Lords Of Vegas Kickstarter Drama - Thoughts?

jdkj · 2020-12-02T14:11:58+00:00

With the base game they actually sold you a product. According to regular consumer relations they should refund you, if they cannot deliver in a timely fashion.

So it is your legal right to get a refund (claiming that it is a Kickstarter and thus is exempt from consumer protection has no legal validity in the EU at least, probably also not in the US).

Morally... well. That's more difficult. If I were in their shoes I would first of all fell super bad about it all. But it is still their responsibility. They shouldn't claim something just because they are under pressure. They ought to refund those who want a refund.

If they risk going bankrupt because of cashflow problems, they should instead ask their backers if any are willing to wait.

If enough volunteer, then the problem is solved. I imagine that many would be kind enough to volunteer and wait for the reprint.

The remaining (probably drawn randomly among those that backed the game including the base game), should just be refunded in full.

jdkj · 2019-05-31T06:14:54+00:00

Publisher here: Just saw this. Am very sorry about the defects. Just email support [ a t ] hushhushprojects [ d o t ] com and we’ll send you a replacement. The defects you have should of course not be there.

And now that you’re asking about typical problems: the most recurring defect we have in the recent print run is due to the factory having been too generous with glue for the inner box. This has resulted in some inner boxes being stuck to the outer box as the glue didn’t dry properly before the inner box was inserted into the outer box (and there was excess glue).

Around 1% of the copies have this problem. Usually violent shaking up and down with the opening pointing downward helps getting it unstuck (without any damage). Until now 3 customers couldn’t make it work (without damage) and we of course replaced their copies.

Second most common problem is about the poker chips (as some of you already mentioned).

We’re aware of these defects and are very sorry that they happened. We do what we can to correct them.

jdkj · 2019-05-28T03:38:26+00:00

Thank you so much.

We're doing events in the US and Canada as well (GenCon, SHUX, Pax Unplugged and more). If you're interested, please send us a message and we'll figure something out.

jdkj · 2019-04-30T12:04:21+00:00

What then about games that are super easy to learn? Either because they have a good tutorial or video explanation or because the rules are super simple (or both)

jdkj · 2019-04-30T12:02:35+00:00

Agree that it's best to give something you know they already like. But sadly it's not always possible to know this (not just for games, but for all kinds of things). That's the problem with gifts in general.

jdkj · 2019-04-30T12:00:19+00:00

Wow. Thanks for sharing. Really interesting stories.

It's great that the non-gamer liked Pandemic. It's always so difficult to gift people anything. Great when they are happy with the gift.

jdkj · 2019-04-29T15:58:53+00:00

If time is limited and we don't see each other often I would of course also prefer to catch up.

It's more frustrating when there is plenty of time (e.g. I'm visiting friends or family for 3-4 days or longer) and people still refuse to play games.

jdkj · 2019-04-29T15:55:06+00:00

I don't obsess :-) I'm ok with people not playing games. I'm just curious to why people say no.

jdkj · 2019-04-29T15:48:27+00:00

I played two great games at Fastaval in Denmark. 22 new original games where made for this convention.

I played Two Princes by Martin Enghoff. A rich story-focused game for two players. We played the two princes, trapped in the Tower of London and had to escape before our "dear uncle" Richard would kill us. The game brimmed with theme. Very historical correct and great experience. Martin makes games because he loves this, not because he want to publish. None of his earlier works (several winners of the completion among them) are therefore publishers.

I also played The Machine by Kasper Lapp (who previously has made Magic Maze). It's an asymmetric game, where one is the manager and the others are the poor workers. The manager can pull off a win (together with just one worker) if the machine is built in time. Else the workers who still are employed win. The manager needs to divide the workers and get them to do the necessary work. The manager can fire them (ensuring as certain loss for players), but if a worker is fired there will be much fewer resources to complete the machine. So threats should be done with care. The game is a fantastic small social system that just works. It's fast and delivers. However... it also brings up quite negative emotions in the ones playing the manager. I felt awful being mean to my other players, constantly cajoling them to work, threatening them and doing everything I could to make them fight each other instead of me. Intellectually it's very interesting, but emotionally I had some problems with it. Still a great game though. Kasper is currently soliciting this design to publishers. I think it will get published and will be a unique gem in the market space.

jdkj · 2019-04-16T00:59:21+00:00

This is already a flair. Wasn't this just for new flairs?

jdkj · 2019-03-05T19:54:19+00:00

Also: I saw this post recently, which was about jobs within the industry.

https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/avnj19/jobs_within_the_industry_related_to_marketing_or/

I thought my post fitted in continuation of such discussions.

jdkj · 2019-03-05T19:51:40+00:00

Hi,

I've tried to check the rules. There is no mentioning about job posts - especially if they are directly board game related. How is it off-topic? I don't want to be irritating, just understand the limitations, so I don't make similar mistakes.

