Less than one month to go! My Kickstarter launch date is January 23rd, 2024. It's a difficult task, trying to keep everything straight, but I'm trying. Here's what I see:

• Game Mechanics [99%]
  • The game is solid, haven't made any significant changes in a while. Basically only two loose ends here: we're adding a ship 'difficulty' meter, so ship maps are designated easy, medium, hard, etc.; and I'm still not 100% satisfied with the special feature of the Mero ship, might tweak something there.
• Game Components Specifications [85%]
  • I have a good idea of the size and shape of everything that will be in the box. The material, however, is subject to change. Several of the components are going to start as chipboard or wooden, with a potential upgrade to plastic bits depending on funding.
  • Two possible significant changes are the box height and the shape of the 'ready' tokens. The box height will need to adjust to fit the components, and I think hexagonal ready tokens will fit the theme and be easier to use than square ones.
• Game Components Graphic Design [95%]
  • The design for the game bits is mostly done. We're in the process of adding the previously mentioned difficulty indicators, and cleaning up the ship sheet backgrounds. Still need to redo the ready tokens.
• Game Art [100%]
  • Done! We've received art for all five ships and for the box.
• Rulebook Rules [98%]
  • Just tweaks at this point. Need to add a blurb for the difficulty indicator, probably near the back of the book. And there are a couple of paragraphs that could be shortened or cleaned up. Oh, and I want to add a clarification about when section points are scored.
• Rulebook Graphic Design [95%]
  • Need to incorporate text changes, including moving around illustrations to compensate. Need to add an illustration explaining the ship difficulty indicator. And need to add a 'schematic' view of one of the ships to the front of the book.
• Game Box [98%]
  • The graphic design for the box is basically done. However, as mentioned above, there is some ambiguity as to the final height of the box. (The length and width are good.) The box art can easily be modified to fit whatever the box height is, we just need to decide on the final number. This is not a trivial thing, since this will affect the carton shipping size for the game as well as the shape of any sort of organizers that end up in there.
• Game Manufacturing [98%]
  • ​I think I've determined which manufacturing company I want to use. I had a few in the running, but a couple have gone non-responsive on me, and others ended up with their price too high. That is subject to change when I get a final quote after the new year, and once I get in some physical samples of components to check for the quality, but really I don't think either of those will affect the outcome.
• Game Shipping [50%]
  • I'm currently chatting with two different shipping and fulfillment companies. At the moment, I'm not sure which I'll end up using. One of the companies is very responsive with their communications and up front with their costs, but Ouch their prices are high; the communication from the other company is more spotty than I would like but I think might be more reasonably priced. I'm being patient for the moment since it is the holiday season, but come January 1st I'd better start getting some solid talks with them.
• Game Distribution [5%]
  • This isn't something I think I'm going to be able to do, but we'll see; getting the attention of a big game distribution company is difficult as an indie developer. However, I think I might have my foot in the door at one of the distribution companies, I'm just having trouble establishing a clear line of communication, again probably due to the holidays.
• Kickstarter Page [30%]
  • A work in progress. My graphic designer is hammering out the page layout and creating the graphics right now. So far it's looking pretty good; all of the pieces there create a coherent and thematic presentation of the game. It's just not complete yet. We're still working out details like the exact ordering of the sections, and graphics for Kickstarter parameters that are still in flux like the pledge tiers and stretch goals.

