Tyler Parrott
@davflamerock
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2,186
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Game designer. He/Him. Poly. I talk Star Wars: Unlimited, Magic: the Gathering, Halo, and social justice. *My opinions are strictly my own*
Minneapolis, MN
Joined April 2008
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I don't think you guys can fathom how excited I am for Secrets of Power. It's my passion project: I pitched a specific vision and was given the opportunity to lead design a set that captures the feeling of, well...that'd be a spoiler. I'm so proud of how it turned out
#FFGStaff
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@GovTimWalz
I have so much respect for how brilliantly you've led us through the coronavirus pandemic, but...
_what concrete and immediate steps will you take to combat unrelenting police violence_
beyond punishing the citizens of the Twin Cities (via curfew) for the police's sins?
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Good morning GenCon! It's me hanging out at the event hall to play Unlimited and chat with players. Come say hi!
#FFGStaff
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Force Lightning was guaranteed to be in Set 1—it's one of the most iconic things in all of Star Wars. In previous SW games it has always been a "defeat a unit" style card, but we wanted it in red, and I really wanted to get this card right, theme-wise. (1/9)
#FFGStaff
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When it came to designing a card for Salacious Crumb, I insisted that the emotional experience of the card be "annoying, but ignorable." This led towards a lot of tiny game actions that could add up over time, and led to a card design I (at least) find very fun
#FFGStaff
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I also had a heavy hand in the design (and creative) of this set. As a kid who grew up with the prequels, I love so much of this
#FFGStaff
The Clone Wars begin! It’s time for a first look at Twilight of the Republic, the epic third set of STAR WARS: Unlimited. Command your forces of clone troopers or battle droids and dive into a whole new wave of unlimited possibilities.
Read more here:
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Since Set 2 was our introduction to the sequels, it was important to have the full main cast in the set. And since Black One was in Set 1, we of course made him directly synergize with it!
#FFGStaff
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We couldn't have a Mandalorian starter without Grogu. The little guy went through lots of revisions as we tried to get across "distract & debuff," and it wasn't until we realized we could achieve it with more HP and a single line of text that he reached this design
#FFGStaff
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Moff Gideon was introduced as a leader of an army of troopers (storm, death, and dark), so we wanted "small units" to be his identity. The key was making sure the power buff on his front was conditional enough and in-color, so we made it only work against other units
#FFGStaff
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We were unwilling to go the full first year with no Rey or Kylo Ren leaders, so we looked for the most thematic place to put them. Rey being a scavenger made the most sense in Set 2, which pushed us towards a "weak units grow over time" identity that proved very fun
#FFGStaff
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Mandalorians in Set 2 have a prominent "upgrades matter" theme given the importance of their gear (in and out of lore). Also, we wanted this character to work with Bounty upgrades. Hence the "when you play an upgrade" trigger, which melds both themes perfectly!
#FFGStaff
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It's been a long (almost) three years since we started down this road, but here we are. I've been floored by the audience reception to the game. It's so much fun to play and it's so rewarding seeing everyone's enthusiasm. I think Unlimited is something special.
#FFGStaff
STAR WARS: Unlimited is now available in stores and online worldwide!
With the full might of Spark of Rebellion at your fingertips, you can finally put your deckbuilding skills to the test! How will you be spending your first weekend playing STAR WARS: Unlimited?
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Iden Versio was intended to be the blue/villain "control deck" leader, so I wanted to make Inferno Squad align with her. Gideon fills the role of "giant finisher" & the fact that they have the same triggering condition should signal that they want to be played together
#FFGStaff
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GenCon comes to a close, but we had SO MUCH FUN! Work hard, play hard, and crash my dudes
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We weren't going to copy the Spectres' identity for the Bad Batch, but we knew people would want to put them all in the same deck. Omega's character is the one that brings the team together, so it made perfect sense for her to be the glue that lets you play them all
#FFGStaff
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Shadows of the Galaxy! Let's go play "outside the law" for a few months, shall we?
#FFGStaff
Shadows of the Galaxy turns the focus of STAR WARS: Unlimited toward the Outer Rim!
With new cards and mechanics to explore, it’s time to dive into the second set of STAR WARS: Unlimited!
