DEV DIARY - CARD SYSTEM

Hi, I’m Britnee, an Associate Producer for Back 4 Blood! I’ve been on this project for almost 2 years now and it's been a wild ride the whole time. Being a producer means you wear a bunch of hats and adapt to what the team’s needs are. I primarily work with the Weapons and Animation teams, and Legal for Back 4 Blood’s content. 

Working with Legal keeps me fairly busy - thankfully animations don’t need legal reviews, but weapons do, and anything else that has a graphic image or text has to be assessed. Which you can imagine is a TON OF STUFF! But the game is awesome to look at so it's all worth it 😊. Cards especially had to go through a couple of legal reviews. 

LET’S CHAT ABOUT THE CARD SYSTEM!

Compared to what we showed in Alpha, more cards have been added. All the names were reimagined. Plus, we wanted cooler names than _Sprint III_. Then there was the art - most of it was temporary for the Alpha so they had to go through a few iterations to get it looking sexy. 

So … this sounds like a plug - but it's easily my favorite part of Back 4 Blood (besides the satisfaction of surviving the Ogre). Thinking about some other games that I enjoy, I’m usually a sniper. I like slow, ranged weapons. 

I see all - like the oracle for my squad, but Back 4 Blood isn’t paced for that type of gameplay. Or rather, I find it difficult to play that way. There’s a bunch of Ridden in your face and I’m trying to get to the next objective before any of us die. There’s no time to play the lone ranger in the back because you could easily get surrounded. 

At first, I tried picking cards for my deck like extra defense or sprinting. But now, I go for more Reflex cards because I like rapid-fire weapons and shotguns. I find that I'm not playing too many Discipline cards anymore and have a ton more fun with switching up my playstyle. 

SO, WHAT ARE THE REFLEX AND DISCIPLINE CARDS I REFER TO?

In Back 4 Blood the categories that describe card effects are called Affinities. There are four types: 

• You have Reflex which helps with mobility and rapid fire. 
• Brawn which helps with tough defenses. 
• Fortune which of course helps with money and luck (don’t underestimate how important that is). 
• Discipline which helps with high accuracy weapons and control types.
   

I’m still trying to figure out my favorite cards, but I really like the combat knife - it doesn’t need ammo and always helps with the horde! 
 

Adapting to what’s happening in-game is important. Are you finding that you’re running out of ammo halfway in the map? There’s a card for that. Always dying and leaving your group hanging? There’s a card that helps your squad when you inevitably die. See that the Ogre is going to pop up on the map? Pick cards that either help you run or stand and fight! (I’ll fully admit it, I pick all the sprinting cards. Sorry, team!) 

So, players like me who aren’t winning Warzone every night, the card system is going to be your best friend because you’ll get better with the extra help ... if you play your cards right! (Haha yes, I know it's corny to say.)