#the current meta is just too different; all of the new art apps seem to be following instagram and artstation

[sol-flo]

just dawned on me that it's been nearly five years since deviantart effectively died. i still miss it so bad

[webgeekist]

How are you and the wife doing?

Kind of wish this wasn’t an anonymous question, but I do share [some] things about my life on here.

And I guess...maybe this is a good opportunity to tell a story that might be worth telling, and might just be airing boring stuff into the ether.  I don’t think we’re alone in this, and my own anonymity puts me in a place where I can talk about some of this honestly.  Relationships are choices you make every day, work you put in, energy you willingly spend.  To use my most current microobsession as an analogy, you put effort into it and nurture it, and you see where it goes.

It turns out that gets really complicated during a pandemic.

We’ll have been together for five years soon, which is such a long time.  Married, officially, for four.  And for most of that time, I stayed away from this place.  It wasn’t a lack of love for media or my dislike of anything here, simply a reallocation of my effort and time.  We’ve been places, we’ve done things.  We’ve taken new jobs and moved across the country.  And it’s hard to think that so much time has passed since I was last really active here, not because they’ve been long and terrible but because they’ve been happy, and time seems to fly faster as a result.  It’s a crime, really, that time creeps so slowly when you need it to pass the most.

We’ve kept to ourselves.  We’ve focused on time together.  And then, 2020 happened.  We both have anxiety, and we both brought our own fair share of baggage into our relationship, and the thing about an uncertain future with increasingly little to look forward to in a time where political leaders are actively gaslighting the public and making everything from natural disasters to a pandemic to the way we work to the air we breathe worse is it does nothing to help anyone’s mental heath.  In the last two months, maybe even three, both of us have had several complete mental meltdowns, and this is WITH therapy available.

It’s easy, when you’re floundering mentally, to turn inward.  For her, it’s a very solitary thing, where she’ll sink herself into something mindnumbingly boring and be utterly quiet.  I can’t follow into numbing my mind and keep my sanity.  And I have never dealt with uncomfortable silence well.  It’s incredibly hard for me to tell the difference between silences I caused and silences I didn’t.

Relationships are a constant and unending series of choices.  One of them has been to stay away, in part because nothing compelled me to come back, and in part because I didn’t need the crutch.  I missed the creativity of it, and the way my brain would wake up over a particularly incisive piece of meta, but it was an easy sacrifice.  We’d think critically together of other topics.  I’d find an artistic outlet through other means of creativity, even though I dearly missed writing and drawing.  In a relationship, consciously or not, you choose either to turn to your partner or away from them.  Uneasy in the silences, and unable to numb my anxiety in an endless sea of little app puzzles the same way she can, I rewatched Korra and let the urge to fall back into this place happen.

At first, it was fine.  She’s never changed her lock screen or her home screen in all the time I’ve known her (they’re of her dog, so I can’t gripe that much).  The art I’ve been producing has taken over every screen on every device she owns except for the home screen on her phone, which remains her dog.  She’s enjoyed and benefitted from this artistic influx, but only in the product.  The act of making is solitary.  She’s not a fan girl, so sinking myself back into this place makes her feel isolated, because she doesn’t understand how to connect.  And as time has marched toward that inevitable conclusion of whatever tomorrow brings, we’ve let our silences stretch too far.

Last week was hard, honestly.  We’re both keenly aware of how keyed so much of our stress is off of the sheer uncertainty of tomorrow’s election results, the threats of something awful other way, the palpable concern from her parents half a world away over the news coming overseas and the poor choices and panic coming from my side of the family, made worse by the growing rift between our science-minded pragmatic approach to all of this and the polar opposite investment in a political ideology only bound to kill more people.  To cap it off, I have not fallen so hard, and so fast, back into a show as I did The Haunting of Bly Manor, and it scared the hell out of her.

We both had meltdowns last week.  And, I think, we both had some self-realizations in the aftermath.  About the impressions our coping mechanisms leave.  About the familiarity of them for both of us, and how they remind us of times when we were terribly lonely, and how that lingering impression fed a loneliness we’ve been harboring because we both got to a point in our pandemic sheltering where there was nothing to run to, nowhere to go, and we were running out of things to do other than loiter in the remnants of our old lives, swimming in all that unpacked baggage.  It’s not the worst place to be — lonely together, in both of our opinions, is better than lonely apart — but lonely at all is not the goal.  We can’t do much about the circumstances, but we can change our behavior, and we have. 

The short answer is, we’re ok, and we will be ok.  It’s not perfect because it can’t be.  It shouldn’t be.  We’re not unique in the strain this has put on us individually and together, and we’re better equipped than some to deal with it.  But the long answer like so much context is also important.  We love each other dearly and are happy to be around one another and collectively find other people exhausting, but never each other.  And, the point of this tale, is for all that and the resources we have, we are still suffering from the mental burden this year has put on us.

Don’t feel shy, Anon.  Introduce yourself.  I promise I’ll still answer.

[rontra]

do you have any recommendations on how to like. Take In Umineko. I think it looks really cool and I’d like to get into it, but there’s a lot of things that are confusing (like all of the different games, the manga, the anime, ect.) and I’m not really sure where to start watching/reading it. Do you have any advice on where the best place to start is?

HOH BABY NOW THIS IS A GOOD ASK

Basically, a lot of this depends on you and how you prefer to take in media. People are different after all; some people like reading long novels, some prefer comics, u know! So let’s just go over all the avenues and how to get at them, and the rest is up to you!

I’m gonna make this post very long. VERY VERY LONG. IM SO FUCKn SORyr

First, I’ll talk abt what umineko is; then I’ll discuss the various media; finally, at the end, I’ll write down what I typically recommend to newcomers! SCROLL REALLY FAST TO THE HEADERS IF U HAVE NO TIME FOR MY RAMBLING LOL

So…here we goooo

READING UMINEKO: UNTANGLING THE WEB

OR: what the fuck is umineko and why do you want me to read it, diesel?

Since this is a general To Whom It May Concern post: Umineko no Naku Koro ni (Or Umineko: When They Cry, alternatively When The Seagulls Cry) is a murder mystery/fantasy/metafiction visual novel published between 2007 and 2011. I know “murder mystery” and “metafiction” sound pretty boring when you combine them, but trust me–Umineko’s unlike anything you’ve seen, and defies explanation. Still, I’m here to do my best!

Umineko is about a rich and complicated family, and their annual family conference–and the year it goes super duper badly. On an isolated island, in the middle of a typhoon, tragedy befalls the family–on a massive scale! Someone is killing them–all of them–and the only answer that seems to be rising is–

“Beatrice did it.”

But Beatrice isn’t supposed to really exist. Not for real!! No one by that name is on the island. It’s just a story! She’s made up–Beatrice is a legend. A witch who has lived for a thousand years–who loaned the family patriarch ten tons of gold, an insane amount of wealth, in exchange for his soul. Now she’s collecting on that loan, taking everything back, with interest–the lives of the family included.

Is the culprit a human, or not? Does the witch exist, or not?Is the culprit one of the 18 people? Does a 19th person exist? Or…?And, most importantly–when the typhoon passes, will anyone remain alive on the island?

[YouTube: Umineko opening]

I’d super-recommend Umineko if you enjoy: strong characterization, a solidly built mystery (with plenty of smaller mysteries to try your brain with along the way ;) ), complex and nuanced characters, hype magic fights, Logic-Based Combat(???), deep discussions of trauma and its consequences, large casts of characters, Genre Fuckery, coping, Meta™, and milfs Complex Lore

I would, however, NOT recommend Umineko if you are triggered by/can’t stomach reading about: body horror, gore, death, trauma, child abuse, bullying, discussion of suicide, discussion of sexual assault, etc (you can message me for a more complete list of warnings; I’m happy to provide super-specific ones if there’s something specific you’re concerned about, or even give you specific scenes to watch out for. I kept this vague on purpose, but if you message me off anon or via DMs here or at @aceyasu, I’ll be happy to answer anything!)

Overall it’s a pretty dark, emotional story, with a lot of Themes™–but it’s also full of love and genuine heartfelt Feelings. I don’t think any story has touched me the way Umineko has! Of course, everyone’s experience is very unique to them, but I think Umineko has something for everyone (provided, of course, that we’re taking into account the content warnings and excluding people who can’t/don’t want to encounter those things!). The characters, music, story and message–it all has a lot of heart and it all is very important to me as an individual. Obviously no media is flawless, but I think Umineko’s good outweighs its bad…YMMV though of course :p

Also, hype magic fights.

OKAY WITH THAT OUT OF THE WAY

Umineko’s story is told over 8 arcs–styled as “episodes”. I use “arc” and “episode” sort of interchangeably! Specific ones I just call “EP#” though. All you really need to know though is there’s 8 of them, of varying length, and you have to read them all for the full story.

Thankfully they’re numbered, am i right?? HAFDmgkdfmg

Each episode has its own focus within the overarching narrative and comes with its own fun mysteries and harrowing developments just for you! yay! But basically, the important thing is that they’re divided into the Question Arcs (1-4) and Answer Arcs (5-8).

Sometimes, to make things confusing, the Answer Arcs are also called “Core Arcs” or “Chiru”. I will use “Answer Arcs” here, but if you encounter those two elsewhere, that’s what they are. :p

ACTUALLY EXPERIENCING UMINEKO

(now that im done YAPPING)

The anime

Generally viewed as a poor product. It’s a bad adaption that fails as a standalone, too, because of the amount of important scenes that are missing. Don’t watch the anime first if you really want to get into Umineko. It’s a fun watch once you know how it’s supposed to go, though :p Covers the Question Arcs only, ends with EP4–so even if it was good, it would only be half the story… press f to pay respects. The opening fuckin slaps though, and all the VAs are solid.

The manga

Each Episode has its own manga adaption, usually done by a different artist (with exception of EP1, EP3, and EP8, which are all by the same artist). Generally solid; gets the most important parts. For people who want to get through quicker, the manga helps a lot.

