The One From After UK Games Expo
almost 6 years ago – Tue, Jun 05, 2018 at 02:22:13 AM

Hello villagers - we’re home!

My last update was entitled the "First" from UKGE, which is technically true, but it implied that there would be a second, which as it turns out, was wishful thinking. UKGE was absolutely exhausting, but also utterly amazing!

The Villagers demo tables (we only had space for two!) were inundated for three days solid. We showed the game to hundreds of people who were curious to know what all the fuss is about, many of whom backed the game immediately after playing a couple of rounds. It was lovely to meet lots of existing backers as well.

There was so much excitement about the game! We managed to get a total of four prototype copies into the games libraries, and heard reports that they were solidly being taken out & played for the entire event. As you probably know by now, we were completely unprepared for the enthusiasm that exists for Villagers and I’ve personally found it quite emotionally overwhelming - in a really good way though!

Isaac Childres, designer of Gloomhaven, paid us a visit on Friday to have a demo of Villagers, and again on Saturday for a meet & greet session where he signed Gloomhaven rulebooks & sticker sets. Nobody was tough enough to bring their actual copy of Gloomhaven with them for him to sign. Weaklings!

I had a number of meetings with publishers from all over Europe, and it looks likely that Villagers will eventually be released in several other languages. I should say that these releases will happen independently of this campaign, and that we still intend to produce PDF versions of the rules and card text in several languages before the game is released in English. I’ll pass on further information about all this as soon as anything is confirmed, but nothing will happen until after the campaign ends.

So anyway, where were we? Oh yes - making a game!

Building

...is not only the name of my favourite song, it’s also the subject of my favourite addition thus far to Villagers. I guess I just really like the idea of people building things.

Friends, comrades, villagers! We’ve only gone & unlocked the Developments expansion!

With Developments, we add a new optional element to the game, where players compete for control over three (of a possible nine) buildings each game. For example, the Sawmill (pictured) awards 5 gold at the end of each round to the player (or players) with the most Wood cards in their village. I think it’s a wonderful example of Haakon’s elegant and engaging design, and raises the game to another level. But… there’s more we want to do with it, which brings us neatly to our next stretch goal…

Developments come in three types - Tehnology, Mercantile, and Community - and you’ll randomly draw one of each at the beginning of the game. Separating them like this allows us to make sure that the goals are sufficiently diverse, and to minimise any potentially “broken” combinations of Developments that might favour one player with a lucky opening hand. The Development card backs currently have differently coloured windmills on the back of them, which is all very nice, but a little samey, don’t you think? There’s also the issue of all those 5 gold rewards flying around - we wouldn’t want the bank to run out of exact change, now would we…

If we hit £270k, Haakon will draw new backs for the Mercantile and Community cards, but what do you think they should be? Give us your ideas in the comments.

Solo (not that one)

Several of you have asked about a playthrough video for the Villagers solo mode, and we have delivered, sort of. Actually, Haakon’s countryman, “The Northman” has kindly filmed a run-through of a couple of rounds of the single player game. Enjoy!

For what it’s worth, I think this is a better film than that other one 😉

Your Mission...

We have just under 9 days left to go on this campaign, and look at how far we’ve come! Villagers has broken all the rules in terms of how Kickstarter campaigns are expected to go, and instead of slowing down in the middle, we went faster. I can’t remember ever seeing another project go quite like this one. I’m sure there must be several, but in the tabletop games category at least, it seems quite a rarity. One interesting fact about Villagers is that we’re currently the 5th most-backed tabletop game campaign from a UK publisher, ever. And we’re closing rapidly on 4th place. 

Nothing is normal about this campaign, and I think we can take it even further. As yet, we haven’t made much of a splash on BoardGameGeek, or BGG as it is more efficiently known. With your help, I think we can change that.

For those of you who don’t know it, BGG is a website at the very heart of the explosion of modern tabletop gaming. It’s a huge and free-to-use database of every tabletop game ever made, listing the details of close to 100,000 games! It’s a place for enthusiasts to gather & chat about their favourite games, to share photos, reviews, fan-made content, and a lot more. It is a brilliant resource, one I use nearly every day, and one that I support with a donation every year.

Now, nestled away on the left-hand-side of every page on BGG is a list known as "The Hotness”. Only the most popular and talked-about games make it there, and it guarantees a lot of extra eyeballs on the listing of any game featured. How about we try & get Villagers on it?

