#like how elder scrolls online has ''personalities'' that effect how characters stand and walk based upon what it's set as? yeah
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did you guys know there's a super cute jaunty strut animation for asura that never made it into the game? me neither I just found out yesterday 🥺
#guild wars 2#gw2#asura#I don't know where this would be applicable but I love it so much...#wouldn't quite work as an emote since it's meant to be a walking animation#but honestly if anet cashed in on ''alternate'' styles of walking animations and put them in the gem store I would totally buy them#like how elder scrolls online has ''personalities'' that effect how characters stand and walk based upon what it's set as? yeah
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What my fantasy video game would be like. (With references of popular modern games)
I am a huge fan of cinema. Cinematics are probably my favorite part of a videogame. The feeling of being a part of a grander reality really comes to fruition when you see the cut-scene.
Much like the intro to Warcraft 3. This scene begins after Warcraft 2 where you build yourself as Arthas the pure Prince of Lorderon. The now corrupt Prince Arthas, tainted by demonic energy from his sword Shadowmourne walks dramatically up to his father the king, and beheads him. Signifying the beginning of the Lich Kings Reign.
My dream video game will be spawn of a long lore before it. I think that's perhaps where many MMORPGs failed when compared to World of Warcraft.
In World of Warcraft you enter into a world of hero's. Entire cities like in Stormwind decorated with giant statues of Hero’s that come before you. In any other MMORPG you are the decisive hero. No predecessor before you made enough of an impact that it called for much adoration of the player base. Kings are as important as pawns in this sense.
My dream videogame is an MMORPG. This is because, I find great joy in the responsibility over a unique personalized character. I want the player to feel a connection to their creation and the world it exists in.
Naturally that world is a mystery and the beginning, but it should be smooth and interactive. I think the newer RPG Outward executed this perfectly.
However I think there is a design point to be made in the scaling of the world, and how the players camera is positioned.
I grew up playing pretty much all the MMORPGs. Started with Runescape in 5th grade. This game is still one of the most popular online games. I am a fan of how they executed the player view points. In Runescape you look over your character and the world like and angel sitting upon a throne. Every command you enter your character, interface, and environment responds.
Another game that accomplishes this “angelic” distance is Grand Theft Auto. In Grand Theft Auto you play a semi street thug, vigilante type character. The entire time you play, the camera has a tendency to draw back and show you more of the world as it reacts to you. For example car chases in GTA. After you are running for a few minutes the world send more units to capture you, but it also pans the Camera out giving you more perspective on how to escape.
In Runescape you are in a world that actually dangerous, with goblins, giants, dragons, and barbarians so the camera is fixed on this widened lens capacity. But In Grand Theft Auto you are in a civilized modern world and the players lens only widens as danger draws nearer.
I feel the need to specify further what this distance is by using a counter example. Lets take the game Elder Scrolls Online. In ESO the camera is sort of like the player is sitting on an Invisible horse a few steps behind the in game character. This to me takes away an element of Alertness that I desire in my game.
In Runescape you can see a dangerous enemy from 30 or 40 paces away.
In GTA you can calculate with your expanded mini map how to escape the police.
In these games this element of alertness and your capacity to respond to new information determines your success.
If as a player you can only view and respond to a distance of 10 to 20 paces all around you, the amount of plays you can make is halved and the amount of unprecedented threats is expounded.
The scaling of the world plays a huge part of this. You must consider that when you position the camera just so, the played character will only take up just so much space on the screen. . . God bless the capacity to zoom in and out and also cinematic view mode so you can screen shot your newest armor set.
Earlier I talked about the world being interactive. I mentioned the new game Outward. Well honestly, I think its pretty close to perfect. In any adventure fantasy - regardless of story, you need a crafting system. I want to give people a real reason to explore the world. Crafting that levels up and requires investment in time and money and energy to master.
Don't get me wrong, I think the world itself should have a bountiful reward following successful exploration and domination.
For instance an extremely rare item that can be found on any monster any where in the world. Or a frequent rare item that can be found from only a specific enemy character. Or a guaranteed reward for a truly heroic deed or role in an event. These are all for sure necessary in my fantasy game.