• Kickstarter Video [50%]
  • Also a work in progress. I've hired a company to create this video for me (since that isn't in my skill set), and provided them with all of the graphic assets they'll need.
  • I've also commissioned a voice actor to create a voice-over for the video, as well as used text-to-speech software to generate another voice. (Normally I'd be opposed to using computer-generated voice assets instead of paying an actual actor for their work, but the character in question is the robotic voice of the ship's computer so it's actually appropriate here.)
  • Don't have an exact ETA for completion but it should be well before launch day.
• Kickstarter Math [50%]
  • I have a good idea of the game's manufacturing price, including what the component upgrades (read: stretch goals) will cost.
  • I also have a pretty good idea of how Kickstarter fees work.
  • I'm a little hazy on the freight shipping costs, though that should sort itself out after the new year once I'm able to talk to them again.
  • Fulfillment shipping costs will be the responsibility of the backers (my apologies to the backers) so that's not part of the calculation.
  • I don't know how stuff like import taxes and fees is going to play out, again that's the domain of the shipping companies. (Unfortunately, I don't think I will be able to do 'friendly' shipping outside of North America.)
  • My current projected funding goal for the KS is $10,000. This might change based on the final quotes for manufacturing and shipping.
• Kickstarter Tiers [80%]
  • My goal is to keep the campaign tiers as simple as possible. Tiers for one, two, and four games, and one VIP tier for anyone that did the pre-campaign reservation. Possibly a 'retailer' tier too, depending on the demand. I want the upgraded bags to be treated as an add-on, available in both the KS and pledge manager.
  • The one game tier will likely be $25 (that seems to be the ideal number from both a cost and a perceived value perspective), with the multiple game tiers costing a little less per game (I think $45 for 2, $85 for 4, though those numbers aren't solid yet). Bag add-ons will most likely be $15 each.
• Kickstarter Stretch Goals [60%]
  • These are my ideas (not in order):
    • Upgrade the cubes from wood to opaque plastic
    • Further upgrade the cubes from opaque plastic to translucent plastic with multicolor symbols
    • Upgrade the ready tokens from chipboard to plastic
    • Upgrade the energy disc from wooden to plastic
    • Further upgrade the energy disc to have the 'energy' (lightning bolt) symbol screen printed on
    • Upgrade the energy sideboard to be dual-layer, so it can have a 'groove' to slide the energy disc around in
    • Upgrade the box with spot UV coating to highlight the ship on the front
  • I still need to more accurately price all these out; that will come with the quote update I get from the manufacturing company after the new year.
• Kickstarter Add-On [50%]
  • Bags! I'm still working with the seamstress to get the design of the handmade canvas bags finalized. It's mostly going okay, though there is a little bit of trouble sourcing the materials for the bags. She's managed to shrink the size down to be more manageable, definitely a positive change. She has also offered to attach my company logo in the middle of one of the bag sides, and while it sounds like a great idea in theory I'm still deciding if the result is what I want.
• Online Advertising [50%]
  • This is where a lot of my time has been going lately. So far my ads are still kind of in 'test' mode, soaking up mailing list entries and gathering reservations. I assume that's going to change once the new year hits; my plan it to start cranking the ads up and hope that my audience information is close enough that I'll start raking in more interest in the game.
• In-Person Advertising [50%]
  • I've been trotting my prototype out to various local game conventions as I can get to them, with pretty good results; most people that play the game really like it.
  • I'm currently ramping up efforts to have physical promotional materials created (read: flyers), and get those distributed to various gaming spots around town. So far so good, even if it is a rather expensive endeavor. :P
• Game Reviews [50%]
  • I have sent out a total of twelve preview copies to various media content creators. Out of those, I have seen two completed videos so far, and I have promises from about half a dozen others that they will have something up in January. I guess that's a good return?
  • I also have a couple of promises from creators that they will do various streams and/or interviews with me around the time of the KS launch. I'm not as confident in these but here's hoping they pan out.

Whew, that's a lot. And knowing me, I might have forgotten something in there. But hopefully that gives a glimpse into what's going on behind the curtain.

Behold, the box art for Stellar Drift!

We finally got in the last of the artwork for the game, and arguably the most important part, the box art! After some tweaks and positioning of the game information, this is the result. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. The typical reaction I get from people when I show this to them is "Wow"; I will take that as a positive. :)

As far as the rest of the visuals, the game's graphic design is still in progress. However, we're mostly down to little nitpicks and visual touches now; all the big important stuff is done. Looking forward to having a finished product soon.

The next major step is to start getting the Kickstarter page ready. We're having another company create a video for the Kickstarter. My graphic designer is ramping up to start working on the visuals for that page. I've been in contact with various previewers, making sure they will have their content ready for me to link to from the KS campaign. We've been discussing stuff like what tiers we're going to offer and what the prices for everything will be.

