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Kickstarter: SolForge A F2P CCG by the creators of Magic [Ended, $429K funded]

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Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
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Kickstarter Link

Richard Garfield (Creator of Magic The Gathering) + Gary Games (Creators of Ascension Rise of the Godslayer) = SolForge

What is it?

SolForge was designed to take advantage of its existence in the digital space. While many digital TCGs are simply ports of existing card games moved online, with SolForge we were able to shed many of the constraints of paper games and truly explore the potential of a digital game.

This new category, the Digital Collectible Game, has unlimited potential to combine the best of both physical cards and digital gaming, and here are some of the ways we’re building SolForge in this new space:

The mechanic at the core of SolForge is card transformation. Whenever you play a card, it levels up to a new, more powerful version. You might play a Dragon Egg, which turns into a Dragon Whelp, which ultimately becomes a Giant Dragon! Not only do you get to play with progressively more powerful cards, but you can watch as your creatures transform into massively powerful monsters and smash your opponents!
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Who is making it?

The team behind SolForge has years of experience making and playing games, and this project is the culmination of lifetimes devoted to gaming. Gary Games created Ascension, the award-winning deckbuilding game and iOS app, and our design and development credits prior to forming the company include many other games you may have played and enjoyed, like the ones listed below.

In addition to our all-star in-house team, we partnered with the originator of the trading card game category and designer of Magic: the Gathering, Richard Garfield, to make sure this game is the best it can possibly be. We consider it a privilege to work with Richard on this project, as he was an inspiration to all of us as both gamers and game designers.
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Goal: $250,000. The Backer Tiers

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Platforms?

SolForge will initially launch on iOS and will be available on PC. If we reach our stretch goals, SolForge will also be available on Android and potentially additional platforms that our backers will be able to determine.
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Multiple time Magic Pro Tour Champion Brian Kibler does a Q&A about the game mechanics.
Gameplay video from an early build.

Magic is awesome. Ascension is awesome. Brian Kibler is awesome. This can't be bad.
 
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daevv

Member
I was checking out the kickstarter page today. I'm in for $25. I have Ascension on my ipad/phone and the actual board game and love it!
 
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ultron87

Member
Here's an archive of Kibler doing a stream of answering a bunch of questions about the game:
www.twitch.tv/bmkibler/b/327035282

He said they'll definitely have limited play in (so booster drafts) and that packs should be costed significantly cheaper than on something like Magic Online since they aren't tied to a physical product.
 
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Larsen B

Member
Not so sure about random booster packs being the main method of card acquisition, although it being internal currency is fine.

I just dislike having good cards being a random chance.

That said, I'm in for $25. I absolutely love Ascension.
 
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Dark Octave

Banned
Nothing wrong with working out of some dude's livingroom. I'm not into card games but I'm rooting for them. Looks like they are off to a great start already.
 
S

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
Update #1:

We've gotten a lot of great feedback from backers and potential backers and we are listening! We're committed to having the PC version of the game available in the beta and at launch. We know not everyone has iOS devices out there, and we want as many of you as possible to be able to play SolForge! We want to bring SolForge to Android as well, and we've included it in our stretch goals, which you can see below.

Goals.jpg
 
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atbigelow

Member
Absolutely $25 to them. I've had some good times with Magic and Ascension both, but wish they were both designed for the digital age.
 
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Forever

Banned
If I can afford it this month, I'll drop $100. This hits all sorts of cravings for me.

I'll be a sad panda if they don't reach their goal.
 
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NorrenRadd

Member
I'm in for $15. Might get $25 out of me if the target is hit.

I'd love to drop $100 but don't have the budget for that at the moment :(
 
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vesp

Member
Not sure which tier, but I think this will be my first kickstarter contribution. I have/had crippling addictions to both Ascension and Magic 2013 on Ipad.
 
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Raxum

Member
Card art is amazing, loved MTG though I couldn't really afford a storage facility to sustain the cards you'd need to own to continue to be relevant in the latest tournaments, so this sounds like a perfect game for me. Been enjoying some android and web-based CCGs lately, so this sounds awesome. Definitely like the sound of the 'no resource' gameplay. Will donate to this closer to the end of the kickstarter methinks.
 
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ultron87

Member
Video looks pretty good. I was going to say that I was worried that every card seems to be a creature, but one of the cards in the screens is "Shock" and doesn't have a power or toughness on it. So that worry is unfounded.

I'll definitely be giving this a good look at Gencon next week.
 
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Einherjar

Member
I want to help with the $100+ options, but they're all just so bad. Makes no sense to not just go with the $25 one. They realized no one wants the T-shirt, but the $115 option is pointless since the savings are too low to risk the game being bad and quitting day 1. Which irks me because I want them to reach their goal, but they're kind of screwing themselves.
 
F

Forever

Banned
Personally I think the $115 option is an incredible value relative to the other tiers and to other Kickstarters. If you want to donate over a hundred dollars already you're pretty much heavily investing in the idea that the game will be good. Given the people behind it, I can't imagine it turning out bad.

