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[RossD20Studios]

We introduced this Horror creature, the Shadow (part of the Void deck); now see it animated!





We've had the question posed to us about where the idea of this creature came from. I have had trouble sleeping over the years, and have some varying ideas about nightmares and "sleep demons." After doing research on some of the theories of the causes of sleep paralysis, such as the Pisadeira, the "old hag", sleep goblins, the succubus, etc., I knew I wanted to include some sort of cryptid-type creature in Summoners Fate that represented nightmares and the fears that creep in your brain as your eyes start to close.

We're still deciding on this creatures powers in game; what ideas do you have?

[RossD20Studios]

Red Dragon Screenshot
Here's a screenshot we took recently during a game with Li the Pyromancer and her Chaos deck vs. Sylvia the Druid and her Nature deck:



Couple things I want to point out to give context:

• In case you did not know, yes, we have playable Dragons in game and they are awesome!
• The blue button in the upper left-hand corner is an Undo button. Undoing is available only within your turn, not whenever you want during the game. We'll do a post in the future explaining this mechanic.
• See the heavily armored red Dreadnought (upper left)? We've implemented a separate "armor bar" for characters with heavy armor that will need to be destroyed before any damage to the character's health is affected. We'll talk more about this in a future post as well.
• The dead tree in the upper left and the scorched area are as a result of two cast spells, Dragons Breath and Fireball. Many of our spells have a dynamic quality where the terrain will actually be affected by the actions of the characters, such as cutting down trees blocking your view. Learn more about these two spells:

 

I'll be featuring Chaos (aka: Fire Spells!) spells soon - check back  

[RossD20Studios]

Brown Ant Animation
Bugs. Insects. INSECTOIDS!

We get it; insects are not necessarily everyone's thing. However, for those who secretly wanted to be an entomologist (like my 5-year-old daughter does) or who loved games like SimAnt  or who had an ant farm and a pet praying mantis  , we have the playable faction for you! Here's the Brown Ant's animation. You'll see we've added a weapon for it:





What do you think?

[RossD20Studios]

Screenshot of casting bunnies in a cave, as you do...

In this epic cave battle, Albirich the Fighter Mage and his Celestial deck (pictured) are battling. Sylvia the Druid and her Nature deck in a cave environment - and her many summoned and mutated Killer Bunnies! A few things to note:

• The white nests you see on the board are spider nests. We realized after seeing this screenshot that there were too big, so we have since shrunk them down. They don't currently do anything, but will likely spawn baby spiders on the board
• See the red upside down triangles? That notes the opponent. See the red rightside up triangles inside? We added this for our colorblind players since we used the green/red colors to notate yourself/enemy, respectively
• The 3rd card in the deck showing is different from the other two. That is because these cards are neutral - what we are calling "Free Will" cards - that any summoner can use. This will also include some characters that will be Free Will. Here's the card:
  

Here are the cards used to mutate those Killer Bunnies:


Happy Friday!  

[RossD20Studios]

Oni Smash!
Watch our Summoners Fate Oni demon:





For those of you not familiar with this mythical creature, in Japanese mythology Onis are generally male demonic creatures that resemble ogres or demons. They are huge, strong, and very frightening. Their appearances can vary, but they most often have blue or red skin, wild hair, claws, horns, and carry a kanabō, a spiked and extremely heavy war club.

We aimed to stay close to the traditional description and depiction of Onis, and added some of our own uniqueness. What do you think?

[RossD20Studios]

Happy Mother's Day to our mother & soon-to-be-mother players!

[ByerN]

You scared me Thanks God, it's not today in my country xD

[RossD20Studios]

 

You scared me Thanks God, it's not today in my country xD

[RossD20Studios]

Who are our Dwarf fans? 



Dwarves! Meet our Dwarf Blacksmith and our Dwarf Warrior. In gameplay, the Dwarves will be a smaller stature, but no less fierce.

[RossD20Studios]

Interactive Spiked Walls



I'm so excited to share this screenshot with you guys. This map we created is the Gladiator Pit. All the spikes on the walls and on the map itself are interactive - meaning yes, you can damage your opponent by knocking them into the spikes!

The pink orb glow around Zenon the Arch Mage is a spell he cast on himself is Forcefield. Here's a video we recently posted that showcases this Arcane spell. Also here's the card art to take a closer look:

[RossD20Studios]

We Bring You...Chaos!

So far we've done features on 4 out of the 6 card classes - Void, Nature, Celestial, and Arcane magic. Now is the time for havoc and destruction...



CHAOS! 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.

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

Who's our Chaos fans?

[RossD20Studios]

Recent Card Icons
We received very positive feedback from yesterday's Chaos post - it seems many of you are very excited about that fiery destructive class - and I don't blame you! 

Today I'm showcasing some art we are finishing up for Card Icons:



About these cards:

MANA SURGE
> Arcane spell
> Generate 2 mana.

YOUR SOUL IS MINE
> Void spell
> Give target enemy Death Trigger: Return to the board under your control.

CLEANSE
> Nature spell
> Remove all Status Effects, traps, and surprises from the board.

MATING SEASON
> Nature spell
> Draw up to 3 Insectoid cards from your deck and add them to your hand.

[RossD20Studios]

We are plugging away at getting the Early Access multiplayer experience finished and sent out. If you were an Early Access (and above) backer during our successful Kickstarter, we'll be getting those out very soon! We are so excited to get it in your hands to start playing and hearing your feedback on our hard work so far.



Here's us doing some gaming recently. Sorry for the blurriness; it was our 5-year-old's first time taking a picture!

[RossD20Studios]

More WIP Menu Development
We are working on the layout and design for the main menu of Summoners Fate. We recently featured some other WIP menu items - now see our latest:



I had a vision that one of the menu options - Cards where, as you might guess, you can select the cards and decks you want to play - should be on something different from a typical wooden table. Then I envisioned an animated giant tortoise whose back would be used as the table.

What do you think so far? We're planning to make the spell books bigger and add some other details, such as possibly a mana potion and a mortar and pestle. The tortoise won't walk away, but likely his head will animate a bit, maybe his tail, too.

Read more about development of the Campfire Menu here.

[RossD20Studios]

Classic battle - Skeletons vs. Emperor Cosme and his soldiers, the Ironclads.



Let's get started... 

[RossD20Studios]

Who are my Skeleton race fans? Classic, creepy and so so fun to play, today let's meet the Skeleton race of Summoners Fate:



Skeleton Reaver
A lethal mix of skeleton & demon, the Reaver can deliver a devastating death blow with his morning star. His brittle old bones are easily turned to dust - luckily, he is protected by his massive shield. (In game powers: High damage, low life, Shield - Blocks the next attack)

Skeleton Warrior
He is the basic infantry of the skeleton army. Make no mistake, however - he is a formidable opponent who can use his shield to block incoming attacks. In greater numbers, Warriors can surround enemies in an unbreakable formation of shields and whittle their enemy down to the bones. (In game powers: Shield - Blocks the next attack)

Necromancer
A powerful wizard, she was doomed to a life of eternal war. The Necromancer harnesses the dark arts to summon Skeleton Warriors whenever she attacks. Quite quickly, the battlefield is filled with her undead minions storming her enemies.

Skeleton Breaker
Horrifying & dominating, the Skeleton Breaker is the elite guard of the skeleton army. He wields a massive two-handed cleaver that “breaks” the enemy, knocking them back & preventing counter attacks. He's unfeeling, unrelenting, and unforgettable on the battlefield.

Skeleton Archer
Using his steadfast bow that has joined him in the afterlife, the Skeleton Archer can terrorize his foes with his steady arrows & his uncanny presence. When defended by Warriors, the Archer uses his long, bony fingers to unleash an endless shower of arrows upon his enemies. (In game powers: Ranged Attack)

Liche King
Somewhere between Withered and Skeleton lies the summoner Liche King. His horrifying appearance is matched by his horrifying ability on the battlefield - with each damage he does to his opponent, he heals himself equally - literally sucking the life out of his enemies and getting stronger...

Skeleton Captain
Fearsome and cruel, he cackles with delight at the terror of his enemies on the battlefield, especially when he surprises them with a lunge attack using his trusty spear. When this skeletal leader is around, his allies are granted a stat boost. (In game powers: He can attack diagonally with his spear (Lunge) and has a Shield.)

[RossD20Studios]

Did you know that our mobile Summoners Fate version will be available in Portrait and Landscape mode? I show a lot of screenshots in the traditional Landscape mode, but we first set out to design a game that could be easily played with one hand on Portrait mode, something we felt was definitely missing from the mobile gaming world. Here's an example of a Portrait screenshot:



Did you also know that Summoners Fate will be a cross-platform game? It will be available to play on PC, Mac, and any number of mobile devices. While this gives us much more challenges insofar as programming, graphics, each platform having different design rules, etc., we are committed to providing a unique and easily accessible game experience that takes into account the device you want to play on, color-blindness, handedness - that is left- vs right-handedness, and much more.

Here a video where I showcases these features:

[RossD20Studios]

Finished Spell Art
As you know, we have a very developed playable race of Insectoids in Summoners Fate. Within this eclectic group is several choices in Ants with both biped vs. quadruped options, as well as various colors. This led to the idea of the Nature spell "Ants at a Picnic" which summons Ant Soldiers on all spaces surrounding target enemy. They each attack, then vanish from battlefield; the idea being that they are a easy to defeat, but still quite annoying, such as ants at a picnic  

We showed the sketch of this spell back in March. Now see the finished spell icon:



Notice in this post I included a shot of a quadruped ant (top left) and a biped one (bottom right). Also notice that we used art of actual Summoners Fate characters being carried off the picnic tablecloth. Can you guess who these annoyed-looking characters are?

[RossD20Studios]

Throwback Thursday (and a NEW Video!)
My how far we've come! My wife and I were looking at some old screenshots of when we were first starting to create Summoners Fate. This first screenshot uses art from our first strategy game, Hero Mages.



What a difference, right? And it's just getting better each day of polish and helpful advice from those on this site!  

For more "Throwback Thursday" fun, here's an old animation GIF from 2016 vs. one I recorded yesterday. Take a look at the major differences:


<sup>Old school




And now!</sup>

[RossD20Studios]

Great news! If you were part of the "Early Access Elite" rewards or higher during our Kickstarter, we will be releasing Summoners Fate Early Access next week.

We will let you know more details next week. Make sure you've got your Backer Survey completed and sent back.

To celebrate, here's a 3-minute raw gameplay video: