The Lamplighters League - Dev Diary #7

Couchpotato spotted dev diary #7 for The Lamplighters League:

Dev Diary #7: Upgrades and Customizing your Campaign

Hello again! By now I hope you’re starting to get a sense of what The Lamplighters League is all about… You’ve heard about some of the Agents you’ll recruit and send on missions. You’ve learned about Real-time infiltration and takedowns. You’ve read about the Banished Court and their otherworldly monsters, as well as the tools and mechanics you’ll use to fight them.

This is all part of the core experience, and your choices about what Agents you recruit and which ones you choose to upgrade are at the core of how you grow and shape your campaign with your time and investment.

However, all this is just a baseline, the first coat of paint on a set of miniatures you’re building for your adventure. Yet to come are the fine details, the metallic paint and drybrushing… additional choices and systems that make your campaign different each time. These options let you focus on the different strengths of your agent and help you build your own playstyle… And maybe, just maybe you’ll give your agents new capabilities you never expected.

Hi, I’m Patrick Lipo, Lead Designer on The Lamplighters League and with me again is Senior Designer and combat master Campbell Tran. We’re here to talk about the advancement arcs you’ll experience over the course of your search for The Tower at the End of the World.

The Undrawn Hand, or This is Not a Card Game

So to recap, every one of your characters has their own suite of abilities and their own upgrade path. You can also unlock perks and equip gear and consumables from your allies and Captain Nicky. Now, beyond all that you have The Undrawn Hand, your ace in the hole for fine-tuning how you’ll take on the Court.

The Undrawn Hand is a deck of cards that has the uncanny ability to change a person’s fate. It is the signature relic of the Lamplighters, filled with cards that look blank when drawn but show themselves for Lamplighters that tempt fate in service of the fight against evil. With it, you will create builds unique to your friends playing Lamplighters, with opportunities to unlock the most potent of combinations.

If it needed to be said, this is still a classic turn-based tactical game with movement and combat mechanics in the style that you are familiar with. Here’s how the Undrawn Hand comes into play:

When you complete a mission, you will return with new blank cards: some are acquired in the field, and some are granted as perks from the Cartomancer’s upgrades. These cards will reveal their contents to you once they are drawn, after which it’s up to you to choose how to play them on the Tableaus of the Agents who were present in the mission.

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