Infinity Wars - Animated Trading Card Game News

Welcome everyone to the newest patch for Infinity Wars Classic, Pre-Alpha version 0.29. We're announcing our tournament, as well as full patch notes for everything new to IWC, including our new group select feature, a much requested feature from the original game finally seeing the light of day!

So, let's just jump into things.


As a part of our commitment to making competitive Infinity Wars Classic rewarding and fun, we're having our monthly tournament this weekend, marking half a year of tournaments with cash prizes in Infinity Wars Classic!

These are completely free to join for our existing Patreon supporters, and prizing is set to scale with our patreon campaign and player turnout, with 10% of our Patreon funds going directly back into the game's competitive scene with direct prizing. So, if we see an influx of players before this weekend, prizing amounts may increase beyond their currently published level.

WHEN: 24th of April, 11AM (AEST / GMT+10)
WHERE: Discord, sign-ups already open, with check-ins half an hour before the event.
PRIZEPOOL:
4+ Players - $30 First place.
8+ Players - $35 First Place, $10 Second Place.
16+ Players - $40 First place, $10 Second place, $5 Third place


You can find all the information, including rules, countdown timers and signing up to compete either on Discord, or in the post below.

Info Here




[h3]Multi Selection and Dragging
[/h3]
Holding Shift will now allow you to box select cards, moving them much faster.
Hold Shift and drag selected cards to move them about as a group.
Hold Shift and single click to add to remove cards from the selection.
This works with our new sliding zone system to make it as easy as possible to move the cards you want and rearrange them for the perfect resolution step.
We'd love to hear your feedback on this new feature we are very excited about.



[h3]Double XP![/h3]

We've set up our system to handle double exp limited time modes, and our first one will be happening this weekend during the IWC Summit! More events like this are slated to happen at some point in the future, and being active on Discord is the best way to hear more.

[h3]New IH Hero: Hinekri, the Chaotic
[/h3]
An additional update to Infinity Heroes, send the battlefield and your opponent into ruin with this unpredictable exiles deck.
Will you risk everything on the chance to gamble, or will you bend luck to your will?




[h3]Locations & Artifacts reworked[/h3]
The original system from 0.01 of IWC allowed for a singular artifact OR location to be deployed, and playing another simply destroyed the previous, which isn't how it worked in IW1. We've now got it set up correctly to allow a singular location, and as many artifacts as you can handle, replicating the IW1 gameplay style.

[h3]Decking Out[/h3]
We've changed decking out to work similarly to how it did in IWC, with each card drawn after reaching zero in deck resulting in 10 morale damage to the player.

• You can no longer use targetting animations to gain contextual clues about what is in the enemy hand
  
• Using Agent Coyle's hero power in the mirror match no longer causes an error
  
• Fixed issue where Rita sometimes didn't draw the correct number of cards
  
• AI is now smarter with draft choices and trading post use
  
• Gao Han no longer vanishes from the game and then causes errors
  
• Omnitron now correctly applies shield
  
• Omnitrons discount now applies correctly
  
• Rock chucker now throws the correct amount of rocks
  
• IH AI Battle now shows the AI name on the result screen
  
• Untapped Wilderness now reduces ability costs as intended
  
• Tithe Collector and Genesis Researcher no longer can cause you to lose resources if you use the undo in a specific order
  
• Fortress now correctly receiving events
  
• Gaining control of a unit now correctly adds it to the player's card list, then returns it if they die or are removed from game.
  
• Fixed Two-Face freezing the game if reanimated due to trying to belong to both players at once
  
• Hehkeem no longer stalls the game after being deploying in some situations
  
• Xi, Who honors the Many's activated ability now works correctly
  
• Fixed some misc tags and sprite sheet errors
  

• We'll be trialling double XP during livestreams for the coming future.
  
• Our "Battlepass" system is currently being reworded, as it doesn't accurately describe what the system does. Further news will be coming in the future weeks.
  
• Discord now has an announcements tab that allows you to subscribe to our announcements on your personal Discord channels.
  

Thanks for reading, and as always you can join us on Discord to be a part of the conversation, or sign up on Patreon to get into the game and support Infinity Wars coming back in a big way!

