A dragon's tale (part I)

Simurgh was the first game ever picked up by NSKN Games after a pitch, and it is the first ever project in which we had to work with a designer who was not part of NSKN Games.

It all started at the Nurnberg Toy Fair back in 2013. It was our first appearance at a large fair besides Spiel and it was as surprising as our first presence is Essen. A lot of famous designers come to Nurnberg to present their new ideas because unlike Essen which offers some incredibly busy four days, Nurnberg it 6 days long and quite relaxed, with fewer visitors and time to catch a breath.

That's where we met Pierluca Zizzi, a charming Italian game designer who pitched a "board building game with some awesome worker placement mechanisms and...dinosaurs", and we were intrigued. The game was sharing some game design principles with one of Pierluca's other designs, so we had to wait for another 5 months to actually play the game.

Our first game of Simurgh (back then Mu) took place in GobCob later that year. We said yes to the game the very same day and we brought along the prototype for further testing, but we already knew known that we had found a gem.

You need to know a few things about the earliest prototype we've seen. It did not feature dragons, but dinosaurs. Everyone, including the designer, knew that dinosaurs are not there to stay, nevertheless we had lots of fun imagining dragon... pardon me... dinosaur raiders foraging through some ancient forest. Dinos are not a bad thing - take a look at Evolution or Dominant Species - they were just totally out of place, not fitting at all with the game mechanics. But the game itself was so good that we decided on the spot to publish it after we found the perfect theme.

It wasn't long until Simurgh found its name and theme. It took some 12-hour car ride, a ridiculous amount of emails (if you have not tried brain storming by email, do not miss this unique opportunity... just kidding) and a few months later we were ready to dress the game into some beautiful artwork and present it in Essen. That was still back in 2013.

Dragon sketch by Enggar Adirasa

A legitimate question at this point is "Why dragons?" and what does the name of the game mean. We must admit that we were somehow conditioned by the original dinosaur theme and we were not able to shift our thinking into a completely different plane, so we gravitated around "stuff which can fly, stuff which can be ridden" and "a mythical universe", "of man and... (add word here)". Add to this mix another key ingredient - we like dragons  -  and we had the cocktail ready for a dragon themed game. The truth is that all the game mechanisms fit perfectly with the theme we chose and we were very happy to see the metamorphosis of Mu into Simurgh.

Our dragons were never meant to be evil. Scary - yes, by all means, but never evil. The legends of many peoples are filled with dragons, from Asia to South America and from Europe to Africa. We search the mythology for a perfect match and the Persian Simurgh came as the obvious choice.

Stay tuned for the second part of the story, coming up in a few weeks.


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More theme - yay or nay?

What do we need a theme in a game for? If it’s a Eurogame, we probably need it to help out in the learning process a little bit, and to not be in the way when the learning is over. And if the theme ever rears its ugly head too much, things may get suddenly worse.

Image source: BoardGameGeek.

Thematic Eurogames certainly exist. The problem here is that depending on who you ask, what is and is not thematic differs significantly. A game considered super-thematic by some, is dry and completely devoid of any theme to others. Just look at Lords of Waterdeep, that was both praised for a high level of immersion (for a Eurogame), and bashed for being a soulless cube pusher, thinly layered with a Dungeons & Dragons theme.

It’s obvious that to an extent it is what we like or dislike that makes us consider a game thematic or dry. Some specific elements work better to anchor us in what a game is supposed to depict. For example, I find Shipyard (a very abstract abstract Eurogame by Vladimir Suchý) thematic despite having to work with several different rondels as well as a pile of disassociated mechanisms working in the game, simply because the goal is to build ships – and build them on a board, using tiles that make the final outcome look like an actual ship.

However, sometimes one of the design goals for a game is to more accurately depict whatever the game is about. And this means introducing rules that would “simulate” some real-life phenomenon or mechanism, with a possible outcome of making a game that is more “realistic” – and often less of a solid game.

Image source: BoardGameGeek.

Among many games Martin Wallace has designed over the years, few have been bashed as much as Tinners’ Trail – a light Eurogame about mining and selling tin in 19th century Cornwall. Wallace (by his own admission) was aiming to create a game that could accurately show the volatility of the 19th century market, which is why he introduced a dice based mechanism that would change the price of tin from turn to turn – sometimes significantly. What he actually did is design a game that was quickly dismissed by many hardcore Eurogamers – or immediately house-ruled to make it more strategic – and probably less realistic.

The question of realism is one we actually tackle on a regular basis. Should a game be more balanced, more well-rounded, and less “realistic” to be considered better? Or should it be maybe a bit less of a solid game, but slightly more thematic? Until now we’ve been walking the “more solid” path, but we are very curious to know what you think.

