Almost-Beta

Hello again! Above, you see the working card back for the Event deck cards. I recently received the last piece of artwork I was waiting on, and so I went ahead and created a print-ready PDF of the cards and sent  it off to DriveThruCards.com. That means I should be receiving an actual printed copy of the game within the next week or two, which will allow me to make a learn-to-play video and begin the open beta in earnest. Once I have the game and ensure everything looks okay on card stock, all I'll need to do is have the video and a public-read rule book, and I'll be able to activate the product on DriveThruCards for anyone to purchase. Note, still, that this is not the final version of the game and that much of the art stands yet uncommissioned.

But it is an exciting next step!

~ Andrew

Play Mats

I haven't updated in a month because mostly what's going on lately is just that I'm waiting on a couple artists. I still need two more illustrations to be turned in, for the characters, and then I can move forward with the POD beta test plan. However, this past week, Inked Playmats (inkedplaymats.com) had a sale, and I ordered four: one each of the previously-previewed Encounter artworks with gameplay guides and one of the Glowmount art without the guides (for my girlfriend to play Magic: The Gathering on).

I'm hoping to be able to make these available at some point, preferably through the Kickstarter campaign and then continuously afterward, but I am a bit wary of too many add-ons for Kickstarter, and I don't know the math on costs on larger orders.

Here's a photo of the Meltwood gameplay mat with an alpha edition of the game set up on it.

And here's a photo of the Meltwood mat without cards all over it.

Logo and Card Backs

It's been a while since my last update, but things are trucking along. I'm commissioning artwork and waiting for already-commissioned artwork to come in. Some has already come in, and I have the pretty-much-final card backs for the three Encounter types to show you. I also made a logo I'm pretty happy with.

The plan for the future is, once the pre-Kickstarter art is all in, I'll order a prototype from DriveThruCards.com. Note that I am not planning to use a print-on-demand publisher such as DriveThruCards for the final product, but it will be useful in testing out the cards. If I'm happy with them, I'll make the "beta test" version of the game available for purchase through DriveThruCards. I also plan to have the game and its appropriate forum up on BoardGameGeek.com at that point, as the rules will be basically final, and there will only be the individual cards to work on. Then, after a beta-testing phase—perhaps a month—and once all the rest of the pre-Kickstarter work is done, the Kickstarter will launch, and we'll go from there.

~ Andrew

Graphic Design

Last post, I mentioned that I had a couple alternate play options I'd offer playtesters. However, I tried the one method again, and it was still pretty awful, so I don't feel the need to waste anyone else's time. And the first method I still haven't tried I think will be best saved for a specific character mechanic. Anyway, the alternate method just made me happier with the game's current mechanics.

I've been working on the graphic design and putting the cards together—just waiting for art. The Encounters in the playtest are Land, Air, and Sea. The ones I have slated for the published version are the Meltwood Forest (seen in Kralls's back story), the Shadow Caves, and Glowmount.

Here are the artless samples.