Preview

Our next campaign, for our 4th print at home roll & write game is now in preview.

Exodus from Reynoldsworld

Exodus is a 1-6 player roll and write that takes 15-30 minutes to play.

You're a starship captain, saving the population of a planet under threat from an approaching alien armada.

In the first half of the game you build a ship. Do you go for fast and sleek? Or slow and capacious?

Then you set out on the dangerous journey from Reynoldsworld to one of six nearby habitable worlds.

There's a big bonus for forming the first colony, plus arriving first at any of the six planets gets you another bonus, so watch where your opponents are heading.

After dropping off your cargo of colonists and supplies to get them started, you can return to Reynoldsworld for more, or head straight on to another nearby world to try to get there ahead of your competitors.

Will you end the game as the saviour of Reynoldsworld, or will they just name a park after you?

Follow the campaign to be notified when it launches in September.

While I've been focussing on Exodus, Paul has been busy too.

We've now started shipping the playmats from the Box of Xeno Flicks 1 campaign, and we're receiving the final materials for the campaign early this week, so manufacturing can begin in earnest shortly too.

Busy, busy!

Culmination

It feels like I’ve finally broken the back of my involvement in our latest Gamefound campaign.

The graphic design is done.

I’ve placed the final printing order.

I’ve order the playmats and tubes.

The last acrylic order is just awaiting final colour selection for the planets.

I’ve made the changes to the app that builds the fulfilment spreadsheet.

And tested that it works.

Just waiting on the last four backers to complete their pledges, so I can run it for real.

Then that’s me done until we start getting the orders in the books as they ship.

Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash

I’m looking forward to having some free time again for game design.

And maybe starting the next Gamefound page.

For a fourth roll and write…

Families

This weekend we spent in York with Paul and his family.

Now we’ve shipped all of the rewards for our last Gamefoumd campaign, there was room in his house for guests!

We spent the weekend chatting, catching up, scheming about Eurydice Games’ future.

And, of course, playing games.

It was lovely.

Now we’re back, I’m cracking on with Away Team Bingo.

Taking shape!

And sorting out the GamesQuest onward shipping.

Meanwhile Paul is building up stock so we can meet up again in ten or so days’ time.

And he can give me some stock to cover his forthcoming holidays.

They are well earned!

Learning

Our ads are stuck in the learning phase.

At least partially because I’m still in my learning phase.

Our ads should be showing FlickFleet to those people who might like it.

At the moment it’s either not showing them to the right people.

Or not interesting to the right people.

Not working yet…

I need to spend some time working out how to improve the targeting.

Or improve the ads.

Meanwhile Paul is boxing and parcelling the rewards aiming to ship them in the next month.

Early.

And I’ve started the Gamefound page for my next Roll & Write.

Lots to do.

Lots to learn…

Wrinkles

Paul has started fulfilment.

But the laser cutter is on the blink again.

A bit of a pain

This one is much less reliable than the previous one was.

Until it caught fire :(

We’re getting an engineer out again to investigate.

Laser-cutting is paused.

Thankfully Paul has already cut everything we need for the UK Games Expo next weekend.

And most of the deluxe rewards.

So he can take a break from cutting.

And focus on boxing and shipping for a while.

My parents left this morning.

So I’m back at it too.

Looking forward to the Expo.

Say hi if you’re there! We’re at 2-564 again - same place as last year.

Ready

I’ve finally finished the fulfilment spreadsheet.

And Paul has finished most of the deluxe rewards.

Another very full box!

We’re almost ready to begin shipping!

And then it’s the UK Games Expo at the end of next week.

Lots to do.

But mum and dad are visiting this week, so I’ll not get much done this week.

Thankfully I did a lot of it last week.

Finished

And yet not quite.

We shipped all the FlickFleet: Xeno Wars rewards. Including the ones due in July.

The EU ones are now with ShipQuest. We’re waiting to hear when then will be shipped.

Some of the US ones were returned because they thought they contained prohibited items :(

They don’t like the big boxes for some reason.

Need to work out how to accurately describe them that doesn’t fall foul of the rules.

But it’s nearly done.

I’ve had a slower week - since my parents were visiting.

Paul is still flat out, making stuff for the UK Games Expo this weekend (We'll be on stand 2-564 in Hall 2 if you're going - stop by and say hi!).

Then he can finally slow down.

