Progress and vacation

First of all I want to apologize for the late update. Usually I blog once or twice a month. Nevertheless, we haven't been standing still, nor have we missed our time off. I even managed to take pictures of comet Neowise.

Comet Neowise, image by Vincent Verhoeven

In July, I was tiredly making notes for the next film in the series to help play testers. The core rules (the First and Fast) have been put into a video. After a lot of cutting, pasting and scripting, I saw the light for writing the rulebook in a comprehensive format. Although, after completion, an editor will have a bite in it, I was quite pleased with the current setup. Good examples and illustrations (more professional ones) will follow after a couple of months. So, all in all, snowballing from the videos into the rulebook was done in two weeks. Ana also managed to finish all the basic characters except for Neil Aquila. With the heat, I decided to give the project a rest. The virus-crisis has made it quite difficult for us lately, but luckily the project hasn't suffered too much delay. Diego had a hard time to in Brazil and we all decided to give the project a rest until September. So, the complete illustration of Arman Piñata and the miniatures of Neil Aquila are the first things you can expect to follow after the break.

Coloured version of Arman Piñata with background draft by Diego Sanchez (Armillary Games)

In the meantime, if you haven't noticed it already, we have posted some of the progress on social media. Honestly, I love writing articles and blogs etc., but twitter, Instagram and to some extent Facebook, is not really my cup of tea. After Diego manages to edit most of the overall graphics and illustrations, I might need to start looking for social media support. I did manage to have contact with some reviewers and such, so that's a start. Nevertheless, if you have missed any of it, I am listing some of the progress for you.

Rulebook and PnP

Print and Playtest preparations (Armillary Games)

You can find the most up-to-date version of the rulebook on the rulebook webpage.

The demonstration version has been postponed due to the second COVID-19 wave in our country, making live demonstrations impossible. So we decided to enhance the digital version, and even experimenting with a Tabletop Simulator version.

We also try to finish the draft PnP-version for playtesting, which will be an additional testing ground before the demo box print.

Video of first module

Since my idea was to video teach with different learning curves, I found out that this was the perfect way for the rulebook. If the videos are not clear enough, the rulebook will definitely become a good support and vice versa. In the future, when the game is completely done, online reviewers and how-to-play pro's will certainly do a better job than me, but at least they can base their comments on a relatively strong structure. The First and Fast rules in video format on the Game Tester Guide page.

Awesome miniatures of Jarrah Walker and Yuri Newton

The following videos are provided by Tiny Factory Studio.

Tabletopia miniatures

The digital playtest version has a deluxe version with characters (only Neil is still a standee), instruments and command modules and lunar landers. Register and check it out now! And don't worry, the physical version will only have coloured rings. A separate ring was a bit clumsy at this stage for the miniatures.

Character line-up (Tabletopia)

Orrery, continent tiles and quest cards (Tabletopia)

That's all for now. Next thing for me to do (my vacation for my day job ended) except continuing to sweat in this heat and corona wave, is completing this PnP-version and muster some time for the next video module. I don't know how this is for you guys, but social distancing for an avid board gamer is very stressful. I really wish you good sanity and health in this (physical) board game unfriendly period.

See you later!