ZOR Developers Talk Righteous Hammer's Approach to Visual, Gameplay Design
Genre mash-ups are increasingly common as independent studios flourish with the game engines and legacy knowledge available online. Roguelikes and card-battlers are particularly saturated, be they slow and methodical like Slay the Spire or fast-paced like One Step From Eden — itself inspired by the combat grids in Mega Man Battle Network. Remixed inspirations often give an indie game the means of standing out, and Righteous Hammer Games' ZOR: Pilgrimage of the Slorfs aims to use tabletop and survival games to make its deck-building experience more Chess-like.
Righteous Hammer founder Clint Jorgenson wanted to blend that style with his love of the cute, yet creepy pop culture zeitgeist of the 1980s; exemplified by works like The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, and The NeverEnding Story. In ZOR, a pair of Slorfs travel to discover what fell from Zor — their star god. The duo not only has to beat back enraged creatures, but also the looming threat of hunger. Game Rant spoke to Jorgenson and artist Gavin Yastremski about designing and balancing ZOR's visuals and gameplay.
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Prototyping on ZOR began after Righteous Hammer's debut title Solitairica released in 2016, and it quickly snowballed with the funding for contractors through a British Colombia Creative BC grant. Its first pass focused on concept art, and getting enough 3D art, animations, and audio to build the «vertical slice.» Yastremski joined shortly thereafter, bringing environmental art experience from projects like Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare and Apex Legends.
«Thank god Gavin joined because the 3D stuff is such a step-up from the 2D of Solitairica,» Jorgenson said. «If
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