I spoke with the creator of Chrono Core! Here are his answers to my questions:
Q: Please describe your trading card game!
A: Chrono Core is a mech based game and we call the mechs "Chronos". Gameplay revolves around picking a pilot and core, "chest piece", which need a matching chassis type. Then based on that chassis you'll build your deck based on the type instead of color designations like typical tcg's. Those chassis designations are Lightweight, Mid-weight, & Heavyweight. Once you've built your deck you head into the arena against your opponent where you'll use equipment, weapon, configuration, & support cards to build your Chrono into a more powerful version each turn. While equipment and weapon cards may be straight forward as descriptions, configuration cards can be thought of as "add ons" that you can equip mid-battle to boost attacks or give you defensive abilities as well. Support cards can be thought of as spells in a sense and while some are paid for and used and go into the trash, others stick around and have minor effects or abilities that can be used each turn. As you're building your Chrono out you're also attacking their shield and/or life values to try and ultimately reduce their pilot's life to 0.
Q: What inspired you to create your own TCG?
A: Originally I had an idea for a tabletop miniatures game and had everything laid out and was going to start developing that. Then I started getting back into tcg's and after a few years of playing again I realized how much more I enjoy card games compared to tabletop games and started to develop the very early stages of the game. Helping some friends playtest and polish things up on their game "Back Alley Mages", which was a successful Kickstarter even before I got involved, really pushed me to fully commit to developing Chrono Core. So after about 18 months of development, testing, and lots of massive changes to the game it's ready for public testing!
Q: What TCGs did you grow up playing as a kid?
A: So I got into the OG 151 Pokemon when it first came out and collected for 2-3 years and then slowly moved into Magic for a few years and then sold off everything and stopped playing tcg's until about 2018 .
Q: What sets Chrono Core apart from other TCGs?
A: I would say the overall game system is unlike any other tcg I'm aware of. Instead of playing down lands or energy cards, your resource is called "Core Charge" and it begins at 3 at the start of every turn. In order to gain more "Core Charge" you'll be upgrading equipment cards from MKI (common) to MKII, MKII, or MKIV and each of those increases gives you various amounts of extra "Core Charge" at the beginning of each turn. You also aren't required to go from say MKI, which starts in your field of play, to a MKII because as long as you have enough Core Charge to pay for the card cost you can go directly from a MKI card to a MKIII or MKIV card possibly even!
Q: How did you come up with the name Chrono Core?
A: I grew up playing lot's of "Armored Core" video games which also partially inspired this game. The "Chrono" part will be laid out within the lore of the game but that's what I decided to call the "mechs" themselves and it only felt natural to have core attached to it since it's part of the gameplay!
Q: How long have you been working on the game?
A: As of now 18 months.
Q: What is the illustration/design process like?
A: I have one main artist for the Chronos, he and I talk daily about the art and which direction we're going on different pieces. I have a few artists that have done pilot cards for me and those processes have been fairly straightforward. You go through a pre-design phase and get a sketch and then make any adjustments during the sketch phase and then move into coloring.
Q: When will the game officially be released?
A: There is a Patreon in the process as well as "Sample" card sets planned for fall and winter of 23' as well as spring of 24' to help fund finishing the art off for this set as well as set 2 which has been in development for a few months. These will also help fund our convention plans for 24' and allow us to demo the game and get cards into people's hands before the Kickstarter launch in summer of 2024!
Q: What are your future plans for Chrono Core?
A: With set 1 practically finalized aside from art and any final gameplay tweaks, we'll be moving into internal play testing for set 2 by this fall and I'll be starting to layout set 3 as while testing is occuring for set 2 and its integration into gameplay with set 1.
Q: Will you be at any upcoming conventions?
A: The plan is to hit the 2024 convention scene at Collect-a-cons as well as GenCon hopefully!
Q: Do you have any advice for someone looking to make their own TCG?
A: Talk with as many people who are willing to offer advice and insight into making a tcg, and then seek out people who will give you honest feedback from as wide a variety of players that you can find!
For more, follow @chronocoretcg on Instagram
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