The Register of Benefactors

The apprentice benefactors

Offering the Archmage a regenerating potion entitles you to two things, and two only : an apprentice name on this page, and a little message displayed next to it. No in-game advantage, no amount shown, no ranking. The names are in the order they arrived.

The register is still blank : nobody is in it for now. The first line is free — and I look at it often.

Those who help the project grow

A board game doesn't get fixed in front of a screen : it gets fixed around a table, with people who lose, who win, and who say what they like and what they don't. Every rule of WizoCat was discussed somewhere : with family, in a board game café or at a festival. And a board game also has to live away from the table : there's the organising, the communication, the meetings and the motivation !

• Adrien, a 12-year-old. He has a knack for tactics and doesn't hesitate to beat adults (even me, the game's creator). He has played so many games he's lost count. Thank you for all the ideas he gave me.
• Céline, a top-notch player, in real life as on BGA. She challenged several ideas and, at times, shook a few heads to set things straight. On top of that, she gives me her time to talk about the game.
• Cédric, board game café host, presenter at Essen. He ran the prototype in front of players who had never seen the box.
• Fanny, board game presenter. Her first review put my head straight. I worked hard. When she tested the game again, her verdict lit up my day.
• Pia, event organiser. She doesn't beat around the bush : when something is missing, she's there to help make sure everything goes smoothly.
• Chong, colleague. For his research and advice, as well as for proofreading and listening to the Chinese, and for the corrections to the meaning of certain words and hanzi. And also for finding a bug related to how a font displayed depending on the computer used.
• Victor, colleague with a magic eye. He helped me enormously to improve WizoCat's design: drawings, lighting, ergonomics, HUD… His critical eye, always constructive, often let me see what wasn't working, and above all how to improve it.
• Ruben, colleague. For his opinions, advice and comments on the differences between Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese.
• Ana Sofia, long-time Chilean friend. For her tests and feedback in Spanish.
• Miu, Japanese friend. For finding a bug on her device, and for proofreading and listening to the Japanese!
• Lien, Flemish friend. For proofreading and listening to the Dutch!

There are many more who aren't named here. Sorry if I haven't yet had time to write a message for you : write to me if I've forgotten you and you're getting impatient…

The credits

A game made alone still owes a lot to others. Here's what WizoCat borrows, and from whom.

Rules, world, illustrations, prototypes

Christophe Matthieu. The same person who cuts the cardboard and writes the code. The workshop is told about here.

The online game and the app

Christophe Matthieu. The virtual opponent is computed in your browser, not on a server : the demo on the home page even plays offline, once loaded.
More than ten years ago, I had already built, in pure JavaScript and Canvas, a rendering engine running at 60 frames per second for another game : Darjacks. The project is forgotten today, but some old ideas sometimes end up finding a new life. Darjacks, 2015 — already a title carved in stone.

The tools of the trade

• Krita, a great open-source digital painting program,
• GIMP, free and open-source software for photo editing and graphic design,
• Blender, open-source 3D modelling software,
• Inkscape, free and open-source software for vector drawing,
• Node.js for the build chain,
• Terser to compress the game,
• Playwright to replay the page that holds all the tests in a real browser before every release.
• AI/LLM : various AI technologies, mostly for testing and debugging, analysis, data processing and brainstorming.
• Capacitor, Ionic's open-source shell that installs a standalone site as an Android app.

All free and open source, except the AIs.

The fonts

Ketupat Ramadhan : free, commercial use allowed — used for the spell names.

The music

« The Epic Adventure » and « Will Brave » — Keys of Moon Music (CC BY licence). A huge thank you : go and listen to his music, he does great work !

What comes from elsewhere

One thing only : the presentation video, hosted by YouTube on the home page. As long as it's there, YouTube sees the visitors of that page go by. Everything else — images, sounds, game, code — is served from wizocat.com. What the site collects and why : the Academy Charter.

Trademarks mentioned

Gamefound, Google Play and YouTube belong to their respective owners. WizoCat is affiliated with none of them ; these names appear here only to say where to find the game.