104% FUNDED! 28 HOURS TO GO! LORE SATURDAY! FRASER VALLEY TABLETOP DAY!
almost 6 years ago – Sat, Jun 09, 2018 at 06:29:13 PM

WOW, things are flying along. 

Seems like only yesterday that we started this campaign, and now we're just one day away from wrapping! Thanks so much to everyone who has stuck with us so far.

If you're out there in the gaming world, share the campaign one more time! Miracles happen on Kickstarter all the time! :)

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This is a wild weekend for us, with The Pit Board Game being played simultaneously live at Starlit Citadel, Fraser Valley Tabletop Day, and a 24-Hour Game Jam in Cloverdale all within 48 hours. 

Nonetheless, we have one more Lore Saturday post for you...take it away, Arinn!

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Greetings all, and welcome back to Lore Saturday. This is my last dev diary for the campaign, so I thought I would share a little background fiction about one of my favorite "creatures" in the Sword of the Stars bestiary- the Strangler.

Who and/or WHAT are the Stranglers? Short answer is "aliens", of course. Like most of the biological enemies you face in The Pit Board Game, the Stranglers were kidnapped from another planet and brought to the Pit facility as test subjects. The Bloodweaver was interested in them, and wanted to use them in various fiendish experiments.

Within days of arrival, of course, the Strangler prisoners had other ideas. They often break free of their cells and cages, arm themselves with improvised weapons, and then quietly and swiftly stalk the halls of the facility seeking prey.

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Stranglers wear very little clothing. Their preferred weapon is the bolo (or, in a pinch, the garrote cord). They are ambush predators, very good at concealing themselves. They will always attack from a hidden position when they can. If the victim is knocked unconscious by the first blow, they move in for the kill.

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BUT WAIT...WHAT RACE OF PEOPLE WOULD NAME THEMSELVES "STRANGLERS"?

What an interesting question! The answer is...no one.

The Stranglers do not self-identify as "Stranglers". The name for their people in their own language is Uttuku. Which translates to roughly the same thing that the name of every OTHER sapient race in the galaxy translates: Uttuku means "the People".

More specifically, if you understand the nuances of the word, Uttuku means "the Fierce People". The Uttuku consider it a vital part of personhood to defend your territory and other boundaries. Those who cannot protect themselves and their land and command respect from others are not Uttuku, regardless of their species. The word for them is Uashuku, "enslaved (or soon to be enslaved) people".

Obviously the Uttuku are not from Arbuda IV. They are native to a planet currently labeled Ke'Trath, in a distant star system. But planet names like "Arbuda IV" or "Ke'Trath" have no meaning or relevance to the Uttuku people. These are colonial names, imposed by expanding alien empires.

"Arbuda" is a Human designation for the star of the Arbuda system ("Arbuda IV" would the fourth planetary body of that system). "Ke'Trath" is a Tarka system designation. When Tarka explorers discover and name a system which has a habitable planet, they typically name that planet after a person or a clan. So a place called "Ke'Trath" would be "A Citadel Named for the Trath Clan".

The Uttuku do not really care what the Tarkas call their home world. The Uttuku name for their own planet is Nammu. And Nammu means roughly...yes, you guessed it, "the World".

Specifically, Nammu is the habitable world, the pristine wetland, beaches and tropical jungles that the Uttuku consider prime real estate.

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All other landscapes, including quite a few places on their own home world, are called Kur--which roughly translates as "Hell". Kuru are places that are unpleasant to visit while alive, and likely destinations for the souls of bad people after death. Deserts, polar regions, high desolate mountains and barren wastes are all Kuru, hells. These are places where you may be banished if you do wrong, whether you are alive or dead. 

After contact with the Tarkasian Empire and having some direct experience with aliens who come from other planets, the Uttuku have amended their worldview to include places that they call AnKuru, "Sky Hells".

Sky Hells are where the extraterrestrial aliens come from, the colonizing forces like the Tarka, the Humans, and so many others. The Uttuku have one collective term for all other such alien races. They call them AnGalla, "Sky Devils".

