do some of my scheduled tasks, and when I’m not doing that I'll do some brainstorming for future content. I do work on completing our Lore also, because that is the area we are not completely done with, at least with writing everything down. I'll also help out with various bugs and features, are they intended to work that way or not, and so on. That is a typical workday for me now at this point of development.
Q: What are you enjoying working on the most?
A: Mostly I enjoy working on new cards, new concepts, and exploring ideas and how to bring those ideas into the digital card game. It’s one thing to bring them to a physical card game and another to bring them to digital, so it’s a really cool process to do some top-down design.
Q: You said you did a lot of things regarding the design of the Phageborn, is there anything in particular that was your focus during the development?
A: My focus during development was managing assets that others are doing since I personally can't do anything besides telling others what to do. I really tried to make sure that everything is somewhat situated in this dark fantasy setting. Some things may deviate from strictly dark fantasy and are mixed with regular or high fantasy, but I did try to do my best to keep it in that tone throughout all of the assets I was managing. That was primarily through sound and visual effects. So I tried to keep it down to the ground and not too flashy and too out there, but still not going into full-on depression mode with things. I helped whenever we were doing concepts for new cards, new Avatars, anything like that, and I did have my say in some of the Phageborn design balance-wise. Before it was all a combined effort from multiple people and that’s about it.
Q: Where do you draw your inspiration from?
A: Well, mostly I draw my inspiration from other card games in general, like seeing what mechanics are good in them and why they are good, and I try to see how certain mechanics would work in Phageborn and figure out how to make Phageborn more fun. So my primary inspiration comes from board games and card games in general, characters and stories from video games, and old myths and legends. One big inspiration from the start was actually Heroes of Might and Magic and we talked about that a long time ago, and we did implement some of its elements but it didn’t work so we just made them better.
Q: What do you find most challenging about game design?
A: Nothing really, I’m perfect. Just kidding. Well, the most challenging part actually is when you have an idea, a mechanic that sounds really cool on paper, and you test it out and it’s still really cool and amazing and you know that you love it, even some people you test it with love it, but then the sad reality of life sets in and you figure out that it’s not intuitive, the UI mess is horrible, and there are a lot of problems that go with it. The novelty is refreshing but once that novelty runs out you just have a mess. So the biggest problem is to find something that is fun, novel, and engaging but also make it clean execution-wise, functional, and actually enjoyable to other people, not just you and the people who are already very well acquainted with the project.
Q: One of the things you mentioned is how a part of your job is to make sure all of you have the same vision. So my question to you is how do you reconcile creative differences inside the team?
A: Well, we pull out our ideas and we just basically brainstorm until we find the best solution. We gather multiple inputs, take them all into consideration, and just figure out which is the best approach to solve it. Although we rarely have some creative differences, when they do happen it’s pretty much finding common ground, compromising, and seeing what best fits into the game.
Q: Did you re-evaluate the game’s mechanics since our last update to the game?
A: Yes, we have been looking at some mechanics of the game, like the overall feeling of leadership thresholds and what can we do with them. Certain cards have their abilities locked behind the leadership thresholds and we want to see what it would be like if those abilities weren’t locked behind leadership thresholds but if the leadership threshold gave some other bonuses. So, exploring and thinking about what we could do if we make, I’m not gonna say overhaul, but a slight tweak to cards to keep their utility but still have their leadership bonuses, which is not a really simple task, because Phageborn is built upon the three attributes the player can use and we have to make sure that there isn’t a prevalent playstyle. In the ideal meta, the distribution would be like there are equally good leadership decks, equally good energy-only decks, and equally good 50/50 splits. So, I believe that the state of the game is pretty good now but we are always looking at certain aspects of the game and how we can make it better and how to make them not stand out too much, to somehow achieve that harmony of leadership, energy and leadership/energy.
Q: Can you tell us a thing or two about what you did regarding the balancing of the last build?
A: Well, since we never had the chance to openly put the game in front of hundreds and thousands of players, we only had a small group of people who could say their balancing problems and issues, and that all changed once we got a lot more feedback. So we looked at that kind of feedback and statistics, what cards are too used and what cards are underused, and we took those numbers and data in regulating the last balance update, but we still plan on balancing the game regularly until we reach something that is going to be enjoyable to the players. It’s not something that one person handles, we get all the data and then we make an educated decision.
Q: There was some feedback from the community about the high tempo nature of the energy system. One of the potential solutions was the implementation of dual-cost cards. What are your thoughts about that?
