Progress! Prototypes of injection-molded spacecraft and more worlds for the guidebook - here's what I've been up to
over 4 years ago – Mon, Sep 23, 2019 at 02:06:24 AM

Hey everyone,

So, before I even launched this campaign I had heard about a trend common to a lot of Kickstarters where a campaign starts out with a ton of energy, updates are posted regularly, but in the weeks and months following the updates slow and the momentum disappears... and backers are left wondering what's going on. And I thought "well that's silly, I'd never leave my own backers in the dark, why would a creator not post updates." And then I moved to California, started a new job, and progress slowed a little on my companion booklet and the rest of the game... and I realized "wow, I'm doing that thing where I don't update my backers." So first let me apologize for the long delay in updating you about where we're at.  It's been a *crazy* few months for me, with work on Brave New Worlds competing with a cross-country move and a big career change... but I *do* have a few exciting things to share with you. Work on the game has progressed a little more slowly than I'd anticipated, but it's moving forward - here's what I've been up to for the past few months.

A first look at injection-molded spacecraft!

In the last update I told you about how I'd spent a few weeks redesigning the spacecraft tokens to be a little more realistic and detailed. And there has been some back and forth to try to get these spacecraft right. In order to economically produce a few thousand of these pieces, I'll be using a process called injection molding, where molten plastic is forced into a specially crafted metal mold. Molds are expensive and can cost a few thousand dollars each, but the advantage is that once you have the mold you can cheaply create thousands of plastic pieces.

The first step of making the metal mold involved creating 3D-printed plastic models from the design files I'd sent, and when the factory sent me pictures of the models they'd made... I got really excited:

But injection molding is tough - these 3D-printed test models look amazing, but injection molding requires forcing gooey plastic into narrow metal channels, meaning that some details can be lost. I was prepared for that, but the first version they showed me was... kind of a disaster:

Okay... I'm exaggerating, they actually looked really great!  Except that the legs of the crew module had somehow bent outward. They told me that this was probably because the plastic they were using was too soft, and that it might be better if the legs were thickened a bit. So we tried that, and lo and behold, the crew module came out great:

So we're on track for starting up mass production of these really soon! I should receive physical copies of these (instead of just pictures) in the mail this week, and after I confirm that they look okay I'll finally pull the trigger and ask them to start ramping up production.

Writing a companion book... takes a long time...

I've spent a lot of time these past few months finishing up the companion book. And since the last update, I've been able to add a slew of new worlds: Pluto's moon Charon, and our own moon Luna, have now joined the party, and that means that every single planet, dwarf planet, and major moon ever visited by spacecraft is now represented in the book!  Here's a preview (click on the picture for a link to a facebook album that has all of these page prints in higher resolution):

Finishing these worlds was a huge relief, because it meant that I only had "little worlds" (asteroids, comets, and moonlets) left, which I figured would be quick. But it turns out they take a little longer than I expected.  I spent a few weeks working on the asteroid belt, and finally finished a few days ago. Here's what I came up with:

I actually spent a whole lot of time making sure the scales were set correctly. The first 5 asteroids are all scaled properly with respect to one another, and then the expansion bubble resets the scale, so that everything to the right is again scaled properly to one another, until the next bubble expands... but... haha well, I'm not sure how clear that system actually is. I think I need to add some scale bars... that might happen in the second edition.

Besides finishing up the asteroids and comets, I've also found someone to copy-edit everything I've written so far (thanks Connor!). So the book is getting very close to completion, and the only thing remaining is to finish the tiny worlds (moonlets of Mars, Pluto, and the giant planets) and number the pages.

Honestly... I didn't realize finishing up this book would take as long as it did. But I still think it's reallllly important, and the finished product is going to add so much to the gaming experience. The writing has gone a little more slowly than I would have liked, but bear with me - it will be worth it.

