Released Oct 18th 2022 after an extended beta, available on Android, iOS, and Steam. The Steam client is 'early release' basically running in an Android emulator wrapper, it's a bit janky compared to the mobile releases but is fine enough. To just see what this looks like in play, here's a gameplay walkthrough by Brode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMEEHH1E8ko Development roadmap What it be A streamlined card battler game, SNAP aims to be to Hearthstone as Hearthstone was to Magic in terms of creating both a more fast-paced and more 'exciting' random gameplay experience. SNAP decks consist of only 12 cards with no duplicates, and each match lasts six turns by default, making games feel quick and snappy. Turns are simultaneous, meaning you and your opponent make your plays at the same time, which are then resolved in priority order once you both end your turn; initial priority is coin flip, after the first turn priority goes to the currently winning player, and the player with priority will have a glow around their avatar. In each match there are three locations, or lanes, and you win by having more power from cards and effects than your opponent in at least two of them. These locations are randomly picked from a large pool each match and have strong varying effects on how you play, examples including locations which only allow you to play a single card at them, or create duplicates of cards you play on them at another location, or various buffs/debuffs, etc. These locations add a ton of variance to the game and are part of what makes it continue to feel fresh match to match despite the small decks. There's even a rare one that just takes over the match and plays both players' cards automatically for the remainder of the match. Snapping, as the name suggests, is the game's most unique gameplay hook. As you play SNAP you gain and lose cubes, from which your rank is derived, and a part of learning the game is learning when to retreat from a match and cut your losses. At the outset of each match both you and your opponent buy in with one cube, the winner gets two. If you or your opponent snap at any time during a match it will double the stakes come the following turn (Or conclusion if on the final turn), giving an opportunity to retreat and only lose one cube; one player snapping brings the match stakes to four cubes, both players snapping brings it to eight. You can bottom out at ten cubes but given how the low level bots basically let you win I doubt anyone has without trying. This game plays extremely fast, the snap mechanic lends a casino card game feel to it, and the high variance of the locations keeps it feeling novel. Despite not being a Marvel fan at all, this game also has the best card art and aesthetic I've seen outside of Magic. Monetization and progress If you've heard of this game in passing it may have been when they went and added what they called Nexus Events during the beta, which were just a gacha. It went over like a loving lead balloon, the player base lost their poo poo, the devs freaked out, Nexus Events were rapidly removed, the exclusive card was given out to everyone, they refunded all of the money everyone had spent on it and have since promised no more of that kind of poo poo and that they'd be leaning heavily on cosmetic monetization instead. There are no packs of cards to buy due to this game having a relatively small card pool in general with little in the way of filler. Instead, you unlock cards by raising your Collection Level, which you do by cosmetically upgrading your existing cards. To upgrade a card you first need Boosters for that particular card, after each match you receive some Boosters for one of the cards in your deck, chosen randomly with a light bias toward bottom level cards. Once you have the Boosters, you also need Credits, which are the primary throttle for progress in the game, and which come from daily and weekly mission rewards, or can be purchased from the shop with the premium currency Gold; you can also get 50 credits per day for free in the shop as a means of enticing you to open it. Card upgrades are purely cosmetic, with the upgrade from basic to uncommon 'breaking' the card art outside of the frame, the upgrade from uncommon to rare popping the art into 3D, rare to epic adding subtle animations, etc. Eventually once you max a card out it'll split into a foil version of the same card which can follow the same upgrade path until you split the foil, at which point it gains another feature on top of that like little particle effects, and so on. Once you're beyond the introductory levels wherein Collection Level card rewards are static for all players you start pulling random cards from a pool. Cards in SNAP are currently divided into three pools: Pool one: 46 cards, Collection Levels 18-214 Pool two: 25 cards, Collection Levels 222-474 Pool three: 74 cards, Collection Levels 486+ Pools contain the same cards for every player, but the order in which you get them is randomly determined, so while two Collection Level 50 players will have different cards, once those players hit Collection Level 214 they'll both have the same collections. Same goes for pools two and three, they contain the same cards for everyone, but you won't get them in the same order. As you've also probably noted, the spread of levels between new cards increases as you get higher, though it eventually plateaus in pool