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FIRST IMPRESSIONS

So who first started calling them the Stranglers? The Uttuku first appeared in the Sword of the Stars universe in 2009-1010, as an Independent race. The nickname "Stranglers" was applied by the first Tarka explorers and colonists to encounter them. The Uttuku are indigenous guerilla fighters. They have been violently resisting Tarka incursion into their territory since the first drop ships touched down.

"Stranglers" are Uttuku warriors, charged with the sacred task of defending Uttuku land from outsiders. They use very quiet or completely silent weapons: the bolo, the garrote cord, the blow dart, because these are their preferred tools of both hunting and warfare. Noise alerts the enemy; it also disrupts the calm of the forest around you. Their preferred weapons also have the benefit of being bloodless, and giving their prey a relatively quick death.

Uttuku on their native world are Hunter-gatherers, moving through their home terrain on a yearly cycle which takes them to various camps and lodges in different seasons. Their methods of hunting and warfare are strongly interwoven with the cosmology and ethics of their people, a system they call Utaki, "the Code of Right Conduct". 

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Utaki is a way of life and of being, a system which is taught to Uttuku from birth and establishes the rightful place of sapient beings in the cosmic order. A proper understanding of Utaki establishes who you are and how you must behave, not only in the tribe or the family but in relationship to all other people. 

Animals, fish, pollinators, plants, waterways, caves and even stones are also entities which have rights and feelings, according to Utaki. Offenses and violations of the rules of respect toward both living and inanimate things are punished. Many Uttuku legends involve taboos that are broken, but storytellers will always say "And So-and-so tried to hide what he/she had done, but the World saw, and Nammu punishes what we do not." 

The silent and bloodless kills of the Uttuku warrior are grounded in these cultural codes. Loud weapons and screams of agony give your enemies a rallying point and expose your position, but even in hunting, such weapons are disturbing to the surrounding forest. Noise drives away game and attracts predators. Similarly, blood and entrails spilled on the ground make a mess and create a trail that can be followed. Spilling alien blood on home soil is considered especially unclean.

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In Conclusion

That's a lot of Lore for one monster card and a cute miniature! But many of the things you encounter in a Sword of the Stars game have deep roots. The lore has grown over time, and many artists have enriched the universe with their art and character designs over the years. The Stranglers are a pretty good example of how many different ways you can approach a good concept!

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Thanks to all of you who have been reading these Lore journals. I hope you have enjoyed them, and I want to sincerely thank you for supporting our campaign. It means a lot, and it's always a pleasure to bring you more Sword of the Stars. :)

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And finally...!

Just a final note to remind those of you within driving distance that the team is offering live demos of The Pit Board Game and Sword of the Stars: Control! at the Fraser Valley Tabletop Day Eventtoday until 9:00 pm PST. If you're close, swing by! We promise not to let the Stranglers get you!

52 HOURS TO GO! LIVE DEMOS THIS WEEKEND! PLUS ~ DESIGN FRIDAY!
almost 6 years ago – Fri, Jun 08, 2018 at 05:17:37 PM

Wow, it's been a great campaign! We crossed over the Fully Funded mark yesterday morning and we're still climbing. Visions of Stretch Goals dancing in our eyes. 

Today is Design Friday and it's time for our last Dev Diary from Martin Cirulis, our Lead Designer. Take it away, Mecron!

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A GAME THAT HATES YOU...

Welcome to the final installment of The Pit Board Game Dev Diary! If you have made it through the whole series of design dev diaries, you have my respect. And if you have chosen to contribute to help get this evil li'l game made, you have my eternal thanks.:)

Today I will be exploring what it takes to create a game that is actively hostile towards the player while still giving them the room to have fun.

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“NO, MISTER BOND, I EXPECT YOU TO DIE!”

In a co-operative game, the tension of players trying to defeat each other is replaced by the tension of players trying to defeat the game together. A cooperative game has to transition from being a backdrop or an arena where players battle each other into a full fledged, fully realized and (mostly) silent opponent. In contrast, for the majority of competitive board games, the game is basically just a backdrop sturdy enough to support the rules and turn structure.

In video games, an AI player is always a given. Its logic and rules may function out of the player’s sight, but they are always present. A board game is an entirely different beast, and requires an entirely different kind of balance. The player has to feel that there is a valid chance of everyone losing horribly to a cardboard antagonist.

