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Project Spotlight: Outpost Zero
Project Spotlight: Outpost Zero
Featuring IgnitedxSoul
This month, we are featuring Outpost Zero, a project being developed by IgnitedxSoul. To see the full project as it currently stands, check out its github page: https://ignitedxsoul.github.io/
In a few sentences, what is the premise of Outpost Zero?
"Outpost Zero is a sci-fi horror set. Flavorfully, OPZ focuses on space exploration, scientific inquiry, military exploits, and horrifying monsters. The main mechanical themes are all focused on either artifacts or exploiting the graveyard."
What inspired you to begin creating Outpost Zero?
"Around October of 2024 I set my mind on making a set in a year, starting in January of 2025. So for the last couple months of 2024 I browsed through Artstation and saved any art that I found interesting in a handful of buckets. When Decemebr of 2025 came around, I reviewed them all and found my sci-fi horror collection the most compelling! So I gave myself the goal of making OPZ from start to finish in the year 2025!"
Where would you say Outpost Zero is in the development process?
"At the time of writing this, the set is 16 cards shy of the first full set of cards. I've been playtesting and iterating on the set throughout the development, but I think I'm somewhere between the Integration and the Refinement stages as outlined in N&B 7. There are a lot of things about the set I've made notes about wanting to go back and revise (the Rakdos Mercenary draft archetype stands out prominently as a mess to me), but I'm very confident that the set is moving in a good direction with a lot of potential."
Outpost Zero is your first full set as a solo designer, but you've collaborated on a few successful sets (notably Rakoa and Hyperpop) in the past. What did working on those projects teach you, and what are some of the new challenges you've overcome as a solo designer?
"First, I want to give a major thanks to every person who has ever served as a collaborator or mentor to me in this hobby. I genuinely believe I would not be where I am today if not for you all. Stasisbot and platypeople are wonderful designers and all around great people who I learned a lot from. In my experience with collaboration, I think the two biggest take aways are how to give and receive criticism with grace and how to best playtest effectively. I highly recommend to any aspiring designers to find two or three peers of about equal experience/skill and just dedicate time to critiquing eachothers work and playtesting, playtesting, playtesting. Nothing will teach you more than jamming out some games and then discussing that experience.
The one benefit I had as a collaborator on projects is that the times I struggled to create, my collaborator was there to take up the slack (which regrettably was very often). I'm someone who deals with some difficult mental health issues (as I'm sure many can relate) and it would tend to result in me being absent from the hobby for days or weeks at a time. But my collaborators were always gracious and kind, working with me despite my absence. Working alone is a different beast, however. If the sets succeeds or fails rests entirely on my shoulders and I can't rely on anyone else to step up and finish the dang thing for me. Finding the energy and motivation to power through and continue with this set, especially when I have my moments of intense doubt, was difficult. However, whenever those struggles arose, I always had a friend there to back me up and cheer me on. Because of that, I'm the furtherst along I've ever been on a solo project, and I'm proud of that, if nothing else."
As a published author, you're no stranger to storytelling. MTG, however, is a unique medium. How do you build out characters and create narratives in card form, and what advice can you give to others looking to do the same?
"With this hobby the biggest hurdle is always art. In my past attempts at solo set design I would craft these elaborate planes or stories, and then realize very quickly I did not actually have the art necessary to make that project happen. I learned to work in a new pattern that I think has been rather successful.
I started with a vague idea, keeping it as loose as I reasonably could. In the case of OPZ I just started with the premise of sci-fi horror and started collecting art. Once I had a decently sized art file (around 100 to 200) I had a sense for what types of cards I could make or what stories I could tell. It was like I had gathered all of my paints or lego bricks and I could start creating.
The next step was just rough shapes. I found art I liked, plugged it into a card, and just made things up on the spot. I didn't concern myself too much with writing a story or building a world yet, I was letting things evolve naturally as I went. Each new card functioned as a sort of conversation with my previous design. I built a world up in my head piece by piece without too much of an idea of what it would look like when I started. Once I got to my first stage of playtesting (when I made ~60 cards for five jumpstart packs) I started to see the patterns emerge and forged more concrete ideas.
At this stage I new a few things for certain:
1) I have an evil corporation who colonizes various planets.
2) They do scientific research on biology on all of these planets to exploit the various life they encounter.
3) They hire mercenaries to do their dirty work for them.
4) Their primary base for super secret science stuff, Outpost Zero, finds a super violent parasitic form of life.
5) That life breaks out and causes all sorts of chaos.
So I started branching out my designs to fill these ideas out. I made the Outpost lands, I added alien wildlife, I made more Symbiotes, and I added more horror beats to cards. And I just repeated this pattern of setting the next milestone (in my case the second milestone was a full suite of commons), assessing what new worldbuilding/story beats arose, and fleshed them out while designing.
Now that all of my uncommons are done and I'm nearly finished with the rares, I'm only just now starting to write the actual-factual plot. I've come up with some charaters and a loose outline, all of which I have no doubt will change as I'm iterating over the next couple months!
I think to summarize this all, I would say that the best way to tell a story through this medium is to do so like discovery writing. Let the story emerge as you go. Avoid writing yourself into a corner before you've even began. Trust yourself that if you keep on working, you'll end up with a product to be proud of, even if it takes a different shape than what you originally envisioned."
What is your favorite card in Outpost Zero?
"The card that I'm most excited about is actually a guest design by PTM, Piercing Duplicant. I don't know if it's any good yet, we'll find out when I test it in Field Test this month, but the idea of converting a bunch of trinket tokens into a swarm of symbiotes really calls to me."
Would you like to give any special thanks to anyone on this server for their help?
"I could go on forever naming all of the people who've played a major role in the development of this set, but I'll just shout out a few here. (I have a longer list at the end of my design document!)
MonoWhiteBorder, for being the originator of the Experiment mechanic. storyfeline for being the originator of the Strain mechanic. Redbay, stasisbot, Philippe Saner, ensorceler, and DrChipmunk for being constants in my set channel, helping reign in my designs which so often fluxuate between laughably weak and soul-crushingly overpowered.
This set would not be where it is if not for all of you. Thank you!"
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