Last night, I talked with Kyle for a little while about Shadow Era. I figured some of this might be interesting to other fans, so I'm posting it here.

Fry: So, let's start with easy stuff. You mentioned you are in Vietnam?
Kyle: Yes, I am Canadian but have been living in Vietnam for 3 years now, after working for a few years in the US as well.

Fry: What's your day job?
Kyle: I am the head honcho at Wulven Game Studios (http://www.wulven.com/). We are expanding now to 20 employees and moving to a new office, so along with the Shadow Era launch we are very busy

Fry: Speaking of employees and Shadow Era, how big is the SE team?
Kyle: We have 4 contracted card artists from around the world, 1 3D artist for the special effects, and two developers besides myself. But like with any small company, people are often working on several projects at once so they are not exclusive to SE now. Most of the actual design and development has been done by myself though.

Fry: How much of the first Shadow Era set is designed? Is there a file on paper of all of the cards, just waiting to be implemented?
Kyle: All of the first 200 cards have been planned out to follow a logical order and are in various stages of development. First the artwork is contracted out, then the effects tuned and programmed into the game for testing. The recent "armor contest" for suggesting ideas for the new armor cards has shown that the players have much better ideas than me though So I will likely rely more on the players to suggest good ideas in the future for new cards. We are switching to a weekly release schedule and plan to have new cards introduced all the time.

Fry: Would you consider implementing cards that didn't have "finalized" art yet?
Kyle: I don't think so, one of the best things about SE is the awesome card art. I would rather hold off a card for a week while an artist does the artwork for it.

Fry: Wow, your art cycle is that fast? (one week)
Kyle: It depends on the artist. Some people can do 1 image a week, while another guy can crank out 10 in about a week. I always prefer to give them as little art direction as possible, so that they can express their creative talents and come up with something great.

Fry: How much SE have you played against human opposition?
Kyle: Besides people in the office, I've only played a handful of games against the general public.

Fry: I have been noticing that almost every game I play is really long and drawn out, do you have that experience?
Kyle: It depends on the players and class, usually games I play are pretty decisive by mid-game. But if you play Darkclaw vs Darkclaw, then yeah that is going to take awhile Two experienced players may be prepared for certain deck strategies and can counter each other effectively.

Fry: I find that Mage vs Mage matches often get boring in the middle, once both players have a Portal up. I play a guy and attack you, you play a guy to kill my guy, I play a guy to kill your guy...
Kyle: That's true, when Portal was first introduced people were saying it was useless. Now people want it nerfed to have a turn limit But there are also more faction and neutral abilities coming up that can destroy items. This will also be important when weapons and armor are introduced.

Fry: Agree or disagree with this statement: "Once a player is behind in board position, it is hard to recover."
Kyle: I would disagree, because there are already many cards designed to wipe the board or delay attacks for a few turns while you catch up. What is harder to recover from is when you are behind in resources

Fry: As of v1.23, I think I have to disagree with your disagreement. For example, if my opponent has the first turn, and plays Blake on turn 2, I feel very powerless and have to play super defensive all game.
Kyle: Oh, why scared of little Blake? That's what Brutalis is for!
Fry: Because Aldon follows Blake almost 100% of the time.
Kyle: Blake is still easy to kill. Use some Fire Snakes then.

Fry: You mentioned getting behind on resources, how do you feel about Sandra Trueblade and Here Be Monsters? My feeling is that most of the "fun" cards right now are 4 resources, so many games you don't get to play your fun cards.
Kyle: People like to use Sandra, Retreat! her and play her again... This is pretty damaging. The game could also use some more card drawing abilities, as often I find I only have two or three cards in my hand and need to skip the sacrifice stage. But still, I think the cost of 3 to destroy a resource is pretty fair, since you are essentially skipping playing a half-decent ally to try to get ahead later

Fry: Here is a weird observation I have: since the attacker hits first, the attacker is (obviously) hugely favored, but somehow the attacker having the advantage makes the game feel super defensive! My first priority is to use my guys to attack the opponent's guys, rather than the opponent.
Kyle: Most people when they first start to play wonder why they are allowed to go straight for the Hero if there are enemy allies (heh) in play. Well, it is always a choice, whether you want be offensive or defensive, and it suits different playing styles. I know I always go for any allies in play first, often not even damaging the Hero at all, but that might not be the best strategy
Fry: On the contrary, I am pretty sure it is the right strategy at least 90% of the time.
Kyle: So like you said, it is "offense is the best defense."
Fry: I feel like the game might be more interesting/fun if attacker and defender hit simultaneously. Have you tried playing the game that way?
Kyle: Other games like to use attacks like that, however they also fully heal any cards that are not killed.