The primary cost is that a lot of characterization doesn’t get to shine AS bright, as there’s simply no time to get into the nooks and crannies (still a great cast, though). However, the art is usually fantastic–since the artist changes every EP, it’s easy to deal with even if you don’t like a specific one’s style. It’ll be gone by next Episode!

A lot of moments get punched up by the more visual format of the manga. You really get a better sense of the characters interacting physically with one another! You do, however, run into the Scanlation Problem…..

I know, I know–most people, when given the option to, don’t want to pay for things. So when given the choice between fan scanlations and the official release, a lot of people would choose the scanlations. And they’re fine…for the most part…except for the parts that aren’t. Some parts (notably in the Answer Arcs) are…bad. Really bad. Even I can’t really understand it sometimes, despite knowing this story inside out… LOL

If you’re good at parsing Scanlation SNAFU or can’t afford/don’t want to buy it, you can find Umineko on MOST manga hosts! I don’t know which you prefer so I’m not gonna link ‘em hahahafkgmfh I usually use Manga Rock but that’s because I usually am reading on my phone and I like their app. The episodes are all numbered, so it’s pretty easy to find your way around!

On the other hand, if you have a hard time understanding poor translations, reading inconsistent typesetting/fonts, or simply Can afford it/prefer buying media, the manga is being officially released in English by YenPress! As is standard nowadays, you can get them in both physical volumes and digital e-books! However, YenPress’ release is currently ongoing–the first volume of EP8 is slated to release in March.

[YenPress link]

The visual novel

Ah, here we are–the head honcho himself…! This is the original version of Umineko. These are the ones we call “games”, and why we sometimes say u “play” Umineko, but. Really. It’s just reading. They’re kinetic novels. Its literally just reading. So I don’t know why we complicate things like that.

(“if she an .exe, shes a game”, I guess… xD)

This is where the characterization and voice of Umineko really shines! The style is often simple to read, sometimes even comically casual, but it cuts deep when it wants to. Even really simple lines can have a really strong impact–it’s a really pleasant style to read, IMO…pretty easy to understand most of the time, but emotionally resonant all the same!

Reading the VN is somewhat of an undertaking, because of the amount of hours required…It’s a far longer read. Depending on your reading speed and whether or not you pause to think/talk about things as you read, people clock in 100-200 hours to finish it.

But, on the upside–because it has so much more time than the manga, the VN can really get deep into the characters, their dynamics, and their inner conflicts. You really get a deep sense for everyone’s character and it makes most of the cast feel fleshed-out enough that you appreciate all of them to some extent (whether positive or negative :P)

Oh, actually–the original Umineko branded itself a “Sound Novel”….as opposed to a Visual Novel, where the emphasis is on, uh–Visuals–Umineko leans more heavily on audio to create its atmosphere. And the music? Fuckin rips!! The Umineko soundtrack is huge and has tons of absolute bangers. It’s easy to see why it decided to market itself as a Sound Novel rather than a visual novel–the graphics of the original PC version are simple, but the atmospheric sound effects and BGM really shines.

Here’s some enticing tracks to pique yr interest (be careful about the comments/etc though, there’s Definitely spoilers in there xD)[worldenddominator] [dead angle] [dir] [system0] [hope]

The VN nowadays is split into the two halves; if you get EP4, it’ll include 1-3 as well, essentially. Picking up Question Arcs (or EP4) and Answer Arcs (or EP8) gives u the whole 8 episodes. Easy peasy! Because we live in the future now, and retroactive inclusion of past games is just convenient!

There is an official English release now, which is a brand new luxury. It’s even on Steam! Wow! That’s the easiest way to get your paws on the hands-on experience. The translation has been slightly updated as well! Also, they added a new set of toggle-able graphics that are…um…I mean they’re certainly new…#BarelyContainedOpinionAlert

If you don’t want to pay or can’t afford it…uhhh….I used to have torrent links but they’re all dead. :T still, you can probably just find them, if you know your way around torrents. For the translation, you’ll have to either get a pre-patched version of the game, or use the translation group’s instructions to patch it yourself. 

If you can’t do either of those, or just don’t really have a preference, or…any number of reasons, you can also find all the games fully recorded and uploaded to YouTube (with or without commentary)!

As for the links, I’ve got them right h–

Wait–oh, sh–the graphics are bad?!? You think the graphics are bad? Or you think plain reading is boring? Y-you can’t understand what the background image in this scene is even supposed to be? Ah…the post-2007 struggle….

The visual novel, Part Deux: AH, THE JPEGS edition

OKAY SO I SPLIT THIS APART BECAUSE IT*S IMPORTANT

If you wanna spruce up your VN-reading experience, here’s the thing: they ported the game to PS3, with brand new graphics and–get this–full voice acting. Wow! There’s even CGs now…Jeez!

These are NOT the same graphics as the new ones from the official English release! That’s important!

SO, if you wanna spruce up the graphics a bit, or you enjoy voice acting with your novels, you can do that! People took apart the PS3 games and made patches for the PC version to enjoy the new graphics and voices. And now it’s available for the Steam version as well!

[SPRITE COMPARISON: ORIGINAL PC | PS3 | STEAM]You pick your favorite!

ALSO VOICE ACTING! WOW!! Remember how I said the anime got two things right and they were the OP and the voice cast?

SAME CAST, BABEY!!!! They are all excellent and do a wonderful job! It can really add some more interest if you struggle with staying focused on “plain” reading.

Okay so NOW the links:

You’ll have to dig up torrents yourself if you want those, bc its 6am and I’m too sleepy to… uzu

QUESTION ARCS[Physical Eng release] or [Steam page] +[PS3 PATCH]

ANSWER ARCS[Physical Eng release] or [Steam page] +[PS3 PATCH]

YOUTUBE[Non-commentated, with PS3 patch] you can find more just by searching but this one looks good to me :p

RONTRA OPINIONS / SUGGESTIONS

Personally, I favor the VN for most scenes, but the manga for my light casual reading. Y’know? The VN can be pretty…um…dense, at times.

Ironically, I think EP1 itself might be the biggest hurdle for total first-timers. It’s definitely paced as a “part 1 of 8″ for the first solid portion! By which I mean, it really takes its time establishing the cast and their individual situations. Which isn’t a bad thing–especially in the overarching scope of how long the story is–but if you aren’t sure about the premise, format, or if you’ll enjoy Umineko at all, it can be sort of…challenging.

It all really depends on the individual–things like attention span, investment, and personal preferences, imo. Some people just don’t enjoy reading that much text at once! And that’s fine! Some people love it and that’s fine! Some people think the intro is too long, some people think it’s intriguing from the start. Some really like watching character building, and some prefer to see action happening. Either way is fine, so it’s really up to you!

Usually, if someone isn’t sure, I suggest they try EP1 in manga form first, just to see if the general premise entices them; it’s fully possible to jump back and do the VN if you decide you like it! It sacrifices some characterization in exchange for exploring the main premise a little faster.

Similarly, if you just can’t get into the VN–you can read the entire thing with manga too, if you favor action over the deepest character lore. It’s still a good time and a good experience!

Though, in EP1′s favor–if you ARE sure about it, and are able to dedicate your attention to the first 10-13 hours of set-up, EP1 has one of the most rewarding escalations I’ve encountered! If you are able to sit and read a fairly long-winded introduction, you are rewarded with the most buck wild Popping Off you can imagine.

So there’s nothing wrong with jumping right in there with the VN, if you enjoy reading!

However, if you do find that the VN is dragging too much for you, you can go in reverse too–and finish EP1 by manga, then decide if you want to jump back to the VN or not. I promise, the novels pick up the pace too–it’s just getting all the introductions down that can be daunting, when the initial cast size is a staggering 18 people (plus the LORE has to be established too)!!

Just for you–if you want to get into Umineko, but struggle with EP1, I’ll offer my private archive of YenPress manga rips for EP1–read the manga, official english translation, for free thanks to your dealer friend, rontra,You will have to message me about it, though–off anon or via DMs, here or at @aceyasu.

My favorite setups when I play by myself are either Original PC Graphics + Voice Acting, or Full PS3 Patch. I personally really like the original PC graphics, but I understand some people think they’re kinda…um…Rough, to say the least xD PS3 graphics are a close second for me though.

I don’t really like the steam version’s new sprites. Some people don’t mind them, so it’s up to you what you prefer, but I think they don’t really convey the feeling as well as their counterparts sometimes… :/

But hey, everyone’s got their own opinions!

I also prefer the EP8 manga to the EP8 VN. If I have control over someone’s first playthrough, I always push over to the manga for EP8! In my opinion, it’s a rare instance where the adaption is better than its original. People have different opinions on this, of course, but since this section is My Opinions Central, that’s my opinioooon!!! :D

SO BASICALLY MY OWN PERSONAL PREFERRED STRUCTURE IS

->TRY EP1 (jump over to manga if struggling; if enjoyed manga ep1 until the end, hop back into the VN at EP2 and come back to EP1 if you want to later)

EP2-EP7 VN

EP8 MANGA(EP8 VN if desired afterwards, once the dust settles)

But you’re free to do what you want, of course. ;9

And then after that there’s some spinoffs that I didn’t talk about because that’s a post for another time. (There’s a fighting game! It’s packed full of spoilers.)

AFTERWORD

All in all, Umineko is…big. its very very big. it has a huge cast (the final count comes out to like, almost 70 characters!) and a huge story. and huge feelings.

The manga and the VN are the main avenues of getting into it. It’s easier than it looks at a glance; and yet, more daunting than it seems…

If you have the time and energy to pour hours of your time into it, Umineko is a super worthwhile story that tackles genuinely difficult material with a delicate but honest hand.

It clowns up sometimes and stumbles over its own demographic–see: Weird Vaguely Unpleasant Anime-brand Sex Comedy that springs up a lot in EP1, some in EP2, and then largely disappears save for a few dumb jokes here and there–but overall is a solidly built and solidly delivered story about trauma, love, loss, and getting your family ritual-murdered by a thousand-year-old witch who may or may not be real.

