Thanks for the video. btw we definitely haven't run out of ideas! We've got way more than we could ever make in our lifetimes. The idea behind this game was to reach a more casual audience with an existing game that has been refactored to make it simpler with minimal development time/costs so that we can increase our runway/warchest to make our next main title. It's part of our plan to survive for another 20 years as indie devs. And tbh that plan has worked, sales have be OK, kinda as expected on Steam, and it's not even out on the casual portals (Big Fish Games etc) yet, which is where the main audience for it is. Plus the game has a higher review score on Steam than the original, which is nice. As you said yourself, the game doesn't even need the combat to be fun due to the setting and the solitaire gameplay. Anyway, I think you might be surprised by our next game ;-)
My favourite card game, if you can call it that (some would say it's a "board game"), is Dominion. It's really great strategising to get a perfect hand and there are tons of expansion packs for it.
For favorite card game, definitely the Pokemon TCG video game for Game Boy Color. It's brilliantly designed, really player-friendly, opened-ended and teaches you the rules of the game, using the same ruleset from the IRL game at the time! And the challenge is balanced in a way that a beginner can probably squeak by, but it still won't be a total cakewalk for a pro. I've put dozens upon dozens of hours into it challenging the stronger opponents with different decks. And it's on NSO!
Thanks for the recommendation of the 2017 Shadowhand! Never heard of to be honest but it looks/sounds great! Another great review, as usual, tyvm & enjoy your weekend! QotD: Balatro would be an obvious choice but tbh I liked Hand of Fate 1/2 more tho one could argue that those aren't really card games.
Well, guess I could go with the first one, because honestly, the combat idea is what I find more intriguing. As for the question, only one I could think of I've played a lot is Solitaire, and I mean the original Solitaire. I even remember on dad's old PC, had a reskinned version that had Sailor Moon cards I really loved, and watching the cards bounce after you beat it, really enjoyed that.
Windows Solitaire ftw! I used to play it when I worked in a computer shop building PCs in the 90s. Then I made a clone of it for Amiga: ruclips.net/video/S3wQSDF0Iv4/видео.html
This review reminded me that I actually bought the original RPG version, and that I put the other one on the wishlist. While this one doesn't have a lot of appeal to me, I think I'll go over and use the black friday sales to snag some of the others, so even if this review doesn't sell me on this game it's at least sold some others!
That was basically my goal for this review. While I am frustrated by this neutered version, I still STRONGLY recommend their other games. If you go back to my reviews of both Shadowhand (2017) and Ancient Enemy (2020), you'll see me intoxicated by the mix of solitaire and one-on-one combat. Those games are fantastic and worth checking out.
Yeah, shadowhand should totally be in more stuff. Practically have a cool female Zorro character. QOTD, Physically, good old fashioned poker, in video games Metal Gear Ac!d which was very overlooked on the PSP. Hope both get released in the next metal gear collection.
Yikes. Did not know about this release. I have the original and root for the husband-and-wife developer team, but see no reason to buy this version. It's kind of depressing to hear they spent hundreds of hours on this. I hope they were correct to do so and it's at least a financially rewarding decision to some extent. As for favorite card game, there is a card game my grandmother taught and played with us, but when I search for it by the name she called it (verbally, not in written form), nothing comes up, so I guess I'm spelling it wrong or it's a game that was only spread by verbal traditions and goes by different names in different places.
Thanks for rooting for us! The aim of this was to release a casual version Off-Steam on the casual sites like Big Fish Games etc because we deemed the original more RPG-like version too complex and a bad fit for their audience. Anyway, it hasn't come out on those casual sites yet because they move slowly. But meanwhile we put it on Steam too as we realised some of our newer fans who found us through Regency Solitaire 2 or the Jewel Match games that we publish, might be interested in it, and that proved to be the case. Some fans of the original Shadowhand also played it and liked it, but it's not for everyone, and that's OK. People who enjoyed the turn-based combat in the original might want to try out Ancient Enemy in which we refined the formula and changed up the theme. We did spend hundreds of hours refactoring this game in many ways. It's probably not obvious to players where those hours went but the original game took THOUSANDS of hours by comparison. Anyway, it's turned out to be a good financial decision already and the long tail revenue of this game should be good. It's certainly not a hit or made us rich but it helps to increase our runway/warchest and allow us to develop more new titles. That was the aim really.
@JakeBirkett I'm glad to hear it. Not surprised you know more about how to make this business work than I do, as some ignorant blabberer in the RUclips comments! I have followed your work since seeing your GDC talk on RUclips awhile back and found it inspiring that you were able to create a niche to do creative work for a living, an incredibly difficult task at which few succeed.
@@noneofyourbusiness4616 Thanks! Yes that GDC talk was over 8 years ago now and I think that the fact I'm still here making games speaks to my long term strategy. It's not glamorous surviving instead of risking it all for a big hit, but it means that I'm my own boss and I make games for a living, which was my dream as a kid.
