Accelerating towards completion! Art Update!
over 3 years ago – Wed, Dec 16, 2020 at 08:11:48 PM

Hi folks, 

2021 is going to be an amazing year. I'm feeling very pumped for the future. I don't have a lot to update simply because we're deep into building all the production files, but I figured I'd show some random art bits. We're late by about 3 months at this point, but there's no problems behind the scenes, other than my extreme difficulty getting in-person playtests during the lockdowns. The final round of online playtests begins this week on Tabletop Simulator, mostly to test the wording of the Events cards. I don't have a shipping date yet. I hired someone to convert the rulebook to InDesign, and we should finish that in the next week or two.  We should be submitting most files for manufacture by the end of this year.

I'll post the rulebook in the next update hopefully, and we'll get your feedback on that prior to sending to the manufacturer. If you want to help spell-check the new planet effect tokens and player screens, click here, here, here, and here.

If you want to play the game on Tabletop Simulator, join the Discord channel. We'll be playing every Wednesday night (Pacific) and Sunday morning (Pacific) for the next 2 weeks, and you'll be able to download the new TTS edition of Chaosmos starting this weekend.

Art Update

Here's some updated assets.

More updates soon.

-Joey

Art Spotlight: Introducing Dreeg the Gatekeeper!
over 3 years ago – Fri, Nov 13, 2020 at 01:31:16 AM

We finally got Dreeg in! This was the last art we were waiting on for the expansion; I hope you agree that it was worth the wait. Most board game publishers give general notes to a fleet of artists and use whatever art comes in, but this project has been an ongoing 7+ year collaboration with artist William Tombs to keep everything as consistent as possible.

Dreeg The Gatekeeper

The singular and solitary Keeper of the Singularity, Dreeg delights in his unusual physical properties. Evolved as a parasitic symbiote of the amniotic nerve reticulum, Dreeg declared himself the god of the wormhole, and this position has yet to be challenged. Dreeg is convinced the Ovoid will allow him control over all physical and temporal dimensions.

Schedule?

We've drifted behind schedule. The files should all be finished within a week or two (except for the rulebook, which will continue being updated until production begins). I was not expecting the lockdowns to delay playtesting, but several changes to the cardset and player powers necessitates more playtests. Please join the Discord channel if you want to join online playtests using Tabletop Simulator. I'll give an update with more specific dates on production and shipping when I have those numbers. It depends on a lot of factors, including backlogged manufacturing and potential shipping delays. Hopefully we won't have those issues. I left 2 months of cushion but obviously we needed more. I'm doing my best and very proud of the work that's happening. I'm not spending the Kickstarter money on anything other than art and development costs, so the games will not be held up due to that - but I still have to do day-job work on other games, unfortunately. But we're almost done.

-Joey

Delays + Card Spotlight: The Claws!
over 3 years ago – Tue, Oct 13, 2020 at 02:00:23 AM

Delays

Unfortunately, I didn't get the game submitted by the date I had hoped, in order to deliver this year. I'm really sorry. We've been playtesting exclusively online (via Tabletop Simulator) due to the lockdowns, and it is so hard to get in more than 1-2 games per week, especially with high player counts. There's so much bonus content, and so many subtle wordings to get right, and it just takes a lot of testing. I truly thought I'd be done by July, and then October, and now it looks like we won't finish until next month. But I'll keep you updated at least once every few weeks, and more often then that if you guys would like.

Los Angeles is still very quarantined, so I've only been able to play Chaosmos in person one time since the Kickstarter. But the online testing continues, mostly just testing the Events and Favor cards and their interactions at this point. (Message me if you want to join the new round of tests, which starts this weekend. I'll be submitting the new cardset build to Tabletop Simulator's Chaosmos mod. The old build is from May.) 

The art is so very close to done, but we're still waiting on the final version of Dreeg, and still tweaking the wording of some cards. I had a contractual obligation on another project back in August and I was positive at the time I would be done with this one by then. I think I got overly ambitious earlier this year and overworked myself on side projects, not imagining that Covid would happen, and I would lose my previous assistant AND developer due to the lockdowns. Anyway, I'm currently working on Chaosmos full-time until it gets submitted to the manufacturer, hopefully within a month. Again, really sorry for the delay. I won't know the delivery date, but I am hoping that there's no manufacturing or shipping holdups.

Card Spotlight: The Claws

There are a lot of new tactical cards in the Temple expansion, including 3 new Claws, each of which let you steal a card from a different zone. These cards allow for some interesting new ways to acquire the Ovoid without resorting to brute strength in combat.

