Spellcraft - Collectable Card Game - by Three Goblins Ltd

[sladeums]

[ffirebird]

I'll have to try to download

[Tinsel]

Any news on this? Looks like it could be good, in a Spectromancer/Kard Kombat style game.

[mrbass]

I'd love to hear someone's impressions if this is worth a 333MB download. Not too keen on the IAP. But if the campaign is interesting then might give it a spin.

[sladeums]

Whether it is worth it or not is all relative.

It has surprisingly decent production values, single player, multiplayer, Achievements and Leaderboards, and is free.

It is a TCG. They start you out with 40 cards.
Additional 10 or 40 card random boosters can be bought with in-game currency.
Duplicates of singles cards already in your collection can also be purchased individually.
Additional currency can be purchased via IAP if so desired.

You can customize and save what looks like up to a dozen decks.

AI seems relatively ok...at least for beginners.

The tutorial could be a bit more full featured.
Plays in portrait.
Game sounds override your device's music player.

It is a fun enough game to play but probably isn't going to scare you away from your favored TCG/CCG/DBG for very long.

[WakeOfPoseidon]

I gave this a download last week just because I'll give most card games a shot. It's a shame this was released around the same time as the marvelous Spectromancer, because this game plays like a much slower paced version of that game. Where as a match in Spectromancer will last only 3 or 4 minutes, a match in Spellcraft kept going and going and going.

The rules at first seemed pretty straight forward - you play a card, it battles the opposing card (or damages your opponent if there is no opposing card) - but I kept coming across things that didn't make sense. There were several instances where I'd play a card and it would never attack on it's subsequent turns, and I never could figure out why (the opposite card gave no indication that it couldn't be attacked, nor did my neighboring cards seem to indicate the same). Since I would often end up with my row full of units that would never attack (as would my opponent), the matches would drag as we'd try to build up mana trying to cast spells to pick away at the opponent.

I'm afraid the art design will be hit or miss for some folks - I appreciate they tried to do retina for the ipad (well, mostly, there's still a fair number of elements that weren't) - but the fantasy CGI look won't work for everyone. It's not bad per se, just a little dated looking.

Not to nay say everything about the game, it does do some good things that make it worth checking out. It has a campaign mode that teaches you the ropes. The AI seemed pretty good from what I played of it. I think it's a great idea for card game devs to release their game for free and charge for booster packs like this one does - so they're doing that right. It lets people try the game out and see if it's for them.

Since it's free, no hard in downloading it and giving it a whirl. My personal opinion is that this game needs some balancing and refinement, and if enough players get invested in the game, that's bound to happen. But right now, there's better options like Magic, Spectromancer, Shadow Era, and Assassin's Creed out there.

[sladeums]

Originally Posted by WakeOfPoseidon

The rules at first seemed pretty straight forward - you play a card, it battles the opposing card (or damages your opponent if there is no opposing card) - but I kept coming across things that didn't make sense. There were several instances where I'd play a card and it would never attack on it's subsequent turns, and I never could figure out why (the opposite card gave no indication that it couldn't be attacked, nor did my neighboring cards seem to indicate the same). Since I would often end up with my row full of units that would never attack (as would my opponent), the matches would drag as we'd try to build up mana trying to cast spells to pick away at the opponent.

The most likely reason you're seeing that happen is that the opposing cards are of equal strength.
When either player attacks the cards strengths are compared and the strongest deals damage ... if they are equal it's a draw and nothing happens.

Keep in mind you can replace any of your cards on the board simply by playing another card on top of it, so you shouldn't be stuck in an eternal deadlock in most circumstances.

It took me a little while to realize these things also.

[WakeOfPoseidon]

Ah, that's good to know, I never realized this - that's a little bit different spin than similar games. I'll have to try it once again with this in mind and see how things play out.

[LordGek]

Originally Posted by sladeums

The most likely reason you're seeing that happen is that the opposing cards are of equal strength.
When either player attacks the cards strengths are compared and the strongest deals damage ... if they are equal it's a draw and nothing happens.

Keep in mind you can replace any of your cards on the board simply by playing another card on top of it, so you shouldn't be stuck in an eternal deadlock in most circumstances.

It took me a little while to realize these things also.

OH CRAP! This is huge! I just deleted and will now reinstall.

[sladeums]

Also it is of note that in combat between cards the damage dealt is the difference in strength.
That was another thing that confused me a bit initially.