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I did feel very confident going out of the gate, but glad to have my confidence validated. We worked / really/ hard to develop Spark of Rebellion
#FFGStaff
Spark of rebellion has to be the most balanced and well designed set 1 of any card game ever. It’s amazing how good it is
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Kylo Ren being a discard-from-hand leader made Palpatine's Return an obvious design, given the meme & how much some people love "Reanimator" strategies. But it was important the title read well to someone who doesn't know the meme, which is why no "somehow"
#FFGStaff
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The idea of a heroic Boba Fett was far too exciting to pass up, so he was in the card file from the very first trailer. What proved to be more difficult was what ability would be simple and general enough to be common while still being exciting
#FFGStaff
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Everybody's got that one card that they just seem to keep opening. What's yours? (I've opened 8 Bodhis over about 3 boxes)
#FFGStaff
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@NPR
(directed at Rep. Cole)
I'm sorry, but WHAT? Another impeachment is not a "trauma." You know what is? Trauma is white supremacists nearly murdering members of Congress. It's the Confederate Flag in the Capitol building. It's terrorism from GOP voters.
That's TRAUMA. Resign.
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In Set 1, our typal leaders were both in green: the natural home for "units matter" abilities. In Set 2 we wanted to branch out from that, so not all typal decks are base-green, so we made Mandalorians a blue/red faction, led by the Princess in Exile.
#FFGStaff
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Here's a preview for you: the following subtitles appear on unique leaders/units in Set 2:
#FFGStaff
Offering No Escape
Muscle for Hire
Keeping the Past
Loyal to the End
Worth the Risk
I Trust No One
BOOM!
This is a Rescue
Dealer in Truths
Ambitious Upstart
That's Good Business
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"The Armorer creates shields" was always the first design idea we had for her, and she seemed like an ideal character to bring Mandalorian typal together. Note that she upgrades your team of Mandalorians for their upgrade synergies while also helping them survive
#FFGStaff
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First major (220 player) Unlimited tournament happening today in the UK. And it's got coverage! I'm watching it on the TV!! It's so exciting!!!! (Via
@OPEUKOfficial
)
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What's that? Is there another livestream tomorrow? And I'm on it? And...something-something Shadows? I didn't catch that last bit, but it sounds exciting!
#FFGStaff
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There are many simple designs that appear in games like this, and "board wipe but return to hand" is a common one. We put "non-leader" because leaders can't be returned to hand...and inadvertently discovered a card with a unique strategic niche
#FFGStaff
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When we decided Underworld-matters was going to be a yellow/villain theme, we went searching for the best leader to helm the deck. Organized crime lends itself towards green, so who would be more of a scoundrel yet still surrounded by criminals? Cad Bane, of course!
#FFGStaff
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This is one of the more popular cards in the set, internally.
#FFGStaff
Doctor Evazan debuts in STAR WARS: Unlimited as a Cunning unit!
With knowledge of his aspects and subtitle, what ability do you think this unit has?
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Much has been said of this card's theme, but I want to talk about how well it's balanced. We want good card draw to be "pay X, conditionally draw X cards" which this is. Also, we would never dream of 3 cost deal 7, but it's such a good rate that this is a real choice
#FFGStaff
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Rather than create overt synergy via a trait, we wanted the Bad Batch to have a mechanical identity. "Multiple uniques with the same name" played into them being clones, & we got to make a little engine: Echo discards for Marauder, Marauder makes a resource for Wrecker
#FFGStaff
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"What have you been working on these past three years?"
Only a dream project: I've helped design an incredible Star Wars TCG. Shockingly easy to learn, huge skill ceiling, and we get to play in the whole toybox. I can't wait for you all to see more
#FFGStaff
Announcing STAR WARS: Unlimited, a trading card game of unlimited possibilities!
Join the clash between heroes and villains from across the STAR WARS galaxy! Learn more:
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Sometimes you end up with a hole in your set and a leftover art piece from a previous set to put on it. In this case, it was "what would a rare green/hero upgrade titled 'Inspiring Mentor' do?" And that's how Obi-Wan and Luke ended up in Set 2 instead of Set 1.
#FFGStaff
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It's tradition at my studio that, after you've been at the company for 5 years, you get a piece of art commissioned with your likeness to be used in a game. Having now passed that threshold, I'm so excited to share my art piece, set in the murky forest of Middle-earth
#FFGStaff
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When grit was originally slated to debut in Set 2, we included a small Wookiee-typal package to give the mechanic a heroic home. Tarfful is intended to be a fun rare for anyone who wants to build their Wookiee deck. Be careful not to upset them!