A: Well, from what we gathered during our, unfortunately, limited time on Steam is how there can be situations where you can get tempo advantage and never lose it but those situations aren't that often and we got an idea of how decks which use 50/50 energy and essence cards aren’t the best still. So, it’s not really heavily skewed into the tempo match-up and normally, having a card game that has two resources means that you can play double the cards, so, you know, if you have one player that plays two cards per turn and one player that plays one card per turn, naturally, there is going to be a tempo advantage but we didn’t notice that was a big issue because you also get out of the resources that much quicker. But the idea of dual resource cards, it is an interesting mechanic to explore but it isn’t something we would necessarily like to do on a regular basis because it kinda defeats the whole double resource aspect of the game which is like a big part of our game. And just because it’s hard to balance it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t embrace it to the fullest. So, we will try our best not to skewer the game into any one playstyle.
Q: How do you plan to innovate the game to meet the standards of contemporary card games?
A: First, we want to focus on the things that make us unique. We want to take advantage of the fact that we are a digital card game so we can do things you cannot do in physical card games. I mean other contemporary card games do that now, even Magic for some reason. But we would like to explore that area even further. And to do so we plan on introducing new Avatars in our future updates, new factions, new mechanics, and maybe even new game mods that will allow you to play Phageborn like you never played before.
Q: Is there anything else you would like to add before we finish?
A: Yeah, I would just like to thank the community for being so patient with us and keeping their hopes up. This is a really good boost to our morale, that there are people that are still hyped for the game even after all these years. So that's really nice of you. It’s really hard for us to keep all this information back, we would love to tell you EVERYTHING that we do because there are some really, really good things we have in plan. And yeah, stay safe, and we’ll be seeing you soon on the battlefield.
Feel free to join our Discord channel to stay updated with more information about Phageborn and its development: Discord.
Yours truly,
Games Revolted
Phageborn: Oblivion Art Showcase
At first, The Oblivion was a place that was used as a graveyard for all those creations that just weren’t good enough. But with so much biological waste at one place, it was only a matter of time before nature took its course and life began to sprout. That is just a part of the story of how the first Oblivions came to be. And the rest is history, written in the DNA of the Oblivions, evolving every time they feed…
Zixeron, The Bringer of Enervation
“It is said that where Zixeron treads, all hope ends. That might have even been an understatement.”
If you are ever so unlucky to find yourself face to face with this imposing dragon-like creature, it will most definitely strike terror in your heart. However, Zixeron is not a dragon. In fact, it is a very powerful shapeshifter that can mimic the traits and abilities of the beings it transforms itself into. It just needs their genetic sample to do so. Even though dragons are extinct, some creatures still have traces of the original dragon genes embedded into their DNA. Teradons, huge beasts of war, are one of those creatures. While feasting on them, Zixeron managed to absorb those genes and shapeshift into a real-life dragon.
Zixeron is portrayed by a legendary card that has all its stats set at 6, making it, at least for now, the only 6 cost unit with 6 power and 6 health. Coincidence? Hmm… The Bringer of Enervation also has a very special effect. When you play this unit, it will put 1 vulnerability counter on each local enemy unit and enemy Avatar. That can be quite handy when you’re faced with a full lane of enemies or just need that little boost to your damage so you can clear the enemy units more effectively with your voidlings. Also, it looks damn good while doing it.
Hazzerin, Harbinger of Tza'thog
“Fear not the ascended ones, those who rose above the rabble and broke free of the collective. Fear the one who chose not to.”
Most Oblivion beings are connected through a hive mind. When an individual attains enough power they can evolve beyond the constraints of the hive mind. However, once Hazzerin reached this level, he refused to become disconnected from the collective. This was highly unusual, but Hazzerin has plans, ones he learned to hide, even while still being part of the hive mind.
This legendary card costs 7 essence and can bring you many advantages on the battlefield. If you play your cards right, you can obtain a legendary unit from your opponent (deck restrictions do not apply) or some other unit that can swing the odds in your favour. With his Blink ability, which lets him attack units in the non-local lane as well, setting him up to deliver a killing blow on the desired unit is even easier.
Rewind Time
“ "Time is as linear as we wish it to be." - Zhutgg ”
Magic is something creatures of the Oblivion use quite often. Manipulation of the boundaries of dimensions gives them a unique ability to perform brief time skips. Those among them who are more powerful can even make a copy of their current state in their dimension. While that copy only lasts for a short time, it grants the Oblivions an opportunity to mitigate damage or even completely avoid attacks.
This energy card is an ambush card which means it will remain hidden until it triggers. If you find yourself in a sticky situation where you expect to receive a lot of damage to your Core next turn, this energy card will nullify all damage your Core sustained that turn, giving you extra time to finish off your opponent or make adjustments to your defense. Just make sure your math is on point, if the damage you take that turn would destroy your core, Rewind Time will not have an opportunity to trigger.
What are your experiences with the Oblivion faction? Which combination stuck with you? Comment below or join our Discord channel to discuss it with other Residents of Issilith: Discord .
Yours truly,
Games Revolted