von BK-Sebastian | 20.06.2024 | eingestellt unter: Dystopian Legions, Dystopian Wars

Warcradle Studios: Neue Designer

James Hewitt und Sophie Williams arbeiten nun für Warcradle Studios.

WaecradleHewittWilliams

As the excitement of Armoured Clash reaches a fever pitch, we’re thrilled to welcome two talented game designers to Warcradle Studios. Sophie Williams and James Hewitt, both powerhouses of the industry, have joined the team as we explore the Dystopian Age and more!


SOPHIE WILLIAMS

With career highlights that include working for Black Library and Games Workshop, coordinating artists and managing thirty years of artwork, Sophie’s strengths lie in her ability to create effective structure from chaotic creativity. As the first female retail manager for Games Workshop, she has often found herself as a pioneer in her field and brings that approach to designing fresh and exciting games.

Working with Mantic Games, Modiphius Entertainment, and Steamforged Games, Sophie has helped create an impressive range of games. Her repertoire features the likes of Hellboy: The Board Game, Ancient Grudges: Bonefields, Sea of Thieves, Voyage of Legends, and Robot Fight Club. We’re excited to have her on board the Warcradle Studios team.

What do you do at Warcradle Studios?

“I’m the Game Development Manager. I’ll be taking a key role in contributing to the design and development of Warcradle’s games while also managing the team and leading in long-term planning and organisation. I LOVE organising and scheduling, so this is a dream!”

What would you say are your greatest influences?

“I’ve been a tabletop gamer my whole life, from playing BattleTech with my older brothers to playing Advanced Dungeons & Dragons with school friends, wargaming through my twenties, and having a very eclectic board game collection. I’ve played a bit of everything…”

“My early years were spent reading RPGs voraciously and visiting the Brighton Games Workshop store. Since then, I’ve developed a love for discovering new games and mechanics, and I love nothing more than seeing a new take on an established system.”

“I have a particular fondness for games that engage the player in the story. Fog of Love is a really interesting example. It’s a narrative game that was designed to avoid direct conflict, while compelling the players to really get in each other’s way as they pursue their own goals. But games don’t have to be narrative-based to tell a story. If you’re like me, you’ll create one of your own over the course of the game as things go well or badly for you. Pandemic Legacy has its story embedded among its mechanics, so I found it instantly compelling. My favourite memory, though, is playing Necromunda, converting models to reflect their latest upgrades and feeling very attached to characters that would inevitably suffer a horrible death in the next game.”

What are you most looking forward to working on?

“I’m so excited to get into the ‚big picture‘ of the Dystopian Age. I love the idea that each game reflects a little slice of the whole and that each one gives you a different playing experience. I can’t wait to potentially shine a light into other parts of the setting that haven’t yet been shown off to their full potential… who knows what gaming experiences that might lead to?”


JAMES HEWITT

Having worked in and around tabletop gaming for most of his life, James Hewitt has built quite a name for himself as an outstanding community manager and game designer. Starting out working in Games Workshop retail, he soon found his feet in game design at Mantic Games with the iconic DreadBall.

Moving to the Games Workshop rules team, James has been involved in the creation of games such as Necromunda, Adeptus Titanicus, Blood Bowl, Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower, and many more. We’re thrilled to have him as Lead Game Designer for the Warcradle Studios team, providing his decades of experience creating excellent games and mentoring a new generation of designers.

What do you do at Warcradle Studios?

“I’m Warcradle’s Lead Games Designer, so I’m leading the charge as part of the Games Development team. We’re going to be responsible for creating, testing and expanding a whole line of tabletop games set in the Dystopian Age – not just Dystopian Wars, Wild West Exodus, Mythos and Armoured Clash, but also board games, card games and roleplaying games!”

“My role as Lead Designer means that I’m in charge of training and developing the team, sharing my experience in the industry to ensure that we provide our players with exciting action, compelling decisions and plenty of opportunities for strategy.”

What would you say are your greatest influences?

“I love games of all kinds – board games, card games, wargames, roleplaying games, social games, video games, you name it. I’m a firm believer that if you want to write well, you have to read well, so I draw on a lot of influences! I’m gonna narrow it down to three that I can think of right now.”

