I'm so sorry!
Continuing on from my previous post, I've continued work on my new card game Total Blast. What is it?
"Soon to be the world's best two-player card battle game — strategic, fast-paced, and packed with stunning artwork. Easy to learn, endlessly replayable, and designed for those who crave the perfect mix of skill and excitement!"
I wanted to a single handily create the game entirely from scratch- from concept to creation. Previous projects I'd worked on such as my How-to-Draw books were, for the most part, solely all on me. True, I had an editor to check-in with and a book designer to assist with graphic design, but the main benefit was not personally needing to worry about sales and marketing, as the publisher handled this side of things.
I soon realised, tackling even a relatively small-scale game like this on my own was not going to be a quick to complete task. In fact, I pretty much went silent on the project for 2 years! I'm sorry for that.
However, I've been making slow, steady progress over recent months. I'm determined as ever to make the project into a tangible product. It would be a travesty to not get such a fun game out into the world for players to enjoy. Not to mention, I'd feel horrible if having to throw out all the work put in to it thus far.
[caption id="attachment_7883" align="aligncenter" width="651"] Latest prototype now completed and game is being tested and enjoyed :)[/caption]
Progress
It took around 7 months to get to the previous Development diary 4 Then a further 2 years to get to this one - diary 5. In that time lots of jobs have now completed:
- The Rule book jumped from being on version 2.5 to 3.3. That basically means it's now more or less complete, including an initial interior design.
- I printed out a new prototype with upgraded card arts.
- The game has now been play tested dozens of times.
- Character artwork all finished (which was the biggest task, art-wise)
- Promo Flyers printed and handed out.
- Today I crafted the initial Cover artwork.
Updates are also being posted on the Total Blast Facebook group. If you'd like to follow along there, be my guest :)
[caption id="attachment_7888" align="aligncenter" width="1240"] Total Blast Flyer- this was handed out at shows I'd attended over the last year[/caption]
Art Development Overview
As I mentioned in my last update, I wanted to add characters into the mix. Initially I thought about using a fun, chibi style like this little knight:
For some reason, which I can't even remember now, I decided to scrap the cute, chibi style and instead make the characters a little more bad ass! Characters now included are: Thief, Ninja (below), Mage, Merchant, Spy, King, Alien. One representing each of the cannon types in the game. Plus, I've included a special, secret one I'll reveal later! Here's a little demo showing how I went from sketch to something a little more refined:
What’s next?
- I need to figure out how much this game will cost to produce. I will begin gathering a few quotes- both to print here in the UK and in China.
- I'll also look into fulfilment centres. I want to find out if it's worth getting copies of the game sent straight to foreign countries rather than ship out games from here in England.
- Create a Box / packaging mock-up.
- Find ways to promote the game. Ultimately everything will hinge on this! I'd like to order 500-1000 copies manufactured minimum. Yet right now, I've got no more than half a dozen potential customers interested!