Rupture

Summary

Rupture is a pick-up-and-play fighting card game that simulates the platform fighting experience using trading card game mechanics. No setup, no reflexes, just portable, strategic excitement. Learn to play in 10 minutes, play matches in 20 minutes. Play with your friends, parents, children, or new acquantences. Rupture's combination of simplicity and depth make it an excellent bridge between casual and seasoned gamers.

Gameplay highlights

The Energy System

Because Rupture doesn't have dedicated energy cards, it's impossible to have either too much or not enough energy. Every card can either be used for its stated purpose, or banked for energy, depending on the situation and your level of aggression. 

Fighter Balancing

The six gen-1 characters are incredibly well balanced. Hundreds of matches between each combination of characters has confirmed that each fighter always has an equal chance of winning when piloted by similarly skilled players.

Low Commitment Matches

Rupture matches are designed to take about 20 minutes. This means you can squeeze in a match during a break, on a train ride, or between drinks. When time allows, playing more matches allows players to get a deeper experience.

No Setup

While some other board games might take upwards of half an hour to setup, Rupture can be played as soon as the cards are taken out of the boxes. We know time is tight these days, and we'd rather spend our time on play, not admin. 

No Reflexes

The turn-based format of Rupture allows for matches to be enjoyed by all ages. Players as young as 12 and as old as 65 have enjoyed playing spirited matches with enough time to consider their next moves.

The Characters

The six unique characters each have their own backstory, flavor, and unique set of moves. Each character tends towards specific strategies, but be careful, you must adapt your tactics to win each matchup!

Portability

Everything you need to play Rupture comes in the box. Bring two deck boxes in your pockets, and you're instantly ready to play on any sufficiently flat surface. 

The Development Journey

Genesis

Rupture was born during a conversation between two ancient (36 years old) gamers. They were tired of getting beat up in online games where quick reflexes are a requirement to have fun, but didn't have the time, money, or patience to build competative trading card decks. They craved the simple opportunity to test their skills against their friends, but needed a turn-based format that would allow their strategies to shine. 

Initial Design

With the problem statement defined, Henry bought several packs of index cards at the local convenience store and started writing down moves and experimenting with mechanics. Pulling inspiration from as many franchises as he could, Henry strove to build a game that would feel familiar but fresh, simple but deep. Soon, the Rupture arena was filled with 11-13 fighters, each with unique strategies and flavors.

Development

Henry introduced the game to his friends and family, and immediately received positive feedback on the core mechanics of the game. The characters were likable, the rules were easy to understand, and the different fighter matchups offered hours of replayability. The initial roster proved too unwieldy a project, so it was cut to the six characters in this first generation release.

Refinement

After hundreds of hours of playtesting, the mechanics of the game slowly coalesced. Every solo playthrough, every tournament match, and every casual game has offered insight into what is balanced, what makes sense, and most importantly, what is FUN. Our six artists and our designer were contracted, prototypes were printed (and re-printed), and promotion began. 

Kickstarter

That leads us to today, where we're humbly asking for your continued support. Backing our project is the best way to help make Rupture a reality, and to take advantage of the hard work our team has put into bringing a little more fun and connection to your life.

Lore of the game

The Beginning

In the beginning, the universe was in harmony. Each spiritual entity lived in harmony, pairs of opposites keeping each other balanced. Fire and Ice, Nature and Industry, Offense and Defense, each idea governed by a single spirit.

The Rupture

The Rupture split each spirt in half, creating the eternal tension between opposites. Suddenly, these opposites were allowed to clash, the single entitiy no longer preventing their struggle for domanance.

The Rivals

Attempting to supplant their rivals, each spirit chose an avatar to inhabit and receive their power. These avatars are drawn to fight each other in an eternal battle for spiritual supremacy. 

About the team

Henry Bruce (he/him) - Creator - Rupture - @henrythebruce

Henry is a Chicago-based product manager turned game designer. Henry felt he didn't have enough time to put a Magic: The Gathering deck together, so he (incorrectly) decided it would be faster to create an entire game instead. Henry loves concerts, cycling, hockey, and traveling.

Pat Lyne (he/him) - Designer - Rupture - @paddy_lyne

Pat Lyne is a Chicago-based designer, illustrator and painter. He has over 10 years of experience across a number of industries in both Chicago and NYC, and is also a trained classical iconographer. Pat is handling everything realated to visual design.