The algorithm that drives The Hotness is a bit of a mystery. Even on a website frequented by self-professed geeks, nobody has been able to decipher how The Hotness is calculated. What we do know is that BGG game listings that receive a lot of interactions in a short space of time are much more likely to make the Hotness, and so that is our mission. Here’s how I’d like it to proceed:

First off, what I absolutely do NOT want ANYONE to do, is rate the game 10 out of 10 because you think it would be helping us out. If enough of you do this, it will have the opposite effect, and we’ll get an army of rightfully furious boardgame geeks charging in to vote Villagers 1 out of 10 because they think we're trying to artificially inflate the ranking of the game. That is not what we’re doing. We just want the genuine popularity of this campaign to be reflected on BGG, by putting Villagers in front of more BGG members for a few days in a non-shady way. I'm OK with that, and if you are too, here’s how we’ll attempt it - if you have a BGG account and a couple of minutes to spare, please consider doing one or more of the following:

Become a “fan” of Villagers:Go the the Villagers BGG page, and click the little grey heart, so it turns red.

Add Villagers to your collection:You’re a Kickstarter backer, right? Click the “Pre-Ordered” option under the “Add To Collection” button.

Log your plays:
If you played Villagers at UKGE this weekend, or if you’ve played the PNP version, log it!

Click the little green thumb next to these images: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/4159375/villagers https://boardgamegeek.com/image/4107158/villagers

Read and participate in the forums: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/241724/villagers/forums/0

Honestly rate the game:
PLEASE only give a rating if you’ve actually played the game, and make your rating an honest one. Here’s how I, and the owners of BGG, want you to rate things:

• 10 - Outstanding - will always enjoy playing and expect this will never change.
• 9 - Excellent - always enjoy playing it.
• 8 - Very good - enjoy playing and would suggest it.
• 7 - Good - usually willing to play.
• 6 - Ok - will play if in the mood.
• 5 - Average - Slightly boring, take it or leave it.
• 4 - Not so good - but could play again.
• 3 - Bad - likely won't play this again.
• 2 - Very bad - won't play ever again.
• 1 - Awful - defies game description.

That is your mission, should you choose to accept it. This message will not self-destruct in 5 seconds, because that is a silly idea. What if you got distracted by a sandwich, or a dog or something, and wanted to read part of it again? Mission: Failed, more like. My secret international espionage operation would be far more accommodating to real-life concerns.

One Last Thing...

This isn’t like those “one last things" Apple do where they tell you about the portable space elevator they’re releasing tomorrow, it's just a quick plug (and probably the last I’ll do) for another Kickstarter campaign. You may remember that Tom Heath aka “Slickerdrips” did a very enthusiastic review of Villagers in time for the launch of the campaign. Several backers have commented that Tom’s video was what sold them on the game, and I firmly believe he was instrumental in us funding on day one. If you enjoy Tom’s work and would like to contribute to him doing more of it, please consider backing his campaign for Year 3 of Slickerdrips, and tell him we sent you.

So, that wraps up the update this time around. We're entering the home stretch now, but we still have some really cool stuff coming up. I'm having to force myself to be as vague as possible about certain things so I don't give anything away, but I promise they'll be worth sticking around for.

Thanks so much for all your comments, messages, and pledges - you guys are the absolute best.

Much love,

Dave & Haakon

The First One From UK Games Expo
almost 6 years ago – Fri, Jun 01, 2018 at 02:18:14 AM

Hey villagers!

I’m writing this from my hotel room at UK Games Expo on really shaky wi-fi, so I’m going to make it brief.

I attended the press preview event this evening, and showed Villagers to various bloggers, podcasters, publishers, and retailers. There was interest in foreign language versions from publishers based in Poland, Spain, and China, and I have meetings booked with several other publishers over the rest of the event. I also met Richard “Rahdo” Ham, who I think has agreed to film a run-through of the game closer to its release. Nearly everyone I speak to has heard of Villagers and is aware of how crazy our little campaign has become. You guys have made all this happen. It’s absolutely amazing.

Gooooalll!

So, literally while I was at the press event, we smashed that £170k goal, so we’re upgrading the bog standard Village Cards to 1.5mm chipboard, and reinventing them as Village Square cards with some new artwork from Haakon.

That brings us to another stretch goal, and I think this might be my favourite of everything we’ve shot for over the entire campaign. Except for maybe that final thing… but anyway, let’s set our sights on...

The Developments Expansion

In the land of Villagers, there are, dotted around the landscape, old structures and institutions from the earlier golden age. People have managed to repair and reinvent some of these, and they range from mechanical structures like the sawmill and windmill, to more social functions like the church and tavern, and last but not least, mercantile interests like the harbour and marketplace. All villages can potentially benefit from these Developments, but only the villages that bring the most business to them will get a share of the profit. As the villages grow, who gets to make that profit might well change.

