Messages

31

Forum Bugs, Suggestions, Complaints / Re: Suggestions for SpiritWars 2013

« on: January 02, 2013, 05:01:53 PM »

One thing to keep in mind was that you always had a high rating, so you KNEW that you were going to move first, which is less of a disadvantage than not knowing if you're moving first or second. The players who weren't sure if they were going first or second didn't have that luxury, so you were never 100% sure if you were moving first.  Don't get me wrong, a first move deck should still be good moving second, but you know what I mean. 

You definitely have to have the right spirits to be able to make a good first move deck.  I had some good first move decks and got as high at 180 rating before, but I also repopped every 90 days just because I loved getting a new deck no matter how good my population was.  Whenever I was able to build a good first move deck, it seemed like eventually bad luck on the migrations would catch up and my deck wouldn't be viable for first move anymore and I'd have to try some different homelands.  However, if we go to a system where players never lose their spirits, then it might not be as much of an issue.

I definitely remember Randy mentioning that 1st move VS 2nd move was close to 50/50 win ratio, which (as you mentioned) is an argument that 2nd move is a huge advantage if anything.  Obviously you'd expect the higher rated player to win a lot more than 50% of the time.

I definitely like your suggestion about the defenders.  I would think that would definitely help.

As for "First Strike", the defender still has the option of avoiding combat or moving, although when I mentioned it, I forgot, there wasn't First Strike in the game, it was First Turn Attack which I got confused after player all these other CCG's.

32

Forum Bugs, Suggestions, Complaints / Re: Suggestions for SpiritWars 2013

« on: January 02, 2013, 03:07:27 PM »

Yeah, I definitely agree with you on the distance between castles.

If they go to a business model where players acquire cards via packs, then a lot more spirits will need to be introduced to roll out expansion sets to keep the game fresh.  Most CCG's usually introduce either new factions/colors/homelands or new abilities/attributes to the current factions/colors/homelands. 

I think everyone would probably agree that 6 homelands are plenty, so if new expansion cards were introduced, are there any kinds of attributes/abilities that might help Silver (1st player) to help reduce Gold's (player 2) huge advantage?  For example, an ability like "First Strike" definitely benefits Player 1.

I know archers and getting flanked are huge issues against Silver.  Maybe abilities that protect against that?  Such as stoneskin/armor that protects against archers or additional attacks, or maybe the ability to entrench instead of attacking which could provide Armor (1/x) if you don't attack.

33

Forum Bugs, Suggestions, Complaints / Re: Suggestions for SpiritWars 2013

« on: January 02, 2013, 01:25:33 PM »

@Minmaxer, good to see another familiar name. 

I totally agree with what you said.  I always hovered around 110-120 rating.  I know you were usually one of the few players who was 140-200+ quite a bit along with Xerin.  I probably played about 60-65% of my games moving first, not nearly as much as you of course.  My #1 concern about balance in this game is the huge 2nd turn advantage.  I think it was a turn-off for a lot of people and it led to a lot of sandbagging (players wouldn't play their best dungeons/spirits if there was a good chance they were moving first).

I definitely wasn't trying to saying that I thought the maps should be bigger (more hexes)...

I definitely don't think that all maps should be larger, I think 86 hexes was close ideal, but the larger sizes of Maps #2 and #3 opens the possibility of unique maps shapes such as...

...what I was meaning to imply was that if the templates were larger, such as maps #2 and #3, then it opens up the variety of map shapes, such as map #4.  Once again, I think 86 hexes is close to perfect, but in the game's original version, there wasn't a lot of variety in maps because of the limitations of screen resolutions and dimensions.  Every map was 14x7 (14 hexes wide by 7 hexes tall). You could generally tell where your opponent's castle was within a couple hexes based on your own starting position and most of the gameplay was east-to-west.  The only odd shaped maps ended up having about 25+ skulls in order to change the shapes, but there wasn't much room for variety still.

What's your opinion of using a map template of Map #2 or #3, but keeping the number of hexes between 65-90, such as Map #4? 

(Don't critique the actual Map #4 though as it was just an extremely quick example of a unique shaped map that I threw together in 5 seconds without putting much thought into it.)

I played close to 6000 games, which was #3 for most games all-time.  I believe Alchemist and you might have been the two players with more games played than me.  I also knew almost every map by heart, even the near identical ones where Randy tried to fool you on which direction the opponent was.  It was a definite advantage.  I actually wouldn't mind seeing computer generated random maps (with some constraints of course, such as a higher frequency of flatlands/woodlands vs drylands/darklands; clusters of homelands/streams/deep water; castles 5-10 hexes apart for the most part; avoid pinning players in a corner; etc).

Another negative aspect of larger maps (as in more total hexes in play) would be that they would lead to longer games, which is the opposite direction the game needs to go.  I actually think @ 75 hexes might be a good number if the maps are more square or uniquely shaped.

I hope all that made sense.

34

SpiritWars Discussion / Spirit Gallery

« on: January 02, 2013, 04:56:45 AM »

Here's a link to a Spirit Gallery for everyone's reference.

I made this spreadsheet over 10 years ago, but never had a way to upload it to the internet to share with everyone.  Please let me know if the link works or not, this was my first time using Google Documents.  For some reason, the two right-most columns got chopped off.  They were the "Spell Cost" (energy cost for spirits to use their abilities, e.g. - Drylands Shaman) and "Max per Dungeon" (maximum copies of a spirit per dungeon, either 1 or 5, and you can most likely figure out which was which).