One concern I have at the moment is shipping. Unlike with Manaforge, the shipping landscape nowadays is that shipping charges are handled after the fact, in the pledge manager. This is good, because I don't have to make guesses as to the cost of shipping and roll that into the pledge tiers; the tiers will be for the product only, and so will be lower as a result. The flip side of that coin, however, is trying to decide where I can ship to. My original intent was to only ship to North America (so, the U.S. and Canada), but I'm starting to see interest in the game from overseas and I don't want to shut that option completely out. I'll probably end up doing worldwide shipping anyway, though I likely won't be able to offer "region friendly" shipping, which is a compact way of saying that the customer won't have to worry about duties or import fees. I won't know for sure until I speak more closely with the shipping companies, though.

One last thing I need to do but I've been hesitating about, is to lock down the launch date. At the moment, I'm currently targeting January 23rd, 2024 as my launch date. This hits all the targets: a Tuesday after the new year, as early as possible, but still giving time for advertising to work and for people to get back into their usual routines after recovering from the holidays. I'm only hesitating because I don't know what other roadblocks I'm going to hit (trust me, there have been a few), but really the longer I wait the harder it will be to get everything coordinated. Ugh.

Oh, and you might have noticed the URL in the above image. I'm trying to circulate this link as much as possible; I really need everyone I can get to be on board with backing the project right as it launches. The more people back within the first 48 hours, the more attention Kickstarter will give the project, which will in turn attract more backers. 

Need to get ready for the big push. The plan is to kick everything into full gear right after the new year. Get ready January, here I come! :)

Ooof, it's been more than two months since I last posted. I've been super busy and lost track of the time. What have I been doing, you might ask? Welp. I've been working with my artist to get the spaceship and box art completed. I've been working with my graphic designer to get the rulebook ready and start transitioning the game from the preview version to what we'll be actually sending to the printers. I've been in talks with a company to do the main video for the Kickstarter page. And, I've been doing the one thing I never thought I would do myself...

Advertising.

Yeah, marketing is totally not my thing. I am a software engineer and game designer, and getting the word out about products doesn't fall into either of those skill sets. So, to that end, I've been working with a company called LaunchBoom. They basically gave me a crash course in marketing, from defining my product, to creating a landing page, to taking out ads on Facebook and Instagram, with probably a hundred steps and considerations in between. I'm nowhere close to being an expert on the subject now, but at least I know more now about it than I did two months ago.

Part of this process has been ad testing. This testing consists of running test advertisements, several at a time, with only one key difference between them. (Could be a difference in the ad image or in the text of the ad.) I think they called it single-variable testing? The idea being that, since all else is equal, the version of the ad that gets the most attention must have the best of whatever that variable piece is. So, if I'm running ads with different images (like, oh say, two different 'product' photos, one photo of the game in progress at a con, and some image I put together in Photoshop using the game assets), whichever one gets the most attention must have the best image. So...  there you go. (The winning image, btw, is the one above. Apparently I'm better with Photoshop than I am with a camera. :)

One side effect of this ad testing is that I've been getting attention on Stellar Drift. I have a brand new shiny email list with not quite two hundred email addresses on it, all people interested in the game. I've also been accumulating 'reservations', which is a marketing gimmick that LaunchBoom uses to secure backers before the campaign even starts. Basically, backers do a pre-pledge of $1 (they call it a 'VIP reservation') before the campaign starts, and in return they get preferred status during the KS campaign. Generally this preferred status comes in the form of a discounted price during the KS. However, LaunchBoom also has an alternate strategy that is supposed to attract even more of these reservations, and that is to offer some extra goodie along with the Kickstarter product.

As it so happens, I was recently at a gaming local convention, and we happened to run across a pair of ladies that made hand-sewn cloth and canvas goods. We got to talking, and somehow managed to get them to agree to make some upgraded goodies for Stellar Drift. Specifically, they are willing to make handmade canvas and cloth bags to hold the game's cubes. This works out perfectly, as I was already considering having upgraded bags be a stretch goal or something similar. The bags that will come with Stellar Drift will be functional but not necessarily impressive. Single color plain cloth or velvet, the only distinctive thing being that the bags are 'wide' (large mouth but shallow, so it's easy to reach into and grab cubes) compared to a typical dice bag.

The upgraded bags will be dual layer (cloth interior with a canvas exterior) so they will be highly durable. The canvas will be a single color but we're considering being able to offer a choice of colors. And the interior cloth will be printed with some sort of outer space pattern. We're still working out the details but I've seen a couple of prototypes of the bags and they are very impressive. (I will go into them more in another post.)

