June Game Dev Update
It’s been a bit topsy-turvy over the last year and a half for us but game development has still been going on, albeit slowly.
Our game titles have recently become more in focus, in that we have a better idea of the order that they’ll likely come out.
Mint Tin LunaSyr should be first. A few cards need to be fine-tuned, a random event mechanic needs to be firmed up, and final art needs to be created. There’s been loads of play testing and once those other details are completed, final play testing will happen with some of you.
Once that’s complete, we’ll decide if we want formal reviewers.
I’m torn on that part.
Reviewers help many people decide if a game’s right for them, but it also delays the start of Kickstarter by two or three months.
In place of formal reviews, a full PnP of the game might work. The reviews certainly make for a more successful Kickstarter but we’d rather that people be happy with their games. It’s exciting to have a big Kickstarter, like Mint Tin Mini Apocalypse was, but two years later, it’s more exciting to see the pics you post on Twitter. You’re pretty freakin’ awesome—thank you. =)
This PnP would be a free black & white, low-resolution version of the game. That way, you can decide for yourself if this game is right for you (they’ll also be a brief play through video, like under two minutes, to demonstrate the game).
For the dollar backer, a full-colour, high-res PnP will be available, just like in our first two Kickstarters.
So . . . Mint Tin LunaSyr is first. But when that happens isn’t nailed down. It would be great to do it this year. =)
The next game is more of a toss-up.
Odyssey in a Bag (formerly Mint Tin Quest), is a BIG project because of the full-sized book that will be part of the deluxe reward. The nice thing about this game is that the art is 90% done (by a professional). And it’s looking like a bag, not a tin, will be used for this game. It’s too big for a normal tin and I haven’t found a tin I like (remember, we source domestically and custom tins are much more expensive with much larger minimums than offshore options). I’ve been interested in doing a game in a bag for a few years now and I think it will fit the theme better too.
Mint Tin MineShaft is about 80 to 85% done. Tweaking is left to make this one a hard game. I’d like players to be able to get to the endgame about 50% of the time and to succeed in the endgame about 30% of the time. That makes it a really tough game to win but it’s pretty fast (20 minutes) and involves lots of decisions and cooperation for most of the game. The endgame becomes “each person for themselves“.
Both Odyssey in a Bag and Mint Tin MineShaft use the Delta d10 system that we’ve been working for the last two years. And how’s this for a bunch of spin:
a simultaneous single-toss-opposed-roll mechanic allowing for effective and efficient solo play and compact multi-player gaming
If that isn’t a mouthful of extreme spin, I dunno what is! =p
While we developed Delta d10 specifically for the solo game of Odyssey, it’s perfect for MineShaft and makes for great game play—fast and easy. More on that system in a later post . . .
Another project could be Mint Tin Pirates and Mint Tin Aliens Deluxe editions. Mint Tin Pirates “silver edition” is all worked out with a 5 gram bar of .999 silver bullion. Plus it adds two more pirates to each side, a second set of dice, and two minted coins. Plus . . . an added “3 of a kind” rule. This has been play tested like nuts and it mainly extends game play by another five minutes which allows more strategy to evolve (the existing Sea Dog Pirates variant is similar).
Mint Tin Aliens isn’t “deluxified” yet but will likely include schmancier dice (like green translucent Chessex d10s) and Achievement Medals to take the place of the meeples.
This “remix” would actually be the easiest and fastest Kickstarter to launch, but we feel like we should get another title out rather than a rehash. Many of you have been patiently waiting and we don’t want to delay a new game longer than we need to.
So we have four projects in the works for you:
- Mint Tin LunaSyr
- Odyssey in a Bag
- Mint Tin MindShaft
- Mint Tin Pirates & Aliens Remix
And, of course, there are other ideas distracting us such as:
- Mint Tin Air Superiority (with a genuine Navy consultant – a top female pilot!)
- Mint Tin Teletanks
- Mint Tin FlightLine
- Zombalamba
Our games will continue to be made by us and sourced from domestic vendors. Going offshore does open possibilities for things like custom tins but there’s something to be said about helping local people and local businesses—plus we genuinely enjoy being hands-on with these games.
