GamesCampus.com home of multiple free online games was kind enough to allow us into their newest achievement Carte: Global Online TCG designed by Onnet. While GamesCampus is the publisher for this game they still had alot to do with preparation and product testing. We were eager to get our hands on this game, so luckily they were kind enough to let us try it out early. But enough about that, Associate Producer Mike Walker was kind enough to give us an interview with him about this project. Here is what he had to say to Richard and myself.
(Richard) ” Mike please, introduce yourself to our readers, tell them who you are and what you do.”
(Mike) ” I’m an Associate Producer for Carte and diehard TCG player. I am involved with pretty much everything related to Carte, and my job is to make sure everything that needs to get done gets done.”
(Rob) ” Well Mike, I’m sure those who are reading this have already seen the Carte website and are looking for more information about it, what can you tell our readers about Carte and what your definition of Carte is?”
(Mike) ” Carte is a trading card game that combines the best parts of the most popular paper TCGs and adds its own twists. I would define it as a strategy game that can be as complex or accessible as you want it to be, with amazing art.”
(Rob) ” So Mike, What was it like to help publish Carte and what road blocks have you come across to get to this closed beta?”
(Mike) ” Publishing Carte has been a fantastic experience, especially because it mixes my love of TCGs with my love of online games. Probably the biggest roadblock in getting to closed beta was actually the fact that Carte is a global game. You can log in here and play someone in Germany, but that also means that everything we do has to be coordinated with all the other regions worldwide.”
(Rob) ” What made GamesCampus decide to Publish Carte? Are you partners with the Korean company designing it or did you come across it and want to help?”
(Mike) ” We are constantly looking for quality games to add to the GamesCampus portal, and this one stood out to me immediately. Carte has all the qualities I look for in a TCG I want to play, so we published it.”
(Richard) ” What are some of the risks involved in releasing a game like this in the American market?”
(Mike) ” The biggest risk might be that the people who need to hear about the game might not! We feel very happy about the quality of Carte, but that doesn’t matter if people aren’t convinced they should download it. Spreading the word is definitely one of the toughest challenges.”
(Rob) ” How many hours did it take to translate all those cards to English from Korean? I’m sure it wasn’t easy.”
(Mike) ” Many, many hours. And then, once they’re all in English, we have to go through all of them again to make sure they read well to an English speaking audience. Some of the text still isn’t as clear as we’d like, but we’re expecting to have a very smooth experience for our upcoming open beta.”
(Richard) ” What is your favorite Faction/Color in Carte?”
(Mike) ” Archan – the blue faction – is my favorite. Archan is the most magic focused nation, and I love how versatile their spells are. Their direct damage and mana manipulation makes for a lot of fun gameplay.”
(Rob) ” What is your favorite Card? And did you help design any of them? If so which ones?”
(Mike) ” Mage’s Dagger is my favorite card. It’s not a flashy card, but it’s a very reliable item, allowing my hero keep up the pressure while my other spells keep my opponent busy. Even though we didn’t have any input into the actual design of the cards,but we’ve been impressed with our developers. Most of the time when we suggest a change for any of the cards, they’ve already thought of it and it’s about to be patched in.”
(Richard) ” What are some of the challenges you had to face or are facing in releasing a game internationally at the same time?”
(Mike)” Well, there are a lot of little things, like deciding when certain daily events will reset. Everyone connects to the same server, so some things need to work reasonably in several different time zones.”
(Rob) ” I’m sure you had alot of road blocks along the way to get this to open beta, what would you say was your biggest?”
(Mike)” The biggest road block to open beta has been the amount of text that needs to be localized for the game. While we were comfortable moving into closed beta with a lot of text still in revision, we definitely want all of the text to read well for open beta and release.”
(Richard) ” It seems like alot of MMOs today (both new and existing) are choosing to go Free to Play. What is your opinion on why this is?”
(Mike)” I think it’s all about the barrier to entry. It’s a lot harder to convince people to take it on faith that your game will be worth their money. If all someone has to do to play is just download the game, they’re more willing to give you a chance. More people in game makes for a richer experience for everyone, even more so in a competitive game like Carte.”
(Rob) ” What made you and the creators decide to make Carte a Free to Play game instead of selling individual cards or packs?”
(Mike) ” We do sell booster packs, but not individual cards, and it has a lot to do with what makes for a more fulfilling play experience. You don’t need to invest money in Carte to expand your card collection, and you’re rewarded with cards just for playing.”
(Richard) ” What is the appeal of Carte for gamers who have played or continue to play “physical” card games (such as Magic, Yugioh, etc.)? What about for the average gamer who plays games such as Call of Duty or Final Fantasy?”
(Mike) ” Well, first of all, we think Carte is a really good game! We feel very confident that Carte can compete head to head with established card games. As an online game, Carte offers the ability to play any time you want from the comfort of your own home. And, of course, you can play Carte completely for free. For a Call of Duty player, Carte offers an intensely competitive experience that relies on a quick mind rather than a quick trigger finger. And for a Final Fantasy player, Carte features a rich fantasy world with a compelling story that we’ll be fleshing out both in the cards and on the website. Plus, we have some incredible art on our cards.”
(Richard) ” Who do you see as your biggest rival(s)?”
(Mike) ” Carte Europe! We’ve been building a rivalry with them for the past few months and I sense a grudge match in the cards, so to speak. We feel like Carte is good enough to compete with any TCG out there, with plenty of extra features like Raids and Crafting, so I wouldn’t say we’ve targeted any particular game as a rival.”
(Rob) ” The art for the cards in this game is amazing, how many artists were there to design all these cards?”
(Mike) ” All the art was commissioned by our developers, so I can’t give you an exact number on how many artists were involved, but Carte features art from over 30 amazing artists and that number grows with every card release.”
(Richard) ” Where do you see Carte a year from now? Two years? Five years?
(Mike) ” Carte’s potential is incredible. I think we have a ton of room to grow and I hope that a year from now we’ll be seeing a highly competitive ladder and global tournaments in addition to the more accessible gameplay we have now. Not to mention more game modes to complement the current duels and Raids. In two to five years, maybe we’ll be hearing Carte mentioned alongside the titans of TCGs. I definitely feel we have that potential.”
Again we at The Unpaid Gamers want to thank Mike and Blake at GamesCampus for allowing us early access to the game and an interview, good luck on your upcoming release.
