Hello, Ladies and Gentlemen! Nod's here.
There have been many interesting events and changes happened to Gwent in its first anniversary
Community of the game is becoming more and more active uniting creative individuals and even the teams.
The perfect thing about this games is that it not only inspires you to have 1000 matches in it
but also to make valuable content or even help other players to get more pleasure from playing it.
You can find many one-of-a-kind streamers and youtubers that are interesting to watch and listen to.
These guys aren't only the Gwent players
they are dreamers, who want to make this game even more successful!
Gwent has become a hard to master game with hundreds of tactics to rely on.
That is the reason it is evaluated as a cybersport now.
Now the tournaments are conducted by CD Projekt RED and fan-communities both
But that doesn't mean developers have forgotten about the players who came to it just for fun
This is how the deck-trackers appeared
Let me explain it for those who don't understand what it is
Decktrackers allow you to see remaining cards in your deck or cards played by your opponent
There are also several interesting features that will be helpful for both newbies and experienced players
The pioneer here was Gwent Tracker, then Gwent Up emerged, running a close second,
and causing another dilemma amongst Witcher's fans (the first one is, of course, "Triss or Yennefer".)
It is for you to decide, which one you choose
I personally have chosen Gwent Up
Why did I do it?
I will explain it.
I've never been a conservative one, but I appreciate the will of developers to make their project better and better
I see powerful functionality that is evolving, getting more add-ons and upgrades
The team's very ambitious and its goals are getting more and more epic
They didn't just stop at making a tracker, no.
They are making an info-portal where the users will access
statistics of different top players' decks, matchups, and even cards.
It allows you to see the current situation on the ladder
that helps both common players and resources similar to our WildCard.
By the way, the team is Russian, so you can easily contact them and provide them with your feedback
I'm sure they'll like it!
In order to get clearer vision of what's Gwent Up and get acquainted with the team members,
I decided to talk to Sergey Rukosuev, on of the Gwent Up's creators
Besides, Sergei is responsible for community-management,
so we have been in touch since Close Beta times
This time I chose the interview format for you to get answers for the questions that you have
Please, tell us in the comment section whether you like such format
and enjoyed the interview with our first guest.
Hello Sergey! Please, introduce yourself!
Tell us, what were you doing before Gwent Up and what eventually made you do it?
Hey, Alexander! I will start with answer ing the first part of question
That is "What we were doing before Gwent Up?"
We have been making games and services for other projects and continue doing it right now
How did we decided to make this step?
Well, we were eager to work with Big Data (statistics and analytics)
We looked at Hearthstone and then found out about Gwent
As we are big fans of A. Sapkovskiy's books and Witcher game saga (and especially Witcher III)
we decided to look at this game closer
We wanted to use Overwolf's experience in another game
Such services are highly needed, so if isn't for us, than it will be someone else
Probably, part of our viewers don't know what is Overwolf. I, myself, haven't heard about it either.
Yeah, Overwolf is a creator and thought leader of the most popular deck tracker for another card game
that we won't mention on this stream, I suppose
I am sure everyone knows what I am talking about.
So the next question is about numbers. How many people are using Gwent Up, at least approximately.
Everyone loves numbers (hey, Forbes.)
Recently we have reached a mark of 63.000 users in total
But if we're talking about daily evaluation, it is something around 13.000
The number of players depends on major updates of the game
If it is the first week after update, we are having 20.000 gamers online
If it is season's end, and the position's in ladder are already distributed and there are few of those
who want to get higher in ladder, the number of active players falls to 12.000 or even 10k
I think it is not bad for Gwent
It is good that you've mentioned Forbes
as there will be a captious question
Does such amount of users bring any profit?
We have no secrets in financial aspect
We are currently getting donations from clients through patron system
which brings us ~$150 dollars of monthly revenue
As I recall it
There is also a Webmoney wallet, but there isn't much,
but some people prefer to donate there
Anyways, we would love to thank all patrons that support us
We wouldn't have such a strong motivation to develop our project, if it wasn't for you, guys!
As we are speaking about money, I wanted to ask you whether you have a regular job
besides Gwent Up's development?
Of course I do
Unfortunately, 150 dollars isn't enough for six people
Yeah
It is more like a hobby to us
I dedicated last 5 years to Game development
PC and Mobile games
The main specialization is Community management
Got it
So let's talk about your site now
Firstly, you didn't have it at all. There was just a page for downloading app
What eventually made you to create it?
I don't remember whether I answered these questions earlier
We planned to create the site in the first concepts
So it is a drastic difference…
I am sorry, I will get into details for a bit
as I need to tell you about the background
People are asking us: "What's the difference between you and the the first tracker?"
