"Marmora" print and play

Print and play version of "Marmora" is finally done :)

Download here:    rules/instructions          game pieces
                           
         

Art of "Marmora"

This is the box art for my board game, "Marmora." I still have some work to do on it before tomorrow when I send it to a company. It shall be a late night for me. 

Doodle Doodle

A new 30 minute portrait sketch. :) 

"Marmora" playtests

Play tested "Marmora" with multiple people. 

I had the boys play test against each other during the night. Both seemed to enjoy the strategy parts of the game, waiting until the right moment to play certain trap cards. During our Game Design club, I got some good advice from some of the upperclassmen. My game at that point, still needed to be shortened quite a bit, which made it more difficult to play. There were also some cards that were broken, either being too powerful or not powerful enough. Though they said the game was fun and had a good time "trolling" each other, there was a bunch of small details that I needed to fix. When I made the updated printed board and cards, I realized that there was still a few problems with the cards, even after I altered them a bit. The creature pieces were more balanced, and I gave more opportunities to use strategy to win the game I think after I fix these next few problems involving the cards and the board, then the game should be good to go :)

Theme and Concept Statement for "Marmora"

"Marmora"

Concept Statement: "Gather your savior, or your enemies will"
"Fight for your survival, or freeze"

Theme: The quest for power

This theme matches my board game because of the overall goal in my game. There are 2 kingdoms that are stuck in a never-ending winter. Magical marbles at the center of the board hold the power to provide necessary warmth for each kingdom. The kingdom that is able to claim all of the needed amount of marbles will live in warmth and comfort while the other kingdom suffers through the bitter winter curse. For a player to win the game, they must send their three fantasy creatures to fetch the marbles and return to their kingdom  However, each player has opportunities to control the opponents creatures, as well as benefit their own. Depending on an even or odd roll of the dice, depends if they draw a "Trap" or "Enchant" card. A trap card gives the player power to disable, set back, or damage one of the opponent's creatures. An enchant card helps the player's own creatures by restoring health points to their creatures, moving their creatures forward, or temporary immunity. Each player has the option to either play a card immediately or to hold it and play it later, giving multiple opportunities to "troll" and control their opponent. This is why the "quest for power" theme fits the game.

A great example of a book with "Power" as a theme is 1984. With the constant surveillance among the community, nobody dares do anything against "Big brother" in fear that they will meet a terrible fate. The community has an arranged schedule and little freedom to do anything that they want to do. When the main character has a love affair with someone he's not supposed to,  he is sent to meet his fate. The "party" controls him by pairing him with a particular torture that applies only to him. In my game, the trap cards apply to certain creatures, landing on certain spots, and being in a certain location. The players are able to wait until their opponent falls under one of those situations, and then attack.

 In this impacting movie, "power" is to kill. Nazis begin their control over the Jews from the beginning of the film, tearing them apart from family members and then stripping them till they are left with nothing. Lined up like animals for slaughter, they have no control over their fate. The Nazis will kill Jews in front of others, setting a constant fear into the remaining Jews and the Nazis have a significant power from this. With the ability to kill off any Jew at any time, the Nazis have a constant power."Marmora" has a similar power aspect, with each player only knowing their own trap cards, can kill off or attack an opponents creature without the opponent sensing anything coming.

The color scheme for my "Marmora" game is fairly simple. I wanted colors that were close to each other and represented winter or coldness. The red marble is the main contrast with these colors since it represents the only warmth in the game. 

Here is an example of what my game board will look like. 

Self Portraits: a half year's difference

A late night post :)

So I was looking through my old artwork and was comparing it to my new artwork from this recent summer and semester, and I'm happy to see a big improvement in just half a year. Amazing what a bit of continuous practice and art school can do to you  Woot. ^_^

 Self portrait from this semester. About 45 minutes

self portrait from last semester. About 2 hours (I don't even know why it took so long)

Experimental pen piece

My most recent sketch piece. Thought I would experiment with 3D portrayal and 2D elements (the hair) with the line work. I'm not a fan of how the mouth or teeth came out. Slowly, my portraits are becoming more anatomically correct though :)