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Reflections on GenCon 2013
HexVault
August 20, 2013
Article,Convention,Cryptozoic,Hex Vault,Hex: MMO/TCG,Hex: Shards of Fate,Interview
7

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

Hex: Shards of Fate

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Jadiim Sleeve Artwork
HexVault
August 19, 2013
Hex Vault,Hex: MMO/TCG,Hex: Shards of Fate

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1
Jadiim Sleeves (GenCon Exclusive)

Jadiim Sleeves (GenCon Exclusive)

GenCon 2013: Interview with Dan Clark, Lead Developer
HexVault
August 19, 2013
Convention,Cryptozoic,From the Vault,Hex Vault,Hex: MMO/TCG,Hex: Shards of Fate,Interview
5

 

Dan Clark, Lead Developer

Dan Clark, Lead Developer

 

I got a chance to interview HEX Lead Developer Dan Clark at GenCon. You can catch the RAW UNEDITED (I’ll take a pass at editing it, transcribing it, and reducing the background exhibit hall noise once GenCon is over) audio on SoundCloud. We discussed a wide range of topics including:

  1. Dan’s GenCon experiences throughout the years
  2. His thoughts on interacting with the KickStarter backers
  3. How much time he gets to play/test Hex, his favorite deck types and cards
  4. Some interesting thoughts on a number of game design-related areas:
    • Novel Mechanics
    • Not letting his personal preferences impact the overall design

 

I hope you’ve enjoyed the GenCon interviews as much as I did chatting with the CZE folks. I wanted to provide Hex-related information, but I was also interested in finding out about the guys behind the game. Hopefully I accomplished that.

 

I’m planning to post a summary of GenCon today or tomorrow – check back to read that. And, as always, enter our giveaway! It takes less than a minute and you could win an iPad, flights to/from HexCon, or Set 1 Boosters.

 

GenCon 2013: Interview with Ben Stoll, Game Designer
HexVault
August 18, 2013
Card Spoilers,Convention,From the Vault,Hex Vault,Hex: MMO/TCG,Hex: Shards of Fate,Interview,PVP
6
Ben Stoll, Game Designer

Ben Stoll, Game Designer

 

I got a chance to have a conversation HEX Game Designer Ben Stoll at GenCon. You can catch the RAW UNEDITED (I’ll take a pass at editing it, transcribing it, and reducing the background exhibit hall noise once GenCon is over) audio on SoundCloud. I’m pretty quiet on a few of the questions because of how we had to set up the interview – it’ll be pretty obvious what the questions were though. We discussed a wide range of topics including:

  1. Ben’s GenCon experiences throughout the years
  2. His thoughts on interacting with the KickStarter backers
  3. How much time he gets to play/test Hex, his favorite deck types and cards
  4. Some interesting thoughts on a number of game design-related areas:
    • Resources, and what sets HEX apart
    • Set 2 Sapphire Dragon
    • The “ambush” mechanic
  5. Motivations for working on HEX

 

We’ll have another interview from GenCon posted tomorrow! If you have specific questions for any of the CZE folks leave a comment and I’ll see what I can do to get you an answer.

 

Remember to enter our giveaway!

 

GenCon 2013: Dragon Lord Dinner
HexVault
August 17, 2013
Convention,Hex: MMO/TCG,Hex: Shards of Fate,Kickstarter
5

It’s probably safe to say that everyone at the Dragon Lord dinner had a great time – I think most of us spent more than an hour chatting after we got kicked out of the restaurant! 5.5 hours flew by in what seemed like minutes for me. I’m not going to post any pictures – others have much better quality pics, and CZE will be posting a pictures and a video in the pretty near future.

 

The CZE folks continue to be the most accommodating people I’ve ever had the pleasure of dealing with. As far as I can tell every CZE employee made sure they talked to every backer there. We probably learned a few new things (look for a post tomorrow), but, IMHO, the best conversations were about game strategy and philosophy.

 

Cory presented us all with autographed (by the entire development team) Hex posters (see the Hex TCG Facebook page). The “other treats” were definitely something really unexpected – a USB drive with the new Sapphire Dragon (Set 2!) art printed on it, and all of the hi-res art for the dragon and it’s card and equipment on the drive. You can see Zeedu here.

 

Zeedu USB Drive

Zeedu USB Drive

 

Zeedu USB Drive

Zeedu USB Drive

 

Pretty tired now, but I’ll add more details to this post tomorrow.

 

Set 2 Spoiler: Zeedu [Sapphire Dragon]
HexVault
August 17, 2013
Card Spoilers,Convention,Hex: MMO/TCG,Hex: Shards of Fate,Kickstarter
|
6

The first Set 2 card revealed!

 

Zeedu with Equipment

Zeedu with Equipment

 

Zeedu

Zeedu

GenCon 2013: Interview with a Princess
HexVault
August 16, 2013
Convention,Cryptozoic,From the Vault,Hex: MMO/TCG,Hex: Shards of Fate,Interview,PVE
9

I stopped by the Cryptozoic booth earlier today and got a chance to interview the Man, the Myth, the Legend – Mr. Cory Jones!

