It has been a wild ride over the summer as we diligently worked to finish up March of the Ants for production. The production files were all finalized and sent to the manufacturer in early August and we are eagerly awaiting the hard copy proof. The exciting image above is the Centimeeples, which we are still waiting to actually see, but are looking exceptionally awesome in the photos.

In the coming weeks we will be writing some post mortem reflections on the Kickstarter and pre-production process but for now I wanted to give you all a picture of what we have been up to for the last few months. June saw extensive playtesting of newly added stretch goals including new cards, primitive species and solo and coop mode. These all developed quite nicely and enhance the game in exciting ways.

July was spent finalizing all of the artwork and preparing everything for print. I had been warned that preparing the mechanical files (images with bleed for print) was a bear and it is the truth. For future games I plan to use bleeds from the start so as not to have to build them in after the fact. The other major time sink was finalizing the rules. Great thanks to all of the backers that helped proof read and gave feedback on the rules. I am very happy with how they turned out and am sure that all of that hard work will pay off with people learning the game with relative ease.                                                             New artwork created by Ryan and Lukas

The first half of August was occupied with the transfer of files to the printer (sending them the image files and then double checking that they were set up to print correctly), and with the construction by hand of 12 prototype copies of March of the Ants for the Early Ant backers. The second half of August saw a well needed vacation with family while the manufacture worked on the hard copy proof.

And what is Weird City Games up to now? September will see us working on distribution and post Kickstarter outreach as well as development of Little Pig (coming in early 2015) and several other titles we have in the works. That’s all for now. Thanks for checking in and enjoy the last days of summer.

Thank you to all the amazing backers who not only made this possible, but showered us with amazing ideas and endless encouragement.  This game would not be what it is, or even exist, without your support.  We’re off to celebrate, but you’ll hear more from us very soon.

If you know anyone who missed out on the Kickstarter, but wants a copy of the game, until July 1st they can now pre-order a copy of the retail version, which will be shipped with the Kickstarter copies early next year.

It’s been a whirlwind of activity at Weird City Games getting ready for our March of the Ants Kickstarter launch inthe past few weeks, but we’re finally here.  From the page to the video to the game itself, we’re incredibly proud of the work we’ve done and we’d love for you to check it out and support us.

• Pledge at the Marching Ant level or higher and you will receive the game before it is available at retail and at $10 below expected MSRP.
• We offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee. If you are not completely satisfied with the game, return it to us with 30 days of receiving it and we will give you a complete refund.
• Your Support is Essential: We have completed all of the design and original art for this game and need your help to make it a reality.
• Awesome Stretch Goals: By pledging now for $35 or more you are eligible for any and all Kickstarter stretch goals.

Join us, and help make March of the Ants a reality!

The excitement is building as we are only a few days from launching our Kickstarter campaign for March of the Ants. The game has been in development for over a year, has undergone extensive testing in large part thanks to all of you, and we are ready to share it with the world. The launch is set for 10 am pacific standard time on Tuesday, April 29th 2014.

You are cordially invited to join the designers to celebrate the launch of March of the Ants, Portland’s hottest new boardgame. Play your first game, compete in the first ever tournament, hobnob, eat pizza and salad and make merry. Food and prizes will be provided. Drinks will be available at Guardian Games bar the Critical Sip. Party starts at 6 PM and goes till 10 PM.

Invite friends and family and everyone who loves games. We hope to see you there!
Guardian Games
345 se Taylor St, Portland, Oregon 97214

If you are unable to make it to the launch party we would still love your help and support. First off please share the event and the Kickstarter page with everyone who loves board games, ants and fun. Secondly, if you can pledge support of any amount we seriously thank you. Not only is Kickstarter about raising funds it is also building a community and the more supporters we have the more awareness we will have. Thanks so much!

As spring dawns the great thaw begins. Deep beneath the lush meadow grasses the queen stirs in her nest as the colony comes to life. Soldiers venture forth, battling centipedes while competing for territory with opposing colonies. Workers dig an ever-expanding network of tunnels as they search for food. As the first larvae hatch it is clear this generation will be different: the young colonies are rapidly evolving into a multitude of new forms, marching out to claim the meadow as their own. In this mid-range strategy game, each player takes the role of a newly formed ant nest seeking to achieve ecological dominance through expansion, conquest, or evolution. Coming to Kickstarter in April 2014!

March of the Ants is Weird City Games first full project. We are finalizing playtesting and graphic design and are very excited to be launching our Kickstarter campaign in April 2014. Our design goals for this game were to make a complex strategy game that was approachable, fun, interactive and with minimal set-up. With beautiful, original artwork and highly thematic gameplay, we are very excited to be publishing March of the Ants.

A conversation I have quite often goes like this:

“Wow I have never met a game designer, how did you get into that?”
“Well I was looking for a new creative career and I play a lot of games and always tinkered with them and thought hey this is something that I will be happy I did, even if I don’t make any money.”

