THE influence of the Internet has no doubt become so ubiquitous that a sizeable number of us, have become permanently attached to it.

The pervasiveness of the likes of Facebook and Twitter merely cements the hold of the Internet on everyone’s lives – what did we really do without the Internet?

Now, consider something as “trivial” as gaming. Within my circle, games are popular but not mainstream.

Not everyone I know plays Magic: the Gathering, Euro boardgames or even the online version of World of Warcraft. But I sure know plenty of people trying out Facebook games for instance – yes, I’m talking about Farmville as a prime example.

Its appeal lies in its simplicity – something that’s easily playable from any browser, and only requires you to have a Facebook account. Farmville can boast over 100 million players late last year (InformationWeek.com, May 2011) and has even spawned a spinoff that’s starting to ramp up in popularity, CityVille.

If I have not made it obvious enough on where I’m going with all this, let us just hammer home the well-worn point that Internet-based games is where the action is at.

Well, some local folks are aiming to get a piece of the online-gaming action with their very own online TCG (trading card game).

Crafty battles

Malaysian outfit Proteus Games have certainly taken baby steps in creating BattleCraft, which has its own unique gameplay, game world setting and lore

Battle Craft Online Trading Card Game.

“We were influenced by many classics. The main thing about BattleCraft as a TCG is that we wanted it to be easily accessible, meaning you could come in for five minutes for a quick fix and not worry about lag, player drops and so forth,” said Mohan Low Han Sen, 34, project lead and producer of the company.

The core team also consists of tech leader and co-producer Lam Kok Weng, Syed Muzhafar (operations and testing); Sarah Shazreena (web design), Lau Boon Hieng (lead artist) and Wong Ee Phin (writer).

BattleCraft also has features such as crafting cards, evolvable cards, built-in tournaments and a marketplace for auctions and selling cards.

The game currently has story missions and challenge arenas for duels, with more features in the pipeline. Cards can be obtained and bought from packs, traded, won through special redemptions and unlocked, all online. Products are purchased via “Hydra Cash”, which are in-store credits that be bought via online payment channels such as PayPal.

A key innovation is the progression aspect of the game, which Mohan and team showcases by having frequent updates and upgrades to key cards and items.

“People often wonder on what to do with duplicate cards after a while. We’ve created a system where almost every card in BattleCraft can be converted to a better resource. This allows players to experience the progression of the game better, and ensure that there is never a useless reward or pack,” explains Mohan.

“We also make the game a ‘living’ system, meaning that the development and content rollout is heavily influenced by what happens in our community, as well as based on players’ needs. We are planning to implement an upcoming feature called “clan wars”, which would allow players to determine the future of cards being produced,” he said.

“We offer updates weekly now and have content updates at least twice a month. Having said that we do have a roadmap of things that we want to do and the present game is far for the final vision of what BattleCraft can be,” said Low

Inspired by classics

Mohan Low and his friends were naturally inspired by classic TCGs and RPGs (role-playing games) such as Magic: the Gathering, Legend of the Five Rings and Dungeons & Dragons, when coming up with BattleCraft.

Battle Craft Online Trading Card Game.

“We felt that TCGs usually require a significant time investment in card management or meeting people to play to truly enjoy the game. We liked the idea of collecting cards and discovering card interactions, so we decided to build a game that focused on those elements, while retaining accessibility and convenience.

BattleCraft is playable on most of the popular web browsers and is directly linked to Facebook (so you’ll definitely need an account to try it). There are plans to port it to other platforms as soon as the time is right.

According to Low, there are also plans to market the game in Europe, and increase the number of payment channels. They claim to have 2,000 users worldwide, including from the Unites States, Europe and Asia.

BattleCraft in its current form gives a very casual game experience, as illustrated by the fact that a large portion of the game pretty much runs on auto mode.

Low will eventually work with the team to expand the game by enabling players to take turns playing their cards one at time rather than just look after the deck building and batch decision making aspects.

Curious to see how a unique fantasy card game can actually be easy to play, and has heavy TCG elements in it? Then check out BattleCraft at www.gameshydra.com.

*CHEE YIH YANG is waiting for his M12 orders to be sorted, and arrive. E-mail the esoteric gaming nut at yihyang@gmail.com if you have comments, questions, hot gaming tips, and trading lists and deck ideas, for both Magic and World of Warcraft. Check out his blog at https://rage.com.my/category/cards-and-boards, and follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/arcturus_mengsk.