Hello, I would like to present our new game. We're working in a kickstarter campaign for 2015 and any help and feedback is welcome.
We're testing the game very hard and keep improving it every day. We're now ready to show the details of our work because the prototype is really advanced and working really well.
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AJE-B4wQhbM/VGEa8dcQ2mI/AAAAAAAAASQ/EpcLh5lwrKg/s1600/Minilogo.jpg)
Pandemonium is a survival horror tabletop game with miniatures. No zombies here, just classical horror with all kind of evil creatures and a lot of fun.
We wanted to create a game with a great atmosphere, influenced by the classic horror movies and iconography we all know from cinema and literature.
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jyY7fmI7kT8/VD2e2LVOu7I/AAAAAAAAAOc/PnYc8v3C2fo/s1600/FinalBoss.jpg)
Our intention is to show you more details of the game and keep discussing its creation in this forum. We appreciate the comments of everybody as they let us improve the game and adapt it to the player preferences.
We're boardgame (and videogame) players and we want to create a game we can be proud of. That's why your opinion is so important.
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SY8UY-ZYaLA/VFFCUa6LA3I/AAAAAAAAAP8/cZw7HfJsB7U/s1600/BorjaPindado_ALL_English.jpg)
Let me give some more brief details on the gameplay options: you can explore, run, create barricades, battle monsters, create combos, call for help, repair the light generator, create deadly traps and discover ancient secrets while you decide your next move: escape the house or defeat the evil in it.
-1 to 6 players collaborative and treacherous gameplay.
-More than 40 unique deadly creatures.
-Tons of weapons and magic objects to help you on your journey.
-12 level up combinations.
-Unleash devastating attack combos.
-Hundreds of different events make every play unique and fun.
-Amazing character miniatures!
-12 beautifully detailed map tile combinations.
-Customized dice.
-Pact with the Devil or try to destroy it in the Ultimate Boss battle!
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XQcUc8HwTwc/U_Uw-adiQEI/AAAAAAAAAME/yrfAdUCVRuI/s1600/AllMiniatures.jpg)
And now, after this "lame marketing attempt", we'd love to keep showing you our work in order to receive some feedback and improve the project before launching the kickstarter campaign.
I hope you like it. We update our facebook, twitter and blog every week, take a look to old posts and help us spread the word if you like what you see :)
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--mgl1FDndT0/U_6PlB2pB_I/AAAAAAAAAMk/XJb5YxweV9o/s1600/Playing.jpg)
Thanks,
Marc Ripoll
//www.facebook.com/enterpandemonium
//www.twitter.com/TheGameForgers
//www.enterpandemonium.blogspot.com
Nice minis. I like the no-legs concept.
Thanks, we wanted to do something a little different. Also, without legs the body and face are much bigger and you can see better details.
Maybe it wouldn't work in a wargame, but i think in a terror game it works quite well.
What do you think?
Quote from: The game forger;798151Thanks, we wanted to do something a little different. Also, without legs the body and face are much bigger and you can see better details.
Maybe it wouldn't work in a wargame, but i think in a terror game it works quite well.
What do you think?
No legs?
Why use miniatures at all, then?
One could just as well use the victim tokens from HorrorClix, or make ones own.
Also, if you look at the pictures, the game rather seem to use pictures in stands than those minis.
EDIT:
I just noticed that you are the makers of this game ...
Well, you know what you were using.
Well, Catelf, I know a lot of people use miniatures in different games, but i like to think that the content you offer must adapt to your game, not others. You can play with meeples, wooden cubes or whatever, but a custom miniature for the game is always a plus (the figurines adapt to the game main characters, to the plot and to the horror theme).
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/t31.0-8/10658958_869714186396262_1215545341976021273_o.jpg)
However, the game will have an affordable edition without miniatures that will work with character tokens in plastic stands (similar to the ones you see there) and a deluxe edition with the miniatures.
So, miniatures are a plus, a game component only, and we want people to play the game :)
About the gameplay pictures, they are played with a prototype, of course, as the final game can only be created once the kickstarter succeds (if it does succeed). Usually in a prototype you can't use the final pieces for every game component (we don't use the miniatures in gameplay often because they're really expensive and they would be broken by now. We use them for promotion only).
