Board Heroes – Sara Zolnierczyk Portfolio

In a far-away land filled with myths and magic, up to four adventurers prepare to compete in a grand tournament that determines the greatest hero of all. Taking on the mantle of one of these adventurers, the player must travel a 3D isometric game board, defeat monsters in turn-based combat, accept quests, and level up to get your character ready for their tournament debut!

Board Heroes is a turn-based party board game that utilizes elements of traditional role-playing games. It is played in combination with a single computer as the host console and the players’ phones as the controllers. Board Heroes creates a 3D board game-esque experience of both cooperation and competition with friends.

The game has been created over an 8-month period by a team of 8 called Reverie Games as our third-year ‘capstone’ project for our undergraduate degree.

Look and Feel

Board Heroes has a unique and fun visual style and feel where all the characters, setpieces, and enemies follow a cutesy aesthetic, similar to the Japanese animation style known as “chibi”. All aspects of our game reinforce the cute and almost squishy theme we’ve decided on. This art style culminates in a world that looks and feels almost like a set of cartoony figurines and models. This style feels as if a board game and its pieces have come to life to interact with and travel on their own around the island world.

Character, Enemy, Weapon, and Environmental Concept Art

The player has a choice to select from 4 different playable characters, each containing a different set of physical characteristics and magical abilities.

The playable characters include The Knight, The Mage, The Rogue, and The Ranger. The players will encounter several damage-inflicting enemies, such as Bats, Slimes, Bandits, Goblins, and Vultures, all which inflict damage to players in unique ways.

The playable characters as well as enemies, have been implemented in-game as 3D models based on their conceptual illustrations.

I have created these conceptual illustrations based on the descriptions of our Lead Designer and Creative Director, Jack Sparaga. I have collaborated extensively with Jack throughout the creative process, ensuring my best to accurately create a physical product of his creative vision.

3D Models

I have 3D modeled and textured (hand painted) all four of the playable characters as well as all five enemy types per their concept art. These 3D models were later passed onto Reverie Game’s animators, where they were skinned, rigged, animated, and implemented in Board Heroes.