When SolForge, the CCG co-designed by Magic: the Gathering creator Richard Garfield, deck building game for the digital age," and it'll be available September 22.
SolForge: Fusion is designed to be played either in person or digitally, using Tabletop Simulator. What sets SolForge: Fusion apart from other CCGs is a special "algorithmically generated card printing process" that ensures no two decks are the same, similar to KeyForge, which Garfield designed for Fantasy Flight Games. Players 'fuse' two half-decks to create a full deck, and scan them into SolForge: Fusion's online database. The fused cards level up over the course of each game, allowing players to continuously 'build' their decks even in the midst of a match.
"Combining two procedurally generated half-decks gives an easy way to customise your deck, and wildly expands the possibilities of a collection," Garfield says. "And creating cards by fusing two halves together gives over 15,000 possible cards in the first set alone, more than were created in the first 20+ years of Magic: The Gathering."
Stone Blade has created a series of introductory videos to explain how SolForge: Fusion is played. For the videos, everything takes place inside Tabletop Simulator.
You'll be able to buy a deck of SolForge: Fusion cards at a game shop, then scan its unique QR code using your mobile device's camera to the entire deck to your collection stored on SolForge: Fusion's official site.
Following the runaway success of Magic: the Gathering, Garfield has been intent on somehow bridging the gap between physical collectible cards and digital games. That was the intent behind Artifact – a digital CCG like Hearthstone, but using cards that were more 'real' by being tradeable on the Steam marketplace. Players baulked at the model, however, and Artifact also suffered from a visual complexity that made it intimidating to newcomers.
Time will tell if this new approach fares better. SolForge: Fusion is an easier game to learn, but features some similar mechanics to Artifact. Rather than using a digital marketplace, this time it's a return to physical cards, with the 'bridge' to digital play found in the off-the-shelf solution of Tabletop Simulator. The question for s who prefer to play online will be whether the experience in Tabletop Simulator will be a smooth one.
You can find out more at the official site. SolForge: Fusion will go on sale in the US September 22.