The Future of Hyper Juken

Hi everyone! As 2024 comes to a close, I think it's best to spend some time discussing the future of Hyper Juken. I'll be redacting a bit of information in this article, keeping my cards close to my chest as it were, but there are some things I want to get out there.

I fully intend to have Hyper Juken relaunch in early 2025. Taking place on the YouTube Channel, this is intended to be a fresh beginning for Hyper Juken. I'm not sure right now if everything will turn out the way it is in my mind, but I'm looking to give the game a "General Manager" to host the videos who will give it a unique flair to set it apart. If you're familiar with all of my YouTube projects, you may have an idea of what I intend to do.

Early content will likely be all over the place, jumping between topics. Lore will receive a showcase on the channel. I'm aiming for each lore video to be about 8-10 minutes in length with new characters and cards turning up there prior to their cards proper unveiling.

Other early topics of great importance will be the following;

• A revision to the game rules, done to make the gameplay smoother.
• The new distribution method and what that entails.
• Assistance for grassroots tournaments.
• Alpha Set 2.5 Previews.
• Gameplay Showcase from Playtesting.
• Deck Techs.
• Showcasing people who have made communities.
• Colour Pie discussion.

The frequency of videos will depend on multiple outside factors, but I'll be aiming for either weekly smaller videos, around 5 minutes in length, or fortnightly or longer videos or videos with a large amount of animation.

As I've said before, Hyper Juken product releases are taking a "When it's done, it's done." approach rather than having set deadlines. I'd rather not have another gap year like 2024 with no new sets, but at the same time, I'm not going to push out a release that I feel could still use more work.

That said, A2.5 is done. It had a final touch up to address a couple things, but it's done. A3 Triple Threat is reasonably close to done, with only touch ups here and there left to do. I've actually been working on Sets 4-6, planning things out and giving a couple decks rudimentary testing. We're really high on the first Yellow deck of the block, even in its incomplete state.

I hope you are looking forward to what Hyper Juken will bring in 2025. Merry Christmas and have a happy New Year.

-Erik

Hyper Attacks and Hyper Forms

Hi everyone! Well, here's a small update for you; Satria is done. I've slapped a bow on him and he's ready to go. 2.5 is having some finishing touches to it, just making sure it's completely on point, but Naagpal? He's giving me a little bit of grief, but we'll get there. He's much closer to done than he was before.

With that I'll segway into the topic of today. I'm trying to keep posts once a month for now, keep you updated, but today I want to talk about Fighter cards.

Set 1 had a long development process, and this might surprise you with the final product, but originally it was just Fighters and Hyper Fighters. Yes, despite A1 having only 1 Burst Fighter to 2 EX Fighters, the Hyper Attack was actually a late addition.

Originally called Finishers, I got really high on the idea of fighters having these big game ending moves in the last couple years of dev time. Initially they were executed in a vastly different manner to the final product, the original concept being something I'd like to revisit later, but I just enjoyed the idea of Finishers. If you're familiar with shonen battle anime or pro wrestling, it's a trope you see a lot, Kinnikuman's KinnikuBuster being a great example of both at once. It's impressive if executed correctly, can become iconic to that character and can be game winning, all of which makes it fun.

Saying that, super forms are also a tried, true and tested trope. That's why it was used, it's a quality trope that elicits similar emotions to the Finisher. It's a literal expression of power gained, it's a power fantasy in action and that is fun too. It too can become iconic in it's own right, or at least memorable. Its also baked into the lore. However, if I were to be really frank, I like Hyper Attacks more. From both a design aspect and a thematic aspect.

When I make a character designed to be a Hyper Fighter, I try to make both sides different. Carry the same themes but be different. Louise is currently this ideal best executed; the Burst Fighter interacts with Block cards, then the back side interacts with her Lightning Blast, which carries the [REVERSAL] keyword, a keyword that interacts with Blocks. It all ties together. She's not perfect, far from, but she's the closest to the ideal. I can also say that Satria is the best execution of the concept as of now though.

