Damian Korus – Exploration Kickstarter

Cameron B — Tue, 11 Jun 2019 22:32:14 +0000

Damian Korus is the designer of the new project ‘Exploration’ currently on Kickstarter – he was kind enough to have some words with us about him and the project, below. Find his Kickstarter for Exploration here.

In Exploration, touring near-Earth space is just one facet of achieving victory. Players must build fleets, collect resources, and of course, exert their dominance over the competition.
Exploration boasts an array of ships—from transports to destroyers, and everything in between—letting you decide how to explore wild space. Some ships rely on speed and maneuverability, while others boast impressive shields and armaments.

Build your fleet to your faction’s strengths to gain dominance of near-Earth space. Exploration will provide plenty of deep strategy that’s attainable to both new and seasoned gamer

“Tell me about your journey in board games – when did you start playing and what were the games that caught your imagination?”

Like for many of us I grew up in the family that was familiar with board games classics like Catan, Carcassone or Munchkin. The critical moment in my life as a board game player was to play Talisman with my friends after a few years break. It was a critical day because I wanted to find more exciting games. It was in 2016, in the middle of the board games renaissance, so there were many great games on the market. We played Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island, Terraforming Mars , Scythe, Tzolki’n and many other games. I realised then that there was only one board game trying to catch reality of space exploration – High Frontier, but as we all know it is very difficult to play it. I came up with idea to make a game about the near future of space exploration and now we are starting our Kickstarter campaign.

“What are your inspirations for Exploration and what would you compare the finished product to?”

My studies were the inspiration for the game theme. I am an aerospace engineer and I love everything about space and aeronautics. The first drafts began by anticipating and imitating the same technological challenges and problems that real life Space Programs had encountered for example: the difficulty of dropping the module accurately on the intended target position, The design of a ship that was well-equipped, enough to survive in space more than two turns and to create a realistic movement system that was both authentic and playable.

That’s right, this game about space exploration is actually designed by a rocket scientist!

Honestly, it’s difficult to compare Exploration with any other game that is currently on the market. At first glance, the game may resemble a very simplified version of High Frontiers and we can certainly find a similarity in XIA spacecraft: Legends of a Drift System and movement on board may look similar to Merchant of Venus.

I’m interested in the Polish board game scene, as there are so many good games that are coming out of that region at the moment, games like Robinson Crusoe, Imperial Settlers, 51st State, This War of Mine and Lords of Hellas. So I put it to Marcus, why he thinks that Poland is so well represented in the community:

It is a hard question. One of the reasons can be the still growing community of board gamers. I live in one of the biggest cities in Poland and I feel this growing community on every corner. Every year there are new small conventions, game pubs and even university guilds. That is why Poland is a good place for board game designers. We can show our projects to many people who are always eager to test new games. Another factor is the successes of Awaken Realms. They are Polish and their designs inspire designers all over the world.

“What are some of your favourite games and what are some of the gems that many people don’t play?”

I realize that many gamers hate this game, but my favourite is Tzolk’in. I love the time impact on the gameplay and fact that you can complete only 10% of things you are planning on the beginning of the game. The gem that many people don’t play might be Ankh-Morpork. I love when other players think that I’m a Lord Vetinari but really I’m a Dragon King of Arms. And it is Terry Prachett’s Discworld universe.

As mentioned before, make sure to check out the project on Kickstarter!

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Hero Master: An Epic Game of Epic Fails

Cameron B — Sun, 16 Sep 2018 23:00:34 +0000

A little while back we spoke with Jamie Noble-Frier, an illustrator also known as The Noble Artist, who was working on his own game to launch on Kickstarter (here is the link to the campaign). Well the day has come and the game will go live this week on the 18th of September to the uproarious applause of all gathered!

The game

Here is a blurb from Jamie about Hero Master: An Epic Game of Epic Fails

There’s a dragon swooping over the sleepy valley of Snoozehaven. As one of the worst adventurers in the land, it’s taken you some time to realise what all the fuss and charred villagers are all about. Desperate to leave the failure fraught party you’ve been lumbered with, you look desperately to the mustering parties of adventurers, but it’s too late. As the dust settles, you look around to find the same dopey faces staring back at you. The halfling is actually asleep. “They are the worst”, you think, as you reluctantly you gather your belongings and set out on a more than likely doomed quest to seek out the dragon Crackletooth the Tepid. Hopefully the dragon’s hoard will give you enough bartering power to join a new party and finally leave these sorry idiots. Either that or you’ll get eaten. It can’t be any worse than being in this party…

Hero Master is a game for 2-4 players, set in a completely dysfunctional adventuring party where life is anything but co-operative. Get ready for some surprisingly deep strategy, take-that mechanics, hand management and a persistent squabble to be the leader of the party.

The Process

The reason why I want to give this game a bit of promo is that Jamie has done this campaign right. He hasn’t started a Kickstarter to ‘see what happens’ or to help develop a game, but rather he has the art ready, has been involved in Facebook groups all over (not just his own) and has been asking the people what they want. Now this may seem like a simple thing but it is something that creators seem to miss all of the time, they create something throw it at a wall and see what sticks, but Jamie is different. If there has been doubt in his process he has asked the audience, he has asked what they want and don’t want as stretch and extra goals and has listened when they have spoken.

The other thing that Jamie has done is play test, and extensively. The game has been tested at several conventions including UKGE and has met great acclaim over the last few months. Play-testing is at the core of what makes a game workable, as Steve Jackson told us, and is the difference between what stays in the shrink, or gets played once, and what becomes a favourite that hits the table often.

So here’s to Jamie for his upcoming Kickstarter, good luck, but given the work that you have put in thus far I don’t think that you are going to need it.

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Damian Korus – Exploration Kickstarter

Hero Master: An Epic Game of Epic Fails

The game

The Process