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Valve had a closed-doors presentation on their new card game Artifact that will release this year, here's a few details. First of all, it's being made in collaboration with Magic creator Richard Garfield, like how Valve worked with IceFrog on Dota 2. It will be on Source 2 and it will also release by the end of this year, with mobile platforms sometime next year.

From what I understand, it will not be a free to play title and it will use the Steam Marketplace to allow people to sell their cards. I think we all could have gathered it would have some form of Marketplace, but the fact that it's a pay to play game is surprising. It will start with 280 cards and 44 heroes.

It will have no single-player campaign, but you will get an AI tutorial to walk you through it. For those thinking it will be like Hearthstone, think again. It will have three lanes of play, with you being required to take down towers in two out of three to win, however if you take down one an Ancient will spawn with more health, if you take down that you also win. This makes it sound vastly different to other card battling games currently around, it actually sounds a little like a MOBA turned into a card game.

Here's some screenshots of the game (source):

For more info, there's a reddit dedicated to the game already with a post gathering info.

I've sent off some mail to Valve to ask about Linux support, just to be sure. I've no doubt it will be on Linux, like all of their stuff nowadays, but it doesn't hurt to check. Will update on any reply when I get it. Update: Valve replied to my email to confirm Linux support.

As a trading card game fan, I can't wait to get my hands on it.

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Eike Mar 9, 2018
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I doubt there's a market for a card game that's not free to play.
But well, they can always change that later on...
(Myself, I'm not into this card game stuff at all.)
sub Mar 9, 2018
QuoteFrom what I understand, it will not be a free to play title

Great!

QuoteIt will have no single-player campaign

#%!@$, I'm out.
Adamfx990 Mar 9, 2018
This is probably the worst pay-to-win economy since Battlefront 2. Hopefully this game flops and will be the first step towards more people boycotting the steam market.
MayeulC Mar 9, 2018
Yeah... I really am not into card games myself, so VALVe or not, I am going to pass this one ;)

Nice to see them going back into the game, though.


Last edited by MayeulC on 9 March 2018 at 11:26 am UTC
Narcotix Mar 9, 2018
Yay i predicted it quite right :) (it was maybe too obvious tho) https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/7tdek2/why_valves_artifact_might_be_outstanding_it_might/
Eike Mar 9, 2018
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Quoting: 0aTTInteresting read:

https://www.pcgamer.com/gabe-newell-hooray-valves-going-to-start-shipping-games-again/
Quoting: 0aTT

That's interesting news; thanks for pointing out!
Eike Mar 9, 2018
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Quoting: 0aTTInteresting read:

https://www.pcgamer.com/gabe-newell-hooray-valves-going-to-start-shipping-games-again/

Quote"We've always been a little bit jealous of companies like Nintendo," Newell said. "When Miyamoto is sitting down and thinking about the next version of Zelda or Mario, he's thinking what is the controller going to look like, what sort of graphics and other capabilities. He can introduce new capabilities like motion input because he controls both of those things. And he can make the hardware look as good as possible because he's designing the software at the same time that's really going to take advantage of it. So that is something we've been jealous of, and that's something that you'll see us taking advantage of subsequently."

Erm... Does this sound like "We're going to make a console." to you, too?
sub Mar 9, 2018
Quoting: Eike
Quoting: 0aTTInteresting read:

https://www.pcgamer.com/gabe-newell-hooray-valves-going-to-start-shipping-games-again/

Quote"We've always been a little bit jealous of companies like Nintendo," Newell said. "When Miyamoto is sitting down and thinking about the next version of Zelda or Mario, he's thinking what is the controller going to look like, what sort of graphics and other capabilities. He can introduce new capabilities like motion input because he controls both of those things. And he can make the hardware look as good as possible because he's designing the software at the same time that's really going to take advantage of it. So that is something we've been jealous of, and that's something that you'll see us taking advantage of subsequently."

Erm... Does this sound like "We're going to make a console." to you, too?

No.
nitroflow Mar 9, 2018
Quoting: Eike
Quoting: 0aTTInteresting read:

https://www.pcgamer.com/gabe-newell-hooray-valves-going-to-start-shipping-games-again/

Quote"We've always been a little bit jealous of companies like Nintendo," Newell said. "When Miyamoto is sitting down and thinking about the next version of Zelda or Mario, he's thinking what is the controller going to look like, what sort of graphics and other capabilities. He can introduce new capabilities like motion input because he controls both of those things. And he can make the hardware look as good as possible because he's designing the software at the same time that's really going to take advantage of it. So that is something we've been jealous of, and that's something that you'll see us taking advantage of subsequently."

Erm... Does this sound like "We're going to make a console." to you, too?

As long as that console runs linux, and as long as all it's titles become available on the PC linux client, I see no problem, aside from how well Steam machines went for them...