three along with some increased randomness. Matchmaking only matches players within the same pools, so if you’re in pool one you’ll only match other pool one players, etc. So where's the real money come in? Season pass, Credits, and card variants. First up, this being a comic book IP card game it should be unsurprising that the primary avenue of cosmetic monetization is card art variants, some of which are rewarded via season pass and most of which you just have to buy. It's cosmetics, whatever. Buying Credits with Gold is a waste of money, the maximum Credits you can purchase in a day is capped so you can't whale too hard and as you've seen with the Collection Level reward tracks above you actually get less for your dollar spent as you go higher, spending money on Gold to buy Credits is for the dumbest of whales only. Gold you get from the season pass is best spent rolling new extra daily missions as completing those also feeds back into more season pass experience. Season pass is the big one people actually spend money on as right now it's the only way to get the new card they add each month, buying the pass gets you the new card immediately, then a bunch of typical season pass poo poo as you level. If you don't buy the premium season pass you can't get that new card that month, nor can you get it the following month, it's only two months after it initially lands that it goes into the pool for people to randomly pull when leveling Collection Level. Soon they'll be ramping up new card additions alongside a new mechanic to target cards, Collector Tokens. You'll earn these along the Collection Level path and a token shop will rotate cards you don't already own that you can buy with these tokens. There aren't many details about this yet. Resources for cards and decks https://marvelsnapzone.com/ https://snap.fan/ maybe i'll make this better later idk Wheeee fucked around with this message at 17:16 on Oct 26, 2022 |
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# ? Oct 26, 2022 08:42 |
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# ? May 6, 2024 20:17 |
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Good first post OP. I like the game so far, and I keep winning, but I don't know anything about deck building yet.
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# ? Oct 26, 2022 10:15 |
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Don't buy fast upgrades from the shop, they're a newbie trap.
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# ? Oct 26, 2022 12:49 |
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Game's excellent, my new fav card game. Super accessible for a TCG noob like myself.
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# ? Oct 26, 2022 14:53 |
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is this too dumbed down for someone that has internalized the MTG rules
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# ? Oct 26, 2022 15:18 |
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Super fun. Havent felt this good playing a new card game in years, it's immediately so fun with the crappy starter cards. I'm not confident I'll enjoy endgame but until then I'll just enjoy playing the january jones -> abomination -> hulk curve and feeling skillful.
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# ? Oct 26, 2022 15:21 |
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I don't know much about this game, but I did hear if the uncle Ben card dies it summons Spider-Man from your hand. That's enough to make me want to give it a go.
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# ? Oct 26, 2022 15:27 |
I saw this and became quite interested https://twitter.com/UltimaShadowX/status/1585177463797137408
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# ? Oct 26, 2022 15:39 |
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precision posted:is this too dumbed down for someone that has internalized the MTG rules The rules are simple but there's a ton of card interaction. Playing a card very quickly becomes less about how much power that individual card has and more how it combos off of other cards already on the board.
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# ? Oct 26, 2022 16:19 |
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Other than it feeling like the game is just throwing AI opponents at you instead of real people, this game is pretty cool! I like how fast paced it is.
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# ? Oct 26, 2022 16:28 |
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The snap system is very interesting. Using it is a huge part of progression in this game. Conceptually you should snap whenever you feel >50% favored and retreat when you think you're <33% unfavored. Granted it is very hard to know what your exact odds are in any given game.
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# ? Oct 26, 2022 16:48 |
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I said come in! posted:Other than it feeling like the game is just throwing AI opponents at you instead of real people, this game is pretty cool! I like how fast paced it is. I felt the same way till I got to ~30. Now I'm getting some real losing streaks coming in vs. a few nice wins. I'm playing a On Reveal Odin deck, trying to make sure that I remove cards that are flat out terrible for the point of the deck, while also trying to not completely rely on Odin.
