Research & Development Doc Jonny Bate FMP

Research Document Jonny Bate FMP

Contact details Mobile - 07527897535 Email - jonnybate@googlemail.com

Contents

01 Introduction

04 TV & Film Inspiration

05 Reference

07 Board Game Design

02 Gaming 03 Board Game & Models

06 Packaging Development

Introduction The brief that I have chosen to take forward as the FMP is the idea of a hybrid board game, involving the modernisation of historical characters, in a superhero-like context. This is the brief in its simplest form and I think I have managed to give myself a lot of room to manoeuvre, while still having quite an obvious direction to head in. The idea of reinventing historical figures as superheroes and antiheroes is something that really interests me, as it’s a very creative process, which will require in depth research and analysis, to help create the backgrounds of the characters, which in turn will also define a theme for the selection process.

I’m sure most people have played a form of board game in their lives and I am no different, having played classics like monopoly, cluedo and more card oriented games such as trivial pursuit. What I need to be able to do within the context of my game is to make it different, rememberable and unique. I need to provide a method of gameplay that maybe hasn’t been fully justified, or perhaps not even created yet and that is what really challenges and inspires me.

The target audience will be looking towards the younger adults of the world, as I believe they are the key area within the ideas of comics, superheroes and board games. The main reason I left out teenagers is because I feel like the mechanics and style of the game may suffer slightly if the game was tailored to a slightly younger audience, not that I want to create a game of a chaotic complexity, but I want it to be well received by the age range that I myself, occupy.

I believe what I am proposing will encourage myself to stick within my interests and also push me out of my comfort zone, which in theory should provide the best results in terms of progression within the project and within my own practice, which is the most important aspect to all of this.

Creating the game The main aim within making the board game is to try and bridge the gap between physical and digital gaming. I feel as though there is a huge area of potential if you can find a way to merge the aspects of both physical and digital games into one. The most important part of making that idea work would be to first understand what physical and digital gamers are looking for and to provide them a game that would encourage both sets of gamers to pick the game up and have a crack at it.

With an insight on how both realms work, the idea for tailoring my game towards both sets of audiences would be to incorporate the aspects of character building, narration, action and adventure. The physicality would come in form of the board game, cards, rulebook and play tokens, which would allow me to create quite a lot of interesting scenarios within the game. Strategy and progression are also elements that I am going to have to be very mindful of, as there needs to be a strong sense of both to keep the mechanics of the game exciting and fresh. Progression could be visual as something like a tier based system where you physically reach higher levels could be an avenue I investigate further.

I think the hybridity that I am trying to apply to this board game could come in the form of targeting the MMO player base and creating a physical game or platform for them to play.

It could be that I create a form of narrative through comic that gives you missions and scenarios to play through within the game and you role-play through the created environment. I believe these are the ideas that can create and provide something that would entice them to pick up a more physical driven game. Looking into history and applying a relevant style to the game is also going to be crucial, because I could end up with a really nice outcome if for example I decided to create a Japanese based game and used traditional methods to realise the visual languages. The question that lies with that method is what is currently out there and what would my target audience actually be interested in playing.

To summarise I am looking at a combination of elements and for it all to successfully come together I need to be clear on what this game will look like, the setting/time period of the game and how the game will appeal to more than just physical board gamers.

Superheroes inside & outside the comic The idea of a superhero, how you become a superhero and what they represent, will drive the main body of work over the year, as there will be plenty to dissect during the FMP and through the dissertation. The nature of the “Superhero inside and outside the comic” will consist of a tale of characters throughout time, who exist outside the comic book, including cultural and religious figures, those of which will co-inside with familiar figures throughout the Marvel and DC universes.

The initial idea came from a lecture topic introduced last year about superheroes and their cultural affinities throughout media and fiction. Which then lead me to consider aspects that I enjoy in general and I thought about merging the topics I had been previously discussing based on codification and justification. They interlink with this topic and as I was searching for a theme during that period I thought I would combine the concepts together and this is now what looks to be the starting point of the FMP.

required, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt it wasn’t something I could quite call unique, as there isn’t an individual aspect for describing a character that already exists in the fictional comic universe.

So it was back to the drawing board and that’s where the next idea struck me, where I would look into the past and create new phase of superheroes, which would be based upon a historical innovator. To give an example I will use Leonardo Da Vinci, a technical and creative innovator of Italy and transform him into a modern day superhero, using attributes he was famous for to form his identity. This seemed like a much stronger idea than the previous one as it becomes completely unique and allows me a freedom I will be able to exploit.

Ragnar Lothbrok portrayed by Travis Fimmel in TV series Vikings

What can I base the project around and how has it evolved from the initial idea of codification and justification?

The next phase would be to consider a direction to start heading towards, as it became apparent that there was a whole host of options I could look towards and the most important aspect to detail was the amount of depth within the concept, of course I want something that interests me, but if I didn’t contain depth then it would become irrelevant as a FMP. The first thing that I considered was a comparison between superheroes and innovators of the past (real life heroes), which seemed like it contained the elements

Leonardo Da Vinci portrayed by Tom Riley in TV series Da Vinci’s Demons

Superheroes & Antiheroes Superheroes

Antiheroes (Villains)

People usually associate the ideas of hope and justice within the constraints of a superhero, they represent all that is strong within mankind and the unity and solidarity provided lifts a community’s spirit. People tend to question the superheroes resolve as there always seems something in between the superhero and their main goal within the constraints of the city they are protecting. These weaknesses are usually exploited by their arch rivals, their nemesis’ the antiheroes.

People tend to associate the ideas of disruption and chaos within the constraints of an anti-hero, they represent and exploit all that is weak within mankind, but funnily enough antiheroes are usually an answer to something a superhero begun, as they see an injustice within the code that the superhero stands by and plan to move against it. Sometimes the antiheroes have a much stronger background than the superheroes, again it depends on the time period and what exactly we are looking for.

Sometimes a superhero can emerge in a time where weakness is evident within a community, as an answer to a movement or rise of something controversial or destructive. It generally comes down to a case by case scenario, where the climate dictates what comes first, the superhero or the villain (anti-hero).

Superheroes are usually paraded and celebrated throughout history, known for their heroics that saved a nation or saved a pivotal member of a family.

For a brief summary, superheroes are figures of authority, tenacious and courageous defenders of the code, which encourages morally correct decisions, therefore earning the trust and respect of those under the superheroes protection.

Antiheroes can also emerge as a response to strength within the community, as they feel that a difference can be made, for better or worse by them acting upon an ideal. Hate and betrayal is apparent in many an antihero’s story, they usually start off as somebody who doesn’t have a problem and then a moment of fate changes their life forever. This can also account for the way a superhero gains their power, but there’s usually two different tones of narrative, the superheroes journey never seems to be as harsh a story as the antiheroes.

For a brief summary, antiheroes are figures of deception and are usually very cunning characters. A level of jealousy creeps into their character and that is usually what possesses them to scheme with such horrific plans and become feared by many.

Historical Context

Searching for an appropriate area of history is going to be quite important as it will shape the theme and environment of the game and I also feel that at this stage there needs to be a link between the characters that I am incorporating into the game. It also has to be an area that people (generally my target audience) would be interested in, otherwise there is no point in designing the game, it needs to be engaging and interesting and both game theme and mechanics share the same responsibility throughout the process.

I think the areas that look the most promising at the moment are probably tailored towards inventors/science and Emperors & Rulers, as they both contain quite a lot of depth and have areas to explore and develop. I am also very interested in both areas and I imagine others would also share some interest area, it would require a lot of exploration, but I think in terms of freedom of character design, that the scientific route may be better and it may also fit a particular stereotype of scientists being portrayed as slightly ‘nerdy’. I don’t particularly like that phrase because anybody could be ‘nerdy’ it depends on the definition and attributes you give to that idea, but it’s something that I am going to have to consider when I am thinking about the direction to take this board game in The main aspect that worries me is that I don’t know how the mechanic of my game

will work yet as I haven’t really thought about it, I seem more interested in finding a particular set of characters to design before I consider how they will play, which may be a mistake, or may be the right way to go about the task. It’s uncharted territory for me and it’s a process that I am going to have to figure out as I go along, if the science needs to correct, I’m not so sure about, there could be a way to integrate different elements, but it will require careful planning and a lot of research in order to make that decision.

Heroes of the past

A hero of the past is someone who has achieved something noteworthy, borderline heroic during their time in history. They don’t have to be a commander of war, they could be a peace-keeper, or somebody who defied all the odds to change the world, there are many different ways of explaining this phrase and the main thing to consider is the theme that I chose to target in terms of who would be worthy.

An example could be what I have mentioned previously regarding the ‘Inventors the Earth’ and that I could target inventors over history who have contributed something to the world, as that would give me a solid base to work from. For example, I could use the inventor of gunpowder ‘Wujing Zongyao’ and portray him as a new character. Alongside him we could have ‘Alexander Fleming’, the founder of penicillin and you start to build up a catalogue of characters.

As I mentioned the hardest part is going to be finding the range of people that I want to look for, are they all scientists, politicians, philosophers? It could also be a mix of them all it doesn’t have to be restricted, although if I do become specific it becomes something that can expand in the future, it boils down to research and if there are enough figures to document from one particular area or not. I would initially like there to be a mix as it adds a lot more variety and freedom to the design of each character, instead of

everybody having a physical weapon (if you chose solely inventors) you could have people with mental and biological weapons or traits.

This will be very exciting to look into and it also gives me a few avenues to look at when considering topics to write about and document, so I definitely think that this is the right area for me to be looking into.

Launch Proposal An important thing to consider while creating my project is how it will go public, what will I be able to do to get the game out there, to get people talking about it and playing it.

The best place to target would be an area like comic con, as it’s full of my target audience, young adults who are interested in superheroes and although my game isn’t directly linked to existing, the theory and aesthetics of superheroes will be considered within the design of my game.

If people are interested in history then there is a high chance that they will be interested in what I am trying to achieve with my game and due to the physical size of the game, people could walk around with the game, demo tables could be available for people to talk about the game and learn how to play it, while learning something about a historical character at the same time.

What I would most likely look to do is to attend a comic con with a range of merchandise and branding supporting the game, the game would be set up as a showcase for people to see as they walk around the festival. The merchandise could be a range of t-shirts with potential quotes of characters from my game, it could be a range of artwork in the form of comics and concepts.

Branding could be what really helps the project spread its wings, as I could create a range of posters and have them among the exhibition space with free cards, maybe some counters for the game and throughout the day you could check in and redeem your reward, or perhaps there are a range of evolutions, where you have to try and find the owner of the same card and challenge them to a battle, just like in the game, you could start to create that gladiator atmosphere within the space.

I do think that exposure will come from a very simple visual icon within QR, posters, mainly something that has been printed at the event to encourage interaction and generate attention and a desire to investigate my game in some capacity.

Gaming People new to the idea of gaming may be asking what exactly it is and why people spend so many hours of the day playing these imaginary, hypothetical and experimental games. Gaming can be something that consumes you or something that you spend your free time doing, as you do to get away from the stress of reality, because sometimes there’s nothing better than escaping into a fantasy world fighting goblins as a dwarven king, or entering space to fight waves of monsters and aliens from other planets.

Gaming in a nutshell Gaming requires you to have one thing and that is imagination, which is the key theme of gaming, if you don’t have an imagination, then the immersive environments created will not make any sense and you will quickly lose interest in what you are playing. The storytelling through both digital and physical gaming is what keeps you interested in the franchise and in the individual products that you are absorbed by. Some may believe that gaming itself is a waste of time, which is fine because everyone has their own stance of the topic, but I believe it’s within your interest to create a separate dimension between reality and the imaginary, as it allows you the opportunity to get away from all the problems of the real and exist in an alternate universe for a brief period of time. This will help provide a healthy lifestyle instead of constantly living in fear and similarity within the real, as you would be exposed to the opposite in the form of exploration and courage and hope.

The essence of play is an atmosphere that has existed in some shape or form since our existence, the gladiators of Rome provided a brutal spectacle, Tetris provided a simple digital puzzle and Shakespeare provided many products of play through writing.

There are many iterations of gaming, which makes it extremely difficult to label as one particular thing, which is why I have provided a variety of examples which at heart provide the game thing, entertainment, but it’s up

to you how you perceive entertainment and that is captured by your imagination.

Main Topics Chance to get away from the real world I have briefly mentioned the chance to escape from the real world within the constraints of gaming and I think this provides a really strong link to the idea of the superhero. Actual superheroes do exist, but usually go unrecognised, whereas fictional superheroes such as Thor or Superman are known to almost everyone. You may wonder why this is important, but this is an indication that people have become more absorbed by the concept of imagination, within themselves and others, which in turn has helped them step away from reality. This in itself is healthy, but knowing the boundaries is important as we do have limitations in reality, which I think is also a strong indicator as to why people are absorbed by the storytelling of Marvel and DC. Dreams & Ambition Everyone wants to become the next superhuman with a special power, nobody wants to become the next shop assistant at your local store and this is signal towards what we are exposed to in both film and gaming. Our imagination is becoming effected by these elements more frequently

than ever and it will continue to increase as we become more accustomed to technology and reality itself. Humans don’t really like the idea of restriction, because if we did, then we wouldn’t have what we have today, it takes people to innovate and speculate to move forward, much like with gaming, you have to plan for both the expected and unexpected through gameplay mechanics.