The most obvious thing that proves to stay out of players' sight
is that the first tracker was made to be just a tracker
We, on contrary, want to use it as a basis
platform for our future site
Initially we've had an ordinary site
that was transformed into a portal later on
That is exactly what we've been looking for
As soon as the tracker allowed us to use data we had at full capacity
we considered making all data public
As a conclusion to this answer - we have always wanted to have an analytical resource
Hmm, so the tracker is the tool for reaching that long-term goal
Of course. Moreover, if we unfold the entire idea for a bit more, statistics that we have is quite valuable
so besides getting feedback from our users, our e-mail has different offers from various portals
They see our statistics and say that they want it on their sites
In this case yes, the tracker was needed to solve the issue of acquiring this statistics and assist players…
Probably, I've got too far, so I will tell more about it later
Okay, as we are talking about site. What can a guest see on it?
Currently there isn't much to inspect as we' are only about to begin the development of larger services
Right now you can see the link to download our tracker, contact us via email,
and small description of the main features of the app
But that's got rusty and we want to actualize the functional of our site in the first quarter of 2018
Also we have Meta reports
By the way, we published 22th meta report last weekend
We develop the ranking system each season
As most players play with 2000 ranked points,
sooner or later they will develop their skills and get more points
We follow their lead and open new brackets
e.g. if we have 2000 points at the beginning later we will add brackets for 3000, 3500, and so on
Mhm, so what about these meta reports, how close are they to reality?
I heard feedback of pro-players who were saying
that the powerful decks were put somewhere deep below in the rating as their winrate is too small
How can you explain it?
I must say that pro-players are right
Let's consider an example: the average salary in a city is $1000
So if one person works as a plumber and gets $100 per month,
whilst another person is a businessman that gets $2000
the average salary for this city will still be $1000 (the numbers are close)
You should evaluate reports by their main mood
How good or bad they are in general
As you see, we have great decking in Gwent
There are examples of how one guy has 80% winrate on 4k+, when another - just 50%.
So the variability of data won't look trustworthy for those with high winrate
We must also mention newbies or just casual players
who consider new hero King Bran's 53% winrate unbelievably high, when they have only 40%
Okay.
Therefore, we are going to add more tools for more detailed classification of brackets.
There you will find numbers that will be closer to realia of top ladder
I have some secret information or maybe it isn't confidential at all
Still, you are making personal statistics for each player. Tell us more about it
Great question
Yes, it isn't a secret at all
We just test several functions in close access, they are, obviously, not shown to the wide audience yet.
And yeah, one of our projects is players' personal pages, the common attribute of any online game
But we understand that CD Projekt RED doesn't have much time for it now
so we decided to handle this mission ourselves
I hope that everyone will have access to it by the end of the year
What will be in personal statistics of the player
and how will it differ from meta reports?
Will there be additional features besides leaders or winrate?
There will be the most basic things: number of matches, winrate, position in ladder, and the nickname
There will also be 3 tabs:
1. Match history, meaning you will have access to your gaming record
We are flooded by the questions like: "Show us statistics of the 1st and 2nd turns"
so we will show who had the first turn
2. Deck statistics. It will be more detailed than in in-game tracker
There you'll see the statistics of the 1st and 2nd turns as well as the efficiency of this deck against each leader
3. The third tab will contain your decks - their cards, winrates, and everything else
We understand that all players are concerned about their privacy,
so you will be able to choose what you want to show to others
You can show all your decks and cards to everyone on the service or hide everything
so you would be the only person to see them
The settings will be in your personal cabinet on Gwent Up site
I like the thing with decks
It will be a great tool for streamers as you will be able to say: "Stop asking me, all my decks are right here"
It's comfy
Yeah, it is a convenient thing. That is why we do it
Besides everything you have already told,
Is there anything, in a long run, you will love to develop for your tracker or the site?
Although Gwent Up is our Pet project (an additional to the main one)
We consider it our hobby and don't want to stop upgrading it. In the first interview we've had...
Was it like a year ago?
Yeah, a year ago.
Yes, I told you that we want to make a replay kit, the tool that will record your matches right in-game
and save them (not in a video-format)
Which cards were played, what was the impact, etc
It is one of the long-term goals
What will happen in the nearest future is live statistics (which is already in the early access stage)
It will provide statistics on a daily basis instead of a weekly one,
there will also be more brackets (we won't wait until we'll have 100.000 games), more settings, and pro-category
It will allow you not only to look at ranked, but also at the situation on the pro-level
Okay, I think you have answered anything I needed regarding Gwent Up
So here is one more thing
Your team has increased in numbers, so I want to ask you
whether you are working on anything else besides GU
Well, some people from the team work together on different projects sometimes
I can discuss what some of our members do in general
But that wouldn't be true to say that we are constantly working together
I can tell you about one project called "Mentors" that has already been published in Russian AppStore
It is a turn-based RPG in a fantasy setting
Although it still requires some things to show it to entire world, it is very beautiful
I will send a link to Alexander, so he could post it in the description for you to check the game
The second project or, it'd be better to say, direction is game prototyping
We make game prototypes,
then we divide them into the projects that seem to be interesting and develop them further,
and those that we put aside to get back to them in future
And, sure thing, Gwent Up
Along with that there is plenty of things that I do myself
They are mostly related to my specialization like teaching at Higher School of Economics
where I had a "Community Management in gaming industry" course
and many other things that will be too long to mention
You have already answered everything I wanted to ask regarding this topic, I guess
So let's talk about Gwent now, okay?