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Co-op Games that use the premise of an implacable, non-corporeal enemy like Fire or Plague (Flash Point and Pandemic are excellent examples) are great at creating tense situations where the player expects no mercy, and they do not feel too hard-done-by as things spiral quickly into doom.

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I have played many a quick game of Pandemic where we all groaned about our terrible luck with cards, lost horribly, laughed, and quickly tried again. 

It must be said at this point: players often approach Dungeon Crawler games with a different set of expectations. These expectations probably emerge from the repetitive design of most games of this genre. Many dungeon crawler board games are trying to create a shorter version of the Dungeons and Dragons pen and paper experience. While the game may be tricky at times, everyone is expected generally to survive the experience.

The Pit makes no such promises.

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BALANCED IMBALANCE

The first challenge of play balancing The Pit Board Game was in crafting a game that wants to win as badly as the players do without resorting to “cheating” or blatantly unfair mechanics. 

The second challenge was to break the news that the game was actively trying to kill you... to a player base that is much more used to being a merry band of adventurers exploring a dastardly dungeon than to being a squad of hard bitten-soldiers trying desperately to survive!

The path to overcoming these challenges was to create as few artificial boundaries between the players and The Pit as possible. I chose to focus more on increasing threat than on balancing each individual moment. 

The monsters in the game are just basically more players. They have the same dice system as the players do, and more importantly their special abilities mirror the special effects of a Player's items. For instance, the Players can find grenades that attack everything in an area...but the Crazed Human has an area affect to represent the fact that he too has grenades.

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When the players find a couple of these grenades, they can devastate a tough group of monsters. But what makes The Pit so dangerous is that it's more than possible to be attacked by TWO Crazed Humans...and for your team to be on the receiving end of that devastation.

Without a doubt there are situations the Players can get into that are brutal and fatal. And that is how it should be! That tension should always be simmering in the back of a Player's mind. Instead of trying to artificially prevent “unbalanced” situations, The Pit puts its effort to crafting the odds and timing of bad situations through the distribution of monsters in the four decks, the monster patterns of the room cards, and what kinds of equipment the Players can find on any given floor.

When it comes down to the Final Floor, experienced Players will be able to look at the final layout of monsters and have reactions ranging from “I think we’ve got a shot at pulling this off!” all the way to “Game over, man. We’re toast!”

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When you combine all of this with mechanics of pure evil whimsy like the System Admin cards that can twist each floor against you (or to the Player's favor), the team will realize that they are playing a game that really enjoys messing with them. And I am totally okay with that!

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IN OTHER NEWS...

We had a great Live Stream last night, demonstrating exactly how FAST The Pit Board Game can be played as in Suicide Run Mode, with one player running a single PC through the Pit. Tuomo "Pocketnerd" Taivainen ran all the way from Floor 1 to Floor 3 in just ninety minutes! It was also fun and nail-biting to watch, as the heroic Marine battled and looted his way downward in the face of near-certain doom.

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TONIGHT, TONIGHT, TONIGHT!  

Tonight's Live Demo will be held at Starlit Citadel, Vancouver's Premier One-Stop Shop for Games and Collectibles. We'll be running The Pit from 6:30 - 9:30, with sign-ups and drop-in seats open for players who want to give it a try. Come by and say hello, roll some dice, and join the fun!

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...AND ALSO TOMORROW!  

Tomorrow, the team will be packing up our prototype to travel deep into the gaming wilds of Abbotsford and meet with gamers from the interior for the Fraser Valley Tabletop Day event! Play sessions will run from noon to 9:00 pm, and we will be showing off both The Pit: The Board Game and our upcoming card game, Sword of the Stars: Control! 

We're looking forward to seeing everyone and it's nice that people who try the game and like it will have the chance to get a copy before the campaign is over.

We'll see you tomorrow, Abbotsford!  

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In the meantime--thanks so much to everyone for your help in getting this game fully funded. We have two days to go--any help you can give us, we sincerely appreciate! We'd love to make it to our Stretch Goals and give you even more game for your gaming dollar. 

Go little game, go!

