Yomi Online Rankings

We're trying out making online Yomi matches best of 3 instead of best of 1 in the free online version at www.fantasystrike.com. You can leave feedback about that here.

In this system, think of taking the opponent's like down to 0 as winning a "round" in a fighting game. So when press Quickmatch and find an opponent, you play best of 3 "rounds." You can't switch your character between rounds. After someone wins a "game" (meaning they won best of 3 rounds), you can get a rematch. If you rematch, the loser can switch his character, but the winner cannot, as is customary in fighting games. Rematching can be good to do for your own personal improvement, as it will let you get deeper into the nuances of playing against a particular opponent. If they are exploiting some bad habit of yours, you might never really figure that out if you don't play a longer set. Up to you though!

The main reason our system was 1 round before instead of 2-out-of-3 was just time. If it takes 15 minutes to play Yomi, you'd have to set aside 45 minutes to play a best of 3, which is unreasonably long for the default way to play the game. Looking at the data, an average "round" lasts between 8 and 9 minutes though. This is shorter than we expected. If you figure that half the time a best of 3 will go to 3 rounds and half the time it will end in two rounds, the average for a best of 3 set is 22.5 minutes or less, which is acceptable for us to try. The benefit of more rounds is that you have more time to get a read on the opponent and exploit their weaknesses, so it's a better test of skill.

Leaderboards

We're resetting the leaderboards now, because of this change. From now on, leaderboards will be showing people's perforamnce in best-of-3 situations, rather than best-of-1. Congratulations to garcia1000 for taking the top spot on the first season's leaderboard. Garcia's hobby is making statements that sound plausible, but that are actually false. Also he plays Lum and is a poker master in real life. (Those two things are plausible and actually true.)

Stats from Season 1

Here are the stats for ranked games (with mirror matches exclude) by character:

Midori	2238 / 4238  52.81%
Geiger	2358 / 4492  52.49%
DeGrey	2731 / 5257  51.95%
Lum	2202 / 4310  51.09%
Rook	2367 / 4689  50.48%
Grave	2516 / 4987  50.45%
Argagarg2592 / 5172  50.12%
Jaina	2503 / 5107  49.01%
Valerie 2486 / 5231  47.52%
Setsuki 2924 / 6436  45.43%

Yomi's balance has held up remarkably well, so we're very happy about it. It remains closer balanced than any known fighting game. What's interesting about these stats is that Midori is often ranked last in tier lists while Grave is often ranked first. Grave doesn't even crack the top half of the chart here though, and Midori is #1. That said, all these percentages are very close anyway.

Now let's look at those stats ranked by popularity instead of by win-rate:

Click to read more ...

Design Dilemmas

I'll tell you about some design issues and the process of working through them, even though I can't actually tell you any of the details. Sorry about that, but you'll still get the gist.

One of many things I've been working on is a new card game, to be released in about 100 years. It's "somewhat similar to Magic: The Gathering." I have One Big Idea for what makes it new and different, and I've played the prototype a fair amount. It's fun. I've played probably dozens of my own prototypes, and having them actually be fun is a kind of rare and great thing, so that's a strong signal to keep going.

I discussed this game with several other professional game designers, some of whom actually worked on the real Magic: The Gathering. The problem, I said, is that even though it has the One Big Idea that makes it play a lot differently, it still is just too close to MTG. Like how do I not have a card that destroys a "creature," or that deals 2 damage to a creature, or Llanowar Elves, etc, etc. Even cards like Ball Lighting are hard not to have.

In my prototype, many specific cards are like MTG cards. Even though I think that's good for the game, I think the audience has a strong, almost irrational love of the "new" and would actually prefer a game to be new and different than for to be the best it can be if that means a lot isn't new. Every single designer I talked to including the MTG guy said don't be afraid to copy MTG. They said the more you copy it the better, probably, because it's damn good (I agree it's damn good) and that my One Big Thing and my completely different business model are more than enough to make it stand apart. They said of course many of the staple cards should be in the game, and not to avoid a bunch of good ideas just because they are in MTG.

