WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.380 --> 00:00:02.350 Hey everybody, this is Sam Machkovech 2 00:00:02.350 --> 00:00:04.700 from Ars Technica here with an exclusive look at 3 00:00:04.700 --> 00:00:06.850 Artifact, the next major video game 4 00:00:06.850 --> 00:00:09.250 from legendary developer, Valve Software. 5 00:00:09.250 --> 00:00:12.420 You're about to see the game's first ever demo version 6 00:00:12.420 --> 00:00:13.350 which is being revealed at 7 00:00:13.350 --> 00:00:15.670 this weekend's PAX West Conference. 8 00:00:15.670 --> 00:00:18.350 Lucky for us, we were invited to a sneak preview 9 00:00:18.350 --> 00:00:20.620 ahead of the game's formal November 28th launch 10 00:00:20.620 --> 00:00:22.480 on Windows, Mac, and Linux 11 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:25.220 with a smartphone version coming sometime in 2019. 12 00:00:25.220 --> 00:00:28.810 Artifact is a digital trading card game or TCG 13 00:00:28.810 --> 00:00:31.480 modeled after popular games like Magic: The Gathering. 14 00:00:31.480 --> 00:00:33.650 Now, before you start convulsing in anger 15 00:00:33.650 --> 00:00:37.040 that this isn't Half-Life 3 or some other first-person game, 16 00:00:37.040 --> 00:00:39.650 we insist that there's something interesting here. 17 00:00:39.650 --> 00:00:43.210 Particularly because Magic's creator, Richard Garfield, 18 00:00:43.210 --> 00:00:45.330 joined Valve to work on this game. 19 00:00:45.330 --> 00:00:48.520 If you're going to take on a game as big as Magic we reckon, 20 00:00:48.520 --> 00:00:51.410 you might as well get Mr. Magic to help himself 21 00:00:51.410 --> 00:00:53.910 and unsurprisingly, Garfield's reputation 22 00:00:53.910 --> 00:00:56.110 for making complex, math-filled games 23 00:00:56.110 --> 00:00:58.680 is strong with this one so buckle up. 24 00:00:58.680 --> 00:01:00.240 There's a lot to cover here. 25 00:01:00.240 --> 00:01:02.980 Artifact takes place in the Dota 2 universe, 26 00:01:02.980 --> 00:01:05.580 full of Valve's familiar fantasy creatures 27 00:01:05.580 --> 00:01:08.230 and a few key similarities to Dota's gameplay. 28 00:01:08.230 --> 00:01:11.800 Like in Magic, every match of Artifact is one-on-one 29 00:01:11.800 --> 00:01:14.830 but unlike Magic, this game hinges on each player 30 00:01:14.830 --> 00:01:17.100 assembling a team of five heroes. 31 00:01:17.100 --> 00:01:19.470 These are the first cards you play in a match 32 00:01:19.470 --> 00:01:21.250 and you'll build a whole deck of cards 33 00:01:21.250 --> 00:01:24.781 based on your hero's strength, weaknesses, and colors. 34 00:01:24.781 --> 00:01:27.900 All four of the game's colors appear in this video. 35 00:01:27.900 --> 00:01:30.580 Blue, black, green, and red 36 00:01:30.580 --> 00:01:32.480 and their card types each emphasize 37 00:01:32.480 --> 00:01:33.970 different types of strategy. 38 00:01:33.970 --> 00:01:36.520 Woo, that is a big table. 39 00:01:36.520 --> 00:01:38.530 Richard Garfield says he wanted to enable 40 00:01:38.530 --> 00:01:41.840 crazier card gameplay with his first-ever digital card game 41 00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:43.880 so he went for three lanes of cards 42 00:01:43.880 --> 00:01:45.630 which is a lot like Dota 2 43 00:01:45.630 --> 00:01:48.200 whose combat is also split into three lanes. 44 00:01:48.200 --> 00:01:51.400 In Artifact's case, three of your five hero cards 45 00:01:51.400 --> 00:01:54.270 are randomly dropped on the table at a match's start 46 00:01:54.270 --> 00:01:56.690 as are three creep cards which are just like 47 00:01:56.690 --> 00:01:59.080 the weaker grunt characters from Dota 2. 48 00:01:59.080 --> 00:02:01.930 The object of the game is to use your hero cards 49 00:02:01.930 --> 00:02:04.630 and a variety of spell and equipment cards 50 00:02:04.630 --> 00:02:07.990 to cause damage and tear down two of your opponent's towers 51 00:02:07.990 --> 00:02:09.860 before they do the same to you. 52 00:02:09.860 --> 00:02:13.150 Whatever other chaos happens does not matter in the end, 53 00:02:13.150 --> 00:02:14.500 the towers are the key. 54 00:02:14.500 --> 00:02:17.630 Notice here that each lane starts with a number 40. 