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B3ZPAYwTkPl5dG9fcExjLUQ2dEE

35

News / Re: Status update + input needed

« on: January 01, 2013, 11:25:21 AM »

That the Rare/Ultra Rare spirits not be available to purchase in packs. It goes back to the part where I would not like seeing it turn into he would has the most money has all the best spirits. Common and Uncommon spirits are what build a beck. And more often than not they are what win it.

@Neo Pain, I think we're on the same page still if I understand your concerns.  I don't want to see people running around with overpowered decks that they purchased.  I think it would be silly if people had decks with Council of Generals x3, Drylands Palace x5, Pyramid x5, Fixed Catapult, Lilith, Ballista, Catapult, Arabian Knights x5, Sicilian Knights x5, etc.  Heck, I don't want to see anyone ever with those kinds of decks whether they purchased it or earned it via free-to-play, unless it's some kind of special event/tournament or an optional game type.

One way that some games avoid this (over-powered dungeons full of uber-cards) is by limiting the number of rare/legendary cards allowed per deck, or a rating system (star ratings on cards).  The only constraint SpiritWars had was that some cards that were allowed only 1 copy per dungeon, but nothing more was needed due to negative and loss migrations.  Some system might be needed however if we move away from migrations, which I think will be necessary if SpiritWars goes with a free-to-play ("freemium") business model.

I liked the Trade version, but I think the final Member's Non-Trading version was better because dungeons were a lot less over-powered. I used to love getting a repop, especially the global repops. In trade, I remember people having multiple dieties, 10 archers in every deck, War Chant x5, etc.  While it was fun sometimes, you always saw the same dungeons and spirits.  I think the games were a lot more strategic (and therefore more fun) in the non-trading version where the dungeons weren't on steriods.

I realize that not everyone might know or remember what spirits were labeled "rare" and "ultra rare".  I built a large spreadsheet a long time ago for SpiritWars with every spirits information.  After the game went offline, I was considering trying to rebuild it when it was offline for some time and accessed the spirit database.  The only information in there that I don't think was posted online anywhere was the rarity and distribution frequency of each spirit.

Out of the 506 spirits in the game, 73 (14%) were "common", 177 (35%) were "uncommon", 170 (34%) were "rare" and 86 (17%) were "ultra rare".  Some of the "rares" and "ultra rares" in SpiritWars weren't over-powered or even very desirable cards by any means, for example - Armasi Henchman, Nubian Slaves, Vestal Priestess, Alesian Lookout, Restoration, Treacherous Virgin, etc.

In addition to rarity, each card had a distribution frequency associated with it, so even some of the common cards weren't really common.  Here's a few of the "common" cards with low distribution frequencies - Bog Monster, Bison, Arctic Bear, Apostasy, Dragonbane.

The only reason I'm mentioning this is to make sure we're using the same nomenclature.  A lot of the "rare" and "ultra rare" spirits aren't very over-powered and some of them are very weak.

Anyways, I think you need to allow people to get "rare" and "ultra rare" cards from buying packs.  I believe the chance of collecting one of the really powerful cards is the main reason that people will want to spend money ($$) on the game. I think these packs should also be available to free-to-play players, but it should cost in-game currency (gold) that takes a while to earn.

The only cards I was suggesting that weren't available to free-to-play players would be all the cards from the newest expansion set(s).  Each new expansion set should include the same distribution of common/uncommon/rare/ultra rares, so when a paying player buys a new pack, they're only getting 1 rare per pack (with a very small chance of it being extra rare).  Or maybe even have only 5 cards in a pack with no guarantee of one of them being a rare, for example - 3 common, 1 uncommon, 1 uncommon(75%)/rare(17%)/ultra rare(8%).

By the way, here's a list of the spirits that are categorized as "rare" and "ultra rare"...

RARE SPIRITS (170)

ENERGY (25)

• Darkwizard's Crypt, Moonlit Tomb, Vampire's Castle
• Drylands Palace, Merchant Caravan, Pyramid, Tower of Babel
• Aqueduct, Coliseum, Gladiator Academy, Mt. Vesuvius
• Augean Stables, Greek Monastery, Minotaur's Cave, Mountain Stream, Mt. Etna
• Isle of the Dead, Mineral Springs, Tethys' Well, Trading Post, Waterfall
• Druid's Grove, Farmers Market, Hibernian Alehouse, Hibernian Shepherd

COMBAT (74)

• Ancient WitchChild, Armasi Assassin, Armasi Henchman, Crimson Wizard, Dark Adept, Dark Enchantress, Dark Scholar, Dark Witches, Hydra, Lord of the Dead, Nemesis, Phantom Horde, Shadow Blades, Vlad the Impaler, Werewolf
• Charax Sorceress, Fixed Catapult, Lilith, Mounted Bowmen, Nile Crocodiles, Nubian Slaves, Parthian Archers, Parthian Warlord, Ramses, Sultan of Persia, Unseen Stalker, Weapons Master
• Apulian Archers, Apulian Priest, Bacchus, Ballista, Catapult, Centurion, Cleric of Apollo, Hannibal's Elephants, Pavian Alchemist, Pavian Merchant, Praetorian Guard, Priest of Mars, Roman Horse-Archers, Roman Shield Bearer, Spartacus, Venal Governor, Vestal Priestess
• Argonaut Archers, Beastmaster, Centaurs, Cyclops, Jason, Priest of Vulcan, Rock Troll, Spartan Archers, Spartan Engineers
• Alesian Lookout, Atlantis Shaman, Banshee, Berserker, Crossbowmen, Frost Giant, Savarian Wizard, Saxon Knights, Siren, Valkyries, Viking Pillagers
• Elf Ranger, Elven Blades, Elven Princess, Elven Sorceress, Giant Hedgehog, Hippolyta, Sylvan Druid, Unicorn, Verdant Thicket, Woodland Sylph

DEFENDER (17)