Of course it's a shame that you don't like our models, but i hope you like the game as we can show more details on gameplay and rules.
Thanks for your comments.
Ok, i'm mainly clarifying my opinion now:
Partial miniatures may be interesting to some, but to me miniatures is only valid if they shows the entire character.
However, horror-based games do not really need miniatures at all, but may easily work as well(or even better?) with pictures in stands or on flat tokens(like the Horrorclix Victims were).
With the legless ones, the obvious joke will be "the monster ate my legs!".
It may still be interesting to see how the legless ones will be received, as it is a new take on the idea, at least.
Now, to the most important thing:
I can currently not support any kickstarter at all, since I have problems with online payments.
Therefor, i'm technically a bit outside of your target group anyway, but I also think your game looks a bit promising.
And I say a bit, because I have gotten disappointed by games that looked promising before.
Thanks for your comments Catelf, we greatly appreciate your oppinion.
We know our limitations and try to offer the best product we can. As we are a very small indie group we don't try to compete with the big ones, but try to finish a good and fun game and continue working on future projects.
And that's the main reason why we need to do a kickstarter, wich is a great platform for unknown designers like us.
It doesn't matter if you are going to back the campaign or not, we need comments from everybody that likes gaming :)
By the way, what are your favourite horror games?
Quote from: The game forger;798227By the way, what are your favourite horror games?
I have to admit, i'm not the best to ask in that case.
I have read more games (yes, even boardgames) than I have actually played, and I am also more focussed on miniatures than pure boardgames.
To be clear, I have only played a few games that can be seen as horror, and only a very few times in total.
Also, horror is not my favourite genre, so that has limited my options.
However, I am somehow despite that familiar with true horror.
I chalk that up to being the owner of the console game Project X aka Fatal Frame.
It was, as far as I see it, true horror, and I failed to complete it because I could not handle the nerve-wracking tension.
On a second attempt, I did not even get as far as I did the first time.
That is horror to me.
The uncertainty, but also knowing a ghost will show up.
As far as boardgames goes, I have worked on my own, and one of them was more a mix rpg-and-miniatures, and I managed to create some horror for the Players, as one player character slowly succumbed to a gross blob of "something" while sinking into it.
(They had attacked it without checking for clues on how to defeat it.)
There seem to be a few advice for horror games in general, and you may have heard them already, but ...
One common thing is to limit access to weapons and such.
The reasons for this is not only to avoid that it becomes splatter instead of horror, but also for another reason:
Force the Player Characters to retreat, or even flee a bit.
Some makes that into an automatic effect in the game, but I think that is ... suboptimal.
It may be better that they have to decide to retreat.
...and the monster follows, of course, but often slower.
Ghosts might walk through walls, though, and takes shortcuts.
Demons might teleport.
Also, knowing that a monster will appear may sometimes be as nerve-wracking as a jumpscare, especially if one has reason to believe it is powerful, or tougher than usual.
Those are my impressions, perhaps you have others.
Good luck, or something such :)
Well, I'm also a big fan of horror, and I think is very hard (if not impossible) to scare someone in a boardgame, however you can create tension and atmosphere easily if you design things wisely. Cinema and videogames are perfect for the horror genre, and of course (good) literature. Some boardgames have tried to develop the concept of horror with audio or even video joining the experience, but i believe in boardgames you must take advantage of the social aspect of tabletop games (other formats are less social, even videogames if you play alone).
Many things you have commented, they are in our game; not all of them.
I think that when you design a horror game a lot of common concepts appear inmediately: life, sanity, fear, darkness, hidding, noise, etc, etc. Almost all games use them because they are present in almost any horror story.
So, differences between games are most often how they use those concepts in their game mechanics.
I know we're not inventing anything with our game, but i hope some things feel fresh and clever.
Good luck to you also :)
I wanted to show you some board tiles for the game. We designed and rendered them in 3d to give a different look.
On top you have the original renders and below there are the tiles with some icons and indicators.
In the game there are 12 different locations that you can combine when playing (you use 4 tiles with 1 to 4 players and 6 with 5 to 6 players).
