Graphics Galore
about 1 year ago – Mon, Feb 13, 2023 at 01:08:14 PM

Greetings builders and pilots!

It's been a busy start to the year at Snap Ships HQ. After the holidays we crunched hard to get all of our print files into final form. This project has a massive number of individual items - boxes, punchboards, tokens, cards, inserts, stickers, and on and on.  Josh has been working tirelessly for the last couple of months to finalize everything. 

Here's the back of Starter Box and a selection of punchboards from the Starter, Elite Ships, and Stand Pack:

Our full lineup of products:

A closer look at the detailed dials that track Hull and Evasion:

Terrain graphics were reworked and upgraded:

And here's a historical look at the graphical development of the part cards along with some more final artwork:

Rulebook

Of course one of the stars of the show is the rulebook - which has now grown to a robust 40 pages (up from 32 during the Kickstarter) and is chock full of illustrated examples. We've spent a lot of time polishing, reorganizing, explaining, and leveraging everything we've learned about teaching the game through the convention circuit. You can download the rulebook here:

UPDATED RULEBOOK

If you'd like to share feedback, find us on Discord or send us a note: [email protected].

Game Changers

In the new rulebook you may notice a number of enhancements made to the core game since we last published.  These changes are the result of extensive playtesting in an effort to build a solid foundation on which we can expand for years to come. Some highlights:

•  Critical Hit Locations are now rolled randomly. Previously, the attacker chose the specific part to crit. Through testing we found that carrying heat on parts - a core part of the game - had an out of step risk and reward structure. As a result, parts with heavy heat costs were not seeing play. With this change the risk of an overheated part getting hit by a crit - and causing catastrophic damage - are decreased. But it can definitely still happen! Details in the rulebook on page 11.
•  Turn Order for advanced (larger) games has been solidified. We wanted to keep the simple I-go-you-go model but make sure we dealt with double activation of ships across the end and start of rounds. These changes also allowed us to introduce an Initiative token which marks the player (or team) that goes first in each round, and is claimed when you lose a ship in combat. It also allows a player with fewer unactivated ships to pass their turn, which helps balance momentum between two fleets of different sizes. Details on page 24.
•  Final Scenario Rules are incorporated into the book, and they necessitated a new component - Beacon tokens. This set of 8 double sided tokens can be used in the 3 scenarios, and in possible future scenarios as well.

Throughout the last several months we've been continuing to streamline the gameplay and rules, and eliminate as many special cases and exceptions as possible. Once you know the basics of Snap Ships Tactics, you can hopefully play without ever going back to the rulebook - all the icons and text on the cards should  tell you exactly how things work and what you need to do. And that's how we like it!

Some Nice Press

Out of the blue a couple of very nice videos appeared  online. This video from Dicebreaker had an accompanying article that dubbed Tactics "one of 2023's unmissable releases."

And the one and only Tom Vasel picked us as one of the 10 most anticipated games of 2023:

Production Schedule

Our final print files took a bit longer than anticipated, but we made the decision take the time needed to make sure that all the components were as stellar as we could make them. That also goes for the plastics - we received our requested revisions and were very happy with the results. So plastic production is underway! We expect printing to start in parallel and the proofing and sample stage to happen while the plastics are injecting. As of today we think we can keep to our promised delivery date, but it will be close. Very close. We have very little room for error and/or any unforeseen delays at this point.  We will keep you up to date as we move forward.

New Test Pilots Wanted

We would love to get a fresh batch of testers working on the game and looking for any issues in the card pool. Basically, just sanity checking all of our final work. If interested, join the Snap Ships Discord and then DM me: Scott - Snap Ships#3438. We'll get you set up with all the goods in Vassal. A TTS update will be coming soon too.

Time to put our heads back down and keep production moving forward. 

Thanks, as always, for your support!

Happy Holidays and End of the Year Update!
over 1 year ago – Wed, Dec 28, 2022 at 01:52:21 AM

Greetings builders and pilots! 

We hope you are having a wonderful and restful holiday season (and that you received all the games and toys you asked for). 

In case you missed it, we added a small package to the pile on Dec. 25th when we sent out a download link for the Snap Ships Classic STL Pack Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. You should have received a link via a BackerKit automated email. Hopefully those of you with shiny new 3D Printers can put them to the test with these prototype Snap Ships pieces:

For help printing them check in with the #3d-printing-diy channel in our Discord. If you're able to print these parts we'd love to hear about your experience there or in the comments below!

First Shots Arrived And They Look Fantastic

We mentioned in a previous update that we were "cutting steel" to make the molds for the new Snap Ships Tactics components. Steel was cut, and we now have our first set of injected samples from the factory - and they look fantastic! The flight stands are gorgeous in smoky black plastic, and the new accessory parts have incredibly sharp and detailed paint deco (that you chose when you voted). Check them out:

The fit on the Deluxe Console sections is great - they lock together and stay connected even with cards and cubes in them. 

We have a few minor tweaks to make to these plastic items - we want them to be perfect, as these molds will be in use for the lifetime of the Tactics system. After that, we punch the big red button and start making production plastic. Exciting!

