Today Blizzard released a new Hearthstone game update featuring the Welcome Bundle. The Welcome Bundle is $5 and can only be purchased once per account and contains 10 classic packs and one random class Legendary. This is a really good way for new players to pay a bit and get some cards for cheap. Most free to play games have this sort of starter pack and it's nice to see Hearthstone finally get one.

I am a pretty happy doing the Hearthstone free to play thing but I really wanted those packs and a shot at a cool Legendary so I dropped some Google Play credit I had from taking free surveys through the Google Opinion Rewards app. Am I still free to play because I haven't spent any of my actual money? I think so.

The class Legendary I got was the Hunter legendary King Krush. Krush doesn't see much play but it's a great card and I've wanted to build a Hunter face deck that uses him. Krush is a fun card but Call of Wild sees more play and since it's an epic you can include two. Looking forward to building a deck with Krush, Call of the Wild and as many charge cards as make sense to include. No idea if it will be good but it should be fun to play.

http://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/King_Krush

I figured since I have a ton of classic cards already opening 10 packs wouldn't contain much and I was happy to see that I was wrong. I opened two Legendaries from the 10 packs one being Deathwing and the other being a golden Lore Walker Cho. Deathwing is a very cool card but i'm not sure how I can use it right now. I decided to dust my Golden Lore Walker Cho and craft Tyrion Fordring instead. Tyrion is one of the best legendaries in the game and I've wanted him for quite some time and it was awesome to finally add him to my Paladin decks.

http://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Deathwing
http://www.hearthpwn.com/cards/456-lorewalker-cho
http://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Tirion_Fordring

The other cards of note I opened were a Golden Doomguard, my second Earth Elemental, Lay On Hands and a golden Knife Juggler.

You can look at all the packs I opened below.

http://imgur.com/m3jCYWd
http://imgur.com/3SvjZ6H
http://imgur.com/jQtAPP6
http://imgur.com/uXcVEfm
http://imgur.com/hJWExp3
http://imgur.com/qFhsGbk
http://imgur.com/iasisqB
http://imgur.com/bXM9x5t
http://imgur.com/0Z6Kn2Z
http://imgur.com/rsSYR1g

Curious what everyone else opened after they picked up the Welcome Bundle?

http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/20271287/welcome-the-welcome-bundle-9-12-2016

Apparently Terraria can't stop getting better and even though this new update is small it also brings some new items as well as a desert biome sandstorm. I like the new polish they are adding the game as it will make it a bit more fresh when players return to build up a new world.

Since version 1.3 the developers have considered Terraria finished due to the "endgame boss" the Moon Lord but they are still updating the base game with new items, biome weather effects and more but after this I wonder where they plan on taking the game? I'm also wondering what would you like to see added to Terraria? As a pretty big Terraria fan it the game seems already really good to me and beyond more items things seem darn near perfect.

http://forums.terraria.org/index.php?threads/pc-1-3-3-changelog.48916/

If you ever wanted to try your had at making games the Humble GameMaker Bundle might be the thing you are looking for. Many awesome games have been made in GameMaker such as Hotline Miami, Risk of Rain and Home. The Humble GameMaker Bundle includes GameMaker and a ton of games made in GameMaker but if you hit the right tiers also includes the source code for certain games included in the bundle. So not only do you get GameMaker but also the code from a bunch of games making your process of learning that much easier. $15 is the top tier that unlocks everything and for what you get, it's an incredible value.

If you're not interested in making games you can simply enter your email address and get 2 free games and a demo.

This bundle has been crazy popular and as such is already well over a million dollars raised for charity. This particular bundle supports Doctors without Borders so not only do you get some awesome stuff but it goes to a great cause.

https://www.humblebundle.com/gamemaker-bundle

For the next 24 hours the folks over at the Humble Store are giving away Tropico 4 on Steam for free.

"The world is changing and Tropico is moving with the times - geographical powers rise and fall and the world market is dominated by new players with new demands and offers - and you, as El Presidente, face a whole new set of challenges. If you are to triumph over your naysayers you will need to gain as much support from your people as possible. Your decisions will shape the future of your nation, and more importantly, the size of your off-shore bank account."

