We're funded

Gamma grunts is officially funded!!! Now we just need to keep up the work and hopefully get an additional 300 people. That would be most stellar if we can pull that off.

More people joining the mad scientist army and living out the dreams of chaos and smashing!!

Future Plans - expansions and other games!

Good morning everyone!

I hope you are having a great day. I figured since our first Kickstarter project is now live (we are at %70 and there is still 26 days to go!) now would be a good time to talk about some of our future plans.

I personally have enjoyed the process of making Gamma Grunts a Deck Smash Game. After well over a year of developing and play testing we have our first baby on Kickstarter. Our game includes several aspects of a bunch of different genres bringing us to a new type of game. The decksmash game. The politics, drafting, resource management, and combat fit together in a wonderful soup best served piping hot.

With all of this being said I wanted to talk about some of the ideas we have moving forward for our future games. We have some ideas for expansions for Gamma Grunts, an RPG, a Bike Polo game and perhaps a more traditional deckbuilder.

First I'd like to talk about the two possible expansions to Gamma Grunts. In the creation of the game Gamma Grunts we came to realize that 6 draft piles were just too many because as we switched over from earning draft points by doing damage to recycling it just wasn't realistic to draft 6 and 5 cost cards consistently. As such, those two stacks of cards have been removed from the game. Well, that's where the first of 2 possible expansions come into play here. For the time being we are calling it Gamma Grunts: Breaking The Curve. This expansion would add 5 and 6 cost cards that would be much stronger then of course the 4 cost cards. One such card would be "The Green Smasher" a 7 attack, 7 defense Grunt that takes 2 less damage whenever someone does damage to it. This being so strong, your opponents will each get 3 IT support Grunts. (which are basically Brute, but look like IT people) On the other side, you now have more stuff to smash. so Win, Win, Win right?

We also had come up with ideas for Disruption cards that would stay in play instead of getting recycled after being used. one such example is Heck! which does "This disruption stays on the field after it is played. Each lackey gains +2/1 and must attack and defend each turn if able. If this card were to be Smashed, you may Smash 2 cards off the top of your deck instead."

To make these cards more available for drafting, we would have to add in some cards that help earn crazy amounts of draft points, and more cantrip type cards (cards that replace themselves). We will do that. Also, as a fun addition to the game, we will have additional cards that do "When Drafted" effects. Such as When this card is drafted, lose 1 Infamy, or Smash this card and do 1 damage to any target.Stuff like that should add some nice spice into the game.

For the other expansion we were looking at making a Space/Science Fiction themed version. This will add in Alien Cards, give us new artwork for some older cards and provide a new win condition in the game, be first to build your space death laser as an homage to The Death Star. Building your space laser would add in some new Parts cards as well. its a loose idea at the moment so play testing will need to be done.

Another great project that we have in the works is a Bike polo themed card game. So look out for that.

As for the RPG, there was a game we both just loved playing and in fact how we met and became partners. It was Krosmaster Arena. A great game with Chibi Characters in a death match against each other. fun all around. At one time they came out with a RPGesq game call Krosmaster Quest. It was.... OK as far as games go, but it left a lot to be desired. So using that game as a shell I started creating a more full RPG that would be player guided as they get to build the dungeons and world maps themselves, but use simple combat and skills to accomplish their tasks. Dungeons and world maps would also have the potential of random generation if players so desired. I also went through the trouble of creating several premade mission scenarios that can be used as a campaign. The working title of this game is Progression Quest, but will probably change to something else in the future.

Finally, the last project idea I'd like to put out there is another game set in the gamma Grunts universe called. Gamma Grunts Conquer the World. This would be a more traditional deckbuilder where players vie for world domination while the world fights back at them.

Lots of Love and Mad Science... Kyle

Raffle Drawing This Thursday!

So this Thursday we're going to have a raffle. It's pretty awesome and it has almost nothing to do with tabletop gaming. We're giving two free tickets to the Columbus Crew game on June 13, 2018. You'll get to come with us and have a fun time at the soccer match. I know it has to do with gaming though so you'll definitely have fun if you're into it.

So definitely follow the instructions in this facebook event to get a shot at coming with us: https://www.facebook.com/events/888659364639064/

As we already covered previously, we're also going to be at Origins Game Fair so definitely hit up booth #566!!!

Multiverse Musing

Have you ever heard of the theory (more like hypothesis) of the multiverse?

I was just recently making some oatmeal because I want to live a healthier lifestyle. It's something I used to do all the time because it was healthier than other choices and filling. Filling for at least an hour anyway. And hey! I was poor and it was cheap too.

While I was making the oatmeal my wife decided to comment that I am supposed to let it sit there so the water can cook the oatmeal. I was of course stirring the oatmeal as one commonly would do if they like a fusion of flavors from the two different oatmeal packets they were using.

As she was telling me this and I was stirring my food I had this thought in my head about sending some of it her way and saying "is it cooked?" like some kind of childish moron. Obviously I didn't follow through with this but it got me thinking about how bad that would have been and how glad I was that I am living in the better reality than what I have imagined.

Now, unfortunately I am living in the reality where I told her the thought had crossed my mind. It seems I'm not the most intelligent version of my multiverse self.

Still though. it makes you think. Is the thing that crossed my mind a window into another part of the multiverse? Well.... probably not, but I can't disprove that the mad scientists of Gamma Grunts don't exist in some other reality. (good luck proving/disproving any negative claim)

With that being said I've come to realize that the creation of Gamma Grunts is a window into the world we have always wanted to create. It's a window I plan on keeping open as long as possible because I enjoy what we are doing here. Sure, I've got some writers block at the moment, but I'm at least glad we are in this universe instead of the one where Mecha-Hitler wrote his tragic poem Mein Ananas. Yes, I know it had critical reviews, but it just is not my cup of tea. Too much fruit on Pizza....

I was more a fan of Gandhi's take on "Terminator 7, Death to the Machines". It just has that Gandhi flair. Also, that universe has a lot more movies to watch than this one, which is hard to believe, I KNOW RIGHT? But hey, that's the Multiverse !

Keep it Crazy -

Mad Scientist Kyle

Combos are Everything

Marcon was so awesome! There were a few of us game designers who all hung out together and talked shop every day of the convention. We also play tested our games with attendees of the convention and got some great feedback/exposure. There was a really awesome moment that came up in gameplay that made me giddy with how it played out.

I was playing with 3 other people Saturday morning of the convention. Things were ramping up and rather than playing a full game to 20 Infamy, they requested we play a shorter one to 10. One of the guys we were playing had the lead at 7 Infamy and I was close behind him at 6 Infamy. He had 4 grunts that he was attacking me with and I had nothing to defend myself with. I knew I had the card, "Angler" in my deck so I just had to hope for luck. I decided to just flip the top card of my deck to satisfy the damage being dealt and boy was I lucky. The top card was, "Angler" and I smashed it and that was it. He only got 2 Infamy from me smashing that from the card from deck, which put him 1 Infamy away from winning. As you can see below, it also lashed back at the player who damaged me for 2 damage.

So my opponent hadn't won but he had to smash cards to satisfy the damage that I was dealing to him in response. Little did I know that he had, "Mini Angler" in his hand which is the 1 cost version of the card I got him with. So he was able to smash, "Mini Angler" and cause me to smash 1 more point to make him victorious.

Moments like these are why we created Gamma Grunts the way we did. The gotcha moments. The large, devastating attacks, and the triggered reactions. I loved that I was there to witness that moment and see the satisfaction in the player's face. I hope to witness that many more times to come.

I'm excited to spend more time at conventions with our game and getting to see those interactions during gameplay more and more. Next convention, Wizard World Columbus 2018, June 8-10. Shortly after that, Origins Game Fair, June 13-17. 

Getting creative with your character

Mad scientist Kyle here!

So, this post isn't really related to Gamma Grunts at all. It's about Dungeons and Dragons and being creative with your characters.

The other day I was at my biweekly DnD game where I am currently playing my Half Orc Barbarian Thnag. As characters go he isn't too bright. He is mostly built for smashing things wholly at random and causing chaos because he is chaotic neutral.

From the previous session he had just finished fighting off about 3 dinosaurs a magical old man, and several guards in the middle of a riot caused by his companion Ludgut (the most legendary of half orc bards). The rest of the party had run off doing their own things while I was in the thick of battle defending my newly created horde of whomever would join me.

There is one detail about Thnag that I haven't told you about yet. He is an elemental barbarian currently doing sands as his element. What's so special about this you may ask? He can cause fire damage to everything in a 10 foot radius in addition to having the power to light objects on fire.