Do you like them? Would you prefer a painted, more classical finish?
(https://scontent-a-mad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/t31.0-8/10624087_919124654788548_5680856908383486435_o.jpg)
Stuff looks awesome - I'm only in the market for board games I can play with my 7 year old & I don't think this is it, but great stuff, best of luck. :)
Thanks S'mon.
You're right, the game is +14, but you only have to wait 7 years to play it with your son/daughter ;)
Amazing artists Jamshed Jurabaev and Cesar Sampedro agreed to collaborate with us. We're eternally grateful!
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-emdFzPEl2ms/VHaNsAmI2KI/AAAAAAAAATs/LLbGbNVZA2E/s1600/FreeThanks.jpg)
We're still trying to find the best possible combination for the creature card design.
Which one do you prefer: option 1 (little icons) or option 2 (big icons)?
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XQWZ9dTLTpA/VHfMxxgdFbI/AAAAAAAAAUE/GlJoMa2EO-c/s1600/ComparativaNEW.jpg)
Thanks for your help.
Marc
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We've designed some map miniatures for the game. Our idea is that you could use these miniatures in other games and so we'd include them as addons in the campaign.
What do you think? Would you be interested in them?
Trap:
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1MTgNHmnWJ4/VH_G7vj_6EI/AAAAAAAAAVE/ejMrLkYoKog/s1600/Traps.gif)
Barricade:
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MhSHNQ4yXPU/VH0BvbJ4s7I/AAAAAAAAAUk/mCVmeGyMakg/s1600/BarricadesFULL.jpg)
Portal:
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1uHzx_WfxAY/VCm0FtpBvXI/AAAAAAAAAN4/5w3bAu0gqMo/s1600/PeanaHIGHCompo.jpg)
Why are there 5 of the big icons and only 4 of the small?
This do affect opinions, y'know.
Both designs have the same functionality, don't worry. What we wanted to know is which design was more (visually) appealing (more space for the image vs more visibility of the icons).
Icon placement affects the size and position of the illustrations and we need to find the best option (with your help, that's why we asked).
About the "missing" icon, that's 'cos the Agility is a fixed number in the enemies, so you can just remember it from the manual or view it in the cards (which we prefer). But we can write that number next to the creature name, for example, so it's not a problem.
So, which design do you like best?
Good to know, because this actually affects the choise heavily, as far as i'm concerned.
I would also prefer to have all the icons in the same row, even if it obscures part of the illustration.
In the horizontal option, the illustration is edge to edge sideways instead of in a frame, and the design of the icons makes them look like they take a lot of space anyway.
That is why I find it just as well to use the Icon as a kind of border, thus the version with somewhat larger icons and all icons seem better.
Thanks Catelf, I also like that option more and it seems almost everybody is also choosing that one. So, it seems we have a winner :)
Thanks again for your comments.
Quote from: The game forger;802121We've designed some map miniatures for the game. Our idea is that you could use these miniatures in other games and so we'd include them as addons in the campaign.
What do you think? Would you be interested in them?
Great Minis guys. The trap is bound to break :)
All really nicely made and I think there is probably a market for modern day "dungeon trappings" outside of the baordgame as well.
I also liked the character minis and the legless look is a good for. I think black as a base hides a lot of the detail and they are beauiful so seems like a bit of a waster. produced in white with a black wash woudl be the best bet although this is obviously an entra production step.
I am guessing you guys come from a minis/art background?
The game play itself.
How does play move round the table?
How do the treacherous and cooperative styles differ?
How is your action economy played out and are turns split into phases round the table or inside a turn (what I mean is does player 1 do move, act, draw monster etc then player 2 does the same or do you do move - player 1, player 2 , player 3 ; act player 1, player 2 etc .....)?
What are the goals? collect defeated monsters, last as long as you can versus a timer?
Are solo goals the same?
Thanks for your kind words jibbajibba. You're the first one to ask about gameplay, so I'll try to explain it the best I can.
In the game every player has a number of actions that he can use to move or whatever he wants. The player with most agility moves first and so on. Once all players have ended their actions, starts the creatures (enemies) turn.
After that we advance the Day/Night cycle counter.
This counter represents 24 hours, that's exactly the time we have to win the game (1 day to escape or defeat the evil).
There are different goals, 'cos there're some campaigns you can play with several missions, but the main goals are to escape the place alive or to invoke and defeat the evil ruling the place in a final battle.
To summarize, all is about "go find this object, take it here and do that" or "protect that character and escort him/her here; he/she cannot die". For example, to escape the house with a vehicle you must find the battery, repair the vehicle, jump on it, start the engine and escape without the enemies destroying it before that turn ends (of course, starting the vehicle adds noise to the map, which attracts the enemies).
You can create your own missions or adventures quite easily and the different map combinations are a plus if you do so.
It's not essential to collaborate in the game, but due to time constraints, difficulty of the enemies and special abilities of every character (each one is better at something), the goal is easier to achieve if the group collaborates and uses a good strategy.
However, the "treachery" enters when one player dies and he is forced to sign a "pact with the devil" to continue playing. This pact is secret and you must fulfill it if you want to win the game. All these pacts of course are designed to create difficulties to the players and the game itself (sometimes to a single player, sometimes to the whole group).
Of course, even without "pacts with the devil" you can choose to upset another player using your cards to difficult its turn or, for example, escape with the vehicle and abandon other players who will then lose the game (they'll be possessed by evil).
The enemies are, in general, very hard to kill, so you must find good weapons and so invert some actions searching in the rooms of the house. There're a lot of weapons and objects in the game, some with magical properties. That makes every game very different.
Also we have the Event cards, and you must read one every time a player ends his turn in a different room and he's alone (no players or creatures). Events can be good or bad.
The dark scares you and when entering a combat the creatures can also scare you. You can use traps and barricades to stop the enemies, etc.
We'll show the complete manuals before the game is ready and the campaign announced. Everything will be explained there in detail. But we are still working on the manuals to be clear, visually appealing and well structured.
I'll be more than happy to answer any doubt you have about the game and see what do you think of the main mechanics (we're not inventing anything here, but the gameplay is working quite good in the testings and the game is fun).
Thanks again.
Hello, I wanted to show you a closer look to the enemies plastic "pawns".
We're using them for the prototype and we got them from the game crafter shop.
They look pretty good with each color identifying a different creature kind. However they use a sticker that you have to place on each plastic piece, so I don't think this would be a good idea for the final game, where we plan to use classic stand+token as most games do.
What do you think? Is that a good idea? Or would you prefer some plastic pieces similar to the ones from thegamecrafter shown here?
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CAb2OYIkg3E/VJiEamST72I/AAAAAAAAAW0/jhSht3tTW5o/s1600/PlasticEnemies.jpg)
Stardard tokens are used in many games, like Arkham Horror:
(http://thewindingrass.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/b5.jpg)
We're getting a lot of useful feedback from forums like this one, so i hope we can offer the best possible game. We keep improving everyday, thanks to you :)
I wanted to show you a preview of one of the covers for the game. It's a close up of some characters in action. Soon I will be able to show you how it looks as the game box.
It's an illustration by Borja Pindado, I hope you like it.
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yXmR40ohg6s/VLR3aTO1_ZI/AAAAAAAAAXk/X7Oo4xiXoxQ/s1600/CoverZOOM.jpg)
We've made some improvements on the box art. Here are some close-ups.
Do you like it?
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eXrXIOtYJ8k/VSm-YUOf2TI/AAAAAAAAAcY/h02gLCFHmw4/s1600/Portada_CloseUps.jpg)
I'll show you the complete box preview soon.
The improvements are good, and I dare say they were probably necessary.
It looks a bit like you've patched it up though, but that may be because I could compare it to the earlier version.
We've been busy these last weeks.
Now the game forger youtube channel is active and we'll be uploading gameplay videos in the upcoming weeks.
You can follow us here: http://t.co/EmmAfh2QGU
We've also worked on the game box and have managed to create a homemade version of it. You can see the final look of the cover in our facebook and twitter sites.
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nZ39ww10szo/VU-1ZuA7mNI/AAAAAAAAAdI/ju169d5alyI/s1600/Prototyping.jpg)
The game now has a semi-cooperative play mode where a player controls the Dark Lord (the evil in the place). It's a lot of fun and ads replay value to the game.
