Character Creation
Receiving really amazing art is definitely one of the most exciting parts of developing Destined Legends. Arguably, the art is what gives this universe its life and overall identity.
Last week we revealed the first piece of official artwork for the game, the main character of Destined Legends, Roslynn. She is a runaway princess that is now making her living as a hired hand. The circumstances of her exodus begin to catch up to her as she is suspected of being chosen by the Dragon guardians to be Legend of the elements: A chosen few, bestowed with the powers of the elements to guide and protect humanity.
I began my conversation with the artist Scott Ferguson with a few sentences similar in gist to the above. I also provided him with some ideas about her general appearance and figure. Here is an excerpt from the initial email I sent him.
I know many of you have been wondering about DL’s gameplay. Well wonder no more. In this video documentary we outline the basic concepts of gameplay for Destined Legends. Hopefully this proves to give you a better idea of how the game works in a general sense.
Here is the first official character for Destined Legends. Her name is Roslynn and she is a Legend of the Dark Element. Not only that, but also the main character of the franchise.
This is the first piece for our game done by Scott ferguson of Nerf This and Scout Crossing. He is slated to do all of our character (Legend) cards. I can’t wait to show you more of our art.
We also threw it on the main Decobot site. This is pretty exciting for us because the game finally has a visual identity… and a pretty amazing one at that!
Combustion Battle Deck
The Fire Deck: Combustion will officially be a launch deck for Destined Legends, replacing the Light Deck: Benediction, and joining the Dark Deck: Eradication. So our launch product is now officially Combustion v. Eradication Intro Battle Set.
This came to be in February. We decided it after experimenting with the Fire Deck for 3 reasons.
Developer Update: Kickstarter Delay
Due to our decision to pull our game out of alpha testing and back into development, we will not be launching our kickstarter fundraising campaign this year. We had a meeting in early March about the progress of the game. We realized our priorities with the game have shifted considerably since we began development early last year.
We have become much more aware of what it takes to drive the business of game development and publishing. During that meeting we discussed our games progress and how the game would function well if released this year, we would be leaving out a huge opportunity to fully future-proof the game as well as tighten the entire experience.
Our decision to delay the game became increasingly obvious when we began to consider some of the other challenges were facing currently with the game such as a lack of official artwork, and a less-that-stellar awareness rate of the game itself. We’re new to this and have much to learn about marketing and releasing a game.
Not to sound dramatic, but How we decide to handle the release could make or break the entire franchise. We’ll be updating with more specific details over the coming weeks. Either way the kickstarter, and the game, will be released in 2013.
Project Timeline Update
The project is going very well. As you may have noticed we are now updating the site with more pictures via Instagram (@showkati). You can click on “Instagram Gallery” on the sidebar to view our collection.
Our timeline for the project has been pushed back as we are still in the process of getting ready for the kickstarter. The new timeline is posted below. In the mean, follow us on twitter or facebook via the links on the side and ask us anything you’d like to hear about regarding DL.
Timeline and Product Release [Update]
As we’re quietly working on all the parts of our game, I thought it would be nice to give an update on our timeline for the project. The dates below are very loose.
Our First Blind Play-Test
Here is the First ViDoc for Destined Legends: Trading Card Game. The game will be debuting Summer 2012 and these Video Documentaries will chronicle the developmental journey.
This first video kicks things off with a sneak peek into the card design process. The card in this video is one our main character cards called “Legend Cards.” Watch as I redesign the cards 4th revision, taking into consideration changes to gameplay mechanics.
We’re planning on a diverse range of topics for these ViDocs, but comment below with what sorts of topics you’d like us to cover. Also be sure to follow all of our updates at twitter.com/destinedlegends or destinedlegends.net.
Music Credits:
“Trailer Music” by Jan Morgenstern
“Movement Proposition,” ”Five Armies,” ”Private Reflection,” and ”Truth of The Legend” by Kevin MacLeod
Last Friday was our big Play test night. Our good friend Denis Caron of the webcomic L.A.W.L.S. came over and we played the game for a few hours.
One of the only remaining problems is still probability. More specifically, the probability of drawing cards you are able to use. So based on that we finally decided to pull the trigger on one of our contingencies. Our contingencies are solutions to problems that haven’t yet presented themselves. They accumulate throughout the development process and we parking lot them for when they might be needed. Yesterday was one such occasion.
Up until yesterday, each of your three party members had 5 slots to where they could equip various pieces of armor and accessories. The majority of these were “Armor” cards. The sole purpose of Armor cards was to expand a character’s Maximum HP. The Armor card would have a level printed on it signifying the level one of your party members would need to be to equip it (standard RPG fare.) All the Armor cards have on them is a HP amount, signifying how much HP would be added to your character.
From the start, this mechanic hinted at a few problems that would make it difficult to translate over into a card game. Most notably, you would not only have to rely on attaining a new level to gain HP, but you would have to hope to draw the right equipment card. Which most of the time cam down to a 1:60 chance. I never particularly liked having these cards in the game. They seemed to be wasted space. So when we needed to remove a type of card to increase the chances of the other types, we went right to Armor.
Now, the HP amounts for each level (1-10) are written directly on the Legend Card. Here is an example of a Legend Card that has the HP amounts for each level.
This way, the player feels a greater sense of accomplishment for attaining a new level. It might add a slight bit of clutter to the card, but I feel like it’s positive effects to the whole game will outweigh the negative in design. Now each Legend can equip 1 accessory. All of this significantly reduces the amount of “things” to keep track of during the game, theoretically speeding the game up.
The next step is to make adjustments and print some additional cards to test the theory. I feel like we’re getting really close to a solid build of this game.