Game Files Content Complete

On the paper and game design side of the equation, Josh has been busy wrapping up all the remaining items from the Kickstarter campaign and we are now content complete. The 3 co-op and solo scenarios have been revised, and all of the AI decks are in the game. I can't overstate how much work and thought went into the AI - if you have a Squadron bundle or better you get 16 unique units to play against, with each AI ship making tactical choices that leverage its special loadout. As mentioned before, you can test these new units (digitally) if you're online (join the main Discord to find out how).

Also, our awesome card artist from the Ukraine, despite multiple power outages and very, very difficult circumstances, has completed all the art for Part cards and they are looking beautiful. Thanks again to Vanya for his hard work under trying conditions.

Right now the rulebook is under final revision - we'll be posting that soon and asking for your feedback so we make sure it's both clear and comprehensive.

By the time we send our next update we hope to tell you that all the game files are at the printer and we are making samples. That's the next huge hurdle we hope to clear in January.

Until Then...

Thanks again to all of you that made this project possible. And if you're one of our stragglers that hasn't completed your survey... it's not too late! You'll even get the STL files as soon as you lock in your order. As always, [email protected] is here if you need anything.

Have a great rest of the year and see you in 2023!

Orders Locked - Charging Cards
over 1 year ago – Fri, Dec 09, 2022 at 03:42:11 PM

Greetings builders and pilots -

Kickstarter and current Pre-Orders have been locked (retailers excepted). As previously communicated, we will start charging cards very soon, around Noon PST. BackerKit processes payment through Stripe, so you should receive a confirmation of your charge in email form. The Stripe statement descriptor will say "SNAP SHIPS".

You'll still be able to adjust your shipping address until right before we are ready to fulfill, using your same survey link. We'll eventually lock addresses down too, but again, we'll give you plenty of warning when this happens next year.

Thanks for your support!

Your Last Lockdown Reminder - Dec 7th
over 1 year ago – Mon, Dec 05, 2022 at 11:29:42 PM

Greetings builders and pilots! 

Just a quick reminder that pledges are locking down in BackerKit this week, at the end of day on Wednesday (Dec 7th). We'll charge cards ~48 hours after that. So please make any last second adjustments.

If you're a backer and haven't given us your address then please fill out your survey! We still have a few stragglers out there and we want your purchase to reach your outpost. To recover your survey you can always go to: https://snapshipstactics.backerkit.com/

And just so this update isn't completely image free, here are some photos from PAX Unplugged that wrapped up yesterday. It was great getting to meet so many backers and fans and have so many of you play the game! 

Questions? [email protected] (backers) or [email protected] (retailers) for answers!

Best,

Scott - Snap Ships

Shipping Added - Lockdown Is Coming!
over 1 year ago – Mon, Nov 21, 2022 at 07:56:35 PM

Greetings builders and pilots!

Shipping charges for all territories have been added to the surveys (with the exception of retailers). As you may recall, we delayed added shipping charges so we could double and triple check the estimates we posted on Kickstarter and make sure they would hold for 2023.

Good news: the estimates were solid, and we are sticking to them. In fact, we have been able to slightly discount the Fleet bundle shipping in Zones 1 and 2. I suggest all backers go and look at their survey and confirm that everything looks in order. Keep the following things in mind:

• Remember that playmats have separate shipping charges. Those are added into the total. If you have a higher than anticipated  shipping bill, it's likely you have one or more playmats ordered. Sorry, BackerKit does not display this shipping charge as a separate line item, but you can experiment with your cart to see the effects of removing items. The Kickstarter page has the playmat shipping prices.
• Shipping is charged by weight. Please remember that some items (e.g. the starter, toys, consoles, and  builder pack) are chock-full of plastic and add to the shipping. Adding these items a la carte may push you up into the next shipping tier. 

As always, you can send us an inquiry through BackerKit or a Kickstarter message if you think anything is incorrect or need any help.

Lockdown Coming

With the addition of shipping, the BackerKit for non-retail backers is final. We expect to lock orders Dec 7th and charge cards about 48 hours after that. This allows PAX Unplugged attendees time to jump on board after seeing the game for the first time at the convention.

Tooling

Steel has been cut for many of the new Snap Ships Tactics items. The factory has sent over some photos of early test shots of the pieces. Note these are before the tools have been polished and before the items have been painted. It's just the tip of the iceberg, but fun to see nonetheless!

Scenario Rules Designed

Josh has completed a second round of revisions to the bonus scenarios - Beacon Rush, Asteroid Scramble, and Last Stand - unlocked during the campaign. You can playtest these scenarios in the Vassal boardgame engine. Join our Discord and DM me (Scott - Snap Ships) or Josh Derksen to gain access. We appreciate those who have already put in some miles on these cool new scenarios!

Survey Complete

Thank you to everyone who filled out the Tactics survey mentioned in our last update. Your feedback was immensely helpful. And congratulations to JN who won our raffle and chose a Claymore, Spitter, and Sawfly as their reward! Here's a summary of one of the questions:

PAX Unplugged Dec 2-4

Once again we will be running demos of Snap Ships Tactics at PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia. We will have retail space in the Lynnvander Studios booth #3323 and a large demo area running games of SST. Stop by to pick up some kits, play a match, see the prototypes, or just say hello!

Thanks for hanging in there!