Prodigy – A Kickstarter Preview

A short while ago, a mysterious video appeared on the internet, promising a bold mix of miniature gaming, video gaming and roleplaying in a game called Prodigy.

Since then, things moved forward at a rapid pace. Previews are everywhere, and the Prodigy Kickstarter-campaign is set to launch next Wednesday, April 2nd.

Have a look at some of the previews….

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#1 – Prodigy Kickstarter Video

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#2 – Prodigy Screenshot vs. Miniatures

Here is both a screenshot and a picture of ‘Elea’, the warriors featured in the video.

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#3 – What Is Prodigy?

The big question, of course, is how this game, mixing RPG, miniature gaming and video-gaming elements will play.

The full game is looking (tentatively) for a release date towards the end of 2015, at which point there will be about a dozen or so miniatures, along with the 2 starter models Elae and Toboro.

All the models in Prodigy will contain an NFC tag, which has a unique ID that is detected when the figurine is placed upon the games playing board. The figurine also stores further data. Such as character information, level, skills etc.

In many ways, the board and the miniatures and, crucially, the cards (called Arcana) stand in for a controller or keyboard, when playing the computer game. At its most basic, if you wish to attack somebody in the game, you simply lay down the ‘Attack’ Arcana card. Similarly players move around the game through the use of Arcana cards.

Of course, things will rarely be that easy. The little physical game board also comes into play, allowing players to choose more aggressive (towards the front) or more defensive (towards the back) positions.

It sounds unfamiliar and “never-seen-before”, and that is – of course – the biggest appeal. It will be interesting to see how far the creators will go with the grid system in battles and just how tactical they can make it.

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#4 – What do I need to play?

Prodigy is a video game though (with a single-player mode including at least 2 different campaigns). The video-game side of Prodigy will likely be using the Unreal Engine 4, making it (potentially) available for today’s gaming consoles, including PS3/4, X-Box 360/One and PC. All of that may (or may not) be depending on how well Prodigy does on Kickstarter.

Will there be an unplugged board/miniature-game version of Prodigy? I honestly don’t know (though I intend to find out). I really like the look of the Elea miniature.

Either way, let me know what you think!

Z.