What do you mean “What’s this “Aarklash Warpack?”?” What exactly were you doing last week? Did you read anything at all? That’s the official and final name of the famous Project Groundhog!
Ok, right, all of you remember what Aarklash Warpack is now?
We have two more sneak peeks this week. One has no use whatsoever but lots of people will dig it; the other has a lot of use but no one will be able to use it for now. Unless of course they’re the gaming equivalent of Sherlock Holmes, able to deduce the way our little wonder works from the tiniest clue. The thing that has a lot of use is the game card prototype and since I’m a sadist, I’ll start with the logo test sheet, because you won’t be able to do much with it aside from organizing bets on “which one will they choose to use?”. In any case, we’re interested in your opinion (but we’ll only listen to it if it’s positive: we remain human after all, all too human…) ^_^
Ain’t that sweet?
Now that we’ve satisfied your eyes, those of you not spending their salary or pocket money on useless bets – useless for anyone except their bookmaker of course – will have the opportunity to behold this week’s bravura: a card prototype from the game. Before observing it avidly, keep in mind that the most important word in “card prototype from the game” is and remains “prototype”. This is not the game as it will be sold, although we hope to be as close to that as possible.
For example, we’re pretty sure we want other pictures to illustrate the cards. And of course, during the test phase, you’ll have the opportunity to tell us what you think of the pictograms, their organization or anything else.
Well, that’s all for this week. Don’t expect me to give away the nature of these little cards with footsteps, the meaning of these numerous swords, or the reason there are things on the up and down sides of the card. Think I’m a noob? If I told you everything now, I wouldn’t have anything left for next week. And that would be a shame, don’t you think? Not even mentioning my sadistic side, which would be frustrated knowing that you’re not on tenterhooks. Don’t hesitate to tell us about your hypotheses, doubts or anything that comes to mind though. We worked hard to achieve pictograms we think clear and intuitive to use, but one can always do better. All persons sending us the rules of our game within next week will receive a job offer in due form. Nah, just kidding!
So, here’s the card. With pictograms, a picture and many more mysteries. Waiting one more week is tough, don’t you think? Mwahahahaha! Am I fiendish or what?
To be continued...
Your writing style.. use of words and diction make me cry... just be objective, please and keep out of the puns..... its..... giving me a negative when i read your posts. Looks like good news, but the MEDIUM is the message.
I like the last ones on the second and third row. Number 8 and number 12. They look the most professional and I could see them being displayed proudly by players of all ages.
The name seems very evocative, I really like it!
About the logo, I prefer the 10th from the right (second column from the right, last line - the one with the two words divided by the sword...)
About the card it's a nice and clear layout but I don't like very much the actual symbols and colours, a bit too "cartoonish" for my taste... expecially the movement icon with the footsteps =S
Logo: for me - 10th (starting upper left).
Card: quite nice ;-)
seeing that the only way to keep a games company going is by having new players I think this is spot on as getting younger players to buy the product means the company keep going.
First from the right on the second line has my vote.
The card's layout is nice, but I prefer somthing more "serious". Try to use some illustration in place of photos (like cards from Arcana)
Ok, now you definitely lost me. The logos are definitely target to an audience to whom I do not belong. Back to lurker mode...
Top right logo in the corner has my vote too.
As for the guessing on the card I stick with CATerrain interpretation, seems logic to me :)
Even if I know that many people would like to see at least rules for a new C4 (since they probably already have minis) I still look foward to this game (and the testing)
Logo vote/guess = top right (shows the sword & shield the best*)
Game mechanics guess = Each car will have a number printed in the inconspicuously blank ¿? dot on both ends of the card to resolve combat without dice from a draw deck (perhaps an attack deck and a defense deck). Green card icon is movement (three steps/card lengths in this case). Red swords are attacks vs purple shields are defense (plus a counter attack?), the premiss of the game (*swords vs shields) and thus my logo vote. Crowns are indeed some type of authority or categorization.
My guess is you move one card's length by chosing either facing on the card. In that way you can opt to be discreet or aggressive. If Feyd moves with the three swords at the end of the move the player will attack with three red dice. If Feyd moves with the two shields and one sword touching the model by the end of the move the player will attack with two purple dice and one red die. Perhaps the results on the dice can be exchanged for various results. The á la carte of results might be printed on the other side of the card as, by then, you won't need the dice information anymore.
This approach might yield a game that is easy yet complex. It can also mean players will be able to wage war with a personal style.
Ok, Evilme, but there has to be somekind of controlable yet random contest involved. Maybe the number of crowns represents how many cards you bring to a bout? The players take turn to add cards with swords or shields bidding for supremacy. The player with the most swords is the winner. Perhaps shields cancel swords or even cards right off the opposing player's hand.
Notice how the Ram-icon is printed twice on the card. This might indicate that there will be cards geared to specific affiliations. The small Ram-icon means Feyd is a member of the Ram-nation. The large Ram-icon means Feyd can use combat cards; such as immunity to fear and terrorize; that has Ram as a requisite.
Right-most on the top is good, as is right-most on the bottom. Second from left on the bottom would be nice, with some color or somesuch. But, it bears keeping mind that this version of the game IS targeted towards children, and there's the distinct possibility that NONE of the preliminary designs will be chose, and that some horrifying (and/or awesome) mutant version of the logo spliced from several designs will become the final!
As to the card, I agree that aesthetically, it looks rather like the icons are strewn about rather messily. Again, this could work for kids, but it creates alot of negative space that detracts from the image overall. My guess is that the crowns represent authority, and the triangle next to them indicates where he stands on the scale (Feyd being somewhat low in Acheron's echelons, is authority one). Swords are either his number of attacks, or his attack power. The shields being defensive power. The green box represents movement. Either the number of steps on the card indicated how many centimeters, or as the others have suggested, movement is based on the length of the card.
From this, a few things can be gathered:
-As each model can only move one or two card lengths, the boards will be small, and there will be little to no terrain. At least, no multi-level buildings.
-strategies will be almost absurdly simplistic compared to C:AoR. Perhaps simple slugfests and brawls between individual squads, as opposed to battles between armies.
-This game could make a decent auxiliary to C:AoR, especially for multi-game campaign play. Essentially, each squad in the AoR battle must GET TO the battle, and possibly bump into other things along the way. Goblins are everywhere, undead might pop up to nibble on your toes, and oh yeah, the Kelts (BOTH factions) are still around, even if they won't have armies. Your Incarnates, and their retinue, must make it through the dangers of everyday Aarklash, in order to enact the dangers of every-OTHER-day Aarklash upon others! That could be fun.
Not the most attractive card design.
Why don't you just clean up the old skirmish system, call it C4, and win back a huge lot of your old fans in one go?
Logos: Red shields look more appealing to me, more striking. Old-school black and white designs are both cool, but they do not catch attention as much as the colourful ones. Depending on what type of game you want it to be, straight or curved lettering orientation should be chosen (straight for more serious game for older audience, curved for a less serious game for younger audience). The same applies for font colours.
That said, my favourites (hint about my expectations ;-) ) are: top right (like the background circle - reminds me of Arena) and second row most right.
Card prototype:
Based on what I see on the card, I guess each model has two profiles: "active" and "passive", used when the model is, well... active or passive, accordingly :-) Top one is active, telling us the model can move one card length and has three "attacks". When not active, model cannot move, is quite defensive (defense 2) and has a sort of counter-attack. Crown pictograms are the most enigmatic to me: Crown symbol used suggests something similar to confrontation's authority, not sure how would that work without dice, though. Who has the most crowns total begins? Makes some sense... That assumes alternate activations system, which is also most obvious guess... The little triangle pointer by the bottom crown suggests the number of "crowns" changes in-game and something happens when it drops to 1 (like health levels in C3). Duplicated faction symbol suggests it has two meanings: allegiance and sort of hiring cost, probably? Not sure why would Feyd cost just 1 icon, though.
OK, did I get the job? ;-)
I always thought the card length based movement thing was clever.
The top left and bottom right designs are my favourite, I suspect the top left would be best suited to a younger market.
I am looking forward to seeing how this progresses
10 = Zelda
1 = D&D
1 = ?
If this is for kids, I'm not sure they're going to dig Aarklash.
Unless you guys are throwing your lot in with Bakugan.
Their attack stance will be dependant on which side of the card is face up, can't move when defending - CAN move three card lengths when attacking. Don't think those crowns represent HP, but it can't be a one-hit kill, unless there's a respawn system, and even then...this card would always win against itself defending - assuming that shields cancel swords, and that there's an even exchange. Maybe the crowns are initiative. I would think that authority schemes are beyond this game, I can't picture much in the way of turn structure given the stated audience. That assuming logical design, however :) Can't wait to see it!
Um. I now have doubts. I get that the sword and shield on the logos are supposed to just be the same symbols you find on the cards, but the overall aesthetic... Well... its not a very serious one to say the least. Some of those logos are simplistic, and indeed downright "childish," as has been said. However, some of the fonts like those on the far right column do help regain some sense that this is a game in the Confrontation universe, and even the bottom left icon has a much more cool and serious appeal. As for the cards, if you use the original concept art on them or indeed the actual model pictures, the simplistic styling of the icons and large amounts of white space will definitely clash with the realistic and darker style of the minis and their concept art. I know that its a prototype card, but I think there is a long way to go... a color and texture that is faction-specific on each card (a la CAoR) would go a long way to punch them up.
Somehow i tend to the topmost and second line right logos. They represent more a "whole" than the other logos of which some do not really have a focus that catches the eye of the customer immediatly.
The icons and their arrangement are quite nice and it pleases the eye.
I too second Gyes. Keep it professional looking. I like the top one to the right, the one with the circle. Also the "old school" one mentioned by Comsquare. Row 3, second form the left.
Ok, guessing time! Rules wise I think the "green card"-logo means that the miniatures move distance is one card length.
Other then that I have no idea as to what the other stuff means.
I agree with Gyges... I like the top 2 on the right best
I might vote for the one second in on the left on the bottom, but it reminds me much of the WoC d&d logo
I would vote for the Oldschool logo, 3 row, second from left.
And have to second Gyges, let's test it!
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