Well, I didn't really listen. I think those designers are underestimating

Click to read more ...

Yomi Pre-orders, Again

It's been a frustrating wait to get new Yomi sets in stock, but they should be here and ready to ship out in late May. You can pre-order them now, here. Incidentally, I was also sold out of Puzzle Strike, but I managed to get ahold of a just a few copies before the next print run arrives (also late May, along with Yomi), so that's actually in stock right now.

Also remember you can play Yomi online for free on our development server here.

Yomi Cursed Cards

The cursed cards are a set of new, alternate character cards for Yomi. You don't actually need these or anything, and they won't help you win. In fact, they will help you lose because they weaken your character! You can use them as a handicap against weaker or beginner players, or you can play cursed vs. cursed characters for a kind of hilarious lower-powered game.

The cursed characters all have a different epithet, too.

Grave, Wind Warrior -> Rusty Warrior.
Jaina, Phoenix Archer -> Phoenix Arsonist
Midori, Mentor Dragon -> Scrub Dragon
Setsuki, Ninja Student -> Outfoxed Ninja
Rook, Stone Golem -> Tiny Golem
DeGrey, Ghostly Diplomat -> Debaucherous Diplomat
Valerie, Manic Painter -> Depressed Painter
Geiger, Precise Watchmaker -> Careless Watchmaker
Lum, Gambling Panda -> Unlucky Panda
Argagarg, Water Shaman -> Savage Shaman 

You can get a pack of these coveted (ha) cursed cards for free, just by pre-ordering Yomi from sirlingames.com by Friday, May 13th. If you do, you'll automatically get them with your order.

If you are late in ordering, or if you already have Yomi, you can still get the cursed cards. They're just $5 in my store, so no big deal. (One per customer.)

Bundle

If you want to get Yomi, Puzzle Strike, and Flash Duel Deluxe all in one go, there's now a bundle to save a few bucks. Check it out.

Retail Stores

If you're a brick-and-mortar retail store (anywhere in the world) and you'd like to carry Sirlin Games, just contact Dan at Salute@GameSalute.com and he'll arrange it with you. You can also contact Dan if you're a customer who just wants to see Sirlin Games in your local retail store. If there's a store near you that you'd like to support (possibly because it holds great local game nights and events that help build community) then let him know about that store, and we'll reach out to them!

Puzzle Strike Reviews

My Puzzle Strike inventory is getting a bit low, and recent reviews are getting people pretty interested, it looks like!

Drake's Flames

First, check out Drake's Flames review of Puzzle Strike. What's notable and kind of mindblowing is that I think it's the most positive review that is even possible for something to get. I thought Ken B. at fortressat.com giving his personal game of the year award in 2010 was about as good as can be hoped for, but somehow Drake's Flames loves the game even more! Ha, thanks!

Wired.com

Next, wired.com liked the game too! Here's GeekDad's review from wired.com.

Drakkenstrike

Drakkenstrike is known in the board game world as having incredibly well produced videos that show the components of games, to go along with his reviews. Here's his spiffy Puzzle Strike video review:

If you're interested in buying Puzzle Strike, remember that you get the print-and-play version for free when you get it from my store. Thanks everyone!

Yomi Is Sold Out!

Last week, I sold out entirely of complete Yomi sets! This really caught me off guard because I was expecting my inventory to last like a year or at least a few months, but it sold out in the very first month of release. Thanks for all your support and I'm glad the game was received so well.

Unfortunately, I won't have a new print run finished and ready to ship for about 3 months. (Like I said, I was caught off guard by this and have been scrambling to get manufacturing going again.) You can still find the game in your local stores for a bit, but it will run out very soon. I'll start taking pre-orders for the next run in a week or so. The next run will be exactly identical to the first run, but customers who order from sirlingames.com will get a little bit of an extra in the form of some "cursed" cards. (They are not part of the real game and are for joke purposes.) That's my thank you for supporting my company rather than supporting online retailers.

I will leave you with Drake's Flames glowing review of Yomi! Thanks everyone for helping make Yomi such a success!