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Roll with the Punches: Production complete!

Dearest Dicetopians!

Production is finally complete for Roll with the Punches and all the new stretch goals and addons! I’ve just received the final versions, so I won’t waste any space with anymore text. Here we go! 😀

Roll with the Punches Expansion!

All the boxed content of the expansion!
The dice including the very cool new orange Magmacorium Dice!
The new green player color!
Rule sheets for English, German & French!
The new factions!
The Mission, Scenario, Blood Dome & Quick Guide Cards!
The tuck box for Mission Cards!
Works like a charm even with all cards sleeved!
The Wasteland Board and extra Faction Board!
Protection tokens & First player marker!
Protected die! Hands off 🙂

Overall, I’m really happy with the quality! Some things turned out even better than I imagined, like the tuck box and the tokens. If I were to nitpick, I would have liked slightly more vibrant colors for the wasteland board, and as expected, the back of the cards slightly differs from the core game (but that’s the reason for including the tuck box to draw cards from).

The Faction Board we got also wasn’t glued on properly,  but hopefully we were just unlucky with that particular piece, as this hasn’t been a widespread problem with the core game. The text on the Quick Guide Cards was also a bit hard to read without picking it up. It looked fine in the pdf, but in print it didn’t work as well which is a bit unfortunate, but no biggie.

The only real downer was something discovered on the french & german faction cards. There seems to be a very unfortunate layer-mixup with the neighbourhood summary text on them, with the text being in english. Extremely annoying, but the faction abilities did turn out right in all native languages, and players can easily grab one of the old faction cards if they need a summary of the neighbourhoods. Still, VERY frustrating to see a simple printing error like this slip past and I sincerely apologize to our german & french backers!

A nicer surprise though was that both the expansion board and the faction board has a slightly thicker bottom layer compared to the standard components, making them a bit sturdier without making them look out of place.

Ok, let’s take a look at the stretch goals!

Stretch Goals!

Stretch goals for Roll with the Punches! Dice bag, Co-Op Heist Pack, LED First Player Marker & Steve Promo Faction Card!
The Heist Pack that turns the game on its head, transforming it to a co-op!

Really happy with how the stretch goals turned out! The dice bag looks and feels great, the LED First Player Marker is just as over the top as I was hoping for (also works excellent as a coaster 🙂

And finally, here are the new addons!

Addons!

All the new addons!
The big box next to its smaller sibling!
The back of big box!
New agents signing on!
The colorblind friendly solid dice!
Dice comparison!

The big box turned out really cool! I decided to go with a matte finish this time as the UV effect on the logo wouldn’t be noticeable with a shiny finish. I’m personally a sucker for glossy vibrant finishes, but it did turn our really nice (even though the UV effect was surprisingly discreet), I especially love the backside with the motif of the map in big scale!

As for the new meeple pack and the colorblind dice, they look and feel really great! Hopefully everyone will be able to play the game now without any difficulties what so ever!

First game with final components selfie!

DELIVERY

Ok, so when will all of this reach backers!? Like I wrote earlier in the comment section; the production unfortunately took some extra time as we ran into some hurdles and had to remake the box to fit everything, and remake the clear dice and the led marker, which caused a 3 week delay. But we’re told the shipment will finally head out from China on October 1st now, so the goods should arrive in our warehouse early November. Once we receive it we will kick things off immediately and start shipping out to everybody! So the vast majority should expect to see it arriving before the end of November!

ESSEN SPIEL & LOCAL PICKUP

As for Essen pickups, we will airship a very small portion to the fair, to have available for backers who’ve chosen the pickup delivery option (booth 5-J109), and have what’s left on sale to cover the cost of the booth and the airship freight. For pickup at Dice Café in Stockholm, Sweden, we’ll send out a mail notification to everyone it concerns once available in early November!

Can’t wait to get it out to you all! The expansions is definitely a massive boost for the game!

LATE PLEDGE OPEN FOR GOONS!

The Kickstarter for our upcoming game, the henchmen simulator Goons, was funded in August and now we’ve opened up late pledging for everyone that missed out! Definitely feel very welcome to check it out!

