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Kard Combat is a game with a fascinating history. It all began back in 2002 when Apus Software released a game called Astral Tournament created by Alexey Stankevich.
This game, and its predecessor, Astral Masters, attracted the attention of Richard Garfield, famed creator of Magic: The Gathering. Unlike Magic, Richard had been dreaming of creating magical card game as a videogame from its very conception. He saw a lot of potential in Astral Tournament and invited Alexey to work with his company, Three Donkeys. What was then going to be Astral Tournament II, evolved into the game now known as Spectromancer.
Being completed in only a few months, the game released to a modest but favorable reception. Hothead Games published Spectromancer on PC, before falling in love with the game and having our imaginations run wild with what we could do with it on other platforms. A card treatment of Spectromancer seemed like a perfect fit for our game. At first the game was conceived as “poker for wizards”, but the strength of some of the card art took us down a darker path. Enter Kard Combat.
And here we are – working with the creator of Magic: The Gathering on a dueling card game that is easy to learn, fast-paced but still carries a ton of strategic depth. We can’t wait to share it with you.
The Kard is an elite order of wealthy magi. Collectively, they use their immense power to rule over the Forbidden Kingdom from the Black Tower. However, every thousand years there is a shift and they each vie for control of the Tower in a battle of cards and magic. Ascend the Tower, floor by floor, and defeat the prevailing Master Mage, Harkus. Only in doing so can you realize your destiny, and determine the fate of the people for the next millennium.
The goal of the game is to defeat your opponent by reducing their health points to zero. You do this by playing Kards and spells. Once played, Kards appear on the field in the middle of the screen where they can attack each other. Kards have health just like the players do in the game. While there are many ways to attack your opponent, a Kard placed on the field without an opposing Kard in front of it will attack its opponent directly each turn.
Players can choose from either a quick duel or a full campaign in Tower Mode. In Tower Mode, each battle takes place on a successive floor of the great tower, known as the Black Tower. These battles often have unique win conditions and special Kards in play that can drastically alter the strategy you’ll need to employ to defeat your opponent.
Kard Combat has a lot of the depth of a CCG but without the massive time and money investments that they typically require. At its heart, Kard Combat is a strategy game where players learn how to use the Kards they are dealt at the beginning of a duel most effectively.
It’s much more of a game of skill than chance though. Players will often be able to choose their reward for winning a battle in Tower Mode, including Kards that will then become part of their deck. While not a traditional CCG, there is collection involved. Each mage has their own set of unique Kards for you to collect as you fight your way up each floor of the Tower. These unique Kards open up very different strategies to the player.
For each duel, your deck is comprised of up to 20 random Kards from a total selection of over 120 Kards that exist in the campaign. The deck is laid out in five columns, four rows deep. The first four columns (Fire, Water, Air and Earth) are shared by each Mage in the game, with the fifth column being of a magic type unique to that mage.
Above each column is a number representing the amount of mana the player has for that magic type. You’ll need that mana number to be higher than the cost of a Kard in order to be able to play it. We’ve dimmed the Kards that cost more than your mana total to make this easier for people to understand.
There are just over 120 Kards in the game. There are 12 Kards for each of the elemental magic types (Fire, Water, Air and Earth). There are 8 Kards for each of the unique magic types (Holy, Death, Machine and Dominator). There are another 8 Kards for an additional two secret magic types.
Finally, there are 30 unique Field Kards that appear in play in many of the Tower Mode battles. With one exception, these Kards can never be held in your hand and are used to create variety in duels, forcing players to adjust their strategies accordingly.
Regular Kards are placed on the field of play in the middle of the screen. They typically attack the opposing card position each turn after they are cast.
Spell Kards allow you to cast magic but vanish as soon as they are cast. Therefore Spell Kards do not remain on the field of play to keep attacking.
Each has their own style, based on their unique Kard sets, so pick the one that best suits you. Holy is a well- balanced class for people starting out, but Death, Machine and Dominator each have their own formidable play styles. More information will be revealed on these Mage types soon! Statistical analysis has shown us that while individual people will find classes that suit their styles better, there is no one single class that is stronger against the rest.
Kard Combat will be released initially on iPhone, iTouch and iPad. Kard Combat will be free to play with in-game purchases available. More detail on pricing will follow shortly.
Multiplayer is planned, although it is likely to be available as part of the first free App Store update. We want to release the game with single player duels to begin with but will follow up with multiplayer very soon afterwards.
Of course! Multiplayer is on the way, as well as a whole new extension to the Tower campaign with more Kards, upgrades for your character and some brand new items to be won. Please post your suggestions in our forums too as we want to know what you think about our game. Drafting, tournaments, deck building, your ideas for more cards are all being discussed right now so please give us your feedback and suggestions.
If you have any other questions you can post them in the Kard Combat area of the Hothead Forums, or on the Kard Combat facebook page and we will answer them as quickly as possible.