Hyper Attacks are a different kettle of fish. Just make something big and cool, tie it to a theme, it works. They're fun to pull off, they can have annoying effects to deal with and be game winning due to raw power. It just plays well. The flavour can be really strong too, especially if it plays into other cards like Mark's Supreme Crusher from Supreme Chokeslam. I'm actively finding myself instinctively designing Hyper Attacks or wanting Hyper Attacks over Hyper Forms when designing new characters.

Part of me does think about whether having both at the same time does a disservice to both. Neither having the chance to be showcased properly as the defining theme of the game till it runs its course. I think if I had gone with Hyper Attacks for a while, then Hyper Fighters, let them refresh the game, be cool and impressive, it might have played out better. It is what it is though, the Hyper Forms are in the lore and I can't put the genie back in the bottle, but it's definitely a retrospect thing.

I think we'll be sticking to the current setup for a while. It has a lot of life left in it and we haven't gotten to a point where characters are being reused yet. I have plans beyond the current setup, but it's going to be a while before we get there.

I'm currently working on a few Hyper Fighters, Naagpal is one and there are some characters for whom I think it is very important to be Hyper Fighters, but writing this leaves me curious. As a player, what do you gravitate towards? Hyper Attacks or Hyper Fighters? I suppose for some, it's a case by case scenario; the specific card rather than the mechanics.

Till next time friends, thanks for reading.
-Erik

Thoughts on Game Pacing

Hi everyone! Things are exciting behind the scenes here at Hyper Juken Headquarters, lots of work being done testing new cards, new formats and the topic of today, altering the game rules.

If you are familiar with Hyper Juken, you will know that scrying, looking at cards from the top of your Arsenal and placing them on the top or bottom of your Arsenal, is a big part of the game. It happens at the start of each turn for the turn player. This has some ramifications that limit design space; hand filtering and actual scry are of less value as it's built into the game. Likewise, it can be pace breaking, giving each turn an entire process of setting up your draws.

This decision was made early on for two reasons; 

Firstly, the Ki system. To play Hyper Juken you need Lv0s or cards that will be sent to the Ki Pool and by looking at the top 4 cards each turn, it ups the chances of hitting a Lv0. Most Arsenals come with 8x Lv0s, 20% of the Arsenal and provided you send the entire 4 cards to the bottom of your Arsenal, that gives you an 86% chance of hitting a Lv0. If you go a further turn, it brings it up to 96%.

Secondly, to cater to people who don't typically like Life Deck systems. If you can look through your Deck for specific cards, what gets sent to the Discard Pile as damage doesn't mean as much, especially with the generous healing in Blue and Red. You can see specific cards reliably when both are put together.

Over recent months, the discussion about design space had come up a few times in card design. The built-in scrying every turn making any card that scried independently, altered scrying or filtered the hand of much lower value. Why use them when the game gives you so much to start with?

Then a discussion on game pacing came up and it made me sit and take pause. We were discussing another game that pauses the gameplay to effectively create a subgame to determine how the gameplay will continue and just talking about it in a negative light caused me to reflect on Hyper Juken. It behaves in a very similar way at the start of turn. Playtesting was like yes, it's because you were overcompensating.

Some things were discussed, such as lowering the scry, but I went with my gut. The point of the scry is Lv0s, resources. Let's make it a part of game setup and just draw to hand size afterwards. The likelihood of hitting a Lv0 is fairly high after 20% of the Arsenal has been looked through, failing less than 15% of the time and this is a number that can be altered in different ways such as Arsenal construction and card effects.

Worked a treat. We both hit our Lv0s reliably. The game progressed far more naturally, card reoccurrence did its job and it worked out well. So much so that after the initial game, it was like "Yeah. This is it.". Moving Scry to game preparation flowed much better than the system currently in place.

Later in the day, we tested A3's current progress. Moving Scry 4 to game preparation rather than turn phase just worked out so well, playtesting eventually just incorporated it into the standard format you're familiar with. Effects that interacted with the Arsenal and other zones were doing the job the scry was doing in many respects. No one missed Lv0s, everything just went as it should and worked. Very similar experience with better pacing.

