Hello all --
My name is Hassan Lopez, and I am the designer of Clockwork Wars. I was invited onto your forum to answer any questions you might have about the game. I'm happy to be here! I'll try to check in here regularly, although the Kickstarter campaign is keeping me pretty busy. I should say, too, that I'm not the best person to ask about cost/shipping issues. That's really outside of my control, although I certainly appreciate why people get concerned about it. I can, however, answer whatever questions you might have about gameplay or components.
Thank you!
-- Hassan
The idea for Clockwork Wars came from a lot of influences. I play a lot of computer games, and I like real-time-strategy (RTS) games. In one sense, I wanted to simulate the feeling of an RTS in a board game. Thus, the hidden and simultaneous deployment, which somewhat models "fog-of-war". Also, the technology tree advancing through the ages, opening up new research possibilities as the game advances. "You-go, I-go" strategy games feel somewhat artificial to me, since that's not how war actually happens. Generals make their decisions about where to deploy armies at the same time - and so much of warfare is trying to predict what your enemy will do, and out-think them.
Clockwork Wars, like a lot of modern strategy games, is also a response to more classic "dudes-on-a-map" games, like Risk, Axis & Allies, etc. Those games can be fun, but take way too long and involve way too much down-time. I wanted something fast-moving, where players felt engaged the entire time. In Clockwork Wars, you really are never waiting around for other people to finish up their turns since so much can be resolved simultaneously. Finally, I always knew I waned to avoid dice in this game. Rolling dice has its place in a lot of game, but in a hard-core strategy game like Clockwork Wars, I didn't want players to feel like luck was ruining their plans.
Thematically, I was inspired by dark, modern steampunk, like the novels of China Mieville. Places where science, magic, and early industry collide and combine in interesting ways.
As for the future of the game, that's hard to say right now! I'd really like to focus first on finishing up development of the game and ensuring we put out the best product possible. We've got a lot of work to do before the game ships next year.
Great answer, I have one more "question":
- What would you say to users who are hesitant to persuade them to support your project?
Well, it depends on what's giving you pause.
If you're wondering whether this game is for you, I've tried to put a wealth on information out there to help people decide. There's a play-through video I would encourage you to watch, we have an official website for the game (http://clockworkwarsgame.com/index.html (http://clockworkwarsgame.com/index.html)), we have a BGG site for open discussion (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/139952/clockwork-wars (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/139952/clockwork-wars)), and I have a design blog where I talk extensively about the game and the many influences upon it (http://clockworkplayground.blogspot.com/ (http://clockworkplayground.blogspot.com/)). Of course, all of these are in English, so that doesn't necessarily help all your readers! Simply put, Clockwork Wars is an intense strategy game that's like nothing else out there. The hidden deployment mechanic, in particular, makes the game feel very exciting.
If you're worried about the cost, I completely understand that. It's an expensive game! But you're getting a lot for your money. There's a ton of replayability with dozens of map tiles and 45 different discovery cards (you only use 9 in a single game), and the game plays great with 2, 3, or 4 players. In addition, if we hit the $60,000 stretch goal, we get to put 6 new miniatures into the game (for the unique units). Then, there will be a total of 9 awesome minis for people to play with.
Pues estaba interesado en el railways of the world y sus expansiones solamente :P
Demonio tentador, diablo, súcubo de mis pesadillsa ludópatas.......... te odio, y lo sabes¡¡¡¡
No sabia nada de este hasta que vi que tenias interés en el........... No va aestar en españolito?
Interesante acutualización que acaban de publicar. Viendo que la campaña va un poco parada han decidod reorganizar los stretch goals quedando de la siguiente manera:
$55,000 -- Marcadores de madera (originalmente estaba en $90k) e incluyen soportes de plástico para el marcador de descubrimientos (originalmente estaba en $100K)
$60K -- Mejora de las unidades en plástico e incremento en el tamaño de las cartas de descubrimiento (approx. 3.5" by 5") (originalmente estaba en $70K)
$65K -- Los hexágonos de Academia/Volcán serán gratis y no un add-on (originalmente estaba en $70K)
$70K -- Diseños personalizados para las cartas de espinaje (originalmente estaba en $80K)
Pues estos son los reajustes que han hecho a falta de una semana para terminar y con $51k recaudados hasta el momento.
Os recuerdo que tenemos en marcha un megapedido con el que podéis conseguir el juego base más la expansión por 86€ en lugar de 108€.
Además existe la posibilidad de pedir otros juegos de la franquicia como Defenders of the Realm, Ralways of North America, Francis Drake,..
Cualquier que quiera estos juegos que me lo comunique y vemos en que precio se puede conseguir.
If we cover some of those stretch goals that folks are now paying for (the territory hexes and the UUs) we will refund that money when the time comes or encourage you to adjust your pledge at the last minute.
Clockwork Wars will be a limited quantity print run and we cannot guarantee: the eventual MSRP, the availability of these Add-Ons, the final version’s exact composition or where it will be available. Do away with any doubts and guarantee yourself a great game and a good price. This post-KS deal locks all that in!
Here are the Add-Ons and the two pricing tiers (#1/#2):
Wood blimps (5 in 5 colors) as Score track markers: (free/$3)
Plastic Unique Unit miniatures instead of tokens: ($3/$10)
Plastic stands for Discovery tokens (10): (free/$1)
Jumbo-sized Discovery Cards featuring great art: (free/$2)
Academy/Volcano territory hexes: ($4/$6)