Now, as Thnag had just taken several moonblasts and spears to the face he wasn't doing so well(one HP left). With this in mind I got the bright idea to cause a panic as an escape plan for the party. So, as Thnag ran into the forest still on his rage he started burning everything around him as he ran and started screaming "Dragon!". As he made his way into the areas with tents he naturally continued this process until his rage failed.

It was at this time a contingent of about 100 city guards had surrounded the dinosaur pens and the rest of the party members in that general area. So, continuing with the plan Thnag ran screaming at the guards about a dragon and managed to convince them of the danger as they looked back at the blaze of flames and destruction behind him.

A little over 60 of the guards had successfully been deceived by this trick as the rest were engaged with dinosaurs stomping them. Sadly though the dragon trick didn't work on the leader of the guards and his two lieutenants by his side.

In an effort to convince them further Thnag burst into his rage again and pretended a dragon had shot him with fire breath immersing himself in flames. This was good enough to convince some more guards but not the ones staring directly at him. So with a boop on the nose Thnag fell unconscious and made a guard feel like a true man for having taken out this nearly 7 foot tall half force immersed in flames of death in one hit.

This all just goes to show that your characters, although may be dumb and nearly dead, can quite easily deal with an army of people if you can be creative about it.

Tune in next time for some more hijinks and news about Gamma Grunts.

Marcon... Already?!

We're going to Marcon, a convention in downtown Columbus, Ohio. We're going to be joining other game designers to add a little something different this year. It's really an awesome opportunity and we're really excited to be a part of it.

So, be sure to hit us up at Marcon if you're coming out. We'd love to hang out. If you aren't coming, you need to hurry up and change your plans before it's too late.

Check it out here: http://marcon.org/

Thoughts of a mad scientist - Kyle's thoughts

Good afternoon, good evening, and good morning to everyone!

This is Mad Scientist Kyle here just making a post to say play testing has been going well. We have been getting a lot of feedback and have been able to fine-tune Gamma Grunts to a point where it is essentially ready for Kickstarter barring a few little details. Why don't we put it up now? Because we want to ensure we are putting our best blood, sweat, and tears out there for people to support and doing that still requires some things.

I'd like to take a second to talk about the great people that have been play testing with us. We have had everything from novice to highly experience gamers play testing our game. These wonderful people have been interested in a wide variety of games like Euros, TCGs, Deck Builders, and many other game styles.

Their feedback has helped us incorporate a whole slew of interesting ideas and design considerations. For example, just recently a group of play testers help us to understand how over powered the card Rail Gunner was so we brought his power level back in line with everything else. They even helped bring attention to how our initial card art was just a little too dark for the text to be easily readable.

One specific shout out I want to do is for Nate of Nerdarchy. He play tested our game and pointed out something no one else had even realized. The names of our cards weren't all in the Mad Scientist theme. Sure, our art ideas were, but the names weren't which was a crucial design consideration we just plain missed.

This just goes to show the mantra of game design is PLAY TEST PLAY TEST PLAY TEST!


Thanks for your time and have a great day!

Card Layout Design

Check out this really awesome looking card layout. It's finally here for all to see. 

Obviously the logo in the center of the card is definitely a filler piece for now but just imagine how great it's going to look with grunts filling these cards. You'll notice the borders might seem a little large but that's to account for drift when the cards are printed. There's going to be far more coming but I wanted to share the layout this week. 

More to come but what do you like about the card layout, dislike about it, and would you change anything? 

Thoughts of a Mad Scientist: World Governments

I often ask myself what would it be like to have one world government. It's an important question to ask oneself when striving towards world domination. If you aren't comfortable with the idea of running a government why would you want to conquer the entire world anyways?

Other mad scientists may want to conquer the world because they just want to see the world burn like the psychopathic cheaters and thieves they are. Many mad scientists thrive on chaos and destruction. Lets face it, smashing things is fun. I enjoy it too.

I would like to think that my motivation for conquering the world are humane. I find myself looking at each of the governments around the world and see how horrible they treat everyone. Shouldn't they be freed? Shouldn't everyone be free? YES they should, EVERYONE SHOULD BE FREE. Even if it smashes them. Muahahahahahahahaha!

Oh what the world will be like when My Grunts have finished beating out those Other grunts and mad Scientist. One world order under me. Dr. Cassini Medtt would be a paradise where everyone can enjoy the convenience of one currency with my face on it. And maybe my cat. His face too.

