#agiegames

As you might recall from a previous update, "A Way Back Home" is part of our world-building project "World of Zura". The idea for this started quite a few years after "Zura" and "Hasp" had been published. It was not something we had planned at that time, but "A Way Back Home" is now officially (although not publicly) a sequel: 

Once the idea for it started crystalizing, the thought of going down this path became more and more interesting. It started with the idea of expanding the map that we had at the time:

The lower right is the original map showing the different locations players were "exploring" in "Zura". I remember playing Legends of Zelda: A Link to the Past on the SNES a few decades ago, and the map was shrouded in clouds and revealed to you only as you went to new locations. I thought that was a good idea and it's the reason the original map was bordered in clouds. This way, if we ever wanted to expand the world, we would push the clouds outwards, and reveal more place, which is what we finally did with "A Way Back Home" (top left map).

If you compare the two maps, you can see that the original one fits into the frame I placed on the new map. You will also notice that things have shuffled around a bit, and it's likely that they will do so again in the future as we keep updating our maps of the world. Changes should never be dramatic, but they should make sense, which I feel they do in this case.

Another "point  of contact" between "Zura" and "A Way Back Home" are the characters that emerged with the first game, and are now part of the world we've created. One of the cool things about creating a world like this, is that you get to use a lot of the concepts across multiple games, and cooler still, is to explore these with different artists and their own style:

I love the new art style, which looks completely different from the previous one. I feel the characters have been given a little more personality than in "Zura", which makes sense, because in "Zura", the characters had multiple copies, in "A Way Back Home", they are unique.

Here are more characters that first appeared in "Zura" and which will find their way into "A Way Back Home":

 I can't wait to see how Andrea will transform these to fit the style of "A Way Back Home".

Here are some characters that might make it into the game also, but I'm not 100% sure yet:

The Hermit might actually get a game of his own at some point :)

And here are some details of locations that players explored with "Zura":

In "A Way Back Home" we will also zoom in into some of the locations to explore some more details of the "Zuran" landscape. This will be the focus of boards C & D but possibly also E & F. We will also take the opportunity to explore more diversity among the Zuran Imps (that fur ball like creature above).

All this is really exciting for us, as it helps as add theme to "A Way Back Home" but also inspire us to steer the story towards a certain direction. Thanks to "A Way Back Home" I have started to think about where the story is taking us next and the big challenge is to find a game design that fits it. 

This is the opposite approach to publishing games from the usual, as publishers would be interested in the game-design first, and then figure out a theme that fits the game. We on the other hand, are looking for a game-design that fits the theme, which is a lot harder, and may take a few years. 

Hopefully, as we continue to explore this world, game designers will feel inspired to come up with cool game-designs that might fit the World of Zura. If you are aspiring to design a game, and would like to share, feel free to reach out. 

If you are an illustrator, please do feel free to reach out also, since each game in the World of "Zura" will have a different illustrator. 

I hope you enjoyed this read and if you have any questions, please feel free to post them here so others can learn more from your questions also. 

Whilst the rules are all done (still working on the file), some of the art is still in progress. Tokens are mostly done and will only need to be double-checked by a graphic designer, to make sure that all is consistent with the base game. It's mostly the tarots we are still working on in terms of art.

What we try to do with the tarots, is to create a relationship with Violet's personality traits and how they impact the theme, but also show how Torech's character contrasts with Violet. But in terms of game play, this is where Ordep's Helpers come in, and the theme of the card, will tell you how the Helpers "behave". The idea in the original was that Ordep's Helpers where some kind of firefly-like creatures helping Violet follow the path without having to rely too much on her lantern, this would help her save some lamp-oil.

This time around, the tarots will influence what kind of plan Violet has in order to overcome the challenges laid out by Torech. This is due to Madame Kamila exposing some of Violet's personality quirks via the Tarot card reading during the game's set-up. You have already seen three of these cards:

We love the way the tarots look, and can't wait to hold all 12 of them fanned out in our hands. Here we see the paths of Trust, Silence, and Light. 

With the Path of Light, Violet plays with the original rules (preserves light when moving onto a spot with Ordep's Helper after winning a trick)

With the Path of Trust the idea was that Violet trusts her instincts to overcome challenges. Ordep's Helpers will be super flexible in the things they can do to help Violet. She will be able to use each one of them (if trick was won by her) to trigger one of 4 bonuses, and the idea is that it's highly unlikely that she will ever be able to use all of them, so she has to use the one most suitable for that given situation, knowing, that she might not be able to use another she really likes.

Path of silence will allow Violet to decide certain tricks to be won by the weakest card instead of the strongest. Ordep's Helpers will "point out" certain places on the path (Violet's choice), that are dangerous, and need to be walked with caution. A side effect of this, is that potentially, some card colours will see their trump-time reduced.

Here is an example of why I desperately need an illustrator with Karina's skill:

Not only the handwriting is dreadful as you can see... that's my draft of how I imagine the Tarot to look like for the Path of Giving. Underneath is my explanation of how I would like the card to "feel": "Similar to Silence. Violet gives a piece of her heart to Torech. Torech looks suspicious, not being used to being treated with kindness".

Feel free to share your mockery in the comments section below! ;)

Working with an illustrator whom you can discuss these details with, and who understands the tone you try to set is incredibly important as you can imagine. And it's the reason also why it was so important for me that Karina returned to work on this project with me, since she was already deeply familiar with the original story and the story behind the story. 

With the Path of Giving, every time Violet wins a trick that moves her onto a Helper, she has to give one of her remaining 3 cards to Torech. This has a few upsides: she chooses what card goes to Torech's hand; she gets rid of a card that's not useful to her right now; she gets to draft two cards from the public display (this can be very powerful); she blocks Torech from drafting a card that would put her in a tricky situation.  On the other hand, if she has got only "good" cards in her hand at that moment, she still has to give one of them to Torech since this is not an optional action. 

What's important to me about these cards, is that we get to explore the character motivations some more. The Path of Giving is important because it puts some light on Torech's vulnerable side. We know he is grumpy because he's been kicked out of every household... although some some say, it's because he's grumpy that he's been kicked out, but maybe he was hurt at some point before all this started, and so he turned defensive, just like in this card he feels suspicion when shown affection.... he's kinda right too, since Violet will not be gentle despite the giving!!! "take this stupid card Torech!!!" :D

Ultimately, I've put a lot of thought behind the tarot cards, and their importance is not only from a game-play perspective, but also to deepen our understanding of what drives both Violet and Torech. In the "Path of Cunning" for example, there will be a reversal of roles, in which Violet will reveal a mischievous side of hers, whilst Torech will feel hurt for having been tricked, getting a taste of his own medicine. 

Whilst we always wanted the story to have a funny and light tone mixed in with some fairy tale darkness, there is always some deeper meaning behind everything and I'm super happy for how we are able to explore this in the tarot cards.

There is one card in particular that is very unique, not only for its background story, but also its name, being the only one that will not have just a single word. It will be called the path of "Eric the Protector". This card will have an update dedicated in full to its story, and I will write it once we got the illustration for it. In fact, I would appreciate your feedback for it when the update comes. So look out for that update in a few weeks.

That's it for today. I wish you all a happy start of week tomorrow. No Monday blues allowed. Be happy and stay positive. Keep you lanterns lit.

Violet and the meddlings of Madame Kamila is now live on Kickstarter. This is the expansion for our acclaimed 2 player trick taking game, that puts at the front the story of how Violet, a young girl, travels through the night to meet with her best friend, a troll. In her path, she will have to withstand Torech's attempts to foil her plan.

With the expansion a new character impacts the game play: Madame Kamila. While she is an NPC, her tarot readings make Violet's journey different every time. Hit this link to find out more

A Way Back Home is our forthcoming title to be released next year. It follows the story that we started with Zura. This little fella was used as a kind of scout in Zura, and we will try and make the abilities you can use in A Way Back Home closely to the counterparts in Zura.

We are now fully in play test mode for Madame Kamila's expansion to Violet and the Grumpy Nisse. We wanted to share some of the contents with you, most notably the tarot cards and how they work.

Thematically, the expansion introduces Madame Kamila. She is a fortune teller with ulterior motives, who proposes a card reading to Violet as they encounter outside the village. Violet agrees, so, at the start of the game, once the game is set up, Violet draws a random Tarot Card, and the card she draws determines what kind of support she will receive from Ordep's helpers. The image above is a sample card, but the art is not yet final.

Each tarot has a story behind it, and will reflect Violet's personality and how Ordep's Helpers are willing to assist her in finding her way to Ordep. In the base game, Ordep's helpers were a source of light, helping Violet navigate faster in the dark. Seeing them in the distance beyond the reach of her lantern's light, she would immediately know what direction to walk, without losing any time, saving her some precious lamp oil this way. This type of help will still be possible in the expansion if Violet draws the Tarot Card "Path of Light".

However, if Violet draws the card "Path of Trust", Ordep's Helpers will be assisting in a completely different way:

Violet will have a few additional cards that relate to the "Path of Trust" (same size as the ones from the base game).

She will have to randomly draw one of these cards for this game.

These cards will have 4 slots on them, on which Violet will place one helper if she wins the trick leading up to them.

Each slot, will give Violet a bonus action she will be able to immediately activate. So, each card will have 4 bonus actions on it (one per slot), and these bonus actions come in different combinations on each of the cards, from which only one is drawn after revealing the "Path of Trust" Tarot Card.

The catch is, that Violet only very rarely actually wins over all of the Helpers, so when she does win one, she will need to Trust, that she makes the best choice for that moment, since each bonus action is taken to the detriment of another not being taken later on, when she might needed real hard!

As you see, with the card "Path of Trust", there are additional components that will come into play. Not every Tarot card will be like this though. I think that finding out about how each Tarot changes the kind of help that Violet can gain on the way will be a core aspect of the expansion.

So whilst the game system doesn't really change, the fact that characters within the newly created world act on different motivations, raises new question that help figure out new solutions to the problems we had been stuck on with the previous theme.

Our latest experiment in titles was to change the working title "The Haunting of Carrickfergus Castle" to a new working title: "Too many Kisses & Too many Hugs".

A first tentative art direction lools like so: