Escape the spaceship before it blows up in a competitive/cooperative/team game for 1-6 players.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Captains Log, Stardate 74726.2 (Sometime in Kickstarter Production)
about 3 years ago
– Tue, Apr 06, 2021 at 02:14:18 AM
Hello crew! Feel free to move about the cabin, nothing much to see out in space at the moment. As we begin April, we want to keep you updated on the game progress!
Gzyma checks out the finished Tractor Beam... and might have accidentally caused all this.
EVERYTHING IS FINE!
That feels like a pandemic update, doesn't it? We're doing mostly ok here, hope you are as well. March was full of production back and forth, and more than a few tweaks to files to make them work. Many files are now done/approved by manufacturing teams and we are focused on finishing up the last bit to begin printing. The world remains in backlog - some Kickstarters are having a harder time with freight container availability and high prices, Brexit, a blocked Suez canal, shipping/VAT landscape, etc - we feel lucky that we planned for shipping 2021 and hopeful that the freight issues will ease by later this year when we deliver. We are staying in touch with distribution and fulfillment teams as we cruise on.
PRODUCTION SPEED AHEAD
Daily file edits continue. We were hoping to say by this update that it was all done, but there's still back and forth with graphic design, modeling, tray design and the manufacturing teams. This stage is heavily detail oriented, and we are taking care to get it right, although pre-press can feel more impulse speed than warp speed sometimes. Normal production stuff, trust us - no need to separate the saucer, just a few asteroids. :)
It can be hard to explain production changes in an update. Why is that? Well, it can be:
a) hard to show tangible changes and they don't seem "news-worthy"
b) more detail than some folks care to know (just give me the game, right?) and
c) can set up everyone to feel like there's a fail if something is not exactly as imagined, when more often it's just a natural adjustment in production. Minis adjust, files change for print, etc.
That said, we love the game process and love transparency- so read on for one example in detail or skip to the next section if you just want a summary! :)
DUAL-LAYERED BOARDS
Oh that nifty feature of putting a cube or a token in a board is deceptively simple. First, it adds thickness to all pieces on the punchboard (which adds a challenge to various components such as robot markers which had an issue fitting the base that thick) AND it throws a wrench in a few parts of the art and graphic design process. Here's just three things that made the dual-layer boards complex:
1) DIE CUT MACHINES ARE NOT EXACT. Ever have cardboard coins come out with a bit more art on one side, seemingly lopsided? This is because punchboard perforation machines are not exact. (playing card cutters too). The way you combat this is with inner and outer margins to make an offset cut feel pleasing and not jarring to the eye. But there's a push and pull sometimes between safe graphics and appealing graphics. :) Dual-layer pieces double this issue, with the 2 layers, both which may not be exact to each other.
2) INSERT CUBE HERE. Now it's more than just art alignment. In Mission Catastrophe, players will place an external pieces; "Status" and "Fuse" cubes pop in the cardboard in 4 places - on modules, the fuse board, the ship integrity board and the escape pods. Most of these insert spots are one cube sized, but some are more cubes in a row, which makes the buffer trial and error. AND sure, cubes are a known size, but in our game we also have circle tokens. That's un-exact cut cardboard into un-exact cut cardboard! A double anomaly, Captain!
3) THERE'S TWO LAYERS (DUH?). I'll admit, I was "this many games produced" old when I realized the top and bottom art is completely a different process. I went from stubbornly arguing with the manufacturing teams to a light bulb moment where I realized that the top layer needed items removed and the bottom layer needed no pretty art - just coverage of zones.
The ship integrity board is the MOST fun for dual-layer. We saved the ship from disaster, we think.
This all said, we figured it out. :) In the end, we are holding ground on original design sometimes, letting some pieces get "offset coin" style for the technology borders and line work we want and other times going "safe" so as to not look odd no matter how it cuts. Every cube slot will be snug-tested so the ship is the best it can be... before it blows up.
OTHER PRODUCTION NOTES
Without downloading everything, here are a few more bits from the Captain's Log:
The gametrayz were completely redone! A little bit because of dual-layer thickness and also the side-telescoping box challenges. (Now we know why most boxes don't do that!) Thanks to Bryce at Gametrayz, we didn't just settle - while the hood was open, we creatively worked to move similar pieces together, solo bits, expansion bits and cubes in ways that made sense for gameplay and cards ready for sleeve or not.
Miniatures are getting a makeover for injection molding. Luckily Blorp can shape to any form, because his initial blob body didn't cut it. D4vid's barcode, Cricket's antenna and robot fingers were all too small, and Gyzma's arms had to be adjusted for the molds. So it's many stages of discussion with the printer, as we balance our original design with the reality of making the thing not break. We're down to a few antennas and the crew will be complete.
Finishedrules: The rules are our final file for manufacturing, as everything else pushed. The good news is it doesn't slow progress on other manufacturing. We'll have that ready to review soon, and up-to-date for tabletop simulator and translations, should anyone be interested in checking it out.
SET A COURSE FOR ONLINE PLAY/NEW GAMES
PLAY ONLINE: Speaking of Tabletop Simulator, with final files and rules in this month, we're ready to get the ship polished up online for some more play later in April. For those looking to join in on some gaming - check out our Discord! There's a great community from all around the world. CARDBOARD ALCHEMY on DISCORD
A NEW GAME ON THE HORIZON: While this update is all about the Mission in space, we do have a new project to share. We're moving from sci-fi to fantasy, into a town full of dragons! For the first reveal, don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter - we'll be sharing the box cover and more info about early testing! JOIN CARDBOARD ALCHEMY FOR FUN AND GAMES!
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Cheers,Peter and Brad
COME WITH US IF YOU WANT TO LIVE! ...AND ENTER CONTESTS AND STUFF.
about 3 years ago
– Wed, Feb 03, 2021 at 10:00:40 PM
Welcome to a short and sweet February post with the latest info on pledge manger, production progress, current contests and nominations on Board Game Geek for "most anticipated spaceship explosions in a game"* (something like that...)
Having unlocked most of the sci-fi universe, now we just need YOU on board!
Pictured here: the artifact room and Layloo - from the Maxium Danger expansion
PLEDGE MANAGER - LAST CALL
92% of the surveys are in (nice job crew!) and we're locking down the pledge manager (only address changes now). Also, important - we're charging cardsthis Friday FRIDAY, FEB 5!
WAIT FOR ME! If you backed for a game but did not finish your survey... yes, the cargo bay doors will be open for a wee bit longer. Cmon! There's a couple escape pods left!
AUS/NZ backers: please note! We've fixed a VAT issue (it was already included in the prices, and we adjusted that out!)
PRODUCTION PROGRESS
What is faster - warp drive or hyperspace? The internet tells us "they are as fast as the plot demands"... seems about right. It's also an apt description of our current state.
The chompers? That's nothing compared to getting files ready for print Chad!
We're jamming on art files, but it took more time in January than hoped. We've still got rulebook, box back and finalizing the trayz to go. As timing would have it though, we're entering Chinese New Year (Happy Year of the Ox!), which is a 16 day celebration culminating in the Lantern Festival. We are fortunate - it IS a good moment to catch up here while manufacturing teams are on break. Hopefully, this gives us just the time we need to fix up the engine, and be ready to kick this production into... ludicrous speed in March, and stay on time for delivery.
CURRENT CONTESTS TO WIN STUFF!
We love dice games! WIN a signed copy of Roll Player - by Keith Matejka! Enter in February! Check out our YouTube video, comment and subscribe.
VOTING CLOSES THIS SATURDAY, FEB 6! We've been nominated in two fun categories in the annual "most anticipated" thread on Board Game Geek. Don't search for us in Sci-fi, that's just silly! But please do give us your vote for DICE and ARTISTIC categories! You can VOTE for any number of games in each category, so why not celebrate this fun artistic dice roller. :) Thanks all!
Well time flies when you're navigating meteroid storms, or writing Kickstarter updates! We'll be back with more detail about the start of production!
Cheers,
Peter and Brad
WE ARE GROOT! (HAPPY NEW YEAR AND PLEDGE MANAGER INFO!)
over 3 years ago
– Mon, Jan 11, 2021 at 09:44:09 AM
Wait, are you still on the ship waiting for an escape pod? Oh, well this is awkward...
Just kidding - Happy New Year! We're back, and happy to greet all of you again! We're checking all the parts of the ship to prepare for hyperdrive (aka print) all month. Time to boot up the pledge manager and get a count of crew on board, then we'll be on final tasks like box illustrations and polished graphic design, working with Game Trayz, and uploading miniatures files and more!
PLEDGE MANAGER
We've partnered with our friends at Backerkit to bring you a smooth, meteoroid-free survey (that is, unless you order more dice meteoroids!). Ok, so when? STARTINGNOW - we were just approved by Backerkit and will be sending out a small batch and then if no errors, all surveys! Fill them out as soon as you can so we can account for all crew and get to manufacturing!
DEADLINE TO COMPLETE THE SURVEY! - January 31. Plenty of time to calculate just how many coasters, coins and magnets you need. LOCKING ORDERS begins - Feb 1 (everything except addresses), and plan to charge all cards for shipping/add-ons - CHARGING ORDERS on Feb 5.
VAT/Sales Tax FYI
We are customs friendly in many regions, and we're excited to hold to the shipping estimates on the campaign. As mentioned on the campaign, we are charging VAT/taxes as appropriate and consistent with 2021 guidelines around the world. We have been working with Backerkit and fulfillment partners on this in the survey. For backers in regions with VAT, we have applied your countries % in a separate line item, that will appear on the final screen of checkout. If there are any issues, let us know!
GRAPHIC DESIGN AND ILLUSTRATION IN PROGRESS
We're still polishing the modules and cards unlocked! (We unlocked a ton of content, thank you!). Katherine conquered tons of graphic design and new icons, and we powered through to make the 72 role abilities clean with this new language, as well as all new reference cards, complete with quick reference on solo/cooperative scenarios. The character cards are also done, with bold vibrant characters on one side, and a side B now has our unlocked "under pressure" game mode for tracking your suit and oxygen.
JUMBO CHARACTER CARDS
We're jamming on art - for additional help we partnered with an illustration studio (M81) in the Ukraine, a team that has worked on Mysterium and other titles. Thanks to Max and their whole crew - they agreed to work through their holiday to help us get sketches/color thumbnails to Sergio for final. Check out the Observatory. We could spend days in there, just staring into space...
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NEXT STEPS
We'll be back early February with an update on where all parts of the game stand, and should have a rough schedule for the year. Chinese New Year is coming up on Feb 12, so part of our reason for jamming this month is to show/review as many files as we can with our manufacturer before break. Then if needed, we'll finish the final touches of the rulebook during the holiday and come back ready to print!
CONGRATS TO OUR LATEST PRIZE WINNERS!
We host abunch ofgiveaways at Cardboard Alchemy - can't help it, welove prizes! (Our newsletter and Discord are consistent ways to win stuff!). Just in December alone, we awarded a signed copy of Space Base on our YouTube channel (congrats Jim Priest!), 2 full pledges for Mission Catastrophe for puzzle solving - including painted minis sets go to Andrew Waterfall and Owen Welch (woot!), and we also awarded 4 random draws of Game Trayz x-trays to Discord members (awesome old_grendel, starColonel, lagezz and anonimouse75!). Get in our Discord to win! We're planning some exciting new prizes in 2021 - come for the meteoroid storm, stay for the prizes!
Cheers to games in 2021! Talk again soon,
Peter and Brad
We are all leaves on the wind! THANK YOU for the successful funding of Mission Catastrophe!
over 3 years ago
– Fri, Dec 11, 2020 at 01:08:41 AM
$100,299 and 1,789 backers - Mission Catastrophe is a go!
