3D Files & Playtest Update
over 2 years ago – Tue, May 03, 2022 at 12:13:45 AM

Hey everyone,

It’s time for our monthly update from Thyrea! April has really flown by here as we are getting through the very intense final steps of the development. Today’s update is a very quick one and it focuses on 3D models and playtest, which have been a big part of the process in the last few weeks!

3D Files Update

The optimization of the models is proceeding well with prompt response from the factory. To speed things up we are working on multiple batches with most of the models being approved after several iterations and ready for the physical print step.

Behind the Scenes

Here below are a few images from which you can have a sneak peek of the detail level we are working on. During the back-and-forth with the factory we are enhancing textures, adjusting positions and fine-tuning thickness on tiny areas. This is a major factor for the quality of the final product.

We cannot wait to share a preview of the physical minis in next updates :)

Playtest Progress

Design and playtest are moving at full steam as well. We have been working so hard to fine-tune the challenge level, to make each monster different and to give each hunter a unique characterization. As we approach the end of the process it’s incredibly exciting to see the game in its final form.

 During these weeks we are rotating the monsters testing them against different combination of hunters with a special focus on Heleren and Karah. A few cards have been reworked in the last week and here below is an example of two Mastery cards that have been stressed in the last sessions.

Master of Elusion gives a unique "control" option to Karah in the form of bypassing the monster reactions through the Stealth ability. This is a very effective Mastery against those monsters that have reactions triggering in response to the player’s action cards.

While Heleren is great as a damage dealer, this Mastery is an interesting addition that offers the opportunity to play the character to support the team. The Mastery really guides the strategy of your build and this makes Heleren more versatile in terms of co-op play and team tactics.

What’s next?

Once the playtest is finalized, the next step will include professional proofreading of all texts and print files preparation. In the meantime, mould production will start as soon as the physical samples from the factory are approved. Unfortunately, we accumulated a little delay in the last months as these steps are critical for the quality of the product. We are doing our best to keep everything at the highest pace, we will continue to keep you updated along the way and we will communicate a precise variation of the project timeline as soon as we get through this crucial step of the process.

That’s all for today, we will be back with more news soon from Thyrea!

Until next, stay safe everyone.

Reggie Games

Heleren & Karah + A Special Collaboration!
almost 3 years ago – Fri, Apr 01, 2022 at 12:57:05 AM

Hey Hunters!

Today it's time to delve a little bit more into the design of the two characters in the Chronicles of Mount Havoc expansion. As you know from our previous updates, we decided to spend much time during the development on characterizing the hunters to give them a unique and distinct feel. Heleren and Karah are no exception and while working on their mechanics we focused on creating something really new and different from the characters in the base game. Ready for a sneak peek? ;)

But that's not all: today we are also excited to reveal a collaboration we recently started for this project and that we are very happy to announce :)

There is a lot to say, so, let's go!

Characters Update

Background Notes

Heleren is a character of exceptional intellectual talents and creativity. She was turned away from engineering studies in Alborea because her inventions and designs were often considered to be dangerous. Then, a member of the Central Command who had noticed her talents selected her to be assigned to the Hunter squads where she also received combat training. In this new role, Heleren gave vent to her inventiveness by creating equipment and designs for weapons that became useful for hunting and exploration. The invention she is most proud of is the gunbow she uses in combat that utilizes a leaf spring mechanism and can shoot bullets at impressive speed.

Gameplay Overview

We imagine Heleren alternating shots and recharges with her powerful weapon. To translate this in terms of gameplay, Heleren design has been centered around a special resource management mechanism: not only she has to handle cards and stamina like any other character, but she also has to manage a bullet economy!

New Mechanics: Bullet Track

To make her weapon really special, we introduced a dedicated resource: the bullet. Heleren starts the game with 3 bullets and she uses them during combat in order to boost her actions, activate abilities and optimizing her damage output. 

The bullets are directly tracked on the character sheet (see the special Bullet Track in the image above) and can be recovered through reload actions. As you can see from the action cards below, the reload keyword comes with a number that indicates the bullets you recover through that action. Balancing the amount of reload cards in your deck is a key element in the character's deck construction strategy.

Here below you can see a mastery card, Crosshair, that shows a clear example of a tough choice for the player, having the possibility to draw 1 or reload 1 at the start of their turn.

The idea behind the development of this character was to create a new direction in the design space to generate branching situation in which the player is challenged to choose between a type of resource or another.

At the same time, the possibility to choose opens to a more potential versatility during the game.

