Support NeoGAF

[shaowebb]

I know it took forever for me to answer you, but I can tell you this:

Each Planeswalker has a specific "loadout" - restrictions that are set that limit the amount of our 3 different types of cards that can be in your deck. For example, one may have 4 creatures, 3 spells and 3 support cards, while others may be 6 creatures, 2 spells and 2 supports. These restrictions relax as you level up - while it starts out with a hard cap that goes straight to your 10 card deck, after a while you have flexibility in how you build your deck.

Also, unlike MPQ, you don't deal damage simply by matching gems. You need actual creatures, spells or support effects to deal damage.

This I suspected but needed clarified so thanks for that. It wouldn't really work like magic if you could just pop gems and slaughter. The cards are everything and the board is Mana.

Also I am VERY pleased with the restrictions being in but varying per planeswalker! This allows for real excitement when new planeswalkers come out because it will matter a LOT to players given new planeswalkers allow for completely different deck balances to design around. For example you got a planeswalker with perks to black and red but minuses to green and they can rock 3 creature, 5 support, 2 spells. That is VERY different from a black/red with the same green handicap that has say 4 creature 4 spell 2 support because the latter was a creature based team that takes advantage of spells (likely red since its MTG) where as the former would specialize in letting folks who simply liked the creatures of black red to go out and buff those creatures via equipment more than try to machine gun spells.

VERY good stuff can come about to force variety based on the whole Planeswalkers having different loadout options to deck building. Plus it negates my apprehension of potential "all spell" decks being used to machine gun matches for mana, then use the extra turns to keep the ball rolling creating an avalanche of spellcasting without allowing enemy turns.

Excellent stuff here...plus there are still the Planeswalker specific abilities fueled by special tiles on the board. Those abilites also completely change the potential of how a deck works between two similar planeswalkers...especially if anyone creates support tiles or changes tile colors with that ability.

 

[FrontalMonk]

All this sounds pretty great, but when do I get to go from reading about it on a forum to playing it on my S6? I need this kind of game like yesterday.

 

[Ooccoo]

From Player Rewards to this. Sure is a great time to be a MTG fan.

Spoiler

I play and I'm only partially serious

 

[shaowebb]

All this sounds pretty great, but when do I get to go from reading about it on a forum to playing it on my S6? I need this kind of game like yesterday.

Agreed. Now their is much more depth to Planeswalker selection than merely an ability and various buff/minuses to colors. Now there are very real deck building options you may or may not have depending on who you face. This also means in matchups you have a much better idea of what you face in PVP because you'll know which sorts of Planeswalkers use what sorts of loadouts narrowing down what you may face enough to prepare more.


Will there be an easy mouse over sort of way to allow players to distinguish or read an enemy Planeswalker's data? Folks will need to be able to double check what enemy Planeswalker's are allowed to put in their deck in terms of Creat/Supp/Spell amounts in addition to the basic info of Planeswalker powers and color affinities given this tidbit. Heck I'd even love if you could see below a Planeswalker a Listing of their 10 cards with numbers on each showing how many are in their deck, but that may be taking it too far lol.

 

[Gentle Rodriguez]

So if I don't care or understand anything at all about mtg but love puzzle quest games would this game be for me? Marvel puzzle quest is one of my favorite mobile games but the fact that it's Marvel is one of the main reasons that it is.

 

[TimeKillr]

This I suspected but needed clarified so thanks for that. It wouldn't really work like magic if you could just pop gems and slaughter. The cards are everything and the board is Mana.

Also I am VERY pleased with the restrictions being in but varying per planeswalker! This allows for real excitement when new planeswalkers come out because it will matter a LOT to players given new planeswalkers allow for completely different deck balances to design around. For example you got a planeswalker with perks to black and red but minuses to green and they can rock 3 creature, 5 support, 2 spells. That is VERY different from a black/red with the same green handicap that has say 4 creature 4 spell 2 support because the latter was a creature based team that takes advantage of spells (likely red since its MTG) where as the former would specialize in letting folks who simply liked the creatures of black red to go out and buff those creatures via equipment more than try to machine gun spells.