• Necromancer's Tower, Ogre's Lair
• Flaming Wall, Sumerian Citadel
• Hangman's Gallows, Roman Fortress, Temple of Pluto
• Dragon's Cave, Highland Bandits, Highlands Fortress
• Sea Dragon's Lair
• Amazon Temple, Elven Outpost, Giant Spider Web, Hesperides Garden, Living Thorns, Tree Fort

SPELL (54)

• Anthrax, Darkwizard's Spellbook, Gluttony, Graft & Corruption, Under the Red Sky, Vampire's Kiss, Warped Terrain
• Antediluvian Curse, Column of Fire, Council of Generals, Emancipation, Eye for an Eye, Fortify Defenders, Hero's Quest, Internal Power, Pacifism, Prisoner of War, Tomb of the Kings, Whispering Sphinx
  
• Age of Reason, Cupid's Arrow, Devout Prayers, Exorcism, Fall of the Mighty, Hasten Fighters, Hasten Romans, Holy Light, Master's Wisdom, Military Genius, Rage of Perseus, Sicilian Executioner, Spyglass
  
• Advanced Architecture, Aegean Sea Tempest, Conscription, Earthquake, Love Letter, Oath of Fealty, Recurved Bows, Stone Masons
  
• Alesian Frigate, Bolt of Lightning, Mermaid's Prize, Mjolnir, Rampaging Colossus, Treachery, War Chant
• Clinging Vines, Harvest Time, Kiss of Life, Natural State, Pandora's Box, Restoration, Treacherous Virgin

 
ULTRA RARE SPIRITS (86)

ENERGY (22)

• Armasi Ferrier, Decrepit Mill, Dragons Graveyard
• Desert Scavengers, Library of Alexandria, Nubian Refugees, Persian Waterwheel
• Apulian Smithy, Arundel Mill
• Diamond Mine, Mounted Hunter, Olympic Vineyards, Oracle, Vulcan's Forge
• Alesian Harbor, Itinerant Merchant, Nereid's Spring, Saxon Seer
• Forest Chapel, Mts. of the Moon, Sacred Oak, Sacred Woods

COMBAT (40)

• Circe, Fallen Paladin, Grendel, Medusa, Unholy Priestess
• Bedouin Saboteur, Osirus, Priest of Karnak, Sphinx
• Apollo's Seamstress, Cupid, Diana, Venus
• Achilles, Ajax, Alexander the Great, Athena, Cronos, Dwarven Slaver, Dwarven Smith, Guldar, Hector, Hercules, Storm Mage, Vulcan
• Baldur the Good, Beowulf, Moat Monster, Orion, Saxon Bard, Sea Dragon, Thor, Viking Archer
• Ash Druid, Bird-Headed Monster, Forest Dragon, Hibernian Fletcher, Hibernian Hares, Lemming, Pan

DEFENDER (3)

• Forest of the Impaled
• Dwarven Fortress
• Guardian Angel

SPELL (21)

• Acid Rain, Ambush, Grim Reaper, Poisoned Chalice, Ragnarok, Suicide, Witchcraft
• Scorched Earth, Spoils of War, Tribute
• Aphrodite's Dream, Jubilee, Juno's Betrayal
• Funeral Procession, Stone Touch, Thunder of Zeus
• Lost at Sea, Meteor Shower, Sunken Warship
• Pagan Sacrifice, Purify Waters

36

Forum Bugs, Suggestions, Complaints / Re: Suggestions for SpiritWars 2013

« on: December 31, 2012, 05:11:54 AM »

MAPS CONTINUED

Map #3 - More of a square shape with 130 hexes.

I definitely don't think that all maps should be larger, I think 86 hexes was close ideal, but the larger sizes of Maps #2 and #3 opens the possibility of unique maps shapes such as...

Map #4 - Unique map shape with 71 hexes.

37

News / Re: Status update + input needed

« on: December 31, 2012, 03:35:28 AM »

I had some other ideas that I wanted to throw out there, but I don't want to turn this into a suggestion thread.  I tried to keep a lot of the suggestions/input I posted in this thread relevant to the business model (such as revenue, attracting and retaining players, important changes that I feel are needed to bring SpiritWars up-to-date with other CCG's in 2013 and beyond).  As Lyn mentioned, this game was launched back in the late 1990's when the internet was still new and people were connecting via dial-up modems.

I've moved some of my other suggestions which aren't as important to the business model (such as achievements, changes to the maps, etc) to the Suggestions section of the forums.

38

Forum Bugs, Suggestions, Complaints / Re: Suggestions for SpiritWars 2013

« on: December 31, 2012, 03:27:27 AM »

MAPS

I think a big reason that the SpiritWars maps were all exactly the same size and shape was because of the limitations of the graphics/monitors when Randy originally built the game.   Back in 1998 when the game was released, over half of all internet users were using displays with 800x600 graphics or lower.  SpiritWars was originally designed to run optimally at 800x600 resolution, so there was definitely less room (less display area) to fit everything into the GUI than nowadays. 

As monitors (and graphics cards) evolved with the changeover from CRT monitors to LCD, display resolutions have greatly increased.  Of course, the standard aspect ratio has changed as well from 4:3 to 16:9.  As of today, over 90% of people online are running at resolutions greater than 1024x768, with the most popular resolution being 1366x768 (most common laptop resolution).  Online gamers are the most likely to run at higher resolutions as well.

With that being said, now that there's more than twice as much display area, this also opens up the possibility of different map shapes and sizes.  Before, there wasn't much room and not really any other option than the 86-hex SpiritWars maps we are all used to.  Now that there's plenty of space, so I've created some examples of new map shapes and sizes that are now possible.

I've included some examples...