Claw of Sykloakis is back, of course. This claw lets you steal a card from an opponent's envelope, and then they get the claw itself in return. It is effective against a player who controls an envelope and then decides to "camp" there. It is especially powerful against a Vault or Base, since it ignores flip cards, but it requires the opponent to actually be in control of the planet at the moment you use the card.

Claw of Biota is a new combat-specific claw. It lets you steal a card from the Cosmic Pool or from an envelope you control, but only during combat. So it interrupts the combat action to grab something you need from somewhere else. Sometimes the Ovoid or Temporal Displacer will pop up in the Cosmic Pool, and this card can lead to some hilarious moments.

Claw of Izikar is a fan-favorite from playtesting groups. It lets you steal a random card from the hand of another player, while on the same space. It punishes players who carry the Ovoid and ignore critical cards like traps and Hypertubes. Combat is only one aspect of the game, and subterfuge and sneaky claws are another.

Claw of Kliktokk is a card players have requested for years. You play this on an uncontrolled Base or Locker and the owner reaches in the envelope and has to give you the Ovoid (if it is in that Base or Locker), or else another card. It combines the "steal a card" aspect of the other claws with the Ovoid-hunting power of the Divi-Sniffer and Squeeze Trap. (Divi-Sniffer forces 2 players to privately show you a card, and it must be the Ovoid if possible. Squeeze Trap is a type of trap that steals a card from the trapped player's hand and sends it to the trap's owner... and that card must be the Ovoid if the player had it.)

Brief digression about Kliktokk: The Kliktokkites are automaton mini-robots that work together as a collectivist horde, re-configuring in various shapes for various tasks. They are great at thwarting traps, vaults, and now also bases. The orange alien, Clokknid, is a bit like a strange, broken toy in the eyes of the Grand Commissariat. Clokknid is an individual, which is very weird for a Kliktokkite automaton. 

Trust Locker is now Planetary Locker

I simplified Trust Locker (for the third and final time) and renamed it Planetary Locker. This new flip card forces players (other than the owner or their Ally) to trade cards from their hand for random cards within. The reason I renamed the card to Planetary Locker is because it now integrates with Planetary Hypergate (travel to your Base or Locker), and Planetary Transceiver (send cards from your Base or Locker to your hand). This synergy gives those other cards a fun power boost, and I hope to see them utilized in unique ways. For example, there's a Favor card that can create a Base, plus a Planet Effect token that can create a Base, plus 2 Base cards, plus a Locker card. Which means there could be up to 5 locations that a player could lock down or control using their Planetary cards! Imagine playing an Amnion Power Flux (making all your 1-action cards free to play) and then setting up different Bases and the Locker all over the galaxy, and moving cards between them... all in the same turn!

Stretch Goal change

Originally I promised 12 bonus Events and Favor cards as stretch goals. However, I ran into some manufacturing limits for printing card sets. For example, machine-sorting errors and color inconsistency can result if each deck is larger than 108 cards. In addition, there's limitations with the custom card sleeves, which get produced in quantities of 54 and 108. So, I'm making a change to this stretch goal. Originally there were 27 individual Favor cards, with 2 copies of each. Now, each Favor card will be totally unique, and there will be nearly twice as many unique cards as I originally planned, including with the stretch goals. So fewer Favor cards overall, but ALL the stretch goal cards I promised will still be in the game, with a LOT more gameplay possibilities. In addition, I will be including a new, exciting, physical add-on free with every copy. I'll reveal what this add-on is once I confirm the costs aren't going to break the bank.

"Bonkers Level" Event cards

We hit a stretch goal promising some bonkers-level Events. I'm so glad we are including these because I think they will lead to some hilarious game moments, and stories that your game group will remember. You can take the really wacky events out of your copy in advance if you are afraid of having too much fun. I don't want to spoil these, but let's just say, they are bonkers. For example, there could be additional Ovoids added to the game, dexterity challenges, realtime gameplay, NPCs.... I won't tell you. Ideally you won't peek at them; you'll just pop them into the new Clock, and experience them as they are triggered in the game!

BackerKit

Before we ship anything I'll give everyone one final chance in December or January to make changes to their BackerKit orders, so don't stress about that.

That's it for now. Feel free to message us if you have questions, and Halley or I will answer as soon as we can. 

-Joey

Artist Spotlight... Izi't REVEAL and the Making of Atturnuk!
over 3 years ago – Mon, Sep 07, 2020 at 07:46:32 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

Art Update - Qiwen!
almost 4 years ago – Sat, Jul 18, 2020 at 10:14:41 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.