Just over 24 hours till launch!

And Rocky ‘Roid launches tomorrow lunchtime!

Got a fun few weeks ahead!

Progress

I spent last week shipping the Xeno Wars rewards that Paul had brought up last weekend.

And starting to flesh out the Rocky ‘Roid Gamefound page.

Very rough at the beginning!

And starting to create a first prototype of a new game.

Paul’s been down the laser-cutting mines.

We’re making good progress on a number  of fronts.

I’m on holiday this week though.

So not much from me.

I still want to do my daily game design though.

Some days it’s just making a couple of quick notes.

Some days it’s writing rules.

Or prototyping.

Or playtesting.

But the daily commitment means I’m making continual progress.

My output has been way higher as a result.

Which is really motivating.

Hoping to make a start on the next FlickFleet thing soon…

Newcastle

Eurydice Games is run out of my house in Newcastle.

And Paul’s in York.

100 miles apart.

We don’t meet as much as we’d like as a result.

But I spent almost a week with Paul before AireCon and then during it.

Helping with shipping before Paul’s family holiday.

He’s just been to mine for 24 hours.

Dropping off more stock for me to ship.

Heading to a home near you this week!

And just our two families hanging out together.

It’s not often the fulfilment is done from Newcastle.

Paul does almost all of it from his house.

I’m glad I can help.

Free up some of his time for laser-cutting.

Rules

For the last couple of weeks my focus has been the Rocky ‘Roid rules.

Oh, and AireCon.

Oh, and shipping Gamefound rewards.

But mostly rules.

The rules have crystallised now.

But the old ones were very basic - few examples and no diagrams.

They were easy to edit while the rules were changing, but they weren’t good enough for release.

So I’ve been splitting them up. Adding more examples.

Adding diagrams.

The low ink rules are done now.

Got high ink maps done too!

I can share them with reviewers.

High ink rules should be quite quick.

Meanwhile, I’ve been shipping the stuff I brought back from Paul’s.

Ordering packaging for the big box orders.

I’m going to sort out some more to ship once Paul’s back from his holiday.

Let him focus on cutting the last of the deluxe and EU rewards.

AireCon

Last week was all about about AireCon.

And shipping.

I spent almost all week in York, staying with Paul and Mrs. Paul.

I came down early so I could spent two days helping out with Gamefound fulfilment.

I finished off 105 FlickFleets and Paul cut and finished 15 Box of Flicks 2.

Then we picked, packed and posted 33 complex orders.

Then off to AireCon to set-up. 

Ready to go!

The weather said heavy snow so we packed overnight bags just in case, but there was just a little sleet.

Friday there was a lot of snow on the ground and the trip over was a bit hairy.

The show was pretty quiet as a result.

Saturday was much busier.

It was great fun, but hard work.

Great meeting existing fans though. And creating new ones.

I’m back at work this week.

Need to catch up on some sleep!

Preparation

Last week was preparation.

We’ve made the decision to publish Rocky ‘Roid.

My asteroid-mining roll and write.

I created a BGG page for it.

And a Gamefound campaign page.

And cracked on with the graphic design.

Lots of changes done for the low ink versions.

High ink sneak peak!

Then did the high ink versions.

And now working on proper rules. With diagrams.

This week I’m away almost all week.

It’s AireCon on the weekend, in Harrogate.

Our second convention.

And I’m going down a couple of days early to do a shift on the Gamefound fulfilment.

So that Paul can concentrate on laser-cutting.

Looking forward to spending the week with him.

Filling

I’ve spent the week sorting out the website shop.

I’d offered to do it, rather than the web developers.

It’s taken a decent chunk of time.

But we’re getting there.

I need better images for the bundles.

Then I can add the boxes of flicks.

Then the extras, starting with asteroids.

Meanwhile Paul has been filling his house.

With finished extras.

A lot of Option 13s

He’s going to be shipping a bunch of stuff soon.

Then there’s base games and the expansion boxes to do.

Progress!

Confluence

It’s all coming together.

The new website is finally live.

I’ve spent the week populating the shop part - the basics are in there now, but there’s loads more to come.

The big boxes arrived and Paul has done a test assemble.

Both big and boxy!

They are the last delivery we were waiting for the Gamefound campaign.

Paul’s working flat out, pulling long days laser-cutting.

He’s now made 320 deluxe Xeno Wars and is moving on to the extras.