Map #1 is the map we're all used to with 86 hexes.

Map #2 is the same shape map, but with 115 hexes.

39

News / Re: Status update + input needed

« on: December 30, 2012, 09:11:54 AM »

@ Neo Pain... I think I agree with just about everything you've said in you last message.
 

Free to play. This is by far becoming one of the most popular concepts in gaming now. League of Legends is the BIGGEST online game... bigger than WoW because it is free to play. They make their money on non game impacting sales. They (and I) agree that if you can use money to buy things it shouldn't be to give yourself an advantage over those who cannot afford to buy shinies. Even as I say that i could see selling small packs of cards with maybe up to uncommon rarity (like MtG). Cards that would help build a deck but not be game changers in themselves.

I think free-to-play (f2p) is the best way to go as well.  I think one thing that hurt SW before was that the free-side and member's side were completely alienated from each other.  I've played a lot of League of Legends over the past few years, although I haven't played it much lately (I think I last played about 6 months ago), nevertheless, LoL is a great game with a great business model and they've been extremely successful with a free-to-play model.

One thing I wasn't clear on was... are you suggesting a) that f2p players can buy cards up to uncommon rarity (and allowing paying players to get rare/ultra rare in their packs); -OR- b) only paying players can buy packs, but only with common and uncommon?

I suggested allowing paying players to buy all packs, but f2p players would be limited to using an in-game psuedo currency (e.g. - gold) to purchase packs, but limit the f2p players to only the older cards (don't allow them to purchase cards from the most recent expansion packs.  The gold that f2p players could earn would need to take a while to acquire, but not an eternity.  For example, the most basic pack might take a ~6 hours of playing to earn enough gold.  Some of the better packs would cost 2x/5x/10x/20x more, thereby requiring roughly 12/20/40/80 hours of game play or more just to earn a pack.  These same packs would be available for purchase via real currency for a fee of $2-$7 (depending on which pack) or something like that and be the only players able to get the most recent expansion spirits as they aren't available right away for purchase by f2p players (until 6 months later?).

This would allow f2p players to remain competitive, although they'd have to play a ton of games to earn the gold to purchase the cards.  Having a large base of players playing a ton of games is a good thing for everyone.  They wouldn't have immediate access to the new shinies of course, but it shouldn't handicap them.  New expansion spirits shouldn't be more powerful or anything, although there would be more synergy opportunities.
 

League of Legends sale the new champions and different skins that are available for all the champions. But if you are like me and are monetarily challenged then you can earn in game "money" to buy champions. And even if you don't buy them all you still get opportunities to play them thanks to there being a "free" rotation of the champions you can use. Sooner or later you can play everyone.

Again, I agree.  This is similar to what I mentioned above about f2p players not having immediate access to cards.  League of Legends definitely has a great setup with their weekly rotation of champions.  This could definitely be applied to SpiritWars.  I would suggest leaving out all the ultra rares of course, but maybe have a weekly rotation of 10 spirits (9 uncommon, 1 rare) randomly chosen from all expansions except the most recent one, or maybe even better yet, a couple from each homeland.
 

I think the biggest problem we will have this go around will be competing in an instant gratification world. Many of these games nowadays are short quick and simple. And you either win or lose in that same quick manner. As we all know SW often is not a quick process. However just winning was enough for most of us. Or having a great match. And then the victory mig was always nice as well.  We have to make sure that win or lose the game will keep people's attention.

Once again, I agree.    I think the game will definitely need to be sped up.
 

Possibly offer an in game currency that you receive. A lot on win... half as much with a loss.

I think I'd make it less than half for a loss, or implement a system similar to League of Legends that only gives full credit to both players if the game lasts a certain period of time (24 min in LoL I believe).  Something like this would need to be implemented to deter win-trading or players quitting the second they fall behind.  Maybe a penalty for players quitting early too.
 

That way people with not as much money can still purchase in game content... just slower. Biggest thing is making sure to make it so money bought services has little impact the played game... i.e. he who has the most money can't just just buy the best deck.

This is a very important point!  I've seen a lot of games that claim to be free-to-play, but in reality they are pay-to-win and f2p players have absolutely no chance no matter how good they are or how long they've been playing.  Pay-to-Win games, games that offer way too much of an advantage to paying players, always fail in the end because it's never about skill, it's about who spends the most money that determines the outcome of games.
 

But another thing is content would have to be put out on a regular basis. To keep the game fresh and evolving. In a way almost like M:tG. Up population sizes and see where we go. That was always one of the things I enjoyed doing... creating a deck out of all the chaos.

Deinitely.  Release new content every month or two if possible, not necessarily

I suggested raids, scenarios, expansion packs, etc. earlier in this thread.  Those are very common and popular with online CCG's.  I would try to spread content releases out as much as possible instead of dropping huge patches of new content all at once.

For example...

Week #5 - Release new scenario pack
Week #10 - Release some raids
Week #15 - Release expansion pack (30-50 cards)
Week #20 - Release more scenarios
etc.

40

SpiritWars Discussion / Re: HELP!!!

« on: December 30, 2012, 05:18:09 AM »

The closest game I have ever seen to SpiritWars is "The Far Wilds".    Believe it or not, SpiritWars is also the closest game I have ever seen for The Far Wilds as well.  I started playing it a few years ago when I was looking for a game similar to SpiritWars after the game was taken offline.  I think SpiritWars is the better game, hands down.  A few years ago, it wasn't uncommon to see 30-40 people online at the same time. 

It is a CCG with a map, but it's basically in the same state as SpiritWars right now.  The designer was working a full time job IRL and didn't have the time or money to put into the game and walked away from it.  The game is actually still up and running and you can play against computer opponents or other players if there's any online.  I've logged into it for the first time in a long time a couple days ago and have only seen 2 people online in the 3 times I logged in.