100% FUNDED! PLUS STREAM THURSDAY, LIVE DEMOS AND MORE!
almost 6 years ago – Thu, Jun 07, 2018 at 11:38:07 PM

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WE ARE 100% FUNDED!

*runs around in circles*

100! PERCENT! FUNDED!

That's the big news today. As of 8:30 am PST, The Pit: The Board Game is 100% funded and going to be made! We will continue to push on for the last 3 days of our campaign to see if we can make a few Stretch Goals, and if you would like to see more minis we would appreciate your help...but we're very happy right now.

Thank you all so much for your help. :)

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IN OTHER NEWS...

We will be finishing off the campaign by playing The Pit: The Board Game a LOT in the next few days. If you're able to come out in person to play-test the game with the team, that would be fantastic! But if not, please feel free to swing by our Live Twitch Stream tonight to say hello and congratulate us.

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For those who do drop by...we will have a little drawing for a Kerberos Productions Challenge Coin during the course of the evening! 

Everyone who is present in the Chat to put their name in the hat will have a chance to win this souvenir of a successful campaign. 

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LIVE TESTS THIS WEEKEND

We will also be heading out on the road to local meet-ups this weekend to show off The Pit Board Game prototype to new gamers! Friends and fans in British Columbia, take note:

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Check their Facebook Page for more details.

We'll see you there--thanks everyone for your support, and keep sharing the page! Miracles do happen, we have three days left, and we would love to make you all some Stretch Goal minis.

Go little game go!

97% FUNDED! FOUR DAYS TO GO! PLUS - TEAM INTERVIEW WITH MARTIN CIRULIS!
almost 6 years ago – Wed, Jun 06, 2018 at 10:46:28 PM

WOW! 97% FUNDED! FOUR DAYS TO GO!

Things are moving fast and we are getting lots of excellent feedback and suggestions from our release on Tabletop Simulator. We also got some cool coverage from Rock, Paper, Shotgun and and Hiemspiele.info--if you're a member of those sites, please drop by those articles and give the team some love! (Some love for the reviewers who cover us is also greatly appreciated!) ^_^

Today is also Meet the Team Wednesday, so we have a Q&A with our Lead Designer and Bear Chieftain, Martin Cirulis. 

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Q: Tell us a little about yourself. What is your background? How did you get started in the hobby?

Hmm, let’s see... A little about myself: I am 52, geek for life, former programmer, former writer, former journalist, current CEO, current Creative Director, current Lead Designer, current gamer, current comic fan and current Dad to two wonderful women.

As for how I got started in the hobby? I have been involved with gaming since someone explained to me that there was something in life that you could win or lose at.

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Q: What is the first game you remember playing? What was the first game that made you love games?  

The first game I can remember playing was Don’t Cook your Goose and as for loving everything games could be I suppose it’s a three way tie between Canasta, Careers and Smess: The Ninny’s Chess.

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Q: What was the first game that made you want to make games yourself?  

Imperium from GDW. It fascinated me and made me want to understand the how’s and why’s of rules for the first time.

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Q: What was your first job in the game industry?

I would have to say my first game related paying gig was reviewer/strat guide writer for Computer Gaming World back in the mid 90’s.  

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Q: Before you became the CEO of Kerberos, what games did you work on as a dev?

As a freelancer writer/campaign designer I worked on Homeworld and Ground Control. Then as a writer/designer for Barking Dog Studios I worked on Homeworld: Cataclysm and Treasure Planet: Battle of Procyon. 

Then there was a dark year or so working at Rockstar on Bully before a group of us left to form Kerberos.  

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Q: What does a day in the life of a Lead Designer/CEO look like?  

Hmm.... Well, for the sake of simplicity and a completely illusory sense of organization? Let's say an average day for me starts with about an hour of CEO/BizDev stuff. (Honestly other than jetting around the world and playing Minesweeper, I have no idea how pure CEO’s justify their 8 hour day).

Then it’s a couple hours of product review of the past 24 hours of development. This is usually to do with the video game side of things, and the reviewing bugs and issues that have cropped up.

After lunch, I usually have a few hours to throw myself into designing assets for various board games that are in various places in the development cycle.

