When the Firaxis Games team was first approached to create a new game with Marvel Entertainment, we were thrilled! We had a lot of experience creating games with XCOM, so we knew we wanted to make a tactical combat game.
However, we quickly discovered that developing a superhero game is very different from developing a game about soldiers fighting an alien invasion. Today, I'm excited to talk to PlayStation players about our journey to develop a new superhero combat experience, why we decided to use cards to represent heroic abilities, and how this system works in Marvel's Midnight Suns.
Map theory
To understand why we use cards, it is important to first understand what makes a tactical game fun. All tactical games are puzzles in their essence, and it is our job as designers to find the right balance between making this puzzle too easy and obvious, or nearly impossible and unbelievable. Our goal is to find a middle ground where the answer is not immediately obvious, but the player uses mechanics and tools to manipulate the game to find a solution. However, over time, experienced players learn to use these tools correctly and quickly overcome any obstacles. This is where randomness comes in.
Randomization is an important design element in tactical games because it allows the game to be unpredictable, even if a player knows the basic mechanics. This allows players to adapt to new situations and keeps the puzzle fresh and exciting. And how you complete those amazing moments in XCOM, like hitting 25% critical hit ... but losing those rounds at point blank range by 95%!
Another important part of tactical matches is the player's fantasy satisfaction. In Marvel's Midnight Suns, we have an impressive roster of heroes from across the Marvel Universe, from Captain Marvel's cosmic powers and Tony Stark's brilliant mind to Doctor Strange's mystical wisdom and Blade's vampire hunter prowess. Our early prototypes put these characters into XCOM-style combat with things like odds and coverage. And while the mechanics worked well, the gameplay didn't feel right. After all, they are superheroes! Iron Man doesn't miss his Repulsor Blasts and Captain Marvel doesn't cover when the going gets tough.
When we removed these extra elements from XCOM, particularly the success rate, the game became more heroic ... but the combat puzzle quickly became too easy. It was easy to repeat the same powerful attack throughout the hero until the mission was completed. We had to reintroduce randomness to make puzzles fun and make you feel like a superhero. It was then that we came up with the idea of representing our heroes' abilities in the form of cards.
Cards are good because they are used extensively in games and players know the key "mechanics" such as deck, draw and discard. Drawing a card every turn gave us a perfect level of randomness in our combat experience. Our heroes feel extremely powerful in battle because their abilities never fail and they always do exactly what they say, but the battle puzzle still requires a strategy based on the cards in your hand.
Fight and think like a superhero
In Marvel's Midnight Suns, each hero has a unique set of skills that can be used to create an 8-card deck. When the heroes enter combat, their heroes join together and draw a hand of 6 cards at the start of each round. During your turn, you have three card draws , which determine how many times you use your abilities, and two more to swap abilities you don't want to use. You can also move a hero of your choice to any location once per turn.
As for the skills, we have divided them into three categories : attacks , skills and heroes . Attack cards are used primarily for dealing damage. Some attacks have Knockback , which forcefully pushes the enemy back in a certain direction. You can deal extra damage by throwing objects, other enemies, or your fellow heroes!
Ability cards are used as support and often give the player various advantages or weaken the enemy. While these cards don't deal damage, they can be used to draw cards, heal characters, give buff status effects, and more.
Heroic cards are incredibly powerful abilities that deal a lot of damage or have a strong impact on the battlefield. Marvel fans will be delighted to see the many heroic abilities featured in these cards. Courage cards require a resource called Courage , which is generated by playing attack or ability cards. Courage is required to use battlefield items in local attacks , no decks are required to use them. If you're brave enough, you can knock down power poles, blow up barrels ... collect piles of newspapers and punch enemies without drawing a single card.
Combat in Marvel's Midnight Suns is exceptionally accessible, easy to learn and easy to play. There is no movement grid or cover system and the heroes automatically change their position to hit the target. Playing Skills It's as simple as picking a skill card from your hand, picking a target enemy or location, and that's it. Captain America races across the battlefield to destroy the Hydra gangsters!
After practicing the basic rules, the battles can be incredibly deep and challenging. There are so many factors that make up the strategic puzzle in every mission, movement and action.
- What skills do I have?
- Which heroes are involved in this mission and how do their abilities interact?
- Which enemies pose the greatest threat? Are there any dangerous villains to confront?
- Should I use my heroism with heroic abilities or use the environment?
- Can I use recovery skills and terrain to maximize my damage output?
And if that's not enough, we also have eight difficult options to test your tactical skills. Looking for a great Marvel Supernatural story? Choose the difficulty level of the story. But what if you want to emphasize each decision? Ultimate III would be a suitable alternative.
Can't wait to see you solve the tactical combat conundrum when Marvel's Midnight Suns hits PlayStation 5 on December 2, 2022!