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The NSKN Method

The topic of Kickstarters being late comes back to me every few weeks. Talking to other gamers, reading content on BoardGameGeek, or listening to a podcast, I encounter yet another story of a game, an expansion, a box of miniatures or wargaming terrain being just late – or horribly late. In fact, more than 90 percent of Kickstarters arrives to their backers late, and it seems that everyone expects their products to be late. But it does not have to be that way.

We’ve recently been to UK Games Expo, where we had the chance to talk to our backers about both Exodus: Edge of Extinction and Mistfall. Most were pleasantly surprised that everything is on time, and that they will be receiving their games as planned. Some even jokingly asked us if we could reveal some of our secrets to other publishers, so that they could do what we did. And now, with first copies of Exodus: Edge of Extinction reaching the backers, we decided to did exactly that: reveal our method. So, if you want to be on time, just follow these three steps:

1. Do your research. 

This is really crucial: be sure that you know beforehand what the costs of everything are and how much time you will need to manufacture your product. If in doubt, try to ask others who already know how some of these things are done – or at least take a good look at Kicksarters similar to yours – and never leave anything for later. Have everything you possibly can researched and planned, always taking into account the possibility of things taking exactly as longs as expected (basically, treat 3-5 weeks as 5 weeks), and giving yourself some extra time in case something is late.

2. Set your deadlines. 

After researching everything and giving yourself some extra time just in case, set a hard deadline for each step of your project – including deadlines for you personally. Put each of them in a single timeline (using any software you see fit – or even a traditional paper calendar), and be sure that anyone involved with the project knows and has accepted them, and has easy access to them.

3. Stick to your deadlines. 

No matter what, do not change them. Do not move them. And if you’re late, don’t throw up your hands and delay everything by a week. Instead, burn the candle on both ends if needed, work through the night, and minimize the consequences of the delay in such a way, that as many of the following deadlines as possible are met.

And that is it. That is seriously it. That is how we managed to be on time with Progress: Evolution of Technology, with Exodus: Edge of Extinction – and that is how we will be on time with Mistfall. Now you also possess this not-so-arcane knowledge, and can pass it on – free of charge! – to anyone you think might need it. And if you make a use of it, come to our booth at any convention to brag about it. We’ll be happy to shake your hand!|| 

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Don't you want to breed dragons?

Yes, our next board game is all about breeding dragons! 

We've been quite busy this year with two successful Kickstarter projects (Exodus & Mistfall), but we have been working in the background to finalize a project we've been long dreaming of...

If you played Hyperborea and loved it, you must know that Pierluca Zizzi is the "brain behind the game". He is a talented Italian designer with several published games and he first showed us Simurgh two years ago in the Nurnberg Toy Fair. We've been impressed and decided to take the game on the spot.

Cover work in progress by Odysseas Stamoglou

To make things even better, the cover art will be signed by Odysseas Stamoglou, the same amazing artist who has been responsible for Exodus: Edge of Extinction, Versailles or Among the Stars.

So, what is Simurgh? It's a worker placement board game with a hint of board building, it's also a race game, highly competitive and... it has dragons. Should we say a more than you get to breed dragons and some of your workers are in fact dragon riders?

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Cardboard Conarium

For some time there had been a certain amusing acronym kicked around BoardGameGeek. Just Another Soulless Euro, or simply JASE, provided a way of expressing the irritation with a certain method of creating Eurogames, or a new and handy way to stick it to the “Eurosnoots”. Regardless of the term’s origin, its first purpose, and how JASE had been used by different gamers, it did pose an interesting question: what provides a board game with a soul? 

Image Source: BoardGameGeek

A soul is a pretty nebulous concept. There are many definitions and ideas when it comes to human souls, but in terms of inanimate objects, a soul only represents a certain set of almost undefinable features that make it stand out - and that makes us feel more attached to the said object. We often hear that a house, a car, even something as small as an old tape recorder might have a soul, and when we say it, we usually want to show that it is in some way special. Usually, special to us. 

Trying to pick apart the idea of a board game having a soul will thus be heavily biased by personal experiences. For that exact reason, I will always say that Puerto Rico is a game with a soul, as it was my first Eurogame - and my first step into a new world of gaming, a world hidden within the world I seemed to had already explored. Similarly, Through the Ages will (to me) remain a game richer and more beautiful than any other in the world, as it was my first step into tabletop civilization games - and a first spark of the type of love that never burns out. 

