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Over the last few weeks I have had the pleasure of talking to the guys over at Jackbro about their upcoming game Vikingar, which they will be releasing on Kickstarter this coming Monday March 20th and they were kind enough to answer a few questions.
Where did you get the idea from to make games and how do you fund the project?
"We have always wanted to make a game. Playing games is a big part of our life and we are more than ready to realise our creative and playful ideas. Étienne, proposed to me a few years ago to work with him on a game project (Xibalba the Underworld) and after the draft of our first game, it seemed obvious to us that the adventure would not end there.
"It's not our main source of income. Étienne and I work in our respective field full-time so we are working on this project in the evenings and weekends."
What does the company consist of in terms of personnel and what is the background of them?
"Etienne and I are brothers! It is therefore a beautiful family project. We always work together when creating our games. One of the strengths of Jackbro is to have among our ranks an great graphic designer. The artistic talents of Étienne allow us to push our projects to an exceptional level of quality.
"Étienne is a graphic designer and he is self-employed. I work in I.T as business analyst."
When did you first get into games and when did you decide to make a game?
"We started working on our game projects about four years ago. We entered our first game into a design contest in 2015, but without winning prizes. We returned to the drawing board and we came up with Vikingar in May 2016.
"Our game then won the public award, the golden plate! This award encouraged us to continue working on the project and to publish it and this is what we hope to do."
What are your main influences in game design?
"We do not really have direct influences from board games. We are two creators who have always played in every moment of our lives and we have always invented little games. We love games that leave room for creation and imagination, like Dungeons and dragons. We are simply social players who play for the simple pleasure of playing."
Why Vikingar and what type of game is it?
"Vikingar means men in an old language. Vikingar is a unique and innovative Viking themed game where players will explore a circular, modular playing board composed of 24 tiles. Players explore the board by turning over the tiles to solve the various adventures they face.
"They are invited to plunder holy places, mythical creatures, and cities. In short, the typical day in the life of a Viking! The main goal of the game is to achieve the divine exploits necessary to gain entrance to the world of the gods. Once the divine exploits are performed the players will go to discover the gates leading to the worlds of the gods. These doors are located at the edge of the board, where the land yields.
"Fighting (events, looting and fighting between players) is resolved by performing divine rune launches. The position of these runes on the area will influence the outcome of the battle."
When will it be on Kickstarter?
The campaign will run from March 20 to April 20, 2017. The financial objective is $CAN 55,000. This amount will allow the printing and shipping of the game.
To achieve the goals, European, American and Canadian markets were targeted. In exchange for their contribution, investors will receive awards such as a Vikingar game, one of the two original prototypes or the possibility of having its own face illustrated on one of the players' cards.
What do you hope Jackbro's future holds?
Étienne and I have many ideas for projects that we would like to work on. We have 5-6 games in our backlog. The financial success of this campaign would allow us to free ourselves a little from our respective jobs and give us some time to design all these ideas.
All the answers above have been translated as best they can from French-Canadian. The guys over at Jackbro are really friendly and I for one will be backing the game and see how the KS takes shape. I have been sent a prototype of the game and will be playing and previewing this as soon as I can.