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 Col Hammer wrote:
I wanted a Zombicide variant of astronauts vs. space-zombies. So there was a non-zero-need for the game.

CMON made the Z:Invader game for me. So you can blame me for that one.

Project Elite and Z:Invaders are really different games, even if the figures might look a bit samey. Easy mistake to make.

I wanted Z:Invader too. It would be cool if the protagonists in Project Elite received Z:Invader character cards for cross-over potential.

 PsychoticStorm wrote:
I agree the products look so similar there is an actual possibility someone buying one for the other.

Good for you looking out for the illiterate board gamer. That is an under-served group that needs representation!

It clearly phases through the thigh armor when they walk. The circle in the middle needs to be painted bright red so the Contra guys can identify the weak spot to shoot at.

 JohnHwangDD wrote:
BTW, what's with the giant metal codpieces? Seems like it'd be super uncomfortable to move in. Especially the one on the latest dude.

Warhammer has giant metal codpieces.

Warhammer is popular.

Ergo.

Codpieces are very metal...

 DarkTraveler777 wrote:

 PsychoticStorm wrote:
I agree the products look so similar there is an actual possibility someone buying one for the other.

Good for you looking out for the illiterate board gamer. That is an under-served group that needs representation!

I am not, if they want representation, such an odd concept, they can represent themselves.

There is a lot to be said about brand identity, diversification of product and the artwork, at the moment, CMON's latest product all look the same and this is going to be bad for them in the future, especially since they are not belonging to the same universe.

In any case this is the second game under Andrian Smith art direction of X vs aliens were at least a part of the potential buyers base thinks it is daemons and not aliens.

 PsychoticStorm wrote:
at least a part of the potential buyers base thinks it is daemons and not aliens.

That's because the techno-organic style makes them look more like demons from DOOM than aliens from outer spaaaace!

Not that there's anything wrong with that, nor that it would even matter on the tabletop whether you called them "demons" or "aliens".

What exactly should aliens look like that they can be considered real Aliens?

Xenomorphs? Greys? ... Na'vi?

Only concept I've seen so far that I like is the woman in the green armor with the minigun. She looks like Smith was trying to make a female version of Doomguy and left the helmet off. Speaking of, I really wish they'd give us some faceless army dudes wearing helmets. Why is that such a hard concept? I don't want to see some dude's scruffy beard or stupid hair. Helmets! Cool looking helmets!

The Janusians are masters at bio-engineering. They can create a creature for any situation. When their regular troops were proving to be too slow, they worked on new hybrids. The Runners are mutations of the baseline Proxie form, designed for incredible bursts of speed, often exceeding those of a horse at full gallop. While they sacrifice some strength for this capability, their mouths are lined with serrated teeth capable of severing a limb with ease. These vicious monsters are best kept at a distance. Too bad their speed means they’re not distant for long. Yet this is not the end of the horrors you’ll fight in Project: ELITE. More briefings to come

the artwork looks more hound like but the sculpt is looks more like a pig

Yay back to monsters I like

 DaveC wrote:

Spoiler:

The Janusians are masters at bio-engineering. They can create a creature for any situation. When their regular troops were proving to be too slow, they worked on new hybrids. The Runners are mutations of the baseline Proxie form, designed for incredible bursts of speed, often exceeding those of a horse at full gallop. While they sacrifice some strength for this capability, their mouths are lined with serrated teeth capable of severing a limb with ease. These vicious monsters are best kept at a distance. Too bad their speed means they’re not distant for long. Yet this is not the end of the horrors you’ll fight in Project: ELITE. More briefings to come

the artwork looks more hound like but the sculpt is looks more like a pig

It looks like they thickened the legs and neck of the miniature compared to the artwork. That's probably for the best given the material it will be cast in.

"You don't frighten us, English pig-dog! Go and boil your bottoms, son of a silly person. I blow my nose on you, so-called Arthur-king, you and your silly English K...kaniggets."

