Adding a Module, Stretch Goals...and More!
over 4 years ago – Thu, Nov 04, 2021 at 07:12:59 AM

Make sure you read the last section at the very least!

First of all, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! We continue to grow as we move into the long middle-portion of the campaign. We wanted to reach out and give you an update on what we have been working on for the past couple of weeks both to keep you in the loop and keep you excited about what is coming!

Stretch Goals!

WE UNLOCKED TAROT SIZED CARDS!

Oh my gosh! Do you realize it was just about a week ago that we voted on which to make our first stretch goal? We were trying to decide between Linen Finish on cards and Tarot sized cards and it didn't take us long to unlock BOTH! Seriously, we have been so pleased with the growth of the campaign over the last week. We have been working hard on finalizing some artwork and we are pleased to announce some exciting things that will be available once we finish the campaign:

Dry Erase Sheets!

We have gotten the question "Why not do dry erase sheets?" more times than we can count and it is a very valid question. Early in the design phases we wrestled with the idea of dry erase for a couple reasons: 

1) Dry erase markers and quality assurance: right now we are not confident in our ability to provide dry erase markers that meet our quality requirements. I would want to make sure that your dry erase markers are going to last you a long time and be very valuable to you and we have not yet identified a vendor for dry erase markers that we are confident in. In addition to this, there are reliability and safety testing that would need to be done that we are just not set up for at this time.

2) We wanted this game to be played with at least 10 people and dry erase sheets made it prohibitively expensive and capped the game at 4 players. 

The good news:

We have talked through options with our manufacturers and we are going to offer a bundle of 4 dry erase sheets as an optional add-on in the post-campaign pledge manager. We will try to keep the cost low, as this should not be a money-maker for us, but just a way to make this more accessible for everyone. We will still not provide dry erase markers for the reasons outlined above, but those should not be hard to locate through other vendors, and we will do our best to make sure that the box will accommodate the storage of most dry-erase markers. 

Scheduled Live Stream/Play Along

We wanted to make sure that everyone is happy with what they are purchasing, so we are scheduling live play-test sessions with whomever wants to join! These will be done via zoom or a similar platform. If you would like to play Snack Time remotely and join the creators for a fun 30-45 minute play test and feedback session we would LOVE to have you join. Please go to the link below and let us know what time works best for you and we will get a link for you to join!

Snack Time Play Test Signup

Print & Play as an add-on 

We have also gotten a surprising number of requests for a Print and Play version of the game. We have also struggled with this decision. On the one hand, we want as many people to play our game as possible, but on the other hand we do believe that a large part of the enjoyment and quality of the game comes from the production of the components and that can't be controlled when pieces are homemade. 

We have decided to offer a Print and Play option as a $5 add-on in the post-campaign pledge manager. The decision to do this was largely based on the difficulty of shipping costs at this point in the world's history and we would appreciate the support of buying a full copy if ever it becomes more financially reasonable to do so in your region. 

Best for Last (be sure to read)

The greatest announcement that we have and one that really adds a significant amount of value to your game is a happy little accident! 

In early versions of the game we needed all 7 dice to make the game work. This was based on the fact that once you were done building your monsters in the four growth chambers, you could accelerate the game by having more pipe options to add in. Somewhere in the balancing of the game we realized that it is no longer necessary to accelerate this phase of the game and those two dice became irrelevant. 

Of course we wouldn't want to just remove value from the game especially when we have the awesome opportunity to make something great. The answer? A MODULE!

What is a Module?

If you are unfamiliar, a module to a game is an optional add-on that changes a small aspect of how the game is played. This generally will increase difficulty, add another way to get points, or make the decisions have a little more depth. This is NOT making the game more complicated as you can play with or without the module.  

The working title of the module is Rat Snacks! 

If you add in the Rat Snacks module you will roll the two extra dice each turn which will direct you to draw a small rat icon on a specific space in the sewers. If you manage to draw pipes from one of your creatures and pass through one of these Rat Snacks then your creature gobbles up the rat and you get a point (or two) for each rat you eat. 

We have had A LOT of fun with rat snacks over the last week or so since we discovered the two extra dice and we hope you are excited as well. We will probably open up voting for the PMS color of these extra dice at some point on our Instagram so head over to instagram and follow us to have a vote on how we color this awesome module!

Update Schedule

We are getting into the final development stages of the game and as such there is A LOT of work to do. We will likely only post updates if there are major milestones, immediate and/or concerning updates, or as a wrap-up to the campaign. We expect to only post one or two more updates over the course of the campaign but we are striving to be as transparent as possible. We are always happy to answer questions, chat about game design, or connect in other ways if you have specific questions. Feel free to reach out to us at [email protected] and we will be sure to respond in a timely manner.