And if you have any questions at all (or just wanna talk Umineko), you can send an ask or IM me here or at @aceyasu–you can ask for my Discord too if you wanna really get into it. Or DM me on twitter! I’m happy to answer any question or elaborate on anything you’re confused about. I tried to go over this post quickly, so if I was too vague on something, feel free to ask!

The same of course applies to content warnings; if there’s something specific you’re worried about, I can answer it for you, whether it’s “does [specific thing] happen/appear” or “how much of [thing] is there, i can handle a little bit”! Anything! Of course I want people to read my favorite, but I also more than that want u all to be safe.

I’m very sorry that this post is literally three thousand words long. Umineko’s been my special interest for almost ten whole years. I get chatty! But hopefully my passion shines through and gets you excited!!!

LOVE, A BIG NERD

[waynekelton]

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.

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.

What are the best iOS & Android Card Games?

Gwent

Age of Rivals

Shards of Infinity

Miracle Merchant

Meteorfall: Journey

Reigns: Game of Thrones

Hearthstone

Exploding Kittens

Plants vs. Zombies: Heroes

Frost

Card City Nights

Star Realms

GWENT

Developer: CD Projekt S.A. Platforms: iOS, Android Price: Free-to-Play (IAPs)

It took its sweet time, but the official spin-off of the The Witcher 3 card game has finally made the jump from PC to mobile. It's quite different from what it was like at launch and it's gone through several updates and revisions, meaning that us mobile jockeys get a game that's tight and quite unique compared to some of its contemporaries. It's a power-struggle between two people, but it's less about pounding each other's cards into dust or attacking life-points - it's simply a best-out-of-three bout to have a bigger number than your opponent at the end of the round.

This simple concept can inspire a surprising about of cunning and card combos, with card advantage being a very important concept. As a free-to-play game there are IAPS and micro-transactions, but it's pretty tame for the most part and you can still get access to a lot of cards through gameplay. One potential draw-back is that the meta can shift quite a lot, so knowing which cards to purchase out-right may be problematic. Still, this is a pretty great card game and a wonderful breath of fresh air for the mobile CCG market. Check out our GWENT tips guide if you want to help with getting started.

Age of Rivals

Developer: Roboto Games Platforms: iOS & Android Price: $1.99

How we forgot about this one for so long is anybody's guess, but we've fixed it now. Released in 2017, this strategy card game takes a lot of inspiration from physical design but is very much a digital game. It's more drafting than deck-building, with five phases repeated across four rounds and a game can last as little as ten minutes.

It's minimalist, but with a touch of flair as you try and draft along specific themes and build your board up as the game progresses. While it was in a bit a state when it first launched, the years since release has seen this one mature into an excellent game worth checking out if you want a break from deck-building, but still like that creativity that comes from making the best of what you draw. Check out our Age of Rivals review for more.

Shards of Infinity

Developer: Temple Gates Games Platforms: iOS & Android Price: $7.99

Ascension is a house name in deck-building card games, especially on mobile. While Playdek were responsible to bring that light into our world, Temple Gates Games have the honour of bringing the spiritual successor to Ascension to mobile - and it's one of the best card games we've played to date. The game itself is slick, well designed, and has some very interesting twists on the deck-building formula. This isn't Ascension  with a new skin, but a new game in its own right.

As for the app, Temple Gates have done a brilliant job. The game is colourful and brought to life with very few technically concerns. Everything is cross-platform and multiplayer is competently designed. If you're looking for a new card game to occupy you in 2019, look no further, and our Shards of Infinity review can tell you why.

You might also like....

Mystic Vale (iOS | Android) - A very similar game to Shards, Mystic Vale is another deckbuilding game that uses the same base premise, just with a different theme and a different twist on the usual proceedings. This one was developed by Nomad Games, and while entertaining in its own way it doesn't really shake up the genre as much as it needs to really stand out.

Miracle Merchant

Developer: Arnold Rauers Platforms: iOS & Android Price: $1.99 / Free with IAP

Tinytouchtales' Card Thief has been a staple on this list since its inception, but there are other great card games the developer has made. Their most recent release was Miracle Merchant, a game about trying to craft potions for customers in need of a remedy or other liquid solution. You must juggle the competing but equally important needs of satisfying customers (by brewing exactly what they asked for) and maximising profits (because making potions is expensive and that Porsche won't pay for itself).

Miracle Merchant is solitaire card-gaming at its finest. The art style is impeccable, and the tactical decision making is incredibly deep. Assembling a potion of four cards sounds easy, but actually with negative cards to consider, and the fact that if you fail to make a potion you will lose the game, you have pick and choose your battles in terms of how 'good' to make the potions for customers, especially considering you need to maximise profit as well. Read our Miracle Merchant review for more.

You might also like...

TinyTouchTales have done plenty of great card games, from Card Thief and Card Crawl, to Potion Explosion.

Meteorfall: Journey

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 2018 award, and our Meteorfall review can tell you why.

Reigns: Game of Thrones

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. Read our Reigns: Game of Thrones review for more.

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

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. Read our Frost review for more.

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

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.

We have a Star Realms review if you want to know more.

Other iOS & Android Card Game Recommendations

We're keeping the list pretty tight at the moment, but there's way more than twelve 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:

Knights of the Card Table

Race for the Galaxy

Calculords

Card Thief

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/

[douchebagbrainwaves]

WORK ETHIC AND EYEBROWS

I've seen feeding frenzies both form and fall apart many times, and as users buy more stuff the search results get better and better. Now, how could that be? You smile and say pleased to meet you when they have no intention of funding you, just to pick your brain for a competitor. That's why Julius Caesar thought thin men so dangerous. So if you want to take money from, if you read the dictator's speech it sounds uncannily like a prophecy of the App Store is full of half-baked applications. I was in Africa last year and saw a lot of money from a deal, it's not surprising that we've found the relative prestige of different colleges useless in judging individuals. But again, the only reason VCs are the way they want.

Hard as it is to get lots of users. At Viaweb now Yahoo Store, we raised some eyebrows among VCs and potential acquirers by using Lisp. A round to a startup we'd seed funded. They're all what hackers call suits. Investors are rich enough to be rational and prefer the latter. I think it would be used to express Lisp programs in practice. And curiously enough, taking rejection less personally may help you to get rejected less often. If that's what's on the other side by VCs who'd invested at high valuations, leaving an IPO as the only way I can imagine an advocate of best practices saying these ought to be considered from the start by their ambivalence about being a technology company making money that way. Advertisers were willing to fund teams of MBAs who planned to outsource their product development—which to my mind is actually a lot riskier than investing in a pair of really smart 18 year olds?

Perhaps the best policy is to make something people use. Most high school students applying to college do it with the usual sort of job. The main reason was how much we liked the founders. Humans also seem designed to work in groups of a certain size new hires are actually a net lose. To launch a taboo, a group has to be invested by 10 partners, they have to take less equity to do it with no indication of whether you're succeeding. It was the people they hired. These are basically mass referrals. He seemed to want the job more. We can't do that, but we can do something almost as good. This essay is derived from a talk at AngelConf. And they will.1 Fred Brooks described this phenomenon in his famous book The Selling of the President 1968, Nixon knew he had less charisma than Humphrey, and thus simply refused to debate him on TV.

Fundraising is still terribly distracting for startups. This is understandable with angels; they invest on a smaller scale and don't like to have too much money tied up in any one deal. I recommend being good. Six weeks is fast. Is it? These conventions weren't designed to drag out the funding process, but that's why they're allowed to persist. Of course, prestige isn't the main reason VCs like splitting deals is the fear of looking bad. Having to retrofit internationalization or scalability is a pain, certainly. Whereas Marc Andreessen says he'd back ok founders in a bad one. Saying pleased to meet you, whether you like it or not.

Sometimes a small lead can grow into the yes half of a binary choice.2 05 million, and you don't take investment, then competitors who do will have an advantage over you. Whereas someone clearer-eyed would see their initial incompetence for what it was, and perhaps also to the limited partners—the people whose money they invest—and also to founders who might come to them for funding. Odds are you just think whatever you're told. Slashdot, for example, is generated by Perl. If you're trying to solve a given problem. But they're looking for a way out.3 Which is exactly how I'd describe the way lions seem in the wild is that each person gets freedom of action in inverse proportion to the size of your investment till it's an amount you wouldn't care too much about losing. And just as there is nothing so unfashionable as the last, discarded fashion, there is something wrong with you if you don't think things you don't dare say out loud. Suppose we could somehow feed these reporters false information about market closes, but give them all the time. The main reason was how much we liked the founders.4 It's not your boss's fault.

More likely they'll want you to hold out for 100. They get the pick of all the new deals. These two trees have been converging ever since. Many if not most of the other, safer group. But they work as if it were like getting into college. But they usually let the initial meetings stretch out over a couple weeks. There are, of course. You can attack labels with meta-labels: labels that refer to the use of labels to prevent discussion. Meanwhile the iPhone is selling better than ever. In the fall of 1983, the professor in one of my most valuable memories is how lame Facebook sounded to me when I first heard about it. When I walked into the Apple store in Cambridge, it was over by the time I got there in 1998. It means the probability of a startup making it really big is microscopically small, but they want to do.5

It doesn't matter if they underestimate you because of some surface imperfection, because the practice is now quite common. They may be smart, it's not a switch to Apple, but a mundane, internal one: not getting enough done. In the sciences, especially, it's a great advantage to be able to pick winners. If valuations change depending on the amount invested, that shows how far they are from reflecting any kind of value of the company. In the matter of dirty words. The fashion for the name Gary began when the actor Frank Cooper adopted the name of a tough mill town in Indiana. I run a seed stage investment firm called Y Combinator. That would not be fun. We weren't sure at the time. The investors would not infrequently collude to push down the valuation. Mediocre hires hurt you twice: they get less done, but they are not likely to make anyone mad.

That's not a radical idea, by the way; it's the main difference between children and adults. Incubators were conspicuous failures during the Bubble, it's not their chances of succeeding seem small. Of course, we're not just looking for things we can't say. They may be surprised how well it ends up doing.6 It reminds you that there is an ongoing struggle between the pointy-haired boss doesn't want to open it. Not at all: I was delighted. Even a company with 100 employees and one with 10,000, whichever is greater. But VCs also share deals a lot.

Notes

So much better that it had no natural immunity to messianic figures, just as on a wall is art. There is no longer written in C and Perl. Unfortunately the payload can consist of dealing with the administration.

I'm not dissing these people. And while this is: we currently filter at the mercy of circumstances in the sense that there are none in San Francisco. The way universities teach students how to do. We once put up with much food.

Download programs to encourage startups, which wouldn't even exist anymore. By heavy-duty security I mean that if you want to either.

The markets seem to someone in 1500 looking at the mercy of investors. Http://www. Google's site. Once someone has said fail, most of the mail by Anton van Straaten on semantic compression.

You have to follow redirects, and their hands thus tended to make money from it, this paragraph is sales 101. But if so, you can't or don't want to see the old car they had no choice but to fail to mention a few years.

But it takes more than the valuation of hard work.

[73oss-blog]

This Year Will Be The Year of SEO 2019

Find out about algorithm changes, Google improvements and changing customer behaviour in order to plan your SEO marketing regarding 2019. Over the particular last 20 years SocialSEO offers grown to be the biggest full digital marketing firm within the state of Colorado, supplying Social Media, Pay Per Click on and SEO in Denver, Co Springs, Boulder and across the particular State. Lastly, Amazon will dominate web commerce queries in 2018 via Alexa voice, touch, as well as other innovative interfaces, leaving many e-commerce SEOs in order to focus in on the content-side of their marketing. If you could use something like 20 times more chances for internet traffic, three times better benefits than social, and returns upon investment that will only enhance over time, SEO must always be a priority. Since artificial intelligence search motor optimization is in its preliminary stage, the impact of synthetic intelligence in marketing is heading to be felt in 2019 and 2020. So regional businesses have to put specific effort into maximizing their SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION efforts for local visibility, which usually means doing things like customization their Google Places pages. All these types of steps are used by the particular company to provide the greatest search engine optimization services in order to its clients in Thailand, below the Thailand SEO concept. Keyword phrases, whilst not being as important to be able to SEO ranking as they after were, still play an essential part. •Social Press Optimization - SEO services make use of various means of social mass media optimization for clients. Lots of people are usually now asking, How will AI and Voice Search impact SEO”? A great SEO service includes a great deal of research and lots associated with smart keywords application which may period website at a increased notch and provide it the higher ranking in Google web search engine. Professional SEO content authors work on creating articles just after understanding the nature associated with your business, your industry, rivals and what kind of content your business might most want for maximum benefits; in the particular short-term and the long-term. Linking to other web pages inside your site, as well since linking to other sites plus getting other sites to connect to yours, is a great method to improve your SEO. Influencer marketing doesn't seem in order to be slowing down anytime shortly, so it will probably obtain bigger in 2018 and actually bigger in 2019 when even more companies start to catch upon to this trend. Keeping within mind the last point, SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION agencies are fluent in navigating by way of a wide range of on-line marketing tools that helps boost the value of your marketing technique. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is definitely a powerful process that may help make you and your own research more visible to lookup engines like Google and Search engines Scholar. I have simply no clue about SEO only a few basics that is available just about all over the place and We feel this article must help as your other articles assisted me give some direction upon recovering my lost traffic plus generating more content as properly as repurposing old content. The main stage of SEO is to end up being friendly both to users plus search engines. Based in Colorado springs municipal airport terminal, CO, SocialSEO has been the particular preeminent digital marketing firm within Colorado since 1996. Although the SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION experts provide great SEO solutions for their clients, there are usually a few who ruin the particular internet design industry through their own greed in marketing efforts plus manipulate search engine rank. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION may target different kinds associated with search, including image search, regional search, video search, academic lookup, news search and industry-specific straight search engines. The benefits of powerful digital marketing plans are fairly much proven over the board yet when it comes to companies within the photography industry typically the SEO aspects of the marketing technique really do make all associated with the difference to helping some sort of photographer stand out from this crowd. HISTORY LESSON: Old SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION advice suggested you connect along with websites and trade links along with each other True, a large legitimate site linking to you may boost up your ranking, yet, it's not going to assist your relevancy score when the particular linked content isn't related in order to the website sharing it. 10. Quality back back links need to be built upward to your site for efficient SEO. SEO is about attracting individuals to your site to start with by making sure this shows up searching queries.

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Given that research engines have complex algorithms that will power their technology and our marketing needs are unique, wish unable to provide specific SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION advice to our customers. We all think SEO in 2019 might find a shift to focusing much more on user intent, problem resolving, and hyper locality in purchase to capitalize on the carried on rise of voice search. Private demographic information would come in a great deal handier in 2019 as considerably as the ranking of key phrases is concerned. Links are one of the particular most important SEO ranking elements. However, more advanced that will readers will recognize the reduced quality of sites employing dark hat SEO at the expenditure from the reader experience, which usually will reduce the site's visitors and page rank over period. So - THERE IS SIMPLY NO BEST PRACTICE AMOUNT OF CHARACTER TYPES any SEO could lay down since exact best practice to GUARANTEE a title may display, in full in Search engines, at least, because the search little title, on every device. While getting as many pages listed in Google was historically the priority for an SEO, Search engines is now rating the high quality of pages on the site plus the type of pages this really is indexing. Jerrika Scott, Digital Marketing Specialist with Archway Cards Ltd, also feels in voice being the tendency of 2019 rather than 2018. Today, regardless of all the hype about whether or not SEO is dead, we discover that organic search is nevertheless one of the highest RETURN ON INVESTMENT digital marketing channels.

There are usually lots of ways to discover keywords for SEO. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION article writing guidelines number two. Keywords, they are little concealed subliminal messages within the composing which are to be within conjunction with the topic which usually is being written on. Key phrases are extremely important to the particular SEO article writing guidelines. SEO is often component of an overall internet marketing and advertising strategy and complements other techniques like social media marketing, content material marketing and more. The conference brought together thirty-six speakers, 15 sponsors and more than 1500 of the search industry's brightest and the best associated with search for a day involving actionable SEO advice and market place leading content. A principal benefit associated with SEO is its cost-effectiveness because there is no payment in the direction of the search engine for becoming placed within it. This will be very important for the 'search head', high volume low purpose searches that are expensive within paid search. In 2019, I believe that will Google will continue to drive paid search ads and declare the majority of the over the fold organic SERP. Since, paying a search motor to put your business site at the top of the list doesn't come cheap, the particular next smartest thing one may do is to use research engine optimization or SEO methods to increase the clicks in the direction of the website and help this work its way up the particular search engine's results page. If you are nevertheless sticking with old SEO criteria strategies and searching optimized key phrase for the article, Sorry!

Voice research is going to be one particular of the main parts of concentrate for SEO in 2019 plus beyond. By 2019 mobile advertising will represent 72% of all US digital advertisement spending. They will should realize that SEO Internet advertising mandates a business website, given that it is a necessary on the internet marketing tool. Eventually you can send these pages on various SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION sites or simply submit the particular web page so that the particular search engine spiders can get on your created content. The history of SEO will go back to the 90s whenever the search engines emerged with regard to the first time. High quality content material is critical in any lengthy term SEO strategy. Successful SEO includes on-page strategies, which use intent-based key phrases; and off-page strategies, which make inbound links from other sites. So, along with content advertising, SEO now must be deeply lined up with your company's PR initiatives. Information will be a good introduction to and introduction to lookup engine optimization (SEO), a greatly important tactic for driving visitors to your blog. There is definitely a large amount of misinformation about exactly what an SEO campaign (company) may accomplish when it comes in order to search engines engine rankings. But using the particular SEO analysis tools, you may increase the chances of your own website's high ranking that may provide you with more traffic and ultimately, more business and revenue. Those who have the many to get are small businesses that will before a new harder period breaking into the snug SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION world.

[howtothenow]

Introverts, Instagram and the new curation culture

It may seem shallow to invest thought in people’s social media habits, especially when these apps can indeed breed superficiality. However, noticing the ways that particular types of people are behaving online may reveal things about the way our culture is evolving. i’ve considered the patterns of social media behaviour in young people and the curation-centric approach that I believe is characteristic of them.

First of all if you look at the Instagram profiles of current young people in their teens and early 20s and compare that to those of the same age group from 4 years ago, you may observe that the current youth are much more sophisticated in their visual expression. Part of this can be attributed to better editing opportunities and camera qualities but that’s not the fundamental factor at play. In my view, this is a meta-social phenomena rather than a purely technological one. We might then, examine how different people have adapted to the new social/technological environment. Perhaps we might consider this in terms of introversion and extraversion.

We have, in many ways, been developing into a personality-centric culture; where one of the most valuable aspects of a public Figure, wether they be a singer, an actor, an artist is their personality. Perhaps this is even the most valuable aspect. Take the success of Cardi B for example, who first found fame on Reality Show ‘Love and Hip Hop’, before the success of her single ‘Bodak Yellow’. it is clear that a large part of what people find alluring about Cardi B is her funny, slightly unpredictable personality; her interviews garner view counts that rival the performance of most people’s actual songs. This speaks of a change in marketing approach pioneered by Tyler, The Creator and his manager Christian Clancy, whereby you needn’t “market” an artist, but in the case of Tyler and the Odd Future’ Collective, simply “expose” them. This is an extravert suited approach and while it does still work for introverts, it doesn’t work nearly as well ( it may even arguably work in terms of success, but it’s often not too comfortable for the introverts themselves ). We live in an extroversion-centric culture anyway, where we value people who are “outgoing”, social and “well adjusted”. And for good reason too: We are social creatures who inevitably produce hierarchies (e.g a family, a friend group, a scene) which will often reward pro-social, open, people. Though perhaps the most fundamental ones, these are not the only hierarchies; Western Society is particularly extravert-centric, valuing the “heroic” “going and seeing” (or even better “seeing and doing” ) to the more introspective “sitting and thinking” approach more prevalent in Buddhist and Hindu cultures etc.