55 00:02:17.630 --> 00:02:20.350 That's each tower's starting health, its hit points. 56 00:02:20.350 --> 00:02:23.570 When either players first tower goes down to zero points, 57 00:02:23.570 --> 00:02:26.290 it is replaced with an additional stronger tower 58 00:02:26.290 --> 00:02:28.140 and that one gets 80 hit points. 59 00:02:28.140 --> 00:02:31.030 This is one of Artifact's most interesting wrinkles. 60 00:02:31.030 --> 00:02:33.160 What should an attacker do at this point? 61 00:02:33.160 --> 00:02:36.220 Switch gears and attack a weaker tower to win the game 62 00:02:36.220 --> 00:02:38.810 or focus on this new stronger tower? 63 00:02:38.810 --> 00:02:40.920 There's a strategic angle either way 64 00:02:40.920 --> 00:02:42.450 but we're getting ahead of ourselves 65 00:02:42.450 --> 00:02:45.520 which is easy to do in a game with this many moving parts. 66 00:02:45.520 --> 00:02:47.310 So, let's go back to the beginning. 67 00:02:47.310 --> 00:02:50.720 After these hero and creep cards randomly land on the table, 68 00:02:50.720 --> 00:02:53.660 each player gets five spell cards in their hand. 69 00:02:53.660 --> 00:02:56.480 You need two things to play a spell card in Artifact. 70 00:02:56.480 --> 00:02:59.480 First, you have to spend a currency known as mana points 71 00:02:59.480 --> 00:03:01.189 much like in Magic: The Gathering. 72 00:03:01.189 --> 00:03:05.150 Each spell's cost appears in the card's top left corner 73 00:03:05.150 --> 00:03:07.490 and see that three-three down at the bottom? 74 00:03:07.490 --> 00:03:10.350 That fraction tells you how much mana you currently have 75 00:03:10.350 --> 00:03:12.179 along with your maximum mana. 76 00:03:12.179 --> 00:03:15.900 Just to be clear, each lane gets its own mana pool 77 00:03:15.900 --> 00:03:19.440 which refills every round and this number ticks up one point 78 00:03:19.440 --> 00:03:21.053 every round in every lane. 79 00:03:21.900 --> 00:03:25.300 Now, in addition, you also need a hero card in that lane. 80 00:03:25.300 --> 00:03:29.520 It must be alive and its color must match the spell. 81 00:03:29.520 --> 00:03:32.280 Blue spells need a blue hero to be cast. 82 00:03:32.280 --> 00:03:35.120 Green spells need a green hero and so on. 83 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:37.980 Some spells have an immediate effect in your current lane 84 00:03:37.980 --> 00:03:39.730 either to yourself or to your foe. 85 00:03:39.730 --> 00:03:42.060 Others include in any lane designation 86 00:03:42.060 --> 00:03:43.800 which does something interesting. 87 00:03:43.800 --> 00:03:47.100 It lets you spend one lane's mana on another lane. 88 00:03:47.100 --> 00:03:49.720 During my tests, Garfield often recommended 89 00:03:49.720 --> 00:03:52.330 that I take advantage of this any lane quirk 90 00:03:52.330 --> 00:03:55.600 to bail on one lane in favor of playing cards on another. 91 00:03:55.600 --> 00:03:57.500 This is very similar to how an average game 92 00:03:57.500 --> 00:04:00.520 of Dota 2 plays out but I've never really seen a card game 93 00:04:00.520 --> 00:04:01.980 use this mechanic in this way. 94 00:04:01.980 --> 00:04:03.940 Remember each player started this match 95 00:04:03.940 --> 00:04:05.910 with three hero cards on the table 96 00:04:05.910 --> 00:04:07.620 but we had five cards per team 97 00:04:07.620 --> 00:04:10.390 in that opening splash screen, where are the others? 98 00:04:10.390 --> 00:04:12.840 Well, look at that box in the top left 99 00:04:12.840 --> 00:04:15.430 and you'll see small icons for remaining heroes. 100 00:04:15.430 --> 00:04:17.460 A checkmark means that hero will return 101 00:04:17.460 --> 00:04:19.750 in the very next round and you get to pick 102 00:04:19.750 --> 00:04:21.740 exactly where it goes at that time. 103 00:04:21.740 --> 00:04:24.520 A minus one means you have an extra round to wait 104 00:04:24.520 --> 00:04:25.910 to put that card on the table. 105 00:04:25.910 --> 00:04:29.570 Minus two means an extra two rounds of waiting and so on. 106 00:04:29.570 --> 00:04:31.420 Whenever a hero card is destroyed, 107 00:04:31.420 --> 00:04:33.360 it gets sent to the same waiting pool 108 00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:34.910 with a minus one timer. 109 00:04:34.910 --> 00:04:36.450 Remember if you ever have a lane 110 00:04:36.450 --> 00:04:37.970 completely cleared of heroes, 111 00:04:37.970 --> 00:04:42.200 you can't cast any spells in that lane and this can hurt. 112 00:04:42.200 --> 00:04:44.520 Whenever any hero or creep card is destroyed, 113 00:04:44.520 --> 00:04:46.100 that gives the attacker some gold 114 00:04:46.100 --> 00:04:47.530 which you can spend between rounds 115 00:04:47.530 --> 00:04:49.970 in an item shop interface for more cards. 116 00:04:49.970 --> 00:04:53.172 Unlike spells, these item cards do not require mana 117 00:04:53.172 --> 00:04:55.660 and their effects range from instant actions 118 00:04:55.660 --> 00:04:57.960 like drawing a card to permanent boosts 119 00:04:57.960 --> 00:04:59.910 like adding stats to a hero card. 120 00:04:59.910 --> 00:05:01.940 If you don't buy these cards when they appear, 121 00:05:01.940 --> 00:05:03.560 they get shuffled back into your deck 122 00:05:03.560 --> 00:05:05.310 which can make them hard to get back. 123 00:05:05.310 --> 00:05:07.430 The only exception is if you pay one gold 124 00:05:07.430 --> 00:05:09.580 to hold whatever is in the secret shop slot. 125 00:05:09.580 --> 00:05:11.600 You'll wanna do this to short some more gold 126 00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:13.370 so you can eventually afford that awesome, 127 00:05:13.370 --> 00:05:14.840 expensive card you really want. 128 00:05:14.840 --> 00:05:18.700 Each hero has three stats, attack, health, and bounty. 129 00:05:18.700 --> 00:05:20.410 The first two are basic enough. 130 00:05:20.410 --> 00:05:22.810 Subtract the attack number from the health number 131 00:05:22.810 --> 00:05:24.750 to determine a card's damage. 132 00:05:24.750 --> 00:05:27.010 That bounty number is the amount of gold 133 00:05:27.010 --> 00:05:29.600 your hero coughs up should it die. 134 00:05:29.600 --> 00:05:32.030 Those stats all fluctuate as you add boosts 135 00:05:32.030 --> 00:05:33.760 and equipment from the item shop 136 00:05:33.760 --> 00:05:36.230 which fill the rest of the card's open slots 137 00:05:36.230 --> 00:05:38.030 and yes, that bounty gets bigger 138 00:05:38.030 --> 00:05:39.690 as your card becomes more valuable. 139 00:05:39.690 --> 00:05:42.470 Each hero also gets its own signature spell card 140 00:05:42.470 --> 00:05:44.500 which is randomly dealt into your deck. 141 00:05:44.500 --> 00:05:47.070 These have serious impact and even better, 142 00:05:47.070 --> 00:05:49.450 they typically require low mana to use. 143 00:05:49.450 --> 00:05:51.350 Many heroes come with special spells 144 00:05:51.350 --> 00:05:53.180 they can activate with a cooldown. 145 00:05:53.180 --> 00:05:55.610 Kind of like the superpowers in Dota 2 matches. 146 00:05:55.610 --> 00:05:57.780 For example, here's one that can be activated 147 00:05:57.780 --> 00:05:59.930 once every four turns to let players 148 00:05:59.930 --> 00:06:01.400 draw an extra spell card. 149 00:06:01.400 --> 00:06:03.410 You can use spell cards to spawn more 150 00:06:03.410 --> 00:06:05.210 and stronger creeps on a lane 151 00:06:05.210 --> 00:06:07.610 and these sometimes come with their own perks. 152 00:06:07.610 --> 00:06:10.460 This one for example will clone itself on the battlefield 153 00:06:10.460 --> 00:06:12.250 whenever it hits a tower. 154 00:06:12.250 --> 00:06:15.520 It's like something out of a Tolkien orc raid nightmare. 155 00:06:15.520 --> 00:06:17.760 From here, as mana counts get higher 156 00:06:17.760 --> 00:06:19.960 and heroes equip more armor and perks, 157 00:06:19.960 --> 00:06:22.550 each lane grows more intense and complex. 158 00:06:22.550 --> 00:06:24.630 In some cases, heroes have special effects 159 00:06:24.630 --> 00:06:26.630 that trigger on a regular basis. 