Variety Gaming possesses a huge range of themes and devices to play a game within, platforms such as the Xbox, PlayStation, PC/Laptop, Mobile, Tablet, Physical/Sport and Board Games being the highlights. You may wonder why I included sports as one of the platforms and it is a questionable decision, but the way I see it, is that you have a team of players, a set of rules or a structure and you have a winner and a loser. Wherever there is a competition, there is a game and a narrative to the game, a spectacle to witness. As for themes, well you name it and it will most likely a theme, played by somebody in the world and this variety and unity between players is what really allows gaming to appeal to such a widespread audience, over thousands of years.

Progression/Sense of Accomplishment The sense of progression is a very important attribute within the context of a game, as it is

what drives us to continue playing through the content. It makes us hungry for more, it becomes addictive in some scenarios and the more time you put into the game, the more you progress, the better at that game you become. Having that knowledge on how best to kill the final boss, or how to finish the puzzle is a very powerful feeling and generates a huge sense of accomplishment and achievement. Through achievements you can look back and see how far you have come from where you started, I guess you could compare it to the history tab on a web browser. Completing any task in life gives you a sense of accomplishment and gaming is no different, this is also the main focus within the design of my own hybrid board game, it has to allow you to adventure through the game and want to spend time completing it and playing through the story to become a better player.

Challenge We face challenges all the time, sometimes you realise it and sometimes you don’t and that depends on how difficult the task is and how it has been documented. Within a game you have to be tested to a level or it becomes boring and tedious, much like a chore. But at the same time it can’t be too hard, otherwise you will become discouraged to persevere with the task. The key to a creating a real challenge is to find a balance through the aspects of a game using mechanics and data,

which is really tough and that is why the idea of a challenge is vital within the constraints of gaming itself.

Chance to play with others (online/multiplayer) Gaming is a method of meeting new people and these new players are most likely going to have something in common with you due to them being in the same online lobby or on the same table. With the rise of technology and the digital realm it has become ridiculously easy to find like-minded individuals, I would probably say it’s the best place to find somebody who has similar tastes to yourself, but of course I’m a little bias in saying that. Talking online is also a lot easier for most people than talking in person, as we become less reliant on physical contact and more reliant on digital call services such as Skype, face-time and our mobiles. This also provides a problem on tone of voice and misreading situations due to the lack of physical indicators, but in general gaming is a very solid way to make new connections with people.

Intro to physical gaming Physical gaming existed in ancient history and still exists now, so we know that demand and the fundamentals behind the board game still remain, but looking at how to best go about making a physical board game and what style of game it would be are the main questions that need researching and answering. Some historical games that have gone on to inspire contemporary play consists of: Tafl (hnefatafl), Senet, Go, Royal Game of Ur and Chaupar.

I always find it ironic that in some digital games (mostly RPG or Adventure games) you get the chance to play a board game within that environment for example having a digital spacing grid, so in a way digital gaming is potentially advertising some of the aspects of physical play. I also have to say I’m not a huge board game player, I have played the classic titles such as Monopoly, Cluedo and Mouse Trap and I do have knowledge of some of the newer games, as they are usually based off a digital release, such as Xcom “The Board Game� and also from books/TV series such as Game of Thrones. I will analyse and discuss some of the major areas within the board game industry.

Role & Move Role & Move games generally tend to be quite light hearted adventures around a map or grid of some description. The aim of the game is to use a dice to determine the amount of spaces your character, or

icon can move. Chance and probability are associated with games such as Yahtzee and Ludo, where you are searching for particular combinations in order to complete and compete within the ruling of the game. In general calculations are needed to play the game, but not at a sophisticated level, so the style of gaming is usually quite straight forward and point towards prioritizing the family based audiences.

Popular titles: Ludo, Snakes and Ladders, Yahtzee, Monopoly, Life Strategy Strategy based games usually involve a high level of calculation and concentration, where you are trying to make advantages based on moves made within the game. A lot comes down to reading your opponents moves and once you have figured them out the game can become quite linear. There are multiple methods of accomplishing victory within the same game and that reply value, where you can change tactics is really what makes the strategy based games stand out within the crowd. Strategy games are not for casuals as they require a moderate to high level of mechanical knowledge in order to stand a solid chance of coming out on top against higher tier players.

Popular titles: Chess, Go, Checkers, Space Hulk, Risk

Party/Family Party and Family games are similar to role and move based games, but I feel the defining element of the party games is that they usually possess some kind of physical interaction. They are supposed to represent an element of chaos, of spectacle for multiple people to join in with, we all remember that game of Jenga when it came down to the wire and our best mate lost the game for us with a questionable decision. They become part of a story that lasts for a while somewhere in your memory, party games also play host to most of the popular games known to a variety of ages. This is where you will find the most variety and probably the most entertainment, but usually not through the game itself, but game mechanics provide moments through the people you play it with.

Popular Titles: Trivial Pursuit, Kerplunk, Hungry Hippos, Mouse Trap, Jenga, Scrabble Summary To summarise physical gaming I would start off by saying that most people have played a form of board game in their lives, everyone has heard of the likes of monopoly and chess, mainly due to how accessible they are and how the mechanics of the game works. They also appeal to a mass audience, opposed to a more niche market, monopoly cleverly introduced hundreds of variants to the content of the game, as you could play

Star Wars monopoly, Disney monopoly or the Anniversary Edition. I will have to consider and research the types of games my target audience play and embed relevant information into the designs and mechanics of the game. The beauty of the physical games is there is always the opportunity to do something new, which is what I hope to be able to do with sufficient knowledge.

Pros of Physical Gaming: Physical social interaction, aesthetically pleasing if packaging and components are finished professionally, good way to make new friends and to bring people together, collectable.

Cons of Physical Gaming: Cost of actual game, storage of the product, potential setup time and a more limited market due to more niche audiences.

Intro to digital gaming Digital gaming has technology in the form of Xbox, PlayStation and PC to thank for swallowing the board game industry whole. My intention within my game is to try and provide a method of retaliation, of compromise, which would combine aspect of digital play which I will discuss and reflect upon. The first thing to consider is what type of game people are playing through both a digital and online capacity and to analyse the styles of the most popular games.

Being a digital gamer myself I would like to think I know the player base quite well and it’s obvious to see where the trends are within the market. The popular genres of game at the moment are action, adventure, RPG and casual. One method of discovering this information is to search for streaming platforms, which are allowing players to record themselves playing games live, which entertains millions of people daily. The most reliable streaming platform “Twitch TV” broadcasts hundreds of games being played and below I will discuss the most popular games associated within the highlighted genres.

Action Action games are usually heavily influence by in game mechanics, tailored towards physical challenges and combat. In an action game you would usually find yourself playing as the main character of the story, navigating

through a fairly linear story and completing the challenges that awaited you through various levels. Action games heavily benefit from the integration of online gameplay, as you find yourself fighting other players and utilising the core mechanics of the game.

Popular titles: Grand Theft Auto (GTA), Fallout, Counterstrike (CS), Metal Gear Solid, Tekken, Assassins Creed and Call of Duty.

Adventure Adventure games are heavily influenced on the idea of exploration and discovery, where the graphics and atmosphere of the game can really enhance the experience. The story within an adventure game would usually be one of the main selling points, where you would be expected to complete a series of puzzles, challenges and quests in order to progress through story. The gameplay tends to be tailored towards individual play and you tend to see adventure acting as a subgenre to both action and RPG games.

Popular titles: Borderlands, Minecraft, Tomb Raider, Dead Space, The Last of Us, Destiny, Skyrim RPG (Roleplay) RPG’s are heavily influenced on the mechanics of the story and character progression, a good RPG will allow you to

customise your own character and version of the story based on in game decision making.

Most RPG’s are based on fictional stories where you play in a fantasy based universe, which really captures the imagination of both the developers of the game and also the player. Strong ties can be made to adventure games, as you are adventuring through a world with your ever changing character/ avatar.

Popular titles: Final Fantasy, Dark Souls, World of Warcraft (WOW), The Witcher, Mass Effect, Dragon Age Casual I find casual games to be quite a funny genre to analyse, but with the rise of apps and simple minded games, you find the rise of causal games. They usually involve very basic rules and can be played on the go, meaning you don’t have to dedicate long periods of time to play though the more complex of games previously mentioned.

Casual games also allow you to do other things while you are playing, as it’s a lot easier to multi-task while playing one of these fun, light minded games. You are most likely to see people playing causal games on public transport, or perhaps on a break at work. It’s also important to note that they also provide the biggest market to target as there is no particular type of casual game.

Turn based digital games An area of interest is that of the turn based digital game, I have previously spoken about what a digital game consists of, or popular areas within the digital, but I haven’t really exposed a crucial mechanic of strategy gaming, which is what this writing will be looking at. I find myself playing this style of game frequently and I think it has to do with the mechanics and challenges of the game, think of it as a digital form of chess.

Chess itself is fairly self-explanatory, whereas these digital, turn based games have started to introduce and apply new mechanics that reinvents the way I personally would see chess. The evolution is evident if you were to take a game such as Xcom for example.

It shares mechanics meaning each piece can move in unique ways and has different abilities that help the player take advantage of situations. You will also be familiar with the tiles based movement used within Xcom, but what you won’t be prepared for is the diversity that a digital algorithm such as” RNG” (Random Number Generator) can provide. It completely changes how you play the game, instead of having a fairly linear cause of action, where you can calculate and predict exactly what will happen, you also have to factor in an element of chance, that the move that you are about to make may not actually work.

Rarely are you punished for making a calculated decision, but in Xcom you are

always running the risk of something unintentional happening, keeping you on your toes. Some people will be saying this makes a game boring, it could break or ruin the game, or perhaps you see it as unrewarding, which is a fair opinion, but I believe that it gives a game new found life, you can obliterate the literal sense of chess and implement a system that will never be the same. Imagine how a game of chess would work if you have to use a dice to determine how far the piece moved, instead of just moving it a set distance. Or if you have a hit and miss dice, 50% chance of something happening such as defeating the opposition’s piece, or nothing happening, it forces you to consider different elements, it changes the game and makes it more exciting.

on their feet, on the fly, opposed to them feeling safe or unopposed, one bad role could change the tide of battle and I find that prospect more beneficial than detrimental in a game sense.

The biggest argument against this idea is that you will start to get lesser skilled players beating veterans, because of the RNG involved, “luck” above skill if you like and that is part of the risk of the system. But if a game has been designed efficiently, then it will iron out that potential “beginners luck” and the more experience or skilled player should win more times than they lose. I was looking to involve this methodology in my game, which is obviously why I am talking about it, which means I am going to have to really consider game balance during the course of the game creation and game design. This will also get players to think

I will now introduce a range of digital examples that have inspired my thinking regarding the strategy tile based mechanic.

To put everything into perspective I think it’s clear to see that this game that I am proposing to make will consider the ideas of chess, in that each character will have something unique about them, it could be how the move around the board, it could be how they attack or defend against other characters. It will consider the more modernized version of gaming from a digital perspective concerning fresh approach to combat mechanics from character designs to focusing on RNG to provide a more fluent, looser system.

Civilization Sid Meier’s Civilization is based around the cultural, intellectual, and technical details of civilization, where by learning and researching into these pathways, you progressively advance your own empire.

The aim of the game is to defeat opposing civilizations and to do that you need to be ahead of the military, cultural and technical capacities of your enemies. Alliances can be forged throughout the game, to gain momentum against your enemies. Just as easily can you gain enemies who are enraged by actions against their allies, conflict is imminent and it’s about managing all aspects of the game as best you can to create the strongest, most intimidating civilization.

Darkest Dungeon Darkest Dungeon is a side-scrolling dungeon crawler, where the aim of the game is to venture through harsh environments to complete objectives and quests. These missions entail multiple skirmishes, locating medicine, purifying corpses or killing bosses within each dungeon. The style of game is similar to Xcom in that it exposes you to the elements of RNG, which makes the game all that more entertaining. The dungeon needs a set of explorers and you have access to over 13 different classes, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, meaning when you assemble your team, you need to build cohesion, calculating how interactions work between each class and the specific dungeon you are exploring.

Shadowrun Shadowrun is a sci-fi RPG shooter, where you move around the city as an investigator, trying to decipher the story based on a multitude of options. Each part of the story has a different twist, depending on the exact decisions you make in the game, meaning it has a high replay value and although the main outcome will be the same, the journey you took to get there will be completely different.

The main character is customisable and you level different statistics such as combat skills, to a more mental capacity, which also unlocks extra parts of the narrative based on particular character skill levels. It’s a simple game to play through, which is aided by many variables, which keeps the game fresh and interesting.

Total War Total War is Civilization’s opposition, using the same empire based mechanics, but instead of primarily being about earning money, your main concern is fighting opposing factions through brute force opposed to diplomacy. A strong military presence is crucial alongside a strong financial backing from your settlements and trade agreements, in order to be victorious.

Alliances will be forged and destroyed through battle and in the end only the strongest will survive, Total War has many successful titles, based on historical periods such as the eighteenth century upheaval (Empire) the dark ages (Attila) the ancient world (Rome 1,2) medieval Japan (Shogun) and their latest announcement based upon the Warhammer universe (Warhammer).

Xcom Xcom is a sci-fi based strategy shooter, where the objective is to fight off multiple alien invasions throughout the world. Using the Xcom facilities which enables you to recruit soldiers which can be enhanced through engineering, the research facility also provides an intellectual advantage, as it allows you to discover more about the invaders as you progress through the game, the higher ranked your soldiers, the higher ranked the threat becomes. RNG is a huge mechanic in this game as it can be the difference between killing that big bad alien, or losing a solider to a critical shot from a plasma wielding aberration. It allows for moments to remember both good and bad.

