Hi everyone,
long time no see; I've been working nonstop on Zodiak and I'd be lying if I said there weren't bumps along the way but I think we are finally starting to get our stuff together. There are a lot of things I've learned about the board game development process that I'd like to share with you guys but I'll save it for a journal entry later in the week.
The following is a very simplified explanation about Zodiak. If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to me on here or through email. Personal: Danny.F.Lanza@gmail.com Development Team: ZodiakTCG@Gmail.com
What Is Zodiak?
Zodiak at its core is a strategy game. It combines the play style of chess with the uncertainty of a trading card game.
In Zodiak players will be given the chance to build their teams and enchantment decks, assign classes and Zodiak signs to their Units, as well as create their own maps to play on. This game is unlike any other because no 2 players will play the same even with the same cards or Units. Players get to truly fit the game to their style instead of vise-versa.
Setting Up:
At the start of the game players puts their mats together creating a full “Map”. The Map is the area of which the game will be played on. Any Unit or Enchantment card on the Map is considered Active and in play, while the opposite is true for game pieces outside the map.
Once the Map is setup, each player places their Enchantment deck in the appropriate locations and assigns their Units a class and Zodiak sign. These will depict how the Units move, attack, their overall importance, and special ability. There are currently 4 classes and 12 Zodiak signs to choose from…
Classes
Warrior: Can move and attack horizontally and vertically
Monk: Can move and attack diagonally
Engineer: Can attack horizontally or vertically but travels in an “L” shape pattern
Hero: Can move and attack in any direction. If your Hero is destroyed you lose the game. You can only have 1 Hero.
Zodiak Signs
Ares, Capricorn, Aquarius, Sagittarius, Taurus, Virgo, Cancer, Pisces, Gemini, Leo, Scorpio, Libra
Each sign has a unique ability but just like the real Zodiac, some signs conflict with each other.
Taurus vs Scorpio
Libra vs Aries
Virgo vs Pisces
Leo vs Aquarius
Cancer vs Capricorn
Gemini vs Sagittarius
Players cannot active or use a Zodiak’s ability if they also control another active Unit with a conflicting sign.
Once each player has finished setting up the game can begin…
How to Start:
At the start of the game each player draws 5 Enchantment cards and chooses 7 of their Units and places them on the Summoning-line. They both must choose 1 Hero, 2 Warriors, 2 Monks, and 2 Engineers to begin with (this is the only time you have to play with specific classes. As the game progresses you can call in additional Units of any class).
Turns:
Both players flip a coin to decide who goes first.
At the beginning of each turn players enter into the “Draw Phase”. This is when they draw a card to start their turn.
After the “Draw Phase” comes the “Activation Phase”. In the Activation Phase you can start playing speed 1 or lower enchantments from your hand and activate your Units’ abilities. During this time your opponent can start to activate their speed 2 or higher enchantments or Unit abilities.
Next is the “Action Phase”. This takes place when you have finished playing Enchantments for now and you’re starting to move and attack with your Units. During the Action Phase you cannot activate speed 1 Enchantments but you can play Speed 2 or higher enchantments that you had set on the Map during the previous turn. You may also activate active Unit abilities that are speed 2 or higher as well.
After the Action Phase has completed the play may re-enter the Activation Phase again to play any last minute enchantments.
How to Win:
There are 2 ways to win at Zodiak. You can either defeat your opponent’s Hero or make your opponent run out of Enchantments.
As I said before, this is a very simplified explanation about Zodiak. If you’d like to learn more and get to know everything about the game such as the types of enchantments and the break down of battle situations please email me or Visit our Facebook page ZodiakTCG or our development blog on Tumblr zodiaktcg.tumblr.com