In this optional expansion module, three Developments are drawn at random at the start of the game, one each from the Technology, Mercantile, and Community decks. Each Development has a goal and a reward, which is calculated and paid out at the end of each round. This expansion adds a whole new element to the game, and makes the choices players make while drafting and building cards more important than ever before.

That’s it for now guys - must sleep!

Much love,

Dave & Haakon

The One With The Cockerel
almost 6 years ago – Wed, May 30, 2018 at 03:12:49 PM

Hello villagers!

Did you know you’ve essentially broken Kickstarter? Campaigns are supposed to slow down in the middle, but we’re speeding up. You can see our daily data here, and it’s highly unusual. What a ride this is turning out to be!

But enough of that. Let’s get down to business: first of all, there's the small matter of the first player token we unlocked at £20k. You guys voted on what shape you wanted it to be, and by democratic process, a decision was made. We wanted to show you this earlier in the week, but better late than never. Ladies and gentlemen, we give you, the first player cockerel!

Genius Billionaire Philanthropists, Assemble!

We’ve unlocked the Entrepreneurs! That’s two copies each of three new villagers to add to the Profiteers mini-expansion. This pushes the free stretch goal expansion pack up to 36 cards, plus the 3 swanky dividers, and that magnificent wooden cockerel!

So what’s next?

It’s Hip To Be…

The Village Card is an important component in Villagers. It serves as a rules reminder, and it's also used to count the number of cards being drafted or built each round. This is important, because although everyone starts out being able to draft and build two cards, these numbers quickly diverge and it’s easy to lose count of who’s doing what. Haakon solved this problem with the Village Card, so in the draft phase you simply place all your picks on it before taking them into your hand. This way, it’s easy to see who still has picks left, based on their food total. The build phase works in a similar way - you count your cards out onto the Village Card before you build them, according to the number of builders already in your village.

The Village Card prevents mistakes from happening, but it didn’t feel quite right thematically, so, prompted by one of our reviewers, Rory Somers, the Village Card is changing its name. What’s more, to hint at its importance in the game, we’re upgrading it from a humble playing card to 1.5mm greyboard, and Haakon is going to paint a nice village square for the reverse side, for players to use once they don’t need the rules reminder.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Village Card is dead, long live the Village Square!

UK Games Expo

Sinister Fish Games is heading to Birmingham tomorrow for the biggest event on the UK gaming calendar. UKGE also happens to be the third biggest tabletop games convention in the world, after Essen and GenCon, so it’s going to be a busy weekend. Haakon and I will both be there on stand G3 in Hall 1, and we'd love to meet as many of you as possible because you guys have completely blown us away with your support for Villagers. If you do hugs, there can be hugs.

We will be doing short demo games of Villagers, and I am going to try & get a couple of prototypes into the games library for people to play a full game should they so desire. Be warned that the prototypes might contain some odd substitute for coins - whatever I can lay my hands on today, basically. Nothing perishable, I might add. Or maggots.

Tabletop Together has a nifty online tool to help you plan for conventions. It’s called the Tabletop Together Tool, and it lists all the games releasing and demoing at large cons (currently it supports UKGE, Essen, GenCon, and Origins), allowing users to produce a personalised map of the event, and where to find games of interest. As a side effect of this, the website generates a league table of games that people are most interested in. At the time of writing, Villagers is #2 on the list for UKGE, second only to the latest game in the “Century” line. This is both amazing and terrifying!

Finally, if any of you are fans of Gloomhaven, you may be aware that Sinister Fish Games publishes the Removable Sticker Set for Gloomhaven. On our stand on Saturday June 2nd, at 13:00, we’ll be hosting a meet & greet session with none other than Isaac Childres, designer of Gloomhaven. I’m not sure what he’ll be doing exactly, but I’m sure he won’t say no to signing a few sticker packs & chatting to fans of the game.

Just don't make any sudden movements near him, because the designer of the #1 boardgame in the world probably has secret service guys.

Villagers in Space?

No, it’s not a hastily concocted sequel, but a shout-out for a good friend of mine.

 Interstellar spaceships are probably a bit like villages, if you think about it. You have a relatively small population living together in a small area, all with their own duties & roles to fill. But imagine if you couldn’t just pop over to the other village to get some new tools, but were locked in for years at a time with all the other occupants breathing down your neck & annoying you with their stupid little habits. Tempers would probably get a bit frayed, and if there was an emergency, whose fault would you say it was? That’s the premise of Blame Space, the absolutely non-hastily concocted sequel to the The Game of Blame, from designer Richard Galland (Jane Austen's Matchmaker).

Richard lives just down the road from me, and is a thoroughly lovely chap. He’s on Kickstarter with his latest game, which I’ve played and can report is brilliant backstabby fun. You can check out the Blame Space campaign page here!

That concludes this update!

Much love,

Haakon & Dave

A Tale of Two Stretch Goals
almost 6 years ago – Mon, May 28, 2018 at 01:30:14 AM

Good evening, villagers!

I hope you've all had or are having a great weekend. Mine has been very busy, involving trips to see various family members, a birthday meal, and a pitiful excuse for a Star Wars movie. After this, plus a week of long days, I’m quite tired & feel like I need another weekend to recuperate. But this campaign apparently never rests, so neither will I!

We hit two huge milestones over the weekend: 3,000 backers, and £100,000! This is way beyond any reasonable hope we had for the game when the campaign started, and we are eternally grateful to everyone who’s joined us so far. And that’s not all...

[Insert Bad Pun]

We’ve only gone & unlocked another stretch goal! It’s confirmed - we are past the £110,000 mark, which means that the dividers in the base game are going to get artwork from Haakon, and the expansion pack is getting its own illustrated dividers for the expansion content. These are going to be some sweet dividers!

So now we need another stretch goal, and what’s that coming over the hill? Is it a monster?

No. It’s Some Entrepreneurs

Three new villagers (6 new cards) will be added to the free stretch goal expansion pack, adding themselves neatly alongside the “Profiteers” cards we unlocked when we were all much younger. These cards provide more ways to score gold, and a couple of them feature a new coin icon which we’re referring to as ‘bronze’ for now, which pays off at the start of every build phase.

The mathematically minded amongst you will notice the gap for this stretch goal is wider than the last one. We are nearing the end of our planned stretch goals, but we like having something for everyone to look forward to, and trust me when I say we have saved the best until last...

Rules Update

Haakon has updated the rules to version 5.4 - you can find them here, along with a changelog file. There are no new or changed rules, just clarifications to existing ones.

In the coming week we'll have new art to show, and there are some chores that need doing around the village, so we'll be asking everyone to muck in!

We'll talk again soon.

Much love,

Dave & Haakon

Parts of This Update Have Been Censored for Broadcast
almost 6 years ago – Fri, May 25, 2018 at 10:22:54 PM

Hello again, villagers!

So, it's day 11 and we’re well into the mid-campaign slump…. is what I should be saying, but people just won’t stop pledging! We wish a very warm welcome to all our new backers.

Lots to get through today, so we’ll get right to it!

It’s Raining Men*

It’s Friday evening, the weekend is here, we just busted through another stretch goal, and it’s raining delicious coins!**

Every copy of the base game will now contain an extra 30 coins, and we’re adding the same number to the wooden Coin Box. Speaking of which…

Coin Collector Pledge

We've opened up a pledge level for anyone who wants just the wooden coins. If you know anyone who might appreciate these, by all means let them know. A Coin Collector pledge now gets you 140 coins in a cute little cardboard treasure chest with magnetic closure.

The Votes Are In!

A couple of updates ago we asked you to vote on the form of our wooden first player token, that £20k stretch goal it seems like we unlocked oh-so-very-long-ago but was actually only a week last Wednesday. Well, voting has closed, and we have a winner. I’m delighted to announce that the new mayor is…

…a cockerel! Or a rooster, if you’re from the other village. This was the election for mayor, right? Well it's too late now. Cock-a-doodle-do, villagers!

Haakon tells me we'll have artwork for the cockerel on Monday, and Mr Scarecrow says he's retiring from politics to spend more time with his weird scarecrow family.

Rest of World Shipping for Two

We’ve added “Rest of World” shipping options on the Two Lumberjacks and Two Wood Carvers pledge levels. If you pledge at either of these levels, we’ll ship anywhere, but each game will be sent separately. It’s just cheaper that way.

Divided We Scrawl

We have a new stretch goal to aim for! Did you think I'd forgotten?

If we can get to £110,000, Haakon will illustrate each of the six dividers we added to the base game, and we'll add a further three dividers to the stretch goal pack, so you can organise all the goodies in there too.

I just realised that I've equated Haakon's beautiful artwork with "scrawl", but the pun is too good. It's just too good. He'll understand.

Much love,

Haakon & Dave

*It's not raining men.
**Cardboard and wooden coins are non-delicious. Do not eat.