Card Games

Another key element of a board game is the card interface that is used to reflect or represent each character, it’s a nice way of displaying all the information in one place with games such as top trumps documenting this potential.

The main reason I believe card games are as popular as they are is down to the ease of access and transportation of the product.

I think sometimes people are intimidated by the complexities of a board game and shy away due to the constructive nature that a board game can sometimes require.

An extreme representation of this would be Jenga, which is something that you have to spend time setting up to then play it. Another example would be something like Kerplunk, where there entertainment comes from the physicality of something happening. Something more tedious like Game of Thrones can also take a long time to navigate, due to the amount of content to move around and consider, although I see Game of Thrones as more of a construction of the story within the game, rather than constructing the physical game itself.

You have to appreciate that some people aren’t interested in spending a long period of time putting something together, they would much rather play something that has been pre-assembled, or didn’t require much of a setup time and this is where card gaming comes into its own. It’s easy to purchase a

pack of playing cards, sit down around a table and play with friends and family, it’s all about that key word, accessibility. Some card systems are more complex than others and many now exist on the market, which means if you looking for something truly unique, you would have to possess a high level of knowledge within the market. For my game it’s not necessarily a new card mechanic I’m looking to create, but more for the referral of the game, as it’s a way to target a greater, expansive audience and exist in multiple areas of gaming, so it was potentially more than just a board game.

Top Trumps have the type of style that I would be looking to recreate if I was to create a card series purely as a standalone version. You play the game by numbers and attributes, if we were playing the “Ultimate Military Jets” version then you would be looking at statistics such as “Max Speed, Max Height, Range, Max Take-off Weight and Wing Span”.

This is the mechanic of the game, to use the highest values of your aircraft to beat the opposition, think of it as a battle of numbers.

I don’t think it’s too unrealistic to apply a mechanic similar to this to my own game, as my own characters will need attributes of their own and this could be a way to realise this card based idea.

Most cards are purchased for playing value, but over the years collectors have also been known to emerge, a collector is a person

who is interested in a particular franchise such as Star Wars or Magic: The Gathering.

There was an instance where a very rare and sought after card “black lotus” from MTG was sold for $27,000. This was due to the fact only 1,100 of the alpha deck cards where ever printed, meaning as time went by, they became more and more valuable. The whole point of this is that there can usually be more to the card than first seems, not that I intend to make cards worth that amount of money, although I wouldn’t be disappointed if it did happen. Having introduced a different style of card game that was potentially unfamiliar to you, I believe that it could be beneficial to pull out a few more examples.

Hearthstone - Heroes of Warcraft

Bloodmage Thalnos

Deathwing

Onyxia

Hearthstone is a free-to-play digital card game published by Blizzard Entertainment, the game is based on the immersive Blizzard universe, combining heroes from Warcraft 3 and World of Warcraft into one arena of entertainment. The game mechanics are simple, each player gains a mana crystal on their first turn until their tenth and each monster costs a particular amount of mana to play, making the mechanic is focused around mana management. The objective is to take down the opponents heal points to 0, before it happens to you. Hearthstone is available on both pc and mobile devices, making it a very accessible and fun in both casual and competitive gaming.

Magic: The Gathering

Glissa, the Traitor

Sen Triplets

Reaper from the Abyss

Magic: The Gathering is a card game, where each player takes on the role of a “planeswalker” and attempts to defeat the opponent using a variety of spells and summoned monsters. The game mechanic is based on 2 sets of cards in the form of “spells” and “lands” The Land is what provides you mana to cast spells, the more powerful the spell, the more mana required to use it. The main objective of the game is to take your opponents life points down to 0, before it happens to you.

Pokémon

Mega Manectric

Mega Rayquaza

Mega Metagross

Most people will know about Pokémon from their childhood either as a parent or as the child, Pokémon is mostly recognised throughout the numerous digital games Nintendo and Game Freak have produced over almost 20 years. Not so many of you will know about their trading card game, which is why Pokémon is relevant to my work. The card game is based off the characters in both the game and TV series and is played competitively both online and at venues across the world. The mechanics of the game are simple enough where a combination of energy cards and trainer cards allow your Pokémon to utilise their attacks and reign destruction of the opponent.

Data Visualisation

The aspect of data visualisation will be important within the mechanics of my game as there will be numerous numerical values that need to be represented in a graphical or visual form. The way the information reads must be crystal clear, as people need to instantly be able to recognise each value without having to spend minutes trying to work something out, because in game terms that can really frustrate you, eventually leading you to losing interest in the game.

than a bar based display. The argument to be had for the bar based format is that you would want important information to stand out and if everything was the same shape and looked very similar to each other it could take longer to locate the information you require. So this is something that I am going to have to test and work out through development of the game as both styles possess positives and negatives that I am going to have to consider in the long run.

The most popular methods of displaying information in a gaming environment is to use bars, which share an aesthetic with a loading bar, or a range of circles both formats use a range of colour, scale and texture in order to communicate the relevant information to players of the game.

The type of information I am looking to display would be aspects such as a characters attack, defence and deception values and these statistics would be found within the rulebook and character cards.

Both the rulebook and card series would most likely be portrait, which can further enforce my stance on the circular designs and I believe them to be more flexible than a bar, but only experimentation and a clear idea on the general layouts will help me make the decision.

In terms of my own designs I think there are positives and negative to both styles, the bar style can clearly indicate information in a landscape format, making it a better fit on wider forms such as screens and is more commonly found in digital games.

The circular form also has an effective way of displaying the information and usually reads better on longer, more portrait based formats.

The logical format to base my own designs on would be the circular approach, due to synchronization with my icons and general shape of the game, it would fit in a lot better

Examples

Education through play Considering how much historical information to put within my game will be a difficult task, as the more I put in it, the more text heavy it becomes and obviously I have to make sure that the information that I do decide to use is correct. If I want a dense history within my game to serve as an educational tool remains to be seen as I first need to isolate the topic that I would want to base the character design around. There could be ways around making it heavy to swallow as I could find subtle ways to include information while playing through the game, see it as more of a supplement than a main focus. It could be something that is provided on the side in a series of cards, using small print to ensure you aren’t overpowered by the information.

It also presents different opportunities if I do decide to go with a more educational route, such as creating a book based on that period in history, as a supplement to the game, perhaps the rulebook itself could be structured around a particular occurrence of that time and you have to play through scenarios set by history and resolve the issues tasked to you in game. This also gives me a solid opportunity to provide a concept book, where I can display an illustrative

document of the scenery and characters involved in the game and this could include a fact file or database on particular elements of that time.

The more I talk about it, the more obvious it seems to be that there will be elements of history formed for a more educational/ referential purpose, yet I am very hesitant to say that would be a main feature as I can’t imagine a game like that appealing to my audience. The way I see it you have 2 options, the first would be to make a game based on a particular mechanic, where history would set the theme and in turn educate and entertain, portraying key areas of the time.

The other option would be to make history drive the game and to create more of a visual documentation of that period through physical play. The games would be totally different and it depends if people would want to play the game due to mechanics or want to be informed and educated while playing a simpler more basic game. It’s something that I am going to consider in detail, the next step has to be finding the relevant period in time and then questioning the audience for their thoughts to my problem.

Assassins Creed You play through a period of history as an assassin/protagonist completing a linear storyline true to history with Ubisoft’s unique twist, while playing through the game you learn about that particular part of history the game is based on, in tandem to running around assassinating people, which is what I imagine most people play the game for and where the fun really lies.

I play that game due to the mechanics of the game and the play style of roaming free in Italy/America/England causing havoc where necessary in line with the story, or within my own interests. While the historical part of the story is interesting and is embedded well within the game, it comes second to the gameplay itself. If you were asking me why I would purchase or play the game, it would be based on gameplay and not education.

If I wanted to be educated thoroughly by something, I would be more likely to read a book or documentary about it, I want to find release, I want to be impressed by what I can do in a game. Learning something light is a bonus, I also feel that it is easier to remember if you are living or experiencing part of the story through the gameplay, opposed to reading a collection of writing about the topic.

Mass Effect Mass Effect is a scientific role-play universe envisioned by BioWare, where you play as a commander of the Normandy (spaceship), the game itself is based on a complex, non fictional story represented by hundreds of twists and turns along the way. The beauty of the game is that you come to familiarise yourself with the environment through the detail of the story, so it almost gets to the stage where you feel it is real, although obviously it isn’t.

You may wonder why this is relevant to games based on education, but the detail that the developers went into to provide a database which collated the story and details within the game was phenomenal.

Detailed entries of each aspect within the game exist via the codex feature on the UI and this experience is something that I will be looking to replicate within my own game, this is the main reason I turned to Mass Effect to promote my point of data collection, as I feel it’s one of the best I’ve seen within a game. Balancing the content with the game itself will be important, as I will be creating a physical board, meaning focus obviously has to go into that aspect of the game, aided by the more informative, data collections of the features within my game.

This could be reflected through a booklet, a poster, a pack of cards, you get the idea, there is a way to implement a digital focused style of displaying information, through a more physical means.

Character Mechanics I have started to explore the idea of character mechanics, where each figure will possess something unique about them, something that makes them different, you could call it a superhuman property. How I go about reflecting this within my game will be very important, as it needs to be complex enough that each character can offer their own ability and be useful within the game, but it also needs to be balanced so that certain characters aren’t too strong or too weak. Obviously there’s a couple of crucial elements involved when talking about this area of design, which will be expanded upon below.

Stat-line The first element consists of a stat line, numerical values that indicate how strong each character is in certain aspects of the game. For example each character may have a base attack value and a base defence value, if a character attacking has an attack value of 5 and they are up against a defence value of 4, then obviously their attack would be successful. That is the way a stat-line, or numerical value would work within a game, now this is just 2 of the stats that would be involved, I could have other values that need calculating such as faith (religious context),

courage ect…. To come up with these statlines I need to look into each character, define their characteristics, which in turn will influence which values they excel in.

Role (Tank/Healer/DPS) Within characters of a digital origin you will sometimes notice that they fulfil certain roles within that game. These assigned roles can be categorized into 3 main functions, you have the “Tanks”, “DPS (Damage Per Second)” and “Healers” to choose from.

Tanks usually depend upon high armour values, low damage abilities and contain attributes, such as taunts, which will enable them to keep enemy characters attacking them, because that’s their main role. If we are to take my concept of Italy as an example, the most likely tanks would be the Roman soldiers and Girolamo Riario (Captain of the church) as you would expect them to be well armoured being the defenders of the city.

Damage dealers (DPS) are the high percentage of your damage, found in both melee quarters (close combat) and ranged forms. The armour of damage dealers depends on which front they fight, melee damage dealers tend to be medium to heavily armoured, whereas the ranged damage sources tend to wear medium to light armour. This is the role with the most variety in terms of characters, archers, swordsman, mages, engineers all popular this role and another good example of Italian origin could be Leonardo Da Vinci, as he could be portrayed as an engineer, specialising in high damage, with bonus damage to high armour targets.

Without the damage you can’t kill the enemy, without healing you won’t have anybody to keep you alive and without tanks there will be nobody to stop enemies walking through your lines, so finding the right balance within the team is key to victory. Lending these roles from digital gaming and applying them to a physical context is something that hasn’t really been done in depth and I’m hoping will become the USP of my game.

Testing (balancing) After reading through all that you may be wondering how each character will be different and how they will play in the game, Riario could possess a form of divine chant that increases his team’s damage capabilities for a turn, whereas Da Vinci could have a flame round, which sets targets ablaze and this is how their definitions of a superhero in a modern context could be realised, this signature ability within the game could be the way forward.

You can probably see from this that I have a pretty good sense of making the game interesting and how a game should operate, but of course you have to consider the complexity and legibility of the game and also achieving character balance, which is something that I am going to have to spend a lot of time doing at a more refined stage of the project, when it’s little details that need to be play tested and refined, but it’s certainly exciting times and it allows me to be as creative as I am physically able to be.

Board Game & Models Existing board games and models will be vital to my own ideas and concepts, having played a couple of games such as Warhammer, Game of Thrones and having knowledge of games such as Dungeons and Dragons, Infinity puts me in a good place to analyse and generate inspiration from this area of research

Games Workshop

Games Workshop are a professional, tabletop miniatures company, who specialise and produce a range of high quality plastic and resin casts. These high quality casts are translated into models, representing 3 main systems of product.

You may also have heard of Games Workshop through Dawn of War, a pc based strategy game, based on the 40k franchise, Bloodbowl which is an American football spin-off of humans vs orks, or perhaps you may have seen the new work in progress developed by Creative Assembly – Total War Warhammer, based on the fantasy franchise.

The first range of product is their most popular in the form of Warhammer 40K. Warhammer 40k is a sci-fi, fantasy based universe from the 41st millennium. This is where the origins of 40k was born where hordes of Orks, aliens in the form of the Tyranids and possessed incarnations of flesh in the form of daemons reside. Among those races you also have the cryptic Necrons and the loyal and honourable imperium factions of men, including the Imperial Guard and the Space Marines. As you will discover, this universe involves many different species and races, all fighting to claim planets, valuable resources and strongholds throughout the universe.

To provide contrast to the 41st millennium, we have Warhammer Age of Sigmar

(Previously known as Warhammer Fantasy) which is based in a fantasy based old world, where the likes Lizardmen, the rat based Skaven and the hordes of death and bone in form of the Tomb Kings and Vampire Counts exist. Among those factions you have the realms of men in the shape of Bretonnia and The Empire, assisted by their Dwarven counterparts. In contrast to the two systems created by Games Workshop, you also have The Hobbit themed on the Lord of the Rings movies.