Speaking of versatility, bullets can be converted in multiple different resources or effects: from additional damage to draw effects (for you or your allies) or even struggle removal. However, the limited number of bullets available poses a real challenge that characterizes Heleren's game.

Despite she has a general offensive approach, Heleren can also be built to have a more defense or even control oriented playstyle. Here below you can see Mothergun, that allows you to spend bullets in order to cancel damage, but also cards like Not This Time!  and Cover Fire that are suitable for a control strategy.

Finally, another interesting synergy that helps identifying Heleren's style is the one that focuses on powering up your weapon damage. You can see an example with a Ignis deck where cards like Line of Fire and Infallible Aim, together with the weapon ability, allow for a very powerful damage boost.

At its core, the concept of Heleren is all about the power of its weapon and the importance of managing the resources that come with it.

Background Notes

Karah belonged to a special order of hunters, the Human Jaws, established during the first years after the landing on Thyrea when humans had to defend themselves from the monsters that inhabited the island. From one generation to another, these hunters were chosen and tempered by a very hard training. In the tradition of Alborea they have always been considered the most skilled hunters, but also the most ruthless and dangerous. The philosophy of the order was: "To kill a monster you must become a monster yourself".
Karah is the last survivor of the order after the recent clash at Mount Havoc. She is always silent and in search of a personal vengeance. 

Gameplay Overview

From a gameplay perspective Karah's playstyle represents her explosive aggressiveness as well as her exceptional mobility and swiftness. The character has unique movement abilities and focuses on playing long card sequences and lining up multiple attacks in a single turn.  

New Mechanics: Battle Dance

The absolute highlight of the character is her Battle Dance ability which allows her to deal extra damage to the monster if she manage to put together a series of attacks and manoeuvres in her sequence.

The Battle Dance track in her character sheet shows the amount of damage you deal (which scales with your weapon level) corresponding to the length of your sequence. In facts, you unlock bonus damage that increase as you play more cards in your sequence.

For example, let's say you are at level 1, if you play a sequence of two offensive cards, you deal 2 extra damage, as it reads on the character sheet. Then, if you go on and manage to get to 4 offensive cards in a row, you deal other 4 damage! Basically the Battle Dance mechanics work as a reward for stretching your sequence and lining up multiple hits in the same turn. Do you preserve your attack card for the next round, hoping to build a longer sequence, or do you go for that damage now?

But the Battle Dance poses a question: how can you constantly build such a long sequence?

Here comes the Chain ability: a card with the keyword Chain [Color] can be played for free (no stamina cost) if it is played after a card of that matches [Color]. Yes, this allows for some satisfying chaining combos :) but at the same time, remember that Karah's attack cards generally do not benefit from significant damage bonus like other characters' cards do. She focuses on small damage at a high rate!

Last but not least, Karah's concept is also characterized by her exceptional mobility. That's why we introduced overrun as another signature ability for this character.

Basically, when you overrun the monster you directly move into the opposite sector on the board. Thematically you are moving through the monster thanks to acrobatic skills; from a gameplay perspective this can be very useful to remove the threatened condition and have a great tactical control over the board and the monster's exposed fronts. 

Of course, there are builds that focus on overrun to trigger effects and combos. Into the Jaws is a great example, especially if coupled with Voltrage to generate a very interesting synergy. 

Finally, let's have a look at some other interesting weapons from the Dual Blade armory. Can you see anything that might interest you? ;)

Collaboration with KOA

We are excited to announce our collaboration with Michael King, "The King Of Average" - you certainly already know his Youtube channel ;) - who is helping our team with 3D files modifications with the goal to reach the best miniature quality for this project.

We have been in touch with Michael since our Kickstarter campaign and in multiple occasions we had the opportunity to get in contact with his expertise as he gave us valuable suggestions and feedback like he did for many other publishers and creators in the last years.  

We have great ambitions for this game and we are doing everything with the aim to deliver an amazing product. KOA's consultancy is a precious added value and we are happy to reveal the game will have his "Minis Consulted" badge :)

We think it is important to underline that our collaboration with KOA is completely dedicated and limited to the quality of the miniatures and it will not affect his review/opinion about the game. In case you wanted to know more about KOA's consultancy, he recently published a video on his channel in which he explains the process and the thoughts that brought him to the decision of providing this kind of service to creators (link to his video here!)

But, what are we doing exactly?

During this step of the process we are working closely with the factory on the 3D files to optimize each sculpt in view of the tooling creation and the injection process. This is crucial because some models need slight modifications in order to be printed correctly and avoid issues in the final minis (adjust the pose, reinforce some thin parts, enhance details that could be lost during the injection etc.).

