Launched on Tabletopia!

Status

1. Rulebook v.4.2: done

2. Tabletopia launch: done

3. First and Fast video tutorial: done

4. Blind playtests: preparations

5. Gamefound: preparations (pending production quotes)

6. Video trailer: pending artwork

This month was pretty productive. The rulebook was finally finished concerning the headline rules. Sure, there are a couple of reviews and redesigns ahead of us, but this will in large be outsourced after the blind test runs. Another reason why this rulebook was so important, was for an official Tabletopia launch. In light of giving it a good start on the digital boardgame platform, I took a week to write a script, do the voiceover and film several shots to fit the script. The tutorial is just the beginners' module, but shows the basic concept perfectly. The best parts in my opinion can be found in the Solar System module, but I am aware that the Constellation module is quite satisfying as well.

This week was set to work on the Gamefound page, but a listing of all the components, measurements, pledge level groups, stretch goals and add-ons took a lot of diligent work. In part this was asked by our manufacturer for quoting. Researching all the components and numbering them in categories, opened my eyes to all the gaps. Now that I have made the complete listing, it feels quite satisfying. Now I am ready to make a draft presentation of the components on Gamefound.

I realised that the easiest and most cost-effective way to approach the campaign, was to offer a standard box and a deluxe upgrade box (in which stretch goals also fit). I am still looking for a cool design for the bundle box to fit the standard box, deluxe upgrade and the hard-cover art and science book. Add-ons will include playmats, T-shirts, Hoodies and "Art and Soul" book. Everything you might have come across in previous blogs and are not described in the current rules, will fit in one of the stretch goal packages. Until now, I count 8 packages to be spread according to the quotes. I have been pondering about a give-away within a '24H within launch pledge'... if you guys have an idea let me know. I have several options, but the production and shipping/tax quotations are key to what is possible.

Rulebook

This version of the rulebook is available for download here, but this version is also available on the Tabletopia platform and on Board Game Geek. The first blind tests for the rulebook will be done on the basis of this version. Any future updates will be first published on our rulebook page on this website.

Rulebook v.4.2.2.pdf

Download PDF • 20.78MB

Tabletopia

Nothing is more satisfying than playing a boardgame physically. Touching and manipulating those cards, dice and pawns while scheming to abuse the rules correctly as much as possible in order to hold on your illusion of cleverness until the endgame result releases the tension. Nevertheless, I have tried, to the best of my abilities, to make the game user-friendly on the Tabletopia platform. Since the 18th of March it is worldwide available and free to be scrutinized and tested.

First and Fast video tutorial

In the following tutorial you can get a hint of the basic mechanics of the game. Once the campaign starts in a month or two, I will produce tutorials for the more advanced modules 'Constellation' and 'Solar System'. Anyhow, if you have questions or remarks about the tutorial, please feel free to constructively comment below, in Board Game Geek (BGG), on Tabletopia, or via regular social media. Although I am quite happy with how the video turned out, I am learning from other publishers and designers all the time. It is an amazing journey!

PnP-download on BGG

While preparing for a prototype for multiple playtests and reviewers, I will prepare a PnP-version, which will be downloadable via BGG. I might be looking again at a Tabletop Simulator (TTS) version to generate easy PnP-files. I also think I already have a bunch of these PnP-files ready that I printed for several demo's in February.

Helping with precampaigning

Starting from next week, I will be concentrating on making a draft for the precampaign. I will be making some "small online flyers" with a link to the Gamefound countdown. I will announce the precampaign early enough, so you guys can help me spread the word by sharing. One of the most important PR-tools for the precampaign is the video trailer. So I guess this will dictate a bit the start of the precampaign. Before all this clicks, I need to check up the planning and the course of action on the Gamefound team and the team at Hexy Studio, after getting the background images for the trailer of course...

Trailer and playmats

Karol from Playmats.eu has been very supporting in offering help for our playmat designs, and I promised to provide some background images, but our illustrator is pretty busy with some redesigns and will have them soon. Those are equally important for the trailer video, which I have written a script for somewhere... lol. But in the meantime I developed the first version for the player board mat. One with astronomers, another with background stories and a fourth with probably some rockets or so will follow. But the playmats for the main boards will be featuring some new background illustrations from Diego Sanchez.

More info will follow in April. Don't hesitate to contact me for a demonstration online via Discord communication, or if you are from a board game club in Belgium or the southern part of the Netherlands, for a physical demonstration. I will leave you at that while I continue crunching numbers and conduct some design wizardry.

Bye for now!