#FFGStaff
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Did you know that the Star Wars Unlimited design team is looking to hire another designer? If you've been working towards getting into the game design industry and love TCGs, now's your chance! #
#FFGStaff
(Link in comment)
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When Hondo was the "capture-matters" leader, he had Jabba's deploy ability. The deck was problematic, but the deploy ability was strong & fun, and Jabba already had a "give bounties to units" identity, so it felt like a natural shift to give Jabba some immediate power
#FFGStaff
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You know what's really cool? Your first showcase being the one leader from the set that you'll be playing the longest
#FFGStaff
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When I first saw this, I was dubious about its rarity because the attack debuff felt like a small reward for the non-Vehicle condition. Then I put it on a sentinel and watched my opponent's face fall, and I knew we had a winner of a rare on our hands
#FFGStaff
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At the end of Clone Wars 6, Lom Pyke freely gives Anakin and Obi-Wan the information they want but he does so tactically, giving partial truths to control where their suspicions lie. I wanted his card to be equally "helpful and fair," but with a self-serving twist
#FFGStaff
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Just played some amazing (from the future) playtest games with a deck built around Qi'ra leader. I'm so proud of how she turned out, she's an absolute blast every time
#FFGStaff
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The most famous smugglers in Star Wars are all heroes (see: Han), so it felt natural to make Smuggle lean towards hero in the color pie. Therefore they got a simple common but also the most open-ended Smuggle enabler in the set.
#FFGStaff
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For most of development, you could freeze enemy leaders in carbonite. We found that while we could cost it appropriately, it would end up being un-fun for someone (either too expensive or locks leaders out of the game), so we made it cheaper but not affect leaders
#FFGStaff
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It's important when designing typal strategies that they have unique play patterns or else they all end up feeling the same. Underworld being primarily yellow in Sets 1-2 made "(re)play units" a clear identity, & it was an instant hit. People love making little engines
#FFGStaff
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There was never any doubt in our mind that this card was going to exist in Set 1, with this text & title & aspects. The only question was one of cost. We tried it initially at 7 resources for a while, but found that it too effective at invalidating the early-mid game
#FFGStaff
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When I worked on L5R, one of the most notorious cards in the game was Let Go—a 0 cost event that defeated any upgrade. It was too strong, but the real issue was assigned to a faction so only 1/7th of players got to use it. This time, I was going to correct that mistake
#FFGStaff
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Kylo Ren began with his unit side, an unusual top-down design representing his famous recklessness. From there it was backwards-designing a compelling front side that discarded cards to make an exciting villainous aggro leader.
#FFGStaff
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Grit is an interesting keyword because it scales nonlinearly based on the unit's HP. Having grit on a 2 HP unit is significantly weaker than having grit on a 5 HP unit, etc. I like cheap grit units because they create little puzzles of how to best maximize them
#FFGStaff
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This set was always intended to have a strong Mandalorians + Upgrades subtheme, which raised the question: what about the villains? Gar Saxon being a bridge between Set 1 Imperials and Set 2 Mandalorians made him a perfect fit to be the home of the villainous Mandos
#FFGStaff
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I didn't want a U-Wing in the set (there wasn't room), but I did want to make sure they got into the art, and the ship was designed as a troop carrier. This served the perfect role we needed from a top-end go-wide enabler for green/hero in the set
#FFGStaff
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Kyle was over here doing the hyperspace treatment before we made the hyperspace treatment 😄 (I do particularly love this art/card)
Check it out! I’m so stoked to finally be able to share the first card piece I got to draw for the upcoming third set of
@UnlimitedFFG
Twilight of the Republic 😁 Set 3 releases worldwide this November!
#starwars
#starwarsunlimited
#tcg
#fantasyflightgames
#cardart
#clonetrooper
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We wanted an anti-control card, something that really punished players for accumulating cards and not putting them onto the table. But we didn't want to wholly take away peoples' agency, so we decided to reset to 2 cards instead of discarding all of them
#FFGStaff
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Would you believe that grit wasn't originally in Set 1? It was originally going to be a debut mechanic of Set 2, and thus has two leaders that directly synergize with it. Qi'ra, as the ruthless survivor that she is, was an obvious fit for it.