So, for my KS campaign, anyone that has donated the $1 before the campaign starts will be entitled to one of these bags at no extra cost. Of course I will make the bags available to everyone, but they will cost significantly more. (I haven't worked out the exact number yet, but I'm thinking $10 to $15.) At least the bags will go out with the games, so there shouldn't be any significant increase in the shipping cost to backers.

So yeah, learning about marketing and getting all the worked out has been my focus for the recent months. The landing page for gathering email addresses and $1 reservations is up and running. The ad testing is winding down soon and I think I'm close to having the winning ad worked out. Still working on the bags but I think we're getting the details worked out too.

Oh, and if anyone is interested in taking a look at the landing page and adding their email into the mix, here ya go:
https://tinyurl.com/4xjk8wxt

More to come! I have art to show off, and of course I want to give a closer look at the upgraded bags!

New post time! Catching up with what I've been up to over the past couple of weeks.

Graphic Design & Artwork

The image above represents how far the appearance of the game has come since I was in development mode. The left is my prototype, the right is with both the new graphic design and the ship artwork added. (Yup, the ships will have artwork! This is the first completed one, the other four are currently in progress.) Same game, same mechanics, but quite a bit more polished, if I do say so myself. There are still a few improvements left to do; I want to improve the background and give the 'unstable star' in the far back a lot more presence, and I want to put a frame of some sort around the ship name so it's not just... well... floating there. But it's still come a long way.

Kickstarter Prelaunch

I did it! After some various gymnastics with Kickstarter, I've managed to get the prelaunch thing figured out. (It's not all that difficult, but it does take some inside knowledge.) Anyone can now navigate to the URL and see the KS campaign stub, complete with a 'notify me' button:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1333804104/stellar-drift-a-pull-and-write-board-game

On top of that, you may have noticed the QR code in the top-right of the image. Scan that in and follow the link and it will take you to the same prelaunch page. Win!

Preview Copies

We are getting close to having some preview copies of Stellar Drift in hand. I've started placing orders for the various parts, not a small feat considering that I'm having to order from multiple print-on-demand places together to get this done. (Different companies have different specialties and prices, I'm doing what I can to not spend all of my budget on this step.) It will be a couple of weeks until I have everything, between time to print everything plus time to get it shipped here. But it should be worth the wait.

Previewers

I've been a little lax here. I haven't picked up much in the way of new content creators since I last posted. But I have a plan to fix that. A few new avenues of finding people have opened up recently, and over the next week I'm planning on poking into that particular pool. I'd like to think that Stellar Drift has enough visual presence at this point that just showing it to people and giving them a brief overview is enough to spark at least a little interest. I'm hoping that will be enough as I try to convince content creators to actually play the game and post their opinions on it ​on their media(s) of choice. And with the preview copies coming in soon, my chances of that working out go way up. Here's hoping.


That's it for now. I should have more to report once the preview game copies start showing up. I'm still aiming for January 2024 to run my Kickstarter campaign, so far there haven't been any major obstacles to that. Here's hoping it stays that way!

I've been really busy here lately trying to get ready for a Kickstarter early next year. Feels like my attention is split quite a few ways right now. Here's where I am:

Manufacturing

I've started the process of trying to find a company to manufacture Stellar Drift. It's interesting putting together an actual full component list for the game for the first time; you have to come up with a lot of details that you don't need when you're just prototyping: exact component sizes, materials, printing processes, component finish coatings, possible upgrades/stretch goals... and I'm sure I'm forgetting other stuff. Most (not all) of the companies I've reached out to have responded, and I've gotten one quote already! Think I'm gonna need a few more before I can settle on what the likely manufactured price of Stellar Drift will be tho.

And yes, the company that manufactured Manaforge (Meijia) was one of the companies I contacted. I sent them my component list, still waiting to hear a confirmation that they have what they need.

Previewers

I've also started contacting various content creators about making preview videos and/or just getting attention for the game. So far so good, most of the people I've contacted have responded to me that they are available. Some are from the group of people that previewed Manaforge, some are friends I've made along the way, some are brand new (to me, anyway).