The skills of the manufacturer is essential here - and that's why we took all the necessary time to find the right partner for this project -  but it is also important for the creator to maintain the control over the art direction of the models to make sure that the final result is faithful to the original design and represents the quality we need for the game. As you might expect, multiple rounds of analysis and modifications are required to obtain the best result. This month we have been right in the middle of this process and we spent much time reviewing the modified files, talking with the factory and discussing ideas and solutions to optimize each model. 

We are very satisfied with the process so far and we cannot wait to share with all of you soon the images of the final sculpts ;) 

What's Next?

While the back and forth with the factory continues on the manufacturing front, we are approaching April with the game development and playtest entering its final stage. However, there is still a significant amount of work to be done as we are still refining some cards and testing multiple runs of the entire campaign at different player counts. These final stages are incredibly exciting for us, but at the same time they require the highest level of attention and intensity to fully achieve all our design goals.

Speaking of the other development fronts, the writing process for the campaign scenarios has been stretched a little bit and in the next few weeks we will also focus on some new pieces of art that will enrich the campaign book.

There will be a lot to talk about and share with you in the next few months: miniatures details, narrative content preview, campaign design and lore.

Expect more news from Thyrea coming soon in April!

Until next, stay safe everyone.

Reggie Games

The Expansions - Element Overview
almost 3 years ago – Tue, Mar 01, 2022 at 01:04:40 AM

Hey everyone,

These days, while preparing this update, we have been following the events that are going on in Ukraine. Our community is not about any kind of geopolitical discussions, of course, but as humans, before anything else, today we feel the urgency to dedicate a thought to our backers from Ukraine and in general to all people that are currently facing the conflict. We feel involved and concerned about the situation; we hope hostilities will cease and peace and diplomacy will prevail soon.

As we usually do through our monthly updates, we are now going to talk about the work-in-progress for the project dedicating a few moments to our passion, which is the reason why we are all here together.

Feather, Frost and Venom - Gameplay Overview

We are happy to say that, thanks to the work in the last month, the playtest of all the monsters in the expansions is already almost complete and we are entering now the final steps of the testing process. We are very satisfied with the mechanics and the challenge the bosses provide. Each monster is unique and comes with its own strategy to win the game; however, just like in the core set, bosses of the same element share similar characteristics and mechanics.

Today we want to talk a little bit about the gameplay features of those elements to give you an insight of what you will encounter at the table ;)

Feather monsters have been designed with two concepts in mind: swiftness and "color" combo.

Pazis and Nagarjas are both fast and very reactive: these monsters have a significant amount of reactions that trigger in between the player's sequence and they both require a lot of movement on the board as well as a well defined control strategy by the hunters. Time is a factor in these encounters (will you hunt them down before they flee?) as well as timing to disrupt their quick actions.

While the swiftness is a very realistic and thematic feature, the "color" combo idea is something we worked on as an abstract tribute to the multicoloured nature of this element. In practice we wanted these monsters to interact with the cards color and even trigger specific combos based on the color of the Behaviour cards' reaction in play. 

Do you want your hunter to implement these features in their build? Here below you can see how the ideas of swiftness and color combo are represented in the Feather equipment cards.

The frozen lands in the north of Thyrea are an extremely hostile environment.

The Frost element is characterized by the "exile" mechanics: basically the idea is that the monsters freeze your cards! When a card is exiled it is put outside of the game in an exiled pile. This not only shortens your deck (making you more vulnerable to deck-cycle damage) but it also limits your possibilities because it may happen that the monster exiles that specific card you need ;) 

Of course, to make the mechanics more interesting, players have the opportunity to "warm up" through specific actions (that cost resources and require tough decisions) that allow to regain the exiled cards during the game.

The idea of shortening your deck is also present in the Fire category (through the "burn" dynamics). From a thematic perspective, it is interesting to have the system giving similar gameplay effects to "burning" and "freezing" wounds.

How all of this can be implemented in the Frost equipment cards? You can have a sneak peak from the images below.

We designed the frost weapons with the idea to represent a sort of slowdown effect/deceleration that players may inflict to the monster. The Slow condition (that make use of a dedicated "slowed" token) exactly reflects that idea: while a monster is slowed, it gains 1 less Struggle each round. Also, by inflicting Slow condition you can remove any acceleration token on the monster!

