I spoke with the creator of Champions of the Overthere! Here are his answers to my questions:
Q: Please describe your trading card game!
A: Champions of the Overthere (CoTO) is a fun and easy TCG that we think anyone can pick up and play. We didn’t overcomplicate it with a million symbols and effects. It’s a 2 player (though we do envision multiple play modes) game, where you will use equipment and abilities that synergize with champion (character) cards to try to defeat the other in battle. Utilize traps and other powerful effects from the champion cards as well to boost your attack, defense and utility.
Q: What inspired you to create your own TCG?
A: Tabletop games like D&D. Originally, CoTO was an in-game card game for my D&D campaign, similar to Gwent in “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt”, where the players could collect past characters and NPCs to battle against others for gold and other rewards. However, it just kept growing, and soon we realized what amazing characters we had created and were kind of going to waste. This became a way to immortalize them and grow into something even bigger.
Q: What TCGs did you grow up playing as a kid?
A: A lot of Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh. Pokémon especially, as I was a huge Pokémon nerd, both with the TCG and Game Boy games. Over the years, I collected others, like the Star Wars TCG, but nothing really clicked like Pokémon did.
Q: What sets Champions of the Overthere apart from other TCGs?
A: I think the game board as well as the equipment/ability system really pave the road for CoTO. With the board, or “battlefield”, it consists of a row of melee and a row of ranged slots. You must clear a direct line through your opponents ranks to score a hit on their party health. Making positioning and versatility more important.
The abilities and equipment system work very much like a traditional RPG would. You can use a piece of equipment to bolster stats or give other bonuses like dodging traps for a champion. With abilities, these cards go beyond typical champion effects. Differentiated between melee, range and magic, these abilities allow you to truly unlock some great power behind your cards. It’s important to have a healthy mixture of range, magic and melee, as well as abilities, traps and equipment.
Q: How did you come up with the name Champions of the Overthere?
A: The Overthere is something that originated in D&D sessions as a joke. The classic “where is this thing?” from the players made me joke that it’s “overthere.” This mystical land of “The Overthere” blossomed from the idea, and now, these are the “champions” battling for control of “The Overthere.” Though, I won’t take full credit for this, as if I remember correctly, Overthere was also a plane in “EverQuest.”
Q: How long have you been working on the game?
A: The game originated in our D&D sessions probably three years ago, but the actual TCG has probably been worked on extensively in the last year or so. The biggest challenge was finding the art style and finding time to work on it between our busy schedules.
Q: What is the illustration/design process like?
A: The design process originated with me in a Google Sheets page arranging different characters and their abilities. We still use it as a template, but most of the design process goes through Photoshop or Canva now.
The illustrations have really been great now after we hired on an artist @joker._art on Instagram. They’ve been incredible and really deliver that “D&D” style character art that we wanted. Since we’ve landed our artist, the rest of it has flown pretty easily as it allows us to focus more on the mechanics.
Q: When will the game officially be released?
A: We’re finishing up the last illustrations of our first 100 cards, then we just need some artwork for the booster packs and starter decks, along with some promotional images, and we’ll be launching on Kickstarter. We don’t have a hard date set, but the first quarter of 2024 would be a reasonable expectation.
Q: What are your future plans for Champions of the Overthere?
A: We would love to make it to conventions and have tournaments online as well. Of course, more cards and interesting boosters and decks would be the obvious answer, but we want to make sure everything is fine-tuned before we jump too far ahead.
With our D&D campaigns and creative sessions, we have plenty of future content and ideas, but we just want these first two starter decks to be great.
Q: Will you be at any upcoming conventions?
A: Sadly no, not yet. We have had a few test decks/cards made and play tested, but not sure if we’re quite ready for a convention. I will say in the future, the Midwest Gaming Classic in April 2024 looks like something we may aim for.
Q: Do you have any advice for someone looking to make their own TCG?
A: Honestly, it’s cliché, but just start. It’s the same with anything. You can sit around and talk about doing it, but nothing happens until you literally put in the work. Take 30 minutes after work and write down the basic mechanics. Make some doodles (even if you can’t draw). You need a base to build from. You can’t jump straight to building a wall, but, you can start with a single brick. Lay that first brick.
For more, follow @championsoftheoverthere on Instagram
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