 | 1977 marked two great events for me… watching Star Wars and the other event I started to dream of creating my own space adventure. Now 40 years later FOE will start its Kickstarter campaign. I dared to dream, I dared to believe, I dared to create.....
My name is Paul Willis and a lifelong Star Wars fan.
Creative Wisdom's Martin Griffin and Adrian Franks have been doing all the art work and developing the game play. Music is by Richard Wells, who wrote the music for Being Human on the BBC and nominated for a Bafta. Michael Walters is also creating original music for the game.
Here is a list of actors who have appeared in Star Wars and are in the game FOE.
Jeremy Bulloch - played Boba Fett
Anthony Forrest - played the sandtrooper in Star Wars that stopped Luke and said how long have you had these droids?
Pam Rose - she was in space 1999 and Star Wars
Andrew Lawden - double for Liam Neeson in the Phantom Menace
Clem So - Resistance fighter from The Force Awakens and has been in Dr Who
Alan Flyng - Stormtrooper in The Empire Strikes back
Gary Hailes First Order Stormtrooper in the Force Awakens.
Do you want to play a game?
The creation of FOE started in 1977 when I was just 10. In the summer holidays I would sit down in the morning and watch the 1933 Flash Gordon series. Filmed in black and white with real models that had real fireworks as engines and swung across the screen on wires.
Then one magical day in May I watched Star Wars as far removed from Flash Gordon as night and day. In that moment FOE was born. For the next 40 years I drew spaceships, created stories, invented characters and dreamed. Dreamed that one day I would create my own unique universe.
Then in 2015 I trooped as a stormtrooper at the premier of The Force Awakens and met George Lucas. I could scarcely believe my involvement in such a spectacle and to coin a phrase in that moment the circle was complete. After the premier FOE the board game and story went into full production.
Now finally here it is all the hard work, all the memories and life experiences of being a sci fi fan. All the dodgy firework spaceships to the Falcon. From Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit to Bladerunner. All those exiting, mesmerizing, chilling moments of my life caught and captured then molded into this game.
I really wanted to bring the characters to life by using real actors like Jeremy Bulloch who played Boba Fett. Anthony Forrest who played the iconic sandtrooper in Star Wars( who I believe is still looking for those droids.)
To my amazement they said they would be in my game not only that they would voice act their parts as well. I will never forget the day when their voice acting parts came through and they breathed life into their characters in the game. Likewise with all the other characters.
Original music was then written for the game by Bafta nominated composer Richard Wells who recently completed work for Warhammer.
So to the game.
The idea behind FOE is to create a strategic layerd combat fueled board game that is fun but serious, a universe that your imagination will become lost in. A game where you feel attached to your characters which will create a sense of real loss when they are gone, vanquished to the void forever. No second chances.
The first thing that strikes new players is the richness of the colours and characters immediately drawing you in to their universe.
Imagine finally getting to fight alongside Jeremy Bulloch as his Elite Bounty Hunter. Or fight for Anthony Forrest, Clem SO, Alan Flyng all who have appeared in Star Wars.
Your characters get no second chances if their ship is destroyed in a battle they are gone never to return weakening your Empire. So do you have the strategies, cunning and defiance to win in the face of adversity?
The game becomes a path that leads you deeper and deeper to its core then consumes you. In the end you become so attached to your unique characters that when they are in a make or break battle you feel almost apart of the emotion. To defeat your arch enemy who has hounded your Empire releases great satisfaction. However to loose another battle deepens your despair and puts your Empire on the path to annihilation and you FOE towards total victory.
In play testing battles have been very close, shredding your nerves to expose your weakness as a leader. Imagine then that in a last gasp flurry of white hot laser bolts your targeted ship explodes and your ship has survived by a thread.Gaining promotion. However even though you survived and won the battle was it a ruse to weaken your ship? Has your enemy set you up for a counter attack? Have you in that moment won the battle but ultimately lost the war? |
