Strategic Overview Text (for Tuck Boxes)
almost 8 years ago
– Sat, Jan 28, 2017 at 11:56:38 PM
Hi Backers,
Two days ago marked our final illustration...the nuclear missile silo (though we still have some clean-up to do). Rather than show you more pictures of the Cold War Deck though, I thought I would share the tuck box descriptions I am working on. They will be printed on the back of each tuck box. These are short 2-4 sentence descriptions that are supposed to provide a thematic and strategic overview of each Era deck, without being too specific. I hope this will be more interesting to those of you that are eager to hear more about the strategic style of play that each deck offers.
We are working on the graphic card layouts still (the illustrative details that go *around* the illustrations, where the stats and symbols of the card will be), and I hope to show you where we are at with that in the next week, regardless of our progress.
Which deck sounds the most interesting to you strategically? Thanks!
Graphic Design
about 8 years ago
– Tue, Nov 15, 2016 at 09:16:12 PM
Hi Backers,
Just wanted to let you know that we will be resuming the graphic design of Era beginning next week. I will be doing my best to oversee the art files and have them read as promised by January. We also will be finishing the art for 15th and final Era deck.
This is where things finally start to take shape and I hope you all will be encouraged by what you see. I will also be doing several large playtesting rounds at nearby/willing hobby stores to ensure each Era deck is in the absolute best shape it can be. In my experience with Nova Cry, even last minute playtesting revealed small balance issues that I originally thought were taken care of. Every additional playtest almost always makes a difference. So I say this to say I hope you do not see further Era playtesting as a worrisome negative but a positive.
I know this project has been a giant tortoise in many respects, inching its way through each step with sometimes painfully slow progress, but I hope as the finish line starts to appear on the horizon, some of you will begin to feel relieved and possibly excited again.
Thank you as always for your support,
Steve
Response to Upset Backers
over 8 years ago
– Wed, Sep 21, 2016 at 12:59:17 AM
Hi Everyone,
I have been reading the comments of our previous update,
where I announced yet another delay. I understand the exhaustion (and
disinterest) many of you feel for a product that is taking so long to deliver. I
have had KS games that delivered 6-9 months late, and if I felt irritation for
those projects, I can imagine what you feel for my own campaign is much worse.
Making a Kickstarter is very hard, and I hope to breakeven
on this game given the large amount of content I promised. If I make a profit,
it will be in aftermarkets. This is a passion product...although I realize that
to everyone’s wallets it makes no difference.
I feel that both of my Kickstarters overreached a bit. I
wanted to deliver—especially with Era—tons of content, tons of art, and
production quality as good as the companies I admire most, such as Fantasy
Flight. I think this is a poor way to
approach Kickstarter and I fully admit that at this point. As I look back on
how Nova Cry turned out, I think many were impressed with the final
product, but I am not sure the happy ending covered the sting of such a long wait.
The philosopher Baltasar Gracian said, “A happy finish makes everything shine,
no matter how unfitting the means may have been.” I am not sure he was right.
No refunds will be given, but I don’t say that with any defensiveness
or satisfaction. The loss on my end is seeing so many of you become upset or even distrustful of myself as a creator. Both of my campaigns have
begun in excitement, progressed with trepidation, and turned the final corner
with, understandably, a lot of disgust and impatience from my backer base. I have this process down pat,
unfortunately!
Kickstarter is interesting. I think it draws in skilled
managers, but I also think it draws in “purists”—creators who are primarily excited at the
thought of bringing their idea to life exactly as they first envisioned it. This mindset is very different than a managerial one that adapts and focuses
exclusively on a clean campaign: collecting funds, scheduling everything to a T, padding the campaign with wide margins, and delivering
the product without issue. I fully admit there are many KS creators who have
been able to do both (Jamey Stegmaier’s “Scythe” campaign), and I wish I could have juggled the many needs of this campaign as skillfully as they did. As I reflect on my mindset towards this project, I can relate more with--if you will pardon the terrible metaphor--the "Francis Ford Coppola" type, whose filming often met constant delays, went drastically over budget,
and whose creative ambition determined each step of the process, often to the chagrin of the production studio. I don't make that comparison of myself endearingly--I think the purist mindset is a bad way to approach Kickstarter.