“I’ve got a deep-seated love of the tone and feel of games from Games Workshop’s original Specialist Games line – open-ended, narrative-heavy games where you grew to love your models and lamented each battlefield death. When I was designing at GW, I was honoured with the opportunity to revive some of those old favourites, and my main goal was always to maintain that core feeling!”

“There are a number of designers in the tabletop roleplaying space who I often cite as influences, and John Harper is a recurring one. Blades in the Dark is a game that understands the importance of telling a compelling story at the table and provides a razor-sharp set of tools that let you strip away the parts that don’t matter and cut right to the action.”

“Finally, it’s got to be Richard Garfield and the slew of amazing tabletop games he’s made. Without him, we wouldn’t have Magic the Gathering, Netrunner, RoboRally, King of Tokyo… games that encourage tense, thematic, fun and thoughtful gameplay”

What are you most looking forward to working on?

I’ve been pitching several ideas for board games, but what I’m really excited to see is a roleplaying game set in the Dystopian Age. It’s such an incredibly rich setting, and I can’t wait to zoom right in and see some grimy details. It’s early days, but with the creative team that’s in place, I think we’re going to knock this one out of the park. (Uh… no pressure, right?)

We’re excited to welcome Sophie and James to the Warcradle Studios team and cannot wait to share with you the amazing work they have been doing so far.

Quelle: Warcradle Blog

BK-Sebastian

Redakteur von Brückenkopf-Online. Seit 2001 im Hobby, erstes Tabletop Armalion. Aktuelle Systeme: Freebooter's Fate(Alle Fraktionen), Bushido(Ito, Ryu, Ro-Kan),Moonstone, Summoners (Feuer, Luft), Deadzone, ASoIaF(Nachtwache, Targaryen), Dropfleet Commander(UCM, Scourge), Warmaster(Zwerge, Echsen), Eden(ISC, Resistance), KoW: Armada(Basilean, Ork) u.v.m

Ähnliche Artikel
  • Dystopian Legions
  • Dystopian Wars

Dystopian Wars: Armoured Clash Gussrahmen Preview

29.08.20243
  • Dystopian Legions
  • Dystopian Wars

Dystopian Wars: Armoured Clash Sneak Peak

28.07.202417
  • Dystopian Legions
  • Science-Fiction

Warcradle Studios: Gelände Neuheiten

30.12.20234

Kommentare

  • Warcradle ist gerade in einem kleinen Aufschwung. Dystopian Wars läuft auf kleiner Flamme echt gut für die – vor allem, weil die es geschafft haben, viele der alten Fans aus der Spartan Games Zeit zu reaktivieren – so auch mich.

    Und mit Armoured Clash könnte demnächst eine Konkurrenz zu Legions Imperialis ins Haus stehen, sofern denn die Regeln auch gut werden – denn die werden nach den bisherigen Präsentationen doch ein wenig anders als die klassischen „Dystopian Wars / Spartan Gameys“ Regeln sein.

    Daher ist es gut, dass das Team um zwei Szene-Veteranen verstärkt wird.

    • Spantan Games hatte sich damals einfach damit verhoben auf so vielen Hochzeiten in zu schnellem Takte getanzt zu haben.

      Warcradle lässt das ruhiger angehen aber darin sehe ich keinen Nachteil.

      Als Alternative zu Legions würde ich Full Spektrum Dominace anführen das macht auch sehr viel Spass

  • Da ist der James wieder.
    Werde ihn mein Leben lang für Blitz Bowl dankbar sein.
    Kann nur ein Gewinn für WC sein.

  • Dann bin Ich mal gespannt, ob das auch zu einer Verschlankung von Dystopian Wars oder Wild West Exodus führt.
    Beide Regelsysteme funktionieren für MICH persönlich nicht. An sich sind die Basisregeln für beide Systeme einfach aber dann ist es doch mit so vielen Sonderregeln überfrachtet. Dadurch ist mir die Einstiegshürde einfach zu hoch. Modelle aus beiden Ranges sammel Ich gerne aber nach mehreren Versuchen die Systeme zu spielen, habe Ich es aufgegeben.
    Vielleicht kommt ja in 2-3 Jahren eine neue Edition, die diese Probleme behebt.
    Oder vielleicht kommt ja doch noch Lost World Exodus, dass sie vor einer gefühlten Ewigkeit mal angekündigt haben.

    Ich bin ja sonst doch ein größer Fan von James und seiner Arbeit.

Die Kommentarfunktion ist geschlossen.