Tropico 4 is available for PC and Mac and is rated very well on Steam and Metacritic so if you wanted to try this one out, head over to the Humble Store and pick it up for free now!

https://www.humblebundle.com/store/tropico-4-free-game

Last week the final wing of the new Hearthstone Adventure One Night in Karazhan was released wrapping up a full month of new cards. I like the way Blizzard launches Adventures in that they release one new wing of cards per week giving us a full month of new content. There have been a few complaints about the new adventure, the main one being that the campaign is way too easy. This is entirely accurate as I completed nearly each fight the first time. Even though the wings were easy I did enjoy the Adventure and have replayed quite a bit of it.

Each Hearthstone adventure is a bit of story mixed with with unique boss battles and new cards but for me the Adventures hang on the new cards.

My Favorite Karazhan Cards

In the last year I've really enjoyed playing Hunter decks and Karazhan added some new cards that will be a new staple of Hunter decks. Kindly Grandmother is a 1/1 beast card for 2 that's deathrattle summons a 3/2 beast. At first I wasn't sure this card would make it into my Hunter decks but at this point i'm not sure i'd ever make a Hunter deck without including it. Cloaked Huntress is another interesting card that lets you summon secrets for free while in play making it fun to play while not be overpowered. Cat Trick is a nice new Hunter secret that is a great counter against spell decks and board clears.

http://www.hearthpwn.com/cards/42020-kindly-grandmother
http://www.hearthpwn.com/cards/42050-cloaked-huntress
http://www.hearthpwn.com/cards/42051-cat-trick

Paladin got a few cards that have really been fun to play one being Ivory Knight. Ivory Knight is a 4/4 for 6 that allows you do discover a spell and heals you for the spell cost. More healing for Paladin is incredible for control decks and this card found it's way into one of the most fun control decks I've played.

http://www.hearthpwn.com/cards/42019-ivory-knight

Karazhan added some new neutral cards that have either improved a few of my decks or created new types entirely and one card that I add it to most of my Deathrattle decks is Barnes. Barnes is a 3/4 for 4 that randomly summons a 1/1 copy from a minion in your deck. So at it's worst it get Yeti stats and it it's best you can get out a 1/1 Deathrattle card like Sylvanis, Highmane or Ragnaros. Barnes is an interesting card and I haven't found it to be incredibly overpowered but does, at times, have a really fun effect on the board.

http://www.hearthpwn.com/cards/42021-barnes

One new epic card from Karazhan I have had a blast playing with is Arcane Giant. Adding Arcane Giant to a spell heavy deck can give you a huge tempo swing when you drop the Giants for nearly no mana. Giants in Hearthstone can be summoned if you lose enough life, there are enough minons on the board or now based on the amount of spells you cast.

http://www.hearthpwn.com/cards/42049-arcane-giant

Looking Forward To The New Meta And Next Expansion

People are still playing with the new cards and experimenting with decks and so far the meta is still working itself out. I've had lots of great games playing with the new cards and haven't personally seen a lot of the new cards show up yet. After the meta shakes out in a month we will start the wait for the next Hearthstone expansion that should drop sometime around the years end. Blizzard has a planned Standard mode cadence of 2 expansions and 1 adventure per year so 2016 should be getting one final expansion to seal up the year. And if it's anything like Whispers of the Old Gods it should be pretty awesome and like most things Hearthstone, i'll be talking about it a lot.

**note** I really enjoyed Travis's recent article title "We Really Need To Talk About Early Access DLC." It was a great article that prompted lots of interesting discussion and I wanted to sort of borrow that for this post. You know. Because titles are hard and it seemed like the right thing to do.

To say I am a fan of Kevin Wilson’s work would be an understatement. Kevin not only designed my favorite board game of all time, the original 2004 Doom: the Board Game but he has also created many more incredible games including the upcoming Kickstarter smash hit Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shadows of the Past & Mistborn: House War. I’ve done two previous interviews with Kevin one in 2012 and 2013 and realized he was doing so much incredible stuff and way too much time had passed since we last talked.

I want to thank Kevin for taking time out of his schedule to talk with me, because with all his current and upcoming work I am not sure how he has any time for sleep!

jdodson: Hey Kevin, thanks for doing the interview. Can you explain a bit about who you are and what you do for people that might not be familiar with your work?