However, I want to instill a crafting system that is challenging and rewarding. The challenge should lie where the materials and recipes are unlocked. Recipes as reward to key questlines, materials only found in dangerous terrain. The reward should be a blend of dynamic and static improvements. Like an endgame set that has similar stats but a unique appearance. Or a midgame set that has fantastic stat bonuses, helping you level up to towards the late game. Or items that can be used to enhance something you already have, giving you the just that much more edge on the competition.
The materials should be reasonable and challenging. Recipes should call for an amount of the materials just so that you would go broke buying all of them. Yet, useful enough to be worth spending some time on the grind. I believe that most powerful items should come from defeating end game enemies, finishing key quest lines, and players crafting equipment.
There should be a separation in the players at some point. Players must choose at a certain point where they stand in the politics in the game. I want players to commit to their stance, feel pride in their selection, and passion towards that factions agenda.
The idea of “Us. vs Them” is the driving force in games. Games is but a competition in this way. From Mario jumping over barrels to save Princess Peach from Donkey Kong - to saving the mothership from the invading aliens in Halo. Games put you the adventurer apposed to the threat defeat of failure.
In my game the “US” you get to decide.
The typical method is factions. Like in World of Warcraft two apposed factions the Horde and the Alliance war over the majority domination over the world. The horde practice slavery and the alliance practice pollution. One simply selects the lesser of two evils.
In Runescape they use the factions to symbolize three gods and the players then war over one centralized holy site in the castle wars battle ground.
My philosophy in player stance competition is inspired by Civilization VI. This game automatically separates players because it acts as a sort of free for all. However in playing the game the play has a responsibility to co-operate with the enemy before all out war ensues.
In my game I want there to be a variety of ways for players to compete.
There should be a free for all arena area or territory. There should be a games area for teams or individuals to compete over and objective. And there should be a territory designed for large group battles.
The separation of players will come towards the late middle of the story and the factions can be based off of positive yet perhaps opposed ideals or maybe even opposing heroic story characters.
Economy is an aspect of MMORPGs that needs perfecting. In all the later games, the economy is propelled by a robotic auction house. How the program is set up varies on the tittle.
When I first started playing in 2005, on Runescape. Players would sit at a high density area and manually advertise in the chat, their products they either pillaged or created.
I thought this was the closest a game could get to a realistic economy in a fantasy world.
Later they put in the robotic auction house called the Grand Exchange which purchases and sells items at a standardized price based off supply and demand. Yea you can buy a stack of iron ore at 25gp per but it might take an hour because of the player supply chain. Unlike, reality it is difficult to track and manage supply chains in game. Making this a less realistic version of a functioning economic process.
My game will include in game player forums that will help players advertise merchandise and find items they need to be effective in the world. It might take more time for trades to take place, but as a player meets more clients and generates leads on sources it will become more smooth out for them.
Even though my dream video game is life like, it is not realistic. It is very fantasy based, with magic, and hyper futuristic technology, and ancient rituals traditions and cultures. I want to utilized the long list of documented mythological ideas such as potions that can heal your wounds instantly or a specially charged item needed to unlock the door that the final boss hides behind.
I believe that videogames are meant to be real enough to keep you distracted from what’s really real.
“My mom has cancer, I’m 13. There's nothing I can do.”
Well here is something for you to believe in, because sometimes real life leaves you without a significant and effective option. . .
Thank you.
#Cinema#Videogames#Reality#Warcraft#World of Warcraft#Runescape#Dream#Fantasy#MMORPG#Grand Theft Auto#Stormwind#creation#Connection#Camera#car chases#Distance#dragons#goblins#barbarians#Danger#Popular#elements#Alertness#crafting#system#boss#action#quest#factions#team
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The Best Card Games on Android & iOS
Modern digital card games combine the cerebral appeal of tactical play with the adrenaline rush of random loot and top-decking. It might seem like they’re dime-a-dozen, but the games detailed below are all absolutely worthwhile, judged on their own terms.
No luck of the draw? Perhaps some quality strategy games you can play without internet instead!
Some are cutthroat tests of supremacy, others bucolic come-as-you-may types, but all are thoughtful and ingenious in sundry ways. There's two flavours of card games that currently dominate the niche - highly competitive TCG/CCG multiplayer battlers derived from Hearthstone, and more cerebral or casual affairs, often translated from physical card games that already exist. We've woven the two types together into one supreme list.
Meteorfall: Journey (Review) (GOTY 2018)
Developer: Slothwerks Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $2.99
Challenging and Stimulating: In the happier sessions, Meteorfall ends with a successful final showdown against the aptly-named Uberlich. Working backwards from that ultimate battle to the four starting characters is much more challenging than the squidy art and breezy interface might suggest.
