Zero Gravity: Kickstarter läuft

Ein der Schwerkraft trotzendes Brettspiel soll mit Zero Gravity von District Games über Kickstarter realisiert werden.

Zero Gravity

An incredible 3D MAGNETIC arena and 80+ MINIATURES. A capture-the-flag game for 2-4 players. Join the most immersive experience ever!

About

Zero Gravity is a 3D MAGNETIC BOARD GAME for 2 players, up to 4, set in a dystopian future. Newton Corporation, the most beloved company that ever existed, gifted the world with the hyper-local gravity engines and, together with them, eternal peace and prosperity. However, to provide an outlet for all the violence innate in humans in such periods of peace and to amuse the crowds, Newton Corporation sponsors a brutal distraction: the Zero Gravity Tournament. In this capture-the-flag game, you control a team of warriors whose life is devoted to entertaining the masses. Use the 3D arena to overthrow your enemies and please the public, score Cheers to win the match!

Watch the gameplay 360-videos in the section“FULL GAMEPLAY & RULES“.

   

  

  

In Zero Gravity, you control a team of 14 warriors in a spectacular capture-the-flag match. To win a game you need to score the agreed number of Cheers before the other players.

RULES

Before you start the game:

• Setup phase (once per game): choose your starting area and place your first Spawning Point, your Flag and your team’s Commander; place the bomb at the center of the bottom side of the arena and set the target amount of Cheers needed to win the game.

After you start the game, the game is based on Rounds, each one made of four phases:

• Restock phase: add new N-coins to your stock (2 + bonus earned during the game) and draw 2 Sponsor Cards;
• Trooper phase: generate 1 new Trooper close to each Spawning Point and perform an action with each one of your Troopers at no cost (Move/Attack, Run);
• Champion phase: use your N-coins to generate new Champions and perform actions with them (Move/Attack, Run, Jump, Power Jump or Drop) in order to score Cheers;
• Scenario phase: roll 2 dice to randomly place new Crates and/or Beasts into the arena, then move them and use their abilities.

The first player that reaches the target amount of Cheers wins the game!

See the following sections for further details on the teams, game components and rules.

TEAMS OVERVIEW

There are four teams fighting in the Zero Gravity arena: the Nordic Sharks, the Milwaukee Eagles, the Moscow Jackals and the Tokyo Demons. Each Team is composed of four Champions (1x Commander, 1x Sniper, 1x Jumper, 1x Harrier) and 10x Troopers: each player controls a team of fourteen right out of the box. All such miniatures are called Units and Zero Gravity contains 56 of them, all 40mm magnetic miniatures.

Every Team brings its own individual set of movements and attacks, but also unique abilities that set them apart from the others and affect all players‘ strategies.

Fear is meaningless to the Nordic Sharks: the mix of human and shark traits resulted from genetic improvements which also affect their behaviour in battle.

Team Quirk – Hunters: Beasts cannot defend from the attacks of the Nordic Sharks.

Modern Valkyries, the Milwaukee Eagles team shows sculpted bodies and incredibly fast recovery speed. Don’t tease them – they can hunt you down for eternity.

Team Quirk – Healing Spirits: At the beginning of your Turn: you can restore up to two members of the Milwaukee Eagles by +1 Energy.

The Moscow Jackals hunt in packs to herd and capture their elusive prey. If you are looking to outnumber your enemy, this is the right team for you.

Team Quirk – Jackals at the door: At the beginning of your Turn: put in play a Trooper in a cell adjacent to any member of the Moscow Jackals.

The Tokyo Demons are cruel cyborgs and ninjas trained to kill…in spectacular ways.

Team Quirk – Warlords: Every time the Tokyo Demons score Cheer(s), add one extra Cheer.

SPONSOR CARDS

At the beginning of the game, after the Setup, the Restock Phase provides the teams with the necessary resources to continue the battle. Newton Corporation allows sponsors to power-up the teams and each player, following turn order, can draw a Sponsor Card with unique abilities.

Sponsor Cards deck

There are 30 unique Sponsor Cards in the game, which allow Units to perform stronger attacks, grant special abilities, provide additional resources and much more.

Example of Sponsor Cards

HOW TO SPAWN NEW UNITS

The rules set by Newton Corporation, carefully improved year after year, define the Trooper Phase to force the teams to deploy their Troopers before any of their Champions. You can place new Troopers into play and activate all of them for free. This creates a splendid commotion, loved by the crowd, and builds up the Climax of the show: the Champion Phase.

In the Champion Phase you can spawn Champions from your Spawning Points, use Sponsor Cards gained in the Restock Phase and, more importantly, activate the Champions. They can Move/Attack (melee, primary or secondary attack), Run, Jump, Power Jump or Drop (see the „Movement and Attack“ section for further details on the unique mechanics allowed by Zero Gravity arena).

Spawning Point inside a team’s starting area

HOW TO SCORE CHEERS

The objective of each Team is to score the highest possible amount of Cheers or to perform actions that will make this possible in the following Rounds.