All the very best!

/Tobias

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Designing a Dicetopia #2 – The Dice & Hidden Information

If your curious about how this game came about, here is some reading about the process and ideas that went into the game! This is the 2nd part. Go here for the 1st.

I know some people have problem with dice. Most likely they are scarred by too many roll and move-games from their childhood and failed attribute tests. I can’t blame them, I certainly also had my fair share 🙂 But they are also very flexible randomizers as well as beautiful objects. I mean just look at this piece of heaven! 

Let it roll!
Let it roll!

So when considering resources for Dicetopia they became an easy choice and a central part of the game. The dice fitted perfect with the swapping mechanics and presented tons of great opportunities for variety, manipulation and interaction. They also eliminated any fiddlyness that different amounts of tokens would have caused. Besides, they looked really classy on the city map!

Dice waiting to be looted!
Dice waiting to be looted!

The dice became the main focus of the game, so Dicetopia felt like quite the fitting name. The very first name however was actually Diceopia, but a wise man suggested Dicetopia would be a more fitting name for my dark futuristic vision, in which I wholeheartedly agree 🙂 

So the dice determined the value of your loot, the value for dominating neighbourhoods and they also became crucial for the next addition to the game, the missions!

40 Mission Cards ended up in the game
40 Mission Cards ended up in the game

To a large extent, all information is completely open in Dicetopia. You see who controls each neighbourhood, what points it will bring and what dice all players have. So including secret missions felt like a great addition, to give the game that extra layer of tension and variety, making each game feel different.

To make this work I divided the dice in three different colors representing; weapons (purple), information (teal) and money (white). They felt like very fitting resources for what my factions was set out to do 🙂

Of course mechanically the different names doesn’t matter at all, they only represents different colors. But it actually helped quite a lot when coming up with different missions and provided some extra flavor, as well as helping people with color sight difficulties distinguish the difference. And it just feels soooo much better to send out your agent to snatch weapons in order to succeed with a smuggler mission, than to simply collecting purple dice 🙂

I’ve spent a lot of time creating as varied and interesting missions as possible. Everything from collecting/avoiding numbers and different colors, to trying to achieve different kind combinations and dominations. But how do you go about deciding what is worth what?

Next up. The Balance & Special Abilities!

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Solo Expansion add-on!

Hello dear backers!

Many of you have expressed wishes for a solo expansion and of course I can’t very well resist giving you what you want! The Solo Expansion is now available as an add-on to Dicetopian pledges, just add +40 SEK (approx. 5 USD) and it will be shipped together with the game. For more information about how it works and what it contains, please do continue reading!

Please note, the art is a placeholder (Anthony will make new  art for this expansion) and the design is very work in progress
Please note, the art is a placeholder (Anthony will make new art for this expansion) and the design is very work in progress

I think there is a lot to explore in regards of solo board game experiences, it often seems a bit overlooked and usually solved in a pretty dry mechanical manner. So I wanted to make something different, an opponent with a lot of personality that reacts depending on his mood in a more flowing condition-based way. A Steve Experience!

The Steve faction card!
The Steve faction card!

So how does Steve work? Well, he got his very own card for agents and dice, 2 open mission cards, as well as a mood track representing; Very hostile (Red), Bored (Yellow) and Almost friendly (Green). Due to his unstable nature, you always roll a die to see how he responds to your turn. On 2-3, move the marker one step down, on 4-5 move it one step up, and 1 & 6 immediately triggers the lowest/highest spaces.

The solo expansion in action!
The solo expansion in action!

Once you’ve set Steve’s mood, you draw from his deck to see what mischief he is up to, resolving the action that corresponds to his mood. Most actions have an instructional nature and adapts to what is going on on the board. For instance, Steve might mimic your action, he might go for the dice you would’ve liked, he might actually even cheat, forcing you to change a mission.

The Steve Deck! Consisting of 7 cards, each with 3 mood based alternatives
The Steve Deck! Consisting of 7 cards, each with 3 mood based alternatives

Once the game ends, you tally up the points and check what Steves reaction will be. You’ll probable be able to beat him most of the time, it’s really more about trying to get the highest score possible and have a fun experience. But if you are looking for a challenge there is a hard mode as well, were Steve also blocks the neighbourhood he performed his last action in.

Should you be interested in playtesting this expansion on Tabletopia, just sign up here and I’ll send out the link once I have a more finished version available!

All the best!
/TobiasLike

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Unlocked Stretch Goal – Divers!

Hello brilliant backers! 

It’s truly been a wonderful week! We’ve just reached 300% funded and unlocked the next stretch goal! Meet the Divers! 

"Kings of the depths! ...or slippery thieves not tremendously concerned about personal hygiene roaming the sewers? They're very successful, but that smell... nothing can be worth that”
“Kings of the depths! …or slippery thieves not tremendously concerned about personal hygiene roaming the sewers? They’re very successful, but that smell… nothing can be worth that”

A thief guild scrounging around the sewer systems with probably one of the most unique abilities of the whole lot! Instead of using a neighbourhoods normal action they get to disappear into thin air by using their underground networks, to suddenly show up at the same space as another player, holding them hostage for the rest of the game! They actually ”kill off” the space they move their agent from as well, so in the right situation it can be very powerful in regards of domination. So players really has to look out for this when playing against them!

The next stretch will be the Hex Swarm! A really weird insect obsessed organisation that ultimately seeks solitude… with tons of bugs 🙂

The Hex Swarm faction will be unlocked at the 160 000 SEK stretch goal (Approx. 20 000 USD)
The Hex Swarm faction will be unlocked at the 160 000 SEK stretch goal (Approx. 20 000 USD)

So, what else is new!? Well, there has been seriously beautiful chanting in the comments section recently regarding the solo expansion and I’m happy to inform that it will be available as an add-on in the next couple of days! I have really tried to create something different with this, not your usual mechanical automa, but something with a lot more personality and flavor. It goes under the name Steve so far, but suggestions for names are being considered 🙂

Prototype for the solo player expansion! Please note, DESIGN IS FAR FROM FINISHED AND ART IS PURELY A PLACEHOLDER (it's actually the symbol for agents in the game :)
Prototype for the solo player expansion! Please note, DESIGN IS FAR FROM FINISHED AND ART IS PURELY A PLACEHOLDER (it’s actually the symbol for agents in the game 🙂

That is all for now. Be safe everybody! 

All the very best!
/Tobias

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Designing a Dicetopia #1 – The Theme & The Mechanics

If your curious about how this game came about, here is some reading about the process and ideas that went into the game! This is the first part.

It all began with this.

Anthony Cournoyer (2014)
Anthony Cournoyer (2014)

A motif by amazing artist Anthony Cournoyer for a game mat I had commissioned for my board game store. He really knocked it way out of the park and I immediately felt I had to do something more with this beautiful neon-drenched futuristic vision! 

Ideas started to pop up for this brooding city environment and it felt natural that players was not to be any good guys, but different shady movements exploiting this place to the very core. It was great fun coming up with the inhabitants of the city and especially see Anthony bring them to life!

The original factions of Dicetopia, from sketch to final art. By Anthony Cournoyer (2015)
The original factions of Dicetopia, from sketch to final art. By Anthony Cournoyer (2015)

So with the theme set I started to think about original gaming ideas. We all know area control, we all know worker placement. But combining the two seemed very interesting to me. The concept of a worker not returning, instead staying where you put him for the rest of the game, still having impact on the area. I really liked that idea as it would also keep the game short and sweet, with a fixed set of rounds.

"These little guys aint coming back.." Translucent cubes felt lika a great representation of players workers (or agents, as they were to be called)
“These little guys aint coming back..” Translucent cubes felt lika a great representation of players workers (or agents, as they were to be called)

Of course, to make area control interesting at all, it needs to be possible to manipulate the already placed workers. So not only would you place your worker to get a resource and increase your control of the area by leaving it there, the spaces would also let you perform different actions to allow players to manipulate both agents and resources in creative ways. 

