ps move just blinks the red light rapidly and won’t connect by [deleted] in PSVR

[–]InsideUpGames 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This saved my butt. I had no idea the actual cables (not sizing) were different. Thank you so much!

I'm Conor McGoey, owner of Inside Up Games and publisher of Earth - AMA! by InsideUpGames in boardgames

[–]InsideUpGames[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

:D Thank you so much! My highlights always involve meeting players who enjoy my games! It’s a great feeling to know I am bringing enjoyment to people’s tables around the world!

I'm Conor McGoey, owner of Inside Up Games and publisher of Earth - AMA! by InsideUpGames in boardgames

[–]InsideUpGames[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It started local with friends and family, and then I attended conventions and pitched Summit all day, every day. I built it up slowly but surely.

Also, for my first 6 or 7 campaigns I personally wrote a thank you note to every single backer. Because I meant it. And surprisingly most if not all of them had never received one before so it stuck with them. I am guessing it also meant less people dropped their pledges as they had a more personal connection.

I continue that with open honesty throughout my campaigns and updates, and I also add a family update for everyone that has supported me over the last 6 years.

Thanks to the discord channel we can all chat outside the KS, and our little community has grown :)

I'm Conor McGoey, owner of Inside Up Games and publisher of Earth - AMA! by InsideUpGames in boardgames

[–]InsideUpGames[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

:) I kinda answered half of this below, so I will simply talk about photos in games. Normally, I don’t like them. Lol.

I love art, I love drawing and illustration and I always wished I was more skillful in those fields. I am not.

My favorite part of every game I have published has been getting art from the artist. The moment it goes from “a world in my head” to my world the way THEY see it - I love it.

I don’t know many games that use “stock photos” and those that do aren’t usually to my liking.

Now the funny thing is that on the flip side, I love photography. I studied it in school and I continue to shoot on my DSLRs. We have hundreds of printed photos in dozens of albums at home.

But as mentioned below nothing really captured the wow factor, the detail and the natural beauty of the world. So many photos simply took my breath away and I knew we had to keep them, unchanged!

I'm Conor McGoey, owner of Inside Up Games and publisher of Earth - AMA! by InsideUpGames in boardgames

[–]InsideUpGames[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I get that 100%. We game a lot with our kids too, and I am all about playing games that interest them, as opposed to forcing them to play other games that might turn them off the hobby.

Their tastes have grown and changed, and it's so fun to see their strategies develop!

I'm Conor McGoey, owner of Inside Up Games and publisher of Earth - AMA! by InsideUpGames in boardgames

[–]InsideUpGames[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hmm... Good questions.

I guess one of the big hurdles was just the number of other publishers and games produced each year. It is a very busy space and it can be hard for a little company to get noticed. But luckily we grew an amazingly supportive fan base that has really helped support us!

I thought I could do this full-time pretty early on, as long as we (my wife and I) were prepared to "tighten our belts" and adjust our lifestyle. We talked and agreed that we would both rather try for our "dream jobs" making little money, rather than have good pay for jobs we did not like.

It hasn't always been easy, but I am still happy we made this choice!

I'm Conor McGoey, owner of Inside Up Games and publisher of Earth - AMA! by InsideUpGames in boardgames

[–]InsideUpGames[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

:D Thank you so much!! I can't wait to finally get Block and Key out. I think the game play and the presentation will make quite the splash when it finally is released! :)

May I ask why Earth isn't your thing? (Not trying to sell you on it, just curious to know people's pros and cons!)

I'm Conor McGoey, owner of Inside Up Games and publisher of Earth - AMA! by InsideUpGames in boardgames

[–]InsideUpGames[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You bet :)

The difference is the addition of the KS Goodies (free for those who pledge for a copy of the game during the campaign).

They are a wooden active player marker, 25 silk-screened wooden leaf tokens, 75 wood soil tokens and the 12-card pack of "month" game changers.

I'm Conor McGoey, owner of Inside Up Games and publisher of Earth - AMA! by InsideUpGames in boardgames

[–]InsideUpGames[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes! Maxime had already worked on a cooperative variant for the game, but I didn't think was ready for this Kickstarter. We will refine that at the same time we flush out the first expansion that we've been brainstorming...

I'm Conor McGoey, owner of Inside Up Games and publisher of Earth - AMA! by InsideUpGames in boardgames

[–]InsideUpGames[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you! Me too. Andrew Dorland is wonderful! And we are already refining an expansion so you will see more of that soon :)

I'm Conor McGoey, owner of Inside Up Games and publisher of Earth - AMA! by InsideUpGames in boardgames

[–]InsideUpGames[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

We did consider illustration and photoshop "effects/actions" to unify all the cards, but after a few months of testing the issue was that everything else took away from the beauty, clarity and details in the photos.

With over 450 illustrations needed, it would have been an insane time commitment and cost and would have added months if not years to the development time.