But both Puerto Rico and Through the Ages have one more very important thing going on for them: they were both innovative (apart from being solid games), which not only put them high on my personal list, but also made them games highly regarded by hobbyists around the world. The idea of an action picked by one player and then performed by others created almost a whole genre of games, and depicting the process of building a civilization through disassociated mechanisms (which, when coming together, create a surprisingly thematic experience) had proven beyond doubt how creative and diverse the board gaming hobby can really be.

Image Source: BoardGameGeek

With the above in mind, it seems that supplying a soul when creating a board game is a simple process - or, at least, simple if you are making a solid game with an innovative idea. And yet, it is not, and it cannot be, a precise science, as there are some games that seem to hit both of these marks, and yet people generally don’t seem to identify them as games with a soul. Dominion can probably serve as a great example here, being both innovative (so innovative in fact, that it did create a whole new genre of games), and more solid than many of its followers. 

Image Source: BoardGameGeek

Dominion had it all, and yet time has proven it to be a game many refer to as dry, which almost automatically makes a game soulless. So perhaps there is also a matter of theme to consider, an atmosphere created by the game’s elements, making it stand out, sometimes even placating the more critical gamers ready to condemn a game for its mechanical deficiencies. I believe there are many deckbuilders not quite as solid as Dominion, or at least not as versatile, which are still perceived as a bit more memorable, a bit more engaging (on a more abstract level), a bit more… soul-full? 

As I said in the beginning, a soul of a game is often a matter of personal preference, as much as it is a combination of more tangible factors. Our own Progress: Evolution of Technology and Versailles always seemed to me - and to many people from my gaming group - games with souls. And at the same time they were praised as mechanically sound but ultimately deemed soulless by many of those who I’ve played them with. 

Thus, it seems that there is no recipe, not even a final definition of a board game soul we could all use. But at least there are some definitions serviceable for personal use. So, what is yours?

 
Just to put a little plug (and date this note somewhat), we are running a contest now, with ten copies of Versailles - each supplied with this cute little depiction of King Louis. If you want to get your hands on one of them, just go here for details.

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Mistfall is a go!

Ladies and gentlemen, fans and true gamers of all shapes and sizes, we are happy to announce that Mistfall, our first cooperative fantasy adventure game, has just launched on Kickstarter, where it will be gathering funds until April 1^st 2015.

Mistfall is a mix between thematic adventuring and cerebral cooperation, set up in an original, beautifully illustrated dark fantasy world, where you get to be the Heroes questing to save your lands from mysterious Mists and its nefarious servants – or perish trying.

You can find more information on our Mistfall site, and if you want to pledge, simply click here to go to Mistfall’s Kickstarter site. Waste no time, as we have an early bird special, that allows you to get a good deal on Mistfall, as well as some pretty cool add-ons.

Join the Heroes of Mistfall today!

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The Ultimate Edge

Kickstarting Exodus: Edge of Extinction has been a wild ride – and now, as the last day of the campaign is nearly upon, things are really heating up. Here is a quick look at what has been unlocked by our truly amazing backers.

As we reach the hectic 48 hour mark until project end, we look upon the list of stretch goals unlocked with what can be described only as a great pleasure. Once again, after our first Kickstarter campaign, we have earned the trust of many of our fans – and drew in more people to become a part of the Exodus universe and the ultimate 4X experience offered by the Edge of Extinction expansion. And to say we are extremely happy and grateful would be a vast understatement, as our current Kickstarter project went above and beyond all we could reasonably expect – with some time still left to reach even further!

Stretch Goal History

Throughout the campaign, we have managed to add to the Exodus box (which was pretty full to begin with) even more variability and more options, by successfully unlocking all of the stretch goals. This means that we added a double feature of new Combat Cards, an assortment of new Centaurian Resistance for all who buy a retail copy of Exodus: Edge of Extinction to enjoy.

We also managed to add not one but three packs of ships which will allow all who face off using the Edge of Extinction rules to command fleets bigger than those ever seen in the base game, as well as a set of extra combat dice to make properly displaying your new firepower appropriately impressive (not to mention faster and easier).

Our Kickstarter backers will also receive three more Combat Card sets, as well as a pack of all new political cards, to make the negotiation and bidding even more tense. The below stretch goals, including the Single Player Expansion are Kickstarter Limited material, which means that they are added to all Kickstarter copies, but will also be available separately via the BoardGameGeek store and on conventions NSKN Games would attend (until our stocks lasts).

