Ever since we launched the game in Early Access, we wanted to share with you the process of how we create new cards in the game. But at first, we simply were too busy working on the minimum set of features that would allow us to launch; then we were busy fixing all the bugs that we found, and adding all the great suggestions that the community came forward with. But finally, we've caught our collective breath and sat down with the person behind almost all the cards in Gremlins, Inc. (2 or 3 are not really his – can you guess, which?) to talk about how he works –

WHO'S THE ARTIST?

Please meet Yaroslav Pavlyshynets, a concept artist responsible for the style of the game:

• he's trained as a professional artist;
• he's based in Kyiv, Ukraine;
• he's very much into historical re-enactment;
• he's very much into playing board games;
• he worked on a number of games, including Cossacks;
• we all think that he's brilliant!

LET'S FOLLOW THE PROCESS: SKETCH 01

The process of creating a new card starts with Adrageron, our game designer, coming up with a rough idea of where the card is played, whether or not it's criminal or secret, and what is the general theme of the card, as well as the exact mechanics. Can you guess what is the idea of the new card, based on the early sketch above? If not, let's take one step forward:

THE MAIN ACTORS: SKETCH 02

In this case, we're talking about a card that is played in the Court, and a card whose title is based on the concept of jury. Or jurors, to be exact. You can probably already flesh out at least one of them, on the left side...

THE MAIN ACTORS, CONTINUED: SKETCH 03

Since the card deals with jurors, there's got to be more than one, and here you can see the whole three of them (hint: there will be more). Even at this early stage, you can probably place them in a steampunk universe, thanks to how they dress and what sort of emotions they project. So what are they up to?

THE THEME: SKETCH 04

Whatever they're up to, it seems like it's not anything good. As more details emerge, take stock of the symbol on the hat of the central character: it's the familiar icon of the Court. And what's this thing in front of them, only vague at this time, but perhaps already discernible, if you're familiar with the world of Gremlins, Inc.?

THE THEME, CONTINUED: SKETCH 05

Well-well, it is nothing but a stack of money!! And there's two more gremlins joining the party. A party that is dressed to impress, despite the greed that shows through their grimaces. From a distance, they look so respectable... like some of the ultra-rich people in our world, too. It's time to dash the last dose of details, including a fake eyepiece of the gentleman on the left.

DETAILS: SKETCH 06

What a great company do we have here, at this table! Respectable, well-dressed gentlemen of good standing. We bet that some of you can already feel like you're in the same room with these people. Let's give some shine to those coins, shall we? As well as a bit of volume to a few other pieces.

DETAILS, CONTINUED: SKETCH 07

Hello there, friends! It's us, the jurors. The full title of this card is: «JURORS FOR HIRE»

• this card is played in the Court
• this card is secret
• this card offers 2 move points
• this card costs ːvotesː4 to play
• this card grants $300
• it will arrive in one of 2017's update (most likely, with the Spring Season)

COLOR: SKETCH 08

And now it's time for the first colors to appear on the card. It's pretty obvious that these corrupt jurors won't have much light in whatever room they choose in order to receive, and count, their bribe. The whole focus is on the money. Ah, money, the engine that moves the gremlin world! (as well as some of the leading countries in the real world today...).

COLOR, CONTINUED: SKETCH 09

With this step, Yaroslav brings into focus the two leaders of the jury – probably it's their connections at the Court, that enabled the whole deal to come through. The other three hang back in the shadows (by the way, did you know that a jury that cannot come to a decision, is called a "hung jury"?

THE FINAL TOUCH

Here we are: the card is complete now. A few days of work, and Adrageron's idea came to life! Personally, it never stops to impress me how Yaroslav never does any alternative sketching in the process: there's never a plan B, or an option C, he's just fleshing out the scene based on how he sees it, and in 95% cases this is the vision that the game designer had all along. Did you enjoy seeing this process step by step? You may then consider taking a look at the 120-page Digital Artbook, where we recount the story of how Gremlins, Inc. was created. Another channel where we post work-in-progress is our Instagram channel: http://Instagram.com/CharlieOscarBiz/. We wish you a very happy holiday period, and hope to see you in the game during the upcoming official tournament that starts on December 29 and will become our biggest event yet, with dozens of prizes and seven days of ranked duel sessions across both server zones! ––– ːtelegramː Game updates: http://Twitter.com/Gremlins_Inc http://Reddit.com/r/GremlinsInc/ http://facebook.com/GremlinsGame/ ːcursecardː Studio news: http://Twitter.com/CharlieOscarBiz http://Facebook.com/CharlieOscarBiz/ http://YouTube.com/CharlieOscarBiz ːscoreː Behind the scenes at Charlie Oscar: http://Instagram.com/CharlieOscarBiz/

[ 2016-12-27 20:09:55 CET ] [ Original post ]

This is an intense strategy board game in a steampunk world of corrupt capitalist gremlins who compete for money, political power and prestige. Save and invest, steal and extort, arrest and get arrested – in single-player and multiplayer modes, with ranks and ladders. Unleash your inner gremlin!

HOW DO YOU PLAY THIS GAME?

Gremlins, Inc. is designed for 2 to 6 players, in multiplayer or in single-player mode (with AI bots). Each player has 6 cards on their hand (replenished from the same deck), and uses them to move around the playing field and to perform a number of different game actions. There is a lot of interaction with other players, and duels are significantly different from 3-player or 4-player games. You play for score limit, or rounds, or for time limit in custom or ranked sessions (with matchmaking by rating). Password-protected private sessions are also available.

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO PLAY ONE SESSION?

The game offers different session settings to make them fit your available time, and single-player mode offers automatic Save/Load function at every turn so that you can take a break whenever you want (multiplayer mode offers re-connect functionality as long as the session is still in progress). A quick duel for 20 score points with a fast timer can finish in under 20 minutes, while a 4-player session for 60 rounds can last for 2 hours or more.

SHORT-TERM AND LONG-TERM STRATEGIES?

There are different types of cards in the game (permanent, regular, secret and criminal) and as each card can be used either to move or for action, you will develop both short-term and long-term strategies for making the most out of where you are, and what you have in your hand. Normally you spend half of your game time accumulating things, and another half controlling other players (stealing, arresting, making them pay a fine, initiating player conflicts, and so on). The more you play, the more new strategies you will discover, especially when combining the effects of several cards played in a row.

MAKE DECISIONS, PLAN YOUR MOVES

• This is an intense strategy game: make decisions at every round! Plan your moves, then adjust to the actions of the other players and new cards drawn.

• The design of the playing field and the layers of optional features allow for a variety of strategies. The more you play, the more roads to victory you discover, using a combination of features based on the particular setup of the session.

• The game offers a resource system that allows for many comebacks even after you're robbed or arrested (or both). With score, money, votes, malice, income and bribes, the tension remains until the very last round.

• In this game, you have to be mean to win: not letting the others to score is as important as scoring yourself. The only true moment of unity in a multiplayer session is when everybody's united against the player who's about to win the game. Earn and steal resources, set traps, arrest, initiate Player Conflicts, bluff and climb up the political ladder to become the Governor.

• The multilayer mode of the game features a system of ratings, ladders and ranked sessions: compete in a specific league, and take part in the regularly organised tournaments (normally, over 1,000 players participate). A system of anonymous masks allows everyone to compete on equal terms in a ranked session, so that you can't really disregard someone as a newbie player, or target a veteran as your prime suspect in a political race.

• In addition to the multilayer mode, the game offers 9 single-player challenges plus the option to create custom single-player sessions with different AI bots (with each major update, we keep adding new challenges).

FACTS & FIGURES

• The game currently features 169 cards in the main deck: permanent, regular, secret and criminal, each with a hand-drawn steampunk illustration (with each major update, we keep adding 1-2 new cards to the core deck).

• The game also features 34 telegrams of Misfortune in the Misfortune deck: send and receive events that may disrupt another player's plans, or significantly improve your own standing (with each major update, we keep adding 1-2 new cards to the Misfortune deck).

• Chaos Cards: an optional set of 6 cards available to every player in the game, that changes the dynamics of the session.

• Special Character Abilities: an optional feature that enables 12 sets of abilities unique to each character type, which then defines the core strategy of every player.

• There are 11 locations – the Office, the Plant, the Dump, the Marketplace, the Inferno, the Jail, the Casino, the Court, the Treasure, the Bank and the Astral Plane – and 7 spot types – Danger, Gamble, Police, Income, Bribe, Misfortune and Tribune.

• The game took us three years to develop from concept to Early Access and to full release, and we're committed to the continued support of the community and development of new features and new content. It is the brainchild of Alexey Bokulev, the acclaimed creator of Eador.Genesis. There are currently over 35,000 players of Gremlins, Inc. on Steam from all over the world, including USA, Russia, China, Japan, UK and France. Collectively, players launched over 400,000 single-player and multiplayer sessions since the game's full release in March 2016.

FINALLY, WHO ARE THE GREMLINS?

You think that’s just a pocket watch in your hand, a watch that’s a bit late because you keep forgetting to wind it up? No, no and no – you couldn’t be further from the truth! What you carry around is a whole gremlin town packed into this tiny mechanism: a town with its own bank, its own casino… and even its own jail! Gremlins are the microscopic creatures that inhabit any mechanism that they can possibly infiltrate. If a watch or a telescope malfunctions, then it’s probably due to gremlins who took up a residence there.

More than anything in life, gremlins value money, political power and prestige: prestige that one can claim after completing some sort of a grandiose engineering project. Aside from working on their own projects, gremlins mostly spend their time preventing other gremlins from building something even more grandiose. This they achieve through bribing officials and lying to the electorate, as well through stealing from their competitors - and outright arresting them.

A DISCLAIMER (JUST IN CASE)

We felt it important to note that Gremlins, Inc. is not a free-to-play game. Also, this is not a CCG or TCG: you do not need to buy boosters or packs, in every session the game offers the same deck to every player, and everyone's chances are equal.

OUR DLC POLICY

We remain committed to the principle of continuously updating the game with new features (e.g. special character abilities) and new content (e.g. new cards, new Misfortunes) that come in the form of regular updates that are FREE for every owner of the product. At the same time, from time to time we create and release fun stuff (animations, character portraits, alternative music themes) that is not related to the game mechanics, as paid DLCs. If you like it, you can support our efforts by your purchase. However, there is absolutely no pressure to own any of the DLCs in order to play the game or compete in the tournaments.

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT ONLINE CONNECTION

Gremlins, Inc. was designed as a digital board game with the multiplayer mode at its heart. This is not to say that we don't like single-player – we do, and there's a separate section with the single-player challenges as well as the mode where you can create any custom single-player session that you like. However, the architecture of the game is built in a way that allows us to continually update the game mechanics and AI logic, which for this reason is processed entirely on the server side. Therefore whether you play Gremlins, Inc. in a single-player mode or in a multiplayer mode, your game client needs to be connected to Steam, and game's server, at all times. If you are looking specifically for a game that can be played offline, then Gremlins, Inc. in the current state is not the right product for you. An offline-only version of the game is currently in development for release later in 2016.

AMSTERDAM AND SINGAPORE SERVERS

The game currently supports 2 separate servers: Amsterdam and Singapore. Players are able to check their ping value for each of these servers, and play on the server that is the most convenient. Each server has its own player ladder, statistics and player profiles. Most players choose Amsterdam, since ping to Amsterdam from anywhere in the world rarely exceeds 300. However, as we saw more and more players from the Asian region join the game, especially from China, we added the server in Singapore in order to be able to offer faster connection specifically to these players. We hope that this works well for every player, as good player experience is our top priority. We will continue to monitor the quality of our server/client connection in order to adapt the servers to the changing requirements and we thank you for your patience.