Evolution of “The City of Zombies”
In May we had the chance to talk about the game with several distributors at Bologna Play, based on their feedback we ventured in a “small overhaul” of the game board. While some game mechanics like movements and combat remain the same, we tried to increase the feeling of exploration that the players shall feel while venturing into The City of Zombies. We also wanted to increase replayability with both exploration and rewards based mechanics that we have introduced. So, what are the mail changes we have worked on in this new version of the game? No more one board with portals and wall tokens to place in order to form a scenario, but 5 main boards and 4 starting boards New game mechanic: exploration. Each main board is covered at the beginning of the game, and as the turns progress different items are associated to the board, but revealead only when a player enters the board itself. New game mechanic: mission goals. Mission cards are associated to each main board that offer specific rewards for quest completion. Quest difficulty varies based on how the game progresses. Rewards can offer players new abilities, items or even modify the board itself. Currently we have been working on the prototype artwork for this new version, which keeps the “low poly render” look that we liked for the whole game. Hereafter you can see a preview of the environments and objects that were created for one of the main boards, the Public Garden. Each board shows a series of numbers and letters (the pink ones) that allow players to position the different items / zombies assigned to the board when entering it, and a number in each cardinal direction, to allow zombies to move around the board. An interesting element that boosts the replayability of the game is that there is no exact order or orientation to position the different boards, so players really do not know what they may step into when entering a zone. Since we talked about mission cards, here is an example of the mission card for the Public Garden board. Main boards currently have a size of 5×5, which may offer a more challenging gameplay, especially when players may find themselves outnumbered. Starting areas boards instead have a smaller size, 3×3, players can move inside them for as long as they like, “taking time” before venturing into the city. This has some pros and some cons. Waiting too long in a starting area may result in an adjacent board becoming too crowded (with zombies), whereas rushing in immediately may not allow players to find a weapon to use as the enter the board from their safe refuge. These new mechanics require testing. Once the first prototype including these new game assets will be printed, we will begin shipping it to several game testers we have worked with so far. Do you like these new game mechanics for The City of Zombies? Let us know! You can subscribe on our website to be always up to date on our games, you an also follow us on our instagram account dedicated to “The City of Zombies”
The City of Zombies WIP – Design and Style
Hi! Here’s a new update on the development of The City of Zombies! As you may know, this is a zombie survival board game designed for kids aged 7 and up. That’s why the visual design is so important — it needs to be engaging, fun, and just the right amount of spooky. Finding the Right Style When imagining how the game should look and feel, we had two main sources of inspiration in mind: Rayman Legends and Low Poly 3D models. Both styles are colorful, playful, and anything but scary — making them perfect for a spooky-but-fun experience that younger players can enjoy without being intimidated. Let’s take a closer look at the design process! Sketching the Undead We started with some quick paper-and-pencil sketches to explore different zombie concepts. The goal? Create a fun and memorable design that still gives a sense of increasing danger as players progress through the game. There are three zombie tiers: the Basic Zombie, the Super Zombie, and finally the Zombie Boss. Below you can see a few early sketches of the Basic Zombie — complete with notes and ideas scribbled in the margins. For example, we originally considered giving zombies only four fingers, but eventually decided on a more traditional five-fingered hand. From Sketch to Model Sheet Once we had a direction we liked, we created model sheets for each zombie type. These help define proportions, poses, and details that are useful during the 3D modeling phase. They also guide the creation of a consistent color palette. For the Basic Zombie — who’s meant to feel aimless and a little confused — we went with classic green skin, a yellowish shirt, and some ripped jeans and shoes. The Super Zombie is the next level up: bulkier, stronger, and clearly more dangerous. It’s taller, smarter, and should instantly communicate a greater threat to players through its design. And then there’s the Zombie Boss — a huge, powerful creature that looks worn down but absolutely determined to chase down players and take over the city. This zombie means business. Why 3D Models? Once the model sheets were ready, we moved on to building 3D models — starting with the Basic Zombie. You might be wondering: Why create 3D models for a board game? Our answer: Why not? 😄 There are a few good reasons: Familiarity: Today’s kids are used to 3D characters. This style feels friendly and accessible to them. Flexibility: Need to tweak a color or a detail later on? With a 3D model, it’s quick and easy — no need to redo a full illustration from scratch. Speed: Since the game is still in the prototype phase, being able to iterate quickly is crucial. Aesthetics: Simply put… we love how it looks! Say Hello to Our Basic Zombie Here’s our “friendly” Basic Zombie, all modeled and ready to be rigged for posing. Next up is the “photo shoot” — aka the rendering phase! Of course, we couldn’t resist having a little fun with it… so here are a few renders of our mindless buddy dancing around the studio. 🧟♂️💃 If you’re curious to see how the rest of the zombie crew turns out — or want to be the first to know when the game launches — follow us on social media or sign up for our newsletter!
