Spring Update! Fix the Galaxy, Save the...BackerKit?
about 2 years ago – Sat, Apr 09, 2022 at 01:21:40 AM

Hello friends, backers, and future galactic adventurers! Sorry for the quiet period, but we've been hard at work on the game. You might (quite legitimately!) ask: "Working on the game? But you said it was done!", and my answer is that I did indeed think it was done, but a couple of playtests in particular illuminated some issues.  Specifically: the Adversaries functioned and weren't broken, but still weren't quite fun/varied enough in the ways I wanted them to be.  So, I took a long look (again) at all of them, made one final wave of revisions and enhancements, and we tested the heck out of it. Kudos go out to Joe for helping me run a Lot of Playtests, and to Rob for dealing with the graphics + art fallout and extra work that resulted. The game is better for it, and I'm really excited now to get it into all of your hands! 

Files to Factory: Last Proofreads!

We're going to be submitting the files to the factory early next week, now that everything is finally balanced and done. While we've taken a pretty thorough look through the rules, a few extra sets of eyes never hurt. If you'd like to take a peek, you're welcome to, and if you happen to find a typo, grammatical debacle, or secret Zibzab sabotage, we're happy to hear it (and fix it!).

Rules PDF: https://onedeckgalaxy.com/ODG_Rules_Proof.pdf

Adversary Quickguide PDF: https://onedeckgalaxy.com/ODG_AdvGuide_Proof.pdf

For feedback, a direct message is fine, email to asmadigames at gmail dot com, or a comment if neither of those works for you!

OneDeckGalaxy.com: Future site of CONTENT!

This Spring, as we wait for the game to go through the production and shipping queue, we'll be working on more content for the OneDeckGalaxy.com website. We have plans for a many things, but here are few key highlights:

• Comprehensive 4-Player Rules
• Tutorial Videos - both quickstart and thorough explanation versions (Will be links to YouTube)
• Downloadable Campaign Sheets - Just in case you play 150 games and use them all up, or just want some extra copies.
• Super Challenge Mode - Just in case the game is way too easy, which has been a problem for One Deck Dungeon, I hear everyone has a 100% win-rate!

BackerKit: Why is it Hiding, and What are its Secrets?

We haven't opened the BackerKit yet, which we had planned to do early in the year. To be blunt: fixing up the game took priority. Setting up all the regions and shipping is a lot of work, and it's exactly the sort of work I can work on AFTER the game files are at the factory. I'll be getting on that in the next couple weeks (probably after PAX East). And then, you can give me your addresses, add any add-ons, etc. 

We will post a full update here when the BackerKit launches. 

PAX East: Come say Hi!

We will be in the Tabletop area in a booth with our convention partners, Foam Brain Games (They sell lots of really awesome metal dice). We'll have a couple prototype sets of Galaxy on hand if you want to check it out! We'll also be demoing Good Puppers, and a micro 1001 Odysseys adventure. We'd love to see anyone who's at the show, it's been a long time since we've seen everyone at conventions! 

News from the Galaxy: BackerKit Delays, Production Starting Soon, Convention Adventures
about 2 years ago – Sun, Feb 06, 2022 at 01:44:07 AM

Greetings, one and all! We hope everyone is having a pleasant (if snowy) Winter Times, and wanted to bring you an update on where the project is at. Generally, things are good! A couple of our tasks are running slightly behind schedule thanks to the general slowness of the world out there.  We should be shipping out games to you all in late Spring / early Summer, and we'll have more precise timelines as we get updates from the factory, a boat schedule, and so forth.

BackerKit Schedule

We'd planned to open up the BackerKit at the end of January, but we're still at least a couple weeks away from having it all sorted out. Making it work properly for VAT and international shipping is a little more complicated than we'd hoped, and we want to get it right before we open it up for everyone. This doesn't impact the game's timeline at all. When the BackerKit opens, you'll receive an email with a link to enter your address and add any additional games/etc, and we'll post an update as well. Our during-campaign estimates for shipping costs seem to be about in line with what the quotes are right now from our fulfillment partners.

Production and Gameplay Update

We're wrapping up work on the game files, which we extended into 2022 because I needed to do some further balancing and enhancing of the Adversaries' gameplay mechanics. One of my design principles for One Deck Galaxy was to have playthroughs feel suitably different depending on which Adversary you're facing, and I'm quite happy with the results! 

To support this, we're making a change to the rulebook: Two rulebooks! There will be a main rulebook with all of the gameplay rules as you'd expect, and also a 12-page Adversary Guide booklet. Each of the Adversaries has a slightly different table layout, and the Adversary Guide provides images of where all the stuff should go on your tabletop. It turns out, and this was a surprise to me, the laws of physics will not allow me to come to each of your houses and teach you the game and set it up for you. A shame. 