All of which is true, but to really explain why I now spend the majority of my waking life thinking, making, discussion and designing games I need to go farther back. When I was young my father taught me and my brother to play chess. I can’t remember exactly how young but I am sure that by age 5 or 6 I was moving my pawns, sliding the bishops and hopping about with my knights. My dad would play us without his queen, he would offer us a hundred dollars if we won, and all the while he taught us the basic openings, how to control the center, the value of the pieces. Later he taught us exposed checks, forks, trades for positions and everything he knew.
One of my most profound experiences with chess happened when I was traveling in Nicaragua and met another traveler named Tim. He had a chess board and we played a game. I clobbered him. I was one or two steps ahead the whole time. After we played he wanted to play again, and moreover he wanted to learn. He asked me to teach him and explain my moves and help him see his options. He was very attentive and very into learning. After 5 or 6 games we played and it was a close game. I learned as much as I taught in those games and through teaching reconnected and realized a lot about the inner workings of chess that I knew intuitively but hadn’t really consciously processed.
Chess more than any other game instilled in me the love of the logical interconnected nature of games. The precise mathematical alignment of games. I continue to learn more about chess and revel in its complexity, beauty and challenge.

My next great love affair with a game came about through my mother and father’s cribbage rivalry. During elementary school my parents would play a game of cribbage every day and keep a running tally of wins and losses. Cribbage was fun in a way that chess wasn’t. Cribbage had random chance and guessing. It had a fun track and was quick and light. It to me epitomizes a near perfect balance of luck and skill. I have played cribbage for over 25 years and played probably 1000 games at least and it still confronts me with new hands and situations, forcing me to choose which cards to put in the crib and which to keep.
Cribbage is an excellent game for many reasons but the aspect of the design I love the most is the dual nature that your hand has. Not only do you count the points present in your hand, you also use it to peg which brings it to life and makes the game full of interaction, second guessing and bluffing. I think games that have multiple uses for game components offer a more complete experience and really make you involved in the game.

When I was 13, after a half year of him talking about it my brother bought us each a starter deck of Magic the Gathering 3rd edition. This changed my life. If cribbage and chess had laid the foundation for a love of games, Magic took that and transported it beyond my wildest expectations. Magic is a great game, it is fun, diverse, full of art, it is logical, complex, fun and exciting. It is also not the best game ever. It is not chess or cribbage. Many times playing magic it is one sided and not a really fun game. Other times it is a universe unto itself with heroic comebacks, vicious losses and near legendary plays. The greatness of Magic is more in the fact that it taught me what a game is. Magic is always evolving, it continually has new rules and cards added to it, it occasionally has cards removed and rules changed. It is a live game. Chess and cribbage are thousands and hundreds of years old, respectively, and so approaching them you don’t see the rough edges (many have been worn down by the centuries), you take them as they are. Through playing magic and reading about its design I began to realize the possibility of creating games.

That’s all for now. In the second in this series I will talk about Catan, Improv theater and what it means to play.

Boardgame designers and players will often talk about balance. A game that is well balanced is often well respected and thought of as a good game. There are many different aspects to balance within a game and many different ways to approach balancing a game. In addition there is often the question of whether a game can be too balanced and thus not be as fun.

Balancing internal mechanics – Games present players with a series of choices all of the choices that a player has need to be relatively balanced. For example say it is a simple race game where each player is trying to move their pawn 10 spaces to the finish. On a player’s turn they may either move 1 space forward or draw a card. If it is always better to move your pawn than to draw a card, than an experienced player will never draw a card and so that option that was included in the game is a false choice. The two choices don’t need to be equal (and shouldn’t be) but they both need to be viable options.  If the cards offer only two options: move your pawn 1 space, or move your pawn 0 spaces than a player should always choose to move their pawn 1 step. If on the other hand the cards say: move 1 space, move 0 spaces, move 3 spaces, move other pawn back two spaces – than the players are presented with a real choice as both the slow and steady route and the random card drawing route could win out. For internal balance to be achieved all choices presented to players need to be viable. Some may be used more often than others and there may be a usual order that they are chosen in but all choices should be useful and necessary for the game to play.
Balancing Luck and Skill – In addition to balancing the internal mechanics a good game will find a balance of luck and skill. Some games will be purely skill, such as chess and go, and others will be heavily luck based like Yahtzee. Many players like a game that is pure skill or heavily weighted towards skill. However, a game with no random elements will often be less fun to play and also more difficult for new players to learn and be competitive. It is important when designing games to know who your audience is and how much of the game you want to be random and how much based on skill. A game that is mostly luck is generally considered lighter and for the most part these games work if they are playable in 20-30 minutes. If a game is longer and has more in-depth, complex maneuvering and choices then the presence of a lot of luck can be frustrating to players as all of their careful plotting and planning can be negated but a lucky draw or turn. Another upside of randomness is it increases replay value and keeps the game from being a strict battle of the minds. As a player I really enjoy those moments when I make a plan that involves a lot of skill but is still dependent on the right roll, or card, or action being chosen and it is! Not only do I feel smart that I was able to plan ahead so well, I feel that the odds are in my favor.

Finding Balance – I will write more on this later but for now I want to stress the importance of identifying the victory conditions in finding balance among the internal mechanics and luck and skill. A designer can use the Victory Conditions, whether they be points, location, last one standing to evaluate all of the options presented to a player. By having these solidly mapped out you can structure and adjust the mechanics so that they all provide a fair path to victory. The victory conditions can also be adjusted to balance out certain mechanics but I have found that since everything in the game is linked to and pointing at the Victory conditions it is important to have them clear in your mind for the majority of the design. That is not to say that they won’t shift and change, but that if they do you need to be conscious of how that affects each of the mechanics.