Proof photos! And a reminder...
over 4 years ago – Sun, Oct 06, 2019 at 12:09:30 AM

Hi High Rise backer!

I'll start with a reminder: I charge cards in BackerKit on Monday. If you have not ordered any add-ons or made any pre-orders in BackerKit, this won't affect you. If you have, expect your card to be charged then.

With that out of the way... I got the pre-production proof yesterday! Here are some photos. I'm including some of the "defects" we've spotted in the proof, to give you a little peek behind the curtain at the kinds of things we find in pre-production proofs. :)

First off, LOOK AT THIS BOX! This will be the largest game I've ever done. That's an American nickel next to the box for a size comparison.

Here is the proof board. This is pre-production, so the colors aren't right; it's a bit too dark. That's actually expected; the purpose of this proof copy is to give us an idea of sizing and look, but it's not meant to color-match the production copy. 

That said, we found some issues with the edges of the 3p side of the board, and a typo that survived to this point. Thankfully, since this is the pre-production proof, it's all getting fixed.

What you can't see in this image - and I couldn't get a good photo of it, as I don't have a macro lens on my phone - is the "debossing" on the board. All the spaces where you place tiles are very slightly recessed, which feels really nice to the touch. I'm really happy with this look!

The biggest issue with the proof right now is that we still don't have the widths of the "mouths" of the player stands correct. This is an issue I'm going to be dogged on; I'm not going to start production until I can be certain that the player stands won't cause significant wear on the Building Tiles after sliding them in only one or two times.

Fun fact: We're actually custom-molding the player stands to make sure that they're a good fit, and that they're wide enough to support the uniquely-tall pieces in this game. So we will be able to solve this issue! It's just a matter of getting the mold right, which we should be able to do in the next few weeks.

On the other hand, the Spires look great! We're going with three pieces that will be glued together at the factory. When you place a Spire on a Building, you'll just slide it right on top of the tile. In the prototype, I had been going with a piece that notched into the top of the building at a 90-degree angle, which showed a lot of wear after some use. This arrangement will minimize wear on both the Spire piece and the Building Tile you slide it on.

That's it for this update! I hope you enjoyed this peek behind the curtain. Once I sign off on all the proofs, this game is going to look and feel unbelievably good. I can't wait to send it out to you!

Big update: credit cards charged soon, fancy bits look great, Essen coming soon!
over 4 years ago – Thu, Sep 19, 2019 at 01:47:51 AM

Hello High Rise backer! Here's a long-overdue update, with a lot of photos.

I'm going to update you on progress, but first, an action item: If you purchased an add-on in BackerKit, expect your order to be locked and your card to be charged on Monday, October 7! So if you want to change your order, you have a few more weeks to do it! Of course, if you did not purchase an add-on in BackerKit, you won't have to pay anything extra; this is just for folks who ordered add-ons.

(Of course, you can change your order afterwards if necessary, but you'll need to message me directly to do so.)

This will not lock your address yet, so you have time to change your address in BackerKit! I anticipate locking addresses in November, when the games will likely be on the water.

We are finishing up prepress this week. The building stands turned out to pose an interesting logistical issue; we need to make sure that both the plastic stands (included in the game) and wood stands (available as an add-on) can hold a punchboard building nicely without flopping, and without shredding the base of the building upon insertion and removal. It took a few tries, and we still have another proof to go, but everything will fit perfectly in the final copy.

All graphic design (except for the rulebook) is at the printer now, and I'll be getting a proof copy of the game next week. I'm signing off on rulebook text this week, and Heiko is going to work his magic on the rulebook next week. 

The game will come with a rulebook and card almanac. Here's the working draft of the covers of each that Heiko made:

Thanks to everyone who joined me at GrandCon earlier this month to try the game! Just before the show, I received samples of the Fancy Bits in the mail - that's the resources made of wood and plastic that Kickstarter backers get for free! Here's how they look on the table:

Of course, the retail copy of the game will have punchboard bits for those resources, but Kickstarter backers will get to play with some nicer bits. :)

We're getting close to the final look of the game! My prototype still has rectangular buildings, and the final buildings will be die-cut to Kwanchai's art. But the game looks really good, and people tend to stop to admire it.

Finally: I'm prepping for Essen! We will be at booth 2-B112, sharing a booth with the excellent German company (and diehard ice hockey fans) Spielworxx. Sadly, we will not have copies of High Rise to give out; we'll only be demoing it. But you'll get to see it in its final form, and it's going to look incredible!