If you think about the existing governments of the world you can identify many different problems,  inefficiencies, and corruptions among each of them. Politicians stealing from the coffers, stagnate rules blocking actions, and Casual Fridays to name a few of the problems. Under my rule, we will start by renaming all the governments to The Unified Earth Directorate. That way there is only one thing for people to remember. Honestly, who can remember the well over 210 countries names and thousands of government organizations. Not me... So probably not you either.

Yes, all of the corruption will be streamlined into one central location. The Department of Corruption! It will cover all of our needs. It will do all the things everyone is used to happening in their governments to keep everyone comfortable with the turmoil going on during the transition.

Doesn't make sense? Well why should it, you're not in my head are you? ARE YOU?!?!

Origins Game Fair and a Potential Free MLS Game With Us

First off, check out our logo!!! It's finally here. We're pretty excited to be able to show it off. Let us know what you think.

As you can probably tell, stuff is really ramping up here on the Gamma Grunts front. We are still working on logistics while James Koenig, our artist, has started illustrating this week. We are continuing to learn what people expect from our game and how our product can really fit the desires people have. This has been a combination of talking to both consumers and industry folks, getting information where we can.

The first person who really helped was Brent Critchfield from Studio Woe. He created a game named, Gruff (www.studiowoe.com) where you play a mutated goat herder who is battling against other mutated goat herders. It was such a fun game with such unique art (see above) that Kyle and I fell in love with his product. Well, Brent runs the company himself and has ran successful Kickstarters in the past so he was the perfect candidate to ask questions about how the process goes. 

I spoke with him on the phone for about 2 1/2 hours last year about what we need to think about for every step of production and logistics. At the end of the conversation I realized that this is a lot of work and you can't go into this thinking only about the romantic idea of bringing your game to fruition. It takes a lot of ambition, a lot of sleepless nights filled with planning, a lot of research into which tools are usable on a budget, figuring out which marketing/promotion techniques work best for your situation, planning for worst and best case scenarios, and at the end of the day putting your money where your dreams are because before you go to Kickstarter, you have to work harder than you have ever worked before. This wasn't what he went over with me directly on this phone call but rather he gave me the first few tools I needed to get started. 

So with all of this, Kyle and I are proud to officially announce that we are going to have a booth at Origins. We'll be demoing the game and will have early copies we'll be raffling off every day of Origins. We also have a big prize for Wednesday night.

We're also going to take one lucky person out to a Columbus Crew Soccer Club match against Atlanta on June 13th, 2018. Check it out here: Facebook event

Thought's of a Mad Scientist: Other Mad Scientists

THIEVES!

CHARLATANS!

CONDEMN-ABLE ACTIONS!

My Ideas have been stolen from me!

The very thought of it all is maddening.

What happened you may ask? I was watching the evening news and it turns out some other Mad Scientists have been creating Gamma Juice and Grunts! How exactly do I know you might ask? Well isn't it obvious? When the headlines are "The White House, Kremlin, Blue House and British Parliament have all been attacked by ogreish monsters the first thought might be OH!, we're in a "Fantasy World" that must have been dreamed up by some guy and his partner to make and sell a game. WELL YOU'D BE WRONG!

The only way this could have happened is if someone used gamma juice to create Grunts! MY DESIGN!

OOOOOHHHHHH THOSE OTHERS WILL RUE THE DAY THEY STOLE MY DESIGNS!

Muahahahahahahahaha.

Simple Manufacturing and Shipping

We covered some preparation info in our previous post, Kickstarter 101 but now it's time to cover how manufacturing works. There are a lot of companies to consider but I'll start with what's important to think about. This is not the end all be all to how it is for everyone but these are the things that we've had to think of thus far in our game creation journey.

If you're looking to stay in the United States and want to print off smaller batches of games, one of THE BEST options for you is The Game Crafter. They have a ridiculous amount of tools that they use to make small publishers successful and go above and beyond to make sure people are satisfied. They even have podcasts and blogs that help give advice about how all of this works. I've spent every day listening to their podcast and have listened to hours of content that has been filled with some of the best advice I could've asked for. Seriously, consider these guys for your shipping if it's in your cards. (pun intended) Even if it isn't in the cards, utilize these guys and check out what they put out.