EPIC LANDING CREW! What a journey through space and time. What a fantastic ending, working together to send the ship to hyperdrive! Or warp 9. Ludicrous speed!... [INSERT FAVORITE SCI-FI REFERENCE HERE] We won't ever forget the epic ending, but the most important thing to us is engaging with the many backers that brought this campaign to life - YOU made it happen! The comment wall at over 1,100 comments is fantastic! Feel free to stay in touch here and on Discord anytime!
Brad and I are truly thankful for all the support as we begin production now on the first game ever in the Cardboard Alchemy line of games.
Delicious destruction! Turns out that the meteroids are yummy flaming hot and cheesy jalapeño
JOIN US IN CREW QUARTERS IN JANUARY (PM OPENS)
We are ready to sit down, find out if any of the ship modules is still serving coffee, track down an Asimo-V unit and play a few games of Dejarik. THEN, we'll wake up and realize there's games to make and a pledge manager to set up! On it!
A SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM MATT WALTERS
This has been an amazing journey from the makeshift first playtest to the final successful Kickstarter. I cannot believe how far this has come, and it is in great part due to the awesome people that were involved. Thank you, Peter, for running an epic Kickstarter, it has been amazing. You have a special talent for engaging and vibrant Kickstarter campaigns. To Brad, who saw something fun in the first prototype, and gave sage advice to a first time boardgame designer, I cannot thank you enough. Sergio, who’s art has given this game its personality and soul, you are truly a gifted artist. The great puzzles by Rich made me challenged and excited while solving them. And the rest of the team doing layouts, playtesting, and everything else. I cannot thank you enough.
A special thanks to Peter and Brad of Cardboard Alchemy whose guidance, and design talent helped make the game it is today. I cannot wait to see what you guys have in store for us next.
And an even more special thanks to every single backer - this game is here because of you! None of this would be possible without all of you. It has been great talking in Kickstarter, on Discord, and playing with you on TTS, and a real joy to be apart of some of your first playthroughs! I cannot wait for you get the real thing.
THANK YOU, SERGIO CHAVES!
Sergio Chaves, we love you. We love what you did here, the vision you set forth for a beautiful ship and a diverse crew. You made this project come to life, from the cover to the characters, ship modules you can just walk right into. Even a Quackalope and a Bear sidekick. Thank you, friend. Please rest up and we'll pilot the ship from here and save an escape pod for you!
THANK YOU TO ALL OUR COLLABORATORS AND BACKERS!
THE ART TEAM - Starting with the art team, we asked for a few favors to give the ship all she's got, and staffed up to get the game art done on Kickstarter and beyond! We want to sincerely thank Sam Turner who illustrated all our pip cards and M81 art studio who came in a pinch and helped with our module art, making the teleporter and other rooms come to life on the ship!
GRAPHIC DESIGNER Katherine Bolis deserves a major shoutout for the graphic design needs of this game. We believe she has now visited the known galaxy of sci-fi user interface. We are actively pushing this game to be more and more iconography and language independent as needed in intergalactic space, and Katherine has been right there with us - every card of the way, and will help us finish this game beautifully!
ANIMATION TEAM - Everyone clicked on the campaign video, right?? (If not, do so now - we'll wait). We love it, and Animuz Studio for sending us off into space with a killer trailer. Nicole Gose - you nailed the voice over of the computer, Cricket... and an amusing Blorp Johnson! Thank you to José Almeida for the direction, script and storyboard, to Gabriel Pádua for 3D modeling, animation, look dev and post, Gustavo Oliveira for motion, and Gabriel Chibeni for 3D animation and sfx! We love it!
MINIATUREDESIGN- Erick Tosco, champion of monsters in Eldervale and creator of fun sci-fi alien crews and so much more. You are so incredibly dedicated and passionate and giving - thank you for these creations and pushing the minis to be the best they can be, but also too for all the help making renders for our page and for us to have an engaging Kickstarter ride. Your pose for Zando is now legend!
