Hey all! Just over two years have passed since we went live and Ignition Core Games has not only stayed in business, but has managed to grow steadily. Now with multiple product lines emerging, we felt it fitting to discuss future plans before 2022 winds down for holiday season.
Currently we have store offerings for ignition:core, Magical Girl Assault, Project Exodus and Shining Heroes. Here I intend to cover the current status of each product line as well as the future forecast of that line moving forward. And there is a fifth project that has been in the works for some time now. More on that soon, but first...
ignition:core
ignition:core is the flagship game and miniatures line of Ignition Core Games. Your collective support and positive reception of this line has been rewarding and humbling, and ignition:core is in a good place because of it. Additionally player feedback, while overwhelmingly positive, has driven refinement of the core rules system to make an already great game even better.
Here's what you can expect from ignition:core in 2023
New 'Freeguild' models that will increase customization options for all four factions.
The ignition_1.0 mission pack. This will not replace the 'Zero Edition' rules, but expand on them giving players new ways to complete mission objectives and score points. It also offers a less swingy initiative phase that has been thoroughly play-tested and brings even more balance to the game.
Previews of the fifth faction, with a firm release date given by the end of the year. It's too early to make promises on that release date, but keep an eye out for the (working titles) Demi-Kaijin, and the Demiurge Warlord Class Mech.
The balance we are aiming for is steady and continued support, without overwhelming our completionist fans with a glut of excessive content. Low model count, high model quality continues to be our core principle here.
Magical Girl Assault
The next game in our line-up is Magical Girl Assault. What makes this system extra special is that it's the product of a direct studio partnership between Märchen Atelier and Ignition Core Games. Heriberto had a vision for a game, and towards the end of Reapercon 2021, he approached me in person for help. Since then it has received noteworthy support and very positive reception from the community, and has grown to have a third faction. Märchen Atelier will continue to drive the creative direction and expansion of Magical Girl Assault, and Ignition Core Games will support that growth every step of the way. For the best and most accurate information you can join their discord channel or check out their website. Meanwhile you can purchase your starter sets here.
Project Exodus
Whew... Project Exodus is a dense project. A self DMing survival dungeon crawler with mechs... this project will take time, but will be worth it when it is complete. All the level design for the core box has been designed. Most of the monster A.I. has been designed. Hero and Mech concepts have been designed. All of this is to say that it sits at about 30% complete, with the needle being pushed in large bursts when time allows. If you just absolutely love the minis and don't mind that they are not presently supported by a game system, you can purchase our Project Exodus Early Access Set here. As a small studio, I am learning to temper my own estimations of my bandwidth to develop projects. This one will move steadily toward completion, with alpha and beta gameplay being made available for free download as it becomes polished enough to be suitable for release. My minimum standard for releasing alpha/beta game content is that it must be playable without me present to explain rules. A future update will be posted once the first release is nearing completion. For now, stay tuned.
Shining Heroes
Have you ever found yourself wishing your favorite 16 bit tactics-JRPG would make a comeback? That makes two of us. If our centaur looks familiar to you, it's probably not a coincidence. I too grew up on this game and wish the original studio was still making it. I started ignition:core because I felt that tabletop gaming had an anime-robot shaped hole in it that needed filling. Similarly, I feel a gap that only a shining force of heroes could fill. In my free time I started tinkering with a new system, while working with Märchen Atelier to create minis that would evoke a similar feel to these retro games from the early-mid 90s. Here's a very raw work in progress on the Hero design.
In a similar fashion to Project Exodus, we are offering the minis to you first (they would also make great supplements for 5E) and releasing the gameplay in alpha and beta format as it becomes available. Like Magical Girl Assault, this is another collaboration between Ignition and Märchen Atelier. And despite the fact that this project is probably for a very small niche, I am working on this out of pure love for its original inspiration. If you would like to support this tribute to an otherwise lost JRPG franchise, you can purchase your Shining Heroes miniatures here.
The Mysterious Fifth Project... 0_0
(Credit to Stardust Miniatures for the studio painting here)
This is the very first game project that I designed and developed with the intent to publish. ignition:core was just a concept in my head when I was first working on this. It has play-tested very (very) well and I still get questions from my friends about when this project will see the light of day. It's about 80% complete, which is really 50% complete (fellow game designers will understand) and in 2020 I realized that my tiny one-person studio does not have the legs to lift this up to completion...yet. Every project is a passion project at Ignition Core Games, and this one is no exception. So what is it?
This is the first act (of a three-plus-one act story) in a solo-coop narrative campaign. It takes inspiration from Souls-games, Survival-horror and Rogue-likes to create a tense, tactical, survival dungeon crawl. Following the same core principles of all of our games, the rules are easy to pick up while keeping the gameplay immersive and tense, with tactical complexity. Sounds good right? So what's the problem?
Right now Ignition Core Games LLC is a one-of-one game development studio. As the sole creator, designer developer, my bandwidth is limited and I must make hard decisions about what to work on. The core principle at play here is that I cannot release a game unless I know in good conscience that I can give it the continued support it deserves.
Every so often I go back to this project, and wistfully imagine it complete and out in the world. Thankfully Ignition Core Games is growing as a studio, and I am confident that this game will have its time. Keep an eye on our website for this one in the next few years. Until then, we thank you for your ongoing support of our current projects.
Enjoy the holiday season and the rest of the year!
Regards
-Will