Discord: discord.gg/y8KGxk4
Patreon: patreon.com/lightmarestudios

[h3]New Zone Movement System
[/h3]
Infinity Wars unlike many other TCGs often involves large scale battles with a lot of tokens and cards. To help the play experience in these situations we have totally reworked the way to move cards around the battlefield, using a smooth sliding system rather than the old slot based system that was built for Infinity Heroes' limited cards per zone.

We have further improvements to this system in the works as well, including RTS style "box select" to allow you to easily move multiple cards at once.



[h3]Framerate cap[/h3]
Added a framerate cap to help with the stability of menus. This should help players who were having difficulty loading into the game on lower end PC's, and is the precursor to even further optimisation improvements to come.

[h3]Improved AI[/h3]
AI improvements, the AI will be a little bit smarter in targeting positive or negative effects on the right targets. Hopefully no more death raying their own Aleta just because they feel like it.

[h3]Loading screen changes[/h3]
Multiplayer loading screen, when a player connects to you on queue and each player is transferring room data, there is now a loading screen rather than just freezing. This should especially help the UX for those with slower internet connections.



Medi, Herald of the Unknown's stats changed from 8cost 31/13 -> 7cost 15/15

Medi's 31 damage attack, and his immortal nature meant he was super threatening as an aggressive lategame threat. Medi's design was never meant to have an attack value higher than any other base stats of a creature, and his strength and play opportunities should primarily come from his drafting potential. Now, to make sure he's not bordering on unplayable as a core card, he has had his cost reduced by 1 in the meantime.

Rhaziel, the Solitary now gains +2/+2 (from +3/+3) when attacking alone

Due to the champion mechanic being changed Rhazial no longer had a drawback that justified the pace at which he grew. This minor change keeps the design but just tones down the numbers, making him require more support.

Tygris, Politically Inclined stats changed from 1/6 -> 1/10

The statline for this card were simply just too low to justify the very narrow but potentially powerful anthem effect. This new statline helps diversify some of the options for Genesis at this resource cost as well, while showcasing his supporting flavor.

• Carlota, Queen of Solace
  
• Kali, Reluctant Leader
  
• Tygris, Politically Inclined
  

• Fixed exhaust preventing attacking and blocking when moved from the support zone in the same turn
  
• Granthar, the Elder Ape: If him kill effect misses due to the target dying before Granthar's kill effect can resolve he now correctly enrages.
  
• Growth now only destroys artifacts
  
• IH roguelike mode no longer locks up the game after fighting the final boss
  
• IH roguelike mode no longer disables some menu options after completing or pausing a run.
  
• Aberion, Fallen from Grace now keeps buffs and debuffs when transforming
  
• Fixed Alpha Demon's wording
  
• Fixed a number of graveyard issues when reviving multiple characters at once
  
• Fixed Runis of Veroria not killing
  
• Fixed Breeding Grounds does not giving a 6/6 Beast when activated within its conditions.
  
• Fixed chaos in the ranks causing the game to sometimes crash
  
• Fixed Omnitron miscalculating its cost reduction
  
• Fixed Champion's Companion not giving haste to cards in your hand, only to cards already in play
  
• Fixed Bug where activating two abilities that added cards to the top of the deck, would do so in an unintentional way
  
• Fixed multiple spritesheets that were either shaky or played in the wrong order
  

• IWC's First free weekend was super popular, and coming into the next patch, a new default deck will be added celebrating one of the favourite decks of our returning players.
  
• April Tournament will be between the 23rd and 25th of April, stay tuned for exact times and dates to vote on over on Patreon.
  
• The Design a Card competition has closed, with over 90 entries received, and one being chosen to become an actual card in Infinity Wars Classic
  
• Another Design a Card competition will be posted imminently over on Discord, so join today
  
• Lightmare's Partner Program has just soft-launched, so if you're interested in content creation for IWC, this is a good thing to check out.
  

Thanks for reading, and as always you can join us on Discord to be a part of the conversation, or sign up on Patreon to get into the game and support Infinity Wars coming back in a big way!

Discord: discord.gg/y8KGxk4
Patreon: patreon.com/lightmarestudios

Hello Rift Runners! Here's your 0.26 patch notes for Infinity Wars Classic, as well as an ending bit of info on the Free Weekend we're hosting soon!

