Hex: Shards of Fate
The game was amazing! The Hex UI is little buggy in places, but mostly beautiful, very responsive, and a dream to play. I was still learning (i.e. making stupid mistakes) minor things about how certain cards had been implemented and needed to be used at the Con, but I’d imagine a solid day playing in the comfort of my own home would get through most of that process.
What about the decks? I really liked the Ruby Burn deck (fast and simple), the Bunnies (so many bunnies, so much carnage!), and the Sapphire Tempo deck (I ran, ran so far away…), but I ended up being beaten enough by the Inspire-based Diamond/Ruby deck that I’d bet that it was probably the best deck of those available to us (having originally been convinced Burn Baby Burn was the way to go).
Overall, I’d be happy if Alpha was the version of the software we got to play at GenCon. But, since we’re probably 4-5 weeks away from the Alpha build, I’m betting the UI and Game will be much improved again by the time we play again.
Hex: Shards of Fate
Cory & the Cryptozoic Team
Cory is the guy we saw in the Kickstarter video – all the time, and no matter whom he’s interacting with. It’s not an act – he’s just that genuine and committed to bringing the world the best games possible. We can all dream of being as happy as he seems to be in his career.
Cory gets a lot of the credit and limelight, but his team is incredible as well. Everyone, Cryptozoic staff and volunteers, was incredibly accommodating, and a pleasure to be around, even when things weren’t going as planned.
I’d especially like to thank Cory, Ben, and Dan for spending time with me so that I could interview them and share their thoughts with the people who didn’t get a chance to attend in person. Thank you!
Hex League Queue
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again – the Hex League queue was actually one of the better parts of the Con for me. It was really great to meet so many people I’d “seen” on the Hex forums, and many I hadn’t. Every time I left the League area and then came back it was like an episode of “Cheers” – greeting folks by name and meeting new people as I made my way back to the end of the line. By Saturday afternoon I was spending time in the line just to talk to people, and frequently not actually playing.
Giveaway Winners
I was excited to do the giveaway and bring someone to GenCon who otherwise couldn’t have gone. As you probably know by now, I ended up bringing quite a few people from as far afield as Canada and HI. I had hoped I chose deserving individuals that were committed to building the Hex community and that I wouldn’t regret my choices. As it turned out I shouldn’t have worried. Funktion, BossHoss, and Jinuyr are incredible people, share our common interest in gaming, and have been and will be key contributors to the Hex community. I didn’t expect to gain so many new friendships by backing the Hex Kickstarter, but I’m happy I have.
Drogon Lord Dinner
Cory gave a speech at the Dragon Lord dinner. He thanked everyone for their contributions and recommitted himself and his team to making Hex the best it could possibly be. He presented everyone with posters of the Hex key art signed by the entire development team. He also gave us a USB drive with the Set 2 spoiler (Zeedu, the Sapphire Dragon) – I’d been expecting the USB drive (because of a picture I’d seen a few days earlier), but I thought the dragon was Uruunaz. Zeedu was a great surprise!
Cory also managed to bring tears to my eyes (which might have been caught on the official video) at one point during his speech – I wasn’t expecting to be recognized for my contributions to the community, I just want Hex to be as successful as possible.
I can’t even count the number of remarkable conversations we had with the development team at the dinner. Chris and Drew shared great info about the “arena” PVE content – it sounds epic and I can’t wait to play it. Also, I particularly enjoyed the conversation about guilds and teams, atopic that’s been discussed in the past day or so on the Hex forums.
Another great thing about the Con, and especially the dinner, was having the opportunity to talk about ideas with the developers. At one point in the night, and within a few minutes, Ben Stoll had taken down 3 different ideas (from Funktion, BossHoss and myself) that he seemed genuinely interested in trying to get into the game. In fact, 10 minutes later Cory sat down beside me and he’d clearly already talked to Ben about one of the ideas and said they were going to make it happen. It’s pretty clear that Cryptozoic is listening to our ideas ALL the time, and, whether or not they’re commenting on them or committing to them, they’re part of the data that’s used to continually improve Hex.
Elsewhere @ GenCon
I didn’t spend ALL of my time playing Hex and bugging the Cryptozoic folks. I managed to check out Myth (another Kickstarter I backed), finally tried True Dungeon (which I liked more than I expected), and got a game of Pandemic in on a seriously oversized version of the game. With the help of some passable 
instruction, I also played a number of other Cryptozoic games for the first time and had a great time!
Saying Goodbye
It turned out to be really tough to leave on Sunday. I really enjoyed GenCon this year, and much of that had to do with the people I’d met and gotten to know. I’m so glad I found the Hex Kickstarter – it’s going to be an interesting ride!
Hex Vault
Finally, thank you all for following my GenCon coverage over the past few days. I learned a lot about what I’d like to do for future Cons, and expect the coverage to get better and better as Hex matures. I’ll probably announce a GenCon-related giveaway tomorrow, but in the meantime you should enter the current giveaway!
Colin