The game has a 13x12 hexagonal map, simlar to SpiritWars but a little bit bigger (154 tiles vs 86).  The object of the game is to score 20 points before your opponent.  In order to score points, you want to control Flux Wells.  There's 5 Flux Wells on the map in the same place every game, one in the middle and one in each of the 4 corners.  Any round in which a player controls more Flux Wells than their opponent, they score 2 points.  There's also a couple other rare ways to score points, but I can't remember them off the top of my head.

Flux Wells are controlled by placing buildings (cards) nearby.  The gameplay is a lot like SpiritWars (buildings have a vision/capture range but don't do much else except for some rarer buildings).  Anyways, that's kind of a quick explanation.  I believe there's still a tutorial up and running.

Also, there's 2 different versions you can run... one is the flash player which allows you to play through your web browser in 2d, the other is a client download that is in 3d.  The 3d version is 100x better imo, but I'm not sure if it still works or not.  The browser version does work still.  In fact, I played a game about 30 minutes ago against the computer. 

If anyone tries TFW and would like to play a game against someone, leave me a message on here.  I wouldn't mind playing against another human.  Run through the tutorials first though to learn the game and see if you like it. 

41

Forum Bugs, Suggestions, Complaints / Suggestions for SpiritWars 2013

« on: December 29, 2012, 12:51:46 PM »

MOST OF THIS IS JUST SOME IDEAS TO THROW OUT THERE.  I FIGURE NOW IS THE BEST TIME TO TALK ABOUT THIS IF SOMEONE IS GOING TO BE REBUILDING THE GAME FROM SCRATCH.

IMPLEMENT AI IF POSSIBLE

If you can implement AI (Computer Opponent), that will really open up the possibilities with this game. 

• TUTORIALS - Players can play against the computer starting out to learn the game, earn basic cards by defeating the computer as they level up (gain experience).  For example, one of the initial opponents in the tutorial could introduce the player to scouts and explain their benefit.  Upon completing the scouting tutorial, they are awarded a couple scout spirits to add to their kingdom. Have them learn what defenders and spells are and award those at the end of their respective tutorials as well.  Next, have them build a small deck (maybe 10 spirits) and give them advice on what to their dungeon.  Once they are able to beat the tutorials, open the game up to PvP, Raids, Campaigns, Tournaments, etc. and let them try to build full decks and populate their kingdom with spirits.
   
• CAMPAIGNS (SCENARIOS) - Have challenging campaigns and campaign packages (which have a cost to enter) in which a player has to defeat certain themed decks, or fight epic mythical battles, special maps, etc., using either their decks or a provided deck.  Have increasing difficulty levels and offer rewards (gold, spirits, etc.) for defeating each campaign.  A campaign may have multiple levels/sub-campaigns.
   
• RAIDS - Multi-player team challenges where players team up to fight tough challenges, raid bosses, etc.  For example, a 2-player raid might be a slightly larger map where 2 players have to work together to take out a computer army, or defeat a dragon with unique abilities (like double strike, or an AoE flame breath).

LEVELING/EXPERIENCE SYSTEM

As players complete campaigns and win battles, they earn experience.  As they level up, players receive rewards, such as gold to be used to purchase card packs, or a unique spirit.  For example, for reaching level 4, a player might receive 200g. At level 5, he is awarded an Apulian Lancer or Lowlands Skeleton.  As players level up, different Campaigns, Tournaments, Raids, etc., become unlocked.

CASTLE SPIRITS

A lot of CCG's went away from a generic health pool (such as 20 life in MTG or a castle with 10 defense in SpiritWars) and introduced multiple General/Commander/Structure/Castles cards to replace it with different amounts of health and sometimes special abilities or attributes.  I think this would work great for SpiritWars and would be a good way to introduce quite a few more cards to the game, which is something that will be greatly needed moving forward.  SpiritWars would have various Castles that players had to acquire either through card packs, win in campaigns or tournaments, as a reward for leveling, beating a raid boss, etc.  They should still be very basic (not overpowered), but have slight modifications/enhancements.

For example...

Starter Castle #1 - 8 health
Starter Castle #2 - 9 health
Basic Castle - 10 health (reward for reaching level X, something everyone receives relatively early into the game at an early level)
Castle #1 - 10 health + 5% extra gold for win
Castle #2 - 10 health + 5% extra xp for win
Castle #3 - 8 health + regen 1 health at the beginning of each round if health is less than 4
Castle #4 - 9 health, 3 vision (instead of 2)
Castle #5 - 12 health, 1 vision (instead of 2)
Castle #6 - 10 health, can heal 1 health to adjacent unit at start of turn (3 round cooldown after use)
Castle #7 - 10 health, takes 1 less damage from ranged attacks
Castle #8 - 6 health, armor 1 (takes 1 less damage from each melee attack)
Castle #9 (rare) - 11 health
Castle #10 (ultra rare) - 12 health
Castle #11 - 10 health, +1 health to all friendly defenders
Castle #12 - 10 health, +1 power to all friendly defenders
...

ACHIEVEMENTS
 
I think most players are familiar with achievements as well.  Achievements can reward small bonuses like gold, a special card, unlock a campaign/raid, unlock other perks, etc.  Here's some examples of possible achievements, some of which are easy to achieve and others quite difficult.  Some will have to be accomplished against the computer/campaigns to avoid sandbagging or achievement trading.  Most of the achievements would have a witty name, such as "Animal Lover".  Here's some examples...