Yeah, I can imagine my players saying that every time one of those aliens hits the board.

 PsychoticStorm wrote:

 DarkTraveler777 wrote:

 PsychoticStorm wrote:
I agree the products look so similar there is an actual possibility someone buying one for the other.

Good for you looking out for the illiterate board gamer. That is an under-served group that needs representation!

I am not, if they want representation, such an odd concept, they can represent themselves.

Woosh!

 PsychoticStorm wrote:
There is a lot to be said about brand identity, diversification of product and the artwork, at the moment, CMON's latest product all look the same and this is going to be bad for them in the future, especially since they are not belonging to the same universe.

Maybe, maybe not. Smith is the lead designer for CMON, so it stands to reason the artwork will look similar among their products. And that is a form of brand identity as well.

But, you stated that there is a possibility someone will mistake one game for the other, and that absurd situation can only happen if said person can't read. Basically, you are making an outrageous argument.

No, not really one looking at the pictures without examining the product, you do not need to read to pass a judgement can assume easily they are related products and pass on because they did not like for example zombicide invaders.

I am afraid claiming only illiterate would be confused shows a disregard in the arts of graphic design and marketing, on your side, or a sad contempt to the literate disabled people making jokes at their expense...

In any case visuals is the first line of engagement with a potential customer and the one that will shape the understanding of the product before they ever bother reading the "title" similar visuals give a franchise connectivity, either in theme or in product, since neither game is set in the same universe and they are two completely different style of games using the same visuals is a bad idea and people in this thread complaining they look the same are right.

My previous criticism in drastically changing the artwork and atmosphere of Zombiside with Zombicide Invaders is similar it shattered its brand identity and follows the same patters since they hired Adrian Smith as lead artist, everything looks the same, I hope their recent hiring of Kopinsky and Guiton will revert their in house production art back, but for at least some projects in the future Smiths artwork of boxed humans and daemons (whatever they are supposed to be) will follow CMON....

It is bad in my opinion because while for the 7th sins and Hate Adrians artwork was fitting, for the two recent projects ZCI and the upcoming Project Elite, it mostly fails to fit.

They brought Guiton back into the fold?

That's good news. I really enjoy his art. Hopefully we'll see him do something in the near future.

I like the hound alien. Then again I liked Invader's designs as well so there may be no accounting for my taste.

 PsychoticStorm wrote:
No, not really one looking at the pictures without examining the product, you do not need to read to pass a judgement can assume easily they are related products and pass on because they did not like for example zombicide invaders.

Ah, but that isn't what you said.

You said:

 PsychoticStorm wrote:
I agree the products look so similar there is an actual possibility someone buying one for the other.

You claimed that the art design is so similar someone couldn't recognize the difference between Project Elite and Zombicide: Invader, and mistakenly buy one for the other. That just isn't true. You very well know each game box would have the name of the game prominently displayed on every side of the box. The branding you are so concerned about means that the games have different logos, and will likely have different fonts. So, your scenario of someone accidentally buying one game when they meant to buy the other is laughably unrealistic. And you making that assertion as a reason for one game not needing to exist at all is even more ridiculous.

Art is subjective, so there is plenty for you to criticize about the aesthetic of the game without creating stupidly insincere arguments like "people won't know the difference between two games because the same artist worked on them." Again, only someone lacking the ability to read would even possibly fall into that trap. It is a stupid argument. Unless you are worried about illiterate board gamers, which you aren't (and that was my joke which went sailing over your head). Instead, you are just being hyperbolic and crapping on another CMON/Smith project, which is your prerogative, but at least make good faith arguments while doing so.

This is how you decided to interpret what I said, not what I said.

Regardless of that, I was just agreeing on what was said above me, both look too similar and looking at the art one could think one was the other.