This is a game that's been wonderfully supported post-release, with several major content expansions at the time of writing. What's better, it's all been given away for free! There's a reason this won our Reader's Choice Game of the Year award, you know.
Reigns: Game of Thrones (Review)
Developer: Devolver Digital Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $3.99
The Pinnacle: The meme/phrase "living your best life" is not often one you hear applied to a videogame, but we can think of no title that's more applicable than Nerial's licensed Game of Thrones version of their hit card/monarch simulator Reigns. As Brittany mentions in her review, this is hands-down the best version of the Reigns formula, and it helps that it involves and engaging and popular IP.
The typical Tinder-style swiping mechanics coupled with the usual medieval hilarity and tough choices is coupled with some subtle new twists, where players get to try and rule the Seven Kingdoms as one of nine iconic characters from the show (which are unlocked over time). All this is enabled through the guise of Melisandre - you're essentially playing out her visions of how these characters might get on sitting atop the Iron Throne. Licensed games often get a bad rap, but they can now look to this game to wash away all their sins. This is how you do it, folks.
Hearthstone
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment Platforms: iOS, Android Price: Free (IAPs)
The Gold Standard: Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a rogue, a priest and a warrior walk into the bar. Players struggle to reduce the opponent life to zero as players get more mana (read: energy) to fuel stronger minions and more devastating spells. The power curve and rarity drop rate are a little punishing, but later expansions and patches have remedied this somewhat. Hearthstone’s card battles unfold on a tavern table, in the middle of the hub-bub and merriment of a chaotic Warcraft scene, usually narrated in a dwarven brogue.
Yes, the card game itself is solid and as stripped-down as it can be without being simplistic, but Hearthstone flashes of creative genius and setting go well beyond the card base. The animations and sound design have been polished to a mirror sheen, and the gameplay, love it or hate it, is the standard because of its sterling quality and undeniable fun factor. Just don’t sweat the meta or top-tier competition, because then the grind will eat up your life.
Exploding Kittens
Developer: Exploding Kittens Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $1.99
Outrageous fun: A game of hot potato with a nitroglycerine-infused feline escalates until every player save one has met their maker. Fiery kitty death and simple humor belie a take-that game which puts everyone immediately at each other’s throats. Hostility and sabotage are the name of the game, because each player has only one life to live, and one defuse card to keep that hairball from becoming a fireball.
The game is a childish, cartoonish pastiche of obvious joke made too hard too often, but despite the unapologetic unrefined everything, it remains one of the best guilty mindless pleasures around. If you ever need a reason to froth at the mouth and fling spittle at your fellow humans over fictionally threatening cats, look no further: Exploding Kittens is simply an excuse to have a good time, a cheeky pretext. Irksome, shameless and perfect it its base way.
Plants vs. Zombies: Heroes
Developer: Electronic Arts Platforms: iOS, Android Price: Free (IAPs)
Food for thought: This franchise has reinvented itself several times since the original’s premier success. The sequel to the tower defense titan dallied with free-to-play energy timers and premium unlocks, then the series experimented with the FPS arena shooter, releasing Garden Warfare. Along the way, some of the magic and charm was lost. Plants vs. Zombies Heroes is an inspired and refreshing late entry into the game series, translating the original tower defense themes to a CCG with some nifty changes. Perhaps the coolest single defining feature of PvZ: Heroes is the asymmetry: one player represents the zombies shuffling forward for a quick bite while the other coordinated the plants fighting to repel the undead.
The power dynamic between the two sides is unusual and distinct, recalling Netrunner more than Magic or Hearthstone. The flow of new cards into eager players hot little hands, the balance between card strengths and their relative availability as well as the overall strategic robustness of the game are all top-notch. This core gameplay shines along with the visual polish and jazzy flair the series has come to be known for. Plants vs. Zombies Heroes is a fun late entry that deserves more love.