As for everyone else, I can list off quite a few manufacturers that do great work but I won't. There are people who have larger lists that are definitely more complete than I could manage. For instance, check out The Hitchhiker's Guide To Game Manufacturers by James Mathe. It separates everything by cost and quality. Whatever matters most to you depends on your situation and your game. What I will go over is what we've considered with everything:

1. If your game has cards, think about the thickness of the cards ahead of time. Try to get some games with varying thicknesses to reference but I'll save you some work. The standard for a lot of games is at least 300 GSM (grams per square meter). Anything less is not practical for playing over time. That being said if you have less cards in your game, going as high as 350 GSM might be an option for you. You'll be the best judge of this but no matter what you do, make sure you research it ahead of time. In addition, consider whether you want them to be uncoated, glossy, or made out of linen. These are all very important for you to know ahead of time.

2. With manufacturing, another thing to think about is what size your components will be. The companies who you work with might be able to help with this but it's good for you to think about this ahead of time. Go to your game shelf and try to find a game that's similar to yours. If you don't, then you should look up games that are like yours online to see what they did. Most of the time you can find photos of the inside of the boxes when you search for them. When you find them, consider what their game includes and think about whether you like how they packaged their product. Then you can plan accordingly when you tell the manufacturer what you're expecting.

3. Contact manufacturers ahead of time so you can get quotes. Quotes are free and are very helpful with your decision making. Some of the best manufacturers out there are expensive if you are printing a small run. One thing to mention before we go further is what the term, "Landed Cost" means. It literally means the cost per printed product for it to arrive to wherever you need to ship it out from. It's the printing cost plus what it costs to ship it to you. So, if you're printing 500 copies through Company A, the landed cost could be $15 per product whereas if you go with Company B, the landed cost could be $10 per product. If you just go with Company A without first contacting Company B, you could be out extra money.

4. Always remember to plan around the Chinese New Year. This year, companies were shut down from 2/7/18-2/23/18. That means over two weeks where you can't get anything done with your manufacturing companies. If you are manufacturing outside of the US, this is most likely going to affect you and you should just plan around it.

This may seem simple but when it comes down to it, it's important stuff to consider if you haven't come across it yet. There's loads more to consider but check out James Mathe's blog to narrow it down.

The last thing I'll mention is to think about how you're going to ship everything. If you don't want to manage all of the shipping yourself and spend hours upon hours fulfilling your orders, think about going with another company. A great company that handles storage and shipping combined is Ship Naked. They are also really nice folks and have warehouses around the country to fulfill whatever your company's needs are. These are just great tools for you to consider depending on how successful your campaign is.

What are you looking for in a manufacturer? What is most important to you when trying to find someone to print your games?

What is Tabletop Flow?

As you may have noticed, we changed the name of the blog. There are loads of reasons why we wanted to do this, but I figured I'd go over the primary reasons we changed the name and what our purpose will be with this blog. So here are a few of the reasons we changed the name in no specific order:

1. "Tabletop Flow" is our goal as game designers and creators of content.
What is Tabletop Flow, you ask? I went to school for Psychology and when I was thinking about tabletop gaming, I thought the closest thing I could relate it to was meditation.  It's that feeling when you're playing a game where you are just existing without negative thoughts and/or feelings brought about by the external world. You're so focused on the problems you're solving that you clear your mind. That sensation is what I'm calling Tabletop Flow. One of the greatest positive feelings in the world is when you can clear your thoughts and just enjoy the game you're playing. The same can be said when you're reading a great book or watching a movie so that's the focus of our content. We want to make people forget the things of this world when they read our content or play our games.

2. "Kickstarting Gamma Grunts" seemed self-serving. 
What I mean by self-serving is it's not focused on what we, as a company and individuals, want to be focused on. The name was focused on what we're doing and what we think and not focused on the tabletop game community. This isn't how I want to live my life let alone run a business. So when we're creating content for this blog, we want it to be focused on the reader. What information is helpful or interesting for the reader? What is our purpose in creating this content? These are the questions that "Kickstarting Gamma Grunts" didn't seem to focus on by it's role as a blog title.

3. We think the explanation of our process will help make your process easier.
Creating content can be hard but aspects of developing, manufacturing, and publishing your content is harder. That's why we want to make it easier for people to know what goes into every step of the process of tabletop game design and publishing. Our mistakes will decrease your mistakes and our research will quicken your research. That way you can focus on your game more!

4. We want to include you in our process. 
Even if this means us researching/answering your questions or giving you an outlet to share your opinions/process, we want you included. This is your blog, not ours. We want you to be the driving force of our content.

