Developer Insight: The Divination Card Creation Process

Highgate Supporters have access to the Divination Card submission tool on the website. This tool is essentially a series of drop-down menus that narrow the thousands of possible choices for a reward down to just one. Some choices include normal item base-types with no specific level, magic items with a specific mod, rares on certain base-types, and uniques. There are also broad categories in case the supporter wants some randomness, such as "Any Dagger" with a specific mod or number of linked sockets. Of course, supporters can also choose currency, gems, maps, fragments and even other divination cards if they'd like!

There are also boxes for supporters to suggest a theme for the art, and flavour text to appear at the bottom of the card, and a little tick-box if the supporter wants the item corrupted.

Once the page is filled out, it goes to us. In fact, it usually goes specifically to me. While looking at the player's request, I ask myself certain questions: Does the name fit with other divination cards? Do the name, art suggestion, flavour text and reward all fit together and hopefully tell a cohesive story? Does the reward fit the limitations of the Divination Card system? Does it overlap too much with another card -- to the point that players may not seek this (or the other) card out?

A great example of all the parts working together is The Sun:



I let the creator know if there are any parts that have to be changed, and often try to make suggestions to make all the parts of the card fit together cohesively. There's often several rounds of changes and suggestions between the supporter and me until we're both happy with the result.

It then goes to Erik to be checked by a fresh set of eyes. Once everyone involved so far is happy, the creator's part of the process is done. We then pass it to our artist Shaun.

While we have lots of 2D artists working on various things in the game, the decision was made to try to only use one artist on these cards to create a consistent style. Shaun, in my opinion, nailed the fine line between stylistic symbolism and cool imagery that these divination cards called for. Shaun's art gets passed between he and Erik until it's ready to be added to the game.

Before it can drop from monsters, one of the most important things has to be worked out -- the drop-rate! First we figure out which areas we can allow the card to drop in. We look at whether there are other cards dropping there, what level the area is, and whether it has other rewards for farmers already. Once the list of areas has been narrowed down, we choose the best fit for thematic reasons. When there are multiple cards with similar rewards, we try to also use the location as a differentiator.



When we're figuring out the drop frequency, we tend to give a premium based on the type of item. For example, a card set that grants currency will drop a little more frequently than the currency it grants. A specific unique might drop about four times as often, and other items approximately twelve times as often. Items with special restrictions (such as league or Atziri uniques) have adjustments made, as do highly desirable or extremely valuable items. Once all the numbers have been worked out and checked (and double checked!), the card is implemented and slated to go into the next content patch.

For those of you who are curious about making a divination card, the Highgate supporter packs are still available. Some tips for creating them:

• Keep it simple! Divination cards don't have much room for art or text, so simple ideas often come out best.
• Think about the theme! Cards are not just an opportunity for sweet loot -- they help build the world of Wraeclast.
• Think about rarity! Some rewards are going to force the card to be very, very rare. That's not a bad thing if you don't mind your card having a limited audience.

For Divination Card fans, I'm happy to say that the cards added into Path of Exile so far are only a small fraction of the cards currently in the pipeline. We have many more coming!