None of this is meant to squelch the frustration everyone
feels. This update is more or less trying to explain how my ideals have guided this campaign, and why my approach has caused the delays that it has. For example, I am not happy with the art of one of the
earlier Era decks. It is going to take a
lot of discipline for me to not spend more money, out of my own pocket, to want
to fix that deck. What on earth would possess a Kickstarter creator to spend his
own money to tweak an already acceptable product, and anger more backers to boot by
causing more delays? Shouldn't I care about whether backer ABC will back me in the future, far more than I care if deck XYZ is not meeting my standards? I am aware of the costs I am incurring by wanting Era to turn out as I want it to be.
I also wanted to give more background regarding the delays of this campaign in general: I lost my original illustrator (update #35) early in the
campaign, and had to source out new talent without breaking our budget. I was
unable to find illustrators willing to do individual decks for the
compensation I offered, (I was getting "no" to the question: "Would you be interested in doing 12
illustrations for the Samurai deck?"). The project was appealing only as a total package, meaning the art load would have to be carried by one illustrator across a long schedule. There were overseas illustrators willing to do individual decks, but
there would have been a drastic drop in the quality and uniformity of the game.
Probably my worst decision was not employing the subcontractors that my new illustrator had available (i.e. spreading out the art work). I was loath to switch to new talent since our current illustrator
was putting out such excellent work (and the response in the updates to the art was very positive). We could have saved a few months had we used his subs, but again, I did not want to risk disrupting the uniform look of the game, or bring on art that paled in comparison with our current artist that had clearly discovered his stride. (His Invention deck art was good, but his Renaissance deck was stellar).
For myself, my campaigns are--and continue to be--a tug of war between the practical and idealistic. Again, I understand everyone's frustrations here and am truly sorry I cannot do more. Delivering a high quality Kickstarter requires juggling multiple constraints, ideals, and demands, and I have not always met those requirements successfully.
Thank you for reading
this, and I hope to have more to share with you as it becomes available.
-Steve
Progress Update
over 8 years ago
– Tue, Sep 20, 2016 at 12:20:57 AM
Hi Backers,
Thank you all for your patience. I thought I would share with
you an overview of where everything stands with Era right now.
#1: We will have
final cards (with graphic design) by December/January. We have 14 of
the 15 art decks completed, but we have met some new delays with the art (the
fault is on me, not my team). It is important to me that everything meets my
standards for quality and presentation, and it is difficult working within the
thin parameters of our Kickstarter budget for a release of this stature. If you
would like to see the quality of one of my completed Kickstarter games, please
see this unboxing video of Nova Cry. Era and its expansions, once done,
will have three times as many cards and over three times as much art (+200) as Nova
Cry.
#2: For those
interested in playtesting, I will be bringing Era to the Madison Protospiel.
I will be bringing feedback forms and will hopefully be able to put the final
touches of balance into all 15 decks (yes, it’s a balancing nightmare). If it's apparent more issues still need to be resolved, I will have until November to continue playtesting. I
have been able to chew on these decks for years, and I will do my best to
deliver as finely a balanced game as I am capable of. Also, if you would
like to see other’s impressions of the early print and play, you can visit Era's homepage at boardgamegeek for more info.
#3: Because of art
delays, we are pushing back the delivery date by 3 months, from March to
June 2016. I again, apologize for the delays.
#4: We have had several companies (some very large) express an interest in distributing
and licensing Era. If these deals go through, the game could reach a
broader audience and would mean more available players for everyone else. This has also been another heavy reminder to me to make everything about Era as perfectly as I can.
As new information becomes available, I will share it with you all. Thank you backers!
-Steve