VERY good stuff can come about to force variety based on the whole Planeswalkers having different loadout options to deck building. Plus it negates my apprehension of potential "all spell" decks being used to machine gun matches for mana, then use the extra turns to keep the ball rolling creating an avalanche of spellcasting without allowing enemy turns.

Excellent stuff here...plus there are still the Planeswalker specific abilities fueled by special tiles on the board. Those abilites also completely change the potential of how a deck works between two similar planeswalkers...especially if anyone creates support tiles or changes tile colors with that ability.

I'm glad you like the direction we're taking. We had really good feedback from our showing at PAX Prime and it's really bolstered the team.

All this sounds pretty great, but when do I get to go from reading about it on a forum to playing it on my S6? I need this kind of game like yesterday.

Soon! I can't mention specifics, but seriously it should be soon.

Will there be an easy mouse over sort of way to allow players to distinguish or read an enemy Planeswalker's data? Folks will need to be able to double check what enemy Planeswalker's are allowed to put in their deck in terms of Creat/Supp/Spell amounts in addition to the basic info of Planeswalker powers and color affinities given this tidbit. Heck I'd even love if you could see below a Planeswalker a Listing of their 10 cards with numbers on each showing how many are in their deck, but that may be taking it too far lol.

I'll discuss this with the team, see how they feel, but I definitely think that having a bit of info about your opponent is useful.

So if I don't care or understand anything at all about mtg but love puzzle quest games would this game be for me? Marvel puzzle quest is one of my favorite mobile games but the fact that it's Marvel is one of the main reasons that it is.

Essentially, if you like Marvel Puzzle Quest, odds are you'll like Magic Puzzle Quest. It's a different game, but the core is similar, and we're trying to adapt the formula to bring it somewhere else than Marvel Puzzle Quest.

 

[shaowebb]

I'll discuss this with the team, see how they feel, but I definitely think that having a bit of info about your opponent is useful.

Thanks for this. Some people would likely make certain decks and not want to end up in certain scenarios. For example folks that go all in on high cost cards in Magic the Gathering tend to hate taking on fast moving cheap cost spell decks. They tend to lose before they even get going. Showing the permanent aspects of a planeswalker opponent via mouse over could remind players that they may be about to face an opponent who rocks a high amount of creatures that are most likely green or whatever so that they don't get all whiny about not knowing things.

I seriously doubt revealing an opponent's whole deck would feel right to magic players though. It is what it is in other games that do it, but that mystery is part of the mystique of MTG. Showing planeswalker loadouts on affinity, deck requirements, and planeswalker power though are constants that I feel would be nice though.

BTW thanks for being so receptive to us.

 

[shaowebb]

Footage

Woo! An update on this showing a teaser clip of gameplay. Can't wait to dig into the pop 3 strategies of this new Puzzle Quest title. Hope they include Black Lotus.

 

[TimeKillr]

Footage

Woo! An update on this showing a teaser clip of gameplay. Can't wait to dig into the pop 3 strategies of this new Puzzle Quest title. Hope they include Black Lotus.

I'm glad you're so hyped!

We should have news soon about a release date.

 

[Shinjica]

I know it took forever for me to answer you, but I can tell you this:

Each Planeswalker has a specific "loadout" - restrictions that are set that limit the amount of our 3 different types of cards that can be in your deck. For example, one may have 4 creatures, 3 spells and 3 support cards, while others may be 6 creatures, 2 spells and 2 supports. These restrictions relax as you level up - while it starts out with a hard cap that goes straight to your 10 card deck, after a while you have flexibility in how you build your deck.

Also, unlike MPQ, you don't deal damage simply by matching gems. You need actual creatures, spells or support effects to deal damage.

there is a reason why you put those restrictions in first place?

 

[TimeKillr]

there is a reason why you put those restrictions in first place?

