Moving On...

Okay, so as of last week, I am no longer working on the Team Fortress 2 Card Game.

I won't go into details. Sufficed to say, due to personal reasons my heart just hasn't been in it these days. But, fear not, the game is still in production! It is now in the very capable of hands of Chris and Jack, and you can find their blog here: http://tf2tcg.wordpress.com/

As for me, I already have another project in the works, but I'll be keeping it pretty hush hush until testing begins, which I'm hoping will be sometime in the next month, but don't hold me to that :)

Still alive, still alive... (starts humming)

Just a quick post to say I am still here. I'm not gonna lie, I've been a bit lazy since my last post. Holy crap! I just checked when that was! Over a month?! Crap crap crap. Um...expect an update soon, along with the outline of some kind of schedule for updates. Um, a few people have e-mailed regarding helping with screenshots (if I haven't replied yet I apologise, I will soon) but I've decided to try and get a bigger team together in general. So, if anyone is interested in helping make the game in a slightly more official capacity than just posting ideas here, then please let me know, either here or by e-mail.

Help Wanted!

Okay, so my craptop can't run TF2. That's where YOU come in! Basically, I need a couple of folks who can run the game with fairly high graphics settings who I can turn to and say, 'I need screenshots of this and that'. So if you're interested, e-mail me at neutroncow@live.com (please put Tf2 Screenshots as the subject). Please don't just send me loads of screenies though, lol, otherwise my inbox will fill up :P I'll let you know what I need as I need em.

Unfortunately, as this is a non-profit project, I will be unable to reward you in any real way, but I do have an idea for how to thank those who help out a lot with this.

Information on how to remove HUD and Gun:

If you want to completely remove all HUD items, you can use the commands cl_drawhud 0 to remove the HUD and r_drawviewmodel 0 to remove the gun (useful for screenshots), but Valve seem to have now classed these commands as cheats so they can only be used when sv_cheats is set to "1"

Back In Business...kinda...

Okay, as I mentioned, I took a break for personal reasons. I'm back now, yaay! Unfortunately, I had to wipe my hard drive. Even more unfortunately, I stored the backup files on my ex-girlfriend's laptop. I doubt I'll be seeing them again.

It's good though. I made notes on what worked and what didn't, so hopefully I should be back on track soon. I'm also looking into getting an actual site up as opposed to just the blog, but that might be a while as I first have to find a new job. ^^

Bad News...

Thanks to this wonderful recession, I've been unable to find work. As a result, I have to move back into my parents, and my girlfriend has to move back up country to stay with hers. At the moment, she is my priority, and as such, I'm going to have a lot less time to work on this so I can spend more time talking to her on the phone and such. Don't worry, I will still be working on this card game, it'll just be going at a slower pace. Keep watching this space, there will be updates.

Game, Set & Match!

Okay, so I just finished playing the first ever game of the Unofficial TF2 Card Game, woot!
I used the solitaire mode on Lackey, so I was playing against myself. Yay, I won! Although I lost too, which is a shame.

I used a deck that had an equal amount of each class, and the other cards reflected that. I did this so I could get a good idea of how each class functioned, but it ended up with me hardly ever having the right cards in my hand for the classes I had in play. Next time, I guess I'll split all the classes between the two decks.

Despite playing against myself, I did have fun. This is a good thing. I was terrified that the game would turn out to be incredibly boring. In the end, it lasted 1hr 13min. Again, this came as a nice surprise. One of my main concerns was that this was going to end up being one of those games that lasted for 3 or 4 hours.

It looks like this is going to be a regular thing. It's a good way of spotting holes in the rules. I found over a dozen card errata, and the deck was only made from the 80 or so cards that currently exist.

I will admit, it was a little tricky playing against myself. I found myself not doing things because I knew my 'opponent' could counter it. Unfortunately, this is the way it has to be for a while as I'm still working on the rules while playing. I'm hoping that within the next fortnight or so I'll be able to start inviting people to game with me.

Just a quicky...

Not a massive thing, just wanted to mention this seeing has how I touched on it yesterday. Towards the end of the post, I mentioned non-class specific cards? Well, as of today, there aren't any. To make team composition a more important aspect of the game, I have assigned class requirements to all of the cards that didn't previously have them. Now, the only non-class specific cards are the maps, objectives, the classes themselves and 9 cards that allow you to search your class deck for a specific class.

Peace out!

...can't believe I just said that.

It's Sundaaaaay!

NOTE: I've started a Twitter to let people know when the blog has updated. My username is 'neutroncow'. I'm fairly new to Twitter, I can only assume this is the only info you need to follow me.

Okay, time for another update, hooray! And today I'll be talking a little about the Medic, giving a brief overview on how the class cards will actually work in the game and finally, I have a bit of an update on the game's progress.

So, the Medic. As you may have guessed, his main role in the game is to heal his fellow team members. This is done with his trusty medigun and is the primary form of healing in the game. Let's take a look at how it works. When the medigun comes into play, 5 medigun counters are placed on it. These can be used at will to either remove 1 damage from a team member or to prevent 1 damage. At the start of each turn, 5 new counters are placed on the medigun. Is 5 counters enough? Well...I'm not sure yet, that's what playtesting is for.

Aside from healing, the Medic's other noteworthy function is of course the Uber. Unlike the PC game, where the ubercharge is built into the medigun, the ubercharge in the card game is a seperate card. Once it has been played, any medigun tokens that are used go onto the Ubercharge card instead. When these counters reach a currently undecided amount, the card can be discarded to make the Medic and another card invincible for a turn.

So let's talk about how classes actually work in the game. Aside from a player's normal 65 card deck, each player has an 18 card class deck. At the start of the game, 4 of these cards are drawn and put into play. This makes up your starting team. The class cards are VERY basic. They possess the classes name and their health, that's it. All of their abilities come from the class specific cards in your deck. How do you change classes? Simple. When one of your class cards is defeated, you have 3 choices at the start of your next turn:

• Leave the class as it is. All cards currently played on the card, stay on the card. This however causes the card to double tap. While this may seem the obvious choice, it puts this class card out of commision for two whole turns.
• Wipe the card clean. The class card stays in play but all cards played on it are discarded. Doing this causes the card to tap. While the card is out of action for only one turn, it ensures you will keep the same class in play.
• Choose a new class. Shuffle the card back into your class deck and draw a new class. This card doesn't come into play tapped and can be used right away. This is the more obvious choice if you have a very specific class deck or if your hand is filled with non-class specific cards.

Okay, so an update on the game's progress. I'm just under half way through the 200 card set, and the basic gameplay rules are pretty much written. In addition, the game's delivery method is in place, woo! Ever heard of LackeyCCG? No? You may want to download it. This program allows you to play card games online. Since I don't own a printing press, this seemed like an obvious choice. I've already written the TF2 Plugin for LackeyCCG, so as soon as I have the 200 cards designed, I'll be able to start testing the game with some folks online.

Next week, the Spy, and we'll talk about ammunition. See you then!

I'll Hammer Your War!

Boo.

I just wanted to take a few moments to discuss Sheepshifter's idea. First of all, it's a great idea! The idea of having different 'levels' of character cards is something I've been looking into. Unfortunately, this concept doesn't lend itself to the rules as they stand now.

First of all, the game is specifically designed for each player to have 4 team members. This is to make sure that if you're playing with the maximum possible amount of players (3 on 3), each side ends up with 12 team members, the usual amount on a TF2 server.

Secondly, it's just very complicated. The moment you add points, you have to judge how much each class is worth on a basic level. Would a Spy be more expensive because it's got some good insta-gib abilities, or would it be worth less because there are only certain times when you can use said abilities? Flip that around, should the Heavy be cheap because he just does damage, plain and simple, or expensive because you'll be using him every turn? Once you have managed to work out exactly how much each class is worth, you have to decide how much that scales for each skill level.

Don't get me wrong, I love Warhammer, Skaven in particular (I miss Boneripper before they made him a robot...) but card games aren't as focused on points when it comes to preperation. Deck design should be as simple as possible in order to allow maximum flexibility.

Again, thanks for the idea Sheepshifter! While it may not end up in the game, the idea of levelling up characters is definetely an idea that's stuck in my head now, it's just a matter of figuring out if it's something I want in the initial set or something to be added later.