Here you have the character "control pannel" :)
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bEoTXatWLlo/VVZXs7iaykI/AAAAAAAAAds/VpkYA62CO7s/s1600/EvilDarklord.jpg)
This weekend we're going to a new convention, I'll show you some photos of the players having fun. I hope everyone enjoys the game.
More news soon. Thanks for following us.
Marc
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Hi everyone, we've been busy working and testing the game.
I wanted to show you some news, for example a new mechanic. Now you can enter any Portal and travel to new dimensions, where you can discover amazing treasures or danger beyond imagination. Once there you take a Portal card: each card has a D6 roll that you must pass or suffer the consequences.
Now we have 15 different cards. A glimpse of the prototype cards here:
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GwzAr9Qw0E8/VaBkHopQG_I/AAAAAAAAAgo/Nt2-IGP89xo/s1600/PortalAdv_mini.jpg)
We are also featured in the 2015 Prelaunched Kickstarter Board Game Projects by date, here:
https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/191701/2015-prelaunched-kickstarter-board-game-projects-d
We've edited 6 gameplay videos featuring: Movement, Actions, Battle, Creatures, Game modes and Kickstarter. We'll be updating our youtube channel with them during summer.
First two videos are recorded in stop motion, as we wanted to have some fun and try different things. The rest of the videos are recorded "live".
Here's the first one, only two minutes showing the movement mechanics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvXM4XWarNY
More news soon. Remember to follow us on twitter, facebook, youtube and BGG and share with your friends, if you like the project.
We'll show you the kickstarter campaign soon, so you can give feedback before we launch this september.
Thanks again,
Marc
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I wanted to show you some of the minis of the game. Here you have two exclusive characters and two enemies. Yes, now we have miniatures of the enemy creatures. I hope you like them!
Soon more previews of the game miniatures. Thanks.
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aMLYdjlEG3M/VbVIZY--kNI/AAAAAAAAAh8/PMIFHx5iWgk/s1600/Ash360.gif)
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ujDts04rN9o/Va-_w_RZy8I/AAAAAAAAAhQ/7jUUV6Ib7Ug/s1600/Sarita360_BIGv2.gif)
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-viRq4ktgQUU/VdKMyHBenyI/AAAAAAAAAj8/s_n7nh8clkg/s1600/Dimensional360.gif)
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-z5QqI4Lg5d4/VdfuDwP48CI/AAAAAAAAAkk/VKXr5BpiPZE/s1600/Dark360.gif)
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T21rX-FHURk/VdfuB9qyvWI/AAAAAAAAAkc/MynmXJEH8AI/s1600/DarkCompo_mini.jpg)
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-10c8_HcE6_A/VdKMxepMs4I/AAAAAAAAAj0/3CBjaSGgvLg/s1600/Dimensionalx6.jpg)
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VNFxWLRzoKA/VbVIXnRUbFI/AAAAAAAAAhw/U2Haoo94NYw/s400/Ash1.jpg)(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--g3sMqk4yNw/VbVIXjCGK0I/AAAAAAAAAhs/J6aw2j7VfHI/s400/Ash2.jpg)
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7gU0X-vWrp4/Va-_zspdFhI/AAAAAAAAAhU/VS09Gr3ihHs/s1600/Huntress.jpg)
Wow. Gorgeous stuff. I hope gameplay is awesome. I'm not sold on Zombicide so I'm open to an action/horror game that's really innovative, fast and very challenging.
We've moved the kickstarter launch date to October.
We'll start the crowdfunding on October 22.
We keep working hard to offer a good campaign. Thanks for following,
Marc
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We are glad to announce that Pandemonium has finally launched on kickstarter. I'd like to thank everybody that helped us in this forum during the game design. We'll continue updating the game in the Pandemonium BGG site.
If you liked the game, help us fund it here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/809492703/pandemonium-fantasy-survival-horror-and-miniatures (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/809492703/pandemonium-fantasy-survival-horror-and-miniatures)
Thank everybody and see you in Pandemonium!
Marc
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