Feels like we’re starting to get there!

Time

With the new job, time is tight.

I’m having to get my head back into programming.

As well as learning all the new domain and our suite of applications.

I’m tired and I’ve not been sleeping well.

There are several upsides though.

I’ve found a couple of gaming buddies and am frequently gaming at lunchtime before walking home.

We even playtested Rocky ‘Roid last week when I forgot to take in Lost Cities.

I’m getting loads of exercise.

I’m enjoying the job way more.

I’ve also arranged a FlickFleet tournament on our next Connection Day when they try to get everyone into the office :)

Let’s see how they fare at this!

In other news, Paul is frantically laser-cutting and we’re making progress on fulfilment.

Not helped by the Royal Mail ransomware attack though - they still can’t accept international parcels :(

And I’ve restarted the Newcastle Playtest group :)

My new daily habits mean I’m making decent progress on 2 games and have another ready for playtesting.

Plus another I’d like to get to prototype stage soon too!

Stalled

I made good progress on the roll and write (Rocky ’Roid?) up until last weekend.

Can I unblock and get one last iteration out?

Over the weekend I played three games.

Two with other designers. One with a roll and write fan.

I got a lot of feedback.

I made rapid changes, improving things as I went.

Afterwards, I saw some opportunities to improve things further.

Even started updating the player sheet.

But I’ve stalled.

I know what I need to do: simplify the scoring.

But keep the interaction.

And some variability between games.

Plus there’s Gamefound fulfilment stuff to do.

Which is urgent.

I need to unblock.

Get moving again.

Only four days left in NaGa DeMon…

Theme II

The game boxes have arrived at Paul’s.

1,425 of them.

His house is rammed.

The focus now must be shipping rewards and clearing some space!

Since Wednesday’s playtest I’ve done nothing with the Roll & Write (Ursa Miner?)

But Mal’s name suggestion has given me ideas.

A slightly different theme is taking shape in my brain.

It’s percolating.

Meanwhile I’ve been going back to my roots.

Writing a little app to convert the Gamefound fulfilment spreadsheet into our fulfilment spreadsheet.

I used to do it by hand.

Silly really.

This will take some time, but save a lot.

Even more in the long run.

Now the boxes have arrived, Paul needs it now though.

Roll & Write will have to wait!

The TGWAG scores at the end of week 2 are:

Name	Rank	PIPs
Mal	Recycling Pipework Technician's Mate	3
Kylef	Recycling Pipework Technician's Mate	2

Busy / Not

Last week after a huge amount of assembling for the last deluxe rewards, Paul shipped another 75 parcels.

Some of Friday’s shipments.

There’s about 30 left after that, which will go out shortly.

That’s the deluxes done, one month late.

I spent the week prototyping and catching up on the bookkeeping.

Now I’m away for a long weekend.

On my return it’ll be back to playtesting and iterating through the loop.

Manifestation

A heat haze forms. Yet it is not that warm on this late September afternoon in Germany.

The air begins to bubble. Then boil.

An eldritch scream. The air is rent asunder. A Lost One manifests in this reality.

Normality returns.

Photo by Brandable Box @brandablebox Unsplash

It appears an unassuming box. It’s cardboard exterior looks ordinary. Pedestrian even.

Within, it seethes. Phenomenal cosmic power. Waiting to wreak destruction on an interplanetary scale.

It moves. Slowly at first. Then gathering pace. It takes off. Speeding through the sky as it approaches the nexus.

The nexus: North Yorkshire, UK. Calm. Peaceful. 

The box approaches. Soon it will burst. Spewing conflict and interstellar war across the globe.

The box has arrived at our supplier in Germany and is on its way back to us again.

Kickstarter fulfilment is near.

Frustration

The box that’s stopping us fulfilling the Kickstarter has spent two weeks in a depot in Germany.

Why?

I guess returns aren’t a priority.

The supplier has chased it with DHL.

Still no movement.

This is all so galling.

Before Brexit this would have just been delivered.

In a couple of days.

Job done.

It all went wrong when we didn’t receive a letter telling us there were customs due.

So we didn’t know it was waiting for us.

Now we’re waiting for it.

Photo by Aron Visuals on Unsplash

At least Paul’s now finished cutting the deluxe rewards.

So things will move quickly when it gets here.

For now, the wait is on.

When will it get here?

Soon I hope.