As some of you know, a couple of years back our game designer created a ːcardsː companion card game for Gremlins, Inc., and we even printed a few hundred decks of the prototype.
The card game's deck contains 129 cards that use the same art and the same card names, but the card game is built with different game mechanics. The principles are the same – build your own projects while disrupting the strategies of other players – but the overall game flow is less random, and more faster-paced. There are secret and revealed projects; there are 3 types of resources; and their are ways to bluff and attack, which makes for a very hot-blooded game flow.
We playtested the card game numerous times in various groups, from duels to 6-player setups, and it bears the same features as Gremlins, Inc. the video game: very often when playing until ːscoreː 20, for example, you will see players with scores of 18, 19, 16 and 18 at the end of the session, so that the tension remains until the very last turn.
Now, originally we thought that we can print a thousand decks, and sell them through Amazon. Or find a local publisher in Germany or, say, US, and release it this way. Alternatively, we could do a Kickstarter campaign, get a few thousand orders, and print and ship those.
But we're a small team, and all of that would take the time away from continuing to update Gremlins, Inc. and develop Spire of Sorcery. There is a thread on the forums where we offer to ship prototype decks to people directly, and it's been an uphill struggle to find the time to invoice via PayPal, then go to the post office and mail those packages, and we feel twice guilty about this: first, for taking the time off the video game projects; and second, for taking so long to respond to people in general.
At the same time, working with a physical copy of the card game also has its drawbacks: we cannot add languages as easily as to a digital product, since professional printing of a deck requires a run of several thousand decks; so we cannot experiment with, say, Japanese, or German, or even Russian. And so we were sort of stuck with a great card game that people love (the player feedback that we received on the card game has been overwhelmingly positive so far!) but no way to do something meaningful with it.
INTRODUCING: PRINT & PLAY CARD GAME DLC!
Yes, that's the solution that we finally found: to release the card game as a Print & Play DLC here on Steam. Some key points:
- expected to launch at the very end of November
- will cost the same as other Gremlins, Inc. DLCs
- comes as a set of ready-to-print PDFs
- cards are large format, but there are inexpensive protector sleeves available for this size
- the game will be at first available in English and in Russian languages
- more languages to be added depending on requests
Possibly, the card game will be updated like video game – we'll see!
WE NEED YOUR FEEDBACK!
This week, we started to prepare the DLC for the launch: a professional design agency is going over every card file to make sure it's printer-friendly, and we're also updating the rules and the manual of the game based on the player inquiries that we received so far.
As we move forward, we'd love to hear form you on these two points:
(1) which language would you prefer to play this card game in?
* English
* Russian
* Simplified Chinese
* French
* Japanese
* Korean
* German
(2) where would you be printing the files?
* at home
* at the office
* at a specialised print shop
We'll appreciate your comments and helpful advice, and we look forward to introducing the card game to the broader audience – now in a matter of weeks!
UPDATE!
The Print & Play DLC has been released, and is available in 7 languages:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/748260/Gremlins_Inc_Card_Game_Print__Play_Set/
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