Hello Crewmates, let’s start with some other news. I can finally announce the film that I’ve been working on for the last six months, whilst running the Pandora.
EASTER ISLAND ORIGINS tells the history of Rapa Nui from the perspective of its inhabitants, revealing what the Moai were for and overturning long-held assumptions about how they affected the island’s history. If you think you knew the story of Easter Island, think again. And watch the Moai walk!
It goes out on PBS/NOVA at 9pm this Wednesday 7th February for any of you in the States. I’m still working on the international version, which will air in France, Germany and the UK later this year.
Meanwhile, in my copious spare time, Lynn & I have been working hard on Pandora Celeste.
We thought we were at a point where we could release the Print & Play when 2 things happened – both of them good: both of them making us postpone the PnP’s release.
First, we brought the Next Level Web Crowdfunding Nerds on board as our Marketing Consultants. They have a wealth of experience promoting crowdfunding campaigns, and have advised us to hold back the PnP until the start of the full marketing campaign. We would be foolish to ignore that advice.
At the same time, we took the game to ConTingency, where it received a great reception from the people who played it. One of our players was an industry insider who works for a well-known games company. After complimenting us on the production values of our prototype, he gave us some very good advice about the graphic design of our cards, which we have taken to heart and which we think makes them much clearer and easier to understand (thank you Whitt).
For example, here is the old version of one of our Agenda cards (on the left) alongside the new (on the right). I think you’ll agree that the text and the way the information on the card is presented makes things a whole lot clearer. We’re worried that the ‘screen crack’ running down the middle of the card still obscures the writing, so we are planning on dialling that back and making the background even lighter. What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.
Similarly, here’s one of the more complex Action Cards from the ShipDeck, with the updated version on the right:
It’s a subtle difference, but we think it’s a good one.
Perhaps the biggest difference can be seen in the presentation of the Quick Ref Cards. Several players fed-back that they were struggling to identify the icons because they were too small and the text was too hard to read. So we listened and this is what we came up with. We have doubled its size, lightened the background and made the key text stand out more. It’s still a work in progress, but we think it’s much clearer now:
So as you can see, as well as making television, I’ve been busy improving the game.
We’re working to get all of these assets in place, alongside a TTS mod, by the end of this month. Then we start the marketing campaign in earnest.
At the same time, we have just commissioned Kris to start work on the art assets that will make up the back of the Ship, included in the Deluxe version of the game.
Exciting times are a-comin’, and if you want to be a part of it:
We will also be at the Dudley Bug Ball on the 24-25th February. So if you're in the area, come say hi and try out the game - we'd love to see you.
In the meantime, watch out for those dark corners…
M€