Setting priorities  and choosing what to work on

Finishing the companion book has been my number one priority. But there are two other bits of creative work that still need to be finished: typesetting the rulebook, and illustrating the back of the game box. With the help of one of my backers (thank you April!) I've actually already revised the rulebook for clarity, rewriting a lot and reworking the beginning so that everything is a lot easier to learn. The only thing that's left is to add illustrations and make it pretty. Illustrating the back of the box would seem like it's not that important, but it's just one of those things that needs to be finished before I can bundle things up and mail them out.

Because I have been focusing on finishing the companion book before the rulebook, I still haven't been able to upload finalized print-and-play files. And I hope you'll bear with me a little longer on that. Working on this companion book involves a ton of reading, and at any given time I have like 50 tabs open from wikipedia, academic journals, and NASA pages about different worlds in the solar system. So I feel like it's most efficient for me to just focus on finishing up the book as quickly as I can, while my mind is still full of information about the Solar System. But that results in delays in getting out the print-and-play files... it's difficult to prioritize :-/ I feel like focusing on the book first is the right thing to do, because it involves the most creativity of all my remaining tasks, and that means that the time required can inflate a bit.  But typesetting the rulebook is really high on my priority list - it's going to be finished soon!

Anyway! That's it for now. Again, I apologize for the delayed update here. It's easy to get into a headspace where I regret posting late, and then feel like I need to include more in an update, which just makes it later... but if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me directly, or even contact me on Facebook. Slow and steady, we're getting closer. Thanks so much for all your support.

- Mickey

Slow and steady progress - we've started manufacturing stuff! Here's everything I've been working on for the past few weeks
almost 5 years ago – Sat, Jul 06, 2019 at 11:36:24 PM

Hey everyone,

It's been a *super* busy month, but I've been working hard and have a few exciting bits of news to share about Brave New Worlds' progress.

Pledge manager update

First, some news about the pledge manager (READ THIS FIRST, even if you skip the rest of the update): when I initially set up the pledge manager, there wasn't any way for people to switch their pledges from a low level to a high level. This was an oversight on my part, and was pretty annoying for people who (for example) only pledged for the book, but wanted to upgrade their pledge to include book+game. The only solution previously was to just add $65 to an $18 pledge, meaning that you'd actually be getting *two* books plus the game, and paying $83 plus shipping for more stuff...

So, that's clearly crazy. And I've fixed it! Now when you navigate to your survey link, there's a little blue hyperlink text at the bottom that says "switch your pledge level". If you've already filled out the survey and think you overpaid to upgrade your pledge, please go check and revise your pledge! [Note: This only applies to people who pledged at a lower level, but wanted to upgrade to a higher level.] I have *not* charged credit cards for add-ons or shipping yet (you've only been charged for what you pledged on Kickstarter), and I won't charge until we get closer to the shipping date (I'll give you plenty of advance notice before I do). But we'll be "Locking Down" orders in 9 days, so just double-check your survey to make sure the order is correct while there's still time!

Manufacturing progress

Now the more interesting stuff.  This month I've been racing to finish and finalize components so that I can send design files to China and begin manufacturing. This process is a little painstaking and surprisingly complicated. The painstaking part comes from really wanting to get the details right - it's terrifying to imagine designing a component, printing 500-1000 copies of it, and only realizing later that I've written something like "Jupter", or created a 3D mini that can't stand up straight. The complicated part comes from the fact many of the components reference each other - 3D model illustrations show up on the reference cards, player reference cards show up in the printed rulebook, and "what's out there" reference cards (more on that later) cite statistics on how many worlds exist in each region of the solar system playing surface. And because of those complicated interconnections, there's an order of operations - certain designs need to be finalized before others. 

The company I've contracted with to produce Brave New Worlds is called Gameland Import & Export Co., which was able to offer me a slightly better price than my previous manufacturer, and really clear communication and samples as well. And I wanted to know how long different components would take to manufacture, so I asked them specifically about it. Here's what they told me:

• Plastic Miniatures: ~70 days
• Paper Products: ~50 days
• Plastic box insert: ~25 days

So clearly the thing to do is to get the ball rolling on the plastic miniatures first! 

Plastic minis

I wanted to get the plastic minis right, and fix a few issues, so I spent about a week tweaking their designs and 3D printing test copies. Here's the result:

Okay, so the changes are pretty subtle, but bear with me. First, I've added texture to the pedestals of the lander and the crew module, to give the sense that they're actually sitting on the surfaces of worlds. Second, I've added a little detail to the lander front but also shrunk it down a bit so that it isn't so jarringly huge compared to the astronaut. Here it is in more detail:

And third and *most* importantly, I've updated the orbiter.  I've had lots of people call my orbiter minis "windmills" because... well, they look like windmills. Four big propellers attached to a central shaft... I can see it. And I thought I needed that shaft for a third point of contact, but I realized I could replace it instead with rocket engines, with the result being more realistic.  Here's a close-up showing front and back:

I was never happy with the giant stick coming out the back of the orbiter, and the new design feels so much better. So I'm really happy with this, and earlier this week I pulled the trigger and sent over these designs to Gameland so that they could begin making prototypes, and eventually create a production run.

Tokens, tiles, and reference cards

After completing work on the minis I immediately switched to finishing the layout of my cardboard components (tokens, tiles, reference cards) on their punchboards. And this... is a surprisingly large amount of work. While I had designs finished for every component, there were certain things I hadn't accounted for, like ensuring the proper amount of "bleed" beyond the die cut lines, and that important text was at least 3 mm from the edge of a cutting line. After ensuring these requirements are met, I then had to make sure that all of my components could actually *fit* on exactly 15 punchboards, the number I'd agreed upon with Gameland. Of course, I chose 15 punchboards because I was sure that would be sufficient... but after concluding the campaign, I decided that it would be nice to have *one more* reference card for each player. Luckily, I found a way to pack circles *really* tightly that allowed me to free up one more board. And so here's preliminary look at the boards that will actually come in the box for Brave New Worlds (I haven't sent these to Gameland yet, and will be triple-checking them for typos before I do!):

So, there are a few design changes to components visible here. First, I've made the scorecard a little smaller - I decided that having a big "Brave New Worlds" logo across the top wasn't that important, and that a plain starry background looked a little nicer. But I've also added these "What's out there?" cards that I've alluded to in the past but hadn't actually included on the Kickstarter campaign page.

In the original version of Brave New Worlds, every player got one reference card. The front had information about the range and fuel requirements of every spacecraft, and the back had information about how many worlds were out there, and how many points you could earn by visiting each one.  But later I decided it would be great to have "advanced play" rules, and so the reference cards should have "basic" rules on one side and "advanced" rules on the other. And so that meant that I'd need to give every player another reference card showing how many points they could earn from different worlds in the solar system...

Anway... it's finished! These new cards are double-sided so that they can show the playing surface for 2-4 players or 5-6 players. And I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. You don't actually need to look at these at all in order to play Brave New Worlds - a lot of people have been perfectly happy exploring the solar system without getting a preview of what's out there. But for more strategic players, this is almost a necessity, and removes the feeling that you're going into space *totally* blind.

Print and Play files

So. I've spent a ton of time finalizing these cardboard components, and I'm happy to say that they're finally finished. But I'm still working on finalizing the rulebook - in fact, it was while I was working on the rulebook and updating the "Components" section that I realized I couldn't complete it until everything else was finalized. So the rulebook will unfortunately take a little longer, but it's currently my number one priority (for real this time!). And unfortunately that means I also have to push back the date when I'll be able to deliver the print and play files. I had said on my campaign page that I'd be able to have them uploaded by the end of June, but we're into July and there's still work to be done. There is *still* a totally playable print and play version available on the campaign page for those who just can't wait! But when I upload the final print-and-play version, I want it to reflect the true, final components that will be delivered. I *don't* want someone to spend hours cutting out components, only to learn later that I've fixed typos or done away with a certain kind of reference card altogether.