GAMETRAYZ - are the best! We are so thrilled and honored to have these quality designs in our first game and beyond - cheers to you, Noah Adelman. Bryce Cook - much thanks for the laughs over "escapacados" and trays with tight lids that don't need any baggies! You stepped up to the challenge for a side telescoping box!
PUZZLE MAKERS,WEBSITE BUILDERS AND MINI PAINTERS - what a fun pre-launch contest for this game! We hope you all enjoyed it. Thank you Richard Malena-Webber for the engaging, interactive ship adventures and puzzles! And thank you to Daniel Tosco who helped us bring Cardboard Alchemy online to life for this Kickstarter. Great work. Vernon Piper - we cannot wait to see your painted mini sets! Two lucky winners are going to have a blinged out crew.
AND MANY MORE!!We appreciate you Andrew Tullsen and Print and Play team for the prototypes, complete with dual-layered cardboard! Cheers to you Mike DePasquale for the epic resin minis to show off. We love our preview collaborators - Quackalope, MCGuiRE review, Hungry Gamer, Tantrum House, Meeple University, Unfiltered Gamer, Game Boy Geek - thanks for the views on this game and sharing it with the world! Cheers to Board Game Revolution, Eric Burgess, OMG Nexus, Lance Myxter, GloryHoundd, Dice Tower, Boardgameco and so many others who covered this game for their communities!
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FINAL SOCIAL GOAL ACHIEVED! If you didn't see it - 2,000 asteroids smashed into the prototype ship (we rounded up backer count), here is that video! Each of you made it happen! And now, to sweep up the ship. We are also the janitor.
Thanks again!
Cheers,
Peter and Brad
Why is this here? There's no useful purpose for MORE STRETCH GOALS?
over 3 years ago
– Wed, Dec 09, 2020 at 07:22:11 PM
Crew to battle stations!
WE'RE CRUSHING NEW CONTENT - 35 UNLOCKS!
Another weekend of pushing into new space. We're proud of this crew for giving all and crushing the stretch and social goals - pushing this game to go to new heights!
Speaking of crushing the stretch goals, we thought you might like to see this... another module in our series of modules serving no useful function on this ship and certainly not helping you escape - the CHOMPERS! Yes, our alien ship designer saw that episode on tv, too! (wink)
STAY TUNED!
TUESDAY AM we reveal a bunch more stretch goals including the backer voted roles, the most massively useful thing an interstellar crew can have on the ship and we will look to find out if we are one with the force and the force is one with our crew as we head into the final 48 hours!
TODAY
Reminder - MCGuiRE review contest - Run do not walk to YouTube NOW - subscribe and comment on the video to WIN the game (today is the last day!)
The fine folks at Quackalope, who do enjoy a challenging game of Mission Catastrophe, have decided to stream a game TONIGHT, Monday Dec 7. And we loaded TTS up with new cards and new roles, and a new ship layout - picked by YOU. Quackalope and co. will be playing on the Odyssey - which we figure will be a bunch of flaming death, and maybe even HAL will come into it if they play with Robotics.
The rival crew at Marauder Salvage and Disposal, Inc have boarded your ship, keen on stealing your resources and destroying everything you care about! This is the Meteorites and Marauders Scenario solo/co-op play thru! Meanwhile YOU are trying to get to the only escape pod(s) left working and survive this disaster in space! Join Blorp Johnson on a solo mission to beat back the marauders - in hard mode - on a custom ship map (the Pincer from our update HERE)!
Will Blorp escape or experience a fiery fate ... or both? Let's find out!
TABLETOP SIMULATOR FUN TIMES - THANK YOU!
We have had a blast showing this game on Tabletop Simulator (TTS), and we're happy to play more games post Kickstarter. If you haven't made it over to the Cardboard Alchemy Discord Server - join us and ask for a game! We've seen the ship blow up a few times, and even some lucky crew mates get onto an escape pod and WIN. Also, we saw this happen:
Team Zando is apparently on top (Tom Vasel knew this would happen)
Oh that reminds us - have YOU chosen which team you're on - shout it in the comments! Or on social media where you chat board games. We're going to call out all the members of the winning team in our post campaign videos!
