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The day-to-day progress of Sovranti as a project is exhilarating. As one of its creators, nothing makes me happier than seeing testers, our community and publishers embrace what we’re trying to do. We’re bringing people together with board games in a way that is both social but also safe. Looking forward to 2021, one of the most exciting things is what titles we’re lining up. We thought you might enjoy a peek into how things get on the platform. The new blog series topic is “Content.”
First, let’s look at the environment which spawns titles from tiny to titanic. It is estimated in 2019 that over 3500 board games hit retail (this number doesn’t even include add-ons, expansions or kickstarters.) Despite everything, 2020 is on track to out do those numbers. With so many choices, it is hard to figure out what gets table time.
Good news! It’s only going to get worse. Before lock down, I got to participate in ProtospielMN 2020 last January. Talking to folks like Adam Rehberg and Jeff Tidball one of the things that was universal amongst the publishers was how good the prototypes and presentations were. That they were, infact, improving year over year at a frightening rate. Which only makes sense: more people gaming means more people inspired to write games, more people making games means more people participating in game making communities like Protospiel and innovating, each innovation makes gaming better, better gaming brings more people into the hobby and the cycle turns over. Though it makes deciding what to play hard sometimes, better games is better for everyone.
We have all been asked the eternal question: “My friends/family want to try gaming. What do I start them with?” If you’re opening is: “Gram Gram, Happy Holidays. Today, we’re starting on Kingdom Death Monster” you’re unlikely to get a second chance (i.e your settlement never had a chance.) Overwhelming others with content is easy when you love the hobby. Finding the right title for new players can be tricky. We try to help by allowing players to learn as they play, providing prompts, rules enforcement and scoring. All together these make gaming more accessible.
How titles draw people in is our next blog: “Approachable Content.”
Release Updates
Publisher: Fight in a Box
Sovranti Developer: Eric
Prepare for mysteries and maze building! Eric is almost done with the base game of Fight in a Box’s next title. You’ll be able to play Mouse Cheese Cat Cucumber BEFORE the kickstarter in January.
Already in place, players are able to review their Secret Agendas, use their flip powers, place and rotate tiles into the Maze, move the Mouse and Cat around, and trace a path to victory! Some interesting mechanics in Mouse Cheese are the complexities around tile rotations and character movement differences and the dynamic grid expands and contracts.
Things to look forward to:
Clean up, error testing, visual enhancements.
Publisher: Gamewright
Sovranti Developer: Andrew
Andrew has finished the main loop in Forbidden Desert, and he’s smoothing out the experience. The next game mechanic to be added is equipment card functionality. The existing menu system might need to be adjusted to be reused for this.
Things to look forward to:
A playable beta in the not so distant future.
Publisher: Adam's Apple Games
Sovranti Developer: Paul
Testing all the new planets continues. Check out planet Pajitnov below. Paul has found time for the republic corporation gearing up for asymmetric corporation boards.
Things to look forward to:
Event card difficulty selection
Touch ups on tile validation
Touch ups on scoring
Various touch ups on planets
Planet Corporations
Publisher: Magpie Games
Sovranti Developer: Eric
Wizard Kittens is still in development, but now that the base game is complete, Developer Eric is taking a pause to work on another project.
Things to look forward to:
Advanced Mode, which will diversify the gameplay quite a bit
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