Frost (Review)
Developer: Jerome Bodin Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $3.99, $4.49
An evergreen choice: This one stands out from the other members of this list on two fronts. Firstly, for its palette, which is as frigid as monochrome as you’d expect. Secondly, because its gameplay is survival-based, not just thematically but actually. Gathering supplies, fending off nasties and keeping the elements at bay take every possible trick the cards will give you. Better performance will net you better tools, but unlike other games, Frost’s best rewards are a sense of security and temporary respite. In other words, the game won’t see you chasing exhilarating high score or excitement, but rather staving off the undesirable. Loss aversion, the fear of breaking a fragile equilibrium, the game daring you to take only appropriate risks when the phrase is a hollow oxymoron. The game rewards you with the chance to keep playing, keep exploring its stark dangers and bag of tricks.
The Elder Scrolls: Legends (Review)
Developer: Bethesda Platforms: iOS, Android Price: Free
Devastating combos: Bethesda’s entry into online card battling has the normal variety of twists on the race-to-zero archetype that most card battlers end up parroting to some extend or another. It has two lanes, one of which is a ‘shadow’ lane granting cover to units slotted there. The other change is truly radical though, and alters the core idea of card advantage. Players who lose a large chunk of life in a single turn get extra draws as compensation the next turn.
This acts as a huge counterbalance and means that showy and impressive turns in some cases actually become victims of their own success. Getting the most bang from your buck from each and every card still matters, of course, but the card-draw granted from life loss is a devious catch-up mechanism, especially when combined with the ‘Prophecy’ keyword.. Standard, with not much else to distinguish it from the crowd aside from the setting and its tweaks to the formula, but a worthwhile entry with intelligent design and classic appeal for Skyrim fans.
Card Thief (Review)
Developer: Arnold Rauers Platforms: iOS, Android Price: 2.99, free
Stolen free time: Get in, get rich, get out. The story of a heist plays out with endless variety, thanks to Card Thief’s intermingling systems of light and shadow, directionality and position. These systems are intuitively taught through appealing sound and visual design, and the game rewards deeper understanding of the basics and their complex interactions by giving the player more finicky toys to play with. In short, an unstinting challenge to sink your teeth into, with a razor-sharp core idea enlivened by a pastel of special effects and alternate thieves.
Card City Nights
Developer: Ludosity Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $0.99
Solo-play stalwart: The characters are idiosyncratic, the game-within-a-game conceit a little cheeky but still refreshing, the consistent tone humor-ish, deadpan. Beating certain keystone characters unlocks their signature, ultra-powerful cards whose effects even jive with that character’s personality. In other words, there is a correspondence between writing, characterization and deck archetypes between. Never quite a rollicking good time or agonizing head-scratcher, the deckbuilding and collecting (yes, there are boosters, no nothing is truly ultra-rare) of Card City Nights makes for an easily enjoyed and easily binged experience.
Star Realms (Review)
Developer: White Wizard Games Platforms: iOS, Android Price: Free, with content parcelled out as IAP ($4.99 for the full set)
Interstellar Deck-Building: This game marries the level of expansion and customization of a TCG with the bite-sized crunchy decision-making of a deckbuilder. Its combat elements and faction-specific combos make for a serious nostalgia trip for those looking to revisit memory lane without first collecting, collating and crafting a custom deck just for the occasion. Star Realms’ many expansions, rapid-fire gameplay and clear iconography make it a compelling addition to the game enthusiast’s roster and an easy must-have.
Race for the Galaxy (Review)
Publisher: Temple Gates Games, LLC Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $6.99
An age-old classic: Perhaps the quintessential engine-building card game, Race for the Galaxy is one of the more aged members within this best-of list, debuting originally in 2007. Its longitudinal sense of strategy and complex combos quickly made it a favorite amongst players. Along with this hefty strategic challenge, the unique simultaneous action selection mechanic enlivened the game with some bluffing. Barring the official release of Dominion for mobile, Race for the Galaxy represents a classic, yet innovative take on a victory-point race. The app runs like a dream and offers stiff competition and solid multiplayer.
Hall of Fame
We're keeping the list pretty tight at the moment, but there's way more than ten excellent card games to celebrate, with more on the way all the time. Every now and then we'll rotate games out for other games, but we don't want those past greats to be forgotten. Below is a list of previous members of this list, lest we forget:
Calculords
Ascension
Lost Portal CCG
Pathfinder Adventures
Solitairica
Flipflop Solitaire
Guild of Dungeoneering
Lost Cities
Eternal Card Game
Pokemon TCG
Reigns: Her Majesty
Shadowverse CCG
What would your list of the best card games look like? Let us know in the comments!
The Best Card Games on Android & iOS published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/
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