Indie studio FrozenShard has released their newest game, Monster Battles: TCG. Similar to Pokemon, Monster Battles lets you collect, train, and battle hundreds of monsters from around the world.
Each monster has a unique name and personality and you can evolve them into more powerful versions. Currently there are 120 unique cards with more than 200 Monsters. FrozenShard plans to add more every month.
You can check out Monster Battles: TCG for free on the App Store.
The digital collectible card game by Stone Blade Entertainment, SolForge, has been updated to include a new sharing feature. Players can now give their friends copies of their favorite cards without losing the original.
The update also includes the Imprisoned Heralds expansion, which has sixty cards with the four special Heralds for each faction, and two new keyword mechanics: Assault and Upgrade. If you prefer aggressive tactics Assault gives your creatures powerful bonuses. For a more strategic mind, Upgrade lets you swap out creatures that are already on the field.
Check out the new Imprisoned Heralds expansion for SolForge (and the new sharing feature) for free on the App Store.
Jagex, the developers behind Transformers: Universe and the long-running RuneScape, have unveiled at RuneFest that they are working on Chronicle: RuneScape Legends (working title), which is a collectible card game set in the world of Gielinor. The game is set to launch in 2015 and will allow players to craft their own miniature RPGs against enemies, including classic boss monsters from the MMORPG, and take on other players in PvP.
James Sweatman, lead designer of Chronicle: RuneScape Legends, commented on the game at its announcement event:
"We've been quietly developing Chronicle: RuneScape Legends since the start of the year to ensure that it's not only a fun and compelling player experience, but one still very much interwoven into the rich lore of RuneScape. We're looking forward to sharing more information on the game over the coming months, especially in regards to Chronicle's debut on tablet and mobile!
As previously mentioned, Chronicle: RuneScape Legends is set to launch sometime next year.
Nintendo characters on the App Store? Have they really gotten that desperate? Well, it’s a little more complicated than that. While it may be strange and novel seeing Pikachu and company running around on an Apple product, the fact is the Pokémon Company has always had some degree of autonomy from its Mario masters. And now they’ve used that independence to bring the wildly popular Pokémon Trading Card Game to the iPad. We catch ‘em all in this edition of It Came From Canada!
If the smash success of Hearthstone has taught us anything it’s that card games work great on the iPad, and Pokémon Trading Card Game Online is no different. Dealing with digital decks is just so much more convenient than laying out physical spaces, shuffling cards, and keeping track of various pieces. Plus, having a computer present to teach and reinforce the rules is a lot more reliable than leaving it up to human error.
However, this really is just a straightforward virtual translation of the Black and White starter editions of the actual trading card game. Battle animations aren’t flashy and graphics are kind of flat in general; they're not even as stylish as the beloved anime. Meanwhile, online is used for simple stat-tracking and basic multiplayer matches. Players should also make sure to register an account, because otherwise they’ll be forced to sit through the lengthy tutorial each time they launch the game.
But modest production values aside, there’s a reason why this game has been so popular for so long, and it’s not just marketing. It simply does a great job at capturing what’s fun about Pokémon RPGs in card game form. Arranging teams of monsters, evolving starters you’ve grown particularly fond of, and strategically unleashing powerful elemental attacks is just as satisfying here as it is on the screen of a Nintendo handheld.
Since Pokémon is a worldwide phenomenon, expect Pokémon Trading Card Game Online to launch everywhere soon. And while it’s not totally fair to use it as a litmus test for Nintendo’s future on the App Store, it’s at least interesting to think about.
Polish developers Tequila Games have unveiled Earthcore: Shattered Elements - a collectible card game for iOS that is set to come out early next year.
The unique point to Earthcore is the 'Card Crafting' feature, which will allow players to utilize the cards in their collection and fuse cards together to form new, more powerful cards, with over half a million of these combinations available. The game also features a Rock, Paper, Scissors-esque element system, with cards belonging to fire, water, and nature elements. In addition to this, the game also has a 'Risk' system, with cards with more special powers creating a higher loss to the player if they're defeated, meaning players will have to be careful when using these more powerful cards.
Lukas Deszczulka, the CEO of Tequila Games, had this to say on their upcoming CCG:
Following on from our history of creating successful casual games, Earthcore: Shattered Elements represents a big step forward and a very significant investment for Tequila Games. We are targeting both mid and hardcore players with a AAA title in a genre our team knows and loves. We’re currently working with some very experienced tabletop game design experts to innovate the CCG genre and we've invested heavily in the single player story-driven campaign, which is often neglected in games of this type. We’re sure that both new and experienced players alike will find Earthcore:Shattered Elements very different to anything that they've played before.
Earthcore: Shattered Elements is set to launch on iPhone and iPad in the first quarter of 2015.
Playdek and Stone Blade Entertainment have released Rise of Vigil - an in-app expansion for the iOS card game Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer. The expansion adds a new energy shard mechanic, which gives players the ability to upgrade heroes, monsters, and constructs. This changes the dynamic of certain cards; making weaker ones potentially much more powerful.
Rise of Vigil also includes 46 new center deck cards; including 11 new Monster cards, 24 new Hero cards, 11 new Construct cards, and new starting deck art as well as new background theme art and music.
