Today was a really fun one! I managed to add five new cards into the game. We had the design for most of them for a while, but I finally had the time to implement them.
Recently, GIMP 3.0 was released, so I wanted to try some image manipulations with the new software. To be honest, I didn’t use any new features, but it was still cool to experiment with.
Card Design Decisions
I'll go over the design decisions behind these new cards. Our goal was to enable more archetypes, particularly those involving Last Stand and Life Leech.
Life Leech Change
Previously, Life Leech just healed the unit. Now, if the unit is already at max health, it instead gains permanent max health. This change allows for some really interesting archetypes.
For example, Rwona was designed to keep scaling and getting fatter and fatter. Ideally, you'd place it in the backline so it can keep accumulating extra damage with Masochism and more health with Life Leech. You’d likely need to pair it with another card that can heal the Masochism damage so the Life Leech can actually increase max health. If it grows large enough, it could be the last one standing, allowing Last Stand to activate.
Tank With Bloodthirsty
Another card follows a similar concept but is designed for a tank role, leveraging Bloodthirsty. The idea is that you can use this as a second tank or even a main tank, depending on positioning effects. Some DPS cards don’t work well in the first position, but this card benefits from being up front with things like Cleave or Multistrike.
If positioned well, it can apply Burning Life Leech to multiple enemies, gaining max HP as they take damage. Eventually, enemies will die from Burn, and this card will heal via Bloodthirsty. That’s the intended design—whether it works as planned remains to be seen.
More Momentum
Next up, Loarg. I really love its design because it truly feels like a shark. Momentum is such a fun mechanic. Ever since we added it to Dryosaur, it’s been my favorite card to play.
The way Momentum works is that every time the unit attacks, it moves. This means it can take advantage of multiple positioning effects. For example, if it attacks, tramples, and moves, it might land on a position with Poison or Divine Shield, gaining additional benefits.
However, positioning is key. If you place it in the first position with a DPS unit behind it, it might move unexpectedly and mess up your formation. That’s why you generally want to position it away from key units.
This new shark card follows the same principle as Hoinger but uses Bleed instead of Burn. It’s designed to keep swimming around, bleeding enemies, and healing itself when they die.
Pointless mechanics?
Then we have Yawy, a shadow-and-light yeti with a unique design. At first glance, it might seem useless because it deals damage to everyone (Havoc) and then heals everyone (Mass Heal), effectively canceling itself out.
However, depending on how you use it, it can be very strong.
- Havoc triggers first, so if enemy cards are already low on health, they might die before Mass Heal takes effect.
- It combos well with Condemn, allowing for huge burst damage.
- It’s great against armored opponents because Havoc damages armor, while Mass Heal doesn’t repair it.
- You can also build around it with cards that benefit from taking damage, like Scarred Skin, or cards with Beloved that you actually want to die.
- Additionally, this is another Last Stand card. Previously, we only had Arvinav with Last Stand, but now we have two more(Rwona and Yawy), which should help enable that archetype.
Smoke...
The last card is a bit more personal.
Lately, I’ve been really annoyed by the smoke season here in northern Thailand (Chiang Mai). They burn everything, and the air becomes unbearable. Even with a good mask, it's tough because it gets so hot.
I added this card to the game as a reminder to keep working hard—so that one day, the game will be successful, and I can leave during smoke season.
The name Thas comes from (Tha)iland (S)moke, but if you don’t know that, it just sounds like a cool name, Thas.
Gameplay-wise, Thas functions similarly to Perihorn. Perihorn has a double aura that reduces incoming attacks. Thas follows that idea, but giving the remaining debuffing auras. It has no direct damage abilities—it's purely an aura bot.
It’s a weak unit stat-wise, but if you want to nerf the opponent’s team, it’s a solid choice. Its auras aren’t the best, but they’re still strong, especially Crippling Aura, which is why it levels up more slowly.
Card Export Feature for Posts and Videos
Finally, I wanted to make it easier for players to create posts on Hive with proper images.
Since card visuals are quite complex (background, model, stats, abilities, etc.), they need to be rendered into an image. I had some old scripts for this, but I’ve now integrated the feature into the game.
Right now, I’m using a hotkey to generate the images, but soon, I’ll add a button so players can export images and tables for their own posts or videos.
Here’s an example: I can select Yawy at level 6, press Ctrl + Shift + T, and instantly get an image with its stats and abilities. The corresponding table is also saved in another folder.
That’s it for today! This was really fun—I love working on cards and gameplay mechanics. Hope you guys enjoyed it. See you tomorrow!