“This War of Mine – The Boardgame”: CURRENT STAGE OF THE GAME
Newsletter Part 1
“Just as we planned, after countless closed testing and tweaking sessions, by the end of February we’re starting first OUTSIDE tests of the mechanics (outside our very team) and by the end of March we also will begin the first BLIND tests phase.
This means that in mid-March we will reach out to the first group of testers from our list, meaning those of you who volunteered to try out the earlier version using the electronic files we will be sending out. Yet the list is vast (and of course this is extremely good news for us, we are overfilled with joy just looking at the numbers and thinking about the feedback yet to come) and because of that we will have to divide this whole operation into stages.
The newest prototype looks like some rugged notebook, (however it has already brought many unforgettable experiences and situations, from within the game’s world, to quite a few players) this being said we have little mercy for the prototype and it is constantly being written and drawn on during each gameplay. It was designed to be easy to write on so it’s nothing pretty, therefore when you see it on the pictures it won’t be exposed on the first plan so that nobody is confused as to what the game’s final form will be. So far all our resources are focused on gameplay and story, not on the looks… not yet anyway.
At the picture above both authors are breaking their brains on yet another feature to be found in the game, at the pictures below the prototype can be seen in action – at the 11 bit studios headquarters, the makers of the original experience.
SAVING THE GAME
The original (digital) This War Of Mine is a monumental, long story where with each passing day we become more and more attached to our survivors, the war is inevitably reaching its end and the plot evolves.
It is not a short story with 2-3 turns of clever decisions and a finish line visible from afar with a prize to be collected for our cunning. It is a heavy, grimm vision, yet full of gameplay attractions and plots that cause you to be glued to the screen for many days.
The length of the gameplay of most digital games adds depth to it, causes us to learn more about the game’s world and its characters, therefore events and locations leave a stronger mark in our memories. Most of us have experienced this increased intensity served by almost all modern TV series and vast novels that draw us easier and deeper than shorter forms, promising a more immersive experience.
However, board games are a completely different medium and we get to see games that offer 20 hours of non stop gameplay very rarely. Speaking about 20 hours is a bit of an over-exaggeration when even a couple of hours of gameplay can cause a game to gather dust on a shelf. Many months ago we faced an extremely tough choice: do we go for the monumental dimension of story evolution with a few or even few dozens of days of a struggle for survival, that we all know and love about the original TWOM or do we go in the direction of a comfortable, short gameplay that can be squeezed into 90-120 minutes? A very difficult choice indeed.
Fortunately somewhere around that time a copy of Pandemic Legacy landed on our table for testing. Have you heard about it? Sure you have. A long, complex, evolving campaign divided brilliantly into single, shorter gameplays with an easy saving mechanism. Well, we must admit that Legacy has strongly inspired us.
We reshaped TWOM once more, we’ve implemented an incredibly quick and easy mechanism for saving (and restoring) your game. It turned out that this added a completely new layer of depth to the gameplay. You can simply save the game at the end of each day.
What’s more after many tests we’ve simplified this mechanism to a minimum – all you need now is a bag for the elements and a very clear and easy to use save sheet. You just put some of the game components into the bag and mark certain boxes on the sheet and that’s it! Saving a game takes about 1 minute of your time. Restoring it to its previous state takes the same amount of time as setting up the game for a new playthrough. We were simply amazed by how easy it works.
Of course there still is an option for a quicker playthrough, where you start the game in, so to speak, the middle or even the end of the story. So there is that or you could just choose one of the shorter special scenarios, and thanks to the quick and easy SAVE mechanism you can plan a longer, complex campaign that will consist of shorter playthroughs. Got time for only 2-3 turns of gameplay? No problem. Got half an hour? We can work with that! And the story takes a step forward, the situation changes, new adventures and events are triggered and you have tons of stuff to think about until your next game.
All this gives us the opportunity to explore the story, get deeper into it and savor the details and second meanings within a regulated game time – no matter if you have an hour or a couple, it is always as long as you want it to be.
FIGURINES
We began the new year with a lot of completed milestones, one of which was scanning the actors who were the cast of the original This War of Mine experience. We knew we wanted miniatures in the tabletop version of This War Of Mine and we also knew we wanted to have the best. So we chose an incredibly ambitious and rapidly growing company of passionates lead by two visionaries – Awaken Realms.
awakenrealms.com
www.facebook.com/awakenrealms
If your are a wargaming or simply a miniatures fan there’s news for you: Awaken Realms is currently running a limited Kickstarter campaign with some really curious, universal terrain elements (some of which even have their own power supply and lights!). It can be found here:
www.kickstarter.com/projects/awakenrealms/awakening-gaming-terrain
Below you can see the effects of the work of our friends from Awaken Realms studio. These are the miniatures designed for This War Of Mine: The Board Game [first 3 of the total of 12 minis]:
ATTENTION! SURPRISE AHEAD!
WE WOULD GLADLY PICK YOUR BRAIN ON THIS GAME – A COMPETITION WITH GREAT MINIATURE PRIZES!
From the very beginning (even in the concept phase of this adaptation) we knew what we wanted to achieve and mostly focus on, was the story driven gameplay. We really appreciate that you – the subscribers – are with us and to honor you we announce this exclusive competition. In order to win an awesome mini (just like the one that will actually be used in the game, but in a smaller scale – we are testing various sizes and you will be receiving a highly detailed 28mm scale prize, whereas the final game will feature larger models) you should:
take a photo or describe a situation, a scene, a choice or even write a short story strictly connected with the game’s theme, that you think should find it’s way into the very plot of This War Of Mine: The Board Game (be it in the main layer or hidden among the many hundreds of Scripts).
You can deliver it to us by:
• pasting it under the most recent post on our Facebook page, WITHOUT mentioning the competition (after all it’s mostly for destined for the subscribers )
• or dropping it on our Twitter account – @TWOM_BoardGame and adding #quest.
Exactly a week from now (on 25th of February 2016) we will choose one proposition and its author will be awarded with a richly detailed, 28mm figurine depicting Anton.
We will try to have a new exciting competition (connected to either the digital or the tabletop version of This War Of Mine) for you with every following newsletter. If our competitions are not good enough for you let us know and we will try harder. So please spread the word about this board game and share your ideas with us on any further improvements!
NEWS AND FURTHER CATCHING UP
TWEETS FOR THOSE WHO VALUE TIME AND WANT TO KNOW FIRST
We have recently started an official Twitter channel for TWOM: THB. We post pics of game elements, minis and such, we retweet all things connected to TWOM and generally “story driven” and (in our opinion) meaningful games (both digital and tabletop). Link: https://twitter.com/TWOM_BoardGame
INTERVIEW
“Currently you’re working on the tabletop version of This War Of Mine. Taking the incredibly difficult topic of this game into account, a question arises about presenting the mood of war and most of all its nightmares, that the victims must survive through. What is your take on this?” – if somehow you’ve missed this we’d like to invite you to read the whole interview here:
http://ustatkowanygracz.pl/making-of-this-war-of-mine-the-…/
Thank you for your support and interest in This War Of Mine: The Board Game,
the team”
