[Board Game] The Colony 2174 - Update (May 2016)

edited in Projects
image

The Colony 2174 has had some major progress made since ICON by the sea and I thought I would share some of the progress and updates.


Printers:
I managed to source a local and an international printer who are able to do all the components for me at a extremely reasonable price. Currently the game uses 270 cards, 150 tokens, 2 dice, and a rulebook ... and both printers are able to provide me the same quality of components as the quality I get from The Game Crafter.

I don't want to discuss specific pricing, but ultimately I will be able to get the game on local shelves for around R750.00 per unit if we choose to handle the logistics of printing and distribution ourselves. Which is a major undertaking and not something I am keen to attempt, but the idea behind getting the prices was to be able to make informed decisions should the need arise.


Distribution:
We are currently sending a demo copy to someone in the local industry who wants to discuss possible distribution with us, if they like the game than the negotiations will start in earnest. This is still early days and I don't want to jinx it ... but it all depends on their reception of the game and whether they like it or not.

I am secretly optomistic as the changes we have made to the game based on the feedback received at and since ICON by the sea has made the game better, just see the two reviews we received on BoardGameGeek for proof:
Changes and Feedback:
We received so much feedback from ICON by the sea and since that I had to un-publish the game from The Game Crafter for a while in order to make the changes.

Primarily we changed the mechanics around the Red Military structures and gave them the ability to targeted to specific structure activation numbers during your turn. The game now includes target tokens that allows you to indicate what the structure is currently targeted at.

image

The above change meant we were finally able to bring the concept of influence cards. When I first designed the game, I always wanted to include a form of action card that would allow players to have an influence on their dice rolls or the dice rolls of others.

With the inclusions of the above target structures, we now had another dice roll that we could effectively apply influence and so the mechanic of Influence Cards has been introduced. You may hold up to a maximum of 3 influence cards in your hand at any point in time and whenever a dice roll is made by any player (including yourself) you may place the influence card to effect the dice roll.

image

This has meant the game can take a little longer to play, but a lot of the feedback we received, even before ICON by the sea specifically from @roguecode was that the game felt a little short.


Updated Artwork:
The artwork throughout the game has been updated. We have not fundamentally changed the artwork, we have just polished it, the structure cards look more vibrant and we have included the colors from the card in to the structure render itself.

image

The event cards have also been made more vibrant and this adds to the overall appeal of the game. A lot of the comments received regarding the artwork was that it was very good but a lot of the printers indicated the colors were a little dull, this has been rectified now.

image

The rulebook has had a complete overhaul and is printed in full color. Part of the update has been a clearer component list up front as well as samples of how the game is laid out and set-up ... we have also included a sample game that covers all the basic rules.

image

You can download the rulebook here.


Social Media and Website:
The website and press kit has been updated and we have ensured that we have a consistent message across all the platforms including BoardGameGeek and The Game Crafter.

The social media team is lead by Nadine Giquel and with the help of Nanette Giquel and Shirley Plant, they have been driving traffic through Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook ... we have jumped from 30 followers on Instagram to 600+ since ICON by the sea ... and this is helping to drive awareness of the game and I have had some good conversations with interested parties.

The biggest challenge we have now is getting demo copies out to the people who want to review the game ... the currency exchange rate is killing me and is one of the primary reasons I went out to source printers. This is proving to be a constant headache and I am not sure where to go from here.


Conclusion:
The game is now finished (yes I said it before) but besides any errata or extra special event cards, no more changes are being made to the core system. The final version I received from The Game Crafter will be the version (hopefully) that you will be able to pick up at your local store one day in the future.

This entire process has been a valuable learning process and has allowed me to crate some damn good contacts in the various related industries. The Colony 2174 has given me valuable insight and will guide me on future products both how and how not to do it.

We still have a solid following of individuals who are always waiting for me to bring the game to the next session at the local shops and they have been behind us all the way.

Once we have finalised what is happening with distribution, we will start hosting small tournaments and pushing the game at various conferences.

Ultimately the game gave me a chance to make a game that I wanted to play and share it with others who might be interested, the game is played every time our board game group meets. 8-}


I leave you with an image from the last session we played with @drdeth and @garethf in Tabletop Simulator.

image

Comments

  • This is really great news and I hope your success continues :D

    (also, I feel again the need to call for a separate section on this forum for boardgame designers and comps, info etc @daverussellsa )
    Thanked by 1quintond
  • Thanks @dammit ... yeah I think a separate section wouldn't be a bad idea, so I second your call.
    Thanked by 1dammit
  • Yesterday I received the final print copies of the game and I am really happy with the quality and the final look.

    Here is the new box art:
    image
    WhatsApp-Image-20160516.jpg
    894 x 894 - 373K
  • The art is all so pretty. The whole thing is feeling super polished - congrats man!
    Thanked by 1quintond
  • @roguecode: Thanks man ... you have to see it in real life ... I am so happy with the final result now. 8-}
  • We have had another review added to our BoardGameGeek page.

    The Colony 2174 - Deck Building and Dice Strategy game
    The game is super exciting and strategic, and each game plays differently to the one before - a 2 player vs a 4 player game each provide a different strategy to be the winner, thus improving the replayability of the game. Each version of the game makes changes to the structure and event decks to limit the amount of cards available to the players, thus forcing you to change your strategy each time.
    Thanked by 1dammit
  • Wow ... what a surreal feeling getting an email saying your game has been sold ... I have no idea who bought it except that they are shipping it to "Gladwyne, PA, United States of America" ...

    ... I never expected sales on The Game Crafter due to the high cost and high shipping fees ... this is an awesome surprise. 8-}
  • How is this project going? Haven't heard anything about it in a while
    Thanked by 1quintond
  • edited
    @mikethetike: The current version on The Game Crafter (https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/the-colony-2174) is the final version and we are now just busy working out the logistics of printing and distribution here in South Africa.

    Eugene from Skycastle has received a demo copy and he has played it a few times, I am waiting for him to get back from GenCon so we can continue our initial discussions.

    In the meantime, the guys from Cardboard Quest have borrowed Eugene's copy and are planning on doing a review of the game. I am also organising a demo copy for the guys from Geek Node, I recently did a podcast with them (http://www.geeknode.co.za/2016/08/geek-node-podcast-episode-25-board-game-development-in-sa-w-special-guest-quenton-q-delpeche/) and they have expressed interest in doing a review as well. Geek of All Trades also reached on out on Facebook and why to play the game through Tabletop Simulator and also want to do a review.

    On the printing front, I managed to find a local printer here in South Africa who can print everything for me and the cost was extremely reasonable, which ultimately means I can get the game on retail shelves here in South Africa for about R750.00 to R850.00.

    I have also managed to find a printer in China who can do the same for me, except shipping to South Africa would be a deal breaker because of the volumes that they require.

    This is the main reason we have been discussing things with Skycastle, unfortunately they recently went through a huge merger (https://www.facebook.com/Geekofalltradespodcast/posts/1036125246441243), which delayed everything for a couple of months and we are only now getting a chance to actually discuss the finer details ... so the game is in a little bit of limbo at the moment ... which is frustrating but there is not much I can do right now.

    Our Social Media pushes have been on going and we actually have some decent numbers:
    - Gobbo Games Instagram - 1,144
    - Gobbo Games Twitter - 425
    - The Colony 2174 Twitter - 289

    The game is still being played at our local shops and my group constantly plays it, we are not getting bored of it, so that is always good news.
    Thanked by 2critic mikethetike
Sign In or Register to comment.