[h2]Major Changes[/h2]
[h3]Battlepass[/h3]
We have a brand new Battlepass progression system, level up and gain rewards for both Infinity Wars Classic and Infinity Heroes
You can find the Battlepass on the Profile tab in the main menu and scroll through the first 32 levels we have implimented with 100 levels planned in total.
Players who are high level will be re-imburshed items they have mixed in the next day or two.

[h3]Health and Morale UI[/h3]
We have a new Health and Morale UI that also showcases your player profile and titles to showcase to others.
Be sure to set your profile pictures and other cosmetics in the Profile tab on the main menu

[h3]Tokens[/h3]
Token cards now correctly showing their supertype.

[h3]Spritesheet Fixes[/h3]
We have reordered over a dozen spritesheets that had errors in their order or how they looped.
There are several others that didn't quite get added in time for this week, so expect more in the coming weeks

[h3]Card Changes[/h3]

• Time for Fun is now unlimited
  
• Marina the Selfless now only costs 3 but cannot steal enemy characters
  

[h2]New Cards:[/h2]
[h3]New IWC Cards:[/h3]

• Marina the Selfless
  
• The Strength of Unity
  
• Nova, Mind Reader
  
• Rita, Unshackled
  
• Scarab Spybug
  

[h3]New Cards But Restricted to Devs only for testing[/h3]

• Carlota, Queen of Solace
  
• Kali, Reluctant Leader
  
• Tygris, Politically Inclined
  

[h2]Bug Fixes:[/h2]

• Sacrifice effects no longer trigger death effects and morale loss
  
• Avarach has Risen and other mass reanimation effects no longer cause desyncs
  
• Remove from game effects no longer trigger morale loss
  
• Fixed Desyncs caused by mass reanimation, as it was reviving cards in different order for each player
  
• Cards in the graveyard that are currently dissolving no longer get stuck, causing the game to freeze.
  
• Protector of Dawn no longer reveals all cards in hand when effect is resolving
  
• Xi, Ascended now correctly costs resources on the activated ability
  
• Flag Bearer now targets the correct unit
  
• Lumbering Goliath and Force Against the Law no longer have their spritesheets swapped
  
• Humble now removes tags
  
• Humble now removes external passive abilities such as "Anthem" effects like Beastmaster
  
• Infested Abomination now no longer deals damage to yourself
  
• EMP Grenade now deals 8 dmg to secondary targets correctly
  
• Shrapnel Launcher can now target the correct zones
  
• Genesis Researcher and other cost reduction cards can no longer create infinite resources
  
• Consecration no longer able to target locations in hand
  
• Passing gift now gives resources for the correct amount of time
  
• Infected Pack Leader now buffs as intended
  
• Deckbuilder no longer always shows 1 morale
  
• Infinity Heros Awaken was broken by a change in our reanimation system
  
• Fixed Fight spells calculating damage based on the damage the units have already taken, rather than their power etc.
  
• Tibat, the Mad Monk and Spontaneous Combustion no longer overkill unless there are no more valid targets
  
• Multi life reworked to get closer to it's original use.
  
• Nova on field ability cost is now correct
  
• Rock Chucker now throws rocks at the correct time
  
• Agent Coyle, Soulseller can now die as intended, please go kill him.
• Other misc. bugfixes
  

[h2]Free Weekend![/h2]
As a mini announcement to celebrate the holidays and long weekend next week, we will be having a Free Weekend / Free Week* starting next week!

* = there is a condition, but you can play IWC all week if you meet it.

Full details will be posted up on Sunday on our Discord, and we'll likely be making a follow-up post about it here on Steam too. If you're not part of the Discord server, you should fix that.

https://discord.gg/y8KGxk4

See you all on the Battlefield in the coming days, Rift Runners!

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

[h2]==Why the Silence?==
[/h2]
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.

[h2]==What about IW2?==
[/h2]
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.

[h2]==What about IH?==
[/h2]
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.

[h2]==And our inventories from IW?==
[/h2]
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

[h2]==Cool, where do I go then?==
[/h2]
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

Recently, Agent Coyle and JasonOCE sat down to discuss the IW2 prototype, giving you more information on what to expect, and how to get involved.

You can see their full video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ7a8vObiTk

There’s some points that bare reiterating, and one or two things that were skipped in the video, so remember to read on here after you’ve finished the video above.

Purpose, Access, Timing, Value, Infection, and Communication.