Kevin Wilson: I originally got my start in the game industry at Alderac Entertainment Group, where I worked on the 7th Sea and Spycraft RPGs, but I'm probably best known for the board and card game design work I did for Fantasy Flight Games over ten years, including designing Doom: the Board Game, Descent: Journeys in the Dark, Sid Meier's Civilization: the Board Game, and Android, co-designing Arkham Horror and Elder Sign, and developing the new editions of Cosmic Encounter and Wiz-War.

I've been freelancing for the past four years, and have done several more games including X-Files and Awesome Kingdom (IDW Games), Darkness Comes Rattling (Wyrd Games), and I have a whole slew of upcoming releases, including Arcane Academy (IDW), which I co-designed with my friend Eric Lang.

jdodson: Coming off the massive Kickstarter success of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shadows of the Past where are you at right now in the process with the game?

Kevin Wilson:I'm working on the scenarios for the first few hero packs for the game. The base set is fully completed and we're just waiting to get it back from the printer now.

jdodson: Working with the Ninja Turtles and Kevin Eastman is pretty incredible how did you get involved in the process?

Kevin Wilson: When IDW Games approached me to work on X-Files, they also asked me if there were any other IPs they owned that I wanted to work on, and I immediately replied "TMNT." I then pestered them for a year or so about it until they finally gave in and let me design it.

jdodson: Do you remember one of your first experiences with the Ninja Turtles comic book, cartoon or films?

Kevin Wilson: My earliest Turtles experience was watching the 80s cartoon after school as a kid. I latched on to Donatello almost instantly as my favorite, and I've loved the turtles ever since. Later on, my roleplaying group tried out the Palladium TMNT RPG, and I played a Scottish terrier mutant in it. Good, silly fun.

jdodson: How has Kevin Eastman has been involved with Shadows of the Past?

Kevin Wilson: Kevin had oversight on all the thematic elements of the game and the look to make sure we were nailing it. He had a lot of very nice things to say about how the design captures the personality of the turtles, so I was pleased as punch about that. We hung out for a few hours at the GAMA Trade Show this year while we did signings, too, and that ranks high on my list of favorite memories.

jdodson: When you were designing Shadows of the Past what elements did you feel you had to get right to make sure the game was authentic to the source material?

Kevin Wilson: Obviously, I felt I had to really deliver the personalities of the characters, but I also really wanted to make sure the turtles felt like brothers - that you could really feel how closely they work together. That's where the dice sharing mechanic came from, where basically the turtles to your left and right share one of your action dice each, which really gives a strong feeling of supporting each others' actions. Well, except for Raphael...

jdodson: I know the game hasn’t launched yet but since the Turtles game was such a huge Kickstarter you must have at least personally considered creating an expansion for it. If you were looking to the future what kinds of things might you explore for a future Turtles game? Also, is there talk of releasing multiple expansions due to it’s popularity?

Kevin Wilson: I'd like to see the TMNT Board Game continue for several years at least, with us adding all the different villains and heroes that we couldn't squeeze into the base set. We do have some plans for an expansion called Cityfall that will introduce some of the elements of the storyline of the same name from the IDW TMNT comic series, and I want to develop an AI deck for the villains that will let players try the game as a full co-op instead of a one vs. many design, but I want to make sure that when I do that, I deliver a really good AI mechanic.

jdodson: There were some Kickstarter exclusives such as the special edition Box and April O’Neil hero pack that look really interesting. For fans that may be late to the Kickstarter have there been any discussions to make these exclusives available at a certain time?

Kevin Wilson: The hero packs only had Kickstarter-exclusive miniatures, which possibly wasn't communicated as clear as possible. The hero packs will most likely appear again in some form with new sculpts. I've tried hard to make sure that there are few or no mechanical exclusives for the Kickstarter, only aesthetic exclusives. That way backers get cool stuff, but folks who buy the retail edition don't get left out in the cold.

jdodson: When you work with an artist on a board game cover how much thought do you put into how it sits on a game store shelf and how likely people are to be intrigued by what they see?