About 280 people have gone for the store credit options, which make them second only to the $25 tier in popularity.
 
F

Forever

Banned
Someone dropped 5k today so they got a pretty decent boost, but I'm really surprised that more people aren't jumping on this. Did everyone just grow out of Magic? :(

I made some avatars for anyone who'd like to keep the faith:

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Forever

Banned
NemesisPrime said:
No... why would we support this? We have Magic.
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Well I dunno, it only eliminates the need for collection management, opens up a lot of fascinating gameplay possibilities, will never have a ban list, can be played anywhere at any time, and costs much less per pack.

C'mon man.
 
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Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
NemesisPrime said:
No... why would we support this? We have Magic.
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My biggest plus for this game is that I can play it online against other people, have deck management AND I can earn cards without paying money.

There is no magic game that does all the three things, except Duels of the Planeswalker.
 
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chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
I said this in the main Kickstarter thread, but it seems extremely dumb to not support Android off the bat. I could see things like WP7 or PS Suite support being stretch goals, but Android makes up such a huge chunk of the smartphone market that they're likely only hurting themselves by ignoring that market.

Anyway, I'm in for $25 and subbed this thread.
 
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Forever

Banned
chaosblade said:
I said this in the main Kickstarter thread, but it seems extremely dumb to not support Android off the bat. I could see things like WP7 or PS Suite support being stretch goals, but Android makes up such a huge chunk of the smartphone market that they're likely only hurting themselves by ignoring that market.

Anyway, I'm in for $25 and subbed this thread.
Click to expand...

They mentioned that the $250k is really the minimum it'd take to get the game developed, they simply would not be able to afford Android development without hitting $500k. They're not ignoring the market, it's just not an option.

That said, if the game takes off after launch I fully expect that they'll port it down the line.
 
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impirius

Member
I imagine that there will be an Android version later on whether they hit the stretch goal or not, but more money will allow them to develop it concurrently. iOS is where the money lives in mobile apps right now.

NEWS! All $25+ pledges before next Monday get a free additional starter deck of their choice.
 
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chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
Forever said:
They mentioned that the $250k is really the minimum it'd take to get the game developed, they simply would not be able to afford Android development without hitting $500k. They're not ignoring the market, it's just not an option.

That said, if the game takes off after launch I fully expect that they'll port it down the line.
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Requiring 250k just to make the game at all makes sense, but I can't imagine it taking double the cost for multiplatform development, especially since they have another stretch goal between the two. I don't know, I guess it seems like misplaced priorities, or I'm underestimating the difficulty and cost of multiplatform development on phones.

But I didn't really intend to be so negative, the game looks and sounds awesome. They're killing it on the rewards too, which is good since well done reward tiers seem even more important for free to play games where you can't have a "discounted preorder" option.
 
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gnarlycrow

Neo Member
I'm in for $25. I trust Gary Games and they have put together a great team. Looking forward to playing this.
Now is a good time to become a backer, only one day left in the Gencon bonus:

Everyone who contributes at least $25 by the end of Gencon (Monday 8/20) gets a FREE BONUS STARTER PACK of the faction of their choice when the game goes live!
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This is in addition to everything else you get.
 
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charlequin

Banned
chaosblade said:
I said this in the main Kickstarter thread, but it seems extremely dumb to not support Android off the bat. I could see things like WP7 or PS Suite support being stretch goals, but Android makes up such a huge chunk of the smartphone market that they're likely only hurting themselves by ignoring that market.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm afraid that I'm simply not willing to pledge if Android support isn't guaranteed (not really looking forward to playing this on an iPod Touch screen) and unfortunately, a lot of people not being willing to pledge without Android support will lead to less total pledges, meaning less chance of making the stretch goal. :/

chaosblade said:
I don't know, I guess it seems like misplaced priorities, or I'm underestimating the difficulty and cost of multiplatform development on phones.
Click to expand...

It's certainly more expensive and difficult than developing for a single platform, but I'm not really convinced the stretch reward needs to be quite as high as it is.
 
S

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
If it were a normal game it'd be cheaper but keep in mind there is ongoig costs to running this game. They need to keep the servers running on both platforms, update cards on both, have functioning marketplaces on both and potentially some kind of cross platform play.

This is a little more complex then porting angry birds to another platform.
 
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TerminalDogma

Member
As a fan of Ascension since it first came out, and a huge Magic addict, I put in 25. Would have went for the 100, but I just can't afford it right now (especially since I know I'll crack out on Ravnica in about a months time)
 
F

Forever

Banned
Looks like GenCon really gave them a boost.

I'm hoping they reach at least the first stretch goal. Animated cards sound too cool for school.
 
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Einherjar

Member
Doesn't look like they're gonna make it unless something wacky happens on the last day from someone with a lot of money (or a fake pledge where the developers repay someone to help reach the goal).

The required $/day has been increasing daily and currently its a over $5000.
 
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