![Let's Try: Shadowhand! [RPG + Solitaire???]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/N3zZOOhOWdc/mqdefault.jpg)
Thanks for the video. btw we definitely haven't run out of ideas! We've got way more than we could ever make in our lifetimes. The idea behind this game was to reach a more casual audience with an existing game that has been refactored to make it simpler with minimal development time/costs so that we can increase our runway/warchest to make our next main title. It's part of our plan to survive for another 20 years as indie devs. And tbh that plan has worked, sales have be OK, kinda as expected on Steam, and it's not even out on the casual portals (Big Fish Games etc) yet, which is where the main audience for it is. Plus the game has a higher review score on Steam than the original, which is nice. As you said yourself, the game doesn't even need the combat to be fun due to the setting and the solitaire gameplay.
Anyway, I think you might be surprised by our next game ;-)
@@JakeBirkett That old expression about creative work being one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration seems to hold true.
@@noneofyourbusiness4616 Yes absolutely. I need 100 clones of me to get my ideas made.
My favourite card game, if you can call it that (some would say it's a "board game"), is Dominion. It's really great strategising to get a perfect hand and there are tons of expansion packs for it.
For favorite card game, definitely the Pokemon TCG video game for Game Boy Color. It's brilliantly designed, really player-friendly, opened-ended and teaches you the rules of the game, using the same ruleset from the IRL game at the time! And the challenge is balanced in a way that a beginner can probably squeak by, but it still won't be a total cakewalk for a pro.
I've put dozens upon dozens of hours into it challenging the stronger opponents with different decks. And it's on NSO!
Thanks for the recommendation of the 2017 Shadowhand! Never heard of to be honest but it looks/sounds great!
Another great review, as usual, tyvm & enjoy your weekend!
QotD: Balatro would be an obvious choice but tbh I liked Hand of Fate 1/2 more tho one could argue that those aren't really card games.
favorite card game of the year was Primateria
Well, guess I could go with the first one, because honestly, the combat idea is what I find more intriguing. As for the question, only one I could think of I've played a lot is Solitaire, and I mean the original Solitaire. I even remember on dad's old PC, had a reskinned version that had Sailor Moon cards I really loved, and watching the cards bounce after you beat it, really enjoyed that.
Windows Solitaire ftw! I used to play it when I worked in a computer shop building PCs in the 90s. Then I made a clone of it for Amiga: ruclips.net/video/S3wQSDF0Iv4/видео.html
This review reminded me that I actually bought the original RPG version, and that I put the other one on the wishlist. While this one doesn't have a lot of appeal to me, I think I'll go over and use the black friday sales to snag some of the others, so even if this review doesn't sell me on this game it's at least sold some others!
That was basically my goal for this review. While I am frustrated by this neutered version, I still STRONGLY recommend their other games. If you go back to my reviews of both Shadowhand (2017) and Ancient Enemy (2020), you'll see me intoxicated by the mix of solitaire and one-on-one combat. Those games are fantastic and worth checking out.
Yeah, shadowhand should totally be in more stuff. Practically have a cool female Zorro character.
QOTD, Physically, good old fashioned poker, in video games Metal Gear Ac!d which was very overlooked on the PSP. Hope both get released in the next metal gear collection.
Yikes. Did not know about this release. I have the original and root for the husband-and-wife developer team, but see no reason to buy this version. It's kind of depressing to hear they spent hundreds of hours on this. I hope they were correct to do so and it's at least a financially rewarding decision to some extent. As for favorite card game, there is a card game my grandmother taught and played with us, but when I search for it by the name she called it (verbally, not in written form), nothing comes up, so I guess I'm spelling it wrong or it's a game that was only spread by verbal traditions and goes by different names in different places.
Thanks for rooting for us! The aim of this was to release a casual version Off-Steam on the casual sites like Big Fish Games etc because we deemed the original more RPG-like version too complex and a bad fit for their audience. Anyway, it hasn't come out on those casual sites yet because they move slowly. But meanwhile we put it on Steam too as we realised some of our newer fans who found us through Regency Solitaire 2 or the Jewel Match games that we publish, might be interested in it, and that proved to be the case. Some fans of the original Shadowhand also played it and liked it, but it's not for everyone, and that's OK. People who enjoyed the turn-based combat in the original might want to try out Ancient Enemy in which we refined the formula and changed up the theme.
We did spend hundreds of hours refactoring this game in many ways. It's probably not obvious to players where those hours went but the original game took THOUSANDS of hours by comparison. Anyway, it's turned out to be a good financial decision already and the long tail revenue of this game should be good. It's certainly not a hit or made us rich but it helps to increase our runway/warchest and allow us to develop more new titles. That was the aim really.
@JakeBirkett I'm glad to hear it. Not surprised you know more about how to make this business work than I do, as some ignorant blabberer in the RUclips comments! I have followed your work since seeing your GDC talk on RUclips awhile back and found it inspiring that you were able to create a niche to do creative work for a living, an incredibly difficult task at which few succeed.
@@noneofyourbusiness4616 Thanks! Yes that GDC talk was over 8 years ago now and I think that the fact I'm still here making games speaks to my long term strategy. It's not glamorous surviving instead of risking it all for a big hit, but it means that I'm my own boss and I make games for a living, which was my dream as a kid.