A Brief History of Elements the Game by Zanzarino Snapshot version:Detailed version:Spoiler for Hidden:
May 10, 2009 Zanzarino launches beta version of “Elements. Fantasy cards game”. An
announcement is made on Flash Kit forums, a resource for flash developers.
May 19, 2009EtG is launched on Kongregate. A week later, there are around
25,000 accounts two weeks after launch. Due to rapid popularity, folks even suggested it become a Kongregate ‘Premium’ game.
May 22, 2009 First deck, first love:
"Pure" FireMore than 14 years later, Pure Fire is
still livin'June, July, August 2009Zanzarino is busy receiving feedback from players and peers on matters ranging from game bugs, card ideas, game mechanics, UI/UX, balance, economy, implementing a mulligan system, cheaters, and copyright concerns. Deckbuilding theory crafting is active: Deck types, turns to win, power of rare weapons, multi-color (aka rainbow) prominence in top decks, player life points 100 vs 200, etc., are eagerly discussed. Players note the dominance of Dimensional shield and Nova; players take sides; Camp Dim vs. Camp Nova.
Carry steal and deflag they say.
Poison will bypass Dims! There are concerns about bonewall with 3 ‘charges’. A series of patches and updates are in motion. PvP beta is tested mid-July and included in the
launch of 1.0 on July 22nd, 2009.
Screenshot of Game - June 8, 2009
December 2009 and year of 2010- Announcement of the New Forum
- Hirings of moderators, managers, Masters of Elements, and a Council.
- PvP leagues are active: beginner and championship league levels
- First trials and war are held shortly after 1 year anniversary
July 19, 2013 1.4 is the last update by Zanzarino; the community carries on but lack of game development leads to stagnation and diminishing community participation
Sept 14, 2014A
letter to Zanzarino that goes
unansweredDecember 31, 2020Flash End of Life
Open Elements the Game: A 10-year history
art banner credit: TimpaNovember 29, 2013Serprex, lead game developer of oEtG, commits
first lines of code
December 7, 2013 oEtG is
available to public play
December 21, 2013New cards: Gift of Oceanus, Neurotoxin, and Monk
January 12, 2014Paris Mulligan
implementedFebruary 19, 2014Fippe takes the lead on development for a time;
Serprex is inactive for 2 months but picks up again in May and continues to lead development to present.
February 24, 2014Open EtG is
welcoming of community contributions.
February and March 2014AI Naming:
Commoner,
Champs, and
Demigods;
Dawn to Dusk designs earliest DGs;
Mages addedApril 9, 2014Image of
early user interface
June 21, 2014Recognition of contributions:
programmers,
artists, testers
July 15, 2014New
Menu interface
July 22, 2014Interface
develops further
July 25, 2014First Quest:
Proving GroundsAugust 1, 2014Challenges of development
August 16, 2014Plans to develop OpenEtG-vanilla branch
August 25, 2014ColorlessGreen Gets the community
organized with Demigod prediction counters
November 30, 2014 
First birthday of OpenEtG!
Fippe summarizes the highlights of the first year:
December 8, 20142014
Georesonator vs 2023 version
February 24, 2015OETG achieves a solid stage of
maturation.
August 4, 2015Another
iteration of UI
September 2, 2015Deck editor
User InterfaceDecember 13,2015Another
iteration of IU
November 2, 2017Another
iteration of UI
May 4, 2018After a 2-yr period of
low activity and slow development,
ColorlessGreen notes that development
picks up againJuly 20, 2019ColorlessGreen creates an
FAQ/Guide/walkthrough for players transitioning to OETG
July 27, 2020First team PvP launched:
Quad Team BattleOctober 3, 2020Legacy mode
implementedDecember 25, 2020Server is
rewritten in Rust
February 01, 2021In addition to designing 9 new card art,
Sael creates
art for card packs. The following graphics and
forum thread showcase the 'community involvement' that is emblematic of OETG:
Spoiler for Hidden:
Here's what it used to look like:
The artist's initial sketch:
After art is proposed, another member -
Timpa-
suggests additional UI enhancements.
Here's what it is now:
2 new cards
added: Stasis and Bloodmoon
November 2023Plans to add 8 new
shields and additional cards. Each element will now have 3-shields.
November 30, 2023 Open Element the Game's 10th birthday
Thank you,
Serprex
Contributors:Sources:Full size banner: