Jordan Weisman joins Cryptogogue Board of Directors
Serial game designer and entrepreneur brings vision and experience to upcoming card game Volition
SEATTLE – March 12, 2019 – Cryptogogue, developer of the upcoming blockchain hobby card game Volition, today announced that serial entrepreneur and game design luminary Jordan Weisman has joined its board of directors. As a board member, Weisman brings extensive experience in the gaming industry to guide the strategic direction of development, marketing, and sales for Cryptogogue.
Weisman, the creator of the Shadowrun and BattleTech gaming franchises and current CEO of Harebrained Schemes, has founded five game companies, each in a different gaming genre and industry segment. He has won more than 100 awards, including election to the Hall of Fame by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design and was selected by Ernst & Young as the 2003 Pacific Northwest Entrepreneur of the Year.
“Cryptogogue is inventing a whole new way to publish and distribute collectible hobby games. Its decentralized business model combined with print on demand technology is extremely empowering for players,” Weisman said. “One of the downsides of collectible games is that they are very wasteful with lots of paper and plastic being used on cards and figures that people already have many copies of. The ability to print only what cards, or eventually figures, that you want and virtually recycle those you don’t into game assets you do, is going to change the way people think about collectibles and collectible games.”
“Jordan is a visionary and brings a wealth of knowledge to the team,” said Cryptogogue CEO and co-founder Patrick Meehan. “He is a world-class gaming innovator with the unique business experience to help us realize the full potential of this new distribution model. He has a stellar track record of building great independent game companies. Jordan’s involvement in the project is a huge point of validation.”
Through a digital-to-physical model, Volition will enable players to buy, sell, trade, collect, and customize cards. Volition leverages a proprietary blockchain protocol and decentralized model that does not rely on cryptocurrency, meaning players and collectors will have complete ownership and full customization capabilities over the assets they buy and trade.
“We’re about decentralization, not a currency or an ICO. We’ve found a novel use for decentralized protocols and are self-sufficient to see the project through,” Meehan said. “We’re in a great position to focus on our fundamentals and bring something interesting to market.”
The Volition card game and accompanying blockchain protocol are under development by Cryptogogue, a Seattle-based gaming technology studio established by a lineup of industry veterans, including the designers behind the award-winning indie trading card game The Spoils.
Media Contact
Scott Teal
scott@cryptogogue.com
Volition Brings on Three Advisory Board Members
Organized Play Expert David Hoppe Joins Advisory Board Alongside Games Industry Vets Scott Dodson and Jon Kimmich in Support of the Blockchain-Based, Digital-to-Physical CCG Venture
SEATTLE – June 11, 2018 – Volition, the world’s first digital-to-physical collectible card game (CCG) born out of blockchain, today announced the addition of three members to its advisory board. With more than 50 years of combined experience in the games industry, David Hoppe, Scott Dodson and Jon Kimmich will provide strategic support as Volition works to build its community, develop its proprietary blockchain protocol, and hone the gameplay in preparation for a late 2018 launch.
As one of the world’s foremost organized play experts, Hoppe brings more than two decades of experience to the team, having held senior management roles with trading card games such as Wizards of the Coast and Magic: The Gathering as well as building communities at MSN Games and Xbox LIVE. Pulling from his experience as president of Gen Con, responsible for the country’s largest tabletop gaming convention, Hoppe will lend his unique knowledge to help grow the Volition community. He was drawn to Volition’s groundbreaking digital-to-physical format and the potential to rethink the traditional CCG business model.
“While many blockchain-driven games have been announced, Volition is the first to truly embrace a decentralized model that grants players total creative control and customization,” Hoppe said. “I’m keenly interested in the future of tabletop game development and distribution, and Cryptogogue represents a vision of just how far the industry can depart from current norms.”
Where Hoppe will lead Volition into the next generation of organized play, Kimmich and Dodson will ensure the Volition business and gameplay models are built for legions of gamers to come. As a former product planner at Microsoft Games Studios during the Xbox launch, Kimmich is well-versed in the business of launching sustainable gaming platforms. Dodson, a 15-year games industry veteran, will serve as key resource for Volition in navigating regulatory issues associated with the game’s blockchain protocol and future in-game cryptocurrency.
“Our new advisors are immensely talented, creative and intuitive,” said Patrick Meehan, co-founder and CEO of Cryptogogue, the game technology studio behind Volition. “But above all else, they have the experience needed to bring our metaphysical multiverse to life. We’re eager to have them on board at this critical development stage as we prepare for Volition’s launch.”
Media Contact
Scott Teal
scott@cryptogogue.com
Introducing Volition: First Blockchain-Based, Customizable Collectible Card Game
Forthcoming Digital-to-Physical CCG to Inspire Community of Crypto-Card Enthusiasts to Buy, Sell, Trade, Collect, and Customize Cards Like Never Before
SEATTLE – April 24, 2018 – Crypto geeks, card hobbyists, and digital collectors will have the opportunity to create and customize collectible cards like never before with Volition, the first digital-to-physical collectible card game (CCG) born out of blockchain. More than just a CCG, the forthcoming title will be powered by the creativity of a crypto-card enthusiast community galvanized by the ability to buy, sell, trade, collect, and customize cards. Through a proprietary blockchain protocol that decentralizes ownership and distribution, players and collectors will be able to mine for booster packs and evolve any card they own by adding custom art skins and combining characters and resources to level-up. Creators will also have the ability to publish and license original card art based on reference materials provided by Volition during set releases.
As the market for blockchain-based digital collectibles gains traction, applications in the physical world have remained largely untapped. Through a hybrid digital-to-physical and print-on-demand model, Volition will make blockchain technology accessible to anyone with a passion and a printer. Unlike all other CCGs, digital or otherwise, this approach also means no publisher will ever retain ownership over the ecosystem or future viability of the game. Coupled with patent-pending technology to enable the mining of booster packs in an unpredictable yet deterministic way, Volition is evolving free-to-play principles and mechanics in a way that offers a more tangible experience both in gameplay and in extractable value.
“The games industry provides some of the most compelling opportunities and use cases for blockchain, however, most projects today focus on leveraging blockchain within centralized games and platforms, which fundamentally misses the point of the technology,” said Patrick Meehan, co- founder and CEO of Cryptogogue, the game technology studio behind Volition. “By building Volition on a foundation of blockchain, not just from a technology perspective but also with a decentralized business and operating model, we will be among the first to embrace the full spectrum of possibilities afforded by blockchain in a collectible gaming context.”
Volition exists in a metaphysical multiverse somewhere between reality and the outer limits of a player’s imagination. With a resource-based gameplay built around an expanding ensemble of eccentric characters that transcend our digital and physical worlds, the most important resources for Volition will be creativity and inspiration. Key features will include:
- Born out of Blockchain: Volition’s proprietary, permissionless protocol will enable the buying, selling, trading, collecting, and customization of cards.
- Digital-to-Physical: Players and collectors will get to experience the creation of a physical object from a digital asset like never before.
- Decentralized Distribution: The print-on-demand model means anyone can print out and play with the cards they own, even shiny ones, and removes the need for hobby shops to sink costs into stockpiling inventory.
- Booster Pack Mining: Volition will be instantly distributed globally upon publication through the release of limited-run booster packs, which are mineable by players and collectors. Anyone can spin up a node and acquire booster packs out of thin air.
- Theme-Based Releases: The Volition multiverse will grow and change in surprising ways through set releases, with each including a base set along with several subsets.
- Cosmetic Customizations: Creators and collectors can skin any card they own with custom art. Along with each new set release, Volition will also release reference art to inspire the community to create original artworks in unique art styles based on the latest theme, which can be published on the blockchain along with licensing terms.
- True Ownership: The blockchain technology behind Volition means players and collectors can truly own and track the origin story of each card, from when it was first mined to who’s owned it, and even any digital signatures added by artists or other VIPs.
- Card Evolution: The digital-first nature of Volition means characters and resources can be combined to level-up and add gear to any card. Some cards may level-up in a predictable fashion while others may have an element of randomness, and the mechanics may change from set to set.
“With Volition, the blockchain and technology innovation will remain at the core of the experience, but designing a game that is fun, accessible, and engaging is also a priority,” said Ken Pilcher, co-founder and lead gameplay designer of Volition.”
Volition is a under development by Cryptogogue, a Seattle-based games technology studio formed by a lineup of games industry veterans, including the designers behind the award-winning indie trading card game The Spoils. To keep up with the action as Cryptogogue reveals more information on the project in the coming months including exclusive incentives for getting involved early, be sure to sign up for updates at www.VolitionCCG.com.
Media Contact
Scott Teal
scott@Cryptogogue.com