next »

[RossD20Studios]

That looks really cool! Congrats on being funded and good luck on your stretch goals! 

Thanks Pixel Noise! Appreciate that. Cheers 

[RossD20Studios]

Rounded up our Reptis race for a group shot. Who's your favorite?



2 days left on Kickstarter! We'd love your support if you enjoy this type of genre. Click on the screenshot above to visit our KS page or click here.

[RossD20Studios]

I've been working on adapting the UI layout to better suit the needs of PC players. I've received feedback that the larger UI (scaled from mobile) was unpleasant.

Looking at the mock-up above, I've increased the playable grid space to 9x14, further reduced the UI size, and balanced the left and right sides by unwrapping the multi function buttons to reveal their other states up front (ex: replay and skip). Circular style is replaced with rectangles to better fit the interface. The non-playable grid area is shadowed around the edges. This is just a layout mock to show scale and placement. Artistically, I'm thinking it might be cool to have the blue UI bar itself be made out of stone, perhaps vegetation wrapped or inset with gold trim. The mana bar would need the mana symbol itself incased in some sort of decorative texture (perhaps a circular extension of the stone/ruins itself) and something to make the bar look more like glass tube/alchemy. I still like the idea of symbolic buttons (vs. text) for the four secondary functions - better for localization and artistically more interesting. End turn button - up for debate - that could be text since it's the most important function. Behind the cards, it might be nice to have some kind of decorative radial arc extending above the bar. There's room to support more cards here as well (for abilities that allow you to draw beyond three) by arranging them in a fan.

Thoughts?

(sneak peak at our Frost Dragon, too - a new playable character)

[RossD20Studios]

Meet our Celestial Steampunk Timekeeper Rats! They are one of our Stretch Goals to add to our game (Less than 24 hours left to Support our Kickstarter! Click on the pictures or click here to view our KS page). From left to right, we have the Time Bombardier, a ranged unit that can throw "time bombs" that damage and slow enemy movement, the Time Keeper, a powerful Summoner with the power to cast Celestial Time Spells, and the Time Warrior, a cunning melee fighter with hyper speed and lightning reflexes.

Celestial Magic is associated with divine order, light, love, spiritual energy and the dimension of time. This magical energy is drawn from celestial beings and the existential ether that shapes and forms the basis of reality. Celestial spells include powerful healing and protection abilities, light energy that can banish demons of the Void and repel the destructive forces of Chaos, and the ability to control time itself.

Above are a selection of spells we have conceived of so far to go with the Celestial Steampunk Timekeeper Rat theme. Time manipulation mechanics such as these are one of many unique innovations we aim to bring to the tactics and CCG genres.

What do you think of these ideas and what kinds of time and celestial spells would you like to see in Summoners Fate?

[RossD20Studios]

At post, we are at 17 hours left on our Kickstarter (click here to view our campaign page)!

Kelly and I have designed Summoners Fate as a community service that we aim to run for the next 10+ years. We are hoping this becomes akin to a hobby that you continue to enjoy well into the future. Because of this, I would like to call to your attention that our Kickstarter will be offering several exclusive reward opportunities that will not be available down the road. These rewards were carefully chosen as our way of saying "Thank you" to everyone who believed in us and pledged support during this Kickstarter.



The Golden Dragon is a creature we created exclusively as a Kickstarter reward. This legendary character is a benevolent guardian dedicated to protecting mythic treasure, arcane spells, and other secrets. They are wise, ancient, and possess great mystical abilities. Kickstarter will be the only opportunity to ever obtain this exclusive card.



While the Hellhound Puppy will be an obtainable character in the game (albeit, very rare and hard to come by) the opportunity to give your puppy a customized name that will appear on his card is a Kickstarter-only exclusive.

We are also offering the opportunity to design your own cards, be in the game as a playable character, and create your own custom dungeon that will become a location in the world for all players to explore - and you get the credit! I'd also like to call out that every reward tier contains all of the reward tiers below. For example, if you choose "Ravager of Fate", not only will you get to design your own custom boss character, you will also get to create a custom playable character in your likeness AND create a custom spell card (plus receive Golden Dragon, all of the bundled card rewards, etc.).

Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the "Decider of Fate". This is promised to be a one-time only exclusive card print that you and only you will ever own. Imagine your favorite game today and if you had the chance to own the "only one" of something ever made within that game and forever having the notoriety of being called the "Decider of Fate".

Thank you to all our supporters!

[RossD20Studios]

Thank you to all our amazing supporters - we did it! Our Kickstarter was successfully funded. We couldn't have done it without you, we are grateful and PUMPED to bring Summoners Fate to the next level!

[RossD20Studios]

The Frost Dragon swoops onto the battlefield, his skin is silvery-blue with gleaming icicles. He casts his icy stare onto his enemies, and braces his frozen talons into the ground as he lets out a mighty breath of frigid ice and certain death....
Meet the FROST DRAGON! We teased him in a recent post of one of our larger maps, now get a good look at one of our newest playable characters (200+ will be available!). This addition to our Dragon race joins our others we've shown so far:

- Red Dragon (http://ow.ly/t9Kf30gFjSN)
- Skeletal Dragon (http://ow.ly/qnTX30gFjNZ)
- Gold Dragon (http://ow.ly/dZ2X30gFjXY)

What do you think? Would you like to control this frigid fellow?

[RossD20Studios]

Sunday Sketches - Medusa (player request) and Bramble Elemental:

[RossD20Studios]

Teamwork to defeat an armored Mountain Troll



What do you think of my water tile?

[RossD20Studios]

I've always really liked Praying Mantises. Here's a brown Mantis in action here. What do you think?

More Insectoids coming soon, including different colors.

[RossD20Studios]

We are delving a little deeper into 2/5 of our magic card classes: Void and Chaos


The Void
In the beginning, before time and space, there was the Void. The Void is the existential state of non-being. It is “nothingness” - an inherent truth and the persistent origin of all things, so speaks the scholars and ancient texts of the Academy of Arcane Arts. Accounts of those who have experienced the origin moment often speak of the Void as an emotion - the “feeling of emptiness”. It is a balance of fear and hope: fear that eternity is without meaning or purpose, forever alone in despair, and hope that within lies the potential to be something that is great and loved. This innate quality of non-being is what causes existential essence, the motion that drives the creation of all things within the universe.

Void Magic
The Void is often misunderstood and many of those gifted with its insights are driven to madness. In Summoners Fate, Void magic represents the negative state of nothingness and is associated with fear, despair, hunger and death. Dark and nightmarish beings, demons of the Void, are shadowy like creatures that feed upon the thoughts and dreams of corporeal beings. They are constant reminders of the existential balance between fear and hope. Void spells include the power to nourish by taking life, the conjuring of dark beings, and the power to bring death.



Chaos
When non-being gives rise to existential motion, the raw, primal and pure potential energy created is called Chaos. Chaos is without bounds or rules; it is not limited by logic and reason. Even mathematical definitions such as 1+1 = 2 can be nonsensical or as valid as 1+1 = 3. If the entirety of existence could be construed as a line, then the period of history that represents Chaos would exist as a singular point. But, as Chaos is without time and order, this “point”, this “moment” persists as an eternity that continuously draws out infinite eventualities and realities.

From the infinite potential of Chaos, conscious thought is born, giving rise to being, celestial order, and the construct of time and the physical universe. Chaos is not a moment left in the past, however, but a source continually drawn upon to keep the universe within motion.

Chaos Magic
When chaos energy flares into the physical world, its manifestations are unstable and cause potent destructive force. While destructive, Chaos is not inherently evil, and many good and innocent individuals are gifted (or cursed as some say) with the power to channel Chaos Magic. For example, Nova the Sorceress, is a notable Chaos sorceress. At a young age, she unintentionally destroyed her village with fire when her born powers were first triggered, though she herself is not malicious like the Dreadnoughts - evil inclined beings motivated by the desire to destroy the world.

Chaos Spells
In Summoners Fate, Chaos spells grant powerful destructive abilities and have the highest damage output per cost of any other magic group.

[RossD20Studios]

Happy Thanksgiving!

Also, remember, Griffins are not Turkeys 

[RossD20Studios]

We posted the sketch of our Fairy recently. Now see this playable character finished. She will be added to our 200+ playable character roster for Summoners Fate!

What do you think? Also, should she have shoes or not?

[Pixel Noise]

That's really cool to see the before/after - I'd say no shoes.

[RossD20Studios]

That's really cool to see the before/after - I'd say no shoes.

Thanks Pixel Noise! We really liked how she turned out, too.

Thanks for letting us know your thoughts on shoes vs. bare feet.

Have a great night

[RossD20Studios]

Today we'd like to share 2 new sketches we are working on - the Priestess and the Knight. What do you think so far?

[RossD20Studios]

Bit of overkill here...

[HiddenNatureDsn]

This looks really cool and polished, and I love this kind of game.  I will say I very much prefer the characters when they aren't looking up...gives me an uncomfortable sense of almost claustrophobia with a touch of vertigo...like we're smooshed too close together while I look down at them from an awkward angle.  I love the art otherwise.

[RossD20Studios]

This looks really cool and polished, and I love this kind of game.  I will say I very much prefer the characters when they aren't looking up...gives me an uncomfortable sense of almost claustrophobia with a touch of vertigo...like we're smooshed too close together while I look down at them from an awkward angle.  I love the art otherwise.

Thank you, HiddenNatureDsn, for your kind words! Glad you like the game.

The top-down perspective is a carry-over from my first game, Hero Mages. The idea is that you are looking down at a board game. We added the "look-up" feature for 2 reasons: to have a connection to your character (I didn't want you only looking at tops of heads!) as well as for your characters to queue you to take action. I joke that in the Summoners Fate universe, the characters have an extra vertebrae that allow them to look up without sore necks.  

Cheers!

[RossD20Studios]

I posted a video last week of our brown biped Praying Mantis animation. Some people wondered about different color variations for the Insectoids.

Here are some variations on both the Mantises and our Ants. You'll see quadruped vs. biped options, plus different available colors.

My favorite is the top left, the brown quadruped Mantis, whereas Kelly likes the middle bottom right, the red quadruped Ant.