Supermodel Snapshot - Version 2.1.0

UPDATE 2.1.0: This is a balance and bugfix update with an important new experimental game mechanic. See below for patch notes.

It's done!

Welcome to Supermodel Snapshot version 2.0, a complete overhaul of the game. For those new to Supermodel's development, Snapshot is a prototype of the card game you will see in the full Supermodel: Defenders of Desire later this year. Actually, "prototype" is selling it short at this point. Snapshot has grown from a small experience into something more significant, and I feel that it can now stand on its own legs and be a compelling game.

Supermodel Snapshot 1 was as basic as it could be. You had one predesigned deck that you could use to play one single scenario, and that was it. That version's purpose was to test the fundamentals of the card gameplay.

Snapshot 2.0 expands this scope enormously. You now have access to a full-fledged deckbuilder, allowing you to create up to 10 decks and customize them at your leisure. There are 34 new cards for you to build those decks with in addition to the ones you have seen before. Most of these cards don't come unlocked from the start, requiring you to win matches to gain booster packs containing a random assortment that will gradually expand your options without overwhelming you with choices right out of the gate.

While Snapshot 1.0 saw you photographing Vanguard, 2.0 now gives you a choice between Vanguard and Seraphim. They come with two scenarios each, and they both have 4 unique cards that get shuffled into your deck at the start of a match. Furthermore, their scenarios feature different challenge cards with only some overlap, many entirely new for this game version. The result is that your choice of model to play against significantly impacts the game's feel. They also have different focuses, with Vanguard leaning toward Confidence cards and Seraphim toward Skill cards, with a sprinkling of Trust.

On top of this, there is new music, art, a completely overhauled user interface, a brand-new look to the cards that makes them more readable, 5 different difficulty levels for you to choose between, and so on. This is not a tweaked version of the game you already know. Snapshot 2.0 is such a leap forward that there won't be any patch notes attached to this post. It would have been simpler to list things that didn't change between the two versions.

Before we get to the download links, I want to briefly discuss game balance. As a lone developer, there is no chance I could ever balance a game of this complexity alone. I have done my best to spitball everything, but I have no illusions that the balance will be good immediately. I desperately need your help to tell me where I got the balance right and where I got it wrong. Is the game too easy? Is it too hard? Does some part of it feel utterly unfair to you? Is there a card so good that you wouldn't dream of making a deck without it, or a card that you find so unappealing that you don't even want to try putting it in a deck? Let me know! Every bit of feedback I get will help Supermodel become a better game. I want the first release of Supermodel: Defenders of Desire to be a fantastic experience later this year, and that can only happen with constructive feedback on Snapshot. That's why I made it.

But enough about that. Please enjoy the game!

Download links:

PC 

Mac 

Android (Tablet only. Phones are not supported.)

Patch notes:

Update 2.1.0:

• Introduced a new mechanic: Burnout. See the new tutorial added for this mechanic to learn more about it.
• Adjusted the Heat cost of a small selection of cards, mainly due to the Burnout mechanic.
• Adjustments to some attack values to better differentiate cards and give them more defined use cases.
• Fixed a situation in which the Encouragement card would fail to trigger its effect if you attacked and destroyed a Challenge card directly in the Challenge phase.
• Removed notification spam when hovering a card with requirements over a Challenge card during the Action phase.
• Hopefully fixed an exception that could occur if you hovered a card with a requirement over another card during the action phase.
• Reduced the target Heat on the Warm-Up difficulty level to 30.
• A few minor tweaks, mainly to the phrasing of specific effects.

Update 2.0.1:

• Duplicate cards were not added to your deck upon starting a match, resulting in your deck being far smaller than intended and destroying the game's balance. This is a major issue and the biggest reason why you should update to this version immediately.
• The "Everything is a Nail" card was accidentally giving challenge cards vulnerability to all attack types. This has been fixed.

Known issues:

• If you discard a card during the mulligan phase, your first attack against a Challenge card in turn 1 won't be highlighted to show its validity. This is purely a cosmetic bug and doesn't affect gameplay. Yes, this was also a known issue in 1.0. This bug has proven notoriously hard to fix.
• Some card animations/effects are missing, particularly for the new cards.
• The art on the booster packs is a placeholder.
• The game's balance is likely all over the place. Your feedback on balance issues is vital since a lone developer cannot test something of this complexity alone.
• There is no filtering or sorting in the deckbuilder. This is a planned feature, but it was outside the scope of this version.
• The Heat icon is overused on some cards. Later versions will have a separate icon for 5 Heat, keeping those cards less cluttered.