Information for Newcomers
Welcome to a comprehensive introduction to the WTactics project. This page is the best starting point for anyone that is new to WTactics. This introduction outlines what the project is and how it is structured. When given a suggestion to read certain documents, we beg you to actually read those documents in the order they are given.
About WTactics and our History
Several years ago (2010) WTactics began as an open source cardgame project with networking and parallel dev. teams in mind, each team spawning it’s own rulesest, all of us with collaboration and shared art assets in mind for the card art. The goal was to create a customizable card game that would play and look professional, and that was open source and free. Today we’re proud to declare that there is at least one playable card game game around as a result of that starting point, arcmage.org, and another coming along this year, gaia.li, both fully featured customizable card games in the tradition off all great ccg's.
We have in different regards come both a long way and also nowhere at all during all these years. The original card game projects are under their way, with separate sites and developers. In addition to that, two other games (saga & tinytactics) in other genres for different target groups have also been created and released for playtesting to the world. They also stay true to our goals – looking great, offering interesting gameplay, being open source and given to all of you for free.
As WTactics served it’s initial purpose as far as it could reach we are now at a point where we wish to reform the wtactics.org site into something that is true it’s origins – something that is still aiming for the future development of more great board and cardgames that are truly free and open source. Games that are created by the players, for the players, and where the game creators and licenseholders empower their communities by giving the games to the world, allowing it to revise and further develop them. Read the full story here.
About Arcmage
Arcmage started as a reboot of WTactics in 2016, and evolved into its own ruleset and card pool. Our goal is to create a high quality game that’s open source, free to play both on the table and online. We’ll give you the rules and high-resolution artwork of all the cards under CC BY SA4. We’ll keep you updated on the game’s development and invite you to participate in that development. Arcmage is a game by players, for players, with the community in mind. The rules are set, plenty of cards and decks are released, but new ideas and cards are always welcome, so there's where you and your friends enter the scene as developers.
For tabletop play we’ll provide you with all the cards in various common high-resolution and high-quality formats such as PNG and PDF. You’ll be able to download them and print them out or, as we recommend, produce top-quality digital photographic versions by using a service that is to your liking. Once you have the cards, you only need to cut them out and put them in standard card sleeves. Or ofcourse, you can just get the high quality prints from us.
What's in the box
- high on strategy, low on luck
- several unique factions and more than 100+ unique creatures with their own traits and abilities
- only 45 cards needed for a complete deck
- two (or more) players, an hour to play
- no need for a board or special material
- no collecting – we give you every card that exists
- none of the ads, sign-ups, fees, etc. that many so-called “free” games lure you into
- play for free, online or on the kitchen table
Get Acquainted
To get your bearings with the general idea, take a look at these pages:
- FAQ - answers your basic questions.
- And read one of our rule sets currently in development
Participate
We invite everyone to participate in the development. Our games will be in development and alive as long as there are people like you showing interest in the game. We're excited that you have shown interest in the project, and we hope you will help us. Our survival is in the hands of people that want to see this happen and are prepared to do some work. The number one rule in all open source projects is as true as ever: Want this done? Then either do it yourself or pay somebody else to do it.
If you are thinking about getting involved by joining an already existing team, you will need to read the following document in addition to those listed above:
- Project Philosophy
- General Design Document - heavy reading, but necessary: all about the fundamentals and framework of the project.
Get in Contact
There's a number of ways to contact us. Some of the best ways are, in given order:
- Arcmage on Matrix
- Join our discussion on Discord
- Arcmage on Mastodon
- E-mail: admin at arcmage dot org
- E-mail: contact at wtactics dot org