Reach level 10/20/30/40/50/etc
Complete 10/25/50/etc campaigns
Win 1/10/25/100/500/1000/etc games
Enter 1/10/25/etc tournament(s)
Win 1/5/10/etc tournament(s)
Acquire every basic (core) spirit
Acquire every (insert expansion here) spirit
Achieve a PvP rating of 1000/1200/1400/1600/1800/2000/etc
Kill 1/5/10/etc raid boss(es)
Defeat campaign X without using a combat spirit with an attack above 1
PACIFIST - Defeat a specific campaign without killing a combat unit
A RARE FIND - Acquire a rare spirit
MEDIUM RARE - Kill a rare spirit
Acquire a diety
Kill a diety
WHERE'S MY BUBBLE GUM? - Buy a card pack
Kill unit X in campaign Y and win the game
Do X in campaign Y and win the game
Defeat campaign X without using a specific spirit/homeland/ability/attribute - for example, beat campaign X without using Black Death
ANIMAL LOVER - collect at least one of each type of animal (Rodent, Feline, Canine, Swine, Reptile, Ursine, etc)
WHEN IN ROME - collect all 19 Roman spirits
TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER - collect 5 Leader Spirits (13 total)
TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER 2 - collect 10 Leader Spirits (13 total)
THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY - Collect "Baldur the Good", "Armasi Assassin" and "Medusa"

OK, a lot of the names are pretty lame, but you get the drift.

Some collection/library achievements could just be a common grouping ("Animal Lover" or witty combination ("The Good, The Bad And The Ugly").  Some of them would be relatively easy to achieve and others extremely difficult.
...

TITLES

Allow players to add titles to their name for certain accomplishments.  For example, any player who defeats an extremely difficult raid boss that is a dragon could get the title "Dragonslayer" after their name, such as Psyclone the Dragonslayer.

42

News / Re: Status update + input needed

« on: December 29, 2012, 10:53:47 AM »

GENERATING INCOME/REVENUE

Require players to buy "SpiritWars currency" (credits) to purchase items/enhancements in-game.  This is how almost every online CCG I've seen and played works now.  I'll keep it simple and pretend a base of 10 Credits = $1 US.  Offer bonus credits for larger purchases, e.g. $5 = 50 Credits, $10 = 105 Credits (5% bonus), $20 = 220 Credits (10% bonus), $35 = 400 Credits (14% bonus), $50 = 600 Credits (20% bonus), $100 = 1300 Credits (30% bonus).
 

• Card Packs
   
I think the most popular and successful model that I've seen for CCG's are offering packs of cards (spirits) for sale for either Credits (purchased with real currency) or in-game psuedo-money (I'll refer to it as "gold" from here on out to keep things simple).  Card packs aren't the only way to acquire cards, but definitely the quickest.  In a lot of CCG's, cards are also required by leveling up your account (via experience rewarded for playing games, winning tournaments, completing achievements, etc.).

Release an expansion set of new cards (around 40-60) every 3-5 months or so.  THIS IS NECESSARY TO KEEP THE GAME FRESH.  It will also generate more income as players will want to buy the new packs.  Make cards from the current expansion (and possibly 1 prior expansion) only purchasable with Credits.  It will also keep players who took a break to check back in and play again when a new expansion set is released.  Each new set of cards could introduce a new theme (i.e. - Mythical spirits) or 1-2 new abilities (i.e. - drain, leech, poison, disease, etc).  When a new expansion is released, a prior expansion packs are reduced in price and a prior expansion pack that was only purchasable via Credits is now able to be purchased for gold (at a higher price than other packs though, but reduce the Credit/Gold cost as time passes).

For example, a basic pack might contain 6 spirits (e.g. - 4 common, 2 uncommon).  A basic pack can be purchased (i'm making up numbers here) for 10 Credits or 2000 gold.  It should take a reasonable amount of time to acquire 1000g, maybe ~3-6 hours of game play.  This way, free-to-play players have access to the same cards that paying players have (with the exception of the most recent expansion or two), but they're just paying for the convenience of acquiring them at a faster rate (less real-life time spent grinding gold).

Offer different types of packs too.  For example, I just made up the prices again just for illustration purposes, and pretended the game is on the 4th expansion set...
 

• Energy booster - 4 Credits or 500g - contains 6 energy spirits, with 1 from each homeland (5 common, 1 uncommon and no rare/ultra rare).
   
• Basic Booster - 10 Credits or 2,000g - contains 15 basic/core spirits, i.e. - released at game launch (12 common, 3 uncommon and no rare/ultra rare).  People probably won't buy this pack with Credits, but that's ok, it's just a starter pack with some of the basic spirits.
   
• The Awakening (1st expanion) - 40 Credits or 10,000g - contains 15 spirits from the Awakening expansion set (10 common, 4 uncommon, 1 rare/ultra rare).
   
• Silver Pack - 30 Credits or 7,500g - contains 15 spirits from the all expansions excluding the 3 most recent expansions (10 common, 4 uncommon, 1 rare/ultra rare).
   
• Expansion Set #2 - 50 Credits or 20,000g - contains 15 spirits from the 2nd expansion set (10 common, 4 uncommon, 1 rare/ultra rare).
   
• Gold Pack - 40 Credits or 10,000g - contains 15 spirits from the all expansions excluding the 2 most recent expansions (10 common, 4 uncommon, 1 rare/ultra rare).
   
• Expansion Set #3 - 60 Credits or 25,000g - contains 15 spirits from the 3rd expansion set (10 common, 4 uncommon, 1 rare/ultra rare).
   
• Platinum Pack - 50 Credits or 20,000g - contains 15 spirits from the all expansions excluding the most recent expansion (10 common, 4 uncommon, 1 rare/ultra rare).
   
