The Great Battle of Crepusculum and Small Update

G’day again everyone!

I thought it was time to do another post over here. With things very busy behind the scenes, I thought I could share the latest information with everyone as well as showing off some art of the third game (formally Race to Dusk, now called The Great Battle of Crepusculum).

SMALL UPDATE:
First of all, I’ll pass on where the company is at right now.
Dawn continues to be partitioned to make it easier to get into, with some of the more advanced scenarios seeing some minor streamlining and the Luftle Tribe getting a make over to fit more in line with the intention of the game. The publishing company was interested in seeing the second game in the series DUSK – Rise of the Occulites II as well and so a few months ago a prototype of the game was sent off for them to check out.

There was some decisions to be made about how to approach the possible releases of The Rise of the Occulites Saga, one of which was which game to launch with? The first or the second? Now before any panics I want to explain this in more depth. First of all, I think it is really exciting and reassuring that the company is looking at the games as “The Rise of the Occulites Saga” which it is, rather than just one off games. Secondly, I too was a bit nervous about rearranging the order of releases, but after a bit of thought, this possibility makes sense. The first game DAWN, will be more likely on the more expensive side of boardgames, with 32mm scale figures, a huge board, terrain overlays, player boards, cards, dice etc… it will certainly add up. It is also just as much miniatures game as it is boardgame. Launching the Rise of the Occulites with an expensive and perhaps not as much of a “traditional” boardgame, might start the Saga off on the wrong foot. We want people to try out the games so they can fall in love with the setting. To do this, a more accessible first release (in terms of money and gameplay-wise) ‘might’ be needed.

Bear in mind that nothing has been decided, but that this is a possibility. DUSK – Rise of the Occulites II, whilst still having lots of depth and strategy, is much easier to pick up and play for your casual boardgamer. DAWN – Rise of the Occulites I is being structured so that it too is easily accessibly, but it contains lots of layers of depth and has the ability to play out campaigns, so is more suitable for more regular boardgamers/miniature gamers or fans of the Occulites series.

One of the important bits of feedback on DUSK I have received from playtesters, was that it wasn’t that easy to identify each different character just from their pictures. Especially if you were not always playing the same Tribe. So I have revamped the Block Sticker Templates to help make this clear.

If you are interested in seeing these published or love the setting/ideas, please spread the word and consider posting about it on BGG, Facebook or your blog (DAWN currently has an entry in BGG, but DUSK doesn’t yet – feel free to add it if you like).

THE GREAT BATTLE OF CREPUSCULUM – RISE OF THE OCCULITES III

So while I restructure DAWN and wait for a decision on DUSK, I began more playtesting and work on what was “Race to Dusk”. The game was good fun, but even though it had a nice balance of depth and accessibility, it felt a little dry. So I have worked hard to transform the game into something much more interesting to play.

To help this happen in card game form, I chose to set the game further down the timeline, so that it takes place after DUSK – Rise of the Occulites II. This makes it the third game in the series and as such, will feature all the current known tribes as playable factions – Palaudis, Hydris, Floris, Ignis, Nimbus, Silicus and Tundris (with creatures and Luftles being Neutral cards). THE GREAT BATTLE OF CREPUSCULUM will be a stand alone game (with the option for expansions further down the line) and moves away from the Natural Selection Deck concept (don’t worry, it will be back for TIME – RISE OF THE OCCULITES IV).

The idea behind the game is that as Tribal Colonies spread across the lands, the concept of diplomacy and allies begins to form. Fluid factions begin to rise across Crepusculum as the world teeters on the brink of war. You are an influential member of your Tribe. Your job is to recruit the biggest and most effective army in the land. One that will rival your enemy’s and through your Tribe’s might, will ensure that peace is kept… for a while longer at least.

The game introduces the concept of the “Natural Selection Web” which displays groups of Occulites, Creatures, Learned Abilities and Terrain that can be used to help you succeed in the building of your army. All the different cards will have their own artwork, capturing the beautiful, but dangerous world of Crepusculum.
In addition to the statistics that all cards in the game have, cards can also have:
Innate Abilities – Abilities that are always active
Instinct Abilities – Abilities that can be used whenever they are triggered, but must be “committed” to use.
Learned Abilities – Abilities that are only used in the Nominate phase and must be “committed” to use. These are some of the most powerful abilities in the game.

The game follows six simple phases each turn, with all players resolving their actions at the same time in four of them, to help keep downtime to a minimum.
D eal cards to the Natural Selection Web and roll dice.
A llocate dice to cards.
R esolve winning bids for each card and refresh.
W ar. Total up your Tribe’s strength.
I nvest Tribal Tokens to play cards from your hand.
N ominate Learned Abilities to use in Turn Order.

As you can imagine, with 7 Tribes, as well as Creatures, Luftles, Terrain and Learned Abilities to illustrate, this one could take awhile, but I will be doing up an artwork-less playtesters kit for it in the near future if you like the series, love card games and are interested in helping out.

As usual, thanks for the continued support and if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. 🙂 We would love to hear your thoughts and feedback.

Cheers,
Ben.

August 26, 2012 | Categories: Dawn, Dusk, Game Design, Game Pieces, Race to Dusk, Sketches, The Great Battle of Crepusculum | Leave a comment