The Venom element works in the opposite way with respect to Frost: instead of shortening your deck it weakens it by adding Poison cards (a special type of Wound card) that makes your deck less efficient. Both monsters play with those cards to trigger effects based on the number of Poison cards you have in your deck/discard pile. The idea is that poison slowly kills you accumulating potential damage in your deck and at the same time it floods your hand with Poison cards.

The other concept that characterizes the Venom element is the threat represented by the environment. These forsaken, marshy lands constitute one of the most hostile environment in Thyrea. From the gameplay perspective, the Swamp terrain is unique to this category and sets a high challenge for the hunters. In facts, while you are in a sector with a Swamp terrain, the cost of the defensive cards in your hand is increased by 1. This contributes to disrupt your ability to control your deck/hand and also synergize very well with the flood effect of the Poison cards.

Also, always speaking of special terrains, did we tell you that Hydar can control thorned plants that may spawn during the combat? ;)

Here above you can see how the Venom equipments focus on the discard pile and, like in the case of the Armor and Helm, help controlling your hand/deck. 

What's next?

Playtest & Development - In March we will continue to focus on development and playtest, putting finishing touches on the monsters, dedicating dozens of sessions to the final balance of the characters and running through the entire campaign multiple times.

Narrative Design - In the meantime, the campaign writing is also proceeding in parallel with a slight delay with respect to the estimates. We are putting a large effort in the narrative content and we plan to share more about that in future updates. 

Production - Finally, a quick update on the manufacturing process as well. Our team is still working these weeks on the 3D files optimization with the factory: this is a crucial part of the process and it requires a lot of dedication to reach the highest level of details for the final models. We will talk in detail about this process and miniature production in one of the next updates.

That's all for our monthly news. We hope you enjoyed today's gameplay overview and we will be back soon with another update in March!

Until next, stay safe everyone

Reggie Games

Core Game Elements - Gameplay Overview
almost 3 years ago – Fri, Jan 28, 2022 at 08:33:48 PM

Hey Hunters, 

We hope you had a wonderful start of 2022!

The new year has come to the lands of Thyrea, marked by narrative design work and preparation for exciting challenges. In the last month we made significant advancements in design and development of both gameplay and lore. The scenario writing process has begun and we plan to dedicate a future update to the narrative design and the game lore.

In the meantime, today we want to talk about gameplay. The playtest sessions are proceeding well and all monsters in the core game have successfully gone through three steps of testing, at all difficulty levels and player counts. So, in this 1st update of 2022 we want to share with you an overview of the core monsters' mechanics. We divide them by their element type and we also show the connection between the monsters and their related craftable equipment. 

The monsters belonging to the Fire element are aggressive and control-oriented. These monsters really ignite by suffering damage and receiving attacks; they use Fire terrains to control the board and the player's sequence: while Vyraxen breathes fire, Kharja controls the surrounding volcanic environment. They adopt a strategy that burns the players' deck: the burn strategy focuses on discarding cards from the player's deck dealing damage when they empty their deck and removing important cards from the player's available options.

These features are also reflected in the craftable Fire equipments. This gear is centered around the idea of discarding cards, burning your deck to gain bonuses, or even suffering damage to trigger powerups and special effects.

The Coral monsters are designed to synergize with the Water terrains. The gameplay effect of these terrains is to put a limit on the number of cards a player can have in their sequence. The strategy adopted by these monsters is based on the idea of slowing down the players while shortening the duration of the game. In facts, both Korowon and Orouxen can raise the water level on the board and advance the round track putting a count-down on the game.

Another important feature of the Coral element is health regeneration. According to a myth from an ancient culture in Thyrea, the primordial fire destroyed the ancient world and then heated the water from which life started again. In gameplay terms, Korowon and Orouxen are able to regenerate and remove all damage they sustain based on specific gameplay patterns. The same applies to Coral equipment: if the fire element burns your health, the coral one regenerates it.

The main feature of Horn monsters is their ability to harden their scales and skin to become invulnerable to status effects (like Stun, Confused and more) and ignore any damage that exceed their toughness value. The hardening mechanics have been built around a special track printed on the monster board. The harden track starts at zero and increases during the game following rules that are specific to the monster. Once the track reaches level 3, the monster becomes hardened ; players may have the opportunity to decrease the track by completing objectives and learning specific gameplay patterns.

The equipment related to the Horn element is designed around the concept of empowering the Hunter manipulating their Stamina economy.  

From the lore of Thyrea, Crystal monsters have a mysterious origin that players have the opportunity to discover during the campaign. The crystals are connected to an ancient magic and they can induce visions of past and future. For this reason, monsters related to the Crystal element use mechanics that force players to reveal cards from the top of their deck and use them to trigger attacks and many other different effects.

