https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hmprmcq_4eY
When the original development team set out to create a fun proof of concept card game to pitch to publishers and investors back in 2012, I don’t think anyone would have predicted the journey that would follow. The brightest of highs, the darkest of lows, Wealthy Noble… It’s been one heck of a journey, and after being quiet for a while… I think it’s time we let you in on where we’re at.
We launched our Infinity Wars Classic version 0.01 on the first week of October, and with it, the Lightmare Studios Patreon page. Since then, the number of cards has grown from less than 100 to over 200, with countless bug fixes, quality of life changes, a new deck builder, animated endgame screens (which are also now being used in Infinity Heroes) and more. The original launch was deliberately quiet, but we’ve slowly been getting louder and louder as Infinity Wars Classic reached a position where we were happy with it, and we now want to offer it to everyone here on Steam!
Do keep in mind that version 0.10 is still a pre-alpha product, and while we’re pushing to get into a competitive spirit around the game even now, there are bugs and glitches from time to time as you’d expect in any pre-alpha. However, the progress and updates we’ve seen in just the last two months have been very promising, and going into the Alpha in Q1 of 2021, we’re bringing our trusted Council members to lead the charge when it comes to card balancing and redesign, to make the game as balanced and fun as possible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1_ZzG2VCfU
==Why the Silence?==
Infinity Wars is such an important part of so many players’ journeys into TCGs, digital and physical. When we have positive things to share, there’s a large chunk of vocal support that we get, but we can also get the opposite side of the same coin just as loudly. Players upset that their favorite game is offline, that it got to this state as a spaghetti code project in the first place, and facing these voices is daunting and intimidating. We’re doing our absolute best, and there will always be those that don’t accept it as good enough, and we can’t fault them for that at all. That doesn’t make it easier to do.
So, for those of you who were encouraging, understanding, or even just patient to see what happens next, thankyou. I hope what we’re putting out is enough to fill you with determination and resolve. For those that aren’t happy, just know that we will be working our hardest to make something you really can enjoy, whether you think we can or not. I just look forward to seeing you on the other side of this journey.
==What about IW2?==
Infinity Wars 2 is a much bigger project than Infinity Wars Classic. IW Classic allows us to work on refining our core systems and engine in the Infinity Card Engine, which will immediately see benefits in IW Classic, and in Infinity Heroes in the short term, eventually making IW2 easier when we inevitably tackle that project. It will also act as a great litmus test for all the new and revised systems for IW2. Also helping this is that while people were keen to see what we as a studio could do next, there was a very loud and clear demand for us to revisit and rework what we’ve already done in Infinity Wars, so IW2 being a low priority for now makes a lot of sense overall.
==What about IH?==
Infinity Heroes has had some minor fixes and additions as a result of improvements made to the Infinity Card Engine, and we also have a new hero that launched today, with two more on the horizon for next month before the christmas break. We have more in the pipeline like progression and unique rewards that will help both games, as well as some minor Infinity Heroes features like an interactive tutorial coming. Once we get through some bug fixing and balance passes, we’ll be looking to release as our free to play open beta on Steam, as well as getting our mobile version ready to release as well. We made a promise to our IH backers that we have full intention of fulfilling, however the majority of them are very happy to see us moving to revisit and work on Infinity Wars Classic again, which is really supportive.
==And our inventories from IW?==
Player collections are still saved and ready to be accessed, and we are currently investigating how to convert old data into something that’ll work better with our current systems but they will be making a return as soon as we reasonably can. We have also been researching a missing collections bug reported by some players, and while evidence is slim and documentation is nonexistent, our current working theory is that a player found an exploit in the old inventory system to send someone a trade request they could control, and then force a player to give them their entire collection of tradable cards without the original player even logging in. Due to the outdated broken systems, there’s no trade log or data, but we did find some login data that rules out accounts being compromised, as players wouldn’t even log in and the trade would be completed. Combine that with two accounts suddenly having hundreds, even thousands of tradable copies of every card, as well as very large numbers of gold, foil and plat rarities, a lot of coincidences are beginning to add up.
We’re still technically investigating, but with evidence essentially dried up, and all leads exhausted, we don’t really have many other places to look. That’s part of why we’re addressing this, as we want to let you know where we’re at currently, and if you happen to have any information that might help us out, that would be greatly appreciated. It’s an issue that moving to our new systems is going to solve, but if there’s a specific mistake that was made in the past, it’s crucial we know what it is so we can learn from it.
As for those that had their collections affected in some way, we will be doing what we can to make sure you have a more than fair compensation based off of things like play time, spending data, any information you have on your old collections, and anything else that’s relevant. What this system will look like is unclear as it’s too early on to focus so hard on solving an issue that a very small percentage of players encountered. In the currently live IWC Patreon, inventories are just plainly not available as you have access to full playsets of every single card we code in as we do for testing purposes. Just know, you are on our mind, and we’ll be working with you on a solution when accounts get transferred that will have you more than satisfied.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogX-3rcJ314
==Cool, where do I go then?==
For those interested in checking out Infinity Wars Classic, the best way of doing that is via our Patreon link below, which will give you not only access to the entire game, but a lot of other cool patreon perks including access to the Patreon only discord area, unique (eventually tradeable) aesthetic content that won’t be available to anyone else (at least until way down the line, if ever), and early teases and releases of cards, artwork, videos and more.
For more, visit infinitywarsclassic.com
We’re incredibly thankful to our Patreon backers who’ve already been supporting us this last while, you’re our inspiration and we welcome your ideas for features you’d like to see and suggestions for balance and new cards.
Well, that’s a lot of information to take in, but if you’re keen on getting more, check out the Infinity Wars Classic playlist on our Youtube page for all of our official IWC related video projects, including gameplay reveals, patch updates info, and some fun competitive games that we played internally.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfl3bFv3CAqmWw0v7IH11nDhdPmM8-4CA
Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you on Discord everyone!
~Jason Thomas
Community & Media Manager, Lightmare Studios