We're working on completing this booklet this week, and hope it enhances your game and/or learning experience! 

Other assets are 95% done, there're some a handful of edits still to be made to the rulebook associated with the balance changes, but all the illustrations are complete, and we're excited to send it all off to the factory :)

2022 Conventions

Right now, our plans are to attend PAX East, Gen Con, and PAX Unplugged.  We're excited to see more people this year at shows! We'll be showing off One Deck Galaxy at all of these, either in pre-production or production form. 

The Galaxy Times: PAX U, Game Updates, BackerKit Target Date
over 2 years ago – Wed, Dec 08, 2021 at 11:35:02 PM

Hello friends from across the galaxy! Yes, most of our backers are on Earth, but for those of you receiving this email in the far reaches of the cosmos, we apologize for the current limitation of our broadcast speed (speed of light, blah blah relativity). I'm sure the Zibzab will share new tech with us soon, and instant electronic transmission will usher in a new era of an inbox full of Very Important Emails. 

Since the campaign finished, we've been hard at work testing, balancing, and finalizing the gameplay of One Deck Galaxy. We had a couple new elements added on by stretch and galactic goals, so those've been the focus. Let's take a peek at these new shiny bits! First up, a brand new Society Type: Mathematicians. Who doesn't love numbers?

Their Society Special Tech is Precise Calculations, and it allows you to place a die on the Society card, making *all dice of that value* wild for the rest of that turn.  This is important for achieving their milestones, which require you to potentially discard more dice of one color than exist! Be clever with math, and you'll go far. 

Next up, we have our 5th Adversary, the most difficult Adversary, the Dark Star Syndicate. They have fantastic scientific ideas that they want to share with everyone. 

They'll accumulate the top card of the deck as Science every turn. And every time they accumulate enough, their confrontation card will flip over, forcing you to stop their Grand Finale (hint: it's in their name!) before continuing with your federation-building efforts.

Now, you might be of the mindset that you don't want all the stars turned dark, nor enjoy an engine that creates an infinite  quantity of paperwork. They'll listen to reason! All you have to do to shut down each experiment is prove them wrong. Does this cost you large quantities of needless research effort to accomplish? Well...yes. 

Each revealed Adversary Event is one of these experiments, which cause all sorts of trouble. You can get rid of them by placing Science (and gain some modest benefits along the way). 12 Science shuts down the experiment! Do they salvage parts of the experiment to make their Finale efforts stronger? ...Also yes.

Good luck :)

PAX Unplugged: Booth #2455

We're going to be at PAX Unplugged this weekend, with our latest build of One Deck Galaxy available to play. If you're there, stop by and say hello! We'll also have lots of cool pins, arts, and games for sale (including the new Good Puppers!) 

We hope to see lots more folks at shows next year, as things hopefully get back to normal.

BackerKit: Late January

We're still working through some VAT and shipping related adventures, but things generally look good! We are planning to open the BackerKit for you all in late January, collecting shipping costs, enabling pre-orders, add-ons, and all the other things you'd expect from pledge management time. 

Refund Policy

As with all our campaigns, if you want a refund for any reason, just ask in a direct message and we'll take care of it! Things change, stuff happens, and we understand :) 

Galactic Goal #1 Unlocked: Challenge Scenarios
over 2 years ago – Fri, Oct 15, 2021 at 04:26:00 AM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

Final Week! 2P Stream today on CritCamp, and What's Next?
over 2 years ago – Wed, Oct 13, 2021 at 10:43:23 PM

Hello galactic friends, and thanks to the over four thousand of you who have joined our project! That's a really fun and large number, and we're excited to bring our fun game to you all next year. We're sneaking up on our second Galactic Goal at $200K, and I hope we can get by it during the final days. Sneak sneak.

Today (Tuesday) at 1PM Eastern, our friends at CritCamp are going to stream a 2 player game on Twitch, you can watch at twitch.tv/critcamp. I'll be around in chat answering questions as well.

Post Campaign Plans

After the campaign ends, we'll be getting to work adding all the stretch and Galactic Goals we've unlocked during the campaign into the game, doing some final testing, and prepping for print. We'll be updating the TTS module and print and plays as we go, so you'll be able to follow and see our progress. Our plan is to have the game fully print-ready in early December, in order to fulfill in the Spring as planned. 

The BackerKit site for pre-orders and pledge management will open in early 2022, once we're closer to production and have more clarity on shipping costs. We're excited to get this game into all of your hands, and thanks for coming along on the journey with us!