The image above was a very early design I created for the ship cards back in early March. So that is a bit of a sneak peek into the early days of the game development for you. Back then we had no idea what the final information needed on each card would be yet. The design of the cards was the driver for both the look and feel of the game, as well as the development of the evolving game mechanics. In many ways, those early days worked hand-in-hand together to set the tone for both sides of the development. Which, in my opinion, is how it should work.
My role from the beginning is to help design and create the visual aspects of the game, while also lending my expertise to the uniquely "Eve" perspective. I can tell you that I am not the only Eve player (current or former) who is working on this game. Several members of the Titan Forge team have Eve experience as well. So rest assured this relationship is a two way street and I have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for the team at Titan Forge. To start with, they managed to convince CCP to do this. Something I certainly failed at numerous times in the past. As my collection of CnD letters can attest.
So what can I tell you? I can tell you that you shouldn't base your feelings about the game based solely on the preview image shown in the recent press release from Polygon. As I explained in yesterday's post that image was produced for the announcement and represents not only a time delay of about two weeks, but also only a very small portion of the final game itself. There are 32 spaceship cards in the game. The final number of spaceship miniatures that will be in the final game is undetermined to my knowledge. This is because there may be multiple versions of some ship classes. In other words, there may be say 10 of each Frigate in the final game. This is largely a question that can only be answered once the final mechanics have been decided. Make sense?
A lot of thought went into deciding which ships to include. The final list came down to two ships for each empire in each ship class. Ultimately the final ships were picked based on a variety of reasons, but I can tell you that one of the major considerations was certainly "would it work as a miniature" - because as we all know - some Eve ships are weirdly shaped. I know we tried to create a list that would be visually interesting as well as work in the context of the game itself. Those were some interesting conversations.
As far as game mechanics go that task is primarily on the Titan Forge side. They have the experience of successfully building board games and they are also on-site together to play test and work on those details. And while I've created card based games in the past, this is technically my first board game experience. And I am smart enough to know my own limitations. I'm here primarily to help guide and make suggestions as much as I can. But my expertise is on the visual side of things.
And there is a ton to do on that side. From the packaging, cards (fronts and backs), icons, grids, and everything else that goes into the game. And probably even more that I don't even know about yet.
The plan right now is to have the game ready for demonstration at Fanfest in September. This will be the official launch of the project. The details regarding what will be happening at Fanfest are still being worked out to my knowledge. But, rest assured, I will be sharing those as soon as I have them.
I have lots of concept art, designs, and other stuff I want to share with you all. And I'm sure I will be sharing as time goes on. But this remains early days yet. More will be revealed in the coming months and we have plenty of time to get to know the details together. I'm glad that I can now share this journey with you.
Be sure to go sign-up at the link above.
More later.