Let us know if you're liking this new direction or if you're interested in sharing content on our page. We'd love to hear your thoughts!

Thoughts of a Mad Scientist: Gamma Juice

Ah, Gamma Juice.... 

The sustenance of life in a bottle. The source of power I will use to make a force the world has never seen before. My gang....no... My ARMY of Grunts will be made out of Gamma Juice!

It's so brilliant yet simple and elegant. Only a paragon of my stature could ever achieve such greatness. Gamma Juice is so simple to make it is insane that no one else had thought of this before. Seriously, all you really need is luciferin, luciferase, oxygen, Plutonium, neodymium, nobelium, liquid Argon, Bromine, and a dash of Gamma Radiation(15 MeV).

Thankfully these ingredients are ooh, so common. Who doesn't have a few hundred pounds of each of those? Almost nobody...that's who, AHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA. That makes it all the much more simple to generate great supplies to keep for myself. Only through my brilliance could anyone have amassed these level of resources. In the worst case scenario  I've got my atom smasher just laying around. Even if that breaks down I could use some cosmic radiation in place of the gamma rays. It's easy enough to channel.

I've got a mind on how many different molds I should use to create my Grunts. At least two maybe three.... or four....seven....teen. Variety is the spice of life after-all. I have always had an affinity for ogres and goblins with the occasional orc. merging them together should be a fun task to accomplish. Maybe I can add some cybernetics to them occasionally as well.

Terror will be wrought upon my enemies. Grunts will crash through the countryside and bring woe to who oppose me.

Gamma Juice for the win.

Kickstarting 101

We're going to be at Concoction Cleveland for Protospiel this weekend but I definitely wanted to share a small portion of what we've researched for this.



So, how does Kickstarting a tabletop game work? Well, to be honest it's a pretty complicated thing but I figured I'd give you some really surprising things about the process that helped us along the way. It's also interesting to know the process because it's interesting to see how this stuff works. This won't include the details of manufacturing because we'll cover that later in a separate blog post but let's talk about what needs to happen before you actually launch Kickstarter. Also, be sure to remember that this is just what we've had to consider so your experience may be very different. This is purely just what we've had to deal with.



1. It's obvious but you need to create and playtest your game over and over until you have something that you know front and back. This may not seem that important but the reality is that in order for you to be successful, it's important to have backers set up on day one to back your game. So you playtest the game and make sure it's wonderful. Then you make sure you get as many people to play it as possible in order to ensure that it's what they want and it's not sloppy. Do this enough and you will be able to work out all the kinks before launching on Kickstarter.



2. While you're playtesting, you also need to set up a decent amount of artwork to be completed months before you launch. You need to have a product that looks good because a huge portion of what people are going to be attracted to is the art. The big reason why is you need to have people do Kickstarter Previews prior. For instance, prior to us going to Kickstarter, we will have about 50% of the art made so people can get hyped about our project. When we send out our games for Previews, having that much art will really make it so they have something to show in their videos.

One other helpful thing we learned regarding design to include on pieces that are not completed is, "FPO" which is an industry standard that means, "For Placement Only." All reviewers need to have is enough art to show off in their videos so including "FPO" on cards that don't have the art will make it so you have a professional product to show off.



3. Kickstarter Previews/Reviews are videos done by people who's whole goal with what they do is to share games with the masses. Games from large companies, small companies, and even individual designers/publishers. Some of these people have a few hundred views on each video while others have thousands. There are some who only do it for the projects they like while others charge for each video. There's also a great group where industry people can find reviewers called the Board Game Reviewers and Media group on Facebook.



4. You need to work out the cost of your product before you launch your Kickstarter but what's most important is to figure out accurate shipping prices. The first part to consider is that 10% of your incoming funds are going to go to Kickstarter and Stripe (the credit card processor for Kickstarter). Whether you include the cost of shipping in pledge amount or if you add it afterwards, it needs to be accurate. This is where the majority of cost issues come into play. Definitely remember to account for the cost of the boxes too. Not a big deal but if your game requires a $2.00 box to ship and you only charge for the actual shipping cost, then that's money out of your pocket.