Each race will offer something different to the table-top which provides a multitude of miniatures to choose from when assembling your armies. The style of armies is also very diverse, as you have a few races leaning on themes of aliens and the possessed, you have very technically advanced races and also the options of both elite and horde armies, which provide you with completely different play-styles, which is what captures the imagination and enthusiasm of the player base.

Alongside constructing models you also have the opportunity to paint them, which enables you to customise the newest recruits accordingly and adds that extra personalised and individual vibe to each player’s army, as no battle will feel or play the same. Custom built scenery and terrain is another option available to players, which again will further enhance the experience,

which can lead to staged battles, based on the novels constructed by the Black Library, or scenarios within the rulebook.

The rulebook is the main reason I wanted to include Games Workshop as part of my research, as this can help lead you along my thought path, the rulebook is obviously required to play the game, as it contains each aspect of the game within. So for example if I wanted to move a squad of bikes through a set of woods, they couldn’t just breeze through like nothing was there, you would be required to roll a dice to determine a terrain test result, where there will be a slight potential for things to go wrong and a better chance for your bikers to storm through the forest and unleash hell on the unfortunate enemy. Another example would be 2 commanders facing off against each other in an honourable 1 on 1 combat, the rulebook will guide you through the gameplay and having played it myself in the past, I can say it’s worth trying out.

Another supplement of the game is the codex (Compendium) of a particular army, as each model holds a certain stat line and a point’s value, which helps determine how many soldiers can be on each side of the battlefield and also how they face off against each other. This is also another important aspect, which my game will be inspired by, as my characters are going to have a stat line of some description and the way each army’s

codex is presented is a really nice approach to consider. You get a contextual background of each character and then a stats box to showcase their abilities in the game. This could be a template for a concept book regarding my own project, or it could just be a stylistic piece of research, but knowing about the products of Games Workshop will be important for a more physical piece of reference material.

The upcoming “Betrayal at Calth” from The Horus Hersey series.

Blood Warrior of Chaos

Comparing my early game ideas within the constraints of Games Worksop and also the relation to the digital age, I can start to picture the structure that I will need in place to make a successful rendition of the historical period I use. Both games workshop and digital games have different “selections” of characters, in a typical digital game like World of Warcraft you have 3 primary roles in the form of Tank, a physical wall who endures damage and uses his body and shield to protect the rest of the party from enemies, the DPS, who are the main sources of damage, who need to be protected by both the tank and also the Healers, who are the health restores and “buffers” of the group, they keep people alive by acting as the medic.

Within each codex from Games Workshop you have a different variety in the form of HQ, Elite, Troops, Fast Attack and Heavy Support, all of which serve different purposes within your army. HQ being your commander on

the battlefield, Elite troops being expensive higher tier troops or battle machines, Troops are the backbone of the army, providing solid support for your more advanced options. Fast Attack contains a selection of lighter vehicles and infantry with jet-packs, anything that moves faster than normal will be here and finally and by no means least the Heavy Support, which contains the most advanced weaponry that your army can conjure. So you start to hopefully see the ties between what I need to be able to incorporate in terms of character selections within my own game and what currently exists in both physical and digital realms.

Maybe an opportunity is there to incorporate a form of 3D model of my own characters into the game as pieces, I’m not sure on that front yet, but looking at Games Workshop has certainly provided me with a lot of aspects to consider and having been involved within the scene and maintaining enthusiasm for their work in current times will help drive me to create a more explorative, immersive and stimulating experience within my own designs.

Forgeworld

Forge World is a premium model making company, a sub company to Games Workshop and one of the best places to purchase showcase figures and vehicles.

The quality in the work they produce is the best I have seen, of course they charge you for that premium, but if you are immersed in a particular army and want a show stopping set of figures, Forge World would be a good place to look.

The main reasons I wanted to discuss Forge World is due to their relationship to Games Workshop and seeing as I have already discussed their work, it made sense to branch out to a slightly different audience, the other reason is based on the packaging of their “Horus Heresy� models. If you are a fan of Warhammer 40k it is natural to have some connection to the Horus Heresy, which is a time before the 41st millennium, where some of the space marine and chaos space marine legions haven’t yet become the faction they are in 40k. Horus Heresy is referred to as 30k and contains a lengthy background with novels, campaign & rulebooks supporting the model line produced by Forge world.

Alongside the Horus Heresy, Forge World produces a range of paints, etched materials and other factional based models supporting both Warhammer 40K and Warhammer Fantasy (Age of Sigmar).

Mortarion The Reaper Primarch of the Death Guard

Horus Heresy Packaging

The main aspect of the packaging that attracted me to the Horus Heresy series was the slick, professional look that makes it a desirable object through packaging alone. The almost opaque, matt black really stands out, with the contrast bound within the white, upper cased typography, it’s simple, yet effective and this is the type of packaging that I can see shining within my own project. It’s almost like a luxury product, you want to touch and feel the packaging to appreciate its form and to see the contents.

Lots of gaming packaging is polluted and quite chaotic in the fact that they usually involve the use of characters and exaggerated accessories from the particular game to draw in the audience, opposed to this slick, simple product on display here. One thing I will say if I was to go down the simplistic field, is that the typography would have to be spot on, the tone of voice would have to be appropriate to the audience and to the gaming aspect. That blend of design and game focused visuals is going to be challenging to pull off, as it can’t be overpopulated, but it needs to say enough that people will understand the packaging’s content.

This is where a visually strong logo, or reference to the period of history will play its part, as I could incorporate Latin text, Roman numerals or the circular aspect of the board into this design featured on the front of the packaging and I think it will most likely take something from this area in order to produce a range of impressive, professional and aesthetically pleasing products.

Board Game inspiration A collection of images that have influences my current ideas and concepts.

Game of Thrones The Board Game Having recently played through the game as part of my research, I thought it would be important to analyse the game and point out some of my instincts regarding the mechanics, visuals and duration of gameplay available within the RPG entertainer, Games of Thrones the board game.

The Games of Thrones board game is based on the immersive world of Westeros, created

by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. Most people familiar with Game of Thrones, come to know of it through either the TV series, or the books. The board game is something that you would play if you were already familiar with the story and characters within Game of Thrones. This slightly reduces the target audience of the game, due to the very specific nature of the game, as I don’t think you would introduce a new franchise to a customer through a seemingly complicated board game.

The most important part of the game for me is the mechanics of the game and also the duration, as they will usually make or break the game in a literal sense, if the rules are too complex, or too simple, people will just stop playing, you need to understand the audience playing your game and know how dedicated and sophisticated the rules can be. This also goes for the duration of the game, if it takes too long people will get irritated and the game will drag, but if the games too short, then people don’t really

feel like they have played or participated in anything.

Game of Thrones has a big back-story and a big following, so for something as large as this, you would expect to see a more complex version of a game, with the potential to last hours. When I played through the game it lasted around 4 hours, clustered with twists and turns, as we fought for the iron throne.

The game took that long due to me playing it for the first time and obviously when you are new to anything to need to understand the rules regarding the gameplay and get a read on the situation, which involves stabbing people in the back and forging alliances with the most unlikely of houses, the RPG element is really what drives the game as each game will be different, but the narrative stays fresh and entertaining for all parties involved.

The gameplay itself isn’t that hard to understand once you have played through the first few turns, to put the game into a literal context, you need to march your armies across Westeros, conquering forts and fighting the opponents for the land and whoever controls the most forts at the end of the game is victorious. It sounds simple enough, but once you start to incorporate some of the mechanics of the game it can get a little difficult to follow at the beginning.

One of the main mechanics integrated into the conquest is the white walkers, these characters can come into the game and have

a negative effect on your personal conquests, which means players have to work together putting gold into a pot to stop the potential invasion and the negative impact that they would have on the game.

Another key aspect of each house is the unit cards, of the main characters of that race, you have to use these cards strategically to help take lands and forts, alongside your champions, armies of men, knights, fleets and siege engines fight to conquer the realm for your house. Battles can be won and lost by the orders that you give your troops, five orders exist and each order gives you a different ability within that turn. The five orders consist of march, defend, support, raid and consolidate power, with each piece of land you occupy needing an order to be placed.

The last important feature of the game are the 3 artefacts or powers which include, the Iron Throne, The Fiefdoms and the Kings Court. Each player will take up a position on each power based on tokens bid when particular event cards are drawn in-game.

The closer to the top of each power you are, the more powerful you will be in the game.

Whoever is positioned at the top of the King’s Court at the beginning of the turn moves first, the second player second and so on. The player in control of the Valyrian steel blade “The Fiefdoms” can influence any combat by adding 1 power token to any

combat, once per turn. Whoever controls the Iron Throne can decide the outcome of any tie, once per turn. This really does add an interesting feature to the game as you need to fight on two fronts, you need to control the battles within the map of Westeros and also manage the political aspect regarding the power tables.

I also need to briefly touch upon the aesthetics of the game, as obviously that’s also another important part of the process to consider within my own project. The pieces in general are very simple, the troops are represented by little wooden replicas, the cards are nicely made and the board game display is complicated, yet efficient and due to the mechanics of the game, it is required to have a lot of information displayed on various areas of the board.

Overall I am pleased I decided to participate in playing the game, although at the beginning I wasn’t sure exactly what was going on, but after a slow start I managed to forge an understanding and came out as eventual winner, where my accomplishment was branded as “beginners luck”. I would recommend the game to players who wanted to experience something new and where willing to spend the night playing through the game and creating their own stories within Westeros.

3D The Basics Board games often have a lot of potential work that could go into them, as the amount of areas to cover is quite expansive depending on what you are trying to accomplish. One of the areas that interests me is the area of 3D technology.

3D technology is becoming more and more important to the physical world and it’s allowing us the opportunity to interact with different objects that haven’t creatable, or as easy to obtain in the past. I know it’s a big ask for myself to be able to navigate within the 3D technology comfortably and confidently, but I will be running it as the technical study within the broader area of the FMP. This could potentially give me the ability to enhance my game even further with the introduction of game pieces, dice and other game based artefacts that could be included.

Having discussed it with a member of staff I will be working closely with in the future for this demand of 3D, it became apparently that there were a few different stages of the process that I could reasonably get to. These stages involved concepts, experimentation and ideas, design, prototyping, print and output, realistically the areas I would be at would potentially be around the design and prototyping stage. I could then involve a

proposal of some description on how these ideas could be realised further down the line, as that’s another valuable option open to me at this stage.

It’s an exciting prospect learning how to achieve a range of products that could influence the game and wouldn’t it be amazing if some of these items could be included in the exhibition, who knows how far it could go at this stage. Even if I don’t quite make it to a more refined stage, imagine how much I could learn about the applications of 3D software and what that could potentially do for me in the future.

TV & Film inspiration As I have watched quite a few TV series based on history, it makes sense to add a section summarising some of the aspects of those programmes and locate potential links to what I am looking to do with my own project.

Education through TV Another pathway into the historical context is to use both TV and film to help speculate and generate ideas. It’s a change from video games, which means you get to see some of the characters portrayed in much greater detail, as they obviously strike you as a more realistic figure, than something created on screen. This is obviously down to the fashion team and directors of the team and their perception of how this re-imagined history would look using today’s technology and resources.

Looking into these perceptions also gives me something more than just text to read when trying to envision what each character may look like within my game, as I mentioned earlier, there is a difference between a game character and an actor dressed up for the role in the show. If my own visual language stands out will be based on how I use my research to inspire the initial creation of the characters, because there’s obviously no right or wrong way to perceive them and it’s not like I have a time traveling mechanism to check their appearances anyway. That is the beauty of what I am doing, there’s no restrictions on what it “should” look like, it just comes down to how I envision the figures myself.

I will look to discuss some relevant shows to help orchestrate the ideas and themes I currently have and look to refine.

Da Vinci’s Demons - Adventure, Drama, Fantasy

The Borgias - Crime, Drama, History

I will talk about Da Vinci’s Demons first as it’s the most relevant to my current process, it’s based in Italy during Leonardo Da Vinci’s rise in stature, it outlines the base storyline of Italy during the 1500’s where Italy is in major conflict within its own regions including Florence, Naples, Rome and Venice. It also faces the threat from the East, where the Ottoman Empire is planning to move on Italy, corrupt members of Italy aid the Ottomans, as they believe it’s the only way to save the nation, which makes for an interesting dialogue between certain characters. The main reason this is most relevant is because I am looking into the possibility of using the same historical time-line to base and create my game around. Obviously I would exploit areas that this production missed, but it’s a really good starting point to help educate myself on some of the history of the renaissance.

The Borgias Is once again centred on Italy, this time it revolved around the storyline of the Borgias, specifically Rodrigo Borgia, who uses bribery and his son to rise to the title Pope Alexander VI. The show is heavily focused on schemes and plots to kill characters, to gain political advantage and to obviously eliminate any threats who would oppose them. The performance is quite theatrical, which makes for an interesting and compelling viewing. This is a time-line just before Da Vinci’s Demons, which makes for some interesting comparisons and approaches to the setting and general atmosphere of Italy.

Spartacus - Action, Adventure, Biography Spartacus is a series reflecting the Thracian Gladiator Spartacus, who goes onto lead a slave uprising against the Roman Empire. After being captured and made to work as a slave, he finds an opportunity through the arena to gain a reputation and slowly convince other slaves to forge an alliance against his masters and Roman oppressors. Slowly this battle turns bloody and people start to find themselves in a time of chaos and bloodshed, which makes for a very interesting and entertaining watch. Although the time-line doesn’t directly relate to my initial ideas, you can never know when something may come of use further down the line.

