Hello everybody! This is a very special announcement that I hope others are as excited about as we are! As we have mentioned several times recently, we are currently developing a board game and we need your help. This is an open call for all of you board gamers out there to submit photos and have a chance (a very good chance) to be in said game. Click to read more about this opportunity and be sure to read the important information at the end of the post!

We are currently developing a deck builder called The Remains. The Remains is a zombie-themed deck building game that has a lot of mechanics never used in a production deck builder, at least not to our knowledge. The game features a high risk vs. reward system where players have to choose their actions carefully. Zombies spawn and move towards the players at a ceaseless rate, and the players have to balance the need to heal or find weapons against stopping their advance. Pretty standard fair so far? That’s about to change!

The Remains might have the appearance of your standard deck builder, but it goes much, much deeper than that! The game uses a combination of cards and dice for attacks and features an innovative movement system for the Horde of zombies that are approaching. Unlike other deck builders that have movement, it is not simply a way to mark time. The Wasteland, where zombies and Survivors both spawn is a battlefield where yet-to-be-rescued Survivors can perish, zombies can attack players (if they move far enough) and upgrades can be obtained.

So that’s a brief description of the game, now on to the good part; we need your help to fulfill our artwork needs for the game! Why are we doing this? I’m glad you asked! There’s a few reasons and we’ll list them below:

• Commissioned artwork is expensive! We have put so much into the game and Board Game Giveaways and maintaining the website that it would be difficult to attain the number of pieces we would need for the project.
• We want people to get excited for the game, and what better way than to include you guys in it!
• How freaking cool would it be to be in a board game? Come on! This is also a way to thank everyone for supporting the website, not just a cost-saver.

The game is currently in heavy playtesting and is performing very well! We’ll continue to put more pictures on the site and Facebook page, but as of now we need final artwork. The images being used now are prototype only, so we have restrained from putting them on the site. Speaking of art, let’s talk about that a little!

The art style for The Remains is Zombie Apocalypse Noir, which is an art style I am pretty sure I just made up, but it seems like a fitting name. If you want to submit photos that we can use consider the following:

• Use a nice camera. Do you have to run out and buy an $800.00 camera? Of course not, but the better the image quality of the original the more likely we are to be able to use the image. Only have a camera phone? Don’t NOT send them just because of this! Sergio is an excellent graphic artist and he might be able to work with them still!
• Send the photos as large as you can! Do not make them smaller than they are, just keep the same size that they are shot in. We can easily make the images smaller but it’s way harder to make them larger if that’s needed.
• Shoot against a solid background (see the examples in this post).
• Try to minimize shadows against the background. Direct flash is particularly bad at casting deep shadows. Try turning the flash off and using another light source. A lamp with a sheet thrown over it, for example, will make a softer, more even light.
• Use an appropriate pose. We need photos for zombies and survivors so pose accordingly. A zombie sitting in a lawn chair isn’t going to work. A survivor chilling in a hot tub won’t cut it either.
• Use authentic props and clothing. A 40 dollar Zombie Hunter costume from Walmart will look cheap and “plasticy”. Don’t overdo it! Have a pair of binoculars? Hang them around your neck. Have a machete? Prop it over your shoulder. Posing as a zombie? Make the clothing ratty, dirty, and tattered. Don’t ruin anything good, a plain t-shirt with rips, tears, holes and dirt are perfect!
• Remember that board games cards are printed vertically so make your image taller than they are wide. Or at least make the content within the photo taller than it is wide.
• If you use real guns in your photos (like I did above) PLEASE be careful and consider all laws!

Important!

Email us your photos at [email protected] and we will send you back a release form to sign and return. Since real (though stylized and altered) photos will be used for the artwork we will need model release forms. This protects us and the manufacturer. The model release form just says that you understand that the photo(s) you submit can be used in the finished product, marketing materials and online promoting of The Remains. It’s simple and straight forward.

Print the form we send to you, fill it out and sign and date it (writing legibly), scan it and email it back to us! We want as much art as we can get so that we have choices. We will use as much of it as we can but we might not be able to use all of it, even if we send the photo release form for it. We’re going to do our best, though!