Traveller Customizable Card Game

From tiny acorns...
almost 7 years ago – Thu, Jun 29, 2017 at 11:45:58 PM

On podcasts and over at Boardgamegeek, I've talked a little about my experience in commissioning art.  I can definitely say that it's been interesting, and I've learned a lot.

During the course of art procurement, I occasionally provided artists with sample drawings to demonstrate perspective and concept in circumstances where words may not suffice.

I was going to delete these and forever hide any proof of my profound artistic incompetence, but instead I figured I'd post a few of them here and then when you have the finished versions you'll be all the more amazed by our artists, given the direction they had to work under.

Fiddly Bits
almost 7 years ago – Thu, Jun 29, 2017 at 12:19:41 AM

tl;dr:  There's good news and there's less good (though still not bad news).  We are still on track for delivery, but our buffer time is almost all exhausted.

Full Version:

Because our Project Manager has decades of experience shepherding projects from concept to development, he had the foresight to build a significant buffer into our production schedule.  That extra time has now almost been entirely exhausted.  But not for nothing.

In our last report, we were at the templating stage.  That's taking card art, putting it within the background, adding the card text and the icons, etc.  That process is complete for ~90% of cards, and the only reason the remaining 10% are not done is because they're being improved on an individual basis. 

All the cards are printable right now, but because we knew we had some lead time to spare, we've been spending a lot of effort on what are very small changes.  These modifications are sometimes game play/balance related, sometimes aesthetic, but generally minor.  On occasion we've decided to change the wording on a particular phrase that appears across several cards, and then we have to ensure the changes are identical.

These are not the sort of changes you'd hold the project up for, and so this part of the process has been more or less a luxury.  One that will be coming to an end soon.

Since we wanted to make these card changes, we ultimately did not have any sample decks printed earlier in the month.  Instead, we had some sample playmats printed.  These are going to be used in our VAT-free shipping test.  We have already identified, contacted, and arranged with three backers in the EU to serve as guinea pigs to ensure our fulfillment procedures will be VAT-free.  

While on the subject of the playmats, I've attached here a sample image of the Beowulf playmat.  Rather than simply displaying the ship art, we've taken the opportunity to add an "Icon Key" to it.  

We know all four ship playmats will have this legend, which should help facilitate the use of icons in play.

However, whether or not we use the template and icons on the non-ship mats hasn't been 100% decided yet.  Once players have become experienced, the need for the icon key is diminished.  Others may simply prefer the traditional playmat style, which tends towards a straightforward presentation of the art.  

If you have an opinion, feel free to chime in!

We're down to the last few tweaks to be done for the cards, playmats and related items.  The rulebook is in an advanced state as well, though formatting it for print layout is still at a more basic stage.  With the cards and playmats finishing, our graphic artist will be able to turn his attention to that process very soon.  

So, in conclusion, we are on track still. Our schedule had some slack, and most of that has been exhausted due to elective (but still useful) changes.  That process has almost entirely completed, and should wrap up very soon. 

Progress Report
almost 7 years ago – Fri, Jun 02, 2017 at 10:43:28 PM

A fairly brief update.  Things progress.  All the art is done, and the cards are bring templated as we speak.  Although the overall process is easy, the various edits and revisions are time consuming and can be complicated, and it is getting this exactly right that's taking up our time.  

That being said, we are still on track for our August/September delivery date.  Tony, our Project Manager, heads to China on the 10th.  We intend to have sample cards printed during his trip, so we can see what they look like in physical form, and make any necessary changes.

We'll have another update when he returns from his trip.  For now, here's some more sample art:

The Shape of Things to Come
almost 7 years ago – Thu, May 04, 2017 at 07:24:17 PM

tl;dr version:  It's crunch time, but we're still on track.  Also, stuff about how the final card layout works.

We've rounded May, and that brings us into our critical period.  We have to have materials ready for the factory this month, or we will probably slip from August/September into September/November.  

As things stand right now, we are still on track.  The next few weeks are critical.

We have essentially finalized the card layout, and that's the real point of today's update.

I'm excited to share with you all a templating and iconography sample of the Traveller card game, because it represents a pretty sharp departure from traditional CCG practices.

Most, if not all, CCGs are heavily text based.  Each card has a text box, in which the abilities and limitations of cards are detailed.  Our game is no different in this regard. Where we have departed from the norm is in using a heavily visual, icon-based, system in place of plain text.  