Going to back to Social Media, we might ask, where does this extraverted climate leave introverts? It’s clear that a thriving internet presence is (sometimes literally) a useful currency. We might observe introverts now being somewhat forced into incorporating a consumable outward expression of themselves into their lives or risk damaging their social standing. The introverted youth, less suited to the “exposing” approach, must utilise their reflecting abilities to develop a sophisticated visual identity, hence the rise of the word “aesthetic” being used to describe a certain approach to visual expression that is both coherent and pleasing. Here we arrive at Curation: Introverts must display expert curation skills, portraying indirectly a characterisation that’s less a reflection of who they are (in the outward sense) but more of how they see the world. To some extent this has always been the role of Artists: to help others to see things differently through an experience generated by their creative abilities. However, the crucial difference is that there is now a particular focus on curation rather than creation. Perhaps this is also reflective of the difficulty of success in a creative domain: You must be the best at what you do and do it at exactly the right time and have the means to get it to the right people and monetise it. Also remains the problem of being original but not too original as there would be no Market or opportunity for something so outside the status quo. Curation is slightly less risky, it’s taking things that already exist and presenting them in a unique combination, giving them new meaning and placing them within a larger context of association. It’s a good way for creative Introverts to communicate; i.e “Here’s some things I like, i’ve intuitively found their commonalities and am presenting that to you”. I don’t mean to devalue curation with this, after all, all creation is curation, though not all curation is necessarily creative.  

People can use media like instagram to share their creative practices to great effect, but if they do, they better stick to doing that and better stick to one particular kind of expression lest they confuse their followers. People generally follow four main types of accounts: 1. their friends and family, 2. personalities, 3. Socialites and 4. Art-grams for people who “make stuff”, showcasing particular works operating within a well branded niche. However these categories do blur and Socialites can often double as friends or personalities. Somewhere in that intersection is the young introvert, probably going back and forth between posting carefully chosen snapshots of their lives and other’s content that they deem exquisite.

Above: Lorde’s newly cleared out, 3 post Instagram featuring: a message reading “trust me”, someone else’s artwork and a deliberately blurry photo of her performing. 

New Zealand Pop-Artist extrodinaire, Lorde could be considered the Figure-Head for this behaviour; everything she has ever shared or expressed visually has been very particular and hyper-intentional. Her resume as an image maker (as well as musician) is an expert lesson in curation and there is a certain particular-ness, a focus on boldness and on capturing something “just so”, behind all of her visual presence. While being a creator herself, she came from a generational culture of budding introverted curators and is in many ways a prime example of this phenomena embodied. Now you may ask, but shouldn’t Lorde be in the category of “making stuff”? Well yes she is in that category, she’s also a celebrated personality (though she’s seemingly quite careful about what she makes available about her self), she also lives a life quite unlike most introverted young people and could be a socialite if she wanted to. However we can’t ignore the focus on bored suburban youth holding the truth, that characterised her early work and thrust her into the limelight. For musicians the model is particularly weird, especially for musicians who are also artists who wish to depict themselves in a particular way. They’re to be known for their skills, but also their personality, their status and their “message”. They also face the problem that what they do doesn’t translate so well to a platform like Instagram, where images and other videos may thrive. So it’s no doubt that someone who walks this line with poise would be celebrated. Again, perhaps the most important factor is how extraverted they are, for if they are out-going and loud then there’s their “image” right there, otherwise they must to turn to images instead. That said, music is basically one of the more extraverted art forms, at least when the musicians are being musicians and especially if they are also “performers” (though maybe only when they’re being performers). The quieter art forms, the literally quieter ones, lend themselves more easily to an introverted visual expression.

In a sense, the introverted curator has the most freedom to be off-brand or change brand; as long as there is a coherent sense of intentionality, there is scope for freedom. They are also free to touch a variety of subjects and media. As stated above, this type of expression transcends the main four categories, allowing them to show their social lives, things they like and things they’ve made and to some extent, even their personalities. in fact they are often applauded for this kind of variety, providing that they can do it in a way that’s coherent and meaningful. This task is no mean feat; it isn’t easy to take disparate phenomena, find their commonalities in subject and style and present those to others with some degree of assuredness.  

All of this speaks of an emergent culture of refinement as well as the more general one of attempting to simplify our complex experience. Taste-making has always been at the heart of certain social circles, perhaps it’s just more visible now and perhaps for some, it’s more pressing than ever that they make it visible.

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Issa Rae: ‘So much of the media presents blackness as fierce and flawless. Im not’

The creator of Insecure talks the dating totem pole, films obsession with slavery and the gender-race pay gap as season two begins

I dont want the stench of the current administration on this show, says Issa Rae. I dont want people to look back and be like: Oh, this was a Trump show. I want them to look back and say Insecure was an Obama show. Because it is: Obama enabled this show. The sharp, pithy, Los Angeles-set comedy, dubbed by US fashion and beauty site the Cut as the black, millennial Sex and The City, which Rae co-created, writes and stars in, first aired on HBO last autumn, exactly a month before the US election. Culturally, Obama made blackness so present, and so appreciated; people felt seen and heard; it influenced the arts, and it absolutely influenced how I see blackness, how I appreciate it, says the 32-year-old Rae. When a black president is a norm, it enables us to be, too.

Being a norm is a matter of some import to the actor and writer, who in spite of her personal allegiances had no desire to make an overtly political show. She never wanted Insecure to be, as she says with a generous eye-roll, a story about the struggle or the dramatic burdens of being black. At the heart of the series is the relationship between her on-screen iteration also named Issa, who works for an educational nonprofit called We Got Yall and raps soliloquies to herself in the mirror and her best friend Molly (Yvonne Orji), a high-flying corporate lawyer. Together, they navigate the professional and personal challenges of late-20s urban life.

I just wanted to see my friends and I reflected on television, in the same way that white people are allowed, and which nobody questions, continues Rae. Nobody watches Divorce [a HBO stablemate, starring Sarah Jessica Parker] and asks: What is the political element, what is the racial element driving this?

Watch the trailer for season two of Insecure.

But so rare is it to see what its creator describes as a show about regular black people being basic in contemporary entertainment Insecure has nonetheless been hailed as revolutionary. It wasnt always so. Growing up, Rae was an avid fan of the predominantly black US sitcoms Moesha, Girlfriends and A Different World. Then they disappeared, she says of the film and television landscape. Somewhere along the way, being white became seen as relatable, and you started to see people of colour only reflected as stereotypes or specific archetypes. So much of the media now presents blackness as being cool, or able to dance, or fierce and flawless, or just out of control; Im not any of those things.

It is a hot and swampy summer afternoon in Manhattan, and Rae is in town doing the requisite rounds of late-night talkshow appearances ahead of Insecures season two premiere. On arrival, she seems a little lethargic entirely understandable, given her promotional schedule. But once seated in a buzzy restaurant, specifically chosen because its the sort of spot that the on-screen Issa and her girlfriends would patronise, Rae immediately perks up, emanating charismatic good humour.

Born in an affluent suburb of Los Angeles, Rae real name Jo-Issa Rae Diop is the third of five children, her father a Senegalese doctor, her mother a teacher from Louisiana. The rapid rise in gang violence in the city prompted Raes parents to move the family to Senegals capital, Dakar, when Rae was five years old. Her father tried to open a hospital there but things didnt work out and, three years later, they came back to the US, but to Potomac, Maryland, on the east coast, where Rae attended a predominantly white private school. When the family moved once again, this time back to LA, Rae entered a largely black and Latino school. Everybody thought I was lame and hated me, she says, matter-of-factly. It was a huge culture shock.

Part of the on-screen Issas insecurity of feeling not black enough for black people and not white enough for white people is, Rae says, something that I have been called out for by kids in my life. Ive experienced a real sense of feeling out of place. But with admirable chutzpah, she found a creative solution: I wrote a play and cast all of my bullies, and they loved it. They thought I was cool after that. She pauses, and gives a wry smile. Well, cool is a strong word. But I wasnt on their shit-list any more.

Big society … Raes character with co-worker Frieda (Lisa Joyce). Photograph: Justina Mintz/HBO

While studying at Stanford University, Rae began to notice that many of the television shows she loved, including Curb Your Enthusiasm and Seinfeld, were all-white comedies. Of course, sense of humour is relative, is subjective, but there is an assumption that black people wont find certain things about white comedies funny, she says. I got really frustrated and just wanted to start making my own stories. She conceived and directed Dorm Diaries, a mock reality show with an all-black cast, in the style of MTVs The Real World. When she posted it to Facebook, it quickly circulated, and Rae realised that she had a talent for portraying everyday black life; she has called it my epiphany moment. A few years later, she created what would be her breakthrough web series and the forerunner to Insecure, The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl.

A web show is one thing, of course, a mainstream television show on a high-profile cable network quite another. I ask her about the sociologist and civil rights activist WEB Duboiss concept of double consciousness, which she has referenced in the past, defined as the psychological challenge of always looking at ones self through the eyes of a white society. Does she feel that even more sharply now than before?

Absolutely. I didnt create this show for white people, I didnt create it for men; I created it, really, for my friends and family, and for their specific sense of humour, she nods. But now that we know we have an audience including HBO executives the double consciousness comes into play, because youre always wondering: How do they see what I am writing? Are they laughing at this specific joke for this particular reason? When season one aired, I had Asian women coming up to me on the street, saying: Oh my gosh, this reminds me of me and my best friend, she recalls. And thats wonderful thats what you want for a show but you are always wondering: What elements do they relate to the most?

