Blogs - VisionsofZosimos

Greetings fans, gamers and community!!!

We are very happy to announce today that we are able to begin active development again on Visions of Zosimos. The issues we had encountered when we made our announcements in October and November have been rectified and we now have the ability to move forward, full steam ahead. There were certain stipulations that needed to be met and we feel from an objective standpoint that this has happened.

What does this mean for us?

We will be refocusing on VoZ as our primary IP to get it updated and ready for GenCon. The following bullet points are the biggest milestones we hope to have in place by GenCon are as follows;

• Updating the art and animations to the new Engine renderer
• Begin rolling out backer and founder digital rewards
• Getting the storefront up and running
• Full card sets for Fire and Earth
• Overhauled GUI and UX
• Tons of optimization
• Bug fixing galore!

This leads us into some other housekeeping items. Some of you may be asking "while, what about Battle Gnomes?" and to this we say, we are keeping a very small portion of the team on getting a basic prototype of BG ready for GenCon 2016.

Finally, we received the Kickstarter t-shirts today (we are VERY sorry for the delay on this), and will be shipping them out over the next week. Please watch for updates on this and all other things VoZ and Gnomes!

In the meantime, here are the shots of the t-shirts.

As always, for any questions, comments and/or concerns, please feel free to contact us.

Happy New Year, faithful VoZ followers:

2015 kicks off with a new card to be created, this one coming right from my concept art: The Festering Mummy!

Right now, I'm only at the line art stage, making sure the image reads correctly and is rendered in as best quality as possible. Once I get the heavy shows in, a background, the graytones, and colors done, this nasty beast will pop!

Until then, just keep exploring the afterlife!

Casey Cebulski, 2D Concept Artist

WELCOME BACK, FAITHFUL VOZ FOLLOWERS!

WHILE IT HAS BEEN A BIT SINCE MY LAST BLOG POST, FEAR NOT, IT HAS BEEN WORTH THE WAIT.

Today, I bring you: Balance. Like all cards, this one started out as an 'idea'. My approach was to have a simple image and composition that everyone could understand and acknowledge as fitting, while also presenting a challenge in execution and style.

First, I started off with the thumbnails. These were rough, gestural, quick shots that allowed me to at least get concepts down. As the team decided which they liked, I moved on to the next stage.

Capturing some much-needed photo reference, I got the anatomy down. After that, choosing the setting came next. Deciding to have line art as a placeholder, it was as I started digital painting that it all made sense.

Once the colors came into play, the SFX and final touches were added: lighting and lens flare (sans JJ Abrams).

The end result is worth the challenge, and I hope you enjoy the progress on this piece.
Excelsior!
Casey Cebulski, 2D Concept Artist

Hi, I'm Raven Krupnow, I work on VoZ as a 2D artist. My most recent task has been creating the art for the Swarm of Rats card, a Minion card for the Void Realm. I'm here to offer you a look behind the scenes at how it was made, from the first rough scribbles to the polished final work.

The first step was finding the right look for the rats. Exploring different possibilities, even those that seem less promising than others, is key to finding a unique and compelling look. My goal was to create a design that would be creepy and otherworldly, but most importantly to make sure the rats did not look boring.

I explored the possibility of an undead horde, mangy sewer rats, mutant rats, and rats with mystical markings. The markings were an immediate keeper, they fit with the world and added interest to an otherwise somewhat mundane looking creature.

After some more refined sketches to explore the different looks, the team decided the mutant rat was the right way to go, along with a mix between the most successful marking designs.

The next step was finding the right colors to bring the rats to life, and I explored a plethora of options before it was decided that sticking with a classic Void purple would lend the best feel and cohesiveness.

The final result is a mystical looking creature, with a large jaw and sharp teeth that give the rats a dangerous and unnatural look. With the final design selected, it was time to make the turnaround that the 3D artists will use as reference for sculpting the 3D model that will appear in the game. The goal of a turnaround is to provide as much visual information as possible, and create a cohesive whole that makes it easier to translate the creature to a 3D environment.

With the look of the rats settled on, it was finally time to start sketching up ideas for the card art itself. After initial brainstorming and rough sketches, I worked up thumbnail sketches of the four strongest directions, which were then presented to the team. The fourth thumbnail was chosen for the final direction, and my next step was to work the thumbnail up into a refined sketch.

A refined sketch needs to show everything that will be in the final work. It doesn't hurt to get the lighting and values in, because the goal is to give as accurate a representation as possible of what the final work will look like. While still keeping things rough, I was sure to include all the major areas of light and dark, and an idea of what the background would look like, since previously I had left it blank. I also refined the poses of the rats in the background, and gave some definition to the fur of the main rat to show how I was going to handle its rendering. At this stage in the process it's still easy to make changes to the piece before moving ahead with the final art, so it is an ideal time to get feedback and adjust things to work better. After presenting it to the team I got a lot of helpful instructions on how to best move forward, and with all the compositional changes decided on, it was time to start looking at what colors would create the best mood for the card.

Just like with the concept art, I explored many different color palettes, and presented the best four to the team. After discussing the pros and cons, a hybrid between #3 and #4 was decided on, and it was time to start painting the final piece.

Even at the final stage, there can be changes that need to be made. The first completed version I presented to the team had some problem areas that needed to be addressed. I had to go back in and give more definition to the skull fragments in the foreground, darken the main rat's teeth to make them stand out against the light background, and give the rat's eye a more intense glow. It's important to make sure it's clear to the viewer what everything in the piece is, and to not miss any opportunities to optimize the art's visual impact. Small adjustments like these can take a piece to a new level and make it that much more effective.