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# ? Oct 26, 2022 16:49 |
BoldFace posted:Don't buy fast upgrades from the shop, they're a newbie trap. Less so than before since the extra cost now scales by how many booster you’re missing, but yea don’t buy those.
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# ? Oct 26, 2022 17:08 |
precision posted:is this too dumbed down for someone that has internalized the MTG rules No, it just requires a different kind of thinking since locations make match to match and moment to moment decision making more varied. This game has nowhere near the deck building depth of Magic, or even Hearthstone yet, but it trades that off for imo more engaging gameplay within the matches themselves as you’ll always be working with or around some location bullshit. There’s more probability weighting here. enki42 posted:The rules are simple but there's a ton of card interaction. Playing a card very quickly becomes less about how much power that individual card has and more how it combos off of other cards already on the board. Yea this game has a very simple basic rule set which becomes increasingly complex as you add more card abilities and location effects to have to consider, the actual gameplay ends up being more complex than Hearthstone despite having a fraction the cards. I said come in! posted:Other than it feeling like the game is just throwing AI opponents at you instead of real people, this game is pretty cool! I like how fast paced it is. Game eases you in slowly for sure, which I think is good, gives new players time to figure out card interactions and combinations and try new things out without getting repeatedly stomped by players running net decks. Wheeee fucked around with this message at 17:28 on Oct 26, 2022 |
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# ? Oct 26, 2022 17:21 |
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It feels just like MTG when a location shuffles five rocks into your deck.
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# ? Oct 26, 2022 17:22 |
Seriously if you have ADHD and think card games are fun but hate the tedious deck building this is the card game for you.
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# ? Oct 26, 2022 17:30 |
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There’s already a thread.
Duck and Cover fucked around with this message at 18:12 on Oct 26, 2022 |
# ? Oct 26, 2022 17:52 |
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# ? Oct 26, 2022 18:00 |
Nah, sorry.
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# ? Oct 26, 2022 18:00 |
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Oh thanks I missed a 1 at the end. Fixed!
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# ? Oct 26, 2022 18:13 |
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love busting out this game, the randomized location curveballs it throws at you presents a new little puzzle of gambling with placement and timing every game. I'm convinced Squirrel Girl is a noobtrap card for people as people will just plunk those 1-power squirrels down without realizing later they wasted a slot on that locale with them lol. This can pay off later for cards with synergy like Carnage/Wolfsbane/etc but a lot of people tend to not have a plan for later with those rats. It's fun to try out gimmick decks i.e. a low-cost card deck I've been doing that explicitly feeds Carnage later, or one that just kind of uses my favorite card, Sentinel, as a way to swarm a location later on.
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# ? Oct 26, 2022 18:53 |
DLC Inc posted:love busting out this game, the randomized location curveballs it throws at you presents a new little puzzle of gambling with placement and timing every game. Yea, two examples of the current hot location playing out for two different goons in the mobile games forum thread: team overhead smash posted:This took quite a few attempts to pull off goferchan posted:
Game stays fresh in terms of gameplay in a way other card games just don’t in my experience. quote:I'm convinced Squirrel Girl is a noobtrap card for people as people will just plunk those 1-power squirrels down without realizing later they wasted a slot on that locale with them lol. This can pay off later for cards with synergy like Carnage/Wolfsbane/etc but a lot of people tend to not have a plan for later with those rats. Squirrel Girl is quite strong in Kazar decks, you can gently caress yourself playing her on turn one or two, but on balance she’s solid in low pool matches even before you’re running something like a destroy/Death deck. quote:It's fun to try out gimmick decks i.e. a low-cost card deck I've been doing that explicitly feeds Carnage later, or one that just kind of uses my favorite card, Sentinel, as a way to swarm a location later on. Hell yea, Sentinel has strong synergy with a bunch of cards, like repeatedly feeding an Angela or Bishop or Collector. Wheeee fucked around with this message at 19:31 on Oct 26, 2022 |
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# ? Oct 26, 2022 19:13 |
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I got to do the thing! Dude was confident enough to snap. lmao gottem He was a good sport, though. Emoted me Spider-Man then Deadpool, to which I responded Thanos and Ms. Marvel, and he matched my Ms. Marvel.
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# ? Oct 26, 2022 21:25 |
People snapping on the first turn are always fun.
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# ? Oct 26, 2022 22:19 |
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We've been talking about Snap in the Mobile Games thread since April; come say hello!
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# ? Oct 26, 2022 23:17 |
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Wheeee posted:People snapping on the first turn are always fun. Yeah I just kind of shrug and play the match like normal when they do. On the topic of best pool one card, I haven’t unlocked her yet but the times I’ve had random copies dealt to me Scarlet Witch feels insane. Disruption cards like Cosmo, Enchantress, Scarlet Witch, even Elektra feel extremely powerful.
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# ? Oct 26, 2022 23:19 |
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Do I only post in here when I play the game in steam instead of my phone? BGrifter posted:Yeah I just kind of shrug and play the match like normal when they do. She's fun but she feels balanced because of the huge rng location pool. It is quite amusing when a super swingy location is hot and you just shut it down though.
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# ? Oct 26, 2022 23:21 |
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Xtanstic posted:She's fun but she feels balanced because of the huge rng location pool. It is quite amusing when a super swingy location is hot and you just shut it down though. In the times I’ve been able to play her it felt like the most common outcome from rerolling a location was nothing happens. Maybe an irrelevant effect, something that would have triggered on an earlier turn, a dupe of something on the board. I had great fun being able to snipe Kamar-Taj vs all the Odin decks. Dropping a batch of Nightcrawlers into Bar Sinister, getting some early game value then shutting it off on turn five felt great too. It seems wild to me that effect is stapled to a okay statted low cost body.
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# ? Oct 26, 2022 23:37 |
Xtanstic posted:It is quite amusing when a super swingy location is hot and you just shut it down though. This is sort of Scarlet Witch's primary use case, and you eventually get cards like Storm which can effectively do the same thing but with a reliable effect. Scarlet Witch still owns tho
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# ? Oct 27, 2022 00:33 |
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One good thing about the small deck size is that you don't need to release huge expansions to impact the meta game. Just two or three cards with the right synergies can be enough to create new deck archetypes.
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# ? Oct 27, 2022 03:14 |
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Favorite clone location target? My current one I finally unlocked, and it's the hulk buster. First one whiffs, then 2/3/4 all combine for one 16 power monstrosity that cost 3.
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# ? Oct 27, 2022 04:56 |
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Drowning Rabbit posted:Favorite clone location target? Single card, I've loved Blue Marvel. Combo, it's Blue Marvel + 3 Onslaughts. One time I got to have an Iron Man and 3 Onslaughts and apparently the game has an integer cap
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# ? Oct 27, 2022 09:30 |
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BGrifter posted:Yeah I just kind of shrug and play the match like normal when they do. EDIT: I think it's official, Ben Brode is a genius. No Wave fucked around with this message at 15:50 on Oct 27, 2022 |
# ? Oct 27, 2022 15:16 |
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Wheeee posted:This is sort of Scarlet Witch's primary use case, and you eventually get cards like Storm which can effectively do the same thing but with a reliable effect. I've been playing a movement deck and I have found Scarlet Witch to be essential. It's a very precision-based gameplan where a single bad location can blow up my whole strategy, and she helps smooth everything out again.
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# ? Oct 27, 2022 16:26 |
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The original thread has been moved into the video game forum feel free to use that https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=4002418.
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# ? Oct 27, 2022 18:01 |
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# ? May 6, 2024 20:17 |
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Kull the Conqueror posted:I've been playing a movement deck and I have found Scarlet Witch to be essential. It's a very precision-based gameplan where a single bad location can blow up my whole strategy, and she helps smooth everything out again. It might change in the later pools but it feels like a lot of decks are pretty fragile to disruption. Using Enchantress to shut down the big combo turn in Bar Sinister is very satisfying. Even a well timed Elektra snipe can swing games.
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# ? Oct 27, 2022 18:19 |