 

The Man, the Myth, the Legend... Mr. Cory Jones!

The Man, the Myth, the Legend… Mr. Cory Jones!

 

You can catch the RAW UNEDITED (I’ll take a pass at editing it, transcribing it, and reducing the background exhibit hall noise once GenCon is over) audio on SoundCloud. We discussed a wide range of topics including:

    1. Cory’s GenCon experiences throughout the years
    2. His thoughts on interacting with the KickStarter backers
    3. How much time he gets to play/test Hex, his favorite deck types and cards
    4. Some interesting thoughts on a number of PVE-related areas:
      • Gold Sinks
      • Rewarding players for recruiting other players
      • Spectral Lotus in PVE Tournaments

 

We’ll have more interviews from GenCon over the weekend! If you have specific questions for any of the CZE folks leave a comment and I’ll see what I can do to get you an answer.

 

GenCon 2013: Friday Update
HexVault
August 16, 2013
Convention,Cryptozoic,Hex: MMO/TCG,Hex: Shards of Fate
0

Here a few pictures from this morning at GenCon:

 

Hex League PCs

Hex League PCs

 

 

Hex League PCs

Hex League PCs

 

 

Drew and Chris (the Rock Star) adding the Twitch.tv stream Orc and Flying Sapphire decks for Hex League Play

Drew and Chris (the Rock Star) adding the Twitch.tv stream Orc and Flying Sapphire decks for Hex League Play

 

 

The Man, the Myth, the Legend... Mr. Cory Jones!

The Man, the Myth, the Legend… Mr. Cory Jones!

 

I’ll be posting an interview with Cory shortly. Enter our giveaway in the meantime! Stay tuned!

 

Other than that, the line at the Hex League is INSANE today! 3-4 times as many people as yesterday. And a huge number of non-KS players – looks like the game is starting to really take off! I managed to win another game with the Burn Baby Burn Ruby deck – so much fun to play…

Spectral Lotus Update // PVE Tournaments
HexVault
August 16, 2013
Article,Card Strategy,Hex: MMO/TCG,Hex: Shards of Fate,PVE

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1

We got a chance to talk to Cory yesterday about Spectral Lotus, and its use in PVE “tournaments”.

 

Spectral Lotus

Spectral Lotus

 

Cory confirmed yesterday that when you take a deck into a PVE “tournament” you won’t get to change your deck until the tournament is over. That leads to lots of interesting decisions around when to use your lotuses – once used they become Black Tigers, and you won’t have the opportunity to sideboard more lotuses in. The term “Lotus Screw” was also coined – getting 3 or 4 lotuses in an opening hand of an early round of a PVE tournament when you’d prefer to keep them for later in the day. If you use them too early, you could live to regret that decision! Of course, they still have utility as zero cost cantrips that allow you to draw a card, and the equipment can further enhance that utility.

 

  • League play just about to begin...
  • GenCon13
  • My Mushwocky was so VERY hungry... He always is... Poor, poor bunnies...
  • Playing the demo at the CZE Booth
  • New Spoiler! From the demo deck at the CZE Booth.
  • New Spoiler! From the demo deck at the CZE Booth.
  • Funktion and Ben discuss the finer points of game design...
  • CZE's Booth in the Exhibit Hall
  • CZE's Booth in the Exhibit Hall
  • Setting up the Hex League play area. A little behind schedule because of some logistics issues...
  • Sea of people just before the Exhibit Hall opened!
  • Sea of people just before the Exhibit Hall opened!
GenCon 2013: Pictures from Thursday
HexVault
August 15, 2013
Card Spoilers,Convention,Cryptozoic,Hex: MMO/TCG,Hex: Shards of Fate
4

 

Here are some pictures from GenCon, the Cryptozoic’s (CZE) booth (Hex:Shards of Fate takes center stage, but CZE’s other games are also represented), the Hex League Play area, and some gameplay screenshots (and a couple of new spoilers and a VERY hungry Mushwocky!). Notably, and as promised, Cory delivered funktion’s hug:

 

Funktion gets his KS hug from Cory

Funktion gets his KS hug from Cory

 

Hex is awesome! It’s not perfect yet, but I’d be more than happy to play it the way it is. The UI is beautiful, the gameplay was really responsive, and, with minor exceptions, it was really easy to pick up and play. I played 4 of the decks: the ruby Burn deck was a LOT of fun (and lethal) and the blood/wild bunnies were awesome (and multiplied like, well, bunnies…). Some minor bugs, and some not particularly obvious gameplay elements, but I imagine they’ll get fixed pretty quickly.

 

Difficult day for the CZE folks – all of the wireless networks were completely unusable so they had to change course and do everything using switches and ethernet cables (which they had to procure). That added up to a ~5 hour wait for some of us to actually play Hex at the Hex League area. Not quite the day many of us expected, but pretty successful by the end of the night .The CZE folks were rock stars in the face of significant adversity! It took quite an effort to get us the game, but it was well worth it in the end.

 

We’ll have much more time to take (better) pictures and post more frequent updates tomorrow!

 

Remember to enter our giveaway! Return flights to/from HexCon, and iPad, and lots of other prizes could be yours!