In taking this step, we were heavily influenced by euro-style board games, which have really revolutionized the way game information is displayed.  By using a visual, icon-based system, players will be able to identify various game concepts quickly, and we'll be able to save space in text boxes.  Although our game is in English, since we are depending more on visual icons and less on lengthy text strings, it should also be easier for those who may have a different native language.

None of our icons are solely dependent on color, so any players who may be colorblind will still be able to rely on the content and shape.

The rulebook and play materials will contain exhaustive legends for the various icons, but we wanted to show a few today.

Here's an example, a Gear card "Med Kit"

 All card types have their own distinct icon.  For instance, Crew cards use:

Skills have icons, which identify both which skill it is, and the level of the skill.

This icon represents the Medical skill:

And then each skill comes in one of two levels, Trained (silver hexagon border) and Expert (golden circle border).

Gear may have Use abilities that the attached Crew can employ.  Use abilities are represented by an icon:

In this case, the Med Kit is used to treat injured Crew.  All Crew have Wounds, and when they run out, they are discarded.  The Med Kit can restore missing Wounds.

We recognize that perhaps not everyone will be fans of an icon-based approach.  If you come from a more traditional CCG background, you may prefer the traditional text boxes.  We thought long and hard, but ultimately we're confident that this decision provides the best combination of aesthetics, playability and clarity.

No Foolin'
about 7 years ago – Sun, Apr 02, 2017 at 12:50:00 AM

Information distributed on this particular day isn't always so reliable, but here's one update that's on the level.

The tl;dr version is we're still on track for August/September release, with a general commercial release planned for later in 2017/2018.  Also important (and so included in the summary) is that the Collector's Edition and related components will be removed from the Preorder/Late Backer link on May 1st.  The C.E. will not be available for general commercial release.  

A second important tl;dr update is that the initial decks will only include 1/3 (9 of 28) of the Backer Sponsored art.  The others will come in the next release, which we already have planned.  

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Our production schedule is on track, meeting our internal milestones.  Costs are in line with our pre-campaign estimates, and our budgeting has proven sufficient to meet our requirements.  We're currently on track for an August/September release.  A general commercial release will follow, once all backer pledges have shipped.  We anticipate that in the late 2017 / early 2018 time frame.  

We are also exploring shipping some of our orders directly from the factories, so you Asia Pacific/Oceania backers don't have to wait so long.  This isn't definite yet, but seems doable.  It'd say better than 50-50 at this point.  

Tony, our Project Manager, visited the Chinese factories in person, met with production agents and toured the manufacturing facilities.  We have received materials and quality samples, and are satisfied with the ability of our suppliers to deliver an excellent product, at cost, and according to schedule.

Card Templates have been finalized, and although our icons are not yet complete, conceptual designs have been approved.  Once the icons are settled, the only remaining graphic design requirements will be packaging, rulebook layout, and templating individual cards for printing.

Speaking of the rulebook, our Lead Developer Ian Lee is busy at work.  Card text is being finalized, taking into account playtester feedback, harmonizing verbiage, and removing mechanical artifacts from previous iterations of the game.  

Card art for the initial release sets are all commissioned, and virtually all (180 / 185) are complete.  Those still outstanding are in advanced stages.  Our art expenses have been within our initial estimates, and we're very happy with the results.  

Unfortunately, we were not able to include all 28 of the Backer Sponsored cards in the initial release.  This is due to three factors:

1)  Concept Saturation:  As expected, most backers wanted to depict their favorite Traveller character.  I'm sure it will come as no great surprise that many of these concepts contained similarities that made it impossible to include them all and still support the other mechanics necessary to play the game.  Johnny Deadeye (not an actual submission) may be cool, but we can only include so many gunslingers at once!

2)  Missing or untimely information:  Some of our backers have not yet communicated their information, or didn't get it in to us soon enough to meet our production schedule.

3)  Better Suited to the Next Release:  We already have our next release, due out around the time of our general commercial launch (so after fulfilling backer pledges), or soon after.  Some of these concepts were just better suited to these next decks.

Rest assured, all Backer Sponsored cards will be released.  We would have liked to include them all in these initial decks, not only for you, but also for us, to have another project detail crossed off the list.  But whether they come in these first decks, or in our next release, it won't be a long wait in between.

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Finally, we wanted to show you some more art, and so I went through the FFE approved pieces (our IP Licensor, Far Future Enterprises has approval over all our art) to find the four images below.

I chose these four because they came from different artists, with different styles.  Our initial sets will include work from 43 different artists, each with their own aesthetic.  We didn't want to try to enforce a particular look or harmonize the images somehow.  Instead, we are maintaining continuity by commissioning multiple pieces, so that (almost without exception) no single image is "on its own."