So, how could I achieve this in an easy and elegant way? Well, what if the resources doesn’t get spent, they simply get different functions depending on where they are? In your possession they’re loot and on the board they add to the area control value. Thats when the concept of a swap mechanic started to take shape. 

On your turn you would swap one of your workers with a resource, and all area control actions was also to be based around swapping. Resources swapped with other resources, workers swapped with resources, even resources on players board was up for grabs to be swapped!

The City board of Dicetopia with action iconography
The City board of Dicetopia with action iconography

It felt very different and became an essential part of the game, to consider multiple factors when making a choice. Going to a place to get wood when you need wood is not super interesting. But if your decision also includes what action you want to perform, and more long-term, which area you want to try to dominate, it became really fascinating and intriguing!

So, about those resources… They need to be very flexible and different right?

Next Part, The Dice & Hidden Information!

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Unlocked Factions!

Hello everyone!

We’re 200% funded and got two factions unlocked for all you lovely backers!

The first one was not really a stretch goal, but a little extra for the game reaching its funding goal and a celebration of the spirit and awesome power of Kickstarter. Meet the Backer faction!

”Financial network of hackers pretty much deciding what comes alive and what dies. Power to the people basically, at least to the tech savvy wealthy ones”
”Financial network of hackers pretty much deciding what comes alive and what dies. Power to the people basically, at least to the tech savvy wealthy ones”

Their ability is of course backing! In this case one of the neighbourhood that they choose in secret at the start of the game. If the backed neighbourhood only consists of Agents (any players agents) at the end of the game, the backer scores 5 VP as an extra bonus. Now, I’m not typically a fan of having to write things down when playing a game, but it’s simple enough and can be achieved easily with a smartphone, so it seemed like a fun and interesting ability to have for an extra faction 🙂

The first stretch goal is the Umbra Faction! I love tough female characters in games, so they are definitely a personal favorite of mine.

”A shadowy organisationen dealing with pleasantries such as revenge and ”adjusting injustices” based on their own quite twisted version of righteousness. Usually resolved by cold blooded murders, with interest”
”A shadowy organisationen dealing with pleasantries such as revenge and ”adjusting injustices” based on their own quite twisted version of righteousness. Usually resolved by cold blooded murders, with interest”

Their ability is retaliation! If you touch their agent or dice they will instantly defend themselves by rerolling the switched die. So they should be a great fit for all dice rolling fans out there 🙂

Regarding the exclusiveness of these faction, they will not come with the standard edition of the game, but they might become available as a separate Faction pack later on. But that will be an additional cost, and backers of the Dicetopian levels get them included.

I’ve received some wishes for solo player content and I’m actually working on something that might be an add-on for the campaign and available on Tabletopia for testing. I don’t want to promise too much, but hopefully it will be ready before the campaign ends!

The next stretch goal will be the Divers faction! They are a really gritty bunch of fellas with a pretty unique sneaky ability, so hopefully we’ll reach it 🙂

The Divers faction will be unlocked at the 120 000 SEK stretch goal (Approx. 15 000 USD)
The Divers faction will be unlocked at the 120 000 SEK stretch goal (Approx. 15 000 USD)

Lastly, thank again for your great support! It’s been absolutely awesome and inspiring to get this level of feedback! 😀

All the very best!
/Tobias

For Dicetopias BGG page, check out the link below!

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Funded!

Woho! It’s been 16 hours since we’ve launched and our first goal is now met! Thank you so much everybody! This support really means the world 😀

In the upcoming weeks I will be posting a designer diary on here, sharing some thoughts on the development and game mechanics of Dicetopia. The first prototype saw the light of day almost 3 years ago, so it’s certainly been a journey 🙂

Oh, and some clarifications regarding the International Dicetopian-pledge, as I have been getting some questions about it. The shipping is included and it is world wide (meaning everywhere that is not Sweden). No sneaky afterwards charging of shipping will occur!

Now it’s really time for me to go to sleep (it’s past 3 am here in good old Sweden)

All the best!
/Tobias

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Website launched!

Finally the website is up and running! We will keep on adding content as more of our games are revealed. Right now all our focus is on Dicetopia and the Kickstarter campaign for it that will hopefully launch later this fall!