Since starting his first RPG fanzine instead of revising for his O-Levels, James Wallis has been in most parts of the UK games industry: designer, writer, publisher, reviewer, consultant, lecturer, historian and more. These days he's the studio manager at Green Board Games, the only UK-based games publisher in the Asmodee group. Let’s hear what he has to say…
Vampires Suck (at Shopping) - a free RPG!
Robot Fight Club News: Final Card Designs
Robot Fight Club News: Updated Tour Dates and even more characters!
Updated Tour Dates!
It’s been a bit crazy here at the Needy Cat Cave and we’re booking in even more Robot Fight Club Tour Dates! Here’s an updated list!
The Dice Cup, Nottingham – 8th February – 5 – 8pm
Eclectic Games, Reading – 14th February – 4 – 8pm
Eclectic Games, Reading – 15th February – 10am – 2pm
7th City Collectables, Sandiacre - 20th February - 4 - 8pm
Bean Gaming, Leicester – 21st February – 4 – 8pm
Patriot Games, Sheffield - 29th February - 10am - 2pm
Random Encounter, York – 1st March – 12 – 4pm
Meet the Cybernauts!
We’ve also got two more Cybernaughts to introduce you to!
Meet Indira! Indira lives for speed, and it's always getting her in trouble. Like that time she tricked out her chair with the jet engine they'd made in robotics and raced it across town. At RFC she always manages to squeeze in an extra booster or two, even if that means removing a few, uh, "unnecessary" components.⠀
Indira is is likely to surprised you with a ‘suped up robot racing across the arena.
Met Johannes! Johannes struggles to make his mind up about anything. He loves trying out new things, new combinations, new ideas... Half an hour before a bout, when his opponent is running final checks and making sure their punch cards are in order, he's often seen pulling one of his robots to pieces because he's had a last-minute flash of inspiration.
Johannes is the creator of Repulsor, so who knows what to expect from him during a bout?
Robot Fight Club News: Visuals
Ever since James and I sat down and worked out the nuts and bolts of the game, we’ve had a really clear concept of the setting. It was one of the first things we agreed on and we’ve tried to preserve it in the style of the logo, character design and make sure it runs through the whole look of the game.
Imagine, if you will, a 50’s style future-now, with old-style robotics feel that gives it a grounded but sci-fi feeling. Influenced by things like The Jetsons, Fallout and BioShock, we wanted something that felt nostalgic but had weird and wonderful sci-fi elements.
Doing the R&D for the visuals was eye-opening and I discovered an array of incredible comics, books and film that informed the aesthetics of the game. Check out this amazing comic book series which started in the early ’60s but had a resurgence in the ’90s. Magnus, robot fighter has an amazing style to it which I really fell in love with.
What’s been even more rewarding is seeing how our graphic designer and artists have interpreted this brief in their own way. It gives the games its own look and style. It has evolved beyond the 50’s-style Forbidden Planet looking robots, into its own thing. I’m loving the direction that this game is taking and I can’t wait to see it all together!
Here’s just a small selection of the work our talented group of artists and graphic designer have created. I think it’s amazing to see the concept and final version of Beagle next to one another, plus the latest Character design, Hanna ready to go. Hanna, also the name of our graphic designer, has done an amazing job with the logo design and this is a pin badge design that will be used in the game. She used 50’s roadside diner signs as a source of inspiration for the colours and font style.
League of Infamy Incoming
You might have noticed all the hubbub over at Mantic Games about League of Infamy. This game marks the second big collaboration between Needy Cat and Mantic, and is a cooperatish dungeon crawler turned on its head, where instead of the usual trope of playing a band of adventuring heroes, you take on the role of a bunch of no-good bad guys assaulting a series of Elven keeps! You need to work together for victory, but the League’s a competitive place, and if you find a few opportunities to benefit yourself at the cost of the others… well, they were mugs for not doing it first, right?
Making a Gaming Board in 24 Hours
Announcement: Atlantis Miniatures Skirmish Game!
Needy Cat Games is proud to be working in collaboration with Atlantis Miniatures to create a skirmish game based on their wonderful miniatures.
