Greetings Founders, and welcome to your regularly-scheduled CardLife DevBlog! It’s been a very busy week in the CardLife studio, as we gear up for the eagerly-anticipated Age 2 release!
It's always exciting to introduce a new member of the CardLife team, and this week we've welcomed Jess to the art team! Jess comes to us from a background in TV, having worked on a wide range of animated shows. An avid board gamer with an interest in Muay Thai, we're stoked to have her on board - Welcome to the team Jess! She's already working on a cool ornate throne as part of our Age 2 content, so you'll all be seeing that when age two comes along very soon.
Sentinel Golem Animation
Matt’s been working flat out on animating all the cool new creatures you’ll be meeting in-game soon, and perhaps the most unorthodox of them all is the Sentinel Golem.
It’s not got a traditionally humanoid shape, and is the most technological design we’ve seen in the game so far. For this one, Matt’s been looking at the way factory machines operate, with pistons firing and sharp, short movements contributing to a larger function. This is the work-in-progress walk cycle of the Sentinel Golem;
Enchanting UI
One of the most significant Gameplay additions in Age 2 will be the Enchanting Table. This will give players the means to create enchanted accessories to enhance their player character - more on that in a moment. Here’s the screen you’ll see when getting ready to enchant, courtesy of UI wizard Will; 
Here’s a more populated version, where you can see the bones of the system. Dragging and dropping the item to the right hand slot, then selecting the effect you wish to apply. The crafting slots will then display which ingredients you need - for example, a raptor claw - as well as the crystal and at least one unit of magic essence.
The Enchanting System - How it Works
Let’s settle in for a more in-depth explanation of the enchanting system, and how it relates to player stats. Before we go any further, I should just clarify that although you will eventually be able to enchant weapons, armor and more, in this release you’ll be able to enchant accessories only. When the full system is implemented, items which have a function - so a weapon, tool, armor etc., will always be able to carry just one enchantment. Accessories which are non-functional, i.e a ring or a belt, will be able to carry up to 3, depending on the age. Age 1 items will carry one enchantment, while end game items (age 4.4) will be able to carry 3.
To enchant a piece of gear, you’ll need to build the table first. Then, having selected the tool - let’s say a helmet for this rough example - you’ll need to choose a buff which will be applied. Choosing a health buff, we’ll then be shown what we need to craft the enchantment. It’ll be a crystal, some magic essence, and a specific ingredient from the world - it could be a raptor claw, a bear tooth, and so on. You will then be able to add extra magic essence as an optional last step. This is gained by defeating magical creatures - so an imp or a golem for example. You are able to stack up to five units of this essence, which will give you a better chance for a more powerful ‘masterwork’ to be created - this would be an extra enhancement - say, turning a 10% boost into a 15%.
Having applied all the ingredients, your shiny new item is complete! So how does it fit into the game’s design? We’re not looking to introduce straightforward levelling to CardLife, so this is where equipped creature souls come in. Every player will have a base health of 500, but this can be increased by equipping souls. Let’s say a specific soul has a health buff of +100, giving the player 600 health overall.
Where enchantments and accessories come in is that they act as modifiers to all this - so let’s take that helmet we crafted earlier with a health buff attached. This will act on a percentage basis, rather than a set amount. In this example, we’ll say it’s a 10% buff - so applied to our 600 base health (thanks to the creature soul), we will now have 660 health points.
Testing, Testing
All these new features, as well as the numerous fixes we’re going to be putting out with the next update, need testing. Csaba’s been on a mission to stomp out the bugs in the current iteration of the game, as well as doing some initial testing on the new stuff. It’s all coming together, and as we get closer to the update, we’ll all be jumping in for a huge mass test. There are exciting times ahead!
P.S Just as I finished up this blog, Simone showed me a preview of the WIP spider sound effects. That is going to haunt my dreams....
See you here next week!
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Cheers,
Sam, Community Manager