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”
