News from the Front
about 6 years ago
– Fri, Mar 30, 2018 at 02:03:41 AM
Dear backers,
As I write this, the factory has almost all of the print files for Root. They've had the specs on the hard components (meeples, dice) for a couple weeks now, and everything is moving on schedule. We should have some pictures to share with you soon.
I expect that over the next week or two we'll have the usual dance of fixing small things and re-uploading new files. A lot of time gets spent shifting things a millimeter one way or another. When you step away from the process and the stress of the immediate deadlines, seeing the project through this stage can be incredibly gratifying for everyone in the studio. Even if we're all a little tired, the work has remained such a privilege and a pleasure. It's times like this when I am so thankful that the project did as well as it did and that we were able to really invest our energies into something we all cared about.
I also wanted to send a quick thank you to those folks who submitted playtesting reports to us and who have shared their thoughts about the game over the past six weeks or so. The final stage of development is always a little nerve-wracking, so it's been wonderful to be able to have so many eager playtesters. We've also been lucky to have a lot of volunteers help us with blind playtesting and usability testing too.
To that end, we have made some adjustments to the design since the last print-and-play kit. Most of these changes are quite small (+2s becoming +1s), but there were a few more consequential changes, such as moving to a limited item supply for crafting. The result, I think, is that the game has never been more dynamic or interesting and I cannot wait to show you guys the final product.
Next week, however, we'll be getting ready to go to Pax East in Boston. The whole team will be there at booth TT52. If you'd like to see or play Root, you can check it out at our boot or at Pax's official First Look area. We'll also be running games of Vast: the Crystal Caverns and advanced prototypes of Vast: The Mysterious Manor.
After we recover from the convention, I'll prepare the final print-and-play kit. I also feel like I owe you guys a post or two about a bunch of things related to the design. So, I'll get to that too.
Alright, till next time, take care everyone!
March Surprises
about 6 years ago
– Tue, Mar 06, 2018 at 12:16:10 AM
Dear wonderful backers,
We've been hard at work here at Leder Games finishing Root's development and getting the files ready for production. We still have several weeks of development left, but my to-do list is getting shorter every day. At this point, all of the core and expansion design work is done, and most of my remaining days on this project are going to be spent fine-tuning the solo/co-op mode, the automated Marquise player, and working out the kinks of the last few Vagabonds.
For those following the game's development, it will not surprise you to know that the game continues to change and improve. In the course of development, I've had to make a lot of hard calls, and we've all tried to remain as true to the spirit of the game as possible.
We've done our best to make sure that if something did get cut from the game, we could “repay” backers. Let me give you an example. In the course of balancing we realized that we needed to lower the total number of meeples for several of the factions. This has made the game really interesting, but it also meant less pieces overall. So, we did the only reasonable thing—we made all of the meeples just a little bit bigger than planned.
And, if the meeples were getting bigger the board had to get bigger too. So we moved from a 4 panel board to a 6 panel board. As you might imagine, Kyle Ferrin rose to the challenge and produced a beautiful new map!
You might notice too that we've changed the colors of the factions. We spent a lot of time trying to get the colors absolutely right so that the physical presentation of the game would be as delightful as the illustrations. To this end, Kyle came up with a new color scheme for most of the factions that is really lovely. Also, you'll notice the keep isn't on the map anywhere. Don't worry, it's still in the game, but as a token now, which means the Marquise can start in any of the four corners.
Believe it or not, those two things aren't the main reason I'm writing everyone today. Today, it is my pleasure to offer you everyone a new Print-and-Play kit. As you know, we hadn't planned on releasing a kit until after the game started production. But, after laying out the learn-to-play guides, the rule-book, and all of the new player board references, it didn't seem fair to sit on those pretty files. After all, it's all of you who made this game possible in the first place. To that end, please enjoy our third print-and-play kit, which can be found here. (NOTE: these files aren't final, so if you find typos or things that can be improved, please email our editor: [email protected] and put "ROOT" in the subject line).