You can obtain Cheers in the following cases:

• Bring an enemy Flag from his/her starting area to your starting area on the opposite side of the arena (e.g. from A1 to B1 or viceversa)  – 15 Cheers
• Detonate the Bomb in the Gate – 10 Cheers
• Destroy an enemy Spawning Point with the Bomb – 8 Cheers
• Eliminate an enemy Commander – 5 Cheers
• Eliminate an enemy Harrier, Sniper or Jumper – 3 Cheers
• Eliminate a Beast – 2 Cheers
• Eliminate an enemy Trooper – 1 Cheer
• Bring an enemy Flag from his/her starting area to your starting area on the same side of the arena (e.g. from A1 to A2 or vice versa) – 1 Cheer

Track your Cheers on your Team Sheet

UNIQUE MOVEMENT AND ATTACK MECHANICS

Here follows a summary of the main moves and attacks for all Units and Beasts:

MOVE

Move the Unit in any direction, for a number of cells equal to or lower than its Movement score, as indicated on the Team Sheet.

ATTACK

Melee attacks may be delivered if the Target is adjacent to the Attacker (orange cells in the picture above).

Primary Attacks may be delivered if the Line of Sight is free: anything can obstruct the Line of Sight. It is possible to perform Primary Attacks within the same Surface or on the adjacent corridors (yellow cells in the picture above).

Secondary Attacks may be delivered from the same areas where it is possible to Jump (the Line of Sight is always free). The Target can be in a 3×3 cell area around the corresponding position on the closest surface from their attacking point, as indicated in the illustration above.

JUMP

Only Champions have the ability to Jump from one surface of the board to the corresponding position on the closest surface from their starting point (e.g. G6-G6).

POWER JUMP

Champions have the ability to Power Jump to from one corridor of the board to the diametrically opposed one, on the cell with the same letter from their starting point (e.g. L-L).

DROP

Champions have the ability to Drop from the top surface of the board to the corresponding position on the bottom surface. The landing cell can only be occupied by an Object (Bomb, Mine, Flag, Crate), in which case the appropriate effects can be applied, otherwise the Champions cannot Drop.

Champions can never Drop from within the Team area.

BEASTS

Newton Corporation intervenes in each Tournament to “motivate” the battling Teams. After the Champion Phase, in the Scenario phase, the player with the least amount of Cheers introduces Beasts in play on behalf of the Newton Corporation. The role of the Beasts is to disrupt a players’ strategy, to bring chaos and shatter the Teams’ spirit to entertain the crowds.

There are 30 Beasts (40mm): 10x Minotaur, 10x Minelayer, 10x Replicator.

Minotaur – Hold in captivity after its creation by the Newton Corporation, the Minotaur is a walking disaster: he can hurl in any direction anyone adjacent to him. The only way to escape his violence is simple: never cross his path.

Minelayer – In an attempt to create a regenerative bio-weapon, the Newton Corporation gave life to an uncontrollable and unpredictable being, capable of generating explosive mines from its body. Considering its limitless destructive power, there is no better place for it than the Zero Gravity Tournament!

Replicator – Newton Corporation spent trillions of dollars to develop a faster mitosis, to speed-up the growth of their crops and livestock. The result was unexpected: the cells were reacting only when other Beasts were in the same area, and ended up duplicating only other Beasts. People say that this was the real goal of Newton Corporation, to fuel the never ending needs for the Zero Gravity Tournament…

Minotaur, Replicator and Minelayer Bests

OBJECTS & SETTING ELEMENTS

The Newton Corporation surely doesn’t leave anything unattended: a special Bomb was developed for the Zero Gravity tournament to spice up the show. A teletransport technique was applied to the Flags of each Team, causing them to reappear in the Teams’ Area if dropped outside. Overall, many other Objects and Setting Elements were created by the best scientists of the Newton Corporation to enhance the experience of the Zero Gravity Tournament:

FULL GAMEPLAY & RULES

Here you can find our awesome videos…360 degrees! How else could we show you our three-dimensional board?

For the best viewing experience, turn on your audio and use a recent smartphone. The full Italian version is here.

You can also take a look at the Draft version of the Rule sheet in the link below. Rules may still be amended before the game is released. We are preparing all the content for the printout version (layout, pictures), thus there will be differences in its final version.

Download the DRAFT Rules here.

Check the FAQ to find some other details!

In the year 2130 humankind was saved by the most disruptive technology of the third millennium: the hyper-local gravity engines, capable of bending the universal law of gravity at the will of its creator – the Newton Corporation. The new technology quickly became an essential part of everyday life, tackling overpopulation by exponentially increasing living space and solving famine with vertical cultivations: in a matter of years, Newton Corporation became the most powerful and notorious company in the world.

Despite all the good done by Newton Corporation, there were protests, strikes and even revolts of thousands of people who believed that these technological advancements were dangerous for the human species. The strong reputation of Newton Corporation convinced the world leaders to denounce such acts of violence and defend the many research facilities by the military forces.

