A brand new venture, Blue Manchu, has also announced its first project: Card Hunter, a Flash-based browser game powered by microtransactions. It's an original fantasy-themed collectible card/board game hybrid.

Right now, Chey is the only full-time member of Blue Manchu - for which he is providing his own funding - but he's getting a few helping hands from other veterans of Irrational Games. In an interview with Gamasutra，Chey explained the title in a little more detail:

"The best way to describe it is, imagine I take an MMO, and every time you fight a monster, instead of playing a timer game with with pull downs and buttons that you click, you're playing a turn-based strategy game. You have little pieces on a board, and you play cards to move those pieces around, and that's the battle you fight."

Card Hunter is planned as browser-based, but the studio is considering a downloadable client as well. This upcoming title will offer competitive multiplayer experience that will use an micro-transaction model to sell vanity items but not cards; cards will solely be given to players by playing the game. The game is scheduled for launch in late 2011.

About Card Hunter

Card Hunter is a collectible card game with some twists:

• It's free to play and you win cards by playing the game, not by buying expensive booster packs.
• Search dungeons to find treasure and then equip your loot to build out your decks.
• Use your cards to move your characters and battle monsters' decks.

Classic fantasy adventuring meets collectible card gaming and the result is entirely new. Tired of pressing buttons while grinding away at quests? Card Hunter is all about skill – your skill at deck building and playing your cards. Tired of paying for endless new card sets? Card Hunter lets you win by playing, not by paying.