So I'm working hard. The absolute most important thing right now is to finalize this rulebook, and ultimately the timeline is just a function of my perfectionism - I have a completed rulebook already, but restructuring it to make the game as easy to learn as possible is important to me. But I hope that by the end of July... these things can all be finished. I'll keep you posted with every bit of progress I make, and I really hope to have a deluxe print-and-play version up for all my $10 and higher backers asap.

Now, that being said, if you'd like to 3D print these finalized spacecraft pieces yourself - let me know! I'm happy to personally email you the STL files :)

And on a personal note...

In between frantically trying to finish design for Brave New Worlds and communicating with my manufacturer, I've also made a pretty significant career move. Just a few weeks ago I signed on to join a new startup company in California called "Atom Computing", which is working to build a new kind of quantum computer. And I'm really excited about this! But it means leaving Chicago, and starting life again on August 1st on the West Coast, and that's a little terrifying. So I'm also juggling the demands of this Kickstarter project with trying to pack up my life and start a new career. It's... a lot... but so far I've managed to balance everything. In the weeks leading up to this move, I'm trying to pour as much energy as I can into finalizing everything Brave New Worlds-related, because I know I may not be able to devote as much time to the game when I'm at my new company.

So, anyway, this is just to say, August may be a little slower for me board-game-wise. But my strategy is just to try to work as hard as I can in July, so that I can spend August waiting for my manufacturer to just *make things*. I think it will all work out :) I really appreciate and respect the faith you've all put in me to see this project through, and with your help we'll be able to create something great. I couldn't do it without you, and that knowledge is always in the back of my mind. So just know that I'm working hard, trying to balance a few other life commitments, but committed to delivering Brave New Worlds on time. It's going to be great.

- Mickey

Big news! Our pledge manager is *finally* up and running! Phew!
almost 5 years ago – Mon, Jun 17, 2019 at 11:05:57 PM

Hey everyone! After a lot of back-and-forth and a lot of nailing down last-minute logistics and user interface issues, our pledge manager is finally up and running!  This took... honestly, a little longer than I expected. Part of the delay came from me really wanting to make sure that shipping prices were accurate, and that meant emailing back and forth with both my manufacturer and my logistics company, followed by some back-and-forth with the good people at BackerKit in order to figure out how best to calculate costs for arbitrary orders. But everything's all set up now, and that feels pretty great :)

So! You should be getting an email today inviting you to complete your order through the BackerKit pledge manager. We're going to be using BackerKit to:

• collect your shipping address (we need this from everyone! But don't worry, you'll be able to change this later if you end up moving)
• confirm any add-ons you might like to purchase (for example, maybe you'd like to add another copy of the game to your order? Or another copy of the companion book?)
• give people who missed the campaign while it was live the chance to pledge late! (click the "pre-order" link on the kickstarter campaign page and it will take you to a link where you can pre-order a copy of the game, even if you missed us while our campaign was live!)

You can help make my life a little easier by filling out the BackerKit survey as soon as you can! I've been working with my manufacturer to nail down exactly how many copies of the game to order (more on that later), and having my backers fill out these surveys helps me figure out exactly how many games we can afford to print (of course, hitting the campaign goal obviously gave me a pretty clear idea, but lots of extra pre-orders would be great too!).

So where are we at with the rest of the game?  Well, by the end of the month I'll be sending finalized STL files to my manufacturer so that work can begin on the plastic miniature spacecraft, which have the longest lead time of all the game components. The finalized rulebook still needs some attention, but once that's done I'll be able to combine all digital files into a finalized set of print-and-play files. That's going to be a huge, wonderful milestone, and I'm excited for when we get there. But for now, the big news is that we have an online store that will allow anyone in the world to pre-order this game. Pretty great.

The next few milestones will be creative (finalizing the rulebook, delivering print-and-play files, adding moonlets to the companion book, etc.), and I'm looking forward to updating you all more regularly on our progress on that front. But don't hesitate to reach out with questions - I will do my best to respond as quickly as I can.