Great!
So how often do you play Gwent?
Well
Okay, so I don't have any system for that. I can have no time to play for like a week
and then I enter the game and complete one daily mission a day (or even more)
So those who play often have their favourite factions like Northern Isles or Nilfgaard.
Do you have one?
Yeah, I have my personal favorite since Close Beta, it is Skellige
I didn't know it was very powerful when I started playing it, so it was a great thing to know
The deck that I created is based on Crach an Craite and modify it:
maybe add another bronze, then decide to change a gold card
But I wouldn't call myself a pro-player. I play more like for my personal satisfaction.
Do you have any advantages from developing Gwent Up while playing Gwent itself?
Like an instant access to all statistics or getting data that most players don't possess.
Yeah, it happens sometimes
But there is a strong difference between checking players' stats
to develop the entire tracking system, adding more features, seeing new concepts, etc.
and using such data to get higher in ladder or going to the tournaments, and winning prizes
The latter is unfair and wrong in general. By the way, I don't have this much time
And it is wrong again
Agree with you on that
So as you are working in the development sector and you have experience in this area, please, tell us,
what do you think is bad in Gwent?
I mean in general, anything that goes beyond problems with cards
Let's not mention balance issues, first-turns, and coinflips here.
Okay, so I will try to make a statement and then I will explain it
Currently, in my opinion, there are no big problems with the game at all
Let me explain it now
I look at the game from the point of Game developer, not a player
As you once go to GameDev's backstage for like a year, you start evaluating projects
in a different way that you did before
So Gwent is an original project, players that were satisfied with its
game core (the feature or several features that make people love the game)
and retention are very good
For those who don't know, retention is a period of time that you need to get tired of the game,
stop playing it, and get back to it later.
So the retention is very high
People don't get exhausted while playing it and if they do, they usually come back
So the game handles this task perfectly great
Though it has another problem, controversial to what I've said before
the entry barrier is quite high, meaning it is hard for novice players to understand the basic notions of it
However, the player has to feel oneself confident while playing,
but he is overwhelmed by the new information instead
Everyone including developers understands it,
as Adam Kiciński said in his last interview, they plan to make it easier for the newbie players to enter it
They also plan to bring more players to the game,
so I'm sure we'll have many interesting pieces of news during entire 2018
With an interval like 1.5 - 2 months
Oh, that would be awesome
In a few words, how do you think they can handle this entry barrier?
I'm not a game designer to talk about such matters, but I suppose
that some part of cards will get more casual
But there will also be enough place for the hardcore ones
You can see this tendency in game
There are cards of old type - they, in most cases, are easy-to-use, like put a card and get more power
or make a buff of your existing units and hit an enemy
But the cards similar to Gaunter o Dimm with more complicated conditions will be brought to lategame
I don't know and when yet, but we will probably see it ourselves soon
One more thing that can make us be sure about Gwent's future
Is another piece of news that I was surprised to hear is that Riot's Esports manager has left
the Russian office recently
So several days ago he announced that he is going to work in CD Projekt RED's team
on the post of Esports manager
So I think that will be even more emphasis on the cybersport aspect from now on.
Great news! I play League of Legends, when I get tired of Gwent
I've played it for 2 years, but now I don't have time to play it
I'm talking about the power of Riot's Russian team in general
You can find a lot of info about them, what they're doing, etc.
As I remember, this person started his path as a Community manager at Riot,
so he probably has some good background in that
Moreover, he is Russian, with almost native English, so I'm sure we are in good hands
So let's make a conclusion. Sergey, what do you think about the game? Is it going in the right direction?
Does it have future? Besides the future of Esports manager.
If the company's middle and top managers didn't see the future in it
they would neither develop it anymore, nor be loud in their praises of it in the media environment
So I think that everything goes fine
It is too early to talk about direction as there have been almost no steps yet
There are more words, than actions now, actually.
Please, ask me about it next year. Closer to the summer
Does it have future? Yes, it does
Even if we are talking about Gwent as the first CD Projekt RED's online product
It is very important, because it allows them to get experience in that field
So I predict that more online projects like this one will be released in future
Besides cool AAA singleplayer games, of course!
Okay, I've told you so much, but it is hard to structure everything properly
But I think everything will be great for us and CD Projekt RED
Thank you for your time! Would you like to wish anything to our watchers?
Sure! Play Gwent, use Gwent Up's analytics, and get fun while doing both!
So let's finish our interview on good terms
See you, Sergey!
Thanks! Would love to visit your channel once more
I hope we will get a huge number of questions from you and our watchers next time
Sure thing!
Please, tell us in the comment section whether you like such format
and enjoyed the interview with our first guest.
Besides, you can make a suggestion or ask a question regarding the new tracker
I think Sergey will be glad to answer the most interesting questions
Join our group in VK
and check the Meta-reports from Gwent Up!
I will put all mentioned links in the description!
Va fail!
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