Just wanted to let you know I decided to run the Kickstarter campaign for my board game after all.
Initially I delayed it indefinitely due to Corona situation, then I realised we are in for a longer period so it makes no sense to delay .
Just wanted to get your feedback, maybe you see some ways to improve, maybe you want to contribute in successfully funding it?
I have been analyzing the slow week first week, figuring out what impacted it, how to improve etc. I will not go into it now, I will rather create an in depth post about it if anyone is interested. I will do it when in a week or when the campaign ends, since there would be a lot in there. It could be a study in itself. About product placement, targeting strategies, marketing approaches, impact of various social media and content creators, industry situation in covid times, moving production to EU as opposed to China manufacturing, determining your price properly in order to enter retail and major distribution etcâŚ
I really donât know who plays board games here and who doesnât. Do share what kind of games you usually play, if you do like them .
I play anything, from party and very light games to deeper strategy or wargames.
I prefer heavier games, what some call brain burners, but elegantly designedâŚI donât want to be burning my brain just because something is overly complicated when it shouldnât be :).
I am into gaming. I do dig heavier games and enjoy cooperative and somewhat on-the-border games (I consider bloodbound, tragedy looper, betrayal at house on the hill, fog of love âborderâ games, as they cover a somewhat special niche and interest me without being super-playable or necessarily âcleverâ).
Then, looking at what I manage to play regularly are more simple or group-based games (Codenames, Azul, King of Tokyo âŚ).
I have a decent collections of games and can say something about each of them and are willing to playtest (my group will not play any 2h+ game though).
In the holiday I am just returning from we bought Spirit Island and played it at two now a handful of times. Cannot judge ultimatively, but I do understand why it has people loving it.
Where are you based right now? I am preparing two game designs for 2 different design contests. One is a very easy and fast 2 player head to head card game based on kickboxing (I think I will later retheme it into something very fun to make it more family friendly). It has 54 cards, 2x A4 pages of rules and requires any kind of coins or similar to keep track of points in rounds.
Let me know if itâs something you would like to try out . Already have few friends playing it but itâs really good to get more eyes on it and hear different opinions.
Game dynamic is a bit like Uno. You can connect combos, the opponent can dodge, block and counterhit. There is an exchange of initiative and the player hand actually represents his fatigue. Less cards you have, more tired you are, therefor have much less options in combat. It forces you to rest (in real kickbox it would be like keeping distance and letting the opponent take initiative). Each time you give the initiative to the opponent you draw cards. If you do it more times in a row, you draw +1 card each time. So first time you draw 1, but third time you draw 3 cards.
There are also effects like KO, dazed or breathless. Breathless for example makes you discard a card and it happens if an opponent landed a 3-hit combo and the last hit was in your body.
Didnât work out but thatâs okay. I knew that very early on and I learned a lotâŚit also didnât cost me so much money. It cost me a lot of time and energy over 2 months but thanks to corona measures taken I had way more time on my hands anyways . I will be writing a detailed analysis next week.
Maybe you should just contact Chvatil and Wizkids. Afair in the testing and developing process there was a independent guy involved. They love their fans and it looks as you would know more than enough about your craft and passion!
No promises, but feel free to send me the prototype. There is a bell ringing about a fighting game where your hand equals your health. I read something about that idea somewhere but cannot remember where.
Wrt to prototype creation: Squib Rocks! (and it is written in the Ruby programming language, which I enjoy a log).
What is the idea for the other contest? I always wanted to prototype a game but never actually found the patience to sit down and do that. Maybe in a calm month we can have a videocall and chat for fun. Feel free to PM me.
Thanks, very useful tool! Looks really simple as well.
The other idea is a medieval heroic fantasy battle royale style game with a touch of HOMM. Still hesitating between 2 ways of battle resolution. One is card based and the other is tactical combat style like Heroes of Might and Magic. I would prefer the other one but need to figure out a way to keep it short enough and to keep all other players engaged in a way.
As for Wizkids and Chvatil, he is an awesome designer and ofc would be a pleasure to work with him. Didnât work out for totally different reasons though, linked to the business side of things. I donât think Wizkids are interested in someone who is self publishing as well
Here is the main image for the kickboxing game. For this contest I need to own all the art so itâs a fun challenge in itself . I am not gonna pay an illustrator for a project in such an early phase so I am drawing everything.
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. Already have few friends playing it but itâs really good to get more eyes on it and hear different opinions.
. I will be writing a detailed analysis next week.