Scribes Arena – It’s Hangman But As You Know It…

This week’s guest post comes in from Jason Chan, designer of Scribes Arena, a word game with a fantasy twist. With some absolutely stunning artwork Scribes Arena really does have a spectacular visual presence, but what’s it all about? Here’s Jason to tell you more…

Hello Unboxed Readers,

I am Jason Chan, designer of the game Scribe's Arena. Our Kickstarter campaign is live and running, check it out here.

The premise of the game is this: you take the role of a Scribe in search of a Zerath Crystal, and battle other Scribes in a game of word-deduction.

If you have played Hangman or know Wheel of Fortune, then you will be familiar with the basics of guessing letters. However, the numerous God Cards, Ally Cards, and Spell Cards will completely change how you tackle the game. It will take strategy, planning, and a mastery of the powers from cards to outwit your opponent and claim victory! Learn more about the game mechanics and reviews in our page or in our official website, www.scribesarena.com. we have demo'd in Strategicon and BGGCon and received great feedback: head over to www.facebook.com/scribesarena for some great photo albums as well.

In terms of the journey of designing the game, I started the game with a piece of paper, 2 pencils, and a deck of crudely made spells (which consists of vacuum cleaners, French fries, and even pebbles!). After much playtesting, I thought it would be cool to incorporate elements into the game - then a friend asked if fantasy characters would be cool in the game...and after bouncing ideas back and forth, Scribe's Arena came to be what it is now! It was such an amazing journey looking back, and i couldn't have done it without numerous playtesting sessions, which is the most important part of game development!

Sometimes ideas may look good on paper, but in reality, mechanics may be needlessly complicated, as with Scribes. I found out that cards should only ever give 1-2 powers, and the complexity comes in weaving together spell effects to create devastating results.

A big thanks to Unboxed for giving me the opportunity to do a guest post. Please support our campaign: whether your pledge is big or small, it will help in achieving our goal and ultimately help realize my dream of creating an awesome game!

Jason