• Expansion Set #4 (current expansion) - 80 Credits - contains 15 spirits from the 4th expansion set (10 common, 4 uncommon, 1 rare/ultra rare).
   
Obviously, a lot more cards will need to be introduced and in order to make them more unique, new abilities will have to be introduced and some of the old abilities will need to be changed to avoid the homogenization of cards. 

For example, Flatlands/Wetlands/Woodlands/Drylands all have scouts (vision=3, movement=2) in Sicilian Scout, Barbarian Raiders, Spotted Leopards and Desert Jackals.  Highlands and Darklands don't have these types of scouts by design and it should stay that way, otherwise all the homelands will lose what makes them unique.

New abilities can be introduced to spirits with each expansion set to keep cards unique.  For example, here's some abilities that are common in many CCG's that could be added to SpiritWars...


• Armor (x) - Unit blocks (x) amount of melee damage. Does not block spells or ranged and magical attacks.  Armor above 1 should be very rare.
   
• Pierce (x) - Ignore (x) armor.
   
• Resistance (x) - Unit blocks (x) amount of damage from magical attacks and/or spells.
   
• Spell Penetratation (x) - Ignore (x) resistance.
   
• Sweeping Strike (x) - Attacks also hit enemy units adjacent to both attacker and defender for (x) damage.
   
• Spell Penetratation (x) - Ignore (x) resistance.
   
• Disease (x) - Any unit damaged by a unit with disease ability has all healing received reduced by 1 until the debuff wears off after X turns.
   
• Movement (x) - Unit temporarily gains +X movement range when in its homeland. For example, Stygian Rats with +1 Movement would get +1 movement range if it is moving from Darklands to any other space.  If it lands in Darklands again in the future, it will regain the buff.
   
• Thorns (x) - Any unit damaging another unit with the Thorns ability will take (x) amount of damage in addition to attack damage from the defending unit.  This might be an ability found commonly on Plants and work similar to a defender spirit but could work against all attacks even when not defending or be a good counter for First Strike ability.
   
• Regenerate (x) - A free and automatic heal at the end of each round.
   
These abilities would of course open up all new spells (both on a Combat caster spirit and Spell spirits). For example...


• Cleanse - Removes all debuffs from a spirit.
   
• Rust (x) - Removes (1/2/all) Armor from a spirit.
   
• Dispel Enchantment - Dispels an enchantment.
   
• Dispel All - Dispels all enchantments.
   

Once again, a lot of spirits will be needed to keep the game fresh and growing.  Another option for spirits would be adding another category of spirits - ENCHANTMENTS.  These would be temporary or permanent buffs/debuffs.  The could be single target or global.  Some "Spells" in the game would already be considered enchantments, but this would allow for them to be dispelled also.  A couple examples of a global enchantment would be...


• Tailwinds - Increases the movement range of all spirits (friendly and enemy) by +1.  This effect lasts 2 rounds.
   
• Dense Fog - Reduced the vision of all spirits (friendly and enemy) by 1, this effect can not reduce vision to 0.  This effect lasts 3 rounds.
   
• Tournaments
   
Hold various tournaments that require Credits and/or Gold. Hold various types of tournaments with varying rulesets.  The most popular tournaments in CCG's are Sealed.  Some examples of tournaments types and their entry fees...
 
• Standard - 2k-10k gold or 2-5 Credits - Players use their own decks with gold award to players finishing in the top X%.  This will be a big advantage to players with the strongest decks and won't be as popular with newer players.
   
• Sealed - Varies - In sealed tournaments, players get to open 4 packs to use in the tournament.  Players can be provided with 6 random common energy from each homeland to make sure their decks are playable.  Players will get 60 cards from the packs, plus the 30 basic energy, so this should be plenty of cards to make a deck with.
   
  A Sealed Awakening Tournament would have an entry fee of 5,000g and players will open 4 Awakening packs for the tournament, but the players do not get to keep any of the cards opened in the packs, they just get to play for the gold. 
   
  In addition, any player who wishes to keep the cards can pay an entry fee of 20,000g or 160 Credits (the cost of 4 Awakening packs) and will get to keep all the cards they open. So essentially they will buy 4 packs of cards and get to enter the tournament for free.  The player must decide to pay the entry fee before seeing which cards are in the sealed packs of course.
  
  Each player will get a completely random set of cards from each pack they open (i.e. - each player won't get the same cards as other tournament participants, so there will be a lot of variation of decks from player to player).
   
• Themed - 2k-10k gold - All players are provided with the same themed population of cards and have to make a deck out of it.  Same as the themed events ran in SpiritWars in the past.
   
• Draft - 2k-10k gold - Drafts are 4 player tournaments.  Draft Tournaments start with a drafting phase. Each player is shown a pack of 15 cards and picks a card from this pack touse to build their dungeon (deck).  All 4 players will be viewing a different pack at the start and they are the only ones that can see the pack initially.  After they pick 1 card that pack is rotated to the next player and they get to choose a card from the 14 cards remaining in the pack that was passed to them.  The packs rotate around until all 15 cards are picked.  Then a new pack is given to each player and the process repeats. You open 3 packs this way (3 complete rounds of drafting).  Once you have picked your 45 cards you build your deck.  Your deck must be at least 25 cards and can have any of the cards you drafted. Once each player has submitted their army, players will play a match-play "head-up" tournament similar to US sports playoffs.  These tournaments can be either single or double elimination.
  
  During the draft phase, in each of the 3 rounds players are given ~15 seconds to make picks for the first few cards of each pack, then 10 seconds each to pick the remaining cards each round.  The drafting portion should take about 8 minutes total, but is extremely fun, so time flies.  The entire draft tournament should be completed in less than an hour, closer to 45 minutes.
   