#FFGStaff
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With all the undercosted Bounty units giving aggro a big boost in this set, we wanted to make sure we made aggro counters as well. Moisture Farmer is a designer favorite since it invites your opponent to make interesting decisions about whether to race the farmer or not
#FFGStaff
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Mathematically, Clone Deserter would have been balanced as a 3/2 with Bounty, and we tried him as such for a while. But despite my enthusiasm, that stat line was far too aggressive so he was switched to a 2/3 Restore 1 instead so he'd encourage midrange play.
#FFGStaff
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The design identity for Aphra was always "archaeologist who fills the discard pile and then gets something back." It's a fun identity, but how to prevent your discard becoming a second hand? Hence Aphra's return being semi-random. What will she discover this time?
#FFGStaff
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I love Qi'ra SO MUCH you guys (both the card and the character)
With a unique ability to heal damage and deal it evenly, Qi’ra enters STAR WARS: Unlimited in Shadows of the Galaxy!
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While most bounties are given by upgrades, there was a little bit of thematic design space for units to assign bounties to enemy units. Client proved to be so valuable to the draft metagame that we made him uncommon, despite the memory complexity
#FFGStaff
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Sometimes we make cards that we don't think are strong, even though we develop them at a balanced rate. I think such cards are important because I'm not the whole audience—even if I don't know how a card could be used, I want the tool to exist in case someone else does
#FFGStaff
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We explored a number of ways to communicate the synergistic relationship between Mandalorians and upgrades, & one I particularly liked was an effect that drew you a Mandalorian and an upgrade. A minor tweak to account for a deck's natural unit-skew, and This Is The Way.
#FFGStaff
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This unit changed a lot, as we had trouble finding a fun & compelling design for it. Then Danny came up with a simple, effective, midrange card with lots of interesting counterplay that the metagame needed. That it fit the existing art/title perfectly was a blessing
#FFGStaff
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I really wanted the Dark Trooper to trigger whenever any damage was dealt to it (not just combat damage) because it would let me make a little damage -> XP engine. However, it proved way too effective with Qi'ra, so we had to rein it in.
#FFGStaff
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There was a hot debate about whether Cloud Rider was too strong in development: a 2-cost unit that's also a "deal 3 damage" event? But ground restriction proved meaningful enough to prevent it from dominating, so Cloud Rider turned out to be an exciting Underworld unit
#FFGStaff
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One of the things about two lanes in draft is that if you don't draft enough units for both, you can get run over by an opponent who has an uncontested lane. So we made sure to put an overcosted but reliable space sentinel to be a backup plan for drafters
#FFGStaff
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However, increasing to 18 stories is a huge improvement, and the character writing of
@ArsenaultRivera
and
@seananmcguire
has been fantastic. I'm more emotionally invested in this story than I've been in years and it's because of how much depth these characters have gotten (2/2)
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I'mma be honest, following both
@ArsenaultRivera
and
@seananmcguire
on Twitter during Magic story season is an absolute joy. WotC has absolutely found the right people to be writing the story right now
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This card was BUSTED for a good chunk of playtesting, so we brought it down to desirable levels (which is to say, an exciting dream to chase but not risking an unfun Sneak Attack Meta™). We intentionally made it cost 2, however, so Jabba and Bib could live the dream
#FFGStaff
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We wanted the mods to play nicely with the new heroic Boba Fett, so they got Ambush to maximize his power boost. The rest was finding the right combination of stats/raid to keep it balanced, considering how strong Ambush is naturally
#FFGStaff
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This might be one of the coolest draft decks I've ever gotten. Lost 1-2 against Gar Saxon though!
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@ChrisKMooney
2 mana black uncommon "destroy target not-this-set's-theme creature" is honestly one of my favorite recurring designs. Such a clean way to communicate a theme
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While I originally pitched this as-is, we all expected it to be far too strong. We were therefore surprised when the logic of "1 cost is worth approximately +1/+1" also translated to "1 cost is worth approximately +0/+2" in a remarkably fair way.
#FFGStaff
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Once we landed on this design for Smuggle, Jeremy had an idea for a scanning officer that could try to catch smugglers, and we really liked it. Extra benefit that she serves as a safety valve against a Smuggle-heavy metagame!
