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Hello, and glad to be here!

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Tue, 04/14/2015 - 16:47
Slinthas
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Joined: 04/13/2015

Hello BGDF!

My name is Michael, I work as a Content Designer on a AAA MMO, and am a giant board game nerd as well. Currently a colleague and I are working on a 4x strategy board game named Void Star. We are in the playtesting/polishing/art phase and hope to have it to market early next year.

I found these forums during my exhausting and often fruitless searches for tips/resources for hunting down a manufacturer. Through some posts on these forums, I've finally found what I'm looking for and now just need to finance the game, so thanks for this great resource! I look forward to participating in this community and hopefully soon you all can see (and buy!!) our game :)

https://www.facebook.com/VoidStarGame is our facebook page for Void Star, there is only a few pieces of race art on it right now, but more is coming!

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Tue, 04/14/2015 - 16:50
#1
IcePeddlerGames
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Joined: 01/29/2015
Glad you are here! Keep us

Glad you are here! Keep us updated on your progress.

You can even tell me more about your board game if you want!

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Tue, 04/14/2015 - 16:52
#2
richdurham
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Joined: 12/26/2009
Welcome and such things

Hi Slinthas -

Out of curiosity (and since a future redesign might compile this stuff), what information were you looking for and found here? Was it links to manufacturers like you said or is there more?

Welcome to BGDF. Feel free to start a design blog for Void Star!

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Tue, 04/14/2015 - 17:15
#3
Slinthas
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Joined: 04/13/2015
Yes, manufacturing is the

Yes, manufacturing is the most opaque portion of this process for me so far.

Coming to it cold, I made plenty of mistakes and missteps in just contacting manufacturers for initial quotes and inquiries of services offered.

I read a few posts from folks here and realized some of my gaffs, and fixed up my quote request process, got better info for the manufacturers and in return got better info back.

I also learned about customs hassles, safety testing etc, from posts here. Its been enlightening and will definitely save me some headaches down the road!

It's also just great to read about other folks experiences, ideas, expectations, and hopes for their games.

I will start a blog for Void Star, that's on my list of things to get started actually, and that I can just do it here is very convenient!

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Tue, 04/14/2015 - 20:20
#4
The Professor
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Joined: 10/25/2014
Welcome!

Sorry...double post

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Tue, 04/14/2015 - 17:28
#5
The Professor
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Welcome!

Slinthas,

Welcome to BGDF!

As a game developer, currently working with a designer on a 4x game, I'm always curious to see other interpretations within the genre. On one end, you have Twilight Imperium, which is such a behemoth it never hits the gaming table to Eclipse which has elements which shouldn't be randomized (tech) and Victory Points for simple Exploration moves. Despite nearly two dozen titles on BGG that fall into this genre, few have proven successful, which leads me to the obvious question...

What makes Void Star unique?

Cheers,
Joe

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Tue, 04/14/2015 - 18:11
#6
Slinthas
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Joined: 04/13/2015
Great question Joe! It's one

Great question Joe! It's one we've been working on since day one.

Early in the process, during our earliest playtesting, I realized I had designed a game that was just too big and sprawling. Too many pieces, too many mechanics, too much time to play, a lot like TI:III. So I just started distilling. K-I-S-S, keep it simple stupid. People had fun, every time we played. So I just kept cutting and cutting things that weren't fun, or didn't directly add to the fun. Now fun is subjective, maybe only myself and my friends will like this game, which is fine, since I doubt people get into board game creation for the huge checks! :)

So simply, what makes it unique from the other 4x games out there, is flow and pacing.

We have unique elements, like any game does, but I think that that is the largest difference.

I try to get everyone involved as much as possible at all times that are possible. I don't like waiting 45 minutes for everyone else to take their turn before it's mine again, so almost all actions are taken at the same time. The only portion I couldn't get around turn order was movement and combat. As we get more components ready for showing, I hope to have a Learn to Play video up, and some photos of components etc up so that you can actually see the game instead of just reading my wall of text!

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Tue, 04/14/2015 - 19:03
#7
Soulfinger
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Joined: 01/06/2015
You had me at Nazgul in Space.

You are right that you don't get into it for the huge checks, but if you borrow money from the right people, you do get to meet some huge Czechs!

Also, how do you attach an MP3 file of a rimshot to a post?

I'll be here all night.

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Tue, 04/14/2015 - 20:26
#8
The Professor
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Joined: 10/25/2014
two things...

@ Soulfinger

He'll be here all week, Ladies and Gentlemen...don't forget to try the veal!

@ Slinthas,

Great call on culling that which reduces the fun. There's a great series/blog on the issue of pacing, downtime, etc., called I believe "The Precipice" ~ well worth your time to read it. If I can find it, I'll post it here. I'll certainly review your rules, once available, if you would like another opinion.

Cheers,
Joe

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