I haven't officially said I'll change the rules of how Hyper Juken is played now, but the new format will incorporate this change and I'm very much leaning towards the change being made in the standard format. Tell me if you think it'd be for the best or if you have a go with this change, how it feels.

Till next time friends, thanks for reading,
-Erik

I Can't Get No Satriafaction

Hi everyone! Sorry for not posting in two months, it was a combination of being ill, being busy and nothing to really discuss while I've been working on a bunch of things, but I do now.

Set 3, Triple Threat, yes it looks like that name is sticking due to being able to work it into the lore, has been a very difficult set to work on. A cycle of feeling like it's done, then going back, not being happy with it anymore and questioning the thought processes behind it, but a couple months ago, it felt done. I wasn't satisfied with Satria (Red) or Naagpal (Blue), but I couldn't think of any way to improve them and frankly I was sick of working on the set. It felt like I was spinning in circles working on it. Snowy (Yellow) however I am satisfied with and feel she turned out best. She is finished and good to go.

Set 3 had taken something of a place on the backburner while we worked on Set 2.5. Set 2.5 came together at a brisk pace thanks to it being the first set with input from the new play tester from the start and both of us being really excited for what it brings to the table. Set 2.5 is planned to be the next set once some things are addressed.

With that said, I moved onto drafting Set 4 as I had some ideas I wanted to get into card form for testing down the road. Getting rather excited about the new concepts introduced in Set 4, I brought an unfinished version of the Yellow character to playtesting when we finally got to both meet up and play Hyper Juken this past weekend.

This new Yellow character is an absolute blast to play. Even with blank cards in their Arsenal and Corner, it was fun. Very different to anything you currently have, but also supports your current cards, sets up the future and is a coherent package, so you wouldn't think it is doing so much. The Arsenal has been tweaked a little since, but Set 4 Yellow, in combination with how well I feel Set 2.5 turned out, has reinvigorated my personal love for this game.

I've made it no secret that I have a lot of regrets with Set 2 and frankly Set 3 was feeling much of the same. Love Snowy, she's on point, the other two were perfectly viable and the set didn't really have any notable dud cards, but I just wasn't happy with how Satria or Naagpal turned out. With how much fun Set 4 Yellow is looking right now and how both Red and Blue for the same set are progressing, along with Set 2.5, I finally feel motivated to go back to Set 3. I want to use everything I've learned from designing Sets 2.5 and 4 to finally finish Set 3. End up with a result that I'm actually happy with.

Satria will likely end up the bigger task as I'm probably reworking his entire attack lineup, Hyper Fighter, one of his Kata cards and one of his two Tactic cards, all Arsenals in Set 3 come with two Tactic cards, but I think I can keep his original core concept, who he is, then make something more cohesive with both him and the existing Red card pool.

Naagpal on the other hand requires less individual cards redesigned. Still a fair bit of reworking, but not on the level of Satria. I guess Satria may end up on the easier side here because his Arsenal is basically 50% blank now, but I think he'll get to the position where the final couple cards are a bit tricky. Usually happens.

I didn't think I could feel so optimistic about Set 3 again, but I'm happy I am. I think this time I can finally end up with all Characters and their Arsenals in a satisfying condition.

Till next time friends, thanks for reading.

-Erik

The Lessons of A1 The New Challengers

Hi everyone! Just a quick note before we start today's article; all of A1, A2 and the Rule Sheet are live on the blog! It was a tedious job, but it's done.

Last fortnight I made a post discussing my thoughts on A2 Power Surge, a set that, while it had some powerful cards, I feel it ultimately missed the mark. This week I want to do the same type of post for A1 The New Challengers.

Let's start with El Eterno and his Arsenal. El Eterno and Lucy are by far the best characters in the game right now. For El Eterno, it all boils down to his signature Tactic, The Undying Hero, and a few other key cards.

