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Champions of Hara
Prototype Box Art
3D Render of A'shura,
a Boss Monster
Leaf, One of Hara's Champions
An Enemy You Might Face
While Adventuring Across Hara
Publisher:
Greenbrier Games
Release Date:
August 2017
Description:
Champions of Hara is an adventure board game for 2-4 players, that has both competitive and cooperative game modes. In Hara, players take control of one of six champion characters, each with its own beautifully hand-sculpted miniature and deck of unique abilities.
In the competitive mode, players battle their friends across a world that is constantly filling up with dangerous monsters, unstable energy rifts and calamitous events – some of which will actually change the shape of the fully modular game board.
In co-op mode, players team up for a narrative-driven adventure that will pit them against the game itself. Players work together to solve puzzles, complete quests and overcome powerful boss monsters, in a life-or-death struggle to save the world of Hara. The game will come with three open ended co-op scenarios, that promise to be different every time you play.
Design Story:
Champions of Hara has been in the works for a while now. My friends and I started designing the game while we were still in college, and we set out with lofty ambitions. Our goal wasn't just to create a board game— we wanted to design an all-new fantasy world, who's story would be told across board games and comic books at first, and eventually extending to video games and cartoons.
In our senior year of college, we developed a business plan around our vision, and used that plan to take first place in our school's business competition. The prize money gave us the chance to turn our dream into reality, and we immediately set to work recruiting artists, fine tuning our game, and writing the story of Hara.
Card Prototypes: Ability Card (left) and Enemy Card (right)
Over the course of the next year, we finished development of the core game and co-op expansion pack (which has since been rolled into the main game), a comic book that introduces players to the story of the world, and a small companion game that introduces players to some of Hara's core mechanics, and takes just 15 minutes to play. We also launched a Kickstarter campaign, which raised over $20,000 with the help of nearly 300 backers.
Champions of Hara Kickstarter Video
An Ancient Relic to Help You
On Your Quest
In the summer of 2015, at the GenCon gaming convention in Indianapolis, we were courted by a handful of publishers who were interested in helping us take Champions of Hara to the next level. We eventually settled on Greenbrier Games, a Massachusetts-based publisher that emphasizes creator-controlled content. Since signing with them, Greenbrier has helped us transform Hara into the deeply engaging, boutique gaming experience we've always wanted it to be, with 3D miniatures for champions and bosses, access to highly talented artists, and a distribution network that covers North America, Europe and Australia.
Credits:
Illustration By:
Game Design By:
Ian VanNest
Andrew Zimmermann
Walter Barber
Comic Anchor
BattleMask
Publisher:
Greenbrier Games
Release Date:
Early 2018
Description:
Champions of Hara is an adventure board game for 2-4 players, that has both competitive and cooperative game modes. In Hara, players take control of one of six champion characters, each with its own 3D sculpted miniature and deck of unique abilities.
In the competitive mode, players battle their friends across a world that is constantly filling up with dangerous monsters, unstable energy rifts and calamitous events – some of which will actually change the shape of the board.
In co-op mode, players team up for a narrative-driven adventure that will pit them against the game itself. Players work together to solve puzzles, complete quests and overcome powerful boss monsters, in a life-or-death struggle to save the world of Hara. The game will come with three open ended co-op scenarios, that promise to be different every time you play.
Design Notes:
Champions of Hara has been in the works for a while now. My friends and I started designing the game while we were still in college, and it's what launched us into the world of game design.
BattleMask
Sample Character Card
*Character art taken from deviantart.com for prototype and testing purposes, and will not be used in the final game
Sample Game Tokens
Top: "Damage Token"
Bottom: "Energy Token"
Publisher:
Greenbrier Games
Release Date:
Early 2018
Description:
In Battlemask, you'll play coach to a team of fearsome warriors, and lead them into the arena to face off against your rivals. At the beginning of the game, players lay out all 12 characters and their deck of abilities. They take turns drafting characters onto their team until each player has 3. Each character is totally unique, so there are hundreds of different team compositions, and each plays very differently. Part of the game's fun comes from trying out new combinations.
During the game, players take turns activating their characters' abilities, and allocating energy to play powerful skills. You score a point any time you knock out a character on the opposing team. The first player to score 5 points is the winner! A single game takes between 15 and 20 minutes, and you can choose to play best out of three with the team you've created, or come up with totally new teams each time you play.
Sample Hand of Ability Cards
*Character art borrowed from (left to right) Overwatch, deviantart.com, and Battleborn for prototype and testing purposes, and will not be used in the final game
Design Story:
Champions of Hara was a huge project to tackle. Our goal was to provide players with an entire world to explore, and a deep story to uncover. It's the kind of game that you can sit down with for two hours at a time.
BattleMask is our attempt to create an exciting game on a much smaller scale. It takes 10 minutes to learn, and 15-20 to play. It has some narrative elements to help draw players into the game, but they take a back seat to quick and exciting gameplay. Our goal was to create a game that anyone could pick up and play- one that we could play with our parents and non-gamer friends.
After numerous rounds of testing and refining, we're happy to say that's exactly what we have. Playtesting the game has revealed that it takes a new player an average of 11 minutes and 31 seconds to learn all of the rules to the point where they can teach others how to play.
We have recently received the green light from Greenbrier to start art development for the game, and hope to have it ready for retail by early 2018.
Game Design By:
Ian VanNest
Credits:
Illustration By:
Ian VanNest
Walter Barber
Barbarian Battlegrounds
Publisher:
Not Yet Released
Release Date:
The Near Future
Description:
Barbarian Battlegrounds is my take on a strategic dice game. In Barbarians, players take control of a tribe of barbarians competing for the gods' favor. Each player gets a board that represents their village, and dice that represent their barbarians. At the beginning of each round, players roll their dice for everyone to see, then set up a screen around their board, and make strategic decisions about how to allocate their dice. You can use your dice to launch a raid on another player's town, fortify your base against other players, or harvest valuable resources that will help you grow your civilization, and become more powerful in the long run.
From the rule book:
"Lead your tribe to victory by raiding your opponents, building your civilization, and performing valorous feats in the eyes of the gods. The first tribe to amass 10 glory will win the gods’ eternal favor, and be granted a place among the halls of Valhalla."
Design Story:
The idea that inspired Barbarians was to create a dice game that would allow for strategic play. So many dice games fail to overcome the inherent randomness of die rolling, so my challenge was to embrace that randomness, which can be a lot of fun, while also imposing a strategic element that would cater to more advanced players. To make this happen, I created a system where all the numbers you roll are (for the most part) equally valuable- they're simply used for different things.
This is the first game I've made that will exclusively feature my own illustration. The game is currently in the play-testing stage, and I will begin looking for a publisher in 2017.
Credits:
Illustration and Game Design By:
Ian VanNest
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