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Valve's new digital card game Artifact is go for launch on November 28th. They've now put up the official website with some more details as well as confirming their Linux plans.

If there was any doubt in your mind about Linux support, I spoke to Valve today about the release just to make sure. They said this in reply to my question about same-day Linux support "Yes. Confirmed for Windows, Linux and Mac.". We've had confirmation previously, but it's always good to see it hasn't changed so close to release.

As for the game itself, Valve are ramping up their advertising now with the first in a series of videos with Richard Garfield creator of Magic: The Gathering. The first can be viewed below (accompanying blog post here):

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What's quite interesting, is that it will have a built-in tournament feature. Valve say that Artifact will offer "complete control in creating a tournament", so we might have to run a few of our own if there's enough interest from readers.

I still can't quite get my head around it having multiple lanes like Dota 2, it seems like something that will keep you on your toes for sure. I have no doubt it will be massively popular! I'm excited to try it myself, as it looks really good! Will you be checking it out?

See more on the official site and Steam. The official site still doesn't have a lot, I expect a lot more to be revealed as the days go on.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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sub Nov 2, 2018
So sad, all that Valve came up with after all these years is a card game. :/
Nezchan Nov 2, 2018
So sad, all that Valve came up with after all these years is a card game. :/

And the upcoming In the Valley of Gods that Campo Santos is working on. And multiple other game projects that have been mentioned but haven't been officially announced yet.

I am mystified by the implication that a card game is somehow "lesser" than other kinds of games. Seems kind of insulting to the people who enjoy playing them, and the people who put work (in this case, four years of work) into making them.
Nezchan Nov 2, 2018
I'm been really enjoying Faeria, maybe I card diversify my mild card game addiction ;)

Ho ho!
Purple Library Guy Nov 2, 2018
So sad, all that Valve came up with after all these years is a card game. :/

And the upcoming In the Valley of Gods that Campo Santos is working on. And multiple other game projects that have been mentioned but haven't been officially announced yet.

I am mystified by the implication that a card game is somehow "lesser" than other kinds of games. Seems kind of insulting to the people who enjoy playing them, and the people who put work (in this case, four years of work) into making them.
It may be a fine game, but I can understand the criticism in a way. A card game requires very little graphics, no story, hardly any setting et cetera. If that requires four years of work, there is a certain sense of "The mountain laboured, and brought forth a mouse."
Nezchan Nov 2, 2018
So sad, all that Valve came up with after all these years is a card game. :/

And the upcoming In the Valley of Gods that Campo Santos is working on. And multiple other game projects that have been mentioned but haven't been officially announced yet.

I am mystified by the implication that a card game is somehow "lesser" than other kinds of games. Seems kind of insulting to the people who enjoy playing them, and the people who put work (in this case, four years of work) into making them.
It may be a fine game, but I can understand the criticism in a way. A card game requires very little graphics, no story, hardly any setting et cetera. If that requires four years of work, there is a certain sense of "The mountain laboured, and brought forth a mouse."
+ Click to view long quote

Wait, what? Sure, it doesn't have a lot of 3D models or character animation, but you're going to look at that trailer and say that it doesn't involve tonnes of design, card animations, special effects of various sorts, plus a significant amount of detailed art (a piece for every card)? That isn't nothing and isn't something you can just snap your fingers and you've got it.

Not to mention, card games involve a lot of work to design and balance the mechanics, with significant hours of playtesting to back that up. And I doubt there's less programming involved than most other sorts of games.

But sure, this looks like something a team of three banged out in a weekend. Sounds legit.
Purple Library Guy Nov 2, 2018
So sad, all that Valve came up with after all these years is a card game. :/

And the upcoming In the Valley of Gods that Campo Santos is working on. And multiple other game projects that have been mentioned but haven't been officially announced yet.

I am mystified by the implication that a card game is somehow "lesser" than other kinds of games. Seems kind of insulting to the people who enjoy playing them, and the people who put work (in this case, four years of work) into making them.
It may be a fine game, but I can understand the criticism in a way. A card game requires very little graphics, no story, hardly any setting et cetera. If that requires four years of work, there is a certain sense of "The mountain laboured, and brought forth a mouse."

Wait, what? Sure, it doesn't have a lot of 3D models or character animation, but you're going to look at that trailer and say that it doesn't involve tonnes of design, card animations, special effects of various sorts, plus a significant amount of detailed art (a piece for every card)? That isn't nothing and isn't something you can just snap your fingers and you've got it.

Not to mention, card games involve a lot of work to design and balance the mechanics, with significant hours of playtesting to back that up. And I doubt there's less programming involved than most other sorts of games.

But sure, this looks like something a team of three banged out in a weekend. Sounds legit.
+ Click to view long quote
You're going a bit over the top, I think. I don't believe I said anything about banged out in a weekend. But making a computer-based card game is a lot like . . . making a physical card game, or a fairly elaborate physical board game. Yes, there are a lot of art assets, yes there is a good deal of design work, yes it takes skill and/or intuition to do well.
But the fact is that creating a physical card game or board game does not cost the millions of bucks or require the number of bodies contributing that a computer game from a big studio does. It's a smaller thing. It's not that there's no creativity involved, it's more the difference between a short story and a large novel. Valve is a big outfit from which people tend to expect big things. Card games, relatively speaking, are small things (although the profits may be huge). I actually am not bothered by Valve doing a small thing, I think it's kind of sweet that unlike most behemoth corporations they can decide to do a small quirky thing. I hope they profit. But that does not make a card game a thing on the same scale as most other kinds of games.
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