The list of stretch goals ends on a set of more customized Action Cards, that provide each of the factions with yet another unique edge, and our ultimate goal: an impressive set of ship bases, that make the Exodus fleets hover over the game board proudly, making the game experience that much more immersive and impressive to look upon. And although the last of the stretch goals seemed like a distant dream (and something that started as an almost unreal idea with someone saying: "You know what would be really awesome?"), it is really here.

Beyond the Ultimate

Now, more than ever, it is a great time to become a part of the Exodus universe and pledge for your copy of the expansion – or a tasty bundle of the Revised Edition of Proxima Centauri and the Edge of Extinction. Become a part of the space empire building legend and help us finish off with an even louder bang.

How It Is Done

Finally, throughout the campaign we also managed to bring you two videos. The first one shows the NSKN’s own Agnieszka, Andrei and Błażej tearing themselves away from Kickstarter to play a game of expanded Exodus (and do away with any box size doubts) for your viewing pleasure:

The second one is a treat for all that have an artist in them – and for all who are curious how the amazing art of Exodus comes into being. Now you can watch Odysseas Stamoglou working on the cover art, peeking at the creative process behind the awesome sci-fi magic:

Pledge now and keep playing Legendary Games!

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An ongoing Kickstarter adventure

Exodus: Edge of Extinction and Exodus: Proxima Centauri have been seeking funding on Kickstarter for the past two weeks and things are looking good, even a little bit better than we expected.

Funded in less than 3 days, our project has dug deep into the stretch goals pool and this is what we have achieved so far...

• A lot of plastic space ships - on top of the 24 miniatures in the expansion box we managed to add another 6 Dark Raiders and two more packs of 6 War Cruisers and 6 Fighters are waiting to be unlocked

• 30 dice to make the combat quicker and more fun. Now the Edge of Extinction expansion combined with the base game Exodus: Proxima Centauri offer a total 0f 60 combat dice - 10 per player - making space battles an amazing experience

• 10 unique Centaurian Resistance cards to add even more diversity to the game and give a true 4x feeling

• single player expansion - now you will be able to enjoy Exodus even if you group of friends is not around, with a rules and scenario book

We would like to thank all of you who supported our project and, with 9 days to go, we are hoping to add even more awesome stretch goals to the Exodus universe.

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The name of the game - Exodus expansion

We're taking a short break today from our weekly mini-series about the factions in the new expansion for Exodus: Proxima Centauri to ask for you help with a very important decision.

The expansion has almost everything it needs to bring an improved gaming experience and the one thing missing is a cool name. We have created a poll (right hand side of this page) with five proposals, most of them from our very kind fans and friends. Please take a moment and cast your vote, every opinion counts!

To have a better idea of what this expansion is all about let's see a few illustrations...

Arctic Dominion faction sketch by Odysseas Stamoglou

Han-Xia Dynasty faction sketch by Odysseas Stamoglou

You can also check our earlier posts about the making of the expansion and Exodus itself:

An expansion for Exodus - VII. Han-Xia Dynasty

An expansion for Exodus - VI. Arctic Dominion

An expansion for Exodus - V. Sirius Theocracy
An expansion for Exodus - IV. Victory
An expansion for Exodus - III. Asymmetric game play
An expansion for Exodus - II. Technologies (part 2)
An expansion for Exodus - I. Technologies
Live from Spiel Essen and Exodus makes it to Tom Vasel's top 100 games of all times
An expansion for Exodus: Proxima Centauri
Exodus Revised Edition in images
A review of Exodus by Michael Barnes
An expert opinion
Exodus - making the first prototype and more challenges
From Alpha Centauri to Exodus
The Story

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Versailles - A paradigm shift in game design

It's time to talk about Versailles - the latest release from NSKN Games at Spiel '14 Essen - a game which came with a significant change in the way we make games.

Many of you do not know this, but initially Versailles was called... Exodus 2: Terranova and it was created as a sequel for Exodus: Proxima Centauri.

Maybe we should first go further back into history... When we created Exodus: Proxima Centauri, we started building a quite complex universe which would cover a trilogy of games following the evolution and struggles of humanity in a dystopian future, starting with the exodus from Earth to Proxima Centauri and then following the struggle for survival against a powerful, eclectic race called the Centaurians.

While Exodus: Proxima Centauri - the first games of the series - is an empire building game, the second game was planned from the very beginning as a heavy euro, a game built around the worker placement mechanism, with several twists and a a lot of strategy to gain the scarce victory points.

Early prototype of Versailles

The first round of play testing was encouraging, it went on a little too well. You're probably thinking now "What is this guy talking about?... Is he crazy?" and in a way you're right, there should be no such thing as too good first impression when it comes to testing a board game. Let me explain...