(Also, if you come by the booth, you will get to try my next game, The Rival Networks, a 2-player streamlined version of The Networks that I've been co-designing with J.R. Honeycutt!)

Next update in a few weeks!

Files are almost at the printer, and headed to Gen Con!
almost 5 years ago – Thu, Jul 25, 2019 at 02:58:37 AM

Hi High Rise backer! Thanks so much for your patience; it's been too long since my last update, so I wanted to say hello!

Graphic design for everything but the rulebook is almost done. The factory is working on proofs now, to make sure that the buildings fit our plastic and wooden stands. We are still on track to deliver the game in December, with convention pickup at Essen, BGG.CON, and PAX Unplugged.

Here's the almost-complete board. The only things we're changing from here are 1) widening the bonus boxes, so we can lay bonus resources out side-by-side, and 2) adding some indicator to show the proper player count. This is the 4p side of the board, for example.

Here's one of the punchboards for our buildings...

One of the things I've been working on lately is torture-testing our graphic design to make sure the game is abundantly clear and intuitive to play. I'm really happy to see that players are finding our graphic design clean, intuitive and attractive. We're also close to done with the process of blind-testing the rulebook, and graphic design of that will follow soon.

Do you want to try this 99%-complete graphic design? Will you be at Gen Con next week? Well, we can make an arrangement!

Play High Rise at Gen Con 2019!

The best way for you to try High Rise at Gen Con is to visit our booth in the Exhibitor Hall, #542 (across from Bezier Games), where we'll be running one-round demos (the Standard Game is 2 rounds, and the Full Game is 3 rounds). That will run about 30 minutes a demo, and give you an excellent idea of how to play the game.

We also have two-round events that Double Exposure's Envoy team will be running for us in Hall D within the Event Hall. All the High Rise events are booked up, but feel free to swing by to get a rules explanation (and perhaps fill in for a no-show player). We'll be next to the Lucky Duck demo table.

The next steps are to survive Gen Con, finish the last 1% of graphic design, and then take on the rulebook.

Thanks again for following along, and I hope to see you in Indianapolis!

UKGE coming soon, and getting close to done with graphic design!
almost 5 years ago – Fri, May 24, 2019 at 12:49:30 AM

Hello High Rise backer,

Heiko and I are wrapping work up on the High Rise graphic design before taking on things like the rulebook and box bottom.

If you're a premium backer and you haven't given me your suggestion yet, please message me directly! I'll try to get it to Heiko as quickly as I can. But time is running out!

The only twist is that I'm traveling to England tomorrow for UKGE (and a few days in London beforehand), so it may take a few days for me to reply to you. If you don't hear from me immediately, don't worry, I'm either on a plane or sleeping because I've been on a plane so long.

If you'll be in Birmingham next week, I hope I get to see you at UKGE!

Play High Rise at Geekway, UKGE, and Origins! And a quick note about tariffs...
almost 5 years ago – Wed, May 15, 2019 at 10:53:03 PM

Hi High Rise backer! This is just a quick note to let you know that Kwanchai is pretty much done with his art. Heiko and I are finishing up graphic design tasks over the next couple of weeks. I still need to finalize the win condition for the solo game and finish editing the rulebook. But we're making progress, and hope to have files at the printer in a few weeks!

I'm going to be at three conventions over the next 5 weeks. First off, you can find me at Geekway to the West in St. Louis, MO this weekend. I won't have a booth, but I'll be running ad hoc demos of High Rise there, plus you can test my two new games, The Rival Networks and my new RPG Weird Stories. If you'd like to play High Rise, or if you want to test something new, you can sign up here.

I'll also be demoing High Rise at my booth at UK Games Expo (although they call it a "stand" over there, not a booth). We may only demo one round, but it'll be a great way to learn the game.

And I'll be at Origins in Columbus, OH, doing single-round demos of High Rise at my booth.

I hope to see you at one of these shows, at least! 

Tariffs?

Right now, one of the big discussion points in the industry is the proposed 25% tariffs on an increased number of goods from China going to the US. This would include hobby board games, High Rise included.

There isn't a whole lot of information out there right now, so I'm still gathering as much as I can. The important thing to point out is that I have no plans to increase shipping costs for this campaign to offset the costs of any implemented tariffs; you should not have to pay anything extra to get your game. 

My fingers are crossed that we'll have some good luck in the next few weeks. Hope for the best, plan for the worst, as they say.

I'll keep you updated as things go, but right now, I don't foresee any major disruptions to delivering the game by December.

Thanks for being a High Rise backer!