She designed a board game from the gothic universe, now a graduate of a FFA is motivating other game developers

This black and white paper game combines seemingly disparate elements – gothic architecture and space travel. The tactical board game was so different that people in the Hithit crowdfunding campaign contributed more to its production than its authors, graduates of the Game Media Studio at FFA (Faculty of Fine Arts) BUT (Brno University of Technology), expected. According to one of them, Natálie Sodomková, it is not easy to break into the game industry, but there is a lot of interest in game developers.

The idea of the original black and white board game was born quickly – classmates Natálie Sodomková and Aneta Fasorová came up with it during a single weekend at the Game Jam event. However, the development to the final version, for which the authors raised 120% of the expected amount in a Hithit campaign, took much longer.

“We were not experienced developers and designed the game intuitively. That's why it took us almost four whole years. Name Rosettes and Rockets is based on the Gothic style. We were visually fascinated by it and decided to use elements of Gothic architecture – round windows called rosettes and the cathedral itself. We supplemented it with a conspiracy sci-fi theory that there are actually rockets and each of them goes to its own planet,” says Natálie Sodomková, a graduate of the Games Media Studio.

The tactical game is designed for two players or teams of two, who gradually reveal a game plan of black and white square cards with pictures of rosettes. The goal is to complete a given number of rosettes before the opponent. “Players take turns and every move needs to be thought out in advance. It could be compared to simplified chess, where the difficulty is also determined by the players,” she says.

“If we took the game out of its gothic sci-fi clothes and put a more commercially attractive visual on it, it would still work. And maybe it would appeal to an even wider audience. But I'm grateful that thanks to my studies at the Game Media Studio we were able to design an original game with original input. We freely touched the development and the game medium itself without having to conform to current trends. And we can draw a lot from the experience,” says the graduate, who started working as a game project specialist at the Gamebaze incubator in KUMST immediately after graduation. She confirms that game developers are in constant demand.

Moreover, according to Natálie Sodomková, the gaming medium is far from depleted. “It offers more than just a superficial source of entertainment. It is an experimental and artistic medium that allows for self-expression or authentic rendering of atmosphere. The game can be used to pass on information in a non-traditional way or can be used as part of education,” Sodomková concludes and encourages graduates to be open to cooperation with hospitals, schools or other institutions.

(mar)

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