160 00:06:26.630 --> 00:06:29.760 In others, the mana and items you spend in previous rounds 161 00:06:29.760 --> 00:06:32.730 result in increasingly powerful cannons and attacks 162 00:06:32.730 --> 00:06:35.930 that pester a given lane's heroes and creeps over and over. 163 00:06:35.930 --> 00:06:38.809 Unlike Magic, Artifact has no card limits. 164 00:06:38.809 --> 00:06:41.500 Keep as many cards in your hand as you want. 165 00:06:41.500 --> 00:06:43.820 Lay as many cards in a single lane as you want 166 00:06:43.820 --> 00:06:47.330 and make a personal deck with however many cards you desire. 167 00:06:47.330 --> 00:06:49.430 It's not really a good idea to have a bloated deck 168 00:06:49.430 --> 00:06:51.070 but if you want to, go right ahead. 169 00:06:51.070 --> 00:06:53.610 In my demos, I wound up with so many cards in my hand 170 00:06:53.610 --> 00:06:55.230 that I had to use a mouse's scroll wheel 171 00:06:55.230 --> 00:06:56.570 just to peruse them all. 172 00:06:56.570 --> 00:06:59.480 From there really, it's all about the cards. 173 00:06:59.480 --> 00:07:01.810 Like Magic before it, Artifact is basically 174 00:07:01.810 --> 00:07:03.880 a rules framework that is meant to be stretched 175 00:07:03.880 --> 00:07:06.630 to its limits by each player's individual card deck. 176 00:07:06.630 --> 00:07:09.620 The cards we have seen thus far are pretty Magic-like 177 00:07:09.620 --> 00:07:11.210 with the usual suspects. 178 00:07:11.210 --> 00:07:14.670 Damage dealers, conditional buffs, reactions, 179 00:07:14.670 --> 00:07:17.360 bonuses based on where our card is placed and so on. 180 00:07:17.360 --> 00:07:18.730 We have to wait until late November 181 00:07:18.730 --> 00:07:20.490 to see this game's first wave of cards 182 00:07:20.490 --> 00:07:22.050 which will almost certainly be followed 183 00:07:22.050 --> 00:07:24.300 in the months and years to come with more options. 184 00:07:24.300 --> 00:07:25.830 Garfield in particular promises 185 00:07:25.830 --> 00:07:29.140 that quite a few upcoming cards will break the game's rules. 186 00:07:29.140 --> 00:07:32.030 For example, we got a preview of a red hero card 187 00:07:32.030 --> 00:07:35.010 that can shut down all spell casting in a given round 188 00:07:35.010 --> 00:07:37.320 and that's pretty huge for a game whose cards 189 00:07:37.320 --> 00:07:38.920 are all called spells. 190 00:07:38.920 --> 00:07:40.900 That's the point of Artifact, Garfield says, 191 00:07:40.900 --> 00:07:43.120 that cards can change the rules of engagement 192 00:07:43.120 --> 00:07:44.950 at a moment's notice which is supposed 193 00:07:44.950 --> 00:07:47.620 to keep this kind of game interesting for a long time. 194 00:07:47.620 --> 00:07:49.140 But, we're still waiting to see 195 00:07:49.140 --> 00:07:51.350 how some major parts of Artifact work 196 00:07:51.350 --> 00:07:54.110 like how you make decks, how you buy 197 00:07:54.110 --> 00:07:56.700 and trade new cards on the Steam marketplace, 198 00:07:56.700 --> 00:08:00.560 and how you match up against friends and online rivals. 199 00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:02.890 Those questions will have to wait until November 28th 200 00:08:02.890 --> 00:08:05.706 to get answers but for now, I'll say this. 201 00:08:05.706 --> 00:08:07.970 I've had some time to simmer on Artifact's 202 00:08:07.970 --> 00:08:10.840 unique card battling ideas for awhile now. 203 00:08:10.840 --> 00:08:12.830 Especially its way it splits everything 204 00:08:12.830 --> 00:08:15.550 into multiple lanes and all of these weird ways 205 00:08:15.550 --> 00:08:17.330 that numbers never quite add up. 206 00:08:17.330 --> 00:08:20.120 There's always an imbalance wherever you go, 207 00:08:20.120 --> 00:08:22.510 even this whole system of having to attack 208 00:08:22.510 --> 00:08:24.660 an even stronger tower at the end. 209 00:08:24.660 --> 00:08:27.730 It's creative stuff and I'm itching to try it out again 210 00:08:27.730 --> 00:08:29.367 so that's a really good sign. 211 00:08:29.367 --> 00:08:32.617 [festive guitar music]