If you would like to share your excitement about backing Snack Time feel free to use this image!

First stretch goal and Voting Time!
over 4 years ago – Sun, Oct 24, 2021 at 04:23:21 AM

Wow, just a few days in and we crushed our funding goal and now we have fully consumed our first stretch goal! You all deserve a hug... but Covid... and distance... and other reasons. 

The great news is that we have an awesome decision to make! We have heard from a few people that *Tarot sized cards are more important to them than **Linen finish on the cards.  Do you agree? We are going to be holding a vote in our Story on Instagram over the next day or two where you can vote to change the order of the stretch goals! If the community majority would rather see the game with Tarot Sized cards than linen finish (let's just get to both and we won't have to worry about it) then we will swap these around and proceed setting everything up for tarot sized! 

If you don't already follow us on instagram you can follow this link to visit our profile and vote! 

https://www.instagram.com/backfire_games/

Also, feel free to discuss, ask questions, and pull people to your side in the comments here. We will eagerly wait for your decision. 

Thank you!

- The Backfire Games Team

* for those of you who are unfamiliar with Linen Finish or the overall sizes of cards here is a little information: Normal Playing cards are 2.5 x 3.5 and tarot cards are 2.75 x 4.75. Over an inch is added to the height and a little is added to the width. This makes for a lot of extra space for the art as well as more pleasing dimensions in my opinion.

**As far as linen finish goes, it is a little bit of a debated area, but basically a linen pattern of plastic is added to the face of the cards. Many people think this makes it easier to shuffle them, pick up off of flat surfaces and stuff like that, but others think it just feels nice on your hands. Regardless, it is almost guaranteed to extend the life of the cards by at least a little as it is an additional plastic coat.

FULLY FUNDED!
over 4 years ago – Thu, Oct 21, 2021 at 08:40:26 PM

WE DID IT! We are Fully Funded!

Wow! It only took us 24 Hours to make this thing a reality! I am so impressed with all of you. And as Michael Scott would say "I am so impressed with the potential you see in me". Any fans of The Office out there? if so, shout it out in the comments. 

Anyway, we can swap quotes from The Office any time. Let's celebrate this community's amazing success in make this dream a reality. Now, while you all get to wait patiently, we are going to get started right away on finalizing small gameplay adjustments, polishing the artwork to make sure there aren't any surprises, and preparing the rulebook! While the game itself doesn't demand any localizations, the rules are one thing that we want to make sure everyone has access to. If you do not speak English and require rules in a different language then please let us know and we will do our best to accommodate. On the flip side of that, if you are bilingual and could possibly help with translation please reach out to us. 

There are of course a lot of other things that we need to do before that time, but we are very excited to be in touch with you every step of the way. We will be asking for opinions for different graphic treatments, layouts, and all that stuff through instagram. If you do not follow us on Instagram please find us @backfire_games so that you can be involved in every decision that goes into this game. 

Other than that I don't know that there is too much to be said! We will work so that hopefully as soon as the campaign ends we can kick off manufacturing and get this to you even earlier than we estimated. 

Getting to go through this with you is by far the best part of running a project like this and we want to thank you for giving us that chance. We will try to include you as much as possible so that you can taste that same elation of being part of a project that is a collective piece of so many amazing people.

An AMAZING showing for the first 4 hours!
over 4 years ago – Wed, Oct 20, 2021 at 03:33:25 PM

Wow friends, well done!

Seriously though, we are blown away over here by the support we have seen over the last 4 hours! Just a couple of the amazing things that we have seen today:

1. We were quickly named a "project we love" by kickstarter which isn't a really easy thing to get. It is for sure in large part to your quick support and amazing showing.

2. We have just about reached 50% of our funding goal which puts us on an amazing trajectory to surpass even our largest stretch goal! This means we need to start brainstorming some awesome other ways to make the game the best it can possibly be (let us know if you have any thoughts in the comments).

I also wanted to share with all of you what this means to Matt and I. We started this with the genuine goal of improving people's lives. We feel like board games have been a positive influence in our lives and the lives of our families. We want to share that positivity that comes with winning and losing, laughing and learning together. We get that sometimes it Backfires but it is all an amazing part of life that we share... in person... with people we care about. Thank you for being a part of this amazing first step toward something that we hope will add goodness to the world... even if it is laced with some sarcasm and dark humor. 

And finally, the race isn't won just yet; so if you haven't taken the time yet, feel free to post this picture to instagram, facebook, twitter, or wherever you connect with people. You all are amazing and I can't wait to get you Snack Time.