#FFGStaff
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This is also true for Unlimited, of course—drafting teaches you the game's fundamental skills and mechanics. It's one of (many) reasons we prioritize draft and sealed during design, to make sure it stays fun and accessible as an entry point to the game writ large
#FFGStaff
I'm often asked, "What's a good way to improve at Magic?"
My answer? Play draft.
Drafting teaches card evaluation, synergy, and deckbuilding.
Playing is nuts and bolts: when to attack, adapting, and threat evaluation.
It is Magic, distilled. And it's fun!
Draft!
#wotcstaff
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This card (& the scout bike) went back & forth a LOT about whether it should be a Vehicle. Ideally it would be, but Vehicle & Non-Vehicle are mutually exclusive, so we had to make the call of whether blasters or modifications made more sense to be able to attach to it
#FFGStaff
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Don't Get Cocky was a card concept I loved from the Star Wars LCG (when I played that game), being a particularly fun sequence from my favorite Star Wars movie. I insisted we have an event with this title & art, so the team really went top-down on it. I love the result!
#FFGStaff
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Set 2 was pitched w/ Grit, Smuggle, Capture, and Bounty as the primary set mechanics, so each got a leader. So where's the Capture leader? It was originally Hondo! But we discovered that the all-capture deck is miserable to play against, so he had to change his identity
#FFGStaff
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Late in development we realized red/villain aggressive decks needed some ways to finish off an opponent who stabilized at low base HP, and we didn't like our design for the Raider. Making a finisher that also made sense as an anti-fighter ship was an interesting puzzle
#FFGStaff
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As a Grand Inquisitor fan, this is one of my favorite cards in the set. A 3/3 that exponentially increases the value of stat-boosting upgrades with both its keywords, or a 5/1 ready attacker for three resources! All with the simplicity of two keywords
#FFGStaff
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One of the weaknesses of ramp is that it easily gets run over by aggro decks. So we wanted to include an expensive green unit that can consistently heal your base, but intentionally gave it weaker stats so it's vulnerable to removal. It's way overperformed expectations
#FFGStaff
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Happy 4th of July! If you believe in freedom and democracy, you need to help us make sure Donald Trump doesn't become president in November, and that as many Republicans in Congress are replaced with Democrats. I don't want this to be the last 4th of July.
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Like most of Set 1, we designed this card bottom-up, in this case to help break control mirrors. Immediately the title "Forced Surrender" fit perfectly, and as a lifelong fan of the Phantom Menace I refused to let this art and title pass this chance by
#FFGStaff
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Death Mark, the most classic bounty from the original trilogy. This was an easy design that fit all the boxes of "is well-costed," "is thematic," "is simple," and "is perfectly in-color." One of the first designs that never changed
#FFGStaff
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This card came together by attaching a bunch of red words together: grit (red), reward for damaging a base (red), ready a unit (red). We allowed it to see your own base being damaged as a comeback mechanic, which I always prefer
#FFGStaff
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🤔 You know, come to think of it, "people living in the Shadows of the Galaxy" probably does include scavengers, doesn't it?
#FFGStaff
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While resourcing is one of the mechanics that makes Unlimited unique, there's surprisingly little design space available. We wanted to explore resource-matters design space on a leader, and Hunter's "unique with same name" concept was a natural place for it
#FFGStaff
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When we were building the set, Val was a clear slot into blue (see yesterday), but Beckett really wanted to be yellow. We wanted them to be playable together, so Beckett has a blue smuggle, but then we needed to make sure his ability was also within blue's color pie
#FFGStaff
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Last day of Cannes Festival! Will be opening a LOT of packs on stream for the next few hours, then will be hanging out at the Unlimited booth for the rest of the day. Come find me and say hi!
#FFGStaff
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Who's excited to draft tomorrow on the livestream? I get to open packs! With real cards! On stream! We're gonna explain all the rules and then see what the packs give us...
#FFGStaff
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Not gonna lie, feel very much like I dodged a bullet today. Appreciate those who checked in with me and know that my heart is with those who got it worse off—fortune has favored me this time and for that I'm very grateful. I intend to make the most of that fortune.
#FFGStaff
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One of the challenges of developing Smuggle was the fact that it provides both flexibility and card advantage. In order to make sure each Smuggle card was fair and balanced, we had to make one of the two halves (from hand or Smuggle) weak to offset that flexibility
#FFGStaff
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Overheard at playtesting, from someone playing a Force deck: "Space [arena] is cheating ☹️"
#FFGStaff
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