And then, on a good day, I try to spend an hour looking at new games. I play games of all kinds constantly, always for long enough to get the gist of the mechanics that interest me.

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Q: You’ve been a successful video game developer for years. Why tabletop games? And why now?  

I have always been a board gamer. 

Almost all of my video game designs go through a stage in my head as a board game, as I work out early combat mechanics. For years I have kicked around various pure tabletop designs in my notebooks as well, but there was never time for board game development.

As for what changed? About a year and a half ago I was looking at the company’s work flow, and realized that while I could finally swing it. I didn’t quite have enough programmer hours a week to justify running a second video game project, but I did have plenty of designer hours and some artist hours to spare.

The light bulb flickered into life and it became clear that it was time for Kerberos to spawn a board game division.

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Q: What tabletop projects are currently on your drawing board?  

Right now we are just wrapping up final development on The Pit: The Board Game and Sword of the Stars: CONTROL!. Sitting on the ramp right behind those games are two dice-based designs in early play test, Roll the Bones and Shields n’ Spears. 

After that I have been doodling some notes on a 50’s parody pathing game called Duck 'n' Cover, and a possible card game version of the whole Sword of the Stars 4X experience.  

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Q: What do you enjoy most about making tabletop games?

I think I enjoy the edginess of it the most. When you design for video games, a lot of your plans get modified by the technical needs of the project. Any weakness in your design gets honed and shaved off by literal years of collaboration with other people and their talents.

With a board game, your design is right there in the open. There is no hood to hide clunky calculations or excessive note taking. And there are no patches or updates!

You have to get it perfect before it goes to the printer that final time. It keeps me on my toes, and that is EXACTLY what I am looking for at this moment on my career!

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Aaaand that's all we've got for you today, folks! Thanks so much for all your help, and for sharing the campaign! We can make it with your help. 

90% FUNDED! TABLETOP SIMULATOR VERSION IS LIVE! AND SO MUCH MORE!
almost 6 years ago – Tue, Jun 05, 2018 at 10:14:26 PM

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WE'RE 90% FUNDED AND THINGS ARE MOVING FAST!

We have five days left in this campaign and we are very close to fully funded. Exciting times! And lots of exciting news today! So we're just going to start sharing the links and images--hold onto your hats.

Let's start with the big news...

THE PIT BOARD GAME IS NOW AVAILABLE ON TABLETOP SIMULATOR!

We've been working busily behind the scenes on this for a while, and it's a pleasure to have it ready before the crowdfunding campaign is over. If you own a copy of Tabletop Simulator, you can now play THE PIT: The Board Game with your friends and family remotely, as a virtual game!

We're really pleased with the elegance of the Tabletop Simulator concept and we'd be thrilled if Backers who use the software regularly could give the virtual version of The Pit; The Board Game a try. Let us know how it plays! And if you stream it live, let us know--we would love to connect with your broadcast.

Link to our Tabletop Simulator Workshop Page --> HERE.

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NEW PAINTING VIDEO OF THE STRANGLER MINI!

There's also a new painting video up today from Danijel Ljubas, board game reviewer and miniature painter from Croatia. He sits down with John Yakimow's Strangler mini and does a fantastic job of bringing its details to life.

Check it out on Youtube --> HERE.

NEW REVIEW FROM TO DIE FOR GAMES!

Globus the Elder from the team at To Die For Games has released a preview/review of The Pit: The Board Game today on the TDFG website. Very meaty and detailed overview of the game and its mechanics, and a fair, objective run-down of the pluses and minuses of the game for potential buyers.

"I would still call it a Buy, if the flaws don’t concern you and the theme strikes your fancy. It has a lot of components, is light on rules, and could easily be played by gamers or as a family game. There’s many working parts, but everything you need to track the information is included."

To read the full review, click --> HERE.

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WE WILL BE AT ORIGINS!

Just another reminder that we will be at the Origins Games Fair this year, and we have a full line-up of game demos of both The Pit: The Board Game and Control!

Sign up for our events or come swing by our demos at the booth for our friends and partners in space opera crime, Ad Astra Games!

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And last but not least...today is also TMI TUESDAY!

That means you can ask us anything that's on your mind. 

Questions? Comments? Post them below, and thank you all for your support!