They’ll get out at some point and should be fun—thanks for checking in, being patient and supportive, and we always wish you happy gaming! =)
Any news? Just plugging along . . .
Apart from life marching along, here’s a bit of what’s been going on.
Mint Tin LunaSyr is getting near-final tweaking after loads of play testing.
Game play is around 45 minutes to an hour. Like most games, after you’ve played it once, subsequent sessions are faster.
For Mint Tin Pirates and Mint Tin Aliens, the instructions are double-sided on cards in the game. Mint Tin LunaSyr is more involved and would benefit from full-sized instructions (plus it would be really annoying trying to read eight double-sided cards). But how do we do that and keep it in a small tin?
We took a cue from a few Kickstarters and decided on this—make the rules an online PDF.
One particular Kickstarter game, Card Rogue, is in a normal-sized game box that can easily hold a rule book, but to save cost (and shipping too), they only have a PDF. It works and we enjoy that game.
We’ll include reference cards so that once you’ve played the game, those should be all you need
Scoring‘s great with a semi-Euro-styled low point system. Most games end with scores of 5-6, 6-7, and sometimes a two point spread like 6-8.
There’s an outer “rounds” track that you move a sentinel along for each round of the game for a total of 12 rounds. Some of those cards are being tweaked now to give the sentinel a bit more oomph.
The inner mining cards are all set and work well.
Some tweaking’s also going on with resource management. Should there be a “storage” limit to them? That fits well with the moon theme in that you’d probably be limited in how much material you could store. But, so far, the game seems to self-regulate that. The resources are hardened glass tiles (mosaic tiles actually).
We need to do more testing to try to break it—you know, play in ways you typically wouldn’t—such as hoarding resources without thinking of winning and seeing if there’s a subtle first-player advantage (there always is, even in chess). Those extreme things, tail-end scenarios, find flaws that can tighten up a game.
Art style is determined but not completed. Cards are double-coded with colour and shape, and designed to be readable when held in-hand. And also language-independent.
We’re close to the “Nick Stage” where our awesome UK game guru tears into it with his phenomenal game insight.
Nick’s created all our solo variants and has a particular talent in being able to look into games with some form of magical mysticism!
Once we get his insight (and I wipe away my tears), we’ll tweak and do real prototype printing. We’ll print on the real final cards and assemble a handful of full games. Now they won’t have some aspects, such as the final tin design (mainly the label) and there won’t be the nifty first-player aluminium* space coin, but they’ll be full playable games and very close to what will be the Kickstarter reward.
We send those to a small group of hardcore final testers who are located all around the globe.
While we always think there will be little to change, it’s always an awesome surprise the feedback we get. Ideas that take the game to a higher place (doh, lunar pun not intended!).
So that’s the update, a bit rambling, but moving along.
Not as fast as I’d like but just the right speed to make a game worth owning—and that’s the most important thing to me and Kate.
Stay tuned to twitter and facebook and thank you for all the social media pics of Mint Tin Games and all the encouragement—this game community is so phenomenal and has helped us far more than just games. =)
PS – The pic below is from an interview two weeks back and shows most of the game. The upper-left card is a mining efficiency card that creates bonus points, the outer cards are the game’s “rounds” tracker that the d4 sentinel moves along (RoSE – automated Robotic Sentinel Enforcer, or for you silly peeps of which I am not, ARSE). The 3×3 grid of cards in the centre are the “mining cards” used for set collection. The d12s in the bottom corners are the Operations counters that your score is based on. The resources, small green and grey square tiles, are REEs (rare-earth elements) and 3H (tritium or hydrogen-3), the stuff you’re mining for, and the meeples are your lunar mining crew that you send out as the worker placement element.
* – Why did you spell aluminum with an ‘i’?
One, it’s fun to say it like that (kind of like saying ‘Ye Olde Game Shoppe’). And second, it’s generally spelled that way in the scientific community. However, in the US and Canada in non-science circles, aluminum is the preferred spelling. And in the rest of the world aluminium is preferred. Interestingly, the spelling of aluminum is actually older.