Homebrew Release: Warnel Chawpiovs (PC, Nintendo Switch)
Hey there, getting out of hibernation to release this homebrew game called Warnel Chawpiovs, for the PC and Nintendo Switch. I’ve been working on this for a few months now, and although it’s not exactly where I wanted it to be by now (multiplayer mode in particular is unfortunately broken), I’m happy enough for a first release.
This is a fan-created work and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Fantasy Flight Games. All characters, settings, and related elements are the property of their respective owners.
What’s Warnel Chawpiovs ?
Warnel Chawpiovs, aka WC, is a homebrew game for multiple platforms (included, but not limited to, Nintendo Switch and Windows), based on the popular cooperative board game Marvel Champions. WC lets you play a card game with full rules enforcement.
Screenshot from the Nintendo Switch version
See, I’m a huge fan of Marvel Champions to play solo, but the amount of rules in this game fries my brain. I badly needed a way to play with a computer doing the heavy lifting for me, so that’s what WC is about.
Please note that Warnel Chawpiovs doesn’t hold your hand. Although it automates all of the gameplay, you will still need a basic understanding of the original rules to know what’s going on. The rules can be found here if you’re interested: https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/marvel-champions-the-card-game/ (scroll down to the support/rules section and download “Learn to play“)
You can play on your own with one or multiple heroes, and there’s also a multiplayer mode, although I need to emphasize once again, multiplayer doesn’t exactly work*
I have binaries available for Windows and (hacked) Nintendo Switch, but this should work on Mac and Linux, as well as any other Godot compatible platform, as far as I know (I’m guessing Android/iOs too if touch simulates mouse clicks? I’ll leave this as an exercise to the reader)
How to install – Windows
Screenshot from the windows version
Download the binaries below or on the github page:
(alternatively on github)
extract anywhere on your computer, then run the WC.exe file
How to install – Nintendo Switch
You will need a hacked Nintendo Switch to run this game.
Download the binaries below or on the github page:
(alternatively on github)
extract the WC folder inside your switch folder on your SD card.
Launch the homebrew Menu in “full speed” mode (not in applet mode). This is done by pressing the Right Should button (R) while launching a cartridge game.
From there, you can run the game
Running your First Game
On your first run, unless you already have the appropriate “core.zip” file (that file is included on the packages hosted on my website, but not on github), the game will attempt to download images and other resources. You will need internet access for that step. This step can be pretty long, in particular on the Nintendo Switch. Again, that step is not needed if you have the appropriate “core.zip” file.
Once you’re in the game select “Sivgle Player”, then choose one hero and one villain, then click on launch.
Switch version
Check the Videos below for examples of gameplay
Status of the Switch port
The Switch port is… slow. You might want to overclock your console when you play the game. I know it’s not ideal, but it makes the gameplay much more comfortable.
I would not recommend playing with more than one hero at the moment, if only for performance reasons
Troubleshooting, bug reports, etc…
I do not have a dedicated forum or discord in place for this game yet. You can open issues on the github, or contact me by email, but please understand that I might dismiss or ignore most of those depending on free time and interest.
If there is enough interest for this little game, I might open a discord or something eventually.
Known issues
- Multiplayer should basically be considered broken for now.
- Switch port is slow. You might want to overclock your console
- There are still lots of issues with specific cards, but feel free to report issues you find on the github
Want more details?
check the Readme on github
What’s next:
There is still lots of work to do with this game. There are obviously lots of bugs whether from a rule enforcement perspective, or simply crashes/memory issues that I want to fix. The original game also offers many, many more cards that can be added. But in the long run, my dream would be to have multiplayer working somewhat consistently.
If by any miracle you are looking at my code and can help, in particular with multiplayer issues, please submit a PR on github
Download
Or on the project’s github page
* If you badly want to play Marvel Champions with friends online, the Marvel champions digital edition, another unofficial fan game, does a great job at it. I hate that they do everything better than my own game, but that’s how it is 🙂
Are you planning to release it for PS Vita too?
Not sure about ps vita. It’s worth a try of course since there is a godot port for it, and it might be as easy as just exporting the same build as the switch. However getting to a reasonable framerate on the switch was quite hard, and I’m worried the vita has even less stamina… But at the very least someone (maybe me) should try to compile it for ps vita and see how it goes.
Cool release! There’s so many logistics to digitizing games like these that oftentimes, even the official products don’t get it right (Yu-Gi-Oh especially comes to mind). I respect you making the effort, and the end result is clean, easy to comprehend, and pretty fun!
Welcome back!
Wow! This is incredible work. I’m glad that you found an outlet for your hobbies. This site is still one I refresh daily. Thanks for all the work!
It looks great! By any chance, would you provide some option in settings to limit the FPS? It’s now running at 300 FPS most of time on my laptop with RTX3060, and make the fan under pressure LOL.
Sorry about that! There has to be a way for me to limit fps to 60 or something in the godit settings, I’ll look into that for the next release
Lovely!
Can’t wait for updates for this, I play this IRL solo but sometimes would like to play it very quickly digitally as well. I tried it and it works well enough for a first version. The first thing to improve I would say is to stop “time” after every villain action as it’s hard to tell what’s happening (something like from yugioh simulators like edopro)
Yeah people have been telling me it’s hard to understand what’s going on, I’ll thin kof ways to make it clearer
Looks quite nice! We played through Arkham Horror LCG not long time ago; and this is also a game I’m interested in trying. In the future, would Android port (Fire HD 10 uses Android 9) be possible? I think Godot supports Anroid builds.
Yeah I think Android should be doable. A tablet would be better than a phone though. But by enabling simulation of mouse with touch it can probably work out of the box…
Works on winulator bionic, images are stretched though so unfortunately can’t progress further(does work though and everything runs how it should), might be down to messing about with resolution for me
This reminds me of Wagic and it’s release. Thank you for this gift!