Breakneck Blitz

I have been absent from blogging for a bit as life has been rather crazy this month. Aside from the usual work, I have been involved in the artwork design and play testing of Breakneck Blitz; a new game by British Briefs that was Kickstarted in August. I created guest artwork for a few characters and many arena maps, using my favourite techniques of lino-cutting and watercolours for the characters, and pen and digital colour for the arenas. As I type this, Breakneck Blitz arenas are scattered all over my place, I have been playing it a lot to make sure the obstacle placement works. Masquerading as a freelance artist can be rewarding, especially when you get given an exciting brief to work from such as this. This was my first venture into game illustration and I hope I will do more in the future, as combining my love for drawing and gaming was so much fun.

Two of the many arenas available, Ginger Dread design (Left) and Retro Rumble (Right)

Breakneck Blitz is played on a square grid, players draw out their movement line for the character they select and try to outlast their opponent in the arena. The game is rather like a futuristic gladiator arena combined with Rollerball. Players act as Blitzers, which are cybernetically-enhanced skaters, and they face each other off in an endurance skate to the death, keeping skating whilst throwing a few tricks out there to impede their opponents. It was inspired by old school Roller Derby. In the 1930s it was more of an endurance skate, but it was still just as vicious, if not more!

A selection of some of the Blitzers. My little dude, Axolotl Trouble, is hiding in there.

Each Blitzer has three special abilities that can be used only once. These abilities vary and could be a boost in speed, turning 90 degrees, causing an explosion behind your opponent, escaping death, jumping etc. The list goes on! The special moves are vital as movement on the grid is not straighforward when your opponent is trying to trap you.

To start, players agree on a starting point and draw a line up to one grid in length, at opposite ends of the arena. The first player then moves into any of the eight neighbouring points on the grid, then their opponent makes a move. Players may move up, down, left or right from their starting move and then may choose to move to any point within their trajectory. You build up speed by gradually moving two or more points at a time, and slow down at the same rate. If you hit any walls, obstacles, each other's lines or your own lines then you are out of the game. Of course, some of these end game scenarios can be prevented if your Blitzer has certain special abilities that allow you to rapidly increase speed, brake abruptly or cheat death!

After playing obscene amounts of my arena maps, I ended up developing a few strategies to outlast my opponents. Holding back on using your special abilities unless it is an emergency (I'm heading straight towards a wall - argh!) and not heading directly towards my opponent but allowing them to chase me were good moves. That is probably something I would do in real life too, skate away from the danger! This game requires a fair amount of strategy and second guessing your opponent's moves, as well as picking the character with skills you know you will utilise effectively. The All-star move, which is a wild card, is a nice all-rounder.

The original game artwork is slick and it looks pretty cool. It has a 1980s/early 1990s nostalgic feel to it, especially with Blitzers like 'Basket Casey' paying homage to The Breakfast Club. Several different artists (including meeee, shameless gloating wheeeee!) were involved in character and arena creation, but the game was designed and implemented by the man behind British Briefs, Lewis Terry. It is an enjoyable and intense game that can be played quickly or be drawn out into a longer and more epic fight if you get a number of people involved, as it can take up to eight players. You can play in teams or as individuals, and things can get very heated quickly! Breakneck Blitz was available as a print and play on Kickstarter, it has just been sent out to all the backers but it will be available to purchase online in the near future. In the meantime, come to my place - I have printed out and laminated nearly every arena available!

Thanks for reading

Marisa xx