Stretch Goal #4 unlocked!
almost 3 years ago – Thu, Jul 08, 2021 at 12:35:13 AM

Hey villagers!

We did it - another stretch goal goes DOWN! At 5500 backers we unlocked two new Countess event cards for the base game solo mode. As promised, she has not mellowed with age.

 So while we're on the subject of solo play, I'll pass over to Haakon to tell us more...

Villagers For One

The new Monastery mode is a streamlined solo mode that lets you explore everything in the Shifting Seasons expansion. With a minimum of rules, you simply make your own village and try to beat the target scores listed in the rulebook.

If you've mastered the Monastery mode, or want to try something with more drama and tension, you could try playing against the Countess instead.

The Villagers base game comes with a solo mode where you face off against an evil Countess, and have to tailor your game around dramatic events every round. Every round is a little puzzle where you must decide what villagers the Countess will get as well as your own, while you also try to minimise the impact of her events.

You can play against The Countess right now on Yucata, Tabletop Simulator or Tabletopia.

We're excited to be adding more content for the original solo mode, creating new challenges and opportunities for new players and returning fans of Villagers.

Stretch Goal #5

So let's go for another! We're now aiming for a mystery card from the Hay suit, which will be added to the free stretch goal pack if we hit 5800 backers.

So let's hear your guesses - what's her job and what does her card do?

In Focus

I'd like to take a look at another one of our video reviewers: ThinkerThemer. Hailing from Australia, Amy and Maggie are a couple who started making board game content for YouTube just 10 months ago and have already racked up over 5000 subscribers. That's pretty phenomenal for a board game channel. The reason for their success is quite clear to me - the hosts are nice, genuine people who regularly upload unpretentious & thoughtful videos about something they both love.

And there we have it for another update.

Thanks and welcome to all our new backers - it's great to have you here and I hope to see lots of you taking part in the comments. We have a really great community and you guys make it an absolute pleasure to work on these campaigns.

We'll talk soon. Take care, and play games.

Dave & Haakon

www.sinisterfish.com

Stretch Goal #3 unloked!
almost 3 years ago – Mon, Jul 05, 2021 at 02:42:33 AM

Hello villagers,

It's only gone & happened again - we hit 5000 backers just now, and that unlocks our third stretch goal! Three new Development cards will now be included in the free stretch goal pack.

 Here's Haakon to talk us through them.

About the new Developments

Aqueduct

This Development rewards the player with the most Builder symbols. It fits well in with the Teams expansion introduced in Shifting Seasons, as you can now get a Builder whenever you like at a cost.

Pier

The Pier rewards the player with the most Silver Symbols. Normally you would not want to go with many Silver Villagers early in the game, but with this in play it becomes an interesting gambit. When there is also an Event in play related to Silver, people will go nuts for Silver cards. Will you join in the Silver rush, or use the opportunity to enjoy less competition for Food, Builders and Gold?

Monastery

A thematic tie-in with the new solo mode, this rewards the player with the least gold with a food and builder symbol. A great boon to have, yet it will easily lead you to losing it if you make too much gold! Having this in the game encourages players to try playing unconventionally, paying for unlocks to deplete their supply and holding back their gold-earning villagers in the first market.

Stretch Goal #4!

And so without further ado, we have another stretch goal to shoot for... guess who's back!

If we can get to 5500 backers, we'll add a couple of new Countess Event cards, which you can use with the solo mode from the base game. One event involves the Countess inviting you over for tea and apologising for being so mean to you, and on the other she offers to feed your cat while you're on holiday.

Just kidding she's still really mean.

Digging In

We're moving in to the traditionally slower middle part of the campaign now, so anything we can do to keep the momentum up and the pledges coming in is going to benefit us all. So, to that end, it would really help (and not cost anything!) if some of you could:

• Thumb up some images on BGG - specifically the six newest ones posted by the wonderful Wouter from Tabletopping on Instagram.
• If you've played it already, give Villagers your honest rating out of 10 on BGG - and please don't rate us "10" just to be nice, it's actually counterproductive!
• Visit the Villagers page on Kicktraq - it collects data about Kickstarter campaigns and has an influential Top Ten list (where we're currently #3!).