Every game I made or contributed to had to have something special, unique, be it the theme or some mechanic. Agnieszka and I were... are very fond of the Exodus universe and I must admit that the games planned in this trilogy are targeting the heavy gamers, experienced players who like a tough challenge. 

As it turned out, the prototype we've shown was... too short. Many people, too many people liked the game as it was, found it not so difficult and while this was a great feeling for us as designers, it was not falling into our grand plan for a sci-fi epic.

Here comes "into play" Daniele Tascini - the designer of Tzolk'in - who we had the pleasure to meet in Cluj at the local convention TIG Con. We played together and - long story short - he liked the game and did not fully agree with the theme. He also suggested a few twists, some of which are now part of the final game.

Fast forward a few weeks... Agnieszka and I were talking during a long road trip and considering to actually change the theme into something which would appeal to a broader category of people, experienced games and newbies alike. But this is not like us, at NSKN Games we used to do things differently!

This is the shift in paradigm which I had mentioned earlier in the tiles of this article (and as a point of interest, I have been warned I should not be talking about this in public, warning which I carefully decided to ignore). As a designer you can afford to make the game you like, while as a publisher you have to make those game which sell, especially if your survival depends on it. 

As designers, both Agnieszka and I wanted to make the most interesting games possible, inventing themes (I had already strayed away from this principle with Praetor) and we always stayed away from the typical medieval theme - games named after a famous European city or a beautiful island which very few people can actually place on the map (a bit off topic,I offered some of my friends 10 euros if they could place Bora Bora on the world map in less than 10 seconds and I am just as reach as I was before the challenge).

Final box and game components

As publishers, we must listen to the gaming community, including the less loud voices. There is a reason for which so many games have "common" themes, they attract the casual gamers who are much less likely attracted by a science fiction or a fantasy universe, but they can picture themselves building a city or a castle... say... Versailles.

With the risk of stating the obvious, one cannot place any game in a familiar Euro-style universe, but if a game has the right mechanisms and interactions and this kind of theme is suitable, then why not?

I have personally accepted that for most of the board games, they game play is at least as important as the theme (the big exception here is represented by... thematic games) and even if there should be no compromise when creating either of the two, there is nothing wrong in walking the wide and well traveled path.

This shift in paradigm was the result of talking to many people, some with a lot more experience in board gaming than the whole NSKN team put together and some just casual gamers who happened to stumble upon one of our games. As many people, as many different opinions, but the majority shared a common point when it came to Versailles - a "normal" theme would make the game more attractive.

After all this ranting about the universe of Versailles and its evolution, maybe a few words about the game itself would bring the long awaited ray of clarity.

In Versailles, each player control several workers (between 4 and 7 , depending on the number of players). Every (very short) turn, the active player must move 1 or 2 workers to an adjacent location, thus activating it and taking the respective action. The locations form a network, being connected by one-way streets, thus generating a large but limited number of possibilities. Each location provides either resources or ways to spend them, with the ultimate goal to build the palace of Versailles and score victory points. 

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The progress of ... Progress

When we started our first Kickstarter project in June 2014, we assumed very bold deadlines, some considered by many almost impossible to keep. Today we are proud to announce that we have managed to abide to our promise and we have already moved past the most difficult of all deadlines - the end of the production process for Progress: Evolution of Technology.

The sleepless nights adding up to many week of hard work have finally paid off. It wasn't only the NSKN Games team who contributed to this first major milestone on the road to a successful board game, it has been a group effort of almost 2000 people.

The first we would like to mention are our amazing Kickstarter supporters who have turn making Progress: Evolution of Technology into a great experience, the manufacturer and their team who kept strict deadlines and showed great professionalism, our artists, play-testers and friends who showed us a great deal of support since this board game was a just a concept.

With the first copy in our hands and, trembling with emotion (this is why some of the pictures are a little shaky) we opened up the game and took photos. Here is the outcome...

Progress: Evolution of Technology in shrink

Shrink torn, uncovering the game components

Box, lithograph, punchboards...

Everything but the cards and cubes, spread on the table

The components of Progress, waiting to be unpacked and punched out

275 cards surrounded by other game pieces

Decks of cards: Ages I-IV, Personalities, Milestones, Info cards

Age I technologies

Age II

Age III

Age IV

Info cards (sides), Milestones (top), Personalities (bottom)

Knowledge tokens, very easy to remove from their punchboard

Action tokens and VP tokens - KS exclusives in and out of their punchboard

Fresh boards

Just as easy to punch out as the rest of the tokens

100 wooden cubes ready to take their place on/in the player boards

The tech tree (front and back)

Inside of the rules

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