It is our pleasure to announce that Destined Legends will primarily be sold through Decobot.co, our official company website. This will ensure the absolute best shopping experience and the assurance that we will treat all patrons with the attention and appreciation you all deserve for contributing to our success.
So lets talk about a topic that has been a long time coming, the Gameplay of Destined Legends. You can begin by watching our overview video (below), if you haven't already. Then continue reading to learn about how the game is played, in our extensive Gameplay Breakdown.
To play Destined Legends, you and your opponent each need a Battle Deck. As of now, Destined Legends is a 2-player game. A standard Battle Deck in Destined Legends is made up of 60 cards. There are 5 major types of cards in the game:
Legend Cards - Each deck contains 3 Legends. These are your main character cards. Your Legends all start at Level 1 and have 10 Health Points (HP) to start. You gain more HP as you level up your party.The object of the game is to defeat your opponent's Legends before they defeat yours.
cedric
Weapon Cards - Your battle deck contains 20 weapon cards. These cards define your Legend's abilities. Each Legend can have one Weapon Card attached at a time. Your Legends can only equip weapons that are at your party's level or below. If a weapon's level is higher that your's, you must wait until you reach that level to be able to attach it to a Legend.
masamune
Creature Cards - Your battle deck contains 20 creature cards. The primary use for creature cards is to level up your party. You can play a creature card anytime during your turn. When you play a creature card, place it in any open tile on the battle grid. Once a creature is defeated by your party, you level up.
chimera
Items - Your deck contains 16 item cards. In place of combat, your Legend may cast an item card from your hand. Read and follow the instructions on the card, then discard the card once the instructions are complete.
treasure
Dragons - Dragons are some of the strongest and most useful cards in your game. Each Battle Deck contains one Dragon card. You may play a dragon in place of combat. You play a Dragon card by placing it on any open tile on the battle grid. A dragon becomes a fourth party members, with its own turn and combat phase. Dragons are able to target random cards and have different effects depending on whether you are a friend or foe.
onyx
Destined Legends uses the cards in your deck in random order. To setup the game, first take out the 3 Legend cards and place them, spaced out in a row in front of you . Then shuffle the remaining 57 cards and place them to the right of your game-space. Your opponent does the same thing. Leave enough space between the two rows of Legends for a middle empty row. After everything is placed, it should look like the example below.
Yep, we just revealed the final Playboard design.
The middle row is used to play Creature Cards for your party to fight. Eventually, once you feel confident enough, you can step your Legends up to the middle row to attack your opponent Legends directly. The collection of all of these tiles are referred to as the battle grid.
Next, each player draws a hand of 7 cards. Flip a coin to decide which player goes first. You are ready to begin.
You begin your turn by drawing one card from the top of your deck and placing it into your hand. Once during your turn you may play a Creature card from your hand to any available spot in the middle row of the battle grid. Your turn is broken down into 3 Legend Phases. Each Legend you control is granted its own full Legend Phase. During each Legend phase, you may:
1. Equip a weapon or exchange your weapon with one from your hand. 2. Move your Legends forward or backward on the battle grid. 3. Enter Combat, cast and Item or cast a Dragon.
Perform the following steps when entering combat with a Weapon Card attached.
die
1. Charge Roll a die to determine which abilities you can use. This is called “Charging.” No Charging is required for Melee.
2. Choose an Ability Reference your Legend’s current Weapon card to see which abilities you are able to perform. You can only use an ability if you rolled one of the ability's numbers when you Charged.
3. Choose a Target Choose a Target based on your chosen ability’s Range. The term “Target” refers to any battle participant. This includes Opponent Legends, Ally Legends (members of your own party), Creatures or Dragons.
4. Perform the Ability If the ability has Direct Damage, reduce that amount from your target’s remaining HP. If an ability has Direct Damage, you will see a number to the far right of the ability. After applying the damage, read and perform the instructions (if any) of that ability.
5. Target’s Counter Some targets have a Counter ability. If your target is hit with Direct Damage by your ability, the target performs its Counter. If your target is a Creature, your opponent player may roll for the Creature’s Charge.
I hope you enjoyed this deeper look at Destined Legend's gameplay. There is much more to learn about the game including exactly how Dragons are played during battle. And of course, it will all make much more sense once you all have a chance to have it front of you and play along. The full rulebook and how to play guide will be available at launch, in July.
"...make it look valuable by making it look valuable."
From a very early stage in development we knew that the visual design of our game was going to be just as important as how it played. We knew the first interaction gamers were gonna have with Destined Legend was the look. Even though we should know better than to judge a book by its cover, we alway do, whether we are aware of it or not. And I think to a certain extent, thats just a part of being human. Its the same reason we plant flowers in our gardens. We like pretty things. Can you blame us?