- Mickey

P.S. If you're one of the wonderful people who backed at the "Laureate Level", I haven't forgotten about you! I'm planning on reaching out to you as soon as the print-and-play files are online so that we can begin collaborating on those custom astronaut illustrations. So hang tight for a little longer! And start thinking about which of your friends (or enemies?) you'd like to send to Pluto :D

Finished player reference cards! Updated art! And pre-orders / upgrading pledges will be available *soon* - here's what I've been working on for the past week
almost 5 years ago – Fri, May 31, 2019 at 02:29:58 AM

Hey everyone,

In my last update I laid out a list of really important near-term things that needed to be finished, and I wanted to give you an update to let you know about the progress that's happened so far, as well as a few other logistical updates. This update doesn't require any action on your part! But feel free to read on if you'd like to know how the game development is progressing :)

First big news - Kickstarter has released our funds! I can officially afford to make this game now!

So, this isn't really a surprise, but still... if makes me breath a sigh of relief :) Just to fill you in: everyone who contributed to this campaign had their credit cards charged a few weeks ago.  But there is a mandatory 14-day waiting period before Kickstarter can release those funds to the project creator, which has something to do with the payment service Kickstarter uses.  In that time, if certain backers' credit cards are rejected (maybe you got a new card? maybe there wasn't enough money in your account?), Kickstarter lets the backer know and gives them a chance to find another payment method.

There will always be a few backers whose pledges don't end up being collected, but I'm happy to report that only $280 worth of pledges were dropped in our case.  (Incidentally, that also means that our "angel investor" backer's pledge went through too - so, in case you were nervous about that, you can stop worrying!)  So, this is great - we netted a total of $24,555, of which Kickstarter and the credit card processing companies get a few percent, while the rest will go into making this game.

If you're one of the people whose pledge was dropped, and you'd still like a copy of the game, you'll be able to!  As soon as I have the pledge manager up and running you'll be able to make a late pledge. This will also give all my other backers a chance to add extra copies of the game or book to their pledges (if they'd like). Setting up this pledge manager has taken a little longer than I anticipated (I really want to make sure shipping prices are right before I send out surveys and start allowing late-pledges), but I promise by next week I'll have this up and running.

Improvements to the Astronaut faces!

There are so many things to keep track of, and so many creative decisions I had to make, that sometimes I just became a little blind to certain things. One of those was the slight weirdness of the astronaut faces.  I've gotten comments from several backers, both on this campaign page and in personal messages, that there was just something a little *off* about several of these faces.  And I've come to agree - some of them are a little weird. I was torn about what to do about this, because I *don't* want to make major revisions to art that could cause delays in getting design files to my manufacturer, or mess with my budget.

But then I realized that actually, there was a quick fix that could make a *big* difference. So I found a free-lancer who was willing to re-color these faces (for only $45!), and they look a lot better!  Here's a comparison of the faces "before" and "after" (old version on the left, new version on the right):

Like I said, I think it's dangerous to make *really* drastic changes to the art, both for budget and timeline reasons. But this was a very quick, very cheap fix, and I think the game will look a whole lot better for it.

Player reference cards now include "Advanced Play" special abilities!

This was number one on my list of important components to finish before sending design files to my manufacturer, and it's honestly what I've been spending the majority of my time on for the past week and a half. But they're finally finished! And when I say "finished" I really mean "in a state where I'm mostly happy, but feel free to comment on them especially if you find typos and I can totally make changes in the next few weeks...".

Anyway, as you read on the campaign page there will be two versions of this game: a "basic" version where all space agencies have the same abilities, and an "advanced" version where everyone has unique special abilities. And while nearly all of the unique abilities were already developed before the launch of the campaign (I've made some small additions to India and Japan that I'm excited about), it wasn't yet clear how they would be laid out on the reference cards. But now it is - have a look!

These Advanced Play reference card backs were a major missing piece of the puzzle. There are two more major pieces - the rulebook and the companion book - which need to be finished. That's where I'll be focusing my attention for the next few weeks, and I'll keep you posted as I make more progress.