Edited for typos


Last edited by nitroflow on 9 March 2018 at 11:45 am UTC
3qET7rL9Bd Mar 9, 2018
Quoting: 0aTTInteresting read:

https://www.pcgamer.com/gabe-newell-hooray-valves-going-to-start-shipping-games-again/

QuoteAnd the following month, in roundtable interviews with PC Gamer, Newell said that Valve was working on "three big VR games."

  • Half Life 3

  • Portal 3

  • Left 4 Dead 3


I am less sure about the last one but the first two seems obvious.


Last edited by 3qET7rL9Bd on 9 March 2018 at 12:01 pm UTC
Al3s Mar 9, 2018
Quoting: 3qET7rL9Bd
Quoting: 0aTTInteresting read:

https://www.pcgamer.com/gabe-newell-hooray-valves-going-to-start-shipping-games-again/

QuoteAnd the following month, in roundtable interviews with PC Gamer, Newell said that Valve was working on "three big VR games."

  • Half Life 3

  • Portal 3

  • Left 4 Dead 3


I am less sure about the last one but the first two seems obvious.
Portal 3 is the obvious choice for a VR game. I'm not so sure about HL3
Corben Mar 9, 2018
Hmm... I'm not sure about that card game... but the VR titles!

Quoting: Al3sPortal 3 is the obvious choice for a VR game. I'm not so sure about HL3

Oh boy, yeah! I've played Portal: Stories VR and even though it's pretty short (could be played through in less than an hour), it was one of the most awesome games I've played so far in VR. I mean, Portal rocks anyway, but in VR it will be mind blowing.
I only hope it will support VR on Linux. There are way to few VR games for Linux yet.


Last edited by Corben on 9 March 2018 at 12:34 pm UTC
Liam Dawe Mar 9, 2018
According to a PC Gamer writer who had an info sheet from Valve, Linux is included alongside Windows and Mac: https://www.reddit.com/r/Artifact/comments/836002/tim_from_pc_gamer_here_just_posted_my_artifact/dvfcwpk/
Eike Mar 9, 2018
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Quoting: liamdaweAccording to a PC Gamer writer who had an info sheet from Valve, Linux is included alongside Windows and Mac: https://www.reddit.com/r/Artifact/comments/836002/tim_from_pc_gamer_here_just_posted_my_artifact/dvfcwpk/

I didn't have a second of doubt.
I'm 40 years old and I can tell you that Vr was a commercial failure, is a commercial failure and will be a commercial failure, because of the high price of the hardware needed, and because the human is an animal of habits...

About the game... bleh.. Just what We need! Another digital card game.... ¬¬
Cybolic Mar 9, 2018
Quoting: Comandante ÑoñardoI'm 40 years old and I can tell you that Vr was a commercial failure, is a commercial failure and will be a commercial failure, because of the high price of the hardware needed, and because the human is an animal of habits...

About the game... bleh.. Just what We need! Another digital card game.... ¬¬
VR already has an audience, even on a small platform with few VR titles, like ours. The fact that the hardware cost has already pretty much halved since the first generation of this new wave of VR came out, should also tell you that it'll keep dropping.
VR is here to stay, the question is just when it'll become mainstream.

Sidenote: Seeing as all the teenagers I know (which, admittedly, aren't that many seeing as I'm about twice that age) have at least some form of VR device (Google Cardboard / plastic equivalent and/or a GearVR), VR is already a part of their notion of which established media platforms exist. As VR gets better and better, I find it hard to believe that an entire generation will suddenly decide to just drop the entire medium.
Eike Mar 9, 2018
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Quoting: Comandante ÑoñardoI'm 40 years old and I can tell you that Vr was a commercial failure, is a commercial failure and will be a commercial failure, because of the high price of the hardware needed, and because the human is an animal of habits...

Aha.

I'm 45 years old and I can tell you that VR was a commercial failure, but will be used more in future, as the prices of the hardware needed will drop, and because the human is an animal which would have died off long ago if it wouldn't be as adaptable as it is...
14 Mar 9, 2018
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The game sounds good to me. I can see myself buying it. I like Magic, Solforge, etc.
anth Mar 9, 2018
Quoting: Comandante ÑoñardoI'm 40 years old and I can tell you that Vr was a commercial failure, is a commercial failure and will be a commercial failure

As a 44 year old I can tell you that VR in the 1990s showed some promise but was both too expensive and not good enough. It is now a small fraction of that price and dropping. It is finally just good enough with some the obvious improvements such as resolution on the way.

There have been VR-only games topping the Steam sales charts so that seems like the beginning of commercial success to me.

According to the Steam hardware survey the number of VR users is now equal to the number of Linux users despite the much higher financial barrier to entry. There does seem to be quite a bit of overlap between interest in VR and Linux-gaming, so hopefully VR on Linux will be ready soon and there'll be VR-users who'll come back to us.


Last edited by anth on 9 March 2018 at 8:28 pm UTC
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