The Undying Hero increasing Heal by 1, including targeted Heal which we haven't seen yet, means he has incredible survivability with Forceful Ki Blast and Unphased Catch in his Arsenal. Those three cards, along with Delayed Backhand Chop and his Kata cards, are what makes El Eterno a top tier character. Searching for Buff at the start of the game, healing 2 with each instance, 3 with The Undying Hero used as a Tactic and gaining Hyper each type he does it. It's a lot and adds up fast. Unfortunately the rest of El Eterno's Arsenal is not as notable.

Back Sweep Kick and The Equaliser are both control cards and were used to show how levels change the nature of effects, but I don't think they hit the mark. Both do their job of getting Buffs off the board, but they are too wide in their nature, hitting anything but Debuffs, something that absolutely would not be made now, but also not good enough. Back Sweep Kick should have a Hyper increase / decrease on an [ATK] effect and The Equaliser should be more destructive. Lv2 should be something trying to close out games, not pinpoint control like this.

The Resourceful cards are interesting in that the Block card, Resourceful Catch, has it's uses and gets better in time as you see more [REVERSAL] effects. It already works with Defensive Knowledge just fine. Resourceful Punch on the other hand isn't worth using. The goal with the card was to trade into a more damaging attack, but it doesn't really do anything or give you anything of substantial value. You get what is essentially a vanilla. It has been made very apparent to me that this card would have been far more useful as a Lv0. At least then you could trade into more Ki if you need it and it'd resonate a bit better with Flying Vampiric Dive.

Finally we have Light Life Kick which is just dramatically underpowered. While yeah, if it's in a pile of cards you're healing it'll give you more value, but most of the time it's a worse Delayed Backhand Chop. To be really useful, it needed to be +2 Hyper, but I'm not sure it needed to exist. El Eterno came with 3x Lv0, 2x Lv1 and 1x Lv2, but we've since learned 2x Lv0, 3x Lv1 and 1x Lv2 is a good base for everyone. El Eterno would have been fine, if not better, with this setup.

El Eterno himself is perfectly fine, same goes for his Kata. They're good cards that remain relevant. The only comment I'd have on El Eterno is Flying Vampiric Dive. It would likely be pretty different if I made it now, including a colour breaking typing. 😉

So let's move to the big star of the game so far, Lucy. She does just about everything and that's why she's the G.O.A.T. No, quite literally, she has access to too wide a variety of effects and some of the cards might just be too strong. I really don't have an issue with main characters being strong, if anything I think it's desirable, it's just that Lucy is a step above everyone else. Hefty POW modifier, chip, draw, pseudo heal, decreased Hyper Meter and fast Hyper gain, answers to Debuffs and the best Lv2 in the game. She only has it all.

Empassioned Flying Knee would not be made now and should not have been made period. It gave Red answers to Yellow it shouldn't have had. It allows Red, but especially Lucy, to move without fear from anything. Debuff? Neutralise it, then plow through everything else like a mighty lion. This is a big part of why Lucy is so strong and Taichi is lower tiered.

I'll be talking more about the colour pie at a later date, but the current thought is that Blue should be the one to answer Debuffs and if Red does get it as a tertiary, it should be a lot harder to execute than this. 1 Ki was not enough.

Burst Takedown is the best Lv2 in the game and easily the best attack in the game. Last article I discussed how it influenced a cut mechanic, so I deemed it a success, I just underrated it. Hyper Fighter Lucy gives it 8 POW and launching 2 in succession is usually how a game is decided. 4 Ki needed to block two of them is a lot more than anything is really generating right now.

The flavour of Burst Takedown is spot on, it's a Spear and if you're familiar with that maneuver, you know two usually ends a match, but in game, it can be a bit much. I don't actually consider it a failure though, I think it's more setting the bar. The Lv2 have to be this impactful to be worth using. Breakthrough Strike is fine, but Burst Takedown is a step above and has been influential in how Lv2 is viewed going forward.

The final point of note with Lucy is the Ki Flow Forms. Neither are game breaking yet, they're fine, but they aren't forward thinking enough. Both are part of what makes Lucy so fast and strong, but they're going to become deeply concerning from A2.5 onwards, especially Ki Flow Form II. Lots of things will hit the Ki Pool over a turn, more if you force it, and other colours will be doing it. It's very likely one, if not both, will receive an errata to calm them down a bit. I'm extremely resistant to errata, but if it's essential for game health, it has to be.