And... that's it!  Design takes a long time to get right, and these were difficult because there's so much written information that needs to be communicated. But the smallest font on these cards will be size 12 - they may look small on your computer screen, but they will be easier to read on cardboard!

Anyway... phew. I'm actually at a physics conference in Wisconsin right now, editing board game stuff in between attending talks on fundamental physics and precision clocks... but it's a good way to spend my off-hours :)  Thanks again for following along with this project, I'm excited to continue bringing you all along for the ride.

- Mickey

Remember that time we funded? Still over the moon :) Here's what happens next
almost 5 years ago – Sun, May 19, 2019 at 11:08:03 PM

Hey everyone,

So, after a few days recuperating from the emotional roller-coaster of last week, we're back to business.  I want to give an update here to let everyone know what my immediate plans are, and give you a rough idea of what's going to happen when in the immediate future.

Thank you gifts

So, first of all, I still have to get the last few thank-you gifts in the mail! By now I've personally messaged every backer to ask for your addresses - if you haven't yet replied, and you'd like to get your thank-you gift, please send me your address! I should *finally* have the last batch in the mail Monday afternoon, post-marked by Tuesday.

I've gotten feedback from a few backers that their letters arrived with the info card but *without* the button. If this is you, please let me know! I'm totally happy to send another button, my house is filled with them now :) If you haven't yet received your button, give it another week or two - to send these cheaply I'm using USPS standard envelopes with a little extra postage to account for the non-machineable bulkiness (boring details), and it could be a little delayed.

Pledge Manager - how to up your pledge or become a late backer

I'm in the process right now of setting up a pledge manager, i.e. a third-party service that will help me gather your updated shipping addresses (don't worry, you can update that later!) and payment, and also provide a place where people can buy add-ons (want another copy of the game or book?). We'll be using BackerKit for this campaign, and in a week or two you'll get an email from them asking for you to complete a survey that will ask you to confirm your pledge level. If you'd like to add another copy of the game, up your pledge from the print-and-play version to a physical copy, add one more companion book, etc., that's where you'll do it.

Setting up this pledge manager will also allow me to offer a place where people who missed the campaign while it was running can pledge late for a copy of the game. And I think this is important to offer - it wasn't at all clear that we would fund until the final hours, and that I'm sure kept a lot of people from pulling the trigger. So there *will* soon be a way for those who missed the original campaign to be able to pledge to reserve their own copy! I'm working as fast as I can to make this happen.

Immediate next steps - finalizing the design files

I wrote in the "Risks and Challenges" section that a few components still need their designs to be finalized, and this is my number one priority right now (in addition to getting the pledge manager up and running). There are basically just three components whose designs need to be finalized:

• Player Reference Cards - backs will contain the "Advanced Play", unique space agency bonuses
• Rulebook - graphics need to be updated to reflect new component designs, and the text is *almost done* being revised for more clarity with help from one of my early backers (thank you April!)
• Companion Book - two major moons (Charon and Luna) remain to be written, as well as small blurbs for the minor moonlets and worlds of the asteroid belt.

As I talked about the the "Risks and Challenges" section, the main priority is the design of game components (i.e. the first two), because these finalized files need to be sent to my manufacturer first. I'll be working hard on the companion book as well, but this can come *slightly* (i.e. a month or two) later after manufacture of the game has been completed.

In total, I expect to have all design files (with the possible exception of the book) done by the end of June and ready to send to my manufacturer, and that's when I'd send out the print-and-play files to all backers at the $10 and above level. I'll keep posting updates here if there are delays.

And... that's it! Once I get the pledge manager up and running I'll send out another more detailed update. Until then, please comment here or message me directly if you have any questions! I'll be working as hard as I can to make sure everything runs smoothly from here on out, and I'm excited to keep you all in the loop.

This was a amazing campaign which ended in kind of a crazy way. It didn't go exactly as I planned, but now that we're funded I'm just excited to keep moving, finish making this game a great experience, and bring you all along for the ride. Thank you so much for your support! I'll be working hard - the next few months will be great :D

- Mickey