More Artwork Sprucing, Late Pledges + Punchboard Fun
over 2 years ago – Thu, Dec 09, 2021 at 07:38:32 PM

Festive greetings one and all! 🎄 Hope this update finds you well.  Since the last one, it's been more of the same with Arkosa progress but we've also had a few obstacles to overcome too (more on that to follow). Mattie is continuing to spruce up artwork and make their way through the to do list. Combustible Joe and Alak & Aran are two Arkosa residents to recently get a tidy up. Here they are in a suitably seasonal scene!

Late Pledges

Some of you may have spotted that late pledges are now available through Backer Kit. It's been nice to welcome a few more folks on board the Arkosa train (or space ship might be more thematically appropriate...)! We haven't yet fully opened up the pledge manager / sent out surveys yet but we are looking to do so in Q1 next year. It's all to do with that aforementioned punchboard fun! Let me explain why...

Chip Board, Chip Board, Where Are Thou Chip Board?

You may have noticed that the world isn't in the best states at the moment and numerous supply chain issues have now started to affect our grand plans. Punch out components in the game, like the bunker room tiles and resources are all made of chip board, which is one of those things that is currently in shorter supply.  Therefore manufacturing costs have increased so we've been plotting ways to tackle this.  

At the moment, Arkosa requires 12 sheets of punchboard for all its components. so we've been looking at ways to reduce this number. One thing we've decided to do is use tarot size cards for the bunker colony leaders. Each colony leader would have their own card and the player actions guides would also have their own cards. This would save on about 4 sheets of punchboard. 👍

What's also nice about this solution is it will save on table space as well. Player action guides can be shared between players, and when you are experienced enough that you don't need the guides anymore, you can lose those cards all together.

In general, we are also looking to decrease the total print run of games to counteract the increased costs. This of course won't affect the final game you receive but it will mean you have something even more unique in your collection. 😉

Until the next transmission...

In these turbulent times we knew it was likely we'd have some hurdles to leap! But rest assured, we're working hard to try and stick to our timeline and bring you a great quality game. Hope you all keeping safe and have some lovely festive plans ahead of you  ❤️

*Tentacle High Five!*

Angela

Artwork Enhancement + The Secret Meat Dispensary
over 2 years ago – Sat, Nov 06, 2021 at 05:18:16 AM

Hello everyone! Hope you are all keeping well. Here is your first monthly update of how we're progressing with bringing Arkosa to life. In the weeks that have followed the campaign we have mostly been getting organised with what we need to do before sending the game off to print. We've been in touch with our European manufacturers and have an updated quote en route that factors in the additional content unlocked from social stretch goals (thank you ❤️).

We've had a bunch of interest in late pledge opportunities / pledge upgrades.  You'll be able to do this through our pledge manager (Backerkit) and that will be opening up between now and our next update. If you want to know exactly when that happens, make sure you're subscribed to the mailing list at the top of the official Arkosa page.

Artwork Enhancement

Mattie has been doing a full audit of everything in the game and is now very much in the process of quality control. We want to deliver you the best looking version of Arkosa that we possibly can, so in the coming few months we will be enhancing all the artwork in the game, and that process has already begun.

Below is a table of everything which is being updated. It's a long list but do keep in mind all of the below is illustrated, it's just a case of tidying and enhancing each bit of artwork to a consistent quality. Below the table is an example of what we mean by this and you can see a few pieces of artwork that have already been polished up!

The Secret Meat Dispensary

When playing the standard game of Arkosa, players get to choose a unique room to add to their bunker before play begins. In testing, the Secret Meat Dispensary was one of the most popular choices. During the campaign we had a funding stretch goal to unlock a unique illustration for this particular room, seeing as it had so many fans! We didn't hit that goal but we've decided to go ahead with illustrating this room anyway, because I think it deserves to be seen! So lo and behold, the Secret Meat Dispensary!

Until the next transmission...

That's all for now, folks. The next few updates will mostly be about artwork enhancement but we should be at a point to start manufacturing in Q1 2022. All going well, there's currently no reason we shouldn't hit out December 2022 target 🥳

As always, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to leave and comment or throw me a message 😊

*Tentancle High Five!*

~Angela

We did it!!
over 2 years ago – Thu, Oct 07, 2021 at 03:42:01 PM

What an absolute rollercoaster of a campaign, but we made it!! Welcome on board to all those who jumped in at the last minute, it's great to have you with us 👋 Let's start off this update with some good news...