5. Plan out the cost of your stretch goals. This is another place where you can lose money fast. Always make sure what you're promising is reasonable. For instance the CMON extras that came with last year's Rising Sun Kickstarter each had separate costs that, because they're a larger company, they were able to deal with. For instance, each plastic miniature has a separate mold needed for them, which some companies can charge around $2,000 for them. If they wouldn't have planned for this individual figure in their estimates, they could be out quite a bit of money. Mind you this $510,000 goal shows they planned for this. But mess this up a few times with multiple stretch goals and your successful Kickstarter could be the catalyst for potential bankruptcy. So if you want to have awesome extras like this, make sure you it's in your financial planning.

6. Promote your project. Start a Facebook, a Twitter, a Google Plus page, or heck, even a blog. *cough, cough* What people might not think of however is to get email sign ups! This is far more key than you may think they are. Every time someone signs up for your mailing list, they are making a small commitment to you. They are expressing their interest in your product and showing that they believe in what you're doing to some degree. The more people you get to sign up, the better it's going to be for you. Just start it and don't be afraid to ask your friends for their emails.

Create your audience and enable you to keep in touch with them. After all, you're not just Kickstarting a single game, you're Kickstarting your company. If you already have a successful company or have already Kickstarted successful campaigns, you probably already know these steps but this is definitely something you could share with someone who doesn't this already.

These aren't the only things you need to do but these are a few of the things that really are helping focus our efforts. Hope they help you too! As always, more to come but enjoy!

Thoughts of a Mad Scientist: Grunts

YES I'VE GOT IT!

I have discovered the best solution to my military quandary. No, not creatures of myth and legend. No not mercenaries. No not mindless machines.

The answer is Grunts! Yes, genetically engineered Grunts. They are the perfect solution to every mad scientists needs. They are loyal to a fault. They will do anything you tell them to. They especially enjoy smashing things. Seriously, Just send them into a place and they will smash it all up. They can't really make plans for themselves, but who cares? That's what I'm here for! Their horns, and rough skin make them terrifying opponents for the inexperienced mad scientist. Yes.... they shall be my army.

They aren't indestructible, but they're are easy to replace. They can subsist on essentially nothing at all and even if they do get hungry they can just eat each other. They are all made out of Gamma Juice after all.

Now all I need is a ready supply of Gamma Juice and my plans will come to fruition.

Protospiel Cleveland Here We Come!

Kyle and I are going to be at Protospiel Cleveland from March 9th to 11th this year. It's going to be happening at Cleveland Concoction, a small sci-fi, games, and comic convention at the Bertram Inn & Conference Center in Aurora, OH. So we get to go to a convention but what is Protospiel you ask?

Protospiel is an event where people can bring their prototype tabletop games for other game designers and publishers to check out. They play your game, you play theirs, and everyone gets constructive feedback to help make their games better. It's perfect! A group of people who are all trying to have fun and get better with one another. So much fun. 

So, before we go to Protospiel there are few things that they say people should do to prepare: 

(This info comes from http://www.protospiel.org/page2.html) 

-Mention your design goals from the start. It helps playtesters to keep things in perspective and have accurate expectations.

-Be respectful of everyone's time. Anything you can do ahead of time to sort components, have summary cards available or even plan out how you'll teach the game will be greatly appreciated.

-If it's clear a game is not working well, or that additional play isn't going to reveal much additional information, the best thing to do is stop early. You'll still get plenty of feedback and playtesters will appreciate your consideration.

-After a playtest session, fellow designers will share their thoughts about the game. Be open to their feedback, but make it clear what you're looking for. For example, do you want suggestions for rule changes or are you just looking for their thoughts on card distributions?

These are the big things that we're going to be focused on while we're there and I can't wait to see what other people are making. Hopefully we get to see you there! 

Thoughts of a Mad Scientist: Building New Friends

Since I last left you I had discovered the truest form of happiness... World Domination.

I have mused on how to create my army. There are many different ways to build an army. For example, I can hire mercenaries. They have a history of impressive feats and getting the job done. Too bad they think too much and demand pay. They also have no loyalty, except to the highest bidder of course. In the end, I would have to worry about someone paying them to dethrone me. Can't have that....

I could build an army of machine warriors. They would be practically indestructible, fully loyal and never get tired. These machine warriors would break through the defenses of my enemies and NEVER DIE... because they're not really alive. Sadly though, they are too expensive to make. Seriously, have you seen that Honda Robot Azimov? It cost like six million dollars to design and didn't even include weapons or combat systems and can barely walk. Can you imagine how much that will cost. At least like six million and one dollars. And then there's production costs and labor. Even with forced labor the parts alone will break the bank.

I could always tie myself to the occult and make a dark pack with the Darkest of Dark beings. Unknown to the world is the insanity and power of the "Other" world. The greatest of creatures and most terrifying of aberrations will be unleashed. My enemies would go insane not trusting their senses. Perhaps, they would be consumed with fear and be unable to leave their homes ever again. Sadly though, there is a high price to this dark pack. One of the aberrations I summon could quite possibly be the spirit of my dearly departed Great Aunt Havisham. A dreadful woman indeed. The risk is too great, far too great to have to deal with that woman. Who knows, perhaps even they would drive me quite even madder than I already am.

I could enlist the aid of the fantasy creatures of yore. Yes, YES!!!! Dragons and trolls, goblins and orcs. They would suit my purposes well. They could bring ruin to my enemies. Dragons can fly through the air and breath death from the skies. Trolls could crash through the walls of my enemies smashing and bashing all the way through to the heart of their complex. Lets not forget the goblins and orcs. Goblins can wreak havoc on the robots they so foolishly built where I was smart enough to avoid. The orcs in their massive hoards can spread through the landscape and pillage all of the resources I could ever need... Oh wait.... these creatures aren't real. Oh well, the trolls would probably just find themselves arguing with people in the VideoTube comment section anyways.

Hmmmmm, none of these are just quite right. What can the solution be?!

Check Out Our Artist!

So Kyle and I have made it all official. We created HipLein Industries LLC-a game company, we have our tax ID, and we have opened our business account. If you're looking for an awesome deal for small businesses, check out Huntington Bank. They made the process super easy and we were able to get a checking account for our small business. No limited amount, no yearly fees, limited fees, etc. It really puts us in an easy place to just focus on completing and promoting our game.

We also officially announced it on Facebook!!! We went live and went over how the game generally works. We also threw a big shout out to our artist, James Koenig. We love his style and really enjoy what he does. You can check some of his work out at www.freelancefridge.com, which is filled with a variety of designs.

Here are a few examples of his artwork. Note: THIS IS NOT GOING TO BE IN GAMMA GRUNTS but we wanted to share the kind of work he does.

 

Keep an eye out for news to come and we'll go into our process with everything!!!!
Thanks for being some of the coolest people we know.

Thoughts of a Mad Scientist: Life is Amazing isn't it?

Wow, isn't life grand? You go through life not understanding the secret to happiness until one day, it just hits you. BAM!!!!  You spend all of your days working hard for someone else only to enrich them at the expense of your time. And for what? A pittance?! No more I say! From now on I will work towards that secret to happiness. And that secret is... World Domination. Muahahahahaha!

It's just unfortunate other Mad Scientists like myself figured it out at the same time. I guess I'll just have to create an army to deal with them.

Flash Back To May

So, flash back to May of 2017 when I sent Kyle Boehnlein a message about a game that I was interested in creating, He agreed to work with me and that's when we started HipLein Industries LLC, A Game Company. I had a prototype of a battle-themed deck builder similar to games like Magic, Pokemon, and Yugioh but instead of it being collectible, everything is included in the initial box. Since Kyle and I both loved to play competitive tactics games, I knew we'd be able to produce a product that we both enjoy but creating something that everyone else likes is the difficult part. This is when we started to create what we now know as, "Gamma Grunts: A Deck Smash Game"

Check out this throw back to our early designs

We started off really clunky where there were rounds of drafting that took sometimes over a half hour to just draft before even getting to play the game. We were also able to work out some initial obstacles during Origins with our friend, Mike Caldwell. Over the next few months it was just a series of lather, rinse, repeat.
-Lather=create/change a mechanic to test in the game.
-Rinse=test it out and figure out what works.
-Repeat=add it to the game until we come up with something to change/add.

Eventually, we were able to play test the game enough and change it to where we really had a game that plays smoothly. Specifically, everyone starts with the same initial deck of cards that include character cards people control, cards that immediately give you draft/victory points (depending on how you play them), and the primary resource of the game.

We'll get into the specifics of what cards are included in the game later but we put a mechanism in the game where you can take the cards you start with, discard them to get draft points, and eventually shuffle them into your deck. This is the key aspect to the game that I find most important to a player winning the game. Knowing when to use the cards in your hand to get more powerful cards and knowing when you need to play the cards from your hand.