If you do manage to play games, especially in the next month or so, I'd encourage you to fill out this feedback form. We'd love to hear about the game.
Okay, that's it for now. I've still got a few more designer diaries to write (on the lizards, the map, and, maybe the automated player). Till then, I hope you enjoy the new kit!
A Short Progress Update (and a new designer diary!)
about 6 years ago
– Tue, Feb 27, 2018 at 10:12:01 PM
Hi everyone,
We've had our noses to the grindstone here at Leder Games. Over the past few weeks, Kyle has worked through most of the remaining illustrations. I've been polishing the game and its graphic design, and everyone else has been allowing me to constantly interrupt their day with playtesting! I'll resist the desire here to enumerate all of contributions everyone here has been making to the game, but I want everyone to know that the core game is done (outside of some final balancing), and the expansion is moving along right on schedule.
With development of the new factions well underway, I took some time this morning to write up another designer diary outlining the inspirations for the design and some of the problems we ran into while trying to get the Riverfolk to work.
If you'd like to read it, I posted the article over here on BGG.
It's been a blast getting this game ready for publication, and we've got lots of exciting new stuff to share, including some little bonuses for our backers and (soon) a very pretty learn-to-play manual. Stay tuned!
The Second Print-and-Play Kit has Arrived!
over 6 years ago
– Tue, Jan 23, 2018 at 12:39:44 AM
Hello everyone!
This weekend those of us in Saint Paul had the good fortune to attend Protospiel Minnesota, where we played a lot of new games from promising designers and, of course, logged many games of Root as well as Patrick’s upcoming stand-alone game, Vast: The Mysterious Manor (KS to come Q2/Q3).
After the con, I went back to the office and spent the rest of the weekend and today preparing the next print-and-play kit for everyone.
I’m so happy to be able to finally share this! Over the past two months, the design has gotten a lot of polish and everyone in the office is really happy with the game's progress.
There are too many changes to detail here in an update, but I’ll run you through the highlights:
- The deck has been tweaked and reorganized. This allowed me to really clean up the card layout. And, best of all, these changes have necessitated a lot more artwork for the game! Not all of the illustrations are done, however, so I’ve done my best with the pictures completed so far.
- The Alliance and Vagabond have had a significant reworking to provide a lot more challenge with fewer rules.
- The core systems in the game have been streamlined and polished. Combat is faster and the new ambush rules are more exciting. Many troublesome exceptions have been removed throughout, and certain systems (like retreating) ended up getting dropped because they just weren't seeing much play.
- The rules have been reorganized and given a lot of attention. At this point the rules reference booklet is almost complete outside of a few more editorial passes. We will be starting layout soon. Note that this rulebook is meant to be concise and easy to reference, so don't be put off by its somewhat legalistic concision. New players will be able to use the teaching guide.
- Speaking of which, the teaching guide is still underway. The text itself is done (thanks, in part, to our wonderful editor Joshua Yearsley). However, because layout and rulebook illustrations are so important to that booklet, we’ll be waiting until we have it a little further along before we share it.
In general, the game is continues to grow and is well underway. Speaking for the design, we’re pretty much on schedule. If you’d like to read more about the development process, today Katie Aidley published my design diary about the past couple of months on her blog. You can find it here.
Finally, the link to the print and play can be found here. (Note: if you have already printed a map, you won't find any major changes and can avoid printing it again.)
Thanks again for all of your continued support for this project. I hope you all enjoy the new kit!
Best,
Cole
Vagabond Raccoon Plush Mock-Up!
over 6 years ago
– Sat, Jan 13, 2018 at 12:15:13 AM
Everyone, meet Roger. Roger, meet everyone.
We know that a lot of you have been asking for concept images or an idea of what our Vagabond Raccoon plush will look like and here it is! This image is the exact concept we've handed the plush manufacturer and will roughly be about 8". We'll post pictures of the sample plush as soon as we have it!
And if you haven't already fallen in love with Roger, you can grab him on Backerkit here.
Thanks and happy gaming!
Leder Games