The main purpose is to give the prototype to IW’s veteran players to get involved in, so they can give feedback on early development core systems, while also giving a refreshing experience to indulge in while Infinity Wars is suspended. We do want to innovate on systems that we liked in IW to make them feel even better, but we need your help making sure we’re getting the balance right, and that the features we’re implementing are improvements, and good for the core of what we want in our games.


The prototype will be instantly given for free to all of our backers on kickstarter and indiegogo, as well as all of the people who have purchased Infinity Heroes on Steam, as a thankyou for being one of our early supporters, as well as council members for Infinity Heroes. IW1 Council members can reach out and discuss things with community coordinator Jason if they’re interested in the project. As for everyone else, they can purchase the pre-order for the Prototype directly through Infinity Heroes for $5 ( 66% off ). This price will be active for the first 200 people who gain access, before going up to $10. It will require access to Infinity Heroes, but will come with it’s own perks, appropriate to the total price you pay. ( See: Value )


We have an internal timeframe we’re working towards, but with changes to how we work ( and the entire world in the outbreak ) we’re less comfortable committing to these overtly. We’re sharing our roadmap at the bottom of this post to give you an idea on what we want to get done before we release to you all, but please keep in mind that we’ll be doing a lot to make sure that things are released slowly, when they are ready, to avoid overly pressuring the dev team, and putting strain on ourselves in a VERY sensitive year of our existence. ( See: Infection )



The value associated with the purchase needs to be worthwhile as a thankyou. There’s a large series of benefits for getting into Infinity Heroes beta which you can find on the Steam Page, but let’s talk about IW2’s prototype specifically. Number one is impact, being able to give feedback on the core systems directly to the dev team and influence development of the game we ALL want to play. Number two is access to IW2, and a timed exclusive volcanic play area in both IW2 and IH to keep forever. We’re not taking to crowdfunding IW2 any time soon, and this will be acting in it’s place for people who want to support the project financially early on, and get access to the full game when it releases. Important note, IW2’s monetisation is still not yet finalized, and we’re not sure if it will be free to play or not, but in the instance of IW2 being a pay to play title, all prototype build players will be acting as preorders to the game itself. Number three, is just giving our core IW players something to do during the world’s downtime, and seeing how the game shapes up over the coming months. It won’t be a replacement for Infinity Wars for some time, but hopefully you enjoy what it becomes.




Our team is spread over both our studios in two different states, so transitioning to working from home hasn’t been overly difficult, with very few communication and production issues arising so far, but as a studio we’ve been doing what we can to help our team do what they can to stay safe, and we’re looking to do more as a company. So, we’ll be donating a portion of all our sales and proceeds during all of April to supporting the Covid-19 relief effort. Our current plan is to donate directly to the World Health Organization’s Covid-19 Response fund. Alongside this, we have plans for charity events and live streams in the future when we work out the details. Keep an eye out on Facebook and Discord for information on when they come about.


Due to lockdowns and our team’s safety, we’re placing the InfinityCast onto an indefinite hiatus, and in it’s place, we’ll be having sit down interview style chats between Jason and Coyle, as we did with the original video. The rest of the dev team has a lot to focus on with IH and IW2, so we’ll be seeing a bit less of them in video form, but we might find fun ways to bring them in and include their input from the safety of their own homes, while not impacting development efforts. Most of our updates towards IW2 will be taking place on Youtube and Facebook, as well as the Discord. Updates via Steam news will be infrequent, only giving you the most important bits, so if you want to follow updates actively, check out the social media links in this post, or at the bottom below the roadmap.




(Subject to change)
0.1
Base account features, premade decks for basic games.
Concepts: Card Cycling & Commander system
May/June 2020

0.15
Test mode: 2v2 Co-op vs AI, barebones Deckbuilder

0.2
Concepts: Purity System, Card Classes, Card Types, War Abilities


We've got so much more planned, you'll just have to stay tuned to hear more as the game evolves. You can find our information for social media channels below, thankyou for reading. We're super excited to see how IW2 will be shaping up over the next few months, and we hope to see you and your friends join us on this journey!

Elphie AgentCoyle & JasonOCE!


Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/infinitywarsgame
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/lightmarestudios
Discord: https://discordapp.com/invite/NqJ7ZQf
Infinity Heroes: https://store.steampowered.com/app/892310/Infinity_Heroes/