One thing I'm a little surprised by is that many more of the previewers are asking for payments. Note that I don't consider that a bad thing; some people do this sort of thing for their living and they deserve to be compensated for the time and effort they put into it. I'm fine with that. The issue is only that I have a limited budget for advertising, and this will eat into that, so I have to be mindful about where every dollar goes.

I know I still need to contact a few more; no such thing as too much attention, and some of the people I have commitments from have smaller audiences.

Conventions

A couple of weeks ago we went to Game and Party Con in Jacksonville FL. This was a very good convention for gaming! (The con location was...  not great, but the con organizers did their best to make it work anyway.) Stellar Drift made its first appearance with the upgraded components, and let me just say wow!, the upgrade had a huge effect. I got of interest in the game, both with people asking to play, and with people stopping as they walked by to watch and get more info. Very successful time for my new game! This says that Stellar Drift has some serious table presence; I don't recall Manaforge getting that kind of attention. Also met a few people that might end up being more previewers.

(The photo above is from that convention.)

I know I'm attending at least one more convention this year, so hopefully I will get a similar amount of attention there. And next time I will be more prepared; for this past con I didn't have any printed materials to pass out to interested people. This time I want to have something I can hand out, as well as a way to direct people to my...

Kickstarter Prelaunch

So, this is a new thing to me. I guess I've seen a couple of these recently, but I didn't know what they were.

Kickstarter now has a feature called a prelaunch page. Unlike a Kickstarter 'preview', where you open up your Kickstarter page before it launches so you can get feedback, a 'prelaunch' page is a little stub of a web page with a quick blurb about your upcoming project. It shows the name of your project, a quick description, one image, and, most importantly, a big 'notify me' button for people to press to receive a notification when the project launches. Very good place to direct people to when you want them to be ready to back your project as soon as its available.

I'm working to get one of those ready to go, so that when people express interest in Stellar Drift, I can direct them there. I might try adding a QR code to any flyers I make that will redirect people to that page. Or something. Unfortunately, it requires that the Kickstarter main page be at least somewhat complete before you can create the prelaunch, but that's something I need to do anyway so it's a small price to pay.


Aaand that's what I've been dealing with recently. Still full speed ahead for as long as I can, trying to get ready for (hopefully) a January 2024 launch. So far so good!

We're officially announcing a change to the price of Manaforge! Instead of $40, Manaforge will now be available for purchase for just $30. As always, Manaforge can be purchased on Amazon, as well as at various game stores around the Orlando area. (Do you want your favorite store to carry Manaforge? Have them contact us and we'll make it happen!)

Got a printer? Don't forget to download the print and play file to create your own mana abacus accessory! The PDF download is available here:
http://www.mystictigergames.com/Manaforge/Mana_Abacus_PnP.pdf

Happy Crafting!

Got a shiny new toy in the mail today.

About a week ago, I placed an order with Print and Play Games to have some prototype sheets made for Stellar Drift. Not for a full game, but just for the important parts; the various writable sheets and the energy sideboards. The graphic design is still in progress for everything else.

I got the notification that this was in the mailbox, so I ran out to grab it like a kid on Christmas Day. Got it inside, tore the packaging open, and found this.

Wow. This is amazing!

No, that's not right, let's try that again...

This. Is. AMAZING!

Okay better. :)

This puts everything my home printer puts out to shame! Compared to what I can make at home, the colors on this are so vibrant, the gradients show up well, the symbols are clear, and everything just pops out of the page! I remember they did a good job before with making prototypes for Manaforge, but I think this one might even be better. :)

Can't say everything came out 100% perfect, though. While they did do an outstanding job with the print quality, the sizes of the components are slightly off. I don't know where the source of that mismatch is, but the size miss is suspiciously close to the amount of bleed we provided around the source image; I'm thinking there was a miscommunication about how all that should have worked.

Still, that's the entire point of this test run, flushing out any glitches like that so I can get exactly what I'm expecting when I do finally order a large batch of preview copies. So, a successful failure? With this print quality though it's hard to call it a failure.