Finally, after making sure everything was clearly defined and making a good impact on the viewer, the final art was ready for the game.

I hope you've enjoyed this look into the process of creating the 2D art of Visions of Zosimos. Don't forget to stop by now and then for more behind-the-scenes glimpses into the game's development.

Greetings, VoZ players. Do not adjust your computer screen, this is not a test. The Devs have taken over.

For the past two weeks, I have been working on concepting a major character called the Festering Mummy. This is a piece that was started by my friend and fellow artist Mikella Touchstone. As you can see, she laid the crucial foundation for what is shaping up to be a fun and scary character.

Once I got my legs and began approaching it with my own mind and careful hand, it didn't take long to flesh out the character. At first, it was only the drawing itself, taking into consideration the feel and tone.

Once I got the overall design down, I began adding in other elements. Deciding that his was an ancient Egyptian mummy, the accessories fell into place rather fast. The color palette was carefully chosen, going for lots of purples and blues. Being a Void character, it seemed only natural.

Now that the look and color are decided, it's off to the turnaround for the 3D team!

Thanks for reading, and we'll see you next time!

Casey Cebulski, 2D Concept Artist

Back in March, I mentioned we were redesigning the Blighted Mire to better suit our game’s new design and mechanics. I’m proud to announce that we have come up with a new design that we have become quite happy with and will be implemented into the game soon.

Before I move onto the redesign, let’s take a look at the old map and discuss why we needed a change.

As you can see, the X’s are the player start locations which appear directly across from each other. As you approach the middle of the map, the bosses get stronger and you can eventually meet up with the opposing player. There are many reasons why this is bad but my biggest issue with it is its predictability. The map literally funnels you into the middle and there is no other way to go but left or right. The essential strategy is to take out all of your wondering monsters that are close to you and the Bog Slave. The only unpredictable factor is whether or not you will fight the Spawn of Fenris or ignore it since the enemy homunculus is next to you. The next issue is with Victory Points. The very nature of this map makes it so that players will have the same amount of victory points until the very end of the match when one homunculus dies. It only makes sense to claim as many victory points as you can before you meet the opposing player. There are other issues that the map has but I’m not going to go into that.
Now let’s look at the two map ideas we had. (I hope you can excuse the poor quality pictures!)

1)

2)

Our level designer, Anthony Shine, created two maps in which we would paper prototype and decide which map was most fun. It didn’t take us long to choose map number two for one obvious reason. Map number one is extremely small and even though the Blighted Mire is meant to be small, it is simple to get the board very crowded. We didn’t even have to play a two vs two or three vs three to know that the board would get congested with minions and ambushes. Board number two is large enough to give players enough room to move and place units without feeling too crowded. Another issue with map one was the distance of the Spawn of Fenris. For one vs one matches, it doesn’t make much sense to go after the boss because of how far it is relative to the opposing player.If you can see the numbers near the top of number two, that is where players spawn in the beginning. This map gives players more options when it comes to victory points and overall, winning the match. Players are almost equidistant between the first boss and the opposing player.

This means aggressive players can go after the opposing homunculus right away or play defensively and build up units and dice by going after bosses. It is also easier for players to steal wandering monster victory points because of the distance between players.

I hope you like the redesign when it becomes available to all our alpha players! Remember to join our Facebook Alpha Community if you have or need a key!

Every Saturday night at 8:00pm CST we hold a play night with developers so if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask us!

Facebook.com

Visions of Zosimos is clearly a rare breed of video game. It is the first true MMO CCG and board game. It is also one of the few games that is both a tactics and strategy video game. Tactics, dealing with the how a battle should be fought within a given board and how many minions and wandering monsters they must face.

Strategy, planning out your strategy to achieve certain goals is more long term planning than tactics. With the inclusion of Victory Points, Visions of Zosimos will have a whole new layer of strategy that we haven’t had in the game. Victory Points will ultimately determine the winner of each battle. Victory Points will change depending on the map making players rethink their strategies as well as their tactics. Killing the enemy homunculus is still the main goal but may not always claim victory. With the Victory Point system, players will earn points for defeating wandering monsters. The strength of the monster will determine the amount of points you will earn with the homunculus always being the most. In addition to this, games will have bonus objectives like conquering a boss’ territory after defeating it or collecting objectives on the board itself, such as bits of lore or relics that could be fought over. Be careful with enemy territories though, because bosses may re-spawn! Another thing to keep in mind is that objectives are long term and the points are gained at the end of battle. Victory points are currently under testing, both the points above and other objectives like achieving first blood from killing a minion.

Victory Points allow players to shape decks based around earning certain Victory Points. We also believe that they will create a sense of randomness so games are always new and exciting. Victory Points also create new strategies for team battles. For example, a three vs three match could mean one player goes for collecting lore pieces while the other two go after wandering monsters and lore pieces. Some teams may even try to end the game as soon as possible and go straight for the enemy homunculi.

Special Announcement for those who wish to join us!
For those who are trying to log in to old clients or players who wish to become part of our Open Alpha. The client that is downloaded is out of date due to a recent engine upgrade. It is in the process of being fixed. In the meantime, you may use a generic player client available for download here:

Adrive.com
Inside are two files. First, run LnchInst.exe to install the Launcher.

Then double-click the heal file to begin the client installation. After you login you will need to choose a world (there should only be one choice). Enter the world called “Forever Interactive Beta”.

The client will likely need to stream the art assets which can take a while. So please bear with us; once you are able to get into a game with that client, future loads will not take nearly as long.

We will keep you posted when there is a new official player client available.