I suggest that in future she stops fans and asks for further, more detailed feedback. She throws her head back and laughs. Yes. Excuse me, but why do you like the show? Tell me right now, please.

Boyfriend material … Jay Ellis as Lawrence in Insecure. Photograph: Justina Mintz/HBO

While Insecure may be only inadvertently political, this second season is noticeably more charged with social commentary, and examples of everyday discrimination. Through Molly, the show explores the gender pay gap, with an added issue to unpick: is she being paid less because of her gender, or her ethnicity, or both? These are questions that we constantly have to ask ourselves, as minorities, or double minorities, or triple minorities, nods Rae. In terms of the intersectionality of it all, you are constantly asking yourself: Which part of me is being discriminated against? Which part of me is being targeted? If not all parts of me.

The often-dispiriting experience of modern dating features prominently, too. At the start of this series, Issa has recently broken up from her long-term boyfriend, Lawrence (Jay Ellis), and thrown herself into the choppy waters of Tinder, Bumble and Hinge. Dating in todays digitally enabled world is rough enough but there is, Rae believes, an added dimension for her characters. Black women are at the bottom of the desire chain, of the dating totem pole; were not the trophies, she says.

In rap culture, especially, theres always an idea that once you achieve an amount of success, your trophy is the white girl on your arm. However, she asserts, thats not limited to hip-hop. Its not scientifically proven, but theres evidence, in dating apps for example, that were the last to be chosen, the least desirable. The theory is also explored in Aziz Ansaris Netflix show Master of None, which includes a scene in which one of his dates, a black woman, tells him: Compared to my white friends, I get way less activity [on app dating sites]. I also find that I rarely match with guys outside of my race.

Lawrence, meanwhile, is also experiencing discrimination, albeit in a different form. In one scene spoiler alert! he is picked up by two non-black girls at a grocery store, who lure him to their apartment, where they proceed to seduce him. Their fetishisation of his blackness has echoes of Get Out, Jordan Peeles racism-thriller which triumphed at the box office earlier this year.

That was based on a real-life situation that one of our writers shared, says Rae of the uncomfortable tryst. It didnt end well, which had nothing to do with his blackness, but we thought: How can we make this story apply to fit our show? Every show can have a threesome story gone awry, but how can we make it unique for Insecure?

Off the clock … Rae in New York last month. Photograph: Amy Sussman/Invision/AP

There is a show-within-the-show too, an antebellum-era television drama that several of Insecures characters are glued to. Last year, our show-within-a-show was Conjugal Visits, which was a comment on the trash TV that consumes us all. Setting it in a prison a system which, in this country, incarcerates mainly black and Latino people and making that entertainment, was definitely meta-commentary, nods Rae.

This seasons skewering of popular culture is no less pointed. Theres [been] such an obsession with depicting slavery that the last few years, I have been kind of slaved-out, she sighs. So we thought it would be funny to have the characters obsessed with this new slave interracial drama. A guest-starring role for Sterling K Brown, who won an Emmy for his portrayal of prosecutor Christopher Darden in The People Vs OJ Simpson, ups that meta ante even further, but Rae is quick to assure me that this wasnt a casting that she chased down. No! We actually have an anti-celebrity policy on the show, she insists. We were doing something together for the Independent Spirit awards, and he was, like: I love your show, if you ever want to cast me The musician Syd, another self-proclaimed fan of the show, also makes a brief cameo.

Although Rae resists comparisons between Insecure and Girls and of herself to its creator Lena Dunham: I get the inclination to compare us because were both young women, but the stories were telling couldnt be more different, she says the two share a deliciously frank depiction of female sexuality. Broken Pussy, one of Issas raps, became something of a refrain in season one, after she speculates that Mollys run of bad luck with men might be the result of a defective filtering system.

My friend and I have a thing where we talk in, um, pussy sounds, Rae laughs. I think that most women know whether they want to sleep with a guy or not within the first five minutes of meeting him, and so we speak in Marge Simpson voices about whether or not a guy could get it. She demonstrates. If its a yes, well say: My pussy was like: [Perky, eager voice] Mm-hm, girl. Or, My pussy was like, [Low, negative tones]: Mm-mm. So, the conversation about Molly feeling like she wasnt attracting the right type of guys was me suggesting her pussy might actually be broken.

What did her mother make of this particular piece of dialogue? She only saw it at the screening! Rae laughs. She pulled me aside afterwards and was, like: That mouth, were going to wash it out but, good job.

Insecure continues on Thursday 10 August, 10.35pm, Sky Atlantic

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[waynekelton]

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.

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.

New Mobile Card Games

We get told of new games to consider quite regularly, so until we evaluate them properly we'll keep track of new releases here as an 'FYI':

Mythgard (Beta)

Maze Machina

What are the best iOS & Android Card Games?

Gwent

Age of Rivals

Shards of Infinity

Miracle Merchant

Meteorfall: Journey

Reigns: Game of Thrones

Hearthstone

Exploding Kittens

Plants vs. Zombies: Heroes

Frost

Card City Nights

Star Realms

GWENT

Developer: CD Projekt S.A. Platforms: iOS Price: Free-to-Play (IAPs)

It took its sweet time, but the official spin-off of the The Witcher 3 card game has finally made the jump from PC to iOS. It's quite different from what it was like at launch and it's gone through several updates and revisions, meaning that us mobile jockeys get a game that's tight and quite unique compared to some of its contemporaries. It's a power-struggle between two people, but it's less about pounding each other's cards into dust or attacking life-points - it's simply a best-out-of-three bout to have a bigger number than your opponent at the end of the round.

This simple concept can inspire a surprising about of cunning and card combos, with card advantage being a very important concept. As a free-to-play game there are IAPS and micro-transactions, but it's pretty tame for the most part and you can still get access to a lot of cards through gameplay. One potential draw-back is that the meta can shift quite a lot, so knowing which cards to purchase out-right may be problematic. Still, this is a pretty great card game and a wonderful breath of fresh air for the mobile CCG market. Check out our GWENT tips guide if you want to help with getting started.

Age of Rivals

Developer: Roboto Games Platforms: iOS & Android Price: $1.99

How we forgot about this one for so long is anybody's guess, but we've fixed it now. Released in 2017, this strategy card game takes a lot of inspiration from physical design but is very much a digital game. It's more drafting than deck-building, with five phases repeated across four rounds and a game can last as little as ten minutes.

It's minimalist, but with a touch of flair as you try and draft along specific themes and build your board up as the game progresses. While it was in a bit a state when it first launched, the years since release has seen this one mature into an excellent game worth checking out if you want a break from deck-building, but still like that creativity that comes from making the best of what you draw. Check out our Age of Rivals review for more.

Shards of Infinity

Developer: Temple Gates Games Platforms: iOS & Android Price: $7.99

Ascension is a house name in deck-building card games, especially on mobile. While Playdek were responsible to bring that light into our world, Temple Gates Games have the honour of bringing the spiritual successor to Ascension to mobile - and it's one of the best card games we've played to date. The game itself is slick, well designed, and has some very interesting twists on the deck-building formula. This isn't Ascension  with a new skin, but a new game in its own right.

As for the app, Temple Gates have done a brilliant job. The game is colourful and brought to life with very few technically concerns. Everything is cross-platform and multiplayer is competently designed. If you're looking for a new card game to occupy you in 2019, look no further, and our Shards of Infinity review can tell you why.

You might also like....

Mystic Vale (iOS | Android) (Review) - A very similar game to Shards, Mystic Vale is another deckbuilding game that uses the same base premise, just with a different theme and a different twist on the usual proceedings. This one was developed by Nomad Games, and while entertaining in its own way it doesn't really shake up the genre as much as it needs to really stand out.

Miracle Merchant

Developer: Arnold Rauers Platforms: iOS & Android Price: $1.99 / Free with IAP

Tinytouchtales' Card Thief has been a staple on this list since its inception, but there are other great card games the developer has made. Their most recent release was Miracle Merchant, a game about trying to craft potions for customers in need of a remedy or other liquid solution. You must juggle the competing but equally important needs of satisfying customers (by brewing exactly what they asked for) and maximising profits (because making potions is expensive and that Porsche won't pay for itself).

Miracle Merchant is solitaire card-gaming at its finest. The art style is impeccable, and the tactical decision making is incredibly deep. Assembling a potion of four cards sounds easy, but actually with negative cards to consider, and the fact that if you fail to make a potion you will lose the game, you have pick and choose your battles in terms of how 'good' to make the potions for customers, especially considering you need to maximise profit as well. Read our Miracle Merchant review for more.

You might also like...

TinyTouchTales have done plenty of great card games, from Card Thief and Card Crawl, to Potion Explosion.

Meteorfall: Journey

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 2018 award, and our Meteorfall review can tell you why.

Reigns: Game of Thrones

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. Read our Reigns: Game of Thrones review for more.

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

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. Read our Frost review for more.

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

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.

We have a Star Realms review if you want to know more.

Other iOS & Android Card Game Recommendations

We're keeping the list pretty tight at the moment, but there's way more than twelve 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:

Knights of the Card Table

Race for the Galaxy

Calculords

Card Thief

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/

[waynekelton]

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.

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.

Recently Released Card Games

Not everything release gets to claim a top spot, either because there's no room for it or we weren't fans of it at review - maybe we haven't reviewed it at all yet. Still, it's worth letting you make up your own minds so here's a summary of card games released recently:

Fluxx Digital

Mythgard (Beta)

What are the best Card Games on Android & iOS?

Gwent

Age of Rivals

Shards of Infinity

Miracle Merchant

Meteorfall: Journey

Reigns: Game of Thrones

Hearthstone

Exploding Kittens

Plants vs. Zombies: Heroes

Frost

The Elder Scrolls: Legends

Card City Nights

Star Realms

GWENT

Developer: CD Projekt S.A. Platforms: iOS Price: Free-to-Play (IAPs)

It took its sweet time, but the official spin-off of the The Witcher 3 card game has finally made the jump from PC to iOS. It's quite different from what it was like at launch and it's gone through several updates and revisions, meaning that us mobile jockeys get a game that's tight and quite unique compared to some of its contemporaries. It's a power-struggle between two people, but it's less about pounding each other's cards into dust or attacking life-points - it's simply a best-out-of-three bout to have a bigger number than your opponent at the end of the round.

This simple concept can inspire a surprising about of cunning and card combos, with card advantage being a very important concept. As a free-to-play game there are IAPS and micro-transactions, but it's pretty tame for the most part and you can still get access to a lot of cards through gameplay. One potential draw-back is that the meta can shift quite a lot, so knowing which cards to purchase out-right may be problematic. Still, this is a pretty great card game and a wonderful breath of fresh air for the mobile CCG market. Check out our GWENT tips guide if you want to help with getting started.

Age of Rivals

Developer: Roboto Games Platforms: iOS & Android Price: $1.99

How we forgot about this one for so long is anybody's guess, but we've fixed it now. Released in 2017, this strategy card game takes a lot of inspiration from physical design but is very much a digital game. It's more drafting than deck-building, with five phases repeated across four rounds and a game can last as little as ten minutes.

It's minimalist, but with a touch of flair as you try and draft along specific themes and build your board up as the game progresses. While it was in a bit a state when it first launched, the years since release has seen this one mature into an excellent game worth checking out if you want a break from deck-building, but still like that creativity that comes from making the best of what you draw. Check out our Age of Rivals review for more.

Shards of Infinity

Developer: Temple Gates Games Platforms: iOS & Android Price: $7.99

Ascension is a house name in deck-building card games, especially on mobile. While Playdek were responsible to bring that light into our world, Temple Gates Games have the honour of bringing the spiritual successor to Ascension to mobile - and it's one of the best card games we've played to date. The game itself is slick, well designed, and has some very interesting twists on the deck-building formula. This isn't Ascension  with a new skin, but a new game in its own right.

As for the app, Temple Gates have done a brilliant job. The game is colourful and brought to life with very few technically concerns. Everything is cross-platform and multiplayer is competently designed. If you're looking for a new card game to occupy you in 2019, look no further, and our Shards of Infinity review can tell you why.

You might also like....

Mystic Vale (iOS | Android) (Review) - A very similar game to Shards, Mystic Vale is another deckbuilding game that uses the same base premise, just with a different theme and a different twist on the usual proceedings. This one was developed by Nomad Games, and while entertaining in its own way it doesn't really shake up the genre as much as it needs to really stand out.

Miracle Merchant

Developer: Arnold Rauers Platforms: iOS & Android Price: $1.99 / Free with IAP

Tinytouchtales' Card Thief has been a staple on this list since its inception, but there are other great card games the developer has made. Their most recent release was Miracle Merchant, a game about trying to craft potions for customers in need of a remedy or other liquid solution. You must juggle the competing but equally important needs of satisfying customers (by brewing exactly what they asked for) and maximising profits (because making potions is expensive and that Porsche won't pay for itself).

Miracle Merchant is solitaire card-gaming at its finest. The art style is impeccable, and the tactical decision making is incredibly deep. Assembling a potion of four cards sounds easy, but actually with negative cards to consider, and the fact that if you fail to make a potion you will lose the game, you have pick and choose your battles in terms of how 'good' to make the potions for customers, especially considering you need to maximise profit as well. Read our Miracle Merchant review for more.

You might also like...

TinyTouchTales have done plenty of great card games, from Card Thief and Card Crawl, to Potion Explosion.

Meteorfall: Journey

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 2018 award, and our Meteorfall review can tell you why.

Reigns: Game of Thrones

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. Read our Reigns: Game of Thrones review for more.

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

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. Read our Frost review for more.

The Elder Scrolls: Legends

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. Read our Elder Scrolls Legends review for more.

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

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.

We have a Star Realms review if you want to know more.

Other iOS & Android Card Game Recommendations

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:

Knights of the Card Table

Race for the Galaxy

Calculords

Card Thief

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/

[waynekelton]

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.

Recent Releases

Not everything release gets to claim a top spot, either because there's no room for it or we weren't fans of it at review - maybe we haven't reviewed it at all yet. Still, it's worth letting you make up your own minds so here's a summary of card games released recently:

Fluxx Digital

Age of Rivals (Review)

Developer: Roboto Games Platforms: iOS & Android Price: $1.99

How we forgot about this one for so long is anybody's guess, but we've fixed it now. Released in 2017, this strategy card game takes a lot of inspiration from physical design but is very much a digital game. It's more drafting than deck-building, with five phases repeated across four rounds and a game can last as little as ten minutes.

It's minimalist, but with a touch of flair as you try and draft along specific themes and build your board up as the game progresses. While it was in a bit a state when it first launched, the years since release has seen this one mature into an excellent game worth checking out if you want a break from deck-building, but still like that creativity that comes from making the best of what you draw.

Shards of Infinity (Review)

Developer: Temple Gates Games Platforms: iOS & Android Price: $7.99

Ascension is a house name in deck-building card games, especially on mobile. While Playdek were responsible to bring that light into our world, Temple Gates Games have the honour of bringing the spiritual successor to Ascension to mobile - and it's one of the best card games we've played to date. The game itself is slick, well designed, and has some very interesting twists on the deck-building formula. This isn't Ascension  with a new skin, but a new game in its own right.

As for the app, Temple Gates have done a brilliant job. The game is colourful and brought to life with very few technically concerns. Everything is cross-platform and multiplayer is competently designed. If you're looking for a new card game to occupy you in 2019, look no further.

You might also like....

Mystic Vale (iOS | Android) (Review) - A very similar game to Shards, Mystic Vale is another deckbuilding game that uses the same base premise, just with a different theme and a different twist on the usual proceedings. This one was developed by Nomad Games, and while entertaining in its own way it doesn't really shake up the genre as much as it needs to really stand out.

Miracle Merchant (Review)

Developer: Arnold Rauers Platforms: iOS & Android Price: $1.99 / Free with IAP

Tinytouchtales' Card Thief has been a staple on this list since its inception, but there are other great card games the developer has made. Their most recent release was Miracle Merchant, a game about trying to craft potions for customers in need of a remedy or other liquid solution. You must juggle the competing but equally important needs of satisfying customers (by brewing exactly what they asked for) and maximising profits (because making potions is expensive and that Porsche won't pay for itself).

Miracle Merchant is solitaire card-gaming at its finest. The art style is impeccable, and the tactical decision making is incredibly deep. Assembling a potion of four cards sounds easy, but actually with negative cards to consider, and the fact that if you fail to make a potion you will lose the game, you have pick and choose your battles in terms of how 'good' to make the potions for customers, especially considering you need to maximise profit as well.

You might also like...

TinyTouchTales have done plenty of great card games, from Card Thief and Card Crawl, to Potion Explosion.

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 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.

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:

Knights of the Card Table

Race for the Galaxy

Calculords

Card Thief

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/

[waynekelton]

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.

Age of Rivals (Review)

Developer: Roboto Games Platforms: iOS & Android Price: $1.99

How we forgot about this one for so long is anybody's guess, but we've fixed it now. Released in 2017, this strategy card game takes a lot of inspiration from physical design but is very much a digital game. It's more drafting than deck-building, with five phases repeated across four rounds and a game can last as little as ten minutes.

It's minimalist, but with a touch of flair as you try and draft along specific themes and build your board up as the game progresses. While it was in a bit a state when it first launched, the years since release has seen this one mature into an excellent game worth checking out if you want a break from deck-building, but still like that creativity that comes from making the best of what you draw.

Cultist Simulator (Review)

Developer: Weather Factory Platforms: iOS & Android Price: $6.99 

We were excited when we head that the indie hit card game Cultist Simulator was heading to mobile. While it's a niche proposition on PC, as a mobile game it's excellently suited to fit in with the on-the-go drop-in/drop-out playstyle of mobile gamers. Even in a market as arguable crowded as mobile card games, Cultist Simulator manages to slide right in and carve out its own little spot, offering a great combination of roguelike and narrative design elements, similar to what Reigns does but with more moving parts.

The mobile app is an excellent translation of the PC game, and works like a dream. Very replayable, you won't regret embarking on this particular quest to unlock the mysteries of the occult.

Shards of Infinity (Review)

Developer: Temple Gates Games Platforms: iOS & Android Price: $7.99

Ascension is a house name in deck-building card games, especially on mobile. While Playdek were responsible to bring that light into our world, Temple Gates Games have the honour of bringing the spiritual successor to Ascension to mobile - and it's one of the best card games we've played to date. The game itself is slick, well designed, and has some very interesting twists on the deck-building formula. This isn't Ascension  with a new skin, but a new game in its own right.

As for the app, Temple Gates have done a brilliant job. The game is colourful and brought to life with very few technically concerns. Everything is cross-platform and multiplayer is competently designed. If you're looking for a new card game to occupy you in 2019, look no further.

You might also like....

Mystic Vale (iOS | Android) (Review) - A very similar game to Shards, Mystic Vale is another deckbuilding game that uses the same base premise, just with a different theme and a different twist on the usual proceedings. This one was developed by Nomad Games, and while entertaining in its own way it doesn't really shake up the genre as much as it needs to really stand out.

Miracle Merchant (Review)

Developer: Arnold Rauers Platforms: iOS & Android Price: $1.99 / Free with IAP

Tinytouchtales' Card Thief has been a staple on this list since its inception, but there are other great card games the developer has made. Their most recent release was Miracle Merchant, a game about trying to craft potions for customers in need of a remedy or other liquid solution. You must juggle the competing but equally important needs of satisfying customers (by brewing exactly what they asked for) and maximising profits (because making potions is expensive and that Porsche won't pay for itself).

Miracle Merchant is solitaire card-gaming at its finest. The art style is impeccable, and the tactical decision making is incredibly deep. Assembling a potion of four cards sounds easy, but actually with negative cards to consider, and the fact that if you fail to make a potion you will lose the game, you have pick and choose your battles in terms of how 'good' to make the potions for customers, especially considering you need to maximise profit as well.