Joel Goodman, CEO of Playdek says, “We’re excited to release this new expansion to the popular Ascension series and we thank fans for waiting. The new energy shard cards energize the gameplay by making players rethink old strategies.”
You can download Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer for free, and purchase the Rise of Vigil in-game update for $3.99.
Finnish developer Boomlagoon has released a teaser trailer of their forthcoming side-scrolling action platformer, Monsu.
Looking like a pretty cute auto-runner, Monsu has another trick up its sleeve, courtesy of the many cards that you can collect as you play.
Coming from some of the minds behind Angry Birds, there will be dozens of customizable characters to get to know, with the hope that Monsu is more character-driven than most running platformers.
A series of online tournaments besides the rich single-player world should ensure there's plenty of fun to be had when Monsu arrives on the App Store later this summer.
Check out the trailer below to see just what to expect very soon!
Noble Nutlings developer Boomlagoon has announced Monsu, their upcoming side-scrolling collectible card game. The character design and gameplay has been in development for months, and as such the end result will contain dozens of characters and a 'rich' storyline.
In Monsu, players will have to battle their way through endless hordes of grumpy villagers in order to complete the task of retrieving stolen treasure. Each character players come across will have their own magical powers, which can then be collected and used to bash and smash their foes. The game also features multiple territories to explore, including the Woods and the Cemetery.
Antti Stén, CEO of Boomlagoon, had this to say of the game:
We’re focused on creating character-driven games that players love, all around the world. With Monsu, we’ve created a platformer that is easy to pick up and play, instantly rewards the gamer, and still provides nearly infinite ways to progress through the environments.
Monsu is set to arrive on the App Store sometime this Summer.
For a while we just had to sit back while PC gamers got to enjoy it. Then they teased us with a soft launch. Now the wait is finally over - Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is available on the US App Store!
This is normally where I'd speak a bit about how neat it looks and how popular it is, but it's freaking Hearthstone. You deserve a medal for sticking around this long rather than going straight to the App Store to download it. But don't worry, I won't keep you.
You can grab Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft for the iPad now, for free.
Developer Wizards of the Coast has announced that its new game for iPads, Magic 2015 — Duels of the Planeswalkers, should be available in summer of 2014.
The game is the latest installment in the Duels of the Planeswalkers franchise, and puts the player at the center of the mythical Magic Multiverse.
Fans attending PAX East in Boston this weekend will have the chance to be the first to demo Magic 2015 — Duels of the Planeswalkers in the Magic: The Gathering booth, #462. Additionally, visitors to the show will have the opportunity to earn an exclusive Garruk Wildspeaker Pinny Arcade pin (while supplies last) by demoing the new game or participating in other in-booth activities.
Blizzard's free-to-play online collectible card game, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, left beta not long ago. Now its mobile days begin, as they have soft-launched their online card-battling game in Canada ahead of its global launch. So I grabbed my deck and chatted up some pandaren for this edition of It Came From Canada!
The core gameplay of Hearthstone has players using an increasing supply of mana to play cards they've drawn: most are creatures that can be put into the arena, and only played on the next turn, though some have instant effects such as attacking immediately. Players also have hero attacks that cost mana but can be used to attack the other player or their creatures, with the ultimate goal being to take the opponent's hero down to zero health. Players can battle online with others via Battle.net, take on computer opponents in Practice Mode, and spend their winnings (or currency purchased via in-app purchases) on cards to outfit their deck. It's fast-paced, but easy to get into.
The game is simple enough that anyone can get into it after the first six tutorial missions, which cover the gamut of battling. Of course, this is where the game shows its origins as a non-mobile title: the tutorials take about 20 minutes or so to get through them before players can even battle online. In a mobile-first world this would likely be a lot shorter, but the slow pace does a great job at getting players to know how to play the game.
After the tutorial is finished players must register for a Battle.net account in order to play online, with this account usable cross-platform. Deck creation isn't explicitly covered, but it's possible to just go out with a default deck. Custom decks can be created as well, and there's a handy guided tutorial for creating a well-balanced deck, where the game recommends three cards of a kind - so players can choose and understand how to build a deck, versus the game just automatically making one.
Once into the online battles, the process is similar to the tutorial missions, except slower. Some players online can be slow to decide their moves, though there's only so much time that a player has before the game passes it along. Note that unlike mobile-designed titles like Ascension, players must stay in the battle; there's no jumping to other games.
And really, that will be the interesting thing to see as Hearthstone nears its global release. This is a game that isn't necessarily unfriendly to mobile, but many of the patterns that have defined mobile card battlers are clearly defied here. And the longer pacing could lead to more drop-outs during matches, which would not be ideal for the PC userbase. But still, this is Hearthstone on an iPad and that should excite many people.
Conquest of Champions is a pretty sweet-looking CCG from Kihon, and it's making its way to the iPad.
Think of it as a sort of hybrid of Magic and Warhammer, with a sprinkling of Hero Academy thrown in for good measure. You'll be collecting somewhere in the neighborhood of 130 cards, choosing between three factions, training heroes, and fighting against other players (or solo!) in asynchronous node-capturing strategic combat. Plus it looks pretty freaking awesome in motion.
Conquest of Champions is currently in open beta for the Mac and PC, with a projected App Store release of later this summer.