Stuff like this will really help us keep the campaign visible and bringing in new people who haven't yet discovered Villagers.

In Focus

Finally today I'd like to zoom in on our video from The Dicey Review, run by a very nice chap called Paul who did this review in exchange for a preview copy of Shifting Seasons. Before you ask, no, those cute tree card holders don't come with the game!

Paul's channel is growing steadily but I'm sure he'd appreciate a few more subscribers & likes & comments & whatever else these YouTube people need to survive. I think he's doing a great job of presenting games in an informative, no-nonsense way with decent visuals.

And that's it for today.

Haakon and I are blown away to have reached 5000 subscribers in such a short time. Once again you guys have humbled us with your support, and we couldn't be happier to be doing this again with all of you.

Take care, play games, and happy 4th.

Dave & Haakon

www.sinisterfish.com

Stretch Goal #2 Unlocked!
almost 3 years ago – Sat, Jul 03, 2021 at 01:02:49 AM

Hey villagers,

You did another one! We've passed 4500 backers and knocked down our second stretch goal, adding alternate art to the extra Shepherd, Tanner, and Graper cards that Shifting Seasons adds to the game. 

These cards will be included as standard in every copy of Shifting Seasons, and they'll now have different art to the ones in the base game!

And of course this means we have to reveal the next stretch goal. I think you're going to like this one...

Developments are an expansion module introduced with the 2018 Kickstarter Expansion Pack, and I never want to play Villagers without them. Here's a look at some of the original content, and then Haakon will tell us more...

"Developments are buildings that players compete to win the reward for every round. If there is a Gold Mine in the game for example, the player with the most Ore Symbols at the end of each round will be rewarded with 5 extra gold. Suddenly we get a game where Ore Symbols by default are worth more than other Symbols, so all players will want Ore in this game. But they're only worth extra if you actually have more of them than any other players. And if all other players are going for Ore, could you make more by simply going for other suits that have less competition? 

To complicate things further there will always be three different Developments in play. Perhaps there is also an Inn, rewarding the player with the most Special villagers in hand, and a Marketplace rewarding the player with the most food. Do you pick one to go for or design your whole village around trying to get all three? As there is a random setup of Developments, you might get something completely different the next game, perhaps you'll be rewarded for Wood, Silver Symbols, or for having the highest population of villagers. The Developments create a different focus for every game.

We cannot miss the opportunity to add a few more Developments in this campaign, to create interesting new twists to the game."

So clearly this stretch goal is great for people who already own or are going to own the 2018 Kickstarter Expansion Pack. But, a cool thing about Developments is that they still work if you only have three of them, so even if you never own the 2018 expansion, you can still use these cards.

In Focus

We'll make this a regular thing, I want to take a closer look at the YouTube reviewers who gave their time to play and talk about Shifting Seasons. Many of them are from smaller channels who we think deserve more recognition, and I know they'd appreciate some more viewers & subscribers. Tell them we sent you!

First up is Charlie who does reviews and previews for Tabletop Gaming Magazine's YouTube channel - we did pay TTG for some promotional services, but Charlie was so enchanted by Villagers that she made this video for us at no extra cost. I think she does an awesome job of presenting the game, and it will be interesting to see how their channel develops.

And that's about it for today!

I will finish off with a quick plug for another Kickstarter board game I'm backing - a funky looking sci-fi tableau builder called Arkosa. I have no relationship with the publisher and they don't know I'm talking about them. Like Villagers, it has cute quirky artwork, and I love its weird aliens and generally goofy sense of humour. They could really use some more backers to get them over the line, so check it out if you get the chance, and if you back, tell them we sent you :)

Take care, and play games.

Dave

www.sinisterfish.com

Stretch Goal #1 Unlocked!
almost 3 years ago – Thu, Jul 01, 2021 at 09:04:39 AM

Hey villagers!

We've only gone & unlocked our first stretch goal - huzzah!