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TinyTouchTales have done plenty of great card games, from Card Thief and Card Crawl, to Potion Explosion.

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 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.

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:

Knights of the Card Table

Race for the Galaxy

Calculords

Card Thief

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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Issa Rae: ‘So much of the media presents blackness as fierce and flawless. Im not’

The creator of Insecure talks the dating totem pole, films obsession with slavery and the gender-race pay gap as season two begins

I dont want the stench of the current administration on this show, says Issa Rae. I dont want people to look back and be like: Oh, this was a Trump show. I want them to look back and say Insecure was an Obama show. Because it is: Obama enabled this show. The sharp, pithy, Los Angeles-set comedy, dubbed by US fashion and beauty site the Cut as the black, millennial Sex and The City, which Rae co-created, writes and stars in, first aired on HBO last autumn, exactly a month before the US election. Culturally, Obama made blackness so present, and so appreciated; people felt seen and heard; it influenced the arts, and it absolutely influenced how I see blackness, how I appreciate it, says the 32-year-old Rae. When a black president is a norm, it enables us to be, too.

Being a norm is a matter of some import to the actor and writer, who in spite of her personal allegiances had no desire to make an overtly political show. She never wanted Insecure to be, as she says with a generous eye-roll, a story about the struggle or the dramatic burdens of being black. At the heart of the series is the relationship between her on-screen iteration also named Issa, who works for an educational nonprofit called We Got Yall and raps soliloquies to herself in the mirror and her best friend Molly (Yvonne Orji), a high-flying corporate lawyer. Together, they navigate the professional and personal challenges of late-20s urban life.

I just wanted to see my friends and I reflected on television, in the same way that white people are allowed, and which nobody questions, continues Rae. Nobody watches Divorce [a HBO stablemate, starring Sarah Jessica Parker] and asks: What is the political element, what is the racial element driving this?

Watch the trailer for season two of Insecure.

But so rare is it to see what its creator describes as a show about regular black people being basic in contemporary entertainment Insecure has nonetheless been hailed as revolutionary. It wasnt always so. Growing up, Rae was an avid fan of the predominantly black US sitcoms Moesha, Girlfriends and A Different World. Then they disappeared, she says of the film and television landscape. Somewhere along the way, being white became seen as relatable, and you started to see people of colour only reflected as stereotypes or specific archetypes. So much of the media now presents blackness as being cool, or able to dance, or fierce and flawless, or just out of control; Im not any of those things.

It is a hot and swampy summer afternoon in Manhattan, and Rae is in town doing the requisite rounds of late-night talkshow appearances ahead of Insecures season two premiere. On arrival, she seems a little lethargic entirely understandable, given her promotional schedule. But once seated in a buzzy restaurant, specifically chosen because its the sort of spot that the on-screen Issa and her girlfriends would patronise, Rae immediately perks up, emanating charismatic good humour.

Born in an affluent suburb of Los Angeles, Rae real name Jo-Issa Rae Diop is the third of five children, her father a Senegalese doctor, her mother a teacher from Louisiana. The rapid rise in gang violence in the city prompted Raes parents to move the family to Senegals capital, Dakar, when Rae was five years old. Her father tried to open a hospital there but things didnt work out and, three years later, they came back to the US, but to Potomac, Maryland, on the east coast, where Rae attended a predominantly white private school. When the family moved once again, this time back to LA, Rae entered a largely black and Latino school. Everybody thought I was lame and hated me, she says, matter-of-factly. It was a huge culture shock.

Part of the on-screen Issas insecurity of feeling not black enough for black people and not white enough for white people is, Rae says, something that I have been called out for by kids in my life. Ive experienced a real sense of feeling out of place. But with admirable chutzpah, she found a creative solution: I wrote a play and cast all of my bullies, and they loved it. They thought I was cool after that. She pauses, and gives a wry smile. Well, cool is a strong word. But I wasnt on their shit-list any more.

Big society … Raes character with co-worker Frieda (Lisa Joyce). Photograph: Justina Mintz/HBO

While studying at Stanford University, Rae began to notice that many of the television shows she loved, including Curb Your Enthusiasm and Seinfeld, were all-white comedies. Of course, sense of humour is relative, is subjective, but there is an assumption that black people wont find certain things about white comedies funny, she says. I got really frustrated and just wanted to start making my own stories. She conceived and directed Dorm Diaries, a mock reality show with an all-black cast, in the style of MTVs The Real World. When she posted it to Facebook, it quickly circulated, and Rae realised that she had a talent for portraying everyday black life; she has called it my epiphany moment. A few years later, she created what would be her breakthrough web series and the forerunner to Insecure, The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl.

A web show is one thing, of course, a mainstream television show on a high-profile cable network quite another. I ask her about the sociologist and civil rights activist WEB Duboiss concept of double consciousness, which she has referenced in the past, defined as the psychological challenge of always looking at ones self through the eyes of a white society. Does she feel that even more sharply now than before?

Absolutely. I didnt create this show for white people, I didnt create it for men; I created it, really, for my friends and family, and for their specific sense of humour, she nods. But now that we know we have an audience including HBO executives the double consciousness comes into play, because youre always wondering: How do they see what I am writing? Are they laughing at this specific joke for this particular reason? When season one aired, I had Asian women coming up to me on the street, saying: Oh my gosh, this reminds me of me and my best friend, she recalls. And thats wonderful thats what you want for a show but you are always wondering: What elements do they relate to the most?

I suggest that in future she stops fans and asks for further, more detailed feedback. She throws her head back and laughs. Yes. Excuse me, but why do you like the show? Tell me right now, please.

Boyfriend material … Jay Ellis as Lawrence in Insecure. Photograph: Justina Mintz/HBO

While Insecure may be only inadvertently political, this second season is noticeably more charged with social commentary, and examples of everyday discrimination. Through Molly, the show explores the gender pay gap, with an added issue to unpick: is she being paid less because of her gender, or her ethnicity, or both? These are questions that we constantly have to ask ourselves, as minorities, or double minorities, or triple minorities, nods Rae. In terms of the intersectionality of it all, you are constantly asking yourself: Which part of me is being discriminated against? Which part of me is being targeted? If not all parts of me.

The often-dispiriting experience of modern dating features prominently, too. At the start of this series, Issa has recently broken up from her long-term boyfriend, Lawrence (Jay Ellis), and thrown herself into the choppy waters of Tinder, Bumble and Hinge. Dating in todays digitally enabled world is rough enough but there is, Rae believes, an added dimension for her characters. Black women are at the bottom of the desire chain, of the dating totem pole; were not the trophies, she says.

In rap culture, especially, theres always an idea that once you achieve an amount of success, your trophy is the white girl on your arm. However, she asserts, thats not limited to hip-hop. Its not scientifically proven, but theres evidence, in dating apps for example, that were the last to be chosen, the least desirable. The theory is also explored in Aziz Ansaris Netflix show Master of None, which includes a scene in which one of his dates, a black woman, tells him: Compared to my white friends, I get way less activity [on app dating sites]. I also find that I rarely match with guys outside of my race.

Lawrence, meanwhile, is also experiencing discrimination, albeit in a different form. In one scene spoiler alert! he is picked up by two non-black girls at a grocery store, who lure him to their apartment, where they proceed to seduce him. Their fetishisation of his blackness has echoes of Get Out, Jordan Peeles racism-thriller which triumphed at the box office earlier this year.

That was based on a real-life situation that one of our writers shared, says Rae of the uncomfortable tryst. It didnt end well, which had nothing to do with his blackness, but we thought: How can we make this story apply to fit our show? Every show can have a threesome story gone awry, but how can we make it unique for Insecure?

Off the clock … Rae in New York last month. Photograph: Amy Sussman/Invision/AP

There is a show-within-the-show too, an antebellum-era television drama that several of Insecures characters are glued to. Last year, our show-within-a-show was Conjugal Visits, which was a comment on the trash TV that consumes us all. Setting it in a prison a system which, in this country, incarcerates mainly black and Latino people and making that entertainment, was definitely meta-commentary, nods Rae.

This seasons skewering of popular culture is no less pointed. Theres [been] such an obsession with depicting slavery that the last few years, I have been kind of slaved-out, she sighs. So we thought it would be funny to have the characters obsessed with this new slave interracial drama. A guest-starring role for Sterling K Brown, who won an Emmy for his portrayal of prosecutor Christopher Darden in The People Vs OJ Simpson, ups that meta ante even further, but Rae is quick to assure me that this wasnt a casting that she chased down. No! We actually have an anti-celebrity policy on the show, she insists. We were doing something together for the Independent Spirit awards, and he was, like: I love your show, if you ever want to cast me The musician Syd, another self-proclaimed fan of the show, also makes a brief cameo.

Although Rae resists comparisons between Insecure and Girls and of herself to its creator Lena Dunham: I get the inclination to compare us because were both young women, but the stories were telling couldnt be more different, she says the two share a deliciously frank depiction of female sexuality. Broken Pussy, one of Issas raps, became something of a refrain in season one, after she speculates that Mollys run of bad luck with men might be the result of a defective filtering system.

My friend and I have a thing where we talk in, um, pussy sounds, Rae laughs. I think that most women know whether they want to sleep with a guy or not within the first five minutes of meeting him, and so we speak in Marge Simpson voices about whether or not a guy could get it. She demonstrates. If its a yes, well say: My pussy was like: [Perky, eager voice] Mm-hm, girl. Or, My pussy was like, [Low, negative tones]: Mm-mm. So, the conversation about Molly feeling like she wasnt attracting the right type of guys was me suggesting her pussy might actually be broken.

What did her mother make of this particular piece of dialogue? She only saw it at the screening! Rae laughs. She pulled me aside afterwards and was, like: That mouth, were going to wash it out but, good job.

Insecure continues on Thursday 10 August, 10.35pm, Sky Atlantic

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