Finally, Taichi. His situation is pretty different to the rest of the cast. Taichi's effect, along with its ramp; Surprising Leg Sweep and Inside Leg Sweep, are good and do their job in trying to keep healing in check. His Hyper Attack, Demon Wind Slash, can just end games. Sniper Shot is such a key card that I've lamented about how hard it's going to top when I give him a signature attack. Dizzying Strike is one of the best Lv0 Attack cards in the game, if not the best. Retribution Form I is a decent Hyper accelerating Kata card.

Unfortunately, everything else doesn't really pull together. Back Buster shouldn't have been here. Don't read this as it shouldn't exist, just that it shouldn't have been in Taichi's Arsenal. It needed a better fitting home.

This is more about Debuffs than it is anything else. They can be exceptionally draining on Ki, which is by design, but 1 is just enough for any Arsenal. 2 Debuffs like Taichi has necessitates more Ki, which is why he has 3x Lv0 and no Lv2. He has to build more to make up for what he's losing, especially as Yellow cannot recover cards from the Exhaust in the way Red and Blue do or generate Ki in the way Red does. This has been discussed and will steadily be addressed as space permits.

In addition to this, his Hyper isn't particularly fast with only 4 cards in his Arsenal giving him Hyper, instead relying on Retribution Form I. As Sniper Shot is his only way to do real damage, it pushes more importance on his Hyper Attack to pick up the slack, something he's way too slow to do reliably.

Demon of the Wind is also by far the weakest signature card in the game right now. It's too slow, it's too restricted. I think if anything, it holds Taichi back because it feels like he doesn't have a signature card. It's trying to capitalise upon removal, a payoff like Demon Wind Slash, but it's bad at it.

Taichi needed more Hyper gain, more and better payoffs for Exhaust removal and a standardised 2x Lv0, 3x Lv1, 1x Lv2 lineup. He's not actually terrible or unsalvageable, I've personally made a control focused Blue/Yellow Taichi build that can take down El Eterno easily, but he feels lesser in general. Where and when is the right time to give him support? Hard to say, what he needs for constructed is so specialised, either someone will have to pack some of his Arsenal and build from there, or he'll need another go around.

A1 The New Challengers has some new game pains, but overall, I think it turned out well. I think the tone in which it is discussed is very different to A2 and what it did right has been highly influential on A3's design.

Till next time friends, thanks for reading.

-Erik

The Lessons of A2 Power Surge

Hi everyone!

A2 Power Surge is probably the more interesting of the two Hyper Juken sets released so far. Not because it brought interesting and fun new playstyles to the game, but because I largely deem it a failure.

At the 11th hour, just before the print was finalised, someone who has proven indispensable in development picked up the game, tried out A2 and pointed out a fair few of problems with it. Most of the more egregious ones were addressed in the nick of time, but some things just couldn't be fixed before printing.

Starting with Louise, she was much more Special focused initially, removing the opponent's ability to prevent combat damage from your Specials. Once I had this person on board and how she was intended to be played moved to how someone presented with her would play, she became too annoying to deal with. A feels bad experience. This meant that she ended up hyper focusing on her Lightning Blast, a trait shared with D. Stinger, but she was brought down to earth. It also meant that for the time being, she was very Blue and Red focused to keep cycling Lightning Blast, but that won't be the case for too much longer. 😉

Defensive Knowledge also proved itself a problem. Hyper Juken as a whole has too much recovery, something you'll see easing up in future releases, but resulted in an unintended loop where the end of the Arsenal could just be Unphased Catch and you wait for the opponent to die. This had to become a [TRIG] effect to prevent the loop, but as a result, Adaptive Form I couldn't search it out. After A2 printed, I did commission art for Rejuvenation Form I depicting Louise, as you can see up the top. It's likely to end up in Naagpal's Corner for A3, but I think it may end up as an extra in Set 2.5 for A2. I'm sure Louise will find a use for Adaptive Form I eventually, but she desperately needs this.

