Creating a Theme and Visual Research

On Friday, our group agreed that, with the rules now completed, we should begin work on a visual them and design. Each of us will be bringing an idea to the group. The group will then decide upon which one is the best. I already had an idea of might be good and began work on that idea.

Because of the games abstract, strategy nature and it's incompatability to the under 12s, it seemed like a good idea to go for a more abstract, desaturated style. However, I wanted the design to be more interesting than the Chess and Checkers standard black and white. Then I thought of the old cave paintings and wizards symbols. Both have a very unique, chalky look on sandy coloured old materials. Having a similar style could make the players feel like there is some sort of ancient, mystical history to the game, without having any thing in the game that relates directly to any particular period in history or fantasy world.

The first thing I decided to try to create were the symbols that appear on the pieces, replacing the current numeric system we have been using. Having the circular combat design means that these can be literally anything, however, inorder for the player to remember them they need to have names. I found that the simplest thing to go for, in terms of names for the, as yet, uncreated symbols, were the Hellenic elements. Earth, Air, Fire and Water. These work with the circular design and can be represented fairly easily on the pieces.
The first piece of research I picked up was a book called The Magicians Tables by Alan Richardson. This book is filled with symbols from throughout history, representing star signs, stars, gods, heros and, most thankfully, elements. The elements have been symbolised in many different ways throughout history by many different cultures. The group of symbols I found most relevant to my theme idea, were the alchemical symbols. The alchemical symbols were used in the 18th century alchemy in much the same way physicists and mathematicians use characters from the greek and latin alphabets to represent certain fixed values. The alchemical symbols for earth, air, fire and water are all triangular. This works very well with the pyramid shaped pieces we are currently using. 

The 4 alchemical symbols for the Hellenic elements as shown in The Magician's Tables by Alan Richardson

Not wanting to rip the designs straight from the book and yet not wanting to alter them to being unrecognisable as the mystical symbols they have been for centuries; I decided to put my own simple designs in the middle of them to make them more unique to the game, without taking away the satisfaction a well informed player will get from recognising the symbols.

My design for the symbols based on the 4 alchemical symbols

As you can see from the design above, I have used very chalky brushes and a glow effect to make the symbols look mystical and old. When placed ontop of some sandy coloured stone textures this creates a nice effect that gives the player the feeling that they are playing something unique and special.
Wanting to make the board as simple and easy to read as possible, I decided to use the stone texture from above to create the board and simply painted on some engravings for the grid and added some chalky circles. This keeps the design easy to read for players.

My design for the board. Designed to look as if it is painted on old stone.

These are only quick and very rough sketches of my vision of the game. I am looking forward to comparing designs with the others tommorrow.