Moving on, we're on version 129.
There's a new indicator for the victory condition, which you can see in the lower left corner:
We currently support 3 types of victory condition (including 1 which was requested by the community of Gremlins, Inc., but which we couldn't implement there):
- until X rounds
- until Y score points
- until Y score points but in any case the session is capped at X rounds
It is the last condition that will help a lot with the ambitions ranked sessions, where we can say, hey, we aim for 30 score, but in no case will you need to play for more than 30 rounds.
There's other improvements in this version as well – more options in the settings menu, and changes in how selection works.
One thing we keep in mind, based on our experience with G1: we want to empower players to make decisions quicker, so that the sessions can be more intense. This means auto-complete options when there's no choice (e.g. you want to assign a resource, and you have only one project: a click on the resource –> completed action, no need to wait for player to confirm the obvious).
The other point of focus is clarifying the rules without making them too long. Which takes many revisions.
We currently support 3 languages: English, Japanese and Russian. We will add Simplified Chinese by the time of Steam Playtest. If we write too much (to avoid even a little ambiguity), we end up with the rules that are too long. So we're playing, and checking where we can simplify.
Like in G1, we use a few icons in the texts. New icons for our community: "card", "project", "fake project", "resource". All of these are represented visually, saving a lot of text. To give an example of the edits we make these days, we used to say "Add 1 CARD as a RESOURCE to any of your PROJECT". We now say "Add 1 RESOURCE from your hand to your PROJECT". Shorter is better.
One more thing that should please the community that plays Gremlins, Inc.: we already support specific "versions" of the same card that are designed for different number of players in the session.
When we enter Early Access, the Card Game will support only duels. And on the screenshot above you can see (if you squint :-P) how duel versions of cards make life easier:
* 3 players and more: "Choose any other player: +1¥"
* duel: "Your opponent: +1¥"
Because there is no need to make a choice, and the duel-specific rules make it clear (the duel sessions will also play faster, thanks to auto-complete).
Anyways, that's it for today. Take a look at the project boxes on the right side – these will evolve in a few builds, getting a project ID button and a better layout for hide/reveal, cancel/complete commands.