What is Fun Dome Games?
Hi! We are very glad to introduce you to Fun Dome Games in this first post. Fun Dome Games is an indie board game publishing company that was born with the purpose of gathering under a single name a series of card and board projects that our game developer, Fabio, along with his team mates Matteo and Serena, are working on. Spicify is the first game we created. It is a hot party game that can be played both with a special person, to break the ice and initiate more intimate moments, and with friends, to spice up a game night and get to know each other at a whole new level. Spicify was born in 2017 as a first prototype made just to play with our own friends at a bachelorette party, but given the interest it received both during the party itself and a lot of further play-testing, we decided to give it a chance and started a Kickstarter Campaign in June 2022 which was successful and helped us covering some of the costs associated with the game production. By November 2022 we were already shipping the first copies of the game to our backers. This is something we are very proud of since the average time from the end of Kickstarter Campaign and the delivery of the game it’s way way higher than that! For a first time creator it was not an easy challenge to take but we learned a lot along the way and in the following years we created an interesting network of contacts in the board-game industry. Spicify is currented distributed in Italy by Cranio Creations and we are working together with Albi to release a localized version for the Czech and Slovak markets. Nonetheless, it is available for sale in USA, Australia and all of Europe through its dedicated website. As the time went by we began to work also on other projects. The second game we designed, again, just for personal use, is The City of Zombies a cooperative game for kids where all players have to work together to defeat the zombie hordes infesting the city. This project was created with Fabio’s nephew, Christian, a 5 yo boy at that time, whose imagination, stimulated by Fabio’s questions, came out with most of the elements composing the game, both as a theme and as how players can play to reach their goal. Who better than a kid may know what they want to play? Fabio helped Christian to keep the imagination within boundaries that would allow the game to be playable and balanced. After this first iteration a very rough prototype made of some written paper-cards, a big paper sheet serving as a board and a few Lego characters as players and “Zombies” we began some play-testing to refine mechanics and components. When the gameplay reached a sufficient refinement Fabio began working on an early prototype, creating some of the artwork (the board) and using some AI-place-holder graphics to get the idea of the look that he wanted to get with the game. Right now Fabio is working on the artwork of the game, so stay tuned to get updates on the design phase. In the meantime, we started to work also on a “softer” version of Spicify, which may help players who love the game mechanics, but think it’s a bit too spicy, to play the game with their friends. Right now, the name of the expansion is “Appetizer Edition“, which gives a good idea of what is meant for: an opener to the original game. All of its challenges are completely new, and, while they keep intanct the soul of the original version, they are much easier to play with any group of friends since they don’t require the same level of intimacy that even some of the challenges in the cold deck of Spicify needs. Another key difference from the original version is that it introduces a whole new set of modifiers (26 in total) that can be used in both versions of the game. These modifiers were created to serve two purposes: increase the variety and replayability of the challenges, and involve more players in the action, so they don’t have just to “watch” when they are not directly participating in a challenge. The other major difference is that this time the game does not require players to pick a partner of a specific gender nor it specifies what to wear during the challenge, again, with the purpose of making the game easier to try and allow more players to experience the fun we had when playing it with our friends. Following the spirit of “Mens sana in corpore sano” Fabio and Serena often take a walk in the woods nearby his parents’ house in Tuscany. Walking in the nature is very inspiring, and helps to get new ideas. Since they both love spirits and experimenting with mixology and cocktails, on one of these walks they began to talk about a possible game about cocktails, with Project name “Cocktail Bars“. A few miles on the way and they had drafted most of the key mechanics of game, later refined with further conversations (also while walking in the woods). Right now the game is still in a conceptual phase, and Fabio is looking for unique ways to test different strategies and balance the game before creating a first prototype and begin with the actual playtesting phase. If you want to learn more about our games and projects you can subscribe to our newsletter, or follow us on our social media.
