Well, it’s been a whirlwind month for me: I took my kids to Taiwan for most of August, got back in time to celebrate my anniversary and then took off again for PAX Prime. (Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for any typos and formatting errors that occurred during August.) I’ve got a lot of stories to tell you about board gaming in Taiwan, an awesome overnight stay at the aquarium, and some more Taiwan travel tips … but first I’ve got a Kickstarter round-up, because you know how I love Kickstarter.
I missed Gen Con, sadly, but I did get to find out about a few new projects while at PAX, and also saw the results of a few successful Kickstarter projects. There was a room called “Kickstarter Arcade” in the Grand Hyatt where you could see some projects in various stages — from “still seeking funding” to “funded and in development” to “completed and for sale.”
Story Realms character sheets (prototype) will be double-sided with girls on one side and boys on the other.
One of the projects I was most excited to see was Story Realms, the kid-friendly role-playing board game that Erik Wecks and I saw during GameStorm this year. This time their prototypes had closer-to-complete artwork, and it’s absolutely gorgeous.
The Story Realms map (prototype) with cards representing the various “chapters” of the story and characters involved.
Erik already mentioned that their Kickstarter campaign launched on Friday morning, and they raised half of their goal by the next morning. We’re all rooting for the Story Realms team. If you haven’t backed it yet, check out Erik’s interview with Angela Hickman Newnham for more about the game.
Damage Report (prototype): a real-time cooperative game set on a crippled spaceship.
Wombat with Disaster Looms!
Back in June, I wrote about a game called Disaster Looms!, a game of corporate greed and impending disaster. Well, the folks from Break From Reality Games are back with another space-themed game of disaster, but the gameplay is quite different. In Damage Report, you’re all stranded on a spaceship which has lost its hyperdrive. In the meantime, the ship is taking fire from aliens (or getting hit by solar flares from the nearby star), and your shields are depleting. Your goal is to move around the ship, picking up tools and resources to repair things, before the shields are wiped out and everyone dies.
The coolest thing, though, is the real-time aspect. You’ve got sand timers which limit your actions, and one main timer which indicates how often the ship takes damage. The scenario we played at PAX was fairly simple, just 10 minutes long at most, but there are a number of other scenarios which will be included.
And one more thing about BFR Games: You see that picture to the right? That’s Wombat holding a finished copy of Disaster Looms! Because the game was mostly manufactured in the US, BFR Games was able to start fulfilling pledges in 77 days. It’s not often that a Kickstarter board game has such a quick turnaround. So I’m confident that they’ll be able to meet their planned release of early 2013.