It's partly there to help newcomers, and also to make sure that people don't build completely broken decks that can't be played.

It also serves as a big factor in how Planeswalkers are played and what you can expect when playing against them. Some might be much more spell-heavy than others, for example, so when you're playing against a spell-heavy deck you have to play differently than against a creature-heavy or support-heavy deck.

 

[bizzarewars]

Looks cool. Will probably be better than the free to play Duels game that came out.

 

[Gunstarheroes]

Excited for this, mostly because of the (hopeful) precedent the Marvel: Puzzle Quest console port set. I'm all about seeing a big chunk of Free-To-Play content come to consoles for one price, though like Marvel and Adventure Time, i'm sure i'll play a bit of this on my iPhone too.

 

[TimeKillr]

Just as a FYI guys, the game is out in Canada on both iOS and Android, so if you're there and want to give it a shot, please do and let me know!

 

[shaowebb]

Alright folks the game has been announced as finally releasing tomorrow in the US on 12/10/2015

Time for some fun

 

[TimeKillr]

Alright folks the game has been announced as finally releasing tomorrow in the US on 12/10/2015

Time for some fun

The game should be out worldwide now, so let me know!

 

[archnemesis]

I hope you had time to finish the missing parts. I played through the entire campaign and in the later chapters there were a lot of missing values and broken quest conditions.

 

[TimeKillr]

I hope you had time to finish the missing parts. I played through the entire campaign and in the later chapters there were a lot of missing values and broken quest conditions.

We have, actually.

I redid all the objectives and they were all tested, so everything should be good now. The difficulty should be more even too.

 

[archnemesis]

That's great! I really enjoyed the game despite it being a bit rough around the edges.

 

[TimeKillr]

That's great! I really enjoyed the game despite it being a bit rough around the edges.

Thanks!

I hope more gaffers play it - I'm super curious to see how people feel.

 

[nli10]

Well, it's not great...but it is playable.

The story doesn't exist, it's just a wiggly line campaign like other F2P - the map of PQ1 was one of its best parts.

There is no clear indication of if you unlock other PW naturally or are supposed to buy them.

Some of the objectives on the last few quests on part 1 of campaign seem upside down / one called spell caster where you have to do less than three spells?

I like that my collection doesn't need upgrading and all cards are not only final form but effectively 4 copies. I only know this from reading here though! I like that there are no character slots and that non basic land takes up slots in deck.

Doesn't feel that action packed or controllable at the moment. Having to constantly reorder cards but not being able to do that during OP turn. Still not clear on how I clear out creatures that I need to kill

I bought a fat pack using the free currency and got a mythic hixus and a green rare that cares about support when green can only take two support in. Feels clunky.

Oh - and as someone on Tumblr pointed out Chandras weak colours are wrong...

PQ 1 is one of the best games ever, the feeling of control and progression was amazing. I know the multiplayer was broken and horrible but that wasn't the appeal for me. I'm not sure how other games after have not managed to get the same feeling but I've played most and they really haven't.

Not sure why we don't have a mana pool and just get to tap the spells to cast as they become active on the side. Would feel more traditional and remove all the swapping and ordering. With Lilly I have to keep an eye on the top and bottom spell!

 

[TimeKillr]

There is no clear indication of if you unlock other PW naturally or are supposed to buy them.

You're supposed to buy them, but the first 4 are at such incredibly low prices there's no reason not to after you complete the tutorial.

Some of the objectives on the last few quests on part 1 of campaign seem upside down / one called spell caster where you have to do less than three spells?

I'll look into that, it might be a problem with our text.

I like that my collection doesn't need upgrading and all cards are not only final form but effectively 4 copies. I only know this from reading here though! I like that there are no character slots and that non basic land takes up slots in deck.

That was our goal, honestly.

