Yep, we’ve been pretty quiet for the last few weeks. I have a good reason though – we’ve been busy getting ready to show Card Hunter in public for the first time! I’m excited to announce that we’ll be at PAX in Seattle as part of the Indie Megabooth. If you’re lucky enough to be going to PAX, please come visit us at booth 781 on the 4th floor. We’ll be there all weekend serving up a healthy dose of card battling. Get ready to challenge Greenfang, the Viridian dragon:
Greenfang’s treasure horde is legendary. Some say it contains official Card Hunter game capes:
Others say it contains t-shirts and Card Hunter dice! All that is certain is that Greenfang will defend it to the death!
If you can’t make it to PAX, we’ll be releasing footage of the demo online for your viewing pleasure. This will be your chance to see how the game actually plays out. We’ve been tweaking and polishing the interface to a shine and we’re super excited with how it is playing. I hope you think so too. In the meantime, here’s a screenshot to whet your appetite:
August 18th, 2012 at 12:24 am
YAY!!!!! so excited for you guys 😀 It will be awesome 😀 Love the cape – stay caffeinated and keep the kobolds at bay 😀
August 18th, 2012 at 12:31 am
That looks amazing! Why can’t I play this right now? Wwaaahhh!!!
August 18th, 2012 at 10:31 am
OH YEAH! Demo… been waiting for this moment forever!
August 18th, 2012 at 8:53 pm
Nice! It’s been a long time coming. Keep up the pace so we can get beta!
August 20th, 2012 at 1:12 am
Woohooo finally can’t wait for beta or demo waiting from the very beginning
August 21st, 2012 at 8:10 pm
Look forward to it.
August 26th, 2012 at 1:58 pm
Can’t wait to see some gameplay videos! Your game is my most anticipated release for 2012 (yes, even the X-com remakes take 2nd place).
Btw, where are you guys based in Australia?
August 27th, 2012 at 2:19 pm
@SQW – thanks for the kind words! We’ll definitely be releasing footage from the demo post PAX. Re: Australia, we’re in Sydney now (or at least some of us are).
August 27th, 2012 at 3:19 pm
@Jon – It’s wonderful to see Australia is still capable of producing great non-iPhone games independent of oversea studio. Unfortunately, you guys made the mistake of choosing Sydney instead of Melbourne so I guess I can’t drop by in person. =P
Also, I’d love to hear some of Blue Manchu’s marketing initiatives as the game approaches launch.
August 27th, 2012 at 4:34 pm
Yeah, it was a hard choice between Sydney and Melbourne actually. I have family in Sydney which was probably the deciding factor in the end.
Marketing… huh. Yeah that will be interesting. We’ll have to find some pretty cost effective ways to try and do that.
August 29th, 2012 at 4:36 pm
haha, that’s almost exactly what my friend, a budding game programmer himself, said when I quizzed him on his group’s marketing plan.
September 2nd, 2012 at 4:41 am
I stopped by your booth at PAX. Very impressive looking game. It looks like a ton of fun. I can’t wait to start playing it.
September 3rd, 2012 at 6:02 pm
You guys were the surprise that made my PAX! Out of all of the stellar titles that were being shown on the expo floor, Card Hunters is the game I’m most exited about. (And you were the only booth that I dragged my friends to so they could play the demo.)
Eagerly awaiting my beta invite!
September 3rd, 2012 at 9:25 pm
I told my friends about this game. None of them had heard of it. I was so glad to finally play it, and it was everything I hoped for! Excited to hear more, guys!
September 4th, 2012 at 5:23 am
CH has the potential to be THE sleeper hit of 2012. I felt it the second I read your dev diary and Tycho at PAX just confirmed how awesome your game is too.
Hope you guys will start heavily promote your game soon because it’s a shame CH is still rather obscure compare to many far more inferior titles out there.
35k views on your promo clip and only 1,400 subs are a travesty for this game. =)
September 4th, 2012 at 6:15 pm
I want Card Hunter to be as successful as possible so I’m waiting before I start gushing about it to everyone I know. Without anything tangible for folks to dig into, interest will be lost regardless of how awesome the concept seems.
September 4th, 2012 at 9:55 pm
I got to play this at PAX and it was honestly my favourite game there. My friends and I helped my wife play and won the final cape which was actually being worn at the booth. When Greenfang died and we all cheered – that was my favourite memory of PAX.
September 5th, 2012 at 12:11 am
This is exactly the game that I have wanted to play for several years now. In fact, I’ve almost tried to make it a few times
Thanks for doing it for me!
I do have a couple questions though:
1) Would/have you considered a “hardcore” mode (opt-in, of course) in which a TPK results in permadeath for whichever characters were involved, and loss of whatever items they had with them? I really like the nethack/roguelike permadeath vibe.
2) When the time comes that Card Hunter is no longer financially viable (hopefully a long long time in the future), do you have a plan in place for making the game’s server software available for people to run locally? I can see Card Hunter being a really big hit in some gaming circles for years or decades. People are still playing early editions of DnD, and it would really be selling CH short if it had to disappear from peoples’ gaming lives once its popularity waned to make it no longer profitable. Virtual card games shouldn’t be any less future-proof than paper ones.
September 5th, 2012 at 3:16 am
The simple modular dungeon missions means Blue Manchu will most likely have a steady stream of income post-launch through ‘patches’ – unlike other indie titles relying on one-off purchase and possible DLCs.
Very interested in knowing more about your business model. As a FTP game, what would we be asked to pay?
September 5th, 2012 at 9:17 am
@DasFenix
I like the idea of permadeath + loss of items. I particularly like how Squaresoft implemented this in FFT where once a character dies, you have three full rounds to win before they die permanently. Now I’m not sure how difficult this game will be. It could be almost impossible to get through a round without losing 1-2 characters. So it’s likely that Blue Manchu would have to tweak permadeath, if implemented.
September 5th, 2012 at 3:30 pm
HI! Couldn’t make it to Pax 2012, but i have seen some of your game fotage and i love it! I just wonder if i can sign upp for the beta in some way on this site? or just by signing upp at Pax. Thx for an exciting upcomming game! / jontelid
September 5th, 2012 at 7:37 pm
Wow, lots of questions – probably better to ask them on the forum if possible, but I’ll try to hit a bunch of them here as well. @DasFenix – I don’t think a hardcore mode is suitable for Card Hunter as it would be close to impossible to avoid any deaths (in my opinion). That said, we are working on a “quest” system where you have extra goals like avoiding deaths on any adventure. Hopefully that will provide a suitable level of challenge.
As for what we do with the game after it expires – it’s a bit early to start thinking about that! I hope the keep the game running for a long time, but if it ever lapses in popularity, I would certainly consider releasing it to the community somehow.
September 5th, 2012 at 7:48 pm
@SQW: we’re still working on figuring out what the payment system will be.
September 5th, 2012 at 7:49 pm
@Jointelid: we’ll be taking Beta applications through this site soon to join those who signed up at PAX. Keep an eye out on the forums/site/twitter or facebook page.
September 13th, 2012 at 6:48 pm
hey guys, great game can’t wait to play. i think going brower is a good idear and i luv taht pen and paper/card games are coming to pc and other devices more and more and sharing the free to play modle- as opposed to the old buy a $50 rule book (and the another few after that) that w will just rewite and make you by again in a few years or so. also i love that i can play something like this when i wont and not have to wait until a bunch of people wont to get together and play though a game (and there always no one who wont to be a dm ect) so yes thanks guys
September 13th, 2012 at 10:33 pm
Nice.
Wood pattern looks non natural. Please replace it to photo of real table.