Kevin Wilson: Heh, I usually have very little to do with the title or cover of my games. Those things are normally handled by the publisher's management or marketing department. That's not always the case, of course, as Little Circuses and Escape from 100 Million B.C.! are two games coming from IDW that kept my original titles.

jdodson: You have talked a about diversity in games and how you approach that. Do you have any guiding principles that help when you are working on your initial game concept to final product?

Kevin Wilson: I've had to become a lot more self-aware of my own assumptions and of the assumptions that artists make. If you give a basic art description and don't mention gender or race, you're pretty much getting a white male back 99% of the time.

So I've had to start being more careful about that. I also keep a much tighter watch on how women are depicted in my games these days. I want heroines to inspire a young girl, not for her older brother to ogle. The hobby is growing and I think it's important, as well as good business, for game creators to include everyone who wants to play.

jdodson: Looking back at any of your published games would you tweak something if you could knowing how it turned out for people that have played it?

Kevin Wilson: Of course. There's not a single game I've done that I'm perfectly satisfied with. You do your best in the time you have to work on them, but there's always little things that slip through the cracks, and better ideas that you think of when it's too late. That's just how it is when you're doing anything creative if you keep trying to push yourself to get better and better.

jdodson: As a long time Twitter follower I am curious to know more about your project Frontier “Space Opera” board game. When I think of space opera a few things come to mind and maybe you could give us a few hints as to what this may be? Maybe a special exclusive reveal perhaps?

Kevin Wilson: It's a 2-player card game of planetary conquest between different alien races. Rather than a big sprawling board, however, it's more like a knife fight in a phone booth. It plays fast and has a lot of replayability, and I've already thought of 8 alien races for it. I'm currently still shopping it around to publishers and ironing out the game balance between races, so it'll be awhile before it makes it to market.

jdodson: For quite some time now you’ve been collaborating with IDW Games on nearly all of your recent board game releases. What’s it like working with them and how open are they to you pitching your new games to them?

Kevin Wilson: IDW has been great to work with. They're very open to my ideas and they try hard to make sure I'm satisfied with the quality of the releases I'm doing with them. Nate Murray in particular has worked himself to the bone on my stuff, so here's a big thank you to him for that! You rock, Nate!

jdodson: Speaking of successful Kickstarters you’re involved in, Mistborn: House War was recently funded so congratulations on that. With this and the Turtles Kickstarter at what point do you realize that a game you are designing should be Kickstarted? What kinds of games don’t make sense to Kickstart?

Kevin Wilson: Typically, I'm not making the decision whether or not to kickstart a game. It's mostly based on the publisher's financial situation and level of risk they're comfortable with. As for which games do best on Kickstarter, I'd say that well-recognized licensed games and miniature-heavy games are the best bets. Games that aren't as physically impressive and which lack name recognition definitely tend to suffer.

So for Mistborn, although there weren't a ton of fancy miniatures like in the TMNT game, there was still an extremely loyal fanbase that was excited to get a game that takes place in the Mistborn setting. Crafty Games also ran a very tight campaign, which helped the game do really well.

jdodson: What stands out to you as something important that makes a Kevin Wilson game?

Kevin Wilson: Even when the game is intended for a lighter audience, I try to bring something clever to each of my designs, whether it's the dice in Doom: the Board Game, the skill sliders in Arkham Horror, or the tech pyramid in Sid Meier's Civilization: the Board Game. In addition, I really enjoy including storytelling elements in my games. I love planting story seeds here and there in the designs and leaving them for players to find. I also really like it when I get to do some worldbuilding for a game, but that's less frequent than I'd prefer.

jdodson: So I think maybe everyone on earth watched the new Star Wars The Force Awakens. It’s a great movie and I really liked it a lot. That said, one thing some of my friends and I can’t shake is… why another Death Star? Like if you count The Phantom Menace “sort of Death Star like space battle” and subsequent blowing it up from inside thing that’s like 4 Death Stars. Why do bad guys think yet another Death Star will be the ticket? I mean this one was super big and had it’s own independent sheild generator so they upgraded it from Jedi but still…. Why a fourth Death Star Kevin? I need closure. Do you think the first order will create even more Death Stars and if so what would be the hook?

