Game release!?!

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ngoeminne
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Joined:Mon Feb 29, 2016 15:34
Game release!?!

Post by ngoeminne » Sat Oct 29, 2016 12:54

I'm proud to announce the first game release.

Really? Well no, not really, but we are moving closer to one.
When we set out the road map at that beginning of the project's rebirth in Feb 2016,
I hoped to have something to show for by the end of the year.

The goals were clear: finish up at least one playable rule set, create two preconstructed decks, play test, get artwork, professional prints, release.

At that time there weren't much people left, and some frowned their eyebrows. But thanks to our combined effort we might actually might do what couldn't be done: deliver.

So where are we at this stage?

About the rules

- The ARC rule set has been finished, and playtested, (some minor clarifications might occur)
- The ORC rule set has been finished, not yet playtested

About the cards

Two ARC Decks have been constructed and playtested.
- The 'Uneasy Alliance' deck has been completely finished, including the artwork
- The 'Gaian Love for Life has been completely finished, (Santi's working on the last 5 drawings)
- Some minor clarifications or rephrasing of the cards rule might still occur (dep. on feedback)

About the prints

The 'Uneasy Alliance' deck has been professional proof printed and cut. The cards came out amazingly well, they are in fact way better then commercial cards in color depth, texture, look and feel. The only downside is that cuts and round corners could have been done better. A custom cutting-stance could offer a solution here.
All in all, the results are more awesome then the rules.

Finally, we have a box design (in progress), which I manually printed, laminated and cut, in prep of doing it professionally. I've put some pictures on our wiki http://wtactics.org/wiki/index.php?titl ... re_Gallery

About the database

It became soon clear, that we needed a card database to replace the defunct cardscape. If only for having a central place where we can browse and edit the available cards. It aslo was clear that manually creating cards would take to much time and resources what we simply didn't have. So we created a tool that generates the card based on the database information and a set of templates.

Although the results are not what you'd achieve when you do a manual layout (as the great examples done by snowdrop), the generated card's end result is acceptable. In the end I'm happy we took this approach or else we wouldn't have anything to show for now.

The templates for 'Red Banner', 'Gaia' and 'Dark Legion' are finished, the templates for 'House of Nobles' and 'The Empire' are available but still need some (minor work).

About the online game

While our major focus was on the rules, cards and prints. We developed a working basic online demo.
The goals there were to investigate the technical risks, design of a GUI, examine UI interaction possibilities and player to player communication. Now that this is done, further development of the game will be on hold, and focus will be on the game release.

About the site and the wiki

A big effort has been done to clean up the wiki, and to remove/hide dead stuff and to add new relevant information. At least the project doesn't seem broken any longer. A minor effort has been done to clean up/remove dead stuff on the main site.

Who contributed? (listed in random order)

General Ideas & discussions: Mattiayah, Ravenchild (Kingdom/Cities idea), Saart, Peter, Xarn, Snowdrop, Nico,
Rule sets: Xarn (ARC, VSR), Peter (ARC, VSR), Snowdrop (ORC, ARC), Nico (ORC, ARC)
Editorial work: Pistos (wiki, ARC Rules, & Cards, a big big thanks!)
Card Design: Snowdrop, Nico
Card Artwork: Santiago Iborra
Card Database & Generation tool: Nico
Online game demo: Nico
ARC Playtesting: Bart, Fred, Koen, Stijn, Nico
Feedback & clarification: Clemens (our newest adept, just joined and already raising some good points)

Also I'd like to thank the bfw folks for sharing some artwork resources. And of course all the pre-reboot contributes for all their effort in the past. If they are still around, I'd be glad to have them on board once again.

What's next?

Well, we're getting ready to do a pre-release of the ARC decks. Santi is finishing up the artwork, Clemens, Pistos and I are working on the last edits of the cards/rules. I hope they'll be ready to ship before Christmas.

As always card development will continue, as will the online game (on a slow pase). When the thing ships, we'll start making some more fuss and PR and might do crowd funding to sponsor the artwork/server costs.

Helping hands

Anyone who's willing to help out, or play a more active role, there are still lots of things to be done. Especially in the game's lore, PR, card/deck design, online game dev, artwork, etc...
We'll also need help to prepare content for the release (update website, pr, etc...)
Feel free to chip in using the most valuable resource you can offer (some of your time).

WTactic's Christmas gift

For all the folks that contributed, the hard copy will be a gift. (except for the shipping costs)
The two decks will be in a single box (90 card). Please let me know if you'd like one. (I'm only ordering the prints in 'bulk', that is 10 boxes, to reduce the costs)

See you around,
Kind regards,
Nico
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Ravenchild
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Location:Germany

Re: Game release!?!

Post by Ravenchild » Wed Nov 02, 2016 20:35

Nice summary. Thanks for writing this up!
ngoeminne
Posts:324
Joined:Mon Feb 29, 2016 15:34

Re: Game release!?!

Post by ngoeminne » Thu Nov 03, 2016 21:09

Hi Ravenchild,

No problem, would you like a box when they roll out?
I'd be glad to provide one.
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Ravenchild
developer
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Location:Germany

Re: Game release!?!

Post by Ravenchild » Fri Nov 04, 2016 21:56

That would actually be pretty cool. I'll get in touch with you then.
ngoeminne
Posts:324
Joined:Mon Feb 29, 2016 15:34

Re: Game release!?!

Post by ngoeminne » Sat Dec 17, 2016 14:01

Hi Ravenchild,

The arc-deck prints are available, if you like one, please fill in the form at
http://arcmage.org/play-test-box/

Kind regards,
Nico
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