Arancia (he/him) - Artist - The Automaton - Pixiv Portfolio

Arancia is a 2D artist from Italy. His passion is drawing using traditional tools. His interests include movies, anime, manga, video games, books, music and Magic: The Gathering. 

Ari Oliver (they/them) - Artist - The Monk - @tousled.bird

Ari Oliver is a freelance illustrator and painter with a focus on boardgames, fairytales and all things magical. Their main medium is watercolor and acrylic inks on paper. Based in a rural part of northern Germany, Ari grew up with lots of fantasy novels and plenty of time outdoors, which are still both huge sources of inspiration. They are self-taught and have worked on a range of board game related projects. If Ari is not painting, they can be seen wandering local ren faires or conventions with their artwork for sale.

Henry Adams (they/them) - Artist - The Floraform - @henryca23

Meet Henry Adams , a wildlife ecologist, science educator, and illustrator currently living in Chicago, Illinois, the traditional homelands of the Ojibwe, Odawa, Potawatomi and many other Indigenous peoples. As an artist, Henry is heavily influenced by fantasy, classic scientific illustration, anime, and comic arts. In their work, Henry blends ecology, illustration, identity, and child-like wonder to tell stories of the natural world and platform social issues.

Julia Guillory (she/her) - Artist - The Boxer - @Juliavevo

Julia Guillory is a Chicago-based comic artist, illustrator, and professional slimemaker (yes, seriously.) She graduated with a Bachelors in Fine Arts from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago with a focus in print-media and comic arts. Her favorite color is leopard print.

Kailyn Perry (she/her) - Artist - The Lich - @kaimperry

Kailyn Perry was born and raised in Massachusetts and received a BFA in Art History and Painting from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2013. She also has a Master of Arts in Teaching degree. She attended The London Summer Intensive, an artist residency at Slade School of Fine Art at University College London in 2018. Her work has been exhibited at many Chicago galleries - most recently Heaven Gallery. She currently lives and work in Chicago, where she teaches plein air oil painting classes.

Kate Summers (she/her) - Artist - The Pyromancer - @kate_summers_2

Kate Summers is a Chicago-based artist who's been drawing for as long as she can remember. When she's not working as a physical therapist, she's bringing characters and other sci-fi/fantasy ideas to life. She first started sharing her drawings by creating custom character commissions for her Dungeons and Dragons club in college. She's always excited to help fellow adventurers and nerds see their ideas come to life

Rewards

Our rewards come in one of two flavors. We offer several sizes of bundles and several types of artwork add-ons.

Bundles

These bundles are for the gamers. Get one, three, or ten copies of Rupture for yourself, your friends/family, or your business. Give Rupture as a gift, stock your game store, or add it to your personal collection. Individual games get cheaper as you buy more as a thank you for your interest.

Artwork Editions

We also offer two types of artwork to go along with your copy of Rupture. Action art pieces include the actual, physical artwork that was made for the game, limited to 15 per character. We're also offering up the original character studies, limited to one per character. We hope you love them as much as we do, and hope they bring joy when hung in your home or given as gifts.

AI Abstinence

A Better Product

The team behind Rupture strongly believes that human creativity leads to the best final products. We can proudly say that no AI has been used for any piece of the design process. 

Supporting Artists

Our team also believes that nothing is more important than supporting artists. All of the artists working on this project have been specifically chosen for their passion, talent, and creativity. Our society must continue to support passionate individuals like these wherever possible. 

Environmental Considerations

Recyclable Materials

We've worked hard to make Rupture extremely simple and portable. As a reward, we got a product that is made almost entirely of cardboard and cardstock, some of the most sustainable materials out there.

Sustainable Design

Our health tracking cards are a great example of a place where we chose to use sustainable design over something like a plastic health counter that could end up in a landfill. We've also included blank, spare cards so that Rupture is still playable even if a card gets lost.

Special Thanks

Everyone who ever supported this project in any way, however small, deserves to be thanked here. In the interest of space, I'll call out a handful of individuals as representatives of the types of support we received. First, my parents, Laura and Bill, for teaching me to cultivate new ideas and see them through to completion. My friends, David, Hannah, Matt, Brent, Greg, Ryan, Greg, and Torin for their early and sustained interested in the game. My brothers, Conor and Peter, for playing games with me as kids and adults. My cousins, Evan and Dylan, for helping me make connections and inspiring me to keep forging ahead. The team, for putting up with my vague requests and picky feedback. My friend, Mat for helping me come up with this idea in the first place. And most importantly, my girlfriend, for helping in an uncountable number of ways while I was developing Rupture.