The sticky chicken wing in Clash Royale gets spiced up with Card Evolution.
Rarely does a popular mobile game choose to alter the rules of the game, but Supercell did just that with Clash Royale's card evolution. Arriving over seven years after the card-based fighting game's first release, this new mechanism significantly deepens competitive play and completely reimagines the meta.
Therefore, we had the opportunity to speak with Pavel Volkov, a Supercell game designer who has been involved since the early days of Clash Royale, for a short while in order to fully understand how card evolution works and how it came to be. Volkov joined the development team six years ago as a data scientist and is now working on adding new characters and concepts to Clash Royale, such as card evolution.
I asked Volkov how the concept originated, figuring it would be best to start from the beginning. We thus considered what sets Clash Royale apart from a variety of other strategy and card games. And the cycle mechanics, or the way the card finally returns to your hand, was something we found to be intriguing. We then considered only enhancing this aspect of our game's distinctiveness. We therefore reasoned that adding extra substance to the current cards would be a good approach to breathe new life and vitality into the well-known and cherished figures.
It's evident that Supercell's developers always intended the card evolution concept to blend in with the Clash Royale universe, which is already well established. The public has previously resisted major alterations made to well-known games, particularly in the case of mobile games like Pokemon Go. As Volkov himself said it. "We wanted players to approach the game with an additional layer of strategy, but still kind of play it as they have for years."
If you're not a frequent player of Clash Royale, you're undoubtedly wondering what card evolution is by now. To put it simply, it's a new feature that lets you call forth an enhanced version of a certain card—four are now available in the game—to further complicate the meta. It's more of a mashup of the characters we previously had rather than whole new ones. I asked Volkov whether they were allowed to explore a bit or if there were limitations when developing the notion of card evolution.
"There is never enough freedom for us to play with. As someone who is primarily concerned with gaming, I would say that I tried to maintain the readability as much as possible. It's really essential to me. That, in my opinion, is the primary factor that makes Clash Royale appealing to a wide range of players. Thus, yes, it was presumably the only constraint I was aware of.
Even while Supercell doesn't seem to be under any internal pressure, things are considerably different in the internet's digital Wild West. To put it mildly, in-game modifications don't always sit well with gaming communities. In light of this, I questioned Volkov about if he had any extra pressure to satisfy the demanding Clash Royale fanbase when developing the card evolution idea.
"Despite the fact that Clash Royale is already seven years old, we still need to innovate in order to stay relevant and keep the game feeling new. This is the reason, in my opinion, why we sometimes need to add more strategically, or what I call card evolution. We must remind gamers of the purpose and appeal of Clash Royale. The goal is to use cards strategically during combat, and card development gives players even more of what they want in this regard.
The idea behind card evolution, which I hope you also understand, is that it's not meant to alter the game but rather to improve it. Volkov makes it apparent in his responses that the Supercell team is just putting a go-faster stripe to the wheel, enabling it to go down any road with a little bit more vigour rather than attempting to reinvent the wheel. Card evolution might be thought of as the cherry on top.
According to Volkov, card evolution also facilitates the movement of what might at times be a stiff metagame. Thinking "Do I need to use my evolution now, or do I build for another better push?" adds another element of strategy. How can I get around people utilising card evolution if I use it? What kind of decking do they put around it? It increases the spice content somewhat.
I can agree with Volkov that card evolution adds a spicy touch, akin to a large dollop of hot sauce over a sticky chicken wing, based on my limited personal gameplay. You already have a lot to consider in Clash Royale, such as how to organise your deck and when and with whom to play, but card evolution introduces an additional unpredictable element: you never know whether you're up against an evolved firecracker or a regular firecracker. While each is undoubtedly a frightening idea, getting ready has never been harder.
During my study for my conversation with Volkov, I realised how much of a balancing act introducing a new mechanic to a live service really is. the game is. I've spoken with creators of various card-based games, and from my experience, even a single new card can drastically change the meta, often creating an unbalanced game where all players play the same way. I therefore questioned the Supercell developer about how the group balanced the novel mechanism.
It's an excellent question since, in a strict sense, card evolution is an additional power. We may thus examine the balance from a variety of perspectives. The fact that we first released four evolutions is not by accident; they reflect various roles in both the Clash Royale metagame and deck construction. In other words, Royal Giant is a wind condition that strikes structures directly. In addition to being a swarm, barbarians are a well-known figure in Clash Royale. Skeletons are an inexpensive unit, similar to a cycle card or a diversion. Additionally, Firecracker is a mobile support unit.Additionally, they complement one another well as, for example, Firecrackers counterbalance Barbarians, and Barbarians counterbalance Royal Giants. Thus, a great deal of thought went into deciding how to introduce this functionality. We will now monitor the user and win rates and make any necessary adjustments later.
I then questioned Volkov about any community input as card evolution had only been available in Clash Royale for a few weeks. "Let me start by using this opportunity to express my gratitude to all of the gamers who have left us reviews on various platforms. Positive and negative remarks are both appreciated. What I find worse is apathy. Feedback indicates player concern, and we're attempting to address it with community managers' assistance. We make an effort to condense the comments into a few bullet points. While some are more suggestive of specific issues than actionable, we still need to choose how to proceed with them.
Given that response and Volkov's prior observations on pressure, it's encouraging to see a developer who really values the community. Although there are still microtransactions and naughty packages that appear when you least expect them, my conversation with Volkov revealed a noticeable sense of community involvement. Volkov is Guy Fieri if card development is really the spice that brings the flavour.
Lastly, just for a little fun, I asked Volkov what his favourite aspect of the introduction to card evolution was. "I find it pleasing because it offers a great deal of diversity. Beginning with deck construction, there are certain essential interactions that have changed throughout time. If you just capitalise on those crucial exchanges, you may be able to turn around a losing game.
Overall, it seems like the community and devs are quite enthusiastic about the introduction of card evolution in Clash Royale. As I've said a few times in this interview, the Supercell team's enthusiasm for both the game and the community is evident, as is their openness to suggestions that improve the experience. Enhancement is the main goal of card development, and as of right now, Clash Royale seems better than it has ever been.
Check out ourDanganronpa interview,Yoko Taro interview, andMonument Valley interview for additional behind-the-scenes conversations with developers and studios.