Social Stretch Goal Progress

 The final social stretch goal was unlocked and the Super Moonshine event item card will be added to the game! It's added along will the Ahbel Cahlun A Colonist card and the Allocation Station A room tile. Thank you for all your sharing and following, it really has made a huge difference over the course of the campaign 🥰

What's next?

The big question! After taking a moment to catch our breath, we'll be jumping straight into the logistics of getting Arkosa manufactured. We'll need to get a new quote from our factory to cover some of the new content and tweaks that have been made over the two campaigns. Whilst that is happening we will be busy finalising artwork ready for print.

Mattie has been continuing to enhance the illustrations in the game, and only has a few items left on their list as of this update. They will need to draw the glorious rock / shrine for all the Arkosan Founders' names to be etched into. Expect a sneak preview of that in a future update! There will be a survey heading your way if you picked up a Founders Pledge to establish what name you want carved into Arkosan stone!

We'll endeavour to give you monthly updates as per Kickstarter's recommendation and we'll be working hard to try and hit that December 2022 delivery date. The world is still a little turbulent at the moment so if any issues do arise you will be the first to know!

Until the next transmission...

That's it for now, folks. Thank you so much for coming on this journey with us and helping us see the project funded. It means the absolute world to me to be able to get this game made and your support is beyond appreciated!! THANK YOU!!! ❤❤❤❤❤❤

*Tentacle High Five!*

~Angela

FUNDED!!! + Name That Colonist Results!
over 2 years ago – Thu, Oct 07, 2021 at 05:05:34 AM

Hello one and all! What a glorious day it is! WE ARE FUNDED!!! Absolutely over the moon to have reached our goal and to know that we will be able to bring Arkosa to life and get you your copies of your games. Thank you for the tremendous support so many people have given to this campaign. We did it!!! 🥳💪

To celebrate, I think it's about time we found out the identity of our translucent colonist friend, don't you? Let's check out the results...

Name That Colonist! The Results...

It was a bit of a runaway winner in the colonist name vote! Well done to Nigel who suggested the name Glormph! A very fitting name if I say so myself! Thanks for all your suggestions and votes 😊

Social Stretch Goal Progress

As you can see, Mattie has completed the illustration of Arkosa's more renowned drink: Super Moonshine! We are tantalisingly close to unlocking this delicious beverage. Currently we sit at 4728/4750 social interactions. Here are all the ways to up that number:

The Last 48 Hours

Now we're in the funding goal clear, why not dream big and shoot for those funding stretch goals, eh? Adding some linen finish cards would be the icing on the cake of this campaign. So carry on spreading the word and let's see what we can do in these last 2 days! 🤞💪

Until The Next Transmission...

Once again a huge, huge thank you from myself, Mattie, Adam and Mandy! We are so grateful for your support and so excited to bring you this game!! Next update will be when we're on the other side, see you there! 😊

*Tentacle High Five!*

~Angela

P.S. Here's your regular dose of Smallie The Cat...

Name That Colonist: The Vote, Preview Videos + Social Stretch Goal #2
over 2 years ago – Tue, Sep 28, 2021 at 05:09:01 PM

Hello everyone! Wonderful to see us become 300+ backers strong 😊 A big hello to all who've joined us recently, welcome on board! In this update we'll be announcing our favourite names for our unidentified Arkosan and commencing the vote! We'll also have a look at some of the Arkosa preview videos that are scattered around the interweb and we'll see how we're progressing towards unlocking our new bovine pal: Ahbel Cahlun. Let's get into it!

Name That Colonist!

Last week I bestowed upon you the task of naming a translucent, unidentified Arkosan colonist and you sure did deliver! We had lots of lovely suggestions and we've gone through and picked out our top 4. Now the vote begins for what our jelly-like friend should be called. Let us know in the comments section of the Kickstarter page which name gets your vote:

 We'll announce the winning name next week. Good luck to those who had their name picked!

Preview Videos

In the last update we took a look at all the written previews of Arkosa, but we've also had much feedback on the game in visual and audio form!  Check out some of these video previews below:

Social Stretch Goal #2 Progress

Thank you kindly for all your sharing throughout the campaign so far! Our new bovine pal is so close to being part of the gang!

We currently stand at 286/300 social interactions. Here are all the ways to up that number:

Until the next transmission...

As we head towards the last week of the campaign we are really shaping up for an exciting finish! As always, you support is immensely appreciated. Thank you for continuing to share the campaign and spread the word about our quirky, sci-fi, bunker building board game! Channel that inner Ted Lasso as we go into the final week of the campaign. BELIEVE!

*Tentacle High Five*

~Angela

P.S. Here's your regular dose of Smallie the cat: