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[RossD20Studios]

Vertical banner design for an upcoming convention D20Studios will be attending. What do you think?

[RossD20Studios]

Screenshot from our recent Summoners Fate Elite's game night - FIREBALL!




For opportunities to join the Elites, subscribe to our Newsletter.

[ARF Initiative]

There's something in the cards appearance that reminds me of Magic The Gathering. The game looks nice!

[RossD20Studios]

There's something in the cards appearance that reminds me of Magic The Gathering. The game looks nice!

Thank you for the compliment, @Esteban5XG  Cheers!

[RossD20Studios]

Deck Builder Update: Arorbus

Our next major feature release will include the deck builder. Yesterday, I worked on a concept called the "Arorbus", which is a UI element added to Summoner cards that indicates which of the 6 magic types you can field in your deck if you choose this character.

Please disregard the art - this is all engineer placeholder art that I needed to verify my filters were working correctly. The original idea of the concept was to show all magic types within their existential creation order (in fact, all the magic types are designed to represent an aspect of existence) with the types the Summoner can command shown in an activated state. So in these examples, a Liche King can field Void and Arcane magic, Li can command Chaos and Celestial, and the Druid can command Chaos and Nature. We hadn't intended this, but the use of combinations also gives rise to potential for a "rainbow" Summoner - maybe our Occuloid would be a good fit? He can command everything but at a severe weakness.

We shared this with our early access playtesters and got unanimous feedback to condense the layout of the design. So, our next iteration will include only icons for the magic types actually controlled and these will appear in the upper left, where the mana icon would normally go. Each of the magic types will also have unique symbols associated to distinguish them for colorblind users.

...

[RossD20Studios]

Halloween is almost here! Help us vote for the best costumes for some of our Summoners Fate fan-favorite characters and see the winners displayed on October 31st.



This is part 1 of 3 of our Halloween costume contest. Which costume is best for Antarus the Battle Mage? Vote 1, 2, or 3 now.

[RossD20Studios]

5 more days until Halloween!  Help us vote for the best costumes for some of our Summoners Fate fan-favorite characters and see the winners displayed on October 31st. (Thank you for all that participated on Monday for Antarus's costume!)



This is part 2 of 3 of our Halloween costume contest. Which costume is best for Sylvia the Druid? Vote 1, 2, or 3 now.

[RossD20Studios]

Screenshot Saturday!



Here is a recent screenshot from an epic game I played with an elite player (name removed at the top for privacy). Some interesting things to note are the scorch mark under the Squirrel from a previous Squirrel explosion, the Forcefield surrounding the Arch Mage in the upper left corner (learn more about Forcefield here), and the snow in the shot - in actual gameplay, this snow is animated and adds really interesting effects to the gameplay.

[RossD20Studios]

Here is our latest deck builder update (read some of our past ones here, here and here) Per player feedback, I have changed the icons from showing all magic groups on the upper right to just showing those applicable to that summoner in the upper right. Again, please note this is not final art, just a placeholder representing the intended layout and functionality.

[RossD20Studios]

Halloween is just around the corner! Help us vote for the best costumes for some of our Summoners Fate fan-favorite characters and see the winners displayed on October 31st.



This is the last part of our Halloween costume contest. Which costume is best for our Demon Lord? (man, it took A LOT to get him to participate!) Vote 1, 2, or 3 now.

[RossD20Studios]

Announcement: D20Studios is Headed to Dreamhack Atlanta!
We are pleased to announce that Summoners Fate has been awarded “Best Early Access” game at Dreamhack Atlanta 2018. To celebrate, we’ll be showcasing Summoners Fate within their Indie Playground at booth I-30 and we’ll be up on the Indie Stage on Friday November 16th at 2:30PM talking about the game.

Attendees visiting the Summoners Fate booth at Dreamhack will receive an exclusive early-access invitation that will allow you to play our unique CCG meets top-down tactics multiplayer PvP during the event. Keys will be awarded first come, first serve until they run out, so be sure to stop by and check us out!

[RossD20Studios]

Happy Halloween!
They've been voted on and tallied...the winning costumes for Antarus the Battle Mage, Sylvia the Druid, and Demon Lord (hmm...I feel like he needs a name...) are:



See all the costumes here, here, and here!



from your friends at D20Studios 

[RossD20Studios]

Raise your hands if you are a Dragon fan!   



Learn about DRAGON HATCHER:
> Chaos spell
> Summon a Dragon Egg. When the egg is destroyed, summon a Dragon Whelp under your control.

*Note: This card was revealed last month as the Newsletter Exclusive. Sign up now to make sure you don't miss the upcoming "first looks."

[RossD20Studios]

Here is a recent screenshot from a game I played with an elite player (name removed at the top for privacy):



When you're down to just the Summoners - both of whom happened to be Li the Pyromancer!

[RossD20Studios]

Time.



If applicable where you live, did you remember to change your clocks back for the end of Daylight Savings Time?

Time - the manipulation of it and characters who can control it - are one of the unique elements Summoners Fate brings to the turn-based CCG world. Learn more about some of our time spells and those who would dare exploit it here.

[RossD20Studios]

Fire & Ice
For screenshot Saturday, here is a shot from a recent battle with an elite player (name removed for privacy):

[RossD20Studios]

Practice Makes Perfect
We are preparing to attend Dreamhack Atlanta 2018 this coming weekend, and I am quite busy putting the finishing touches on my pitchdeck presentation and continuously practicing it. I'll upload a video of it soon! 



Click here to read more about D20Studios heading to Dreamhack.

[RossD20Studios]

Look who is making their live debut at Dreamhack Atlanta 2018 this weekend at our booth?!



Thanks to our awesome animator, Peter, for bringing our Armored Squirrel to life!

[RossD20Studios]

Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving from your friends at D20Studios!

[RossD20Studios]

Dev Log 8: Highlights & Data of Summoners Fate at Dreamhack 2018



For those following my indie game marketing, this is the third article in that series (see part 1 and part 2 for our experience and data on PAX West). It’s my aim to capture both the subjective highlights and empirical data of our experiences so that myself and others can learn what to expect and how to improve our marketing. In this article, I share our marketing strategy, budget, event highlights and data of our Dreamhack Atlanta 2018 showcase of Summoners Fate.

What is Dreamhack and why did I showcase at their 2018 Atlanta Expo?

Dreamhack hosts several conventions internationally each year focused on eSports and multiplayer gaming. If you’ve ever experienced a LAN party where a group of friends all bring their gaming PC’s to play multiplayer, Dreamhack is like that except with thousands of people.

Dreamhack presented several key opportunities for us:

• Free 10x10 Ft. Booth as a featured game in their Indie Playground
• 15 Minutes to present on the Indie Stage streamed live on Twitch
• Finalist for Best Game Pitch (Potential to win $2500 prize)
• Additional 15 Minutes stage time for pitch finalists
• Chance to create fan momentum by handing out our early access keys and getting gamers to play our multiplayer on their own personal PC’s in the LAN gaming party

Our awesome booth setup

My teammate Peter and I made the trip. To maximize our potential, we planned a 4 demo screens booth consisting of a 39” TV main monitor w/laptop, iPad Pro, iPad Air on tripod stand and a Surface Pro. For signage, we leveraged our existing horizontal banner from PAX and purchased a new vertical standing banner. Since the event allowed attendees to bring their own computers with internet access, we brought 300 keys for our early access multiplayer demo and hosted a contest to motivate players to actually play our game on the showfloor with their friends. Additionally, we held a social media contest, asking players to take pictures playing the game together to win one of Peter’s hand-crafted armored squirrel plushies.

Budget Breakdown:

• Airfare: $792.80
• Hotel: $190.05
• Car Rental: $136.01
• Power: $120.00
• Food: $193.05
• Parking: $56.00
• Vertical Banner: $129.80
• Total: $1617.71

This is how we get you pumped to play Summoners Fate

Event Highlights

• Stage Time - We rocked our indie stage performance with feverous passion and energy.
• Fanatical Fans - We made a strong personal connection with players and even inspired a new streamer to choose Summoners Fate as the game for his first-ever live stream.
• Game Pitch Competition - We made it to the Final 5! Check out the stream here.
• Comradery - We enjoyed beers and brats with fellow indie developers at Der Biergarten (thanks to Josh Delson for organizing).
• Friendship - We traveled through underground cities, hordes of Falcon fans, and the biggest crowd I’ve ever seen at airport security (among other trials of travel I can’t mention here). I wouldn’t have made it without Peter, and it’s my greatest gift of this experience knowing just how far a true friend will go to support me.

Indie dev comradery at Der Biergarten

Data and Take-Aways

Here’s the summary of the data we collected with our demo analytics. For more information and a comparison to our PAX data, see here.

Foot traffic was half what we expected, so we took a proactive approach of drawing players in by enthusiastically asking them “Would you like to throw a squirrel at your enemies?!” This was effective at turning heads “What?! Did you say throw a squirrel…?” Coupled with a friendly handshake and a personal introduction, we perfected the process of getting players in the demo seats and were among the most effective indie teams at maintaining an audience.

I’m continually seeking to learn how to effectively mobilize our fanbase to action. I think we had the right creative ideas with our multiplayer contest and squirrel giveaways, but we could have done a better job communicating the actionable steps and making it easier for players. This is a recurring lesson for us with all things marketing: continuous, clear and repetitive communication is key. I’ll sometimes think our message is obvious, but the data says: “Hit folks over the head with it!” I think of that Simpsons episode where Bart joins a boy band sponsored by the Navy. You need to use the subliminal, liminal, and superliminal: “Hey, YOU! Join the Navy!”

Peter and Ross are pumped!

All together, Dreamhack was a great stepping stone and learning experience. We succeeded in attracting passionate new fans, gaining valuable experience pitching our game in front of a live audience, and made another milestone towards raising brand awareness amongst the gamer community.