Guild Ball: Exklusives Interview

Kurz vor dem Start des Guild Ball Kickstarters haben wir ein Interview mit Mat Hart geführt, um Euch ein paar exklusive Vorabinformationen zu präsentieren.

1.) There are numerous fantasy- or sci-fi-sports-games out there at the moment, many of them funded via Kickstarter. What makes Guildball special?

You’re right, it does seem to be a popular genre right now. Guild Ball is special in this genre because of a number of reasons, the most noticeable of all being that it is played on a wargames tabletop instead of a board.

This allows the player far greater fidelity in movement and allows us as game designers to introduce greater levels of positioning play and factor in things like terrain into the player’s decision making process.

Players will be able to use their existing terrain to recreate the wide variety of areas across the Empire of Free Cities…hopefully someway down the line we will introduce Guild Ball specific terrain pieces. We have designed the play interaction with terrain to feature quite heavily as part of the game.

Further to this, we have approached the design of Guild Ball from the ground up. We set ourselves clear design goals that challenge the traditional design conventions you might find in other games. We’ve made Guild Ball accessible to play, fast, fluid and fun, all without sacrificing the depth and complexity needed to ensure longevity.

Visually, we have focussed on creating a vivid world setting with believable characters and will be supporting this with fresh modern character driven fluff. Much like a top quality HBO TV series.

Lastly, Guild Ball is designed to be a top quality product, we have set ourselves very high standards and believe that Guild Ball delivers in every area. We don’t cut corners…not only in the actual product but also in the way we interact with our community. This is a shared community experience and we plan to have a market leading reputation for customer service.

2.) Many tabletop sports-games are somehow based on a real world sport (American Football). Is that true for Guildball as well? Which sport would that be?

Guild Ball differs again from the norm, it’s based on mediaeval football which was an ancient precursor to modern football/soccer. The ball is round and kicked!

3.) Can you give us a short look into the rules? What will the arena look like size wise, will there be a grid (hex or square), how many players will be on the field, …

The core game is played 5v5 on a 3×3 tabletop…additionally each team is allowed to bring a mascot who also has an on-field role to play.

The game is turn based with asynchronous activations of individual models…the order of which is determined through an initiative roll each turn.

Models each bring a certain amount of ‘Influence’ to the field and this is a limited resource players allocate across their teams in order to allow movement and actions. This is essentially a mixture of a risk/turn management exercise but also a game of bluff and counter bluff as the players allocate for their turn.

Models, when activated, then use their allocated Influence to run, kick and punch their way to scoring more goals than their opponent. Further to this, there are a number of secret agendas that affect the overall outcome of the game.

4.) Will Guildball be a game for 2 players, or are multiplayer matches possible?

Guild Ball is designed to be 2-player but there is no reason it can’t scale into multiplayer. In fact this is a game mode on our ‘future to do’ list should we be fortunate enough to fund the game at Kickstarter and have the opportunity to grow the game.

5.) At the moment you have 4 guilds planned and collected loads of ideas for other guilds on your Facebook page. Will we be see some of those as stretch goals?

Absolutely! Our first stretch goals focus on providing additional value to our supporters. Beyond these levels, if we are lucky enough to hit them, we will absolutely look to add more Guilds to the game and be available for people to buy as add-ons.

6.) Can you give us a rough summary of the components that will be found in the core game?

The core game for 2 players is simple; 2x Guild Ball Launch Teams of your choice (comprising 12 metal models. The pack also includes 2 metal balls and 2x 50mm resin goal/markers); 12 Guild Ball resin bases; a copy of the digital PDF rulebook; and full participation in the post-Kickstarter Field Test.

Further to this, you will receive any unlocked Stretch Goals that are applicable. We’ve managed to get FREE P&P to the UK and super cost effective shipping to the Rest of the World.

7.) The Kickstarter is about to launch pretty soon, do you already have plans for the est. delivery?

We’re aiming for this to be delivered before the end of this year. Secretly, we’re aiming for this to be early Winter but need to be sure we have allowed ourselves some wriggle room should we run into any hitches or snags. We would rather deliver early and delight, than break a promise to you all.

8.) Is a full translation of the rules an option? Maybe as a stretch goal?

We have begun discussions with a few people to ensure we are able to localise this game into English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish.

Until we work out the logistics and costs it’s a bit tricky to commit to whether this is included or a stretch goal, but you know us by now, we will let you know as soon as we do over on our facebook page.

Wir melden uns, sobald der Kickstarter Online ist mit den entsprechenden Informationen. Hier geht es für den Moment zu einer Vorab-Vorschau:

Guild Ball Preview Page

UPDATE:

Der Kickstarter ist jetzt online, eine umfangreichere News folgt um Mitternacht.

Hier geht es zum Kickstarter