Saturday, May 3, 2008

I Am Berry, Berry Lazy

Ah, I'm still in the middle of my post Frenzy idyll. But I'm starting to feel the stirrings of my vaunted creative impulses once more. I've done some thinking about my comic script, for example, and I'm thinking of going back to tighten some things up. Or doing that revision of last year's Frenzy movie script that I keep putting off.

But, for today, besides taking a final, I spent the day watching the Pistons keep their switch on and writing up some Kongai stuff that's been kicking around in my head (Oh yes, expect content. Not anytime soon, though, since I've just jinxed myself. The surest way to not post something is to mention that you're going to...sigh.) when I wasn't fiddling around with the test version of the new and improved Card List. Which isn't really as impressive as it sounds when you realize that I forget basic html just as soon as I learn it. But I've been getting some interesting incoming links off of it so don't worry, it hasn't been forgotten. Just - like most other things - put on hold while I burned off those last vestiges of adrenaline and took a slightly deserved rest.

I got sidetracked, though, into coming up with my own imaginary expansion for Kongai. Word on the digital street (Okay, now, what was going through my head reading through that entire interview was "But what about Tafari?". No bad cards, my ass.) is that there will, one day, be new card packs released. In so many words, new groups and characters and items to slot into the game. A particularly intriguing rumor says the long development time means that there's at least a few out there just waiting in the wings to be pumped out after release. And, well, I thought "What the hell? How hard can it be?"

Famous last words. And my results weren't anything like polished enough to, you know, actually share since I fear people finding out I'm not really as smart as they think I am. And Furbies. Still have nightmares about those little fuckers. But it was an interesting intellectual exercise, if nothing else, that's taught me a lot about what it is that makes a card work. I came up with a pretty interesting assortment of characters spread over four groups from the powerful but lumbering Monstrous Beasts to the quick and crafty Elementals to the deceptively deadly Undead and the supportive buff-happy Zealots. I'm particularly proud of Redgore, the Flame Spirit who - if this makes sense - is like a mirror Le Morte who's a brutal but high-burner card who's main mechanic is creating and getting supercharged by Burning debuffs (That's really something I like that's not in the game much, at the moment. The problem with Ambush is that it's too inflexible, not that it has a setup move. But there's plenty of space for moves that get better or even that you can only use if some precondition has been met.).

Now? Items!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice to know that I'm not the only one creating his own sets. Though I only have one (two before I deleted Rogue's Gallery for general shittiness).

Sausaletus Rex said...

X is too.

It's, seriously, going to be a hobby for players. I mean, look at all the people who'll design M:TG cards and the like in their spare time. It goes hand in hand with thinking about balance and ways of fixing the game, the next logical although slightly shameful step closer towards the total fanboi zone is to think not about what could make the game better but what could be made for it.

And, really, mine suck. Yours suck. The vast majority of them are going to suck. But, then, so did the initial cards until they had months and months of testing and revisions to improve them. The important thing is it shows the passion, the interest that's out there and, as I said, helps people understand a bit more about design. Plus, you know, it's fun.

Really, I only have the Undead anywhere near done. Although the Beasts are rounding into shape now that I've finally fleshed out the 3-Cards-in-One Chimera (The idea there being that you switch between the different heads, each of which has its own little wrinkle.).