Vikings - Action, Drama, History Vikings is a series based on Ragnar Lothbrok, documenting his battles within Scandinavia and adventures to new-found land in England (Wessex). It is said Lothbrok was a descendant on Odin and throughout the story you can see shades of how that may have been possible, if you are interested in Norse mythology or the Vikings, then this is something that you should watch. Fuelled by their gods the 2 kingdoms face off in order to conquer land and expand their reach. Again it’s not something that I can directly link to my concepts, but it’s a nice way of showing variety and how history is portrayed from the angle of the directors.

Reference Style is a big part of the project and during this phase of research I will start to locate potential ways of expression, narration and themes that could help elevate my own visual language to the next level.

World of Warcraft

Back in 2004, Blizzard Entertainment launched a game that would chance the landscape of gaming forever, over 10 years have passed since World of Warcraft was released and the climate of gaming wouldn’t be the same had World of Warcraft not existed. World of Warcraft is a MMO/RPG (Massively Multi-player Online) based in a fantasy realm of Azeroth. Many expansions have been released since the vanilla version came out over 10 years ago, these expansions have progressively expanded and changed the way the environment of the game, introducing new characters, new races, new gear and new end-game content.

The main reason I have decided to look at WoW is discuss the framework on which their game became so successful and famous for.

This is also the base of my reasoning behind the concept of my proposed game, as I truly believe with the right formula I can target an audience from this environment of game and introduce them to a new setting on a more physical battlefield.

Most RPG’s rely on a progression based system, whereby playing through a game and completing quests will level your character up through experience points, enhancing their capabilities on many fronts. Aspects such as weapon and armour upgrades, personality upgrades and ability upgrades are all fundamental traits throughout this genre of game. The difficulty of the game

will also increase as you progress, through the various monsters and bosses that you encounter on your journey and let’s face it, if the game didn’t progressively get harder, then it wouldn’t be much fun to play at all would it?

Expanding on this idea of levelling up system regarding armour and weaponry, we can start to locate themes such as accomplishment and achievement, which stimulates the player to continue on that upward spiral of progression. This in turn will encourage the player to continue playing the game and make it much more likely that they will tell their friends about that powerful new sword of destruction they just received for killing a challenging boss. WoW integrates this progression of gear through a stage of colours, going from grey/white/ green/blue/purple/orange, with each colour representing a more powerful version of that weapon or armour. This is a framework that I think could thrive within the environment of my game and it’s something that I am going to have to consider as it adds so much depth to each individual character. Many games have since, used the same colour mechanic to base their weapon and armour designs around.

This isn’t to say WoW was the first game to incorporate these features, as a large part of the player base came from other computer games such as Runescape and Diablo, both

pre-dating WoW. Trading card games have also integrated this mechanic of colour coordinated design In order to separate the rarest cards from the most common, the cards that contain a “foil” or shiny display within the title of the character, background of the portraits or sometimes they are featured as part of a design on the card.

This is a physical rarity, opposed to a digital version, which means there is a market for this era of card, people collect rare cards and display them in a variety of frames, sleeves and mini-portfolios showcasing these sought-after cards.

Faction and Aesthetic Another aspect of Wow that intrigues me is the clash of two factions, the Alliance and the Horde, as they are both very distinct through role-playing and aesthetically.

The Alliance are portrayed as the faction of light, the good characters if you like, represented tonally by a range of blues, whites and yellows to reflect that trait.

The Horde on the other hand are the faction of dark, the bad characters, where you would commonly see darker, earthlier colours such as brown, green and black. This feature is relevant and will be reflected within my game as there will be both superheroes and the anti-heroes featured. Considering the attributes of both the good and bad will be important to help define the aesthetics of the game.

The question that I keep asking myself is based on the idea of how I would make World of Warcraft into a board game, what features of the game would I include, what would I leave out, or deem inappropriate for a physical game and it’s thoughts like this which will refine and solidify my project. It’s obvious I’m not going to actually redesign WoW, but using that style of game as influence, due to my targeted audience, is something that I believe I must use to stimulate my thinking. Could this game have expansions in the form of new card packs, new characters that you have to purchase? Could the board change from the idea of a gladiator ring into something else, maybe a forest where you are battling for survival, these are all thoughts influenced by looking into digital gaming and that’s why a large quantity of the document itself will be tailored towards existing digital games, as it’s something I do in my spare time and the way to really make my board game concept stand out.

Borderlands

Borderlands is a first person shooter, developed by Gearbox Software and published initially by 2K games and since the first release publishers Feral Interactive, Microsoft Studios and CyberFront Corporation have also joined the process.

Borderlands is based in a fantasy based world of Pandora and contains a strong sense of both action and RPG genres embedded into this entertaining, comical adventure throughout Pandora. The main reason I wanted to highlight the Borderlands series is due to the gameplay and aesthetics within the game, as I believe their style is very distinctive and relates to the in game narratives perfectly.

The gameplay in Borderlands requires you to select from a range of distinctive characters, known as “vault hunters� and with these characters you play through a well written story based within a particular event in Pandora. The characters are the main reason I was interested in playing Borderlands when it first came out and is the main reason I wanted to discuss the game within the context of my board game proposal.

Each character has a different background, a different play-style and attributes, which makes every play-through of the game completely different. This allows for a very creative in game narrative which allows different interactions to become available depending on your character. This rich vein of back-story and character development

is something that I am going to heavily consider when designing my own figures of Italy.

A multi-player (co-op) version is also available, which allows you to form a group and take on quests and stories together, enriching the experience and adding another dimension to the game. The management of teammates becomes important as each player will usually bring their own skill-set and have certain strengths and weaknesses that need to be considered. All attributes that need to be addressed within the mechanics of my game, as it will be tailored for more than two players, meaning there needs to be rules and events in the game that exploit team relationships and this will only enhance the player experience.

The Characters

As I have previously discussed, the aesthetics of the game are very stylized and further cement the narrative and general atmosphere of the game, it brings the characters to life, which you could argue is easier to perform digitally. This is something that I am going have to have a long play with and figure out the best method of designing my own world. The concept of the superhuman will have to somehow shape the design process, which may mean looking into heavily exaggerated poses and very specific enhancements in certain aspects of the figure. All of which is a work in progress, but finding different techniques and applications is vital for this to work and Borderlands has that personality in abundance.

Thought Bubble

Thought bubble is a comic art festival based in Leeds every year, which hosts a range of both veteran and up and coming illustrators and narrators. They had their self-published comics, sketchbooks, reference imagery posters and general merchandise on sale within the exhibition. On show was a wide variety of styles, some venturing towards the more realistic approach, whereas others were heading towards a very imaginative, fantasy based direction, which gave me a lot to think about and look at while I was there.

The event style itself is something that I have never experienced before and due to the relevance this has to my projects (FMP and Dissertation) I made sure to attend the event. I had initially heard about the event a week before it was taking place, which gave me some time to look at the artists and illustrators that would be showcasing their work at the venues. This would give me an idea of what to expect and what things to look out for in terms of influencing my own work and it also helps that I possess a general interest in the theme of comics and the aesthetics they promote outside of my projects.

As I mentioned earlier there were a lot of curators at the event, the head-liners/ highlighted curators consisted of Kate Beaton, Marguerite Bennet, Joan Cornella, Wes Craig, DMC, Emi Lenox, Kate Leth, Jerome Opena, Amy Reeder, Rick Remender

and Noelle Stevenson. The event also hosted a few stockists of comic related memorabilia with names such as Big Bang Comics, Gnash Comics, Sheffield Space Centre, Titan Comics and Travelling Man. You can start to picture the amount of content on display and you can also see there was something for everyone. If you were looking to get into the scene or expand your collection, events like this should be on your calendar as they are great places to generate your own ideas or stock up on a new curator’s work, which may not be available online.

My inspiration levels have sky rocketed after experiencing the event as a whole, where elements such as ideas generation and reference material where enforced and solidified, which in turn gave me something to move forward with. The reference material I gathered came in the form of 3 books in the form of “Dungeons & Drawings” by Blanca Martinez de Rituerto and Joe Sparrow, “Low – Volume 1: The Delirium of Hope” by Greg Tocchini and Rick Remender and finally “Super Graphic – A visual guide to the comic book universe” by Tim Leong.

I could have purchased a lot more books and designs, but I didn’t feel that it was necessary to start blowing cash on stuff just because it looked aesthetically pleasing, it needed to serve a purpose in terms of my own thoughts on character designs and board game designs. Overall I felt that I had

enough to reference in the short term and if I found that I was lacking in a particular area then I could pick up some new acquisitions at a later stage. It goes without saying that I will keep my eyes open for any similar events in the future, where immersing myself in the environment could once again benefit me in a huge capacity.

Guests & Head-liners

Jerome Opena

Simon Davis

Nik Virella

Ben Templesmith

Lee Garbett

Keith Burns

Rick Remender

I had looked at some of Remender’s work before the Thought Bubble exhibition and the reason he caught my eye in the first place was the style of his work, the sense of perspective and depth generated by the digital, water based style is something I have always been interested in and Remender’s work was one of the best portrayals of that style of I seen. In terms of his accomplishments he has worked with the biggest name in the business, Marvel producing publishment’s for Uncanny Avengers, Captain America, Uncanny X-Force, Secret Avengers, Punisher, Doctor Voodoo and Venom.

Alongside working for Marvel he has also collaborated with a range of big names and talented curators, co-creating comics such as Deadly Class, LOW, Black Science, Tokyo Ghost, Fear Agent, Strange Girl, and Last Days of American Crime. He has also worked as lead writer on the game Bulletstorm and as writer on Dead Space, so as you can see he has a plethora of work out there and is one of the best in the business. His work with Greg Tocchini is my favourite as they really stand out from the crowd.

I think the best way to look at Remender’s work within my own ideas and concepts is to be a little more expressive and loose with my sketches, having seen some of the work he makes in sketchbooks and the like it has become apparent that he will think of something quite vague and run with it.

The problem is that I currently have it in my head that a character needs to look a certain way, in order to represent that characters historical context and that is the big problem in creating designs for figures that exist, I have less freedom so to speak, as people have a very slight idea on what something is supposed to look like. Not being a very accomplished character design also makes it harder to visualise my thoughts, but with practice and exposure to these sketches and free-hands from illustrators such as Remender, I believe I will be able to nail the designs in time, as the curators I locate provide me with incredible points of reference and serve as huge inspirational figures within my own work.

Greg Tocchini

The context explored when I was discussing Remender’s style can be applied to the work of Tocchini, as obviously they have worked closely on the work I have located.

The story within the LOW volume I possess seems very well planned and the artwork really compliments the narrative, the colour decisions is also what makes the collaboration so atmospheric, you feel as though you are part of the environment, part of an underwater city. Again I must reiterate what an influence this work has become and I really believe that I can move forward with my own work and take that to greater pastures.

Dungeons & Drawings

Dungeons & Drawings is a collection of classical creatures stemming from both traditional folklore and modern tabletop RPG’s. An art blog has existed since 2010, which documents innovative and imaginative creatures alike, the best of these iterations existing in a range of 2 books, both titled “Dungeons & Drawings”.

The version I picked up was their latest (Blue) edition, which has a series of interesting creatures, from the likes of a Faerie Monarch, to a Haliai. You can maybe picture from names of these creatures, how expansive and interesting they really are. I also managed to speak to the curators of this collection and they spoke about their influences in the form of Dungeons & Dragons (DnD) and Wizards of the Coast. Having some knowledge into how DnD operates I knew that this could be something that I use as a point of reference and influence within my own work.

Each creature created has their own background and a stat-line, which reflects the power of each creature, so this is essentially right in line with what I am trying to produce within my board game.

The difference with their work is that they are taking something fictional, something that doesn’t actually exist and creating an image for this new creation, which is a really nice contrast to my non-fictional, historical approach, as it allows me to navigate between both the fictional and non-fictional

in order to produce the most informed and balanced decisions for my own work. I am trying to make something unique within my own work, in bridging the gap between the platform of digital and physical, which means boundaries will be extended and broken. Which translates into needing all the information I can get in order to make it a success, Dungeons & Drawings provides me with a really nice angle to look into more as my project develops.

The Wolverine

The main elements that have drawn me to this series of work is first the application of the technique and also the context of the designs themselves. The application is a print/brush based technique called “sumi-e” which is a term for black ink painting in the eastern continent, each stroke bears meaning and incorporates a lot of depth and charm into the portraits themselves. It can be tied to the work of calligraphers and obviously imagery, which is the main purpose of my research here. It’s something that I haven’t heard of before and it seems to be a very traditional technique that I would be very interested in replicating within my own project. The figurative and elegance contained within the technique is what really interests me, as you can convey a lot of depth into a character using a technique such as this.

The drawback I can initially see with the technique, is that it may only work if you are already familiar with the character or image you are trying to create, as it’s quite an indicative style, so created something that hasn’t been seen before could potentially detract from the overall imagery, but it could also provide a really nice transformation from story to this character that you are being introduced to for the first time, using the idea of the imaginary to fuel the appearance. So in essence it could work either way, it depends if I can pull the style off at the end of the day.

As previously mentioned it could work really well with this perception of a new modern day superhero, as it’s my imagination that would be fuelling the topic in the first place, so using a style that also reflects on that notion could prove to be successful, also the characters won’t have been visualised before so it leaves it open to interpretation which again gives me the chance to be experimental and challenging, which this style opens itself up to. I am definitely going to give this technique a go, although I may need a slight indication of the form of the characters before I attempt to envision them using an abstract medium, I am very interested to explore this application further and it will be interesting to see where I find myself.

