Marvel Snap: Former Hearthstone developer Ben Brode on why this new project is the ‘best entry’ to the card game

Collectible card games are doing really well in this day and age. Games like Hearthstone, YuGiOh, and Magic the Gathering have all established themselves firmly in the video game market, bringing a decades-long hobby to computers, consoles, and especially mobile devices.Enter Miracle Snapshota new challenger with the word “accessibility” in gleaming gold letters behind it, and the team at Second Dinner Studios seeks to recapture the spirit of an older, younger card game experience.

Guiding me through the game and the goals the team has set for it is Ben Brode: Flannel Shirt Lover, former Hearthstone team member at Blizzard Entertainment and currently Chief Development Officer at Second Dinner Studios. While the studio obviously has a long list of content courses it hopes to deliver through seasonal releases and ongoing updates, can it make a difference?

But before we get into the details, what is a Marvel Snap? Well, it’s a quick card game, and each game fills three spaces on the board, each with four card slots and their own active modifiers, from buffs to cards to play there to limit you Something that can be placed there. Over six rounds, both players must try to fill these spaces with cards in their decks, each with its own power map and abilities. This is what I think is the perfect type of mobile game, super fast and easy to master.

“We want to make sure the mobile experience is accessible — that’s our main focus,” Broad said. “We’ve been challenging ourselves to make a game that’s super easy to learn, blazing fast, but still has a lot of depth.” The result of this balance is a game that starts out very easy – maybe a little too easy for me – but slowly introduced its various mechanics and complexities.

Interestingly, it does this through a non-l inear, collection-centric approach. As you collect and level up cards, you, the player, work through a collection level that is your only source of new cards. You can’t buy cards. No money or in-game currency is used. What is the reason? Force players to play with their new cards as they get them, rather than toss them aside.

“So when you get a new card, there’s an opportunity to put it in your deck, level it up a little bit, and then unlock extra stuff. So you have the opportunity to spend time on each card that you might not think The card starts out fine, but turns out to be pretty good after a few games! It allows you to explore the collection and get familiar with deck building.

However, it’s also an underground goal for Ben and the team: trying to bring back the long-lost card game experience found in playgrounds and living rooms around the world years ago.

“When I was a kid, we used to collect Marvel trading cards, we would go to the card store or the local comic book store and buy a pack of trading cards, or even other card games. My friend No one has all the cards, that’s not what people did at the time! It’s more about slowly collecting cads and building decks with what you have. It was an unbelievable time, in making When we play, we try to recapture that old-school style card game.”

One aspect of Marvel Snap that kids at heart and comic nerds will love is clearly the presence of numerous Marvel characters. There are some pretty deep cuts in there, all tied to card effects that represent their background.

“We often design cards top-down, which means we sit down and think ‘what would Rogue do in Marvel Snap’ before picking out meaningful abilities. You usually come up with interesting designs that way. However, , sometimes we know that we need an ability, such as improving the efficiency of continuous cards, so we will find a role that suits this ability.”

Brode mentioned zero as a good example, a card that strips power from other cards. He described “combing through the Marvel Encyclopedia” to find characters that fit the effect.

To complete my question about Marvel Snap, I want to ask Brode what his goals are for the game (besides the obvious “make a billion dollars” or “become the most popular card game”). The answer reflects what he demands of the game, as well as what he demands of himself. “With Marvel Snap, my goal is to have a big impact. I want Marvel Snap to grow the audience. When I was a kid, card games were niche and not many people played them. Card games were so much fun.

“One of the things I love doing in my life is introducing people to things I love, and I love card games. So I can’t wait to introduce people to Marvel Snap, which is the best way to get into the genre.”