Sunday Update - The Heavy

Okay, so every Sunday I'll be giving an update on the state of the game. Each week I'll be giving some information on one of the classes along with some general information. You probably won't be seeing any prototype cards here for a while though, I won't even be touching card design until the first draft rules are written. So let's get on with it!

First off, a little note on class packs. The initial set of cards won't be taking into account anything added in TF2's class packs. I decided this so I wouldn't get overwhelmed with all of the different weapons and changes. In addition, I've reduced the number of cards in the initial set from 300 to 200, again, to make things a little easier on me. As soon as work has finished on the initial set, I'll begin work on the expansion sets. For your viewing pleasure, a brief overview on the first couple of expansions (note that this is subject to change):

Expansion I:

• New weapons and abilities for the Heavy.
• New weapons and abilities for the Medic.
• New game type: Control Points.

Expansion II:

• New weapons and abilities for the Pyro.
• New weapons and abilities for the Scout.
• New game type: Payload.

Okay, so onto a bit of information on this week's class...The Heavy!

If you've been reading from the beginning, you will have read that I had given the Heavy a defensive role. This has gone out of the window. I've redesigned the class to be the heaviest hitter in the game. The player is able to spend as much of his ammo reserves as he likes firing his chaingun and doing considerable damage in the process. However, for each shot fired there is a chance that they ALL miss. What does this mean? The heavy has been designed for the gamblers among you who are willing to take the risk for a high damage payoff. Of course, for those of you who don't want to take that risk, the Heavy can of course be equipped with his trusty shotgun. Why would you want a Heavy who didn't dish out huge amounts of damage? Two words. Meat. Shield. The Heavy will have several cards allowing him to protect his other team members from damage, making him viable in any team combination.

Next week I'll be talking about the Medic and I'll be giving an overview of how classes will work in the game.

Thanks to everyone who has e-mailed and posted on the blog with card ideas. While several don't fit in the game for mechanical reasons, expect many of them to end up in the final product. Oh, and I decided to leave out the various fourth wall cards, for now at least.

Community Info Needed!

Okay, I'm currently working on rough drafts of the class specific cards, these being cards that can only be used by specific classes. For example:

Get Behind Me Doctor: Bring into play the next time your medic takes damage. Your heavy takes that damage instead. Discard Get Behind Me Doctor.

I'd like to know any tricks or stratagies you have! Don't worry about providing any abilities it might provide in the card game, just give it a name and describe what it is. Again, an example.

Double Jump - Scouts can jump twice to avoid things like rockets.

I have a good...ooh, 200 or so cards to fill with stuff like this, so I'll take as many suggestions as I can get. Doesn't matter how simple or complicated it is, I'll try and find a use for it in game.

ALSO...

There are two card types I'm considering adding to the game. The first are personality cards. These will either be fictional names, or well known names in the TF2 community. Basically, they will be cards that give permanent bonuses to each players 4 character slots.

The second are what I like to call '4th Wall' cards. Basically, these would represent out of game factors that might affect things in a regular TF2 game. Examples might be a lag card or a 'sexy girlfriend/boyfriend walking past' card.

What do you guys think? Should these two card types be in the game? While it would add an extra level to the way you play the game, it definetely breaks the fourth wall. I'd like to know your thoughts :)

PS. I know I said updates would be on Sundays. Well...this isn't an update. It's a 'help meeee' post. They're allowed :P

PPS. I probably should point out that the initial set of cards are based around the idea that there have been no class packs yet. As such, any strategies you guys might post should reflect that. So no critzkriegs, no airblasts from flamethrowers. You may wonder I've made this decision. You'll find out on Sunday.

The Unnoficial TF2 Card Game...take two.

Okay, so it's been a while since I did any work on this (for reasons I shall no longer go on about) but I see that as a good thing. It let me look at my old ideas with fresh eyes, always good.

A quick update. I've got the basic rules down now...I think. And soon, I shall share the gist of them with you. "Why not now? Whyyyyyyy?" I hear you cry? I figure a set update day would encourage me to update on a regular basis. And that update day will be...(Play drum-roll mp3 here, or make drum-rolly sounds with your hands on your desk)...

Sundays! Woooo! Could be Sunday morning, could be evening. Depends on when I'm on. Soooo...Check back then for 'Team Fortress Card Game 101'!