David Sedgwick

The thing that drawn me to Sedgwick’s work is two main elements the first would be the way in that sometimes a simple concept used properly in the body of a design can look better than a more abstract idea that can’t be reflected as efficiently and I was lucky enough to be introduced to Sedgwick via lecture, so I had the opportunity to listen to him talk about his work and that’s really what inspired me to look into his work further.

The other element is the style that he works with, as it’s very clean and crisp, with a very contemporary and post-modern twist. The particular pieces that I was drawn to was the ‘BCN-MCR 2014’ project, which was a collaboration with a range of designers based in Barcelona and Manchester. They produced a range of fantastic work and the main thing that caught my eye throughout that project was the document that contained the information about all the designers that were involved in the project.

They art style of the portraiture and the way the information was presented was what I found really interesting, as it’s something that I am going to have to think about for my project further down the line when all the characters have been created.

The other project that caught my eye was the ‘World Cup 2014’ which was a document produced for the build up and summary of the world cup, again the main pull

gravitated through the way the information was documented and the method in which the characters were realised, as it will important to have a number of ways of creating my own characters in time.

I have pretty much summarised how his style could be transferred above, by using the way information can be represented and maintaining a key emphasis on the layout throughout my own final pieces that I will come to design. I must enforce the freedom I have with the designs to begin with in terms templates and style, but as it comes towards the final stages and creating final products, looking at ways to refine that process will be crucial and that’s what I think Sedgwick’s work will inspire me to achieve.

Skottie Young

While I was thinking about the idea of a hybrid board game, I thought about narration and how that will be an important aspect of the game and how I went about portraying that narrative would require various research. One idea was to design a form of comic as a point of reference while playing the game, so obviously I then had to consider potential aesthetics of something in that field. This is where I discovered Young’s work, as it was something that I hadn’t really come across before due to the unique style of representation evident throughout his work.

The style created generates a very fun and quirky vibe, something that would be easy to relate to and to refer to and look at multiple times. Sometimes designs can be a little too serious and the fresh approach Young’s work displays is a gateway out of the generalised style of comic art. You also get a strong sense of identity and character within the artwork displayed, which is a theme I am finding throughout many of the artists I am starting to discover. It’s imperative that I really consider the theme and setting of the game, as the background and story will be vital.

The key aspect of Young’s work that I enjoy the most is that he shows development, you can see how characters have been developed throughout various stages of the process and that will help me get started within the sense of my own style. It will also help overcome what usually happens when you draw, you become too precious of what you have, to start with I need to be able to have fun coming up with these new superheroes and antiheroes and I need to have that freedom from the beginning to fully utilize the potential of the idea.

I feel extremely motivated looking through various styles I am start to collect as a nice piece of inspiration and as research, the biggest hurdle is going to be the initial process of putting my imagination down on paper, as previously mentioned, but if I continue to discovery quality artists and Illustrators then I should be able to conjure the right atmosphere and environment for my own project.

Dan Mumford

I recently discovered Mumford’s work due to the new Star Wars poster being announced/unveiled and I was instantly drawn to his illustrative and fantastical approach. The style that he has managed to achieve just screams fantasy, it seems as if our dreams are coming to life within the energy and vibrancy of his compositions. I can imagine what the environment that he has created would sound like, what it would feel like, as it reflects this very suggestive and almost surreal experience.

The narrative and role-playing within the process is also very evident while searching through his portfolio, the story has been imagined by the characters and backgrounds presented, you know the experience isn’t real, yet through his very unique style, you share the story within each scene. Some of the recreations realised are based on video games and various mythology and film, some of which I am familiar with and he has captured the essence of each dimension within the tale perfectly. For example the Fenrir design is based on Norse mythology, where a wolf-like guardian lies, full of hate and mischief, those characteristics are obvious throughout Mumford’s portrayal of the character.

The main aspect to consider is generating an energy to my own environment of superheroes and antiheroes, it needs to merge into a fantasy and futuristic based world. Through analysis of Mumford’s work, I can start to picture and consider attributes that I am going to need to pay attention to, in order to create a successful portrayal of my own characters. There also needs to be a strong identity within my work that helps you buy into the story or narration of each character, you need to progressively build a relationship with the characters, in order to explore and be interested in my own ideas.

As I am looking to design a form of hybrid board game, I think this familiarity with the characters featured and the universe they come from is going to be the most important element to get right, as there is no point playing a game if you are not interested by the environment and setting of said game.

Kaija Rudkiewicz I located Rudkiewicz’s work while looking for character design and illustrative inspiration.

I really like the style that she achieved throughout her work for Crytex’s “Ryse - Son Of Rome”, this is due to a number of reasons, the first being how each character has their own identity, through vivid, yet vibrant colours and through the detail of textures used within the characters design. The other reason is how the page is set out, where the page furniture, colour designators and little segments of information about the character start to form.

You don’t quite know everything about the character, but you are shown enough to want to investigate further and see what the characters are about within the context of the game. I also believe that it is important to try and get a balance between realistic and abstract game related designs and also designs that aren’t game related.

I think you can see how this could influence my own project, the documentation and layout of the characters sheets are something that I want to expand on within my own games design and this is certainly gave me one or two ideas on how to go about collecting and recording that information. I’m also under no illusion that I will not be able to achieve the level of quality of work displayed by

Rudkiewicz, but I think sometimes being able to appreciate good work and looking to maybe pick up one or two techniques or hints at what to do within my own practice is better than moving past something because the outcome is unachievable. It influences and inspires me to push myself to become a better character designer, which will help me in the long run.

Paul McDonnell

A title designer that I have come across quite a lot recently was Paul McDonnell, having recently worked on projects such as Da Vinci’s Demons, The Last Kingdom, Into the Badlands and Constantine. McDonnell has displayed a strong visual style, which emulates a very loose and very sketchy approach, which leads to a very smooth transition between frames during the animated introduction to these shows.

Having mentioned some of the shows he has worked on, you can start to see that I have been strongly influenced by this language, as I have been watching some of the listed shows for both research and entertainment purposes.

In terms of potential project integration, I can see that this very abrasive approach being quite useful when visualising my own characters, as it all needs to be very free flowing and interchangeable within the initial phase. If I become too fixated on a particular look, or style too early, then I’m not going to get the most out of my characters, which will negatively impact the creative process.

McDonnell’s work also displays an animated perceptive to bring these characters to life, whereas I’m looking to make static, action based sketches and gameplay integration in order to fulfil the same target. But I do think it’s quite important to take techniques and ideas from other areas and find links to your particular study, from further afield as it gives you much more creative freedom and

the less restrictions you put on yourself at the initial stages, the healthier the work will become.

Into the Badlands

You can see some of the similarities between what I have been talking about previously in terms of action and characters, the element of the silhouette also adds that level of suspense, mystery and elusiveness to the figures. The backgrounds also do a lot for the composition, as the balance between the colour and tonal work in comparison to the shapes and figures on display are really subtle and effective.

This could also be something I look to do, finding a way to integrate a little bit of the story and context of each character in a background panorama in a style similar to McDonnell’s work.

The environment of my game is important and this concept could be involved within the card making process, or maybe as a promotional series to get my game out onto the market in a range of posters for both print and the web.

Connie Lim

While I was looking for sources of inspiration regarding style and also card design, I stumbled upon a very intriguing aesthetic of card, it was fashion based and the illustrations were full of character and life. The main reason I wanted to highlight this particular project was due to the fact it was a fashion based approach, as Connie Lim is a fashion designer who incorporates her particular style into a range of illustrative and design based outcomes. I feel with the card designs that they were very raw, very sophisticated in the way they communicated to the viewer, due to each figure having a different visual approach, giving them certain characteristics based on appearance.

To build on this idea you can start to tie in emotion, looking at different ways to portray a specific emotion, a shy character is going to look different to a confident character and I think that’s the main aspect that attracted me to the range of designs produced by Lim. This emotional response through appearance and tone is something I had considered in the back of my mind, but in a more theoretical stance, opposed to a more physical media based application. You could start to tie in links between the superhero styles used by marvel and this potential water and line based approach of aesthetics and find an angle that sits in between both dimensions and that is honestly where I see myself currently.

I think the most important element to take away from this summary is that I see a potential merging of the raw characteristics of Lim’s work and the more active and narrative based qualities that superheroes possess. How I go about representing this will be both exciting and challenging and it seems that most of the research and discussions taking place point in that direction.

Coven Playing Cards

The coven playing cards where discovered while looking for inspiration regarding playing cards, I was trying to think of potential layouts for my cards and this range of cards caught my eye. This has a more classical approach to the layout, as it is composed similar to a traditional set of playing cards, using different identities to represent the kings, queens and the like. Now this isn’t something that I would particularly like to do, in regards of traditional formatting of the card, but what stood out to me was this idea of the mask.

This shroud illuminates the designs contained on the cards and provides this very illusive, mysterious aura within the card series. You start to wonder what is behind the mask and if the game will somehow related to this aspect, I think here it is mainly for decorative purposes, but when I was thinking about my own work and the idea of a superhero, I started to think about the application of disguises, masks and ways for the identity of the superhero to be hidden.

Superheroes wear their costumes, their outfits to protect themselves in battle and to protect their real (everyday) life, so people don’t know who they actually there, this second life, this extra armour could somehow be integrated within the mechanics of my game. Each character I am looking to recreate could have a form of mask, or shroud in line with their ability, or notability. If there was a character who had a role of a spy, then how would they visually exist in comparison to a Roman soldier? This links in with a few more areas I have been discussing and this discovery has really added fuel to the fire in this department of identity and visualisation of the characters.

The Marvel Way

Considering I was looking into the potential of creating my own superheroes within this game, I decided to look into techniques that I could apply to my sketches that may have implied a stronger notion of the superhero.

A superhero has a particular “style” that identifies and portrays that character as a superhuman. This style consists of elements such as inking, perspectives of cityscapes, particular methods of anatomical reference such as faces, bodies and apparel. This style is usually captured in a slide or transitional based composition, loaded with panels negotiating narratives and story-lines that the images are documenting.

The main reason I want to highlight this is due to a recent book I acquired, which was “How to Draw Comics The Marvel Way”. Throughout this book it highlights aspects of comic creation, such as the tools involved, perspectives, study of the figure, action poses, foreshortening, composition and inking. It was a real insight into the techniques and knowledge required to recreate something of a similar ilk.

Straight away I could start picture a way of recreating the Italian theme of the game through this style, how everything could be from history, but narrated in a different light, as most forms of historical documentation are very real and very particular. If I was able to translate this approach to my character design I could start to really make paces with

the concept and unify the idea I had from the beginning regarding the idea of a superhero and their visual persona. This could also potentially make up for my lack of skill and know-how in the illustration department, as I honestly believe I could pull something like this off and it is the most relevant application of technique I can see for my modern day superheroes.

This would also make my visual language very fluent, very interesting to look at, as they wouldn’t necessarily be a static looking image, which gives me so much freedom and allows my imagination to really take over, as I believe if I went for a more realistic style then it could hinder or restrict some of that freedom. What I’m trying to achieve is ambitious, the whole project is to be honest, but I believe I can pull it off and this purchase is a huge step in the right direction, in terms of aiding my visualisation and creation and it also constitutes to my inspirational purposes.

Reference Imagery

Comic Panels

Having discussed the style of Marvel characters and briefly about comics, I decided that I wanted to go into more detail about the potential to integrate comic panels into my game. The comic panels could be displayed in a number of ways, from elements such as the rulebook, to a potential concept book where instead of having loaded forms of information, the characters could tell their story through a series of panels, with limited text. I think something like this may aid the visual side of the game in a great way and it’s something that I generally have an interest in.

In terms of the rulebook, there could be potential scenarios, where a fixed piece of gameplay exists, which could be enforced by a panel based narrative, which could help set the scene of the battle. I’ve seen a couple of examples that serve as good reference points, which don’t necessarily fit in contextually with what I am discussing here, but visually you could see the potential for something similar to be created.

I could also release supplementary designs and extra characters after the initial game release as the potential to expand is there, as I’m only covering a small period of history with the game, I’m looking in the way Creative Assembly have expanded their game series over the years and how I could potentially do something of a similar capacity. Another benefit of having something like this is that

it could involve the player-base as they may want to hand in submissions in a theoretical fan art section, where content can be displayed among fans of the game.

There is quite a lot to consider and work on, if something like this will be feasible is down to how quickly I can adapt to a style that would incorporate some of the aspects I have discussed here and within the body of research in general. I also have to consider that just because I think it’s a good idea that it will work, it could be that I force the process into the game and it doesn’t have a positive effect because I can easily see something like this confusing new players, so that’s something to consider further down the line when it comes to that stage.

Italian Art

As I am looking to develop a game based on the Italian renaissance, I thought it would be a beneficial to look into some of the architecture and clothing utilised within that period to aid the construction of the visual development within the game. The imagery I expose myself to could have a major impact of the character design, as what they wear could be influenced by the aesthetics and logistics of this particular period and among that we have the architecture, which may generate a stronger sense of background work to portray Italy in the 15th century.

Architecture within the renaissance placed emphasis on a number or factors which mainly considered elements such as the geometry, proportion and symmetry of a structure. Most of the buildings of this period where under some influence of ancient Roman architecture, where arrangements of columns, pilasters and lintels dominated the buildings. Religious additions such as aedicules (shrine) were also among the designs and to generate a greater scale and sense of perspective hemispherical domes where constructed to top off these complex and beautiful buildings.

Italian architecture mostly resisted the previous advances of the Gothic period, which is clear to see as the Gothic architecture possessed a strong sense of verticality, clustered shafts, tracery (stonework support to glass windows) and a complex for of ribbed

vaulting. A lot of work was credited towards Filippo Brunelleschi, known for his roles in constructing the Florence Cathedral and San Lorenzo. Other names associated with the development of renaissance architecture are Michelozzo Michelozzi (Palazzo Medici Riccardi), Leon Battista Alberti (Palazzo Rucellai and Santa Maria Novella), Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael.

Clothing

The clothing of the renaissance is quite a simple, yet complex area, the style of clothing depended on your trade and stature within the provenance. Conditions such as government, fashion, rank and wealth were attributes that have to be taken into account when discussing the apparel of Italy during the renaissance. It can be difficult to truly visualise what people wore back then, but luckily help also lies in the costume design department in the form of TV series with historical relation.

Slashing seemed to be an important discovery within this period, which basically meant sleeves became longer and more decorative on a women’s dress, the dress would also be very long and expansive. Head ware and headdresses where also common, varying in an ornate and intricate style. For males their cloaks become almost like a throw, existing mainly on one side of the shoulder, men commonly wore a range of, flat caps, jerkins and berets. Tunics and cloth based shirts where popular among the common folk, whereas the more prestigious figures had access to a much higher quality, wardrobe of clothing.

The colours involved in the clothing was often very rich and vivid during this period, the main colours red, black and white seemed to dominate, mainly due to the influences of the Medieval period. This gives me something to consider in terms of designing my own characters and also other elements of design, such as borders and page furniture throughout the project.

Mask Aesthetics

Why do people wear masks? Some people use masks to hide their face from public, people use masks to feel secure, some to hide facial wounds and others as a fashion statement. Identity crisis or for protection, masks can still make a huge impression on somebody, in most cases it makes you more curious as to what’s behind the mask, as curiosity and that urge to decipher a mystery gets the better of you.

The main reason I wanted to highlight masks is due to the relationship to superheroes and as a potential stimulus to help further develop my characters. Superheroes use masks to hide their identity, to become something else, as the mask usually comes in part of a transformation of that character, Bruce Wayne and Oliver Queen as Batman and the Green Arrow spring to mind as relevant examples. This idea of concealment could be directly transferred into my own work, as I am looking to recreate a version of superheroes from a historical context.

Imagine the power-shift of identity if I was able to successfully come up with a range of masks that could separate each character and present them as a range of superheroes.

I could also go with a more concealing approach if I really wanted to, where my heroes could operate in a form of shadows, as concealment and deception is another strong theme within the idea of a mask. If this would be visually appropriate remains to be

seen, but it could be interesting to reference and experiment with these concepts to see what style of image was to arrive at the stage of outcomes.

Another key reason I looked into this idea of the mask was due to the relation my game has to the Italian Renaissance, Italy was notorious for a range of masks, such as Venetian masks and masquerade masks, which would be worn at festivals and events the idea was to play “games�, almost like a social innuendo, with their partners or love interests. So you maybe see the relation between the two aspects and how this could add an extra level of flavour to my characters, real personalities could be located through these mask designs and that also presents me with the opportunity to either be quite loose with their historical context, recreating them somewhat, or I could stay true to their real identities (according to sources).

I think as the project has gone on I have flirted with different ideas on how this game could be realised, initially I wanted it to be quite heavily driven by history, I wanted things to be correct to that period in time, but the more I explore and discover, the more freedom I think I should give myself, while still leaning towards specific areas of the time period to give more of an oversight from my perspective, opposed to an essay about what books have said about the Italian Renaissance.

Italian Masks

You can hopefully start to picture how these masks and potential apparel can really unlock and transform the potential of my character ideas into something a lot more substantial and significant. One of the hardest parts of the project is going to be integrating a unique identity into each character in the game, using my personal opinion and outside influences to generate this new found vision.

Packaging Development Packaging is going to be a hell of a challenge for me, due to my inexperience with the mediums of making packaging, I guess it’s quite similar in most cases for this project as I’m definitely stepping outside my comfort zone for this, but that’s where the best work will most likely come from and I’m looking forward to getting stuck in with the process.

Packaging & Presentation Among the packaging world we have section that specialises and focuses within the luxury market, those products tend to be of a cosmetic or fragrance based origin. You may be wondering why this has anything to do with a board game, but if I learnt anything in my time designing, it’s that something shouldn’t be all it seems, sometimes you need to delve into other areas, lend techniques and apply it to your own work to produce a more original product. This is precisely why I am discussing and investigating the luxury packaging market.

First of all I need to understand and obtain knowledge on suitable approaches when designing for this market and there seems to be a few common trends from what I have discovered so far. The first element I want to discuss is that of shape, what the package looks like, as there seems to be a focus towards curvature and particular measurements in terms of basic shape. The curvature is quite an obvious one, as it attracts attention, feels good to hold, due to the shape of our hands and it also aesthetically pleases us. The other aspect of shape I want to touch upon is the size of each package, which tend to vary from small squares, to larger rectangles.

This is obviously due to the contents being a variety of shapes and sizes, but in general you are unlikely to see two things that are exactly the same, there is also slight changes, little additions that make the shape of the packaging pleasing to look at.

The colour of the packaging is also very deliberate and honestly one of the main things I may consider using within the context of a board game, you are presented with a range of clean whites, greys, blues and blacks, which is no accident. Those colours are pleasing to look at, they don’t intimidate our eye, but they subtly draw you in, as the colours possess the quality of intrigue.

The typography associated is generally quite a small size, with attention to the brand or logo represented centrally on the front of the product. It is clear what the content of the package is, it doesn’t scream or shout at you, as it doesn’t need to. The product relies on its shape and colour to draw you in and then you start to notice to intricate and delicate serifs or sans serifs used to reflect the brand.

The lighting of the packaging is also another key element to highlight, as whenever you see compositions of jewellery, cosmetics or fragrances, they usually have a form of shadow, a clean and clear white background or a sometimes a textured velvet-like backdrop. Sometimes it’s a combination of 2 aspects, but there is always a sign that it’s a luxurious product based on the photograph and light, as they want that aura of divinity, of tranquillity and the aspects mentioned are the best ways to achieve that aura.

Obviously not everything here will be applicable to my own work, but deciphering and gaining an understanding of other ranges of packaging can only aid my own ideas and perhaps a few elements such as the colour and typography could really inspire something creative. I haven’t lost sight that this is a design task that I am doing, so hopefully investigations such as this give me something slightly different to think about and hopefully I can alter perception on what you would typically expect a board game package to look like.

Packaging & Presentation Packaging and presentation will become very import aspects as I come to the end of the project, everything will need to come together in a very methodical and simple way. Based on the initial list of products that I intend on making, the packaging will need to be very well thought out in order to work, which is why I am starting to investigate the possibilities as soon as possible. I need to know how multiple pieces of packaging work and why they work in order to formulate my own response.

The physicality’s of packaging is something that I am not that familiar with, as I usually operate on digital platforms, but seeing as the brief I am working on is going to require me to get my hands dirty, it makes sense to really immerse myself in this environment.

Looking at the fundamentals of packaging in a broad sense we can pick out certain components that the packet need to provide.

It needs to be sturdy, in order to protect the product inside, it needs to be practical, so if you have a number of golf balls that needs a box, you won’t be making a huge square box for them. The final part, which is going to take a while to refine is the aesthetic of the packaging, you are more likely to be drawn to a product that looks “sexy”, intriguing or very well finished, opposed to something that looks bland, battered and clunky.

After the initial analysis you can start to include things like the contents of the

packaging, maybe a window where you can see the product inside, or imagery to hint at what’s inside, you start to get an idea of what needs to be considered within the constraints of packaging. A good example of the window display in use within the idea of a board game, is the new Star Wars Monopoly, where you get to see the characters involved in the game on the front of the box.

Packaging & Presentation With the knowledge that I needed to start packaging production sooner rather than later, I decided to make a start with some basic boxes to get me into the flow of making something. Sketching the nets and then constructing them was the way I went forward with this process as I just wanted to make something as seamlessly as possible.

The process itself was self explanatory, the first box I made was based on quite a small proportion, using a smaller depth on the lid of the box for an easily accessible design.

While constructing the box I was thinking about different versions of a game and how sometimes you can pick up travel versions, smaller variations of the full game. This thought prompted me to think about a potential card based game, where you would get access to the cards and using their stats to play the game, think of top trumps as a good example of what I could do. The other option is to have the small box fit into the bigger board game box, as part of accessory storage, a compartment for the components of the game, but without physically making the box I wouldn’t have thought about the packaging in this way.

The next box was designed with the potential shape of the board game in mind, I was thinking about the board game being a circular shape, which would really reflect nicely with the Roman Colosseum idea I was thinking about. In order to fit that into

a box you need to consider the possibility of a square shaped box. The best reference I can give you is pizza boxes, they are square shaped to compensate for the fact that a pizza is a circular shape, meaning that is shares the same size all around. Meaning that you need something of equal width and height to compensate for the that, which gets you a square. You obviously have the spare quarters in the top left and right and bottom left and right to play with and it could be that the components of the game fit into those custom shapes.

That theory is based on the fact that the circle would stay whole and wouldn’t fold, obviously if it folded you generate more options, but I could see the square box design working, but obviously we are at very early stages in the process. It was very useful to get stuck in with some packaging design and the next step will be to continue to refine and explore the process in detail.

Packaging & Presentation The packaging development continued and this time the focus was on creating a book case of sorts. I was thinking about how I could protect a book with an outer casing that would make the book feel a lot more special than just handing the book itself to somebody. Imagine the difference having a nice solid shell with the mechanics to open up and insider lies a document, it could be perceived as a piece of treasure, something of significance.

This whole idea was inspired by one the of new Games Workshop products, which was packaged in a very similar way, it instantly inspired me, which set me off to decipher the secrets of the shell, how it was formed and how I could manipulate that idea and take it further to enhance my own designs.

This initial process led to something that looked like the image to the right, where a system that pulled apart was implemented, allowing the product inside to be protected and giving you the option to pull the box apart from two different angles. This proposed design could house both portrait and landscape products and I think it’s something that could become very useful further down the line.

Materials

I used three different pieces of paper to construct the first wave of designs, the grey paper was very thin and flimsy, which meant it was quite easy to manipulate in terms of folding and forming into the shape, but it also meant it was very weak structurally and I doubt it could hold anything substantial inside. The Yellow paper was thicker, harder to manipulate, but sturdier than the grey paper, which meant it held shape better and wasn’t as lightweight. The final paper to undergo the test was the red paper, which was the thickest of the three papers, meaning it was the hardest to manipulate, but the most structurally sound and it actually held together quite well, the paper also had a slight texture, meaning it was easier to hold and personally felt better and more professional. The two thicker papers where also made at a smaller scale, to house A5 products and to also test their durability more efficiently.

This test was very useful and I can start to picture how this piece of packaging may work if I was to go ahead and use the design to house something like a rulebook for the proposed game. Limited edition books could also be produced, which may be how this design becomes part of the marketing scheme, how it becomes part of the package.

Packaging & Presentation This stage of the packaging was orientated around a potential card holder for the cards of the game to be sealed within. Card packaging is usually fairly standard, using a folded opening on the top side of the box, with the strength of the structure coming from the sides of the box.

There was two options that I had in mind for this card packaging, it was either going to be the traditional rectangle, where you see things like playing cards and the like packaged, or a smaller box, which would consist of two parts, a bottom and a lid. It would look a bit fancier if I was to use the two parted box, I could see that as being part of the main packaging for the game, whereas the traditional box could be something that was sold separately.

Another key aspect of this area of design is that the materials didn’t have to be as strong and sturdy as the main box designs, as the interior would be full of lightweight cards, opposed to heavier objects such as the actual board game, dice and pieces that may come alongside the game, if this would impact the decision on materials was questionable, but the option was there if I wanted to consider it.

Materials

Above you can see a selection of images from the card holding packages I created, the packaging features two different types of paper, the first being a black card, giving me quite a rigid and sturdy structure to work with, for some reason this material has a hard time sticking together, whereas the second material, which is almost like a fabricated paper, sticks together perfectly. The second paper is very flexible, silky smooth and feels nice to hold, it’s main problem is that it’s very lightweight and doesn’t retain a structure or hold it’s shape very well.

The white fabricated paper is very good to work with for prototyping as it offers me that flexibility to work with different folding techniques and I can generally be a lot more forceful when working with the material itself, meaning I can work through the designs at a faster rate, opposed to the black paper, which is a little harder to work with.

To stick all the nets together I am using double sided sticky tape and as I briefly mentioned it works a lot better with the white paper than the black, which is something to keep in mind going forward.

Packaging & Presentation The next range of packaging was looking into the idea of an expansion box set. Many card games and miniature games package their extra assets into a style similar to the images documented on this page, the box shown is from a game made by Privateer Press called “Warmachine”. Inside the box you have the components of the model on the cover, alongside information cards such as statlines and also construction guides, which sometimes feature on the back of the box.

I’ve thought about the idea of expansion sets for my game, as over time new content could be created to allow for different characters from other periods of history to be obtainable. One way to do this is to release expansion packs, which would provide you with the character card, model or 3D game piece to play in the vanilla (initial) version of the game. This thinking is tailored towards the business side of the game, opposed to the creative, but it’s something worth considering and designing for as potential expansion points and a proposal for a later stage.

I’m also quite familiar with systems that implement these styles of packaging, so creating one myself could be very realistic and achievable we will see how the development stage takes flight.