Because of this, (as well as me being a bachelor of fine arts,) design took an equal footing with the gameplay. The first fruit of this train of thought was the artwork. We brought on the uber-talented Scott Ferguson and Cari Corene to breath some seriously epic life into Destined Legends, and they have successfully made DL a force to be reckoned with (at least artistically.)
Arguably the biggest burden for artistic success lay upon the card design and layout. After all, they are the “main product” of this project. As we developed the game, we kept iterating and evolving the design of the cards. Gameplay mechanics would get added that would radically change the layout, forcing me to rethink certain parts of the cards. We officially have 11 different versions of the cards. You can actually take a look back on the previous 10 version on our tumblr blog. It's been a truly incredible process, designing these cards over the past 2 years, and I'm beyond proud to finally present you with our final card design.
Roslynn Comparison
I’ve chosen to highlight a few key aspects of the card designs and why they are an improvement upon the current version (used in the beta.)
I knew the very first thing you want to know about the card that you’re holding is the card type. As in, whether it is a weapon, creature, item, etc. Also the element of the card took a much more “prideful” placement, as development progressed, so I made sure to really make the element pop. I made sure to make that much more visible, and much more prominent by making the “molding” in the corners more pronounced and by using the brightest colors on the card to highlight them.
When we began to get the final art pieces in, we realized that we need to really showcase them on the cards. As you may have noticed in the Sabercat card below, we tightened up our card design even further to maximize the incredible artwork.
Sabercat Comparison
The colors felt a bit too stale before. Also, the grey did not print like we were hoping. One thing you will definitely notice as you look back at version 1 through 10, is that they all share a common design ideology. They all use flat colors, and minimalist design. This worked great until we got in the final artwork and realized how the current design wasn’t quite stacking up.
Masamune Comparison
Finally I decided to the thing I was telling myself I would never do for DL, use gradients. Now before a cold shiver goes down your spine, there actually is a right way to use gradients. I’m reminded of one of my favorite hobbies, baking. In baking, you almost always need to use “a pinch of salt.” You may have asked yourself at some point, “why salt? This is a sweet dish.” That is because salt isn't used to make things “salty.” Salt is used to make something taste more like itself. Thats why its a popular ingredient with chocolate-based or caramel-based desserts. It punches up the flavor of caramel and chocolate.
Gradients are like Salt. You only need to use a pinch, but it makes whatever color you’re using that much more vibrant. If you look at the comparison shots above between the beta and final versions of our “Masamune” weapon card, you’ll see what I mean. The red used in both cards are the same hue, but the gradient used in the lower half of the card make that color pop that much more on the finals. There is also a very slight gradient in the right hand column. It simply makes the tops of those shapes more pronounced.
[gallery type="slideshow" ids="1038,1037,1043"]
The company isn’t called Decobot for no reason. Art Deco has always been my favorite design style and a huge influence in everything I do. Art Deco gives everything such a grand and powerful stature. I wanted to interject my love for Deco architecture in these cards. It is in the aforementioned “moldings” in the top corners of the cards, used to house the card type and element. They also help frame the artwork below it very nicely. It’s a very subtle peppering, but makes all the difference. That, combined with the tall fonts give this franchise a very distinct design language that I’m very proud of.
All of the final design elements came together quite nicely. My working concept for theses was "marble and ivory inlaid with gems." It follows the mentality of make it look valuable by making it look valuable. They look even better in person and I can’t wait to get them into your hands! Enjoy our extended gallery of detail shots below.
[gallery type="slideshow" ids="1045,1039,1044,1046,1036"]
Here is a transcript of the info burst we sent out to all the testers: Hello Beta Testers,
The Beta Kits have been ordered and should be out to most of you by the end of January. International testers may receive their copies in early February. Below are the guidelines for the beta. Please read this message thoroughly.
1. Prepare for the game.
You will need a few things for the beta. The Kit includes 2 decks of 60 cards. One for Fire and one for Dark elements. We have also supplied you with a d12 die. We would also like to stress that the cards you are receiving are draft-quality and are nowhere near the professional-grade quality of the final product.
The Beta kit does not include some items that will be included with the final product. Aside from what we've supplied, you will need the following:
• At least 1, six-sided die. Having one per player may be beneficial. • Download the PDF of the "How to Play" [included in your infoburst email] • Something to track Health Points. Glass beads, or old game tokens are recommended. (Pen and Paper may also work, if preferred). Keep in mind that each player will be keeping track of 3-4 different sets of Health Points.
2. Play the game.
A clean, flat playing surface of around 18" x 24" is recommended for optimum organization during play. It may help to watch the "Basic Gameplay" video before you begin. Then, read the "How to Play" guide to learn the game's basic rules. Keep in mind that the included version of the guide is not final. Any feedback you have on the guide itself would be invaluable to us.
One difference between the beta and the final product is the way we handle Permanent Status Effects. In the final game, you will be provided with actual cards that represent each effect. For the beta we have provided you with a single page that replaces the cards (attached to this message). This will make more sense once you read the "How to Play" Guide.
We would prefer you play the game at least 3 times to understand it fully.
3. Join the Discussion (optional)
We have setup a special website for beta participants to voice their opinions with us in real time. Weather you want to work through some thoughts, or ask us questions about the rules of the game, this site will prove valuable to those who want to take their participation to the next level. We will also be posting important information about things along the beta, so we encourage you to at least sign up and skim through every now and again.
Join us online at DestinedLegends.com
* the beta forums will be only available to official beta participants. When you sign up, we need to manually mark in the system as a tester. This may take up to 24 hours. It is very important that you register to the site with the same email you used to confirm your spot in the beta, so we can cross-check and give you access.
4. Give your feedback.
After playing the game at least 3 times, we would like you to fill out the beta survey (attached to [Info Burst Email]). Please fill out the form honestly. If you are unsure about a field, leave it blank. Inaccurate data may prove counterproductive to our feedback process.
*****
Please keep in mind that the How to Play guide you are receiving is a draft version. There may be spelling or grammatical errors. We also haven't yet optimized the guide to provide the most efficient learning experience. If you don't understand any portion of the rules, please join us online at DestinedLegends.com, or feel free to send us a message to mail@decobot.co
We appreciate your participation in our Beta as we work hard to finalize Destined Legends. This game would not be possible without your generous contributions. Have fun!
- The Destined Legends Team
Here is the final finished painting titled “Dueling Dragons,” by our card artist Cari Corene. It features the Ruby Dragon (Fire) and Onyx Dragon (Dark.) We will be using this piece for the two dragon cards that will be included in the Battle Set.
This piece absolutely blew me away. The vivid colors alone are awe inspiring. It couldn’t have turned out better. I can’t wait to see this piece in print. This is also the piece that we will be using for the game’s official box art.
Exciting stuff.
Here are some sketches for some of the item cards our artist Cari Corene has done. Can’t wait to show you guys the finals. (Titles in order: Bacchus Wine, Shovel, Smoke Bomb, Potion, Remedy)
We have also started officially play-testing the Earth & Water Sideboards and it’s going really well so far.
With our Kickstarter funding in the books, we can now focus down on polishing the game itself. This week we resumed our play testing with a few friends. It definitely feels great playing the game again knowing that it will definitely be a reality.
With that sense of relief comes a pretty big sense of urgency. Now that the game is going to be made, and has a launch deadline, we really have to make sure the game is flawless.
We tested with two new people. Both of them were gamers this time around, so it gave us a good sense of what established games think of it. Surely enough, they had a blast with it. We had a postmortem afterwards which gave me a pretty great feeling once they started to share their feedback. We wanted the good, and the bad. Incredibly enough, most of our discussion with the bad revolved around one single item card, and if it was over-powered. If the absolute worst thing veteran gamers can think to talk about is a single item card, then I’d say we’re in pretty good shape.
Our big focus for this game is to get the game polished and ready for the Closed Beta Test Program that we offered exclusively through Kickstarter. We should be shipping out the beta kits out to everyone in mid-January.
Stay tuned for more.
We are in the last few hours of this incredibly successful campaign. First, I’d like to thank each and every one of you contributors for believing in our vision for Destined Legends. When we set out to create this game, we could have never anticipated what it would eventually turn into. The response has simply been staggering. Destined Legends now has its own identity, and you all helped make that possible. We are all incredibly grateful for you continuing contributions. We are beside ourselves today, knowing that we are now able to bring our exact vision of Destined Legends into reality.
The campaign ends at 9PM PST. That leaves us with 8 hours to raise a relatively mere $1000 to hit out final stretch goal. Hitting that goal unlocks the 2 sideboard expansion packs for Earth & Water elements. This is definitely that final epic climactic uphill battle, but if we band together, we can get to that summit and accomplish something truly great.
http://kck.st/RJkoPN
So again, thanks to everyone who has helped get us to this point. This is a dream come true for all of us, and we can’t wait to release this franchise upon the world. We’re just getting started.
