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Montreal
Qc
Canada

Cardboard Utopia was started from the belief that the best, most cherished games are the ones that engage you through gameplay, story, and characters. Games that are not just flashy experiences that leave your thoughts once you put down the controller, but make you think, plan, question and discuss. These are the things that create memories for future years. These are the types of games we make.

Founded in Montreal, Quebec, the game development capital of Canada, we are currently developing a Tactical JRPG that plays off our love of classic games like Shining Force and Final Fantasy Tactics, but with a modern, boardgame twist.

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Le jeu

Children of Zodiarcs is a story-driven, single-player deck & dice tactical RPG where strategy and controlled risk build tension, anticipation and excitement!Children of Zodiarcs is a story-driven, single-player deck & dice tactical RPG where strategy and controlled risk build tension, anticipation and excitement!

***Nous sommes désolés, cette page n'est pas encore traduite en français.

Children of Zodiarcs is a story-driven, single-player deck & dice tactical RPG where strategy and controlled risk build tension, anticipation and excitement!

Genre

RPG, strategy, indie

Languages

English, French, Italian, German, Spanish

Age Ratings

US/CANADA
ESRB: Violence
Blood
Language
EUROPE
ESRB: Violence
Bad language

Available NOW on:

 


Key features

  • Combat Cards

Each of your party members’ attacks & abilities are bound to combat cards. Drawing different cards during battle provides you with ever changing combat possibilities every time you fight!

  • Empower Cards through Dice 

Once you’ve chosen your attack, physics based dice allow you to roll for bonuses! Favoring symbols over numbers, these dice deliver attack, defence, healing, and special ability modifiers.

  • Influencing Lady Luck

To add yet more layers of stratagem to Children of Zodiarcs, you can craft dice to favour your play style, and re-roll up to two dice every time you throw. You need not fear being at Lady Luck’s mercy!

  • Building Decks

Each playable character comes with their own customisable deck. This allows you to tailor their skillset to the types of attacks and abilities you want to have in your hand during the heat of combat.

  • A World Full of Characters

Along the way you’ll come to learn about Nahmi - stolen from her homeland as a child, Brice - forced to survive on the mean streets of Torus; Zirchhoff - a charismatic bandit leader who employs young orphans to do his bidding: as well as many more mischief makers

  • A Fully Orchestrated Score

Children of Zodiarcs’ music captures the feel of tactical RPG classics with its fully orchestrated soundtrack composed by the award winning team at Vibe Avenue.


Gameplay

Children of Zodiarcs was inspired by a deep love of classic tactical RPGs such as Final Fantasy Tactics and Shining Force, as well as board games and collectible card games like Magic: The Gathering. The game’s dynamic system draws tension and anticipation from cards and dice. Your ability to adapt to the unexpected will be tested at every turn!

Combat

Steel yourself!

Positioning matters: plan your actions and fight by pushing and flanking your enemies. But don't forget where that will leave you at the end of your turn!

Play your cards right!

Your attacks, spells and special abilities are right in your hand. Once you have appropriately cornered the poor soul who will feel your wrath, unleash the beast by playing the ace you kept up your sleeve!

Roll the dice!

Your dice work in synergy with your cards. Roll and reroll them wisely to increase your damage or trigger special effects: get that extra turn to finish the job! 

 

Party Management

Build your decks!

Between battles, hit the deck builder to adapt your characters' arsenal according to the challenges ahead. If your tank joins the fun next time, why not let your assassin hang back healer style, with a few more green cards in her deck? 

Equip dice!

As you win battles, you will unlock "dice slots", to be able to bring more dice into battle, and collect more dice to fill these slots! As you level up, you will find stronger dice that will increase your firepower or defend you even better against counter-attack. Pretty useful if you're the "hard mode" type!

Create the perfect die!

The dice in Children of Zodiarcs are symbol-based, each symbol giving you a special bonus. Wouldn't it be great if you could control the chances you have to get, let's say, extra cards? Oh wait, YOU CAN! Spend some of your unequipped dice to modify the faces of the one you want to use!


Story

The story of Children of Zodiarcs will take you through a tale of rebellion, familial bonds, and unexpected wonders.

Infiltrating the chambers of a decadent noble, Nahmi and her fellow thieves intend to steal a priceless relic. But what awaits them is more than anyone bargained for.

Relentlessly pursued by city guards heavily armed with deadly Zodiarc weapons, they are forced to make a desperate escape through gilded palace chambers, sun-drenched slums and dank underground catacombs. As they battle rival bandit gangs and even a clan of subterranean cannibals, it becomes clear that they have only each other to depend on. To emerge victorious, they will need to trust one another and use everything at their disposal, making choices that no one should have to make.

Can a motley crew of outsiders survive this vicious world without sacrificing their own humanity?


Gallery

2D & Concept Art

Screenshots

 

Music

Work in Progress from our amazing partner, Vibe Avenue!


Credits

Core development team

 

Jason Kim, Creative Director

Denis Dufour, Technical Director

Samuel Daher, Design Director

Erica Lahaie, Art Director & UI Designer

Michael Winder, Lead 3D Artist

Damian Ebanks, Writer

Camille Matéo, Programmer

Axel Baldoni, Level Designer

Andrée Boutin, Business, Operations, and Communications

Partners

Square Enix Collective
Execution Labs
Canada Media Fund
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SQUARE ENIX, the SQUARE ENIX logo, SQUARE ENIX COLLECTIVE and the SQUARE ENIX COLLECTIVE logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Square Enix Holdings Co. Ltd


Community

Since its humble beginnings in 2014, Children of Zodiarcs has received great support from tactical RPG fans, and managed to build an enthusiastic community.

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Square Enix Collective

Children of Zodiarcs received its first public "YES!" during its Square Enix Collective campaign of September 2014. Early concept of the game (which was then called "War of Zodiarcs") was shown to the Square Enix Collective community and was approved by 93% of voters! You can head out to the campaign's page, which is still up on Square Enix Collective's website, to see all that very early concept, art and prototype. Ah, the nostalgia!

SQUARE ENIX, the SQUARE ENIX logo, SQUARE ENIX COLLECTIVE and the SQUARE ENIX COLLECTIVE logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Square Enix Holdings Co. Ltd

 
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Kickstarter

Over a year later, in January 2016, Children of Zodiarcs launched a Kickstarter campaign with the support of Square Enix Collective. The outpour of love was overwhelming! The project was funded in 43 hours. In the end, 6,683 backers joined forces to provide the project with 500% of its original target, for a total of $259,593 CAD. Of course, the campaign's page is also still up on Kickstarter's Website, and updates are posted regularly!

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Steam

The Steam community has also been anything but idle! Children of Zodiarcs hit Steam Greenlight in January 2016, ranking in the top 15 in under a week. Head over to the Community Hub to join the discussions!