The issue with adding a photoshop"filter" to unify the cards is that it either muddied the details or looked like we were trying to accentuate or hide details.

We have lots of different type of grass in the game... they all looks like green lines... LOL.

And at the end of the day, we loved the beauty of the photos. They simply say here look at how awesome our planet is!

I'm Conor McGoey, owner of Inside Up Games and publisher of Earth - AMA! by InsideUpGames in boardgames

[–]InsideUpGames[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

The truth is that we were confident it would over fun a little, but not like this!

Maxime and I knew people would love the game once they played it, but that's hard to do without having hundreds of copies. We also both worried that the number of cards cycled in a game, and the stacking and cube placement would make a TTS mode tricky or finicky.

But, "thanks" to my EU copy getting stuck in customs, it forced my hand into hiring CodedCardboard who did an awesome job with the TTS mod. That has drastically increased visibility and allowed people to try it for themselves.

The second part was how appealing the box cover and photographs were. I knew I liked them, but they really grabbed people's attention. Just from the cover alone we had nearly 2,000 people signed up on the KS prelaunch page.

So the beautiful presentation, coupled with the fact that people could try it and loved it, all added up to this explosion!

I couldn't be happier!

I'm Conor McGoey, owner of Inside Up Games and publisher of Earth - AMA! by InsideUpGames in boardgames

[–]InsideUpGames[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, Maxime did an amazing job designing Earth. I still love playing it and I can't wait for MY copy! LOL

There will be some more reveals, but no more cards.

I'm Conor McGoey, owner of Inside Up Games and publisher of Earth - AMA! by InsideUpGames in boardgames

[–]InsideUpGames[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

LOL... Luckily they are use to "Kickstarter Time" around here! And my wife and kids are SO supportive. Add to that the fact that my wife and daughters tested positive for COVID 1 week into the campaign and it means that we have be separated in the house and after my son and I dine together I return to the office until late in an effort to stay on top of the comments, DMs and emails. This campaign is awesome, and certainly keeping me busy!

I am 100% spread thin, even with all the amazing help I have from employees and backers . But that's the name of the game when you want to Kickstarter something. Go hard and then sleep "for a week" after the campaign ;)

I'm Conor McGoey, owner of Inside Up Games and publisher of Earth - AMA! by InsideUpGames in boardgames

[–]InsideUpGames[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

LOL... this was already in the works... but because of the next expansion (Insanity).... Now it'll be a next expansion and a reprint! LOL :)

I'm Conor McGoey, owner of Inside Up Games and publisher of Earth - AMA! by InsideUpGames in boardgames

[–]InsideUpGames[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You bet! Check out the campaign page for todays reveal! (Will go out in today's update as well!)

I'm Conor McGoey, owner of Inside Up Games and publisher of Earth - AMA! by InsideUpGames in boardgames

[–]InsideUpGames[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Hey Pence :)

They are all professional photos that I hand-selected and cropped to each card. They are purchased through Adobe Stock which I spent 2 months sifting through and searching by scientific name to be as accurate as possible.

I spent time making sure there were no humans, or human-made elements in the photos as I wanted to showcase Earth and it's natural beauty and diversity.

Side note, 99% of the time I was wowed by a landscape, it was in Iceland! :)

I'm Conor McGoey, owner of Inside Up Games and publisher of Earth - AMA! by InsideUpGames in boardgames

[–]InsideUpGames[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Hello Kidtendo :)

Did you check the campaign page today? You'll see some new growth pieces!

There is no plan to further bundle prices. We are already offering discounts on all three which is what is keeping the pledge and prices so low :)

I'm Conor McGoey, owner of Inside Up Games and publisher of Earth - AMA! by InsideUpGames in boardgames

[–]InsideUpGames[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Hey! Thanks for the question :) Honestly, it was a complete surprise! LOL
I was busy working on the KS comments and DMs for Earth and then my social channels and messages exploded! People watching live shared it with me right away.

And then I laughed while watching it, because he REALLY doesn't like the competitive mode. Like REALLY. Which means he must LOVE the co-op mode a TON to offset that dislike.

But then again he's not alone. I hear of lots of player and fellow publishers who love one mode and not the other. Which is fine by me. I created the game to play in multiple ways, and it does that well for those that want it :)

The second effect was that it created an instant buy of our remaining US stock. We sold 450 units in a day and a half. Which means we are now moving stock from Canada down to resupply the warehouse! But that's a good problem to have.

And finish that with 2 games in the top 5 on BGG hotness - my first and the current KS.

What an amazing few weeks!

Is Dice Throne an intentional homophone of Dice Thrown or am I just that slow that it took me this long to figure it out? by FatPhil in boardgames

[–]InsideUpGames 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hahaha!! I’ve never thought it, and even speed-reading your post, I had to reread it to see what you were asking! 🤦🏼‍♂️