D. Stinger is the key reason why Louise ended up the way she did as the initial play tester was very good at getting Stinger Shot to hit and poison Louise. She just submitted to poison damage over time. Saying that, D. Stinger and his Arsenal have some rather big issues too.

Salt to the Wound was a card I pushed too hard to exist and didn't even end up a good card. It doesn't work with Poison Damage, only Effect Damage. This is a source of great confusion as it doesn't work with D. Stinger's main feature, Venom Tokens. That's a really confusing include for players, but more than that, it should have been something that worked with both Opportunistic Form I and D. Stinger. A Tactic with a "[TRIG]: When you Discard this card >" clause.

Salt to the Wound was designed to work with Taichi, hence why Ki Swipe Guard does effect damage, all three of the Breakers this set were designed to work with the A1 characters, but Salt isn't worth the discard and the 1 Ki to make it a net 0 and 2 effect damage simply isn't good enough. It was the wrong place for the card and it wasn't good enough. The excuse of "just discard it for Opportunistic Form I bro" was just that, an excuse for poor design.

I think D. Stinger's Burst Fighter form is perfectly fine. It really needs that Tactic I mentioned earlier, but it's a fun card that can turn the game around much like a Breaker card. 😉 Unfortunately, his Hyper Fighter form is rather eh. It's too hard to Stun, Searching the Arsenal for Stinger Shot, something that was meant to play into Stinger Shot's effect shuffling itself back in, is inappropriate for that part of the game and the payoff of turning it into Burst Takedown doesn't quite hit the same note with the amount of hoops you have to go through. 1 Ki just isn't enough to make a dent to the opponent's resources. The reason Burst Takedown hurts to much is that you can do it twice in a row, Hyper D. Stinger can't do that.

I'd also be remiss not to mention that D. Stinger's Arsenal doesn't have enough Hyper to really reach Hyper Form reliably. I guess that's a blessing in disguise of sorts with the Burst Form being so much better than the Hyper Form currently.

Mark easily has the least issues of the three characters, but that isn't to say he's perfect. The [ARSENAL] effect and it's wording will become a problem in time. Not only is it too much on release, 😉, the fact it's a hard 8 instead of -4 will cause him issues in a format I'm looking to introduce with A3. It will sort itself out in time with what we have cooking, but not for Sealed, which for now is going to be how most people play.

This is where I get to the cut attribute of A2, <EMPOWER>. Empower was an attribute similar to <CHIP> and <PRECISION>, to help break through defenses. With Empower, if the attack was blocked, you could pay 1 Ki to force your opponent to pay Ki equal to it's level, otherwise their block is cancelled. This all happened before [BLK] effects. Where Chip was Red/Yellow and Precision was Yellow/Blue, Empower was Red/Blue.

This was a result of really liking Burst Takedown and the idea of pushing through blocks in an anime fashion. Unfortunately, Burst Takedown proved to be the strongest Lv2 in the game and the idea of more Burst Takedown like cards running around was just too much.

Red's Resolute Overhead Hook became a modular 1/4 that could become a 2/6 that in effect strength was weaker than vanilla, while Blue's Resolute Dual Blasts became a 1/3 that could become a 2/6 with exactly vanilla strength. Both were redesigned on a crunch, but I think Resolute Dual Ki Blasts has far more use of the two.

For constructed, none of these characters will be left in the lurch. Louise and D. Stinger benefit greatly from A2.5 in constructed, while A3 has a really nifty couple of tools for D. Stinger and Mark. A2 also included some great cards like Yellow's Skull Crush Stomp, Blue's Quick Ki Blast and the cycle of Breakers. Despite my comments earlier about Yellow's Ki Swipe Guard, it's proved a fairly useful card. It's also not like these characters won't be returned to in the future. A2 isn't an irredeemably bad set, but it has more dud cards than A1 and the Sealed experience isn't up to par.

The final thing worth mentioning about A2 are the Basic Blocks, the Kihon cards. These were meant to be a 7 card cycle per colour of vanilla cards that would become their own playstyles and a way to gain advantage in a controlled manner. This was the plan for a long time, if you bought A1 you'll have an exclusive Kata card that mentions them and is a glimpse into what this would have been, but it's since been abandoned. There has been some discussion as to whether the art should be reused to make new cards or not, but the rest of the Kihon cards aren't going to see the light of day.

Till next time friends, thanks for reading.

-Erik

Ruminations on Hyper Juken Lore

Hi everyone!

When I was designing Hyper Juken, I pretty much put all my attention into the game, the characters being decided upon around the second third of the development cycle. As you know, each character comes with a bio, this was inspired by how card backs for toys used to have bios to tell you about them. I always knew that it would be hard to stretch myself between game design, card design and lore, but I wanted to give some idea behind the characters. A reason to like them beyond mechanics and aesthetics.

There was always a general idea of how things would go and who the major characters were, but a lot was more fluid than you'd expect. Characters always changing, D. Stinger originally being a scorpion is a notable one, but there are a few animals that just haven't found a home I'd like to do.

The thought process behind the bios was more like a fighting game; here's your premise and your characters, get at it. What more do you need? But in retrospect I think that was very ill-founded. There isn't enough meat to be much beyond "I like the design and mechanics." and I think without that, it hurt the game as a whole. Not enough content. The bio isn't enough to push the characters, they needed more.

With the development of what at the time was titled A3 Triple Threat and the still unnamed A2.5, the lore really started to become of more importance. Not only the general plot and how the Cosmic Championship belts fit into that, but how each character is used. If a character is just kind of there but has potential, such as Taichi, more thought has to be put into what can be done with them. Not everyone can be used all the time and some are going to fall to the wayside as new is introduced to keep things fresh, but rotation of characters should always be key. Same goes for main characters, they don't have to be involved in every storyline.

The general plot of the first story arc, Alpha Block, is pretty clear right now. A Plot, B Plot, C Plot and how the A and B plots dove tail at the end while keeping the window open for future stories. The real question now is, how to go about getting it out there. Articles? Web Comic? There are some major decisions to be made, but I do believe Hyper Juken benefits from the lore being pushed a lot harder. It should have always been a higher priority.

Till next time friends, thanks for reading!
-Erik

Welcome to the Hyper Juken Blog

 Hi everyone and welcome to the first post on the Hyper Juken Card Game Blog.

This blog will be where I talk about where the game is in terms of development, how things are going and just general thoughts about the game. Deck Techs and reposts of content on the YouTube channel will be posted as well.

You will also find the card galleries and rule sheets on the blog, amongst the widgets on the right hand side, for reference material. Uploading the galleries and rules will be a gradual role out, but A1 The New Challengers is done.

It's been over a year since A2 Power Surge launched, but a lot of things happened since then that just caused A3, what was previously titled "Triple Threat", to be pushed back continuously. I've mentioned in a few places that my intent is to continue with the game, but a lot of things have changed and other things will have to change.

The big change behind the scenes is the addition of someone who has been integral in not only addressing things that I've overlooked or made mistakes in, but improve the game as a whole. Due to them, A3 has not only been redeveloped, something that may happen again, but Set A2.5, a set that adds to both A1 and A2, has been created. This is what's been brewing for a long time now. It's just been a long development process, getting a good understanding of what this set should bring to the table. I'll be less coy about A2.5 in the future.

The big change coming in the future is visual. The art will see a significant change to help the game continue. This may not be to everyone's tastes, but it's necessary as the game stands. Sets will also no longer have a set amount of time between them, instead being done when they're done. Sets also may not always been sets of decks, but rather an expansion set for constructed play of cards that just don't fit into a traditional set. This is likely to happen after every third core set.

The distribution of sets will also change. For those that want traditional cards, they will still be available, potentially cheaper depending on your location, but there will also be options that better suits everyone and from there a better potential for growth.

I don't know how often I'll be posting to this blog, I'm currently busy with several other projects, but I'll try to take time out to just jot something down at least once a fortnight.

Till next time friends, thanks for reading.
-Erik