ROBA: Radiant Offline Battle Arena - Competitive Card Game

Two years ago, I became a Playtester for a card game, dragging three of my friends into the Playtest Group. This month, the game hit Kickstarter and funded within a couple of days. As we approach 10 days to go they are reaching another Stretch Goal, so I figured this would be a good time to talk about it.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/heelturngames/roba-radiant-offline-battle-arena-competitive-card?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=roba

Based on the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena genre of video game, this takes mechanics and tropes  and turns them into a really good card game. It's a two player game, aimed at competitive play.

It's the first game I've done Playtesting for, and it was a very interesting process. We were sent PDFs of the card pool to print out and deckbuild with and had to make weekly reports on what we had played, what conclusions were drawn and how long the game took. Between Forums and Discord we were able to discuss and share ideas with the other Playtest groups. This allowed us to debate and suggest changes to cards we thought were above or below targets on either fun or power level.

At the stage we joined, changes came thick and fast. There were updates to cards as often as twice a week, and some of the core rules and mechanics changed often as well. All this was done to ensure Radiant could be the best game possible, but it was a lot to take in.

To Playtest a game like this requires time, so it isn't something I would undertake while putting serious time into another game. It's rewarding though; seeing cards improve based on your suggestions and learning what ideas work and what don't as they reach the other teams.

Best of all, after meeting Jack (the lead designer/boss of the game) at the UK Games Expo, was seeing our names credited as Playtesters in the Rulebook. Seeing your name in the credits of a product that people will purchase and enjoy is a great feeling.

I'm trying to spread the word on this game, partly because I'm proud of my part in it's creation but also because it is a really good game. You can play it straight with free choice of team for your deck, or you can try the Ban system and draft your Heroes from a shared pool with your opponent. Initial expansions add more Heroes or Dieties to choose from while also potentially introducing new mechanics. Sure, making your team from a Tank, Support and Warrior is the sensible thing to do. But have you considered mixing it up? Maybe tripleWarrior suits your playstyle, or having two Supports will allow some interesting tricks in your Combat Deck.

I can't help but reiterate that the game is fun. Working out which lanes to fight over, whether or not this is the right time to sacrifice a Conduit, which cards to Clash with and which to save to use as Talents; there are a lot of tactical decisions in the game. And that's after choosing your Deity and Hero team.

As things stand, the game is fully funded and just seeking reaching the Stretch Goals before the campaign ends. If after this article, and checking out the various videos linked on the Kickstarter, you are still on the fence then bear in mind that it's a full two player card game for only £22. You can get a lot of replayability out of just that box set at a really low entry price.

I will also be running local events for the game once it releases. That way people can meet other players, practice games and try out the Ban system. I'm excited for the release of this game (can you tell) and can't wait till we finally get our hands on the finished product.

#ROBAMato

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/heelturngames/roba-radiant-offline-battle-arena-competitive-card?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=roba