We wanted a game that flowed in a way that allowed our players to have fun without the rules of the game getting in their way. So we set out to try to mimic this playing experience. They tap some lands to play a card-it's as simple as that. Very rarely does resolution order matter, and when it does-assuming somebody in the group knows about the stack-you retroactively backtrack and work it all out properly.Īnd as for the mana pool, what mana pool? Many casual players don't know exactly what it is. They just throw in instants and activate abilities in real time as they see fit. Even if players are aware of how priority is passed during combat, they don't formally do so. Fred throws his Platinum Angel onto the table, all smug and smiling, but then Bobs shouts, "Hang on just one moment, sunshine! Not so fast!" and casts his Cancel. When our hypothetical casual players sit and play Magic, do they verbally pass priority? Do they put a counterspell on the stack whilst a creature spell is on there? No, they don't. The first challenge was priority and the stack. So we decided on a basic mantra that we kept falling back to during development: "How do average "casual" players play Magic?" We're talking about people who aren't pros, but certainly aren't stupid-just normal guys and girls who have maybe skimmed the Comprehensive Rules and/or dived into them to answer particular questions, but who wouldn't know that "last known information" or continuous effects layers even existed. Initial discussions regarding " Magic lite" were soon dismissed. However we all felt that it still needed to be proper Magic. Thus above all, it needed to be easy to pick up and play-not a straightforward goal with a game as complex as Magic. We had to keep in the back of minds that this was an "arcade" game, albeit one with a more cerebral flavour than most. We needed to simplify the game in a few keys ways without losing its essence. So having a synapse-soup where my brain used to be is worth it in the end. It's been a long and difficult journey since then, but the final product has come in above spec and-shock, horror!-is astoundingly good fun to play. to be honest, I just couldn't resist the challenge! When exactly did that seem like a good move? Hang on a minute, it's my company-shouldn't I be giving the brain-melting jobs to some über-brained underling by now? Well. Then I decided that it made sense if the person who wrote this also wrote the AI. So when the opportunity to develop a Magic-based Xbox 360 Live Arcade game came up, I bit both of Wizards' arms off up to the elbows.īecause I already knew the game of Magic very well, I personally took on the task of writing the Duels engine. I've been playing Magic for nearly ten years and have 30,000 cards, all catalogued and filed like the obsessive person I am. Duels will be available for download via Xbox LIVE Arcade on the Duels of the Planeswalkers page starting sometime Wednesday morning. We're a games developer from the UK with over 40 staff, but I like to keep hands-on, so I was Lead Programmer and Project Director on Duels. I'm the CEO and owner of Stainless Games, the developer of Duels of the Planewalkers.
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