Many years passed and with them the protests faded. However, a group of fanatics kept on nourishing their anger and plotted an assault on the headquarters, leading to the murder of the Newton Corporation founder and CEO. The military arrested the culprits who were immediately sentenced to a public execution, to be aired across the planet as a warning against rebellion towards such a global benefactor.

 The execution was followed live by 99% of the world population. This exorbitant share is what pushed Newton Corporation to sponsor a spectacular and bloody event every year. Their goal was twofold: commemorating the punishment inflicted to the rebels and provide a single outlet for violence, so as to experience peace for the future year.

With the blessing of all world leaders and population, Newton Corporation developed new technologies capable of cloning the executed rebels, enhancing their abilities and peculiar traits. Four teams were created and sentenced to battle against each other for eternity, in the name of peace.

From the ashes of those rebels new Champions were created: the Zero Gravity Tournament was born.

Zero Gravity comes with the Tournament map. In this 3D space, the players have few obstacles and can concentrate on obliterating each other in a marvellous feast of guns and explosions.

 MENTIONS FROM THE WEB

  

„Miniatures Sports Hit The Next Level With Zero Gravity Kickstarter.“ – Beasts of War

„This stunning game innovates to the point where players can enjoy an amazing experience.“ – Reviews Featured

„Taking board games to a whole different level, District games has developed a game set that defies the laws of gravity and fun.“  – Gears ’n‘ Gadgets

„Gravity. It’s a universal law. Objects with mass attract one-another. But what if you could turn off gravity?“ – Tabletop Gaming News

„Each miniature has a metal strip in the base and the board contains a hidden magnetic layer: you can imagine what happens next!“ – Geeks are Sexy

We will be charging shipping upon conclusion of the campaign, based on the actual costs incurred to ship. We will be using a pledge manager platform to handle this. If you are an experienced backer, you’ll know that we are doing this to be fair since shipping costs vary greatly depending on your location. We will then use a fulfilment company to bring the orders to your doorstep, using the most appropriate warehouse to lower the costs and respect the environment. You can find below a list of rough estimates for shipping a standard game package (5kg volumetric weight). Although costs may rise based on weight increases from unlocked stretch goals, we promise we’ll do our best to keep them down.

We don’t promise short and impossible deadlines: we will fulfil the campaign in the time that it takes to do a perfect job and you will receive your game 6 months after the end of the campaign. The table below gives you a general idea of the schedule once the campaign ends. Keep in mind these are just estimates, and the timeline may vary.

Be aware that all pledges that are confirmed after the pledge manager deadline will be shipped at a later date. We also cannot ship to PO Boxes domestically or internationally (due to the size of each package there is too great a risk of the package being bounced back to us). We truly hope you will enjoy our game!

RETAILERS

Zero Gravity will not be available through normal distribution channels after the campaign ends.

If you are a retailer and are interested in receiving Zero Gravity including all the unlocked Stretch Goals, you can order multiple copies of the game during the campaign at a discounted retailer price.

Contact us at info@districtgames.it with a proof of your retailer status (VAT number, Tax ID, etc.) to receive information on discounted prices and  retailer pledge process.

Risks and challenges

This is our 2nd Kickstarter. We know that delays may principally occur because of:
– Production delays
– Shipping delays
– Customs delays
We have estimated the delivery at the best of our ability and we left some margin of error but keep in mind this is only an estimate. Also, due to the logistics of international shipping, backers in different regions of the world will receive their rewards sooner than others.
As usual, we are happy to refund pledges if for some totally unforeseen reason the game can’t be delivered at all or we reach a mutual agreement with you before production starts.

REFUND POLICY
All pledges can be refunded up to the completion of the Pledge Manager, no questions asked. We can refund you within 14 days of the campaign’s end, fees included. If the refund is requested 14 days after the end of the campaign, 10% will be deducted from the amount (corresponding to the charges incurred by Kickstarter and Stripe, since we will not be refunded at that point), and the refund will have to be done via PayPal instead of the Credit Card you used on Stripe.
This project is being funded in EUR and any refunds processed will be in EUR for the exact amount received in EUR (exchange rate of the last day of the campaign) excluding any applicable fees depending on the time of the refund being processed.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS
By pledging to this project, you acknowledge that the final look, materials and content of the game are subject to change and may differ substantially from what is presented while the Kickstarter project was active – although we will do our best to keep it as is.
If you do not confirm to us your pledge after the notifications, you agree that we have fulfilled our obligations to you in full for the donation received. If you confirm your pledge you agree that our responsibility to you is to ship your order to the address you provided, that title and risk passes to you upon delivery to a common carrier for such shipment, and you are responsible for import duties or any other duties that may be payable to the relevant tax authorities, providing correct address information and ensuring this address is deliverable by normal methods. We regret that we are unable to ship to PO Boxes in most countries. If you cannot accept these conditions, we advise that you do not back this project but share with your friends instead!

Learn about accountability on Kickstarter

Questions about this project? Check out the FAQ

Die Hälfte des Zieles von 64.000,00 USD erreicht und es bleiben noch 13 Tage bis zum Ende der Kampagne.

Quelle: Zero Gravity auf Kickstarter