Dear family and friends,
The past 3 years of my life has been an incredible Journey of self-discovery. I graduated college and began a part-time retail job at Apple. For those of you who don’t know me too well yet, I have always had the dream of making a living by owning my own company. So I founded one not too long ago, called Decobot. I used that brand t
o market my webcomic work that you might be familiar with, but that wasn’t my passion. I knew I had the potential to achieve something far greater. So I spent the past few years, trying to figure out which of my other ambitious ideas was worth pursuing. It took some soul searching, but about two years ago, I knew I wanted to make Destined Legends that pursuit.
Destined Legends began as an Idea for a videogame, back when I was in high school. Denis and I would talk about what kind of game it could be, and I would spend countless hours thinking up characters, stories, and game mechanics. Life went on, and about two years ago, seeing a great opportunity in its current market, I was inspired to create a tabletop card game with my brother Shawn. When it came time to figure out the theme of this card game, we chose my conveniently developed universe of Destined Legends, and so began an intensive development period.
Now we’re at a point where we can easily make this game a reality. We launched a fundraising campaign 15 days ago, on the website Kickstarter. Our goal was to raise a relatively modest $10,000 in order to produce the game in bulk. The turnout was staggering. In just 15 days of our 30 day campaign, we hit our goal, and can now have the game professionally printed. We achieved this with 15 more days to go in the campaign. That’s why I’m writing this today.
If you could ever have a chance to fulfill someone’s dreams, this is it. We want to do this full-time. $10,000 is the bare minimum we need to get the game made, but we still need more to ensure to successful continuation of this project for years to come, and to allow us to fully dedicate ourselves entirely to doing what we love.
Destined Legends has an incredible potential to expand far beyond our current plans. Comic books, apps, and even future videogames can be made possible with your help. So I hope you will visit our campaign page, and consider pledging on our little project. Your generous contributions will go farther than you know.
Sincerely,
Ali
We’ve done it!!! We’ve hit our goal of 100% funding. With your generous contributions we have successfully raised the $10,000 we need to produce Destined Legends. The level of excitement around this game has been staggering! People can’t seem to wait to get their hands on it, and we can’t wait to make that happen! It has been our dream, from the start, to make Destined Legends a reality. So again, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you.
Now that the hard part is over, we can have some fun. We have some incredible plans for the game that will take your experience to the next level. To achieve those plans, we’ve set a series of stretch goals. Each stretch goal unlocks an amazing new reward for everyone to enjoy. We mentioned them in our last update, but now that we hit our goal much quicker than we anticipated, we’ve adjusted a couple of them, and will reveal them as we go. We’ll always reveal a couple ahead, so you can get a glimpse into what’s to come. Check out the first couple below.
Check out our campaign if you haven’t already, and help us get to our stretch goals!
Here is the work in progress for Cari’s Dueling Dragons pice that will be used for the two cards: Onyx Dragon and Ruby Dragon. I think it’s really awesome to have them form one piece of art. What do you think?
I’m happy to update you on our Kickstarter Campaign with some pretty incredible numbers. We’re right on the cusp on 90% to goal of $10,000. And we’re on day 10! We have some pretty incredible stretch goals, so lets keep up the momentum, and thanks to all of you who have contributed already!
Also we’ve made some pretty exciting announcements to celebrate our amazing progress! First we just opened our Closed Beta Test Program, where you can play the game early and voice your opinions on our second big announcement. Community Forums! Come hang with us and chat about the game, or whatever else you wanna talk about.
More details on our official update page.
Also head on over to Cari’s Tumblr page to give her you comments on the Dragons directly!
We’re Live! We just launched our Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign to reach our goal of $10,000 to make the game. Help us reach our goal by checking out the video, contributing, and spreading the word. We can make this happen, together!
Check out the campaign here.
It’s not everyday that the success of project you’ve been working tirelessly on for 2 years comes down to 30 days of generosity by the general public; but that’s where we are.
I am proud to announce that the development of Destined Legends has reached that stage, and will soon be ready to receive your contributions. We are aiming to raise $10,000 to produce the game in volume and to pay our amazing artists for their hard work.
For those of you who have followed us along the way, your chance to help make our dreams a reality is finally here. If you are just joining us now, I invite you to look back over our journey, and hopefully you can appreciate our passion in what we are trying to accomplish with this game.
The campaign will launch on October 19, 9PM PST and will run for 30 days. All of us at Decobot are very excited about this next stage in our development. Head on over to our company site and check out the countdown to the start of the campaign.
Ali
Learn more about Kickstarter.
