Pledge Manager Launched! Gameplay Improvements and Tooling Started...
about 4 years ago
– Fri, Mar 20, 2020 at 09:36:36 PM
Hello Backers,
First and foremost, I want to extend our warm thoughts and prayers to all of you and your loved ones during these unprecedented and challenging times. Our hearts go out to all of you who may have been adversely impacted by COVID-19, especially those who have lost loved ones, are quarantined, or whose livelihoods have been threatened due to the slowdown in the economy.
At Enhance, in an effort to responsibly establish social distancing to reduce the spread and protect our team members, we have transitioned 90% of our staff to working remotely. The remaining team members will likely transition to remote as well based on the directives of local and national officials. Nevertheless, as a company we are fully operational with a strong balance sheet, and we continue to work on all of our projects -- especially Migration Mars. :)
Pledge Manager Launched
We have launched our pledge manager on Backerkit, so be on the lookout for an email inviting you to complete your survey. The survey will allow you to manage your shipping address, choose the language of your game (English, German, Spanish, French or Italian), select add-ons, etc. If you haven't received the email, please check your spam/junkmail folder, otherwise to request another invitation, please go to:
https://migration-mars.backerkit.com/
Gameplay Improvements
We have been diligently testing and evolving the gameplay based on our campaign stretch goals and backer feedback over the last two months. We are proud to say this most recent update of the rules and game mechanics have significantly enhanced the play experience while still embodying the original vision and spirit of Migration Mars.
Some of the improvements include:
- More interactive and decision based events.
- Increased potential for asset acquisition that speeds up colony development and increases strategic options.
- New 3-phase turns (colony, build, and rover actions) increases overall engagement with more variety per turn.
- Population injury and deaths more thoughtfully mitigated/prevented.
- Ancient Ruin explorations now more dynamic.
- New Meteorite strike mechanic that involves layers of randomized anticipation vs “take that” which formerly, at times, forced players into unwanted decisions.
- Tighter total play time averages.
- And several more nuances and graphic changes that improve the overall play experience.
The updated rule book has been posted online and we will be re-shooting a new play-through video when social distancing measures end. Here is the link to the rule book (it will automatically load a PDF file):
https://migrationmars.com/rulebook
It should be noted that extensive efforts were made to develop a solo and 5-player expansion as suggested by some of our backers. However, since we only want to offer paid expansions that we truly believe will add value to our backers and be enjoyable to play (coupled with our aggressive timeline to fulfillment), we are not offering those expansions at this time. That said, we truly appreciate all of the feedback and we will keep you updated on developments as we continue to test various concepts for future expansions.
Manufacturing Update
After reviewing quotes and assessing paper and board samples, we've selected our manufacturing partner. The purchase order for tooling has been made and we are expecting completion for first off tool samples in 45-60 days.
We are aggressively moving forward with manufacturing to hit our goal delivery in August, and since relative normalcy has returned to China in terms of production capabilities, we believe we can still hit that date.
I know I say this all the time, but thanks once again for all of your support... you backing this project has made this all possible and we are so excited to deliver an amazing game!
Kind regards,
Trevor
THANK YOU BACKERS! :)
about 4 years ago
– Fri, Feb 21, 2020 at 12:12:21 AM
Hello Migrators,
From our entire team, I want to thank all of you for an amazing campaign! Not only do we sincerely appreciate your financial support that makes Migration Mars a reality, but we also want to thank you for all of the positive feedback, honest criticism, spirited debate and overall civility as we seek to develop Migration Mars into a board game you all will love. We now have a community within board games that we truly cherish, and you have our firm commitment to complete development and deliver.
WHAT'S NEXT?
At the close of a campaign, Kickstarter now begins the process of collecting pledges. It typically takes two weeks for everything to be formalized so that we know our final list of backers. It's possible that you will receive an email from Kickstarter if they had issues with charging your credit card...if that happens, please update your card as soon as possible.
PLEDGE MANAGER
We are utilizing BackerKit as our pledge manager and will send out surveys at the conclusion of Kickstarter's efforts. Consequently, expect to receive an email from us the week of March 9th with a link to your survey.
ONGOING GAME DEVELOPMENT
Our team continues to develop various features and expansions based on backer feedback. We're nearing completion of the Faction ID Player Mat Expansion to introduce asymmetric gameplay, and will be offering it as an add-on in the pledge manager. Additionally, the team is testing a 5th Player Alien Faction Expansion that can be utilized in 2-5 player modes. It is a bit early to release any more details, but it is shaping up well and we can't wait to provide more details in future updates! :)
TRANSLATIONS
Thanks to many of you who have reached out to offer translation services or critiques of translations prior to printing. There are several parties in which we are in discussions, so we are excited to be offering accurate translations to native speakers of German, French, Spanish and Italian.
MANUFACTURING
We already have competing quotes for tooling and manufacturing and have selected our supplier. Since our game has molded parts, we will be starting the tooling in the next 3 weeks. Due to coronavirus, there is some difficulty for workers to move within China, so we continue to monitor this with our factory and will keep our backers updated.
That is all for now, but expect more updates in the next 1-2 weeks. Thanks again for all of your support, we are so excited to launch Migration Mars!
Kind regards,
Trevor
Two Days Left! Explanded Event Card Deck Stretch Goal Reached!
about 4 years ago
– Tue, Feb 18, 2020 at 09:30:44 PM
Hey Migrators,
With two days left, we are happy to announce that we've unlocked our latest stretch goal -- so all backers will be receiving the expanded event deck! :) The team has been working very diligently on this one, and we are excited about the improvement to game play and replayability that this stretch goal provides.
Thank you so much to all of you for your support through this month long campaign. The amazing feedback and positivity you've shared as we launch Migration Mars -- our first of hopefully many board games, has been overwhelming!
Of course, we know this is just the start for us as we move forward with opening tooling, initiating translations, setting up the BackerKit pledge manager, coordinating fulfillment and so on. There is much ahead, and you have the commitment of our team to deliver a great game that we hope you all will love!
Kind regards,
Trevor
Ciao! :) Now Offering Migration Mars in Italian!!
about 4 years ago
– Tue, Feb 18, 2020 at 10:20:21 AM
Hello Migrators,
Just a quick update to notify you that we will be offering Migration Mars in Italian! Thanks so much for your support and for filling out surveys to help us understand the demand for these translations.
Just a couple days left of the campaign, so please follow our Facebook page, Instagram page and share the Kickstarter campaign -- we are so close to those last stretch goals!
Thank you!
Trevor
Now Offering Migration Mars In German, French and Spanish!
about 4 years ago
– Tue, Feb 18, 2020 at 09:00:27 AM
Hello Migrators,
Thank you so much to all of those who completed your surveys and for the ongoing support of our amazing community of backers, you have been amazing!
We have some good news for all of those non-English speakers... We've received over 1300 responses, and I'm happy to announce that we have enough demand to offer Migration Mars in German, French and Spanish!
This means that in BackerKit after the completion of the campaign, you'll be able to select from your choice of languages -- not just English. Please note that Italian is also getting close to 100 votes, so please get your surveys completed and feel free to share!
We are nearing the 125K stretch goal and we'll also be releasing some sneak peeks of the faction ID artwork in the coming days. Our backers are offering constructive and thoughtful feedback and please know we are dedicated to making Migration Mars the best game it can be.
Thanks once again for your support, we truly appreciate all of you! :)
Kind regards,
Trevor