Kevin Wilson: Well, when you start with a weapon that can destroy a planet in a single shot, where do you go from there? That's why they went with another Death Star in Return of the Jedi. And technically, they upped the stakes to entire solar systems in a single shot in The Force Awakens, so maybe next time they'll have a solar system-sized gun that blows up whole galaxies!

jdodson: Thanks for taking the time to do this Kevin, I really appreciate it. Anything you want to say before we finish up?

Kevin Wilson: Just a heads up. The next 12 months or so are going to see a TON of releases from me - most of which I can't talk about just yet due to NDAs. Anyone who wants to keep up with my release schedule should follow me on twitter (@KevinWilson42 - http://twitter.com/kevinwilson42). I make sure to announce any new and upcoming releases there once I'm allowed to talk about them.

**If you want to read my previous two interviews with Kevin where I gush more about Doom: The Board Game you can read those below. Because you should. For science.**

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/666/interview-with-board-game-designer-kevin-wilson
http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/986/interview-with-game-designer-kevin-wilson

Nerds everywhere rejoiced when Stardew Valley was recently ported to Mac and Linux and everyone is now eagerly awaiting the 1.1 game update. Featuring more marriage options and features this update looks to be loaded with great stuff and PC Gamer interviewed Eric Barone about even more. In the interview Eric lets us know of a new thing where you can select one of 5 new farm maps to facilitate a different farming style. From the video there will be a Forest Farm, Wilderness Farm, Hill-top Farm, Riverland Farm and the Standard Farm we are all used to. I like this because it means each farm will be a bit different and you can approach the game from really different build perspectives.

You can also turn honey into mead. You know for your wild Stardew Valley parties. Because we all need that.

The Stardew Valley 1.1 update is planned to come sometime in the next month so get your farming tools ready!

Riot Games has published a digital and physical art book for League of Legends fans that is available free to view online or for purchase. It covers the some of the main parts of League such as the games champions, main map Summoner's Rift and some other odds and ends. If you love League of Legends or behind the scenes look at the art process of making games this beautiful online art book is well worth checking out.

http://artbook.na.leagueoflegends.com/en_US/volume-one

https://na.merch.riotgames.com/en/art/art-books/the-art-of-league-of-legends.html

If you have sunk a ton of time into No Man's Sky and want even more there is a free fan game that might satisfy your quest for more called No Mario's Sky. Finally we have a way to go to infinite worlds to stomp Goombas infinitely. I've heard the universe of No Mario's Sky is so big you will never be able to meet up with other players and the procedural generation of each world is so deep you won't be able to tell that the Goomba's are just color swapped!

"Featuring 10s of Goombas, An Infinite Universe, Muscle Toad, "Original" Music, "Faithful" Physics, Social Commentary about Interplanetary Colonialism, and a Radical Space Ship; No Mario's Sky is the hackneyed remake-gone-mashup you've been craving."

The game is a fan project completed at Ludum Dare 36 and you can download it on Itch.io below.

https://asmb.itch.io/no-marios-sky

If you weren't paying attention you may not have known that the Witcher 3 won nearly every video game award in 2015. The game won so many awards that I heard the Witcher 3 traveled back in time to 1998 and punched Ocarina of Time in the face. PC Gamer must have heard about Witcher 3's time traveling ways because they recently just put it at the top of their 100 best games of all time list. I think putting a game that's only been out a year on top of your best games of all time list is a bit strange but Witcher 3 is very popular so I bet it made a few people happy. All that said, I haven't played the Witcher 3 yet but I always planned to after it and all it's DLC was wrapped up into one product and that day has finally come.

So Much Game, So Much DLC.

The Witcher 3 Game of the Year Edition is finally out on GOG, Steam, PS4 and XBone and contains Hearts of Stone, Blood and Wine + 16 DLC's. That's a ton of stuff and you can get even more with it if you buy it on GOG. If you pick up Witcher 3 on GOG you get even more insanity including 3 soundtracks, comic books, manuals and videos. I'd list it all out here but GOG recently changed the page and it doesn't list out everything that the bundle comes with.

If you were interested in playing Witcher 3 now seems like a great time to pick it up!

https://www.gog.com/game/the_witcher_3_wild_hunt_game_of_the_year_edition