I know it was hard work figuring out what job someone carrying a big sack of flour or baking bread might be doing, but we'll end the agony now as we reveal the Miller and the Baker - a new production chain for the Grains suit!

You'll notice that the Baker and Miller both bear a bronze symbol, as opposed to the usual gold or silver. I'm going to hand over to Haakon to tell us more about them...

Bronze Symbols

"In the base game of Villagers there are three ways of getting gold to win the game. We have the static Gold Symbols that can be improved through extending production chains. Then we have the coins that accumulate on the villagers through unlocks, by yourself or by other players. The third way is by the Silver Formulas, that can score you a large amount of gold at the end of the game, depending on what other villagers you have. These three form a nice variety of scoring dynamics in the game.

The Bronze Symbols add a fourth way of scoring. First introduced in the Profiteers expansion from the Kickstarter Expansion Pack (2018), Bronze Symbols earn you an amount of gold at the end of every Build Phase, depending on what you have in your Village. Sometimes they provide you a slow trickle of two or three gold every turn, which adds up to a nice amount by the end of the game, especially with the extended game length in this new expansion. If you play to the strengths of a Bronze Villager they could earn you a good amount of gold every round, easily becoming your most valuable village member. Bronze villagers are in fact so powerful that you're only allowed to score one of them at the end of each round."

Next...

Shifting Seasons adds an extra Shepherd, Tanner, and Graper to the game. This allows the Wool, Leather, and Grapes suits to function as intended with the addition of so many new cards, as with only two base level cards they'd become harder to use effectively. So, following the tradition of adding alternate art for basic villagers, we want to add new art for this stalwart trio!

We have plenty more in store so keep checking back as the campaign continues. I, for one, can hardly contain my excitement, and I know what's coming!

We'll see you in the comments :-)

Take care & play games,

Dave & Haakon

Wow. Just, wow.
almost 3 years ago – Wed, Jun 30, 2021 at 09:36:07 PM

Dear villagers, new and old,

We funded in 65 minutes! You've done it again, and we thank you once more from the bottom of our hearts.

Today has been pretty nuts - there's been a lot for me to do behind the scenes, as well as trying to keep up with messages and comments, so please forgive me if I fall behind sometimes. Carly has been struggling to keep up as well, especially since during the launch she was responding to comments from a ball pit and dealing with a cantankerous 2-year-old who was most annoyed that the BBC decided today was the perfect time to remove his favourite episode of Postman Pat from their streaming service. I have never seen such fury!

But we endure, and as we sit here awaiting the delivery of a celebratory Indian feast, it occurs to me that we should probably start the ball rolling on some stretch goals...

First though, a little housekeeping.

Of Promo Cards...

It seems that no matter how long we spend preparing the campaign page in the weeks coming up to launch, staring at it for hours on end, tweaking it this way & that, there are little things that get overlooked. In this case it's a small goof with how we set up the Promo Cards add-on. Following a few helpful comments from backers it occurs that we should have split the two promo card packs up into separate items. Many of you already have Promo Pack 1 (with the Plower & Scribe cards), and shouldn't have to buy it again just to get the Dice Tower Promo cards. So what we'll do to reduce confusion during the campaign is make the two promo packs available separately in the pledge manager, which I hope will solve any issues.

...and Dividers

We haven't mentioned card dividers on the campaign page, because Shifting Seasons isn't coming with any. I may have indicated otherwise in the comments, but I was confused and Haakon has since put me right! All the new cards are intended to be stored with the existing dividers, and we'll cover this in the rulebook.

Stretch Goals

We have a number of stretch goals already planned, and most of the artwork is finished, so whatever happens we won't have to delay production for long after the campaign is finished. We are not going to come up with stretch goals on the fly because that's a good recipe for delays and all kinds of other knock-on problems. We're confident you'll really like what we have planned.

Speaking of which... we'd like to have a bit of fun, so we're going to show you the artwork before we reveal the actual card. Who do you think these fine folk are, and what do they do?

So there we go. It's been an amazing first few hours, thankyou all for being awesome.

Take care & play games,

Dave

www.sinisterfish.com