There have been many casualties during the war with the aliens. Sergeant Gherid Bennett was critically injured during the Siege of Boston, but the Project: ELITE medical corps kept his broken body alive inside the fusion-flamethrowing Flare MkIII exoskeleton. Gherid was shattered, but ELITE psychologists used experimental processes to erase the mental trauma and re-program it with a dedicated soldier subroutine – the ‘Flattop’ series veteran combat protocol. Now Gherid gleefully sends the Proxies to a fiery grave and doesn’t care at all that he lost everything just a few months ago. Help him send the Proxies to a flaming end in Project: ELITE

The mini looks cool, even without a helmet to match that armor, but the background is just uninspiring. It also seems like this entire conflict is confined to Earth, a shameful waste of the potential scope and scale implied in a sci fi game with aliendemons. Demaliens? Bubblegum-textured monsters.

Gotta save other places for the inevitable expansions

It will be interesting to see how they do the game mat - fold out board or tiles so they can be arranged in different layouts or mousemat type.

 DarkTraveler777 wrote:


Maybe, maybe not. Smith is the lead designer for CMON, so it stands to reason the artwork will look similar among their products. And that is a form of brand identity as well.

But, you stated that there is a possibility someone will mistake one game for the other, and that absurd situation can only happen if said person can't read. Basically, you are making an outrageous argument.

Well, gotta remember PsychoticStorm is also the guy who defended nipples on the Infinity Riot Grrls as "armor attachment points"!

I'm curious as to the layout as well.

I'm also thinking some of you aren't familiar how the game plays.

The game has predetermined paths that the aliens follow marked on the boards. There are very deliberate choke points set up and the way the game worked previously was that aliens traveled down those paths toward an end zone that if it took too many hits, you lost. Any alien pushing into another alien's squared bumped that one along the path, and you took damage every time one bumped you. It would very much start a domino effect quite often with new guys spawning.

 Soundtheory wrote:

 DarkTraveler777 wrote:


Maybe, maybe not. Smith is the lead designer for CMON, so it stands to reason the artwork will look similar among their products. And that is a form of brand identity as well.

But, you stated that there is a possibility someone will mistake one game for the other, and that absurd situation can only happen if said person can't read. Basically, you are making an outrageous argument.

Well, gotta remember PsychoticStorm is also the guy who defended nipples on the Infinity Riot Grrls as "armor attachment points"!

They are, you can see the same fibre muscle attachment points above the waist anchoring the leg fibre muscles, I still do not see the relevance for something I said quite a few years back in association with the art direction of CMON been essentially the same in their last KS miniature boardgames regardless of theme or genre or preexisting art direction of the products line and this coinciding with Andrian Smith becoming lead designer.

The Gutslug received its designation from a field scientist that remarked that it resembled an intestinal parasite. Indeed, given the Proxie habit of utilizing Terrain samples for their horrific creations, it may well have been based on some Earthly creature caught alongside its human host.

This one is a redesign of a Sedition Wars AoS mini.

Facing a foe like the alien invaders, sometimes the straight-forward approach is the most practical and effective. Sergeant Kara Raimes began her military career in the British Royal Naval Marines and rapidly transitioned to their orbital corps. When the Proxies invaded, hers was one of the only ships to successfully subdue an alien vessel. This action was in no small part due to Raimes’ unflinching savagery in combat. While not much of a ‘planner’, Sergeant Raimes can make the most out of any battle, usually by going straight through the nearest enemy line.

Lol at the patch of skin showing through her armor in the art. Gotta leave those entrails an easy exit area!

Looks like all the damage was caused just by chafing.

Hmmm... I own all the resin sedition wars minis. I see these are practically all sedition wars minis reused.

Sedition wars was cool but the game crashed hard. I'm not sure about the recycling of models, why not make new ones?

I'm still of the opinion that she was meant to be something of a Doomguy homage. Even down to the strangely exposed and bloody midriff.

Is it just me or does the render have a creepy serial killer smile?