Kitty Committee

May Update
almost 2 years ago – Sun, May 12, 2024 at 10:51:17 PM

Winnie reporting in. 

In trying to figure out, like this string, how to get to the final pieces, here are two pieces of updates.

First off, going to do another round of virtual playtesting that aims to be a "this is what will go "hit print". are we ready to go?" the aim, to be able to "hit print" by end of May with whatever we got, or to engage in further rounds of conversation from there. These will be run off of Tabletopia. By end of day tomorrow, I will be posting a tabletopia link so everyone can see where it's currently at.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeGHl8QLn-ezpcP71wW8aVwZUMwb0RCMjc7J5mqyq2OsaqgRQ/viewform?usp=sf_link

Also have a few more images that are new, which should help to finalize a few of the missing gaps. 

What has been tough is that most of the art budget has been finalized, so the struggle has been getting to a "final" design. By end of day Tuesday expect to see the tabletopia link to get a rough sense of where that currently is at.

Winnie & Ian

May Update
almost 3 years ago – Sun, May 28, 2023 at 11:03:08 AM

Ahem. Welcome to the May update from Winnie. You'll have to forgive if i'm a bit expressive today, I'm still recovering from being forced to the groomers last week.

After I awoke from my angered haze, I realized my employee Ian had found that more pictures had developed--so let's start there!

First, I would like to talk about a problem I had wanted to solve. I was looking around, and I felt like the poop emoji didn't quite describe a cat's poop. Those were very clearly human poops.

I am pleased to share that after describing my poops in copious detail to an artist, I got a rendition that I am quite happy with. Please share it with your cats for feedback, as maybe we should consider other types of cat poops as well!

This will be the symbol for the Mess mechanic in the game, which has started to shore up quite well. Next week, Ian told me he's planning to release a near-1.0 version of the rules for feedback and to start outreaching for playtesting on final tweaks. 

Now for some more general art!

And there will be more art that I can show you next week too!

---- General Summary: where the heck are we?

A fair question you might have is where the state of the game is, since it is definitely behind schedule. I would say right now I am aiming to get it finalized for Gamelyn by July/August. 

What's left?

-- 70 out of 80 base action cards have designs now. Next 10 in progress.  

-- expansion pack: 15 out of 25 cards have designs. 

-- decision about the playmat (will post a backer update about this next month)

-- card design: action cards and room upgrade cards have a pretty finalized design, looking to finalize the cat card design.

-- the rules: have a copy of the rules explanation, will be displaying a proposed final edition next month. 

-- manufacturer: selected and just need the art and design finalized. First quote was reasonable and will keep on budget, but need a new estimate due to art delays.

Winnie's update from the trenches
almost 3 years ago – Mon, Apr 17, 2023 at 12:42:01 AM

Ahem. I've been informed that we were moving to monthly updates, so I reminded Ian that it's HIS job to post these up, not mine. But hey, at least he managed to post in the following month this time.

I can't help it. My paws can only help purr program, and currently Siri and I disagree on the results of voice to text. 

Furrst off: thank you to everyone who responded and told me to let the artists take their time. I have done my best to scratch at their doors, but the delays are about as expected right now. But a few more pieces got done, so let's show them off!

Also have some drafts that were sent by my other artist. Let us know in the comments if the drafts are going in the right direction to give them encouragement! I didn't think he needed that, but Ian said he might want some.

I also gave Ian some inspiration, and told him the current Cat card design wasn't wide enough for my big-boned structure. A few more smacks of his feet later, and now two changes are coming soon:

Another change that might not stick, but as we are finalizing the ruleset seems like a good change, is that we're going to have three decks instead of two! The cats are still a deck, but the action cards will be split into the traditional drafted cards for resources and movemenet, and a second deck: room upgrades!

You can also thank me, Winnie, for that. I was complaining about not getting enough Food in my cards when I playtested.

Thanks,

A combined Ian+Winnie update

March Update--- Winnie wishes to ask about a minor cat-astrophe
about 3 years ago – Tue, Mar 14, 2023 at 07:59:03 PM

Winnie wishes to say greetings from the front lines of development. 

Ahem. I have been hard at work managing the hoomans, and they told me it was time to post another update. I don't think Ian knows what he's talking about, but there was a problem I'd love to surface up to my adoring public to solve so I, Winnie, don't have to.

So fur no fault of anyone, my artists have been kinda busy.  As a result, I have good news and bad news.

And so currently, we are a little behind schedule.

So we are currently at 40 action cards with art on them -- 30 in a complete mode, and 10 in some form of rough draft. By this point, I was hoping to have 60 cards completed. At the rate we are currently going, it seems like 10 more might get done by end of April, which would put us at 50. 

Which now leaves us a question for the backers -- how would you like us to manage this problem? 

Options as Ian has proposed them, which I attempted to bat away with my paw and tell him to just work harder:

A) using the current artists, put another two month delay on the game

B) Try and hire another artist, with the risk of the art suffering a bit

C) reuse more cards than planned, so that there are 50 unique art cards with more duplicates. Reuse for different card template, or just print multiples of the same card.

On the plus side, Ian has promised me that a version of Tabletopia with the current assets should be published soon! Expect to see an update and a message for certain backers about that by the end of the month. 

Please leave your opinion in the comments about our problem, as well as where else we should look to publish online!

Early Furrbruary Update
about 3 years ago – Fri, Feb 10, 2023 at 03:47:49 PM

ahem. this is an update from Winnie, reporting that the move was mostly uneventful and to give a status update on the game.

First off, id like to report that art is moving slightly behind schedule but still aiming to get assets done by end of march. After much protest from the hooman, I will do the hot thing these days and present some leaks. Currently at roughly 35 of 55 or so designs needed.

Card design is also beginning to tighten up, Ian reports he’s hoping to do a final pass before getting a nice copy up on tabletopia.

an ask: if anyone knows a good photoshop/design person that wants to help me get the polish in on the card design, please let Ian know!

also: while unfortunately my fabulous black furry self won’t be there, my associate will be playtesting at Con of the North in twin cities, if you are curious about checking out where thjngs are at in person.

aiming to do an update after con of the north in late february, assuming i leave the proper skills to Ian.

With Love,

Winnie the Prettiest Black Cat