Commercial Storyboard

Storyboarding thumbnails for a commercial about the board game we created.
Going to have lots of cheesy premiere animations.

Demonhunter Version 2.0 now avaliable!

Second version of my prototype Print 'n Play game is now available! Check it out!

From Concept to Final Illustration

I think it's interesting to see how something inventive grows and develops over time, so... I decided to sorta have a little monologue/assessment of how I went about creating the theme for my Print 'n Play game.

It began with some quick silhouette scribbles for character ideas. I knew I wanted the game to be competitive and to contain some sort of resource mechanic (if you read my earlier posts, I made this pretty evident). So... I made up some sort of good vs. evil stereotype. Elves and Demons. But I wanted them to have something in common so there wouldn't be an obvious "bad guy". If that makes any sense. To clarify a bit more, I wanted each side to appear from the same roots, as if to hint they were both just in their reasons for wanting a certain piece of land. That way, when it comes to choosing, the player would go off of aesthetics alone. ...Or whatever they prefer. As the creator, I don't really care which side they pick for whichever reason. It was just something I thought I needed to convey in order to break the cliche.

Then I doodled. A lot. Both sides got a variety of different looks before I started the finalization process, which began a week or two before our illustration part of the assignment began.

Of course, with character comes environment. Especially in video games. So that got some sketches as well. (Also shown in an earlier post.)

Then, these two pieces came about. These were to be the final looks for the two heroes/races of the game, as well as the chosen color Palette. Now, to move onto the illustration!

In the post before this one, I created around twenty or so thumbnails. Out of them all, I chose this one to sketch up further. (I did do four other larger sketches, but this is the only one that matters right now, so..)

After that came linework. This is how I usually start my more complete pieces. Line everything that is close-up or that requires detail. Everything else can be blocked out.

Then comes value blocking. A really annoying part because it requires a lot of tedious brushwork. Coloring within the lines. Ugh.

Now, shading. Also added a few more details to the background to create more depth (as well as show off more game mechanics)

Color, now! Also messing around with the shading a bit.

Finally, a croppsed version (to fit in the 11x17 boundaries) to turn in, with the contrast amped up. All done... until critique, at least!

Storytelling Illustration

Thumbnails for the storytelling/visual aspect of my boardgame!

My mind is all over the place with this one. Limited down to like, twenty of my thumbnails (as shown), and then seven of those that I liked. Might do more than one because I'm pretty quick when it comes to illustration.

Additional stuff, as well! Made visuals for some of the class cards I created for the new PnP version (coming soon! Soon as in, tomorrow):

Don't why they kept getting bigger... My mind magically ranked them by size?

PLAYTEST Part 2 !!

Alright, I went out and playtested "Demonhunter" at least 3 or 4 times and got some pretty good results.

First of all, some balancing issues:
Fire is used to purchase special units like Flyers and Generals.
I had a problem with my original scenario because one user could accumulate all the fire easily and then sweep the other person's team with special units.
So in order to balance this out, I had most scenarios start with a fire piece on the first rows, so each player could grab one at the start of the game.

Another thing I balanced was limiting the size of the army. Originally, you could buy as many pieces as you could afford, but that got crazy and too luck-based.

I also balanced the hero unit and made it so he could roll to retaliate against moves. The reason why I added this was because heroes started chasing each other across the board, and the game became tedious and unfair.

Another huge problem I had with my rules was general clarification of certain things. Also, a lack of visual guides, which would help guide the player.

Things to add:
-Visual Scorecard so each side can keep track, complete with hp bar.
-Visual guide to each class with simple bulletpoints
-Rewrite rules to just be simpler overall
-Difference between the demon general and hero
-General rules page as a guide for small things

Boop boop a doop.

Rules Draft

As much as I'd love to, I'm going to refrain from posting my rules draft for the time being. I don't feel... "safe" posting it this early. So, instead, I'm going to talk about a bunch of problems I faced whilst writing them.


First of all, the size of my grid became a problem very quickly. Using a 6-sided die for moves became a problem in a 5x5 grid, seeing as if you rolled a six you'd fly off the map. So, instead, I'm trying to push for a 7x7 grid. However, this is messing with the layout I created for my original playtest, which sucks because I have to remake most of the assets.
Another problem that came with the gridsize was balancing issues. I tried to keep the number of resources down so players couldn't end up with massive armies at the end of each play. So, a lot of larger maps ended up with more "decimated", or resourceless, pieces.

I ended up finding a solution to my die problem- if someone were to roll more than they could move on a smaller map, they would add up the additional movement points that they lost and could use them to move again. Or I might even implement an additional modifier later. Not sure, trying to keep everything lowscale right now.

Another problem I've encountered is developing the combat system. Creative, interesting combat is difficult. It's a fun challenge, but it really wracks your brain. So far I've come up with a system that involves a small, three "hit" based health system, which can be tracked easily seeing as you only have to deal with a maximum of five units at a time. Pencil and paper is going to be an important kitbash asset in the PnP version. I'm probably going to end up designing a cool place to keep track of all your units. Definitely in the commercial version.

Stay tuned for more updates and the finished rule booklet later.

 

Yaaaaaay

Concept Statement and Theme

My concept statement for "Demonhunter" will be "Quality versus Quantity".
This seems kind of vague at first, but after thinking about the strategy of the game in my head, it seems to revolve around choosing particular resources in the first phase to get a strategical advantage as opposed to gathering as many as you can. When I playtest it, we'll see if my theory is correct.

The theme/art for the game will be based entirely on the narrative side. The narrative is short and sweet, so it doesn't complicate things that much-- the game's narrative is summed up pretty much in one word: "warfare".
The setting is a forest that is being demolished, so all the pieces would be pictures of things set in a background that could be rearranged and still make logical sense.

Each one of the little icons on the pieces that represent the resources would be done in an elvish-style to represent the homeland of the hunters.

As far as the color schemes go:

Color scheme for Demon Designs.

Color Scheme for Hunter Designs.

The two opposing sides would have their own schemes, but I think for the entire scheme of the board I'd use the Hunter scheme, since the fight occurs on their territory. For the tokens for the demons, though, their designs will all be around this one scheme, with variations of teal-green, yellow, and a saturated red. As well as whatever values entail under those colors.

Here's some concept art:

I plan on doing some simple vector art in a combination of photoshop and illustrator to make the board and the chips/cards for the game.