Also, another mechanical trait of this monster category is the fact that they make use of card colors to set up synergies and trigger combos. This, together with the reveal effects, is also present on the Crystal equipment's ability texts.

The monsters belonging to the Thunder element both focus on controlling the players' hand through discard and forced recycle effects. To reflect the unpredictability of storms and thunders that are thematically associated to these monsters, the Behaviour effects include a bit more randomness in the form of discarding random cards from hand or picking random targets for the attacks.

Thematically, both Ozew and Jekoros channel electricity and unleash the power of a storm: mechanically the monsters make use of special Charge counters to indicate they are accumulating electric charge until they are able to unleash their most powerful attack. Each monster follows its own pattern to accumulate charge and players will have to learn how to prevent the process and how to avoid being thunderstruck! 

The Electro equipment design is based on similar principles and reflects the monsters' control effects, providing for example the Stun ability, as well as the process of accumulating counters to unleash their full power.

The main feature of monsters belonging to the Metal category is certainly their armoured skin. From the design perspective we differentiated this feature from the Horn monsters' harden track by adding damage reduction mechanics, called Shield (basically, monsters reduce any kind of damage they take based on their level). Also, Metal monsters have the ability to blank the players' action cards nullifying their ability text. These features really make them "tank monsters", which is something that hunters will have to work around when preparing their builds against these creatures. 

Also, both Hurom and Tarragua are monsters that have special Attrition synergies. As a consequence, the related Metal equipment similarly focuses on Attrition providing interesting deckbuilding options for the players.

All that being said, within the same element, each monster has its own distinctive behaviour and playstyle. There are many details and aspects that differentiate the monsters: from the Reaction icons that determine the responsiveness and the rapidity, to the Objective card mechanics and the use of unique terrains or special components like "Minion cards", special Wound cards and customized Attrition deck. 

For future updates content, which monster would you like us to deepen, going into more gameplay details? Also, which monster's narrative background would you like to know more about? :)

What's next?

February will be an intense month dedicated to the playtest of the expansions' content as well as the progress in the campaign writing and design. Also, a lot of work involves the finalization of 3D miniatures files, which is a crucial part of the production. We are currently working on the file optimization with the factory in view of the mould creation and we cannot wait to show you the result as we go further through the process. 

For now, that's all from Thyrea, we will be back soon for the next update! ;)

Stay safe everyone,

Reggie Games

Whishes from Thyrea + Xmas Giveaway!
about 3 years ago – Sat, Dec 25, 2021 at 04:47:14 AM

Hey Hunters,

Christmas has come to the lands of Thyrea! 

Welcome to this very quick update to celebrate the festive season and say goodbye to this incredible year :)

 Xmas Giveaway 

Let's start from a surprise! On the occasion of Christmas we decided to make a little yet exciting giveaway :)

We will randomly drawning 3 winners among all of the participants who will receive an exclusive prototype miniature of the Korowon! Yes, that giant crab-like monster haunting the beaches of Thyrea ;)

All you have to do to participate to the giveaway is simply "like" this Kickstarter update!

Please, note that the giveaway ends on December 29 and we will announce the winners with an official comment from RG below this update!

The Korowon is one of the most beatiful designs in the game and its miniature really brings out the details and the passion our artists have put into the concept.

The model we are giving away is a resin prototype version and it is about 95% representative of the final product quality. 

Hope you will enjoy this little fun giveaway and, in case the winner wanted to paint this monstrous beast, we will be more than happy to take a look at their work and show it to the whole community :)

 Goodbye 2021

Here we are: the end of 2021. For us, here at Reggie Games, this year has been memorable, full of inspiration, growth opportunities and new challenges. It seems like only yesterday when we were in the middle of the pre-campaign for Primal and our adventure was about to start.

Now, looking ahead through 2022, our amazing journey to Thyrea in the next year will be intense and full of great things from the start! We are extremely excited to bring you with us :)

All that being said, on a larger scale, 2021 has also been a tough year as we all continue our struggle against the pandemic. However, at the same time, it gave people hope to defeat this "monster" and the strength to restart and stay together again.

Speaking of staying together, Christmas is a sweet opportunity to slow down a bit, restore energies and spend valuable time with your family. 

We wish you and your loved ones the best for this festive season and we hope the new year will bring you peace, health, joy and... game nights ;)

Have a great time and prepare for all the amazing things to come!

Take care everyone,

Reggie Games