No, we are not talking about those strange alien beasties in Under the Skin by M. Faber! (If you don’t know what we are gibbering about go read it – its excellent… and weird)
Anyway, we have had some support from those lovely people at Business Gateway and the upshot is we are getting a totally new website courtesy of Unavoided.com
Scheduled crash landing for this will be sometime soon in October so that is the reason for the lack of recent update posts.
Dinna fash folks, its on its way.
Evolution of a GladiatorWe are always stunned how hugely talented artists are. How they take our vision, a gem of an idea, a nebulous concept and grow it, nurture it. And we get to watch that process unfold, watch it expand into something awesome and easily beyond our original idea.
Here is one example: Our titular Gladiator – synonymous with the modern idea of a fighting warrior and the Herald of our game Gladiatores.
The lovely Ania did a fantastic job with taking our idea of a clearly heroic but un-named gladiator and creating something as imposing as it is stunning.
Believe it or not, this dude was originally modeled from this Conan-like gladiator [at left]
To us, this veteran hero of countless combats has a subliminal but clearly visible level of threat, challenging the player to try their luck against him – to succeed where others have surely failed – to hold aloft the wreath of victory, instead of gasping away their last breath on the hot sand!
For those viewers more historically inclined, this Gladiator was probably originally a Samnite (a warrior of conquered South Italy during the early period of Roman expansion) according to his heavily visored helmet style (or a later Murmillo using the same) but has chosen to swap his large scutum shield and single gladius for a pair of nasty looking extended gladius swords – making him more of a Dimachaerus style of fighter; perhaps from a fallen adversary? Either way, hearts will race and blood will pump when he marches out to the roar of the watching crowd !!
ElemenZ artwork #4 – The ZyryxThe final Race that inhabits the ElemenZ game world is the ZYRYX.
The Zyryx are basically multi-limbed arachnomorphic creatures made of berylsilicate composites. Although the most predominant creature on their world, the Zyryx (when young) are preyed upon by larger and more vicious predators. Hive minded, these termite-like creatures have found an ingenious way to stay out of harms way.
More info on the backstory of this exciting race and how it can be played, can be found on our game page for ElemenZ.
ElemenZ Artwork #3 – The RokzynThe 3rd of the Four Races that inhabit the ElemenZ game world is the ROKZYN.
The Rokzyn are essentially lava dogs – the top apex predator and the most ‘active’ of the four races. Eternally hungry from their roiling superheated cores, the Rokzyn roam far in great hunting packs, bringing back their kills to the matriarch and offspring.
More info on the backstory of this exciting race and how it can be played, can be found on our game page for ElemenZ.
ElemenZ artwork no. #2 – The IkzravekHere is the 2nd of the Four Races that inhabit the ElemenZ game world.
The Ikzravek (Deep sea creatures of ammonia-rich oceans).
This race appears frightening and/or violent but are in fact gentle custodians of the myriad other life forms that inhabit their ice-locked moon world. This race is partly inspired by one of the Moravecs mentioned in the fantastic Ilium books by Dan Simmons. Go read ’em they are ace!
More info on the backstory of this exciting race and how it can be played, can be found on our game page for ElemenZ.
ElemenZ artwork – the ZylryneWe are proud to be able to show the 1st of the Four Races that inhabit the ElemenZ game world.
The first is the Zylryne (Zephyr-like creatures of Air and Light).
With thin ephemeral (good word, kids. Use it!) bodies and light blades for wings, these creatures live up in the fast lane where the winds are strong, the air is thin and the life-giving sun blazes away in the heavens.
More info on the backstory of this exciting race and how it can be played, can be found on our game page for ElemenZ.
Roll on ArtworkThe artwork for both ElemenZ and Gladiatores is rolling ahead now, with landscape concept sketches developing nicely for ElemenZ. We’ve also shaken down concepts for the 4 Alien Shamans and look forward to (damn hard to wait actually) seeing what Ascary comes up with. Four sneak peaks of tiny sections for the landscapes (1 of each) are show below.
Two of the sneak-peaks show concepts for the Shamans but final design may differ.
Meanwhile, Gladiator art is still coming in and looking great. The combat card design and layout is now final (example is shown here)
but choice of which art piece to include for different cards is still on the shelf – until Ania has provided all of it. Still, we think it is going to look awesome either way! Note also this pic gives a little hint of some of the game mechanics – but we will reveal more as the game page itself gets updated – eventually we will publish the rules as a downloadable PDF.
Can we say Conanesque without getting all the lamentation?
Working towards completing the artwork for our first card game Gladiatores, our highly talented artist Ania has been doing some excellent concepts that have a definite… ‘Chunky’ feel to them. Consider this…
An imposing dude that clearly means business.
We hope that Robert E. Howard would approve.
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