Let’s Build Something #11: Shade of the Devoured Emperor
Dec 11th, 2012 by Terence Jason Dorman
by Ken Pilcher, Lead R&D Designer
Shade of the Devoured Emperor! Yes, it’s coming. There have been some minor setbacks and we know that everyone is curious and excited about this new set. Recently on the forums, a member asked why the set wasn’t released this year. I responded with the following:
“We love your enthusiasm! Shade is done. It is at the printers as we speak. Part of the delay was that we had to move the production over to another printer again. We are in the phase of trying to find our “forever printer.” There is a lot being done on all levels of the game and we are still settling into our new shoes. With Shade done and Holy Heist in testing with artwork soon on its way, we are looking very positive for the future. While we won’t be releasing new sets every 3-4 months yet, we will definitely be gaining traction for more consistent releases. As another member stated, patience is important. We look forward to seeing everyone draft Shade when it hits the shelves early 2013!”
As everyone knows, The Spoils has had its fair share of growing pains. We are still growing as a company and internally there have been a lot of changes. The key word here, however, is growing. While we bring on new people to help fill new positions and find better, faster, and more reliable printers, be assured that we are still moving the game development forward. Shade is a 130 card set that will bring a ton of new mechanics and exciting new directions to the table. I am excited about a lot of things in this set, but there are two things that stand out to me the most.
The first thing that excites me are the efforts put into making The Spoils story line a little bit more obvious. There are over 40 cards that are directly related to the main storyline of the block. There are mechanics that tie specific story elements together as well as sets of cards that work together and allow for great story driven cheatery!
The second exciting thing contained in this new set is a new rule/mechanic that will, like Flip Up, change the way you value certain cards. This mechanic will be something that feels like a natural extension of the game and one that many feel could have been part of the game since its inception. While I would love to give you more details, I just can’t. We have to save this tasty little morsel for a time a bit closer to release! I am being told to keep this quiet but under my own volition, I will give you a tiny hint:
Live and never die. She has a red kitten.
With that, I must get back to work on Holy Heist and “Quiet.”