The Sealed, Draft and Themed tournaments will be the most popular because they put everyone on a level playing field.  I played in some CCG's with Draft Tournaments, those were always my favorite and I think they'd be very popular in SpiritWars.



• Other Enhancements
   
Allow players to buy other enhancements or upgrades that don't necessarily affect the game play.  For example...


• Extra Dungeons - Allow players to purchase extra dungeon slots (saved dungeons).  For example, when SW is relaunched, let's say each player can save up to 2 dungeons by default.  This enhancement would allow players to buy additional dungeon slots.  Allow a couple to be purchased with gold, but require Credits to unlock even more.
   
• Campaigns (Scenarios) - Assuming an AI can be programmed, allow players to unlock campaigns in which they fight against a computer opponent in great ancient battles or against raid bosses.  Completing campaigns can reward gold, a unique spirit, etc.
   
• Experience or Gold Boosts - Assuming an experience/leveling system is implemented, allow players to gain experience or gold at an increased rate. For example, +50-100% experience for 2 weeks or X games, +50-100% gold for 2 weeks or X games.
   

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43

News / Re: Status update + input needed

« on: December 29, 2012, 10:53:15 AM »

Hello everyone, not sure if any of you remember me, my SW Members name was Kevin (not to be confused with kevincscott). 

I used to play SpiritWars a lot starting back in the "Trade" days in the late 1990's.  I was an annual subscriber a few hours after playing my first game and member up until the end.  I was 3rd on the list of most games played with over 5000 games played.

I'm excited to hear of the possible revival of SpiritWars.  To this day, it is still my favorite game I have ever played.  So far, I agree and shared the same opinions of what most of you have said.  With that being said, I definitely think there are a few things that might need to be changed to be successful in this day and age that I will go into shortly.

I'VE PLAYED A LOT OF CCG/TCG's ON THE INTERNET AND ALMOST ALL OF WHAT I MENTION/SUGGEST HERE IS THE SAME TYPE OF MODEL USED IN MOST OF THE SUCCESSFUL ONLINE CCG's.

BUSINESS MODEL

I think the "Freemium" model is the way to go and sell card packs as well as other enhancements (such as extra deck slots).  I don't think subscriptions are very popular and I think they're a hard sell to a lot of people.  Subscriptions may be beneficial to players who are hardcore and have a lot of free time (play a lot of games each month/year), but I think you're going to turn away people with limited playing time or odd/seasonal schedules who won't feel like they're getting their money's worth.

A "freemium" model will generate a larger player base, which (of course) is extremely important.  I've played a lot of other games, including League of Legends, Urban Rivals, TheFarWilds, Tyrant, etc.   They are all free-to-play, but offer bonuses/perks to paying customers.  As others have mentioned, I think the most important thing to be careful of though is to make sure that there isn't an enormous advantage to paying customers vs. free customers, but more of a convenience advantage.  Games that offer huge advantages to paying customers are commonly referred to as "Pay-to-Win" and usually die a quick death because of it.

I would definitely stay away from Facebook.  I think it could be very beneficial to have links/likes/updates to Facebook and a SpiritWars facebook page/fansite, but I don't think running the game on Facebook is a good idea for several reasons.  I think SpiritWars would be better off as a stand-alone or on a gaming network like Steam/Kongregate/etc (I don't know a lot about Kongregate, but I've played a couple different games on there from time to time).

SPIRITWARS IN 2013 AND BEYOND

I think there are a few things that turned players away from SpiritWars that might need to be addressed to be successful nowadays.  I think most people loved the concept and the game itself, but for some reason or another didn't get hooked/addicted and ended up leaving.  I will expand upon these as well after the list...


• Games were too slow or took too long
   
  
  I believe SpiritWars falls into the CCG (Collectible Card Game) genre and that will probably be the largest source of players that will eventually become paying customers.  Most CCG's don't have a map, just a generic game board and the games usually take anywhere from 3-15 minutes to play.  SpiritWars adds the extra element and strategy of a combat map, which I believe it what makes it so great.  I think we will need to cut down game times to the 10-15 minute range or risk losing a lot of these players. 
  
  I remember Randy mentioning or advertising that the average game time was 20-25 minutes. Some very competitive games took 40+ minutes and sometimes your opponent was just incredibly slow or afk, so even short games (not a lot of rounds) could take a long time.  I think the game times will have to be drastically reduced to keep a lot of players interested.  I think the biggest problem was sometimes having people take 1-2 minutes just to perform a phase because they were "thinking".  I "think" sometimes they were just afk tbh. 
   
  Big lulls (pauses in activity while waiting on opponent) were definitely boring and took away from the enjoyment of the game.  There were definitely times where I was frustrated at how slow my opponent was.  I mean, c'mon, how much time is required in the Movement Phase of round 7 when you only have 3 spirits to move?  I can't tell you how many times (it was an insanely high frequency) I had to send a message to my opponent asking "are you still there?".
  
  *** I think if you want to run tournaments and other events, you're going to need to speed the games up as well to make them run a lot smoother.  Nothing was worse than winning a game in your tournament and then having to wait 20 minutes for an opponent because your next opponent was still 1-2 games behind.
   
  
• Players didn't like losing spirits (members version issue)
   
  
  I think a majority of players (especially paying players) would be upset if they lost their cards permanently, especially if they spent money on the game.
  
  
• Second turn advantage (imbalanced)
  
  
  Let's be honest, there was a HUUUGE advantage to playing 2nd (Gold).  This was a definite turn-off for a lot of people because it had too much of an impact on who won the game. The were definitely some good Silver decks (player 1), but you had to have a lot of experience and the right spirits (cards) to pull it off.

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