Materials

My attempts at recreating the packaging is documented above, I decided to use the same materials as the previous card holding packages due to their strengths and weaknesses complimenting each other, using both I can generate a strong sense of how the packaging would form both mechanically and visually.

The actual process of designing the boxes was quite simple, as they are just expansions on the bottom half of the net to the card packages previously created, the aspects that need further consideration are the lengths of the top extension and the size of the actual box. I think the white version of the box was a more realistic size for parts of the game such as cards and small pieces to compliment the game.

The next stage will be refining this design and potentially looking into creating windows at the front, which could show off the card and game piece if ratios and scales can be verified.

This window would be created using acetate and I am also starting to consider the possibility of vacuum forming the interior to provide solid structures for the pieces to rest.

Materials

This test was mainly a test to try out some thicker material in the form of mount-board, the reason I decided to try out this new material was due to its solid form and sturdy structure.

The box held it shape much better than the other materials, it looked quite slick apart from one problem that I will have to work on which was the folding. This material is thick, meaning it’s harder to work into shape and when folding the material you have to treat it with a little more care than I did in this example, but I was testing it’s limits for this test, so it isn’t too bad.

After understanding that you may not get the perfect edge using mount-board, I have looked into remedies for this problem and it seems like most people are layering extra materials on-top of the initial box, so for example I could add a layer of thin paper as decoration, or as cover for some of the less than desirable edges, so that’s something to consider for the future.

This will most likely be the material I will be using to store my initial workings into, as it contains that right weight to make it feel more than just a prototype, it’s just a case of getting things to look right on the outer shall of the packaging.

Final Product

Vacuum Forming

Vacuum forming is a process that has interested me for a long time now, as it’s something that I have been exposed to multiple times while opening figures and special edition products from box sets.

Before this project I have never really had an excuse to really think about applying this idea of vacuum forming into my work, but now that I am thinking about packaging and holding particular pieces in place, vacuum forming becomes a possibility and an avenue worth exploring.

The idea of vacuum forming came to me while I was theory crafting the contents of my game, once I started to generate a numerous amount of artefacts for the game it struck me that I may have a problem finding a way to store each piece efficiently. The last thing you want when you open up a box is things flying around everywhere, which lead me to think about holding, or housing each artefact. This problem can be solved in two ways, the first would be multiple boxes, each housing a particular element of the game, such as dice, game pieces and the game board. The second would be through a template or mould of some description, which leads to this idea of vacuum forming.

If you at games like Monopoly, each artefact of the game is separated by this mould, meaning it is easier to access, store and aesthetically it looks a lot slicker than a couple of boxes which would serve the

same purpose. You also have to consider the potential difficulties of creating the vacuum formed mould, because I can’t imagine it being that easy to formulate the specific sketch, the template that would house the eco system of the game. The complexities and technicalities could be crippling, or they could just be hard to understand at first and then become a lot clearer, one thing is for sure, I will definitely be considering the process as I move forward with the game as I believe that I will be able to achieve the particular structure I am after.

Potential materials for Blister packs to realise my expansion series HIPS High Impact Polystyrene Sheeting & thermoplastics such as: Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene ABS Polyester Copolymer PETG Polystyrene PS Polycarbonate PC Polypropylene PP Polyethylene (sheet and foamed sheet) PE Polyvinyl Chloride PVC Acrylic PMMA

Examples

Board game Design The main idea within the board game itself was to capture the aspects of a spectacle, adventure and battle. My thoughts went directly to the idea of an arena and seeing as I was looking into Italian history via the renaissance, it made sense to think of this arena as a Colosseum.

The physical game template itself had to be quite simple, reasonably small, improving the mobility and in turn, making it slightly easier to package. I wanted something that was solid, that didn’t fold as I think you lose something within the game once you start folding the boards, it just seems completely unnecessary to me.

Going back to this idea of a Colosseum, a stadium for gladiators to battle, I started to consider how that would form in the sense of a board and the mechanics available to make this an exciting concept. This lead to the idea of a tier system, which could feature elements such as elimination within the game, making the stakes higher with each tier you advance to.

Once you start to take into consideration gaming in general you can hopefully see where I am starting to go with this idea, each tier would be progressively harder to explore or battle within, which would eliminate the

weak and select the champions of battle to move onto the next stage. This knock-out stage is something that the gladiators of ancient Greece, of the Roman times would use to determine winners and I think looking into something along those lines it the right way to think about the mechanics and the aesthetics of the game.

In terms to style, I want to keep it simple, using iconography to help portray certain mechanics and abilities within the game, as I believe tied in with a superhuman comic style would synchronise really nicely and it’s also something that I haven’t seen much of before making it an exciting concept to work with for the project.

Here is an initial idea on names and visualisations of icons regarding the characters of the game.

The ‘Ring of Rome’ is an artifact held by Pope Sixtus, this ring allows him to communicate with both heaven and hell, God and the Devil, only through the game will you find out his true nature.

‘Bloodlust’ belongs to Vlad the Impaler, this one is pretty self explanatory, he is a vampire and a killing machine, hence the ties to blood and the battlefield.

‘Holy Steel’ belongs to Girolamo Riario, who is captain of the church, the holy steel is a divine sword delivered from heaven, which Riario uses to defeat his enemies.

The ‘Deadly Hairpin’ belongs to Caterina Sforza, she is a very deceptive and cunning character, very much into the political events in Italy, she has an association to “planned kills” and the like, hence the ‘Deadly Hairpin’.

The Pinpoint Compass belongs to Christopher Columbus, being an explorer Columbus had a variety of items that helped him navigate both land and sea, the compass is a mystical item, its origin is unknown.

The ‘Gears of Science’ belong to Leonardo Da Vinci, the gears represent his inventive nature and the sciences that he uses in combination with the arts and crafts of his trade, Da Vinci also has a new-found connection to robotics within my game.

Board Game

Initial cut-out

Counters used for scale (spoiler alert)

The board game making process was quite straight forward once I had set my mind on trying to recreate this gladiator arena, the imagery above is the template based on the vector template previously displayed. The measurements of each tier was very deliberate, the bottom tier was 28cm, second tier 21cm, third tier 14cm and the last tier was 7cm.

The reason I decided to deduct by 7cm each time was because I wanted the board to be consistent visually and for a physical perspective. If each circle scaled differently it would make it very difficult to produce the artwork at a later stage, because as you can start to see, each space will be indicated by a circle and having each circle the same size on multiple tiers will make my life a lot easier. Each circle is currently 2.5cm (25mm) which I feel is a nice size for in-game counters and early visuals of the icons and other game content.

The material used was a chipboard/MDF hybrid, it is light, but very durable at the same time, which to me is a perfect combination when looking at designing a board, people aren’t going to bother playing around with something that is heavy and on the other scale, something that is too light will make them worry about damaging the board as it would most likely be a flimsy material if you were thinking like that.

The texture and consistency of board feels right and the main question that I need to ask myself now is how I go about applying a finish to this board, I could paint onto it, I could UV print it, or I could use a printed template and layer onto the board. This will be something that I look into at a later stage as there are quite a lot of aspects to consider at this stage.

Preparation for UV

Initial cut-out

You can see the initial icons that I had devised to test the capacities of the UV printer, each counter represents a potential theme within the early stages of the board game. The idea was to create a range of counters that would be able to represent the game from a physical perspective for both the hand in of the research document and due to game counters being very important within actual gameplay.

I wanted to test how the UV printer handled solid colour and stroke colours, I wanted to see how much detail I could get out of an outlined image compared to a shape with a fill. The idea was to also double side print them, so they would have the same image of both sides, for the black version and the white version, meaning I needed to obtain a piece of material that was one side black and one side white.

Counters used for scale

UV Printing

Before you read anything you must know that this is an observation on what I have discovered over the last few weeks working with the UV printer and looking at its potential impact on my project. It also means that not everything you read here will be 100% correct, as I am still coming to terms to how it operates.

The UV printer is a new facility that has been opened up to us this year, to help aid with our artwork and visualisations. The UV printer uses a variety of inks to print onto the intended space, it is essentially regarded as a physical Illustrator programme, as the method of print is to build up layers of ink, creating a range of textures and finishes. How you build up the layers will heavily impact the finish you achieve using the printer and the material you print onto can also heavily impact the visual language you are creating.

The way you set up the artwork is to create an EPS, PDF or TIFF file with the layer of imagery you want to print, so if you wanted 5 layers printed on individually, you would have to set up 5 different artboards and save them individually to print onto the UV printer one at a time. Any varnishes need to be saved as a black template of the area you want to hit with the varnishes.

Black and white The blacks and whites on the printer are quite straight forward, as you usually need to layer the work in black and then apply any

other colours at the final stage due to the bleeding that can sometimes occur during print (dependant on material). Sometimes you have to print a layer of white to act as a primer when working with multiple colours on bright and dark layers, due to the fact the ink may not completely cover the intended area without leaving the texture of paper underneath.

Varnish 3 varnishes are available in the form of Matte, Gloss and Super-Gloss and I can only provide much of an opinion on the matte finish as that’s the one I am familiar with having used it within my own work. The matte finish provides a very dull coat of varnish, protecting it from hand-prints and wear, it also provides a slight shine at particular angles where the light hits the surface. The gloss finish will add more of a shine and more of a texture and the super-gloss will take that a step further and produce a heavily reflective shine. Again the type of material you are using will adjust the effect that the varnish has on your work, so if you are using a glossy paper, it will most likely amplify that shine and texture, whereas if you are using a card like material it will slightly change the appearance and textures.

I decided to look into the UV printing because of the style of work I was starting to produce, we had also been encouraged to get stuck

in with the printer, to test its capabilities, further enhancing our possibilities and outcomes. Considering I am looking at making a board game it made sense to think about application involving the UV printer as I had seen some of its potential through a range of experiments conducted by our tutor. I had decided pretty early on that I wanted to produce a range of counters and cards, as most games require these elements in some shape or form. My choices to print the counters was to either use the ink-jet printer, or to try out this new machine and see what I could achieve with it.

Examples - First Attempt

Initial print right aligned

I decided to use mount board as the medium to print onto as it provided a durable and sturdy backbone to the counter and as these counters would be picked up and used frequently within the game it made sense to use a material that had a bit of weight and durability to it.

This also impacted my decision to use the matte varnish, as the counters would need to be able to handle quite a lot of usage with finger-marks being a concern as they would gradually remove the artwork on the counters overtime without a layer of varnish to protect it.

The mount board would also give me a matte finish due to it being a form of card without a coating or a gloss to it, this was perfect with the comic like style that I am looking to implement throughout the character designs and visual design/theme of the game. This printing process could potentially be used to help aid the packaging of the game, or potentially the cards for the game as I have considered potential foil finishes, maybe a textured layer of ink to make certain features of the characters stand out, or maybe they just need a matte varnish to protect against the usage. I am very happy to have tested the printer and although it wasn’t a smooth process, it was worth it in the end due to the outcome and possibilities it gives me.

The first test was to gauge how the initial templates and files would respond to the process of the UV printer, the results can be seen above, I was happy with the outcome, but I knew there was more to come.

Varnish Shot

UV Process - Stencils

Stencil for laser cut

Final stencil

UV Process - EPS Files

Vector file for counters

Varnish template for counters

UV Process - Laser Cut Stencils

White side up

Black side up

UV Process - UV prints

White side up counters placed

Black side up counters placed

UV Process - Counters

White counters without template

Black counters without template

UV Process - Accompanying Images

Card Design

Initial Ideas Card height 8.75cm, width 5.5cm

Refined search

Card Design

Another key aspect of the game is the card designs, whenever you are playing a game you expect there to be some information based on a variety of cards, so I decided to try out some of my own designs to show off the sketches opposed to using a sketchbook, as I felt that it related to my project a lot more if I tried to make some cards out of them.

You may be wondering why there are two colours and the methodology is pretty simple, the black backs are reflecting my own ideas within the development and the maroon backs are reflecting my take on an existing design. So for example I worked closely with the “How to draw comics the Marvel Way” and through that book I tried to achieve the same results as they had, applying the same techniques and philosophies through my work, using their templates to observe from. So I didn’t throw over a piece of tracing paper over the book, but the sketches aren’t original.

I was trying to capture the idea of battle and conquest through my card back designs, which is why you see elements such as helmets and designs that are shaped like a Roman shield. I’m happy that I attempted to make something a bit different and this is where all my sketches will be for development, which is why you won’t see any of the character designs in this document, as with any game, you need all the components to play, or in my case, read it.

Closing Thoughts

I’m very happy with how the project has progressed in the last few weeks, once I started cracking on with the development, I’m not sure if all my research will be completely appropriate to the brief, but in order to reach my current mindset I have had to eliminate information and digest lots of unique elements within each piece of work I have located.

The plan is to continue using this idea of a superhero to really drive the visual aesthetic of the characters from the Renaissance, to integrate some information regarding the historical nature of each character into the game in some capacity and to continue learning and researching processes that may enhance my project both physically, conceptually and visually.

I have got to say that I wasn’t sure about challenging myself at the beginning of the year regarding the idea of learning a whole range of new techniques, but I think I am navigating the territories appropriately and hopefully by the end of the process I will have some really explosive and visually interesting game pieces to go with an interesting mechanic to play the game with.

The name of the game and identity of this game needs to be discovered and thought about in quite some detail and I didn’t want to rush into committing to a name at this stage, so I was hoping to be inspired by some of the initial development pieces and I think I have been, it’s just a case of thinking about the elements of the game and arriving at an interesting place.