Doesn't feel that action packed or controllable at the moment. Having to constantly reorder cards but not being able to do that during OP turn. Still not clear on how I clear out creatures that I need to kill

To kill creatures your opponent controls, you either

1- Run a Defender to block them (and kill them if you deal enough damage)
2- Use a direct damage spell
3- Use a Berserker creature to attack opposing creatures

You don't *have* to reorder cards, but it is an important aspect of gameplay.

I bought a fat pack using the free currency and got a mythic hixus and a green rare that cares about support when green can only take two support in. Feels clunky.

As you level up your planeswalker, you'll get more slots for everything (eventually Nissa can equip more Supports) so you should be good.

Oh - and as someone on Tumblr pointed out Chandras weak colours are wrong...

Can you link me this tumblr?

Not sure why we don't have a mana pool and just get to tap the spells to cast as they become active on the side. Would feel more traditional and remove all the swapping and ordering. With Lilly I have to keep an eye on the top and bottom spell!

We actually had a mana pool at some point, but proper communication was incredibly difficult. This isn't like traditional PQ where you have a static list of 3-4 abilities - your hand is always evolving, so because of that using a mana pool doesn't work that well. We really wanted to have a clear indicator on cards to tell you when you could use them and when you couldn't use them, and having to constantly do a lot of math to determine if you could use a card or not was pretty clunky, honestly.

The way we work now is a lot simpler, and the automation/hand ordering and such really plays into some mechanics such as card discard - cards that will remove the first card in an opponent's hand are much more valuable than cards that remove the last card since there may be some mana accumulated in the first card whereas the last card is typically empty, for example.

 

[garath]

Hmm. Didn't know this was coming. I'm a big fan of the original puzzle quest and really like match 3 style games. I'll give it a shot.

Surprisingly never played marvel puzzle quest though so it'll be a new experience in the f2p realm.

 

[nli10]

You're supposed to buy them, but the first 4 are at such incredibly low prices there's no reason not to after you complete the tutorial.



I'll look into that, it might be a problem with our text.



That was our goal, honestly.



To kill creatures your opponent controls, you either

1- Run a Defender to block them (and kill them if you deal enough damage)
2- Use a direct damage spell
3- Use a Berserker creature to attack opposing creatures

You don't *have* to reorder cards, but it is an important aspect of gameplay.



As you level up your planeswalker, you'll get more slots for everything (eventually Nissa can equip more Supports) so you should be good.



Can you link me this tumblr?



We actually had a mana pool at some point, but proper communication was incredibly difficult. This isn't like traditional PQ where you have a static list of 3-4 abilities - your hand is always evolving, so because of that using a mana pool doesn't work that well. We really wanted to have a clear indicator on cards to tell you when you could use them and when you couldn't use them, and having to constantly do a lot of math to determine if you could use a card or not was pretty clunky, honestly.

The way we work now is a lot simpler, and the automation/hand ordering and such really plays into some mechanics such as card discard - cards that will remove the first card in an opponent's hand are much more valuable than cards that remove the last card since there may be some mana accumulated in the first card whereas the last card is typically empty, for example.

Awkward to reply on phone.

Figured I may unlock the other PW through campaign so hadn't bought all. Good to know they are easy pick ups.

I kinda get the ordering and that now. It doesn't flow how I'd like but that's a design choice. Creatures still feel a little invincible, but that may be the cards I have at the moment.

Speaking of which - what happens to duplicates I pick up?

Good to hear the PW slots change over time. And that play styles can be tweaked.

THe tumblr was Mark Rosewaters where he suggests that any things in PQ are not under his control. Reds opposite colours on the 'wheel' would be its enemy colours so blue & white? I didn't favourite it, but it was maybe the day after it came out as I hadn't got Chandra then so a week ago?

The fact that you tried a pool system and it didn't work shows your at least thinking about these things. I'd have had cards light up that could be played, but realise that knowing when you can play combinations would be a nightmare. I guess more cards care about the order than I first suspected so there is some interesting stuff to be found there.

I do like this more than Marvel PQ, and there have been some neat things I've spotted so far. I'll keep on trying it anyway.

And before I forget - thanks for the open and honest replies. I don't come on here that often so it's good to see its still somewhere that encorages this kind of thing.

 

[TimeKillr]

Figured I may unlock the other PW through campaign so hadn't bought all. Good to know they are easy pick ups.

That's the point of them - we don't want players to feel locked out of the other PWs.

I kinda get the ordering and that now. It doesn't flow how I'd like but that's a design choice. Creatures still feel a little invincible, but that may be the cards I have at the moment.

It really depends on your opponent. Playing against Gideon will have lots of blockers on the board, so your creatures definitely won't feel invincible.

Speaking of which - what happens to duplicates I pick up?

We have a plan in place, but it takes a little bit of time to execute. Stay tuned!

Good to hear the PW slots change over time. And that play styles can be tweaked.

This is a definite plus in the design we went with - initially, you're a bit more constrained, but as you play you do get to feel more powerful and flexible. It also helps with new players who don't know what cards to put in their decks.

THe tumblr was Mark Rosewaters where he suggests that any things in PQ are not under his control. Reds opposite colours on the 'wheel' would be its enemy colours so blue & white? I didn't favourite it, but it was maybe the day after it came out as I hadn't got Chandra then so a week ago?

I actually found it, and I'll relay this to my colleague to see if we need to do anything.

The fact that you tried a pool system and it didn't work shows your at least thinking about these things. I'd have had cards light up that could be played, but realise that knowing when you can play combinations would be a nightmare. I guess more cards care about the order than I first suspected so there is some interesting stuff to be found there.

The problem with lighting up cards and such is that you still need a way to show how much a card costs, how much mana you have in your pool and do quick math to cast the card. If you want to cast 2, you need to calculate how much you'd have left, and this gets worse and worse over time. It was also very confusing to new players.

I do like this more than Marvel PQ, and there have been some neat things I've spotted so far. I'll keep on trying it anyway.

Thanks!

And before I forget - thanks for the open and honest replies. I don't come on here that often so it's good to see its still somewhere that encorages this kind of thing.

Oh definitely. I'm very happy to answer questions about games I've worked on, and I love interacting with our players, so this is super appreciated on my end also.

 

[rainking187]

I signed in today to get my daily bonus and it started over at day one. I guess you have to sign in every day in a month and not just 31 days in a row? Kind of sucks considering the game wasn't released in the US until the tenth.

 

[evilpigking]

Is there a bug in pvp? Twice now it said you full hp then I start a game and it put me at 9...

 

[nli10]

Yeah - I thought the not full month thing was a bit mad for Dec. Earned it for Jan this morning that get me to return here. Three more rares taking me to 7!

Only played a bit though despite all the log ins. Gideon (now white blue green instead of white and a bit of red in the lore) with first and double strikers is pretty unstoppable. Only the slow pace of the game prevents me from playing more often.

The decks feel more interactive now, but I still don't feel like I have mastery of the board.

The new update sounds promising and the fact that the details are unmissable if you visit the main screen is a big plus. Origins cards (even though it's tenuous links) now feel quite old as we are two sets on. Did they warn you that you'd need to code in colourless gems? Probably not...

Anyway - will pop back after the next update - and will try to progress some in the campaign/multiplayer

 

[rainking187]

Anyone else unable to collect the daily reward today? I also noticed there's 31 days of daily rewards this month even though there's not 31 days this month.

 

[nli10]

Yup - same. Wonder if they presumed the update would be out by now?

 

[rainking187]

So there's a new update out and you get a free pack every 8 hours but you can't buy packs with runes anymore. Is leveling your planeswalkers the only thing they're good for now?

 

[rainking187]

Double post, but I've been saving up my crystals since the game came out to get a big box, I always get at least one mythic in the fat packs you get for signing in every day, bought the big box and didn't get a single mythic in 14 packs.

 

[nli10]

I got three I think in my big box. Basically not used any though - be surprised if I remember enough days of logging in for the fat pack this month.

 

[Alucard]

This game is fun as hell.