This also serves the other intended purpose; I now have a high-quality prototype that I can show off at game stores and conventions. And there just happens to be plenty of those to work with. Counting this as a win! :)

After four years of design, playtesting, development, playtesting, tweaks, playtesting, and a change of name, we're happy to announce that our pull-and-write game Stellar Drift will officially become a thing!

Look for more announcements soon! We're currently aiming to run a Kickstarter within the coming months, either towards the end of 2023 or at the beginning of 2024 (probably the latter).

If you want to be sure that you're notified when we decide on a crowdfunding date, you can add yourself to our mailing list! Just add in your email address here:

​Thanks everyone!

Round two of me trying to start posting more often. Today's post is about my gaming having a...

New Look

As you might have noticed from the image on this post, we've been hard at work on making Stellar Drift look good. I say 'we' because there's no way I could have done this on my own. Instead, I recruited the services of Justin Lynch, the graphic designer that worked on Manaforge, to make this game shine. And so far he's been doing a great job of it. The images for the ship track boards aren't quite ready yet, but the ship sheets themselves are more than presentable. (And that's not even with the ship artwork that's currently being worked on.)

All the same concepts from my prototype version are here, just better.

• The squares representing the cost to repair for each ship space now have extra symbols inside of them, to make them easier to tell apart and to help with color-blindness issues. (The plan is to make the cubes pulled from the bag have the same symbols on them. Not exactly sure yet how I'm going to pull that off.)
• The ship 'sections', regions of the same background color, now have a background texture, again to help with ease of recognition.
• All of the reward symbols have been changed out. Only the 'engines' symbol looks anything like the original. (Well, and the 'ladder' symbol, but there's only so much you can do with that.)
• The current background is a placeholder, but it's closer to what the final one will look like. (We're not in a Nebula anymore, but instead floating around an unstable star. Expect that that will feature in the final version.)
• The silver frame is also a placeholder. The final ships will be enclosed by artwork making the whole thing look like an actual spaceship. For reference, think of the video game FTL: Faster Than Light.

The end result here looks much more polished than the brightly colored mess that was my prototype. And this is just one sheet...  there are plenty more to go.

This is starting to actually look like a professional game. Who'da thought? :)

Two months, huh? Yeah, it's been too long since I last posted. Life's been more crazy than usual lately. Development of my game has not stopped, though.  I think I have too much information to post it all in one go, so I'm going to break this up into many posts over (hopefully) a few days. Currently, my biggest piece of news is that my game has a...

New Name

Since I lost the "Nebula" name for my game, I've been struggling to pick a new one. (See my previous posts.) Well, I guess a new name picked me. I've been asking around, looking for inspiration, making lists, even consulting with an AI chat engine, all to try to find something I like. I was under the assumption that a name would just 'click', like I would hear it and go "yup that's the new name".

But that never happened.

Instead, out of all the suggestions, all the words that I've been trying in various combinations, all the researching existing games, all the pondering, I think I've found something that works. Rather than being perfect, it's more like this choice was the least bad. As in, it's the only one that hasn't gotten eliminated due to one reason or another. I've mentioned it to several people, and the reactions to it have been...  okay. Not fantastic, not exciting, just...  okay. "That sounds good", "I like that", "Yeah that fits", "Better than what you had before". Reactions that sound kinda lukewarm, but that are in no way negative. Since I'm tired of this search and I need to decide on something now, I guess that means that that's what I'm using. So, to end the suspense, the new name for my game is... <drum roll>

Stellar Drift: Pull & Write

<fanfare>

With that out of the way, I can start with anchoring the game to the new name, including getting an entry on BGG and setting up the requisite groups and pages on various social media.

Now, this name is by no means unique. Plenty of stuff has the same name. But, to the best of my knowledge, there is no widely published board game called Stellar Drift. Scientific usage? Tons, it is an astronomical term after all, a fact that I'm actually kind of exploiting here. Video games? Yes, both games of games and key names within video games. Card games? A couple of instances of a specific card in a game being named that, but not an enitre game. Board games? Eh, one attempt by someone to design a social game for a design contest five years ago, doesn't seem like much came of that. So, I think I'm pretty much in the clear.

Next step is to get on BGG and officially add Stellar Drift to the database. A quick search tells be the name is still clear, so I need to do that to make sure I don't lose it again. Look for an official announcement post once that clears the BGG mods.