One of the points I made yesterday regarding Card Hunter’s potential was:

1) Card Hunter is not being made by some large corporation (even if their F2P pricing is similar);

It occurred to me later though, that I never bothered to check on the actual game developers. Who are these guys and gals, and how were they able to create such a polished experience even in this Beta state? As it turns out… well, let’s just say that they have some experience in this regard:

• Jonathan Chey – co-founder of Irrational Games, director of Bioshock, producer of System Shock 2.
• Joe McDonagh – Production Director and Peggle Studio Franchise Director at PopCap Games.
• Dorian Hart – Veteran at Irrational Games; worked on System Shock I and II, Thief and BioShock.
• Tess Snider – from Trion Worlds, programmed Rift.
• Kevin Kulp – DM/game designer, worked at Wizards of the Coast, Green Ronin, and other places.
• Richard Garfield – Design consultant. Created Magic: The Gathering.
• Skaff Elias – Design consultant. Magic designer and founder of the Magic pro-tour.

So… yeah. Maybe this team isn’t so indie after all. I mean, when you have Richard fucking Garfield as a design consultant for your pseudo-TCG, that almost feels like cheating. Then again, I’m not particularly interested in having a hipster semantic war. Seven dudes with two consultants and no major publisher with suits to answer to? That passes the indie smell test for me.

P.S. For those just submitting their beta applications, it took me from May 11 to Jun 20 to get in.