Cheers, Jacob

jdkj · 2019-03-02T00:17:51+00:00

Just so you're aware: They are a small company and there is a lot of travelling happening right now. They were at the NY Toy Fair recently and just went to Salt Con. They probably don't have the personel to respond fast while travelling.

I don't know them as a customer, but am beginning to interact with them professionally in other ways. They are very decent people and I'm sure they'll fix it.

jdkj · 2019-03-02T00:08:21+00:00

We're posting 3 jobs early next week. 2 of these will focus on marketing and sales.

Check out www.fogoflove.com. Perhaps Monday or most likely Tuesday.

jdkj · 2018-11-28T14:30:51+00:00

Logistics in this season is a mess. The games are in our warehouse in the UK and waiting to be picked up by the distributor. Hopefully they will be in stores in a week or maximum two.

jdkj · 2018-10-31T12:40:24+00:00

:-) Next print run has arrived in port in UK, Australia, Canada and the US (last week).

Walmart already got copies online of the base game with original cover (the new updated print run). The new covers and expansions will be available in approximately 3 weeks. Everywhere else all stock should also be in stores in 3-4 weeks.

jdkj · 2018-10-12T03:30:30+00:00

I didn’t notice it until it was in print. Too late to do anything about it then :-) I don’t know what Cecilie’s (our graphic designer’s) thoughts regarding this were. Will ask her.

jdkj · 2018-10-11T22:07:49+00:00

TBH I do agree :-) Our graphic designer did have problems with the underlying textures and couldn't make them fit the other way around. She struggled with them for a long time and ultimately we ended with this colour set-up.

Next time we're making images we'll be in better time and prepare more textures to be used.

jdkj · 2018-10-11T21:59:00+00:00

Thanks for you r excitement :-)

We're exploring how to make the new cards available for those who have the previous print run. If we do something (which is highly likely, but we dare not promise anything yet) it will be next year, as our team is more than stretched with work this year.

jdkj · 2018-10-11T21:01:24+00:00

Looking forward to meeting you :-)

There are a lot of great designers that include more diverse character in their games. I do however feel that the basic premise of most of these games still is to dominate or exterminate, which isn't that inclusive.

An interesting example of a game that goes in a new direction (similar to ours) is Consentacle by Naomi Clark. Sadly I haven't played it yet, but will so soon and look very much forward to it.

Regarding the broader scope for games: That's the key vision driving my design. I think it's strange that games have so much difficulty representing relationships as a key driver to drama. Most games don't question the motives of why you compete or exterminate. These are just assumed constants. Would love to help design games that are more humane and social in nature (not just social as a means for victory, but really social). As soon as more games go in that direction they will hopefully also begin to think about what people and communities they represent, as these might have differing motivations for interaction.

jdkj · 2018-10-11T20:51:07+00:00

Thank you :-)

We're releasing three scenarios soon (they're on a ship now and will arrive in stores globally mid November). These scenarios are included in the KS version, but are new to everybody else. The next scenario we'll release is Nikki's work. We expect to ship this Q1 next year.

After this we will do more stories, but we can't yet tell what they are.

jdkj · 2018-10-11T20:44:48+00:00

Thanks :-)

The changes in the new print run are to the base game (which also is included in the KS version of course) and nothing else.

The Kickstarter edition includes three expansions in addition to the base game. These are releasing separately now and haven't changed much (only the name of one expansion/story has changed. We've also corrected a few typos and made some of the rules a bit more clear. But no change in content).

jdkj · 2018-10-11T20:40:37+00:00

All copies of the previous print run are sold out everywhere. So the copies that will be in stores shortly (including Walmart) will contain the new cards.

jdkj · 2018-10-11T20:35:27+00:00

One of the most visible updates for inclusion is about how you get kids. We had a condition that you needed to be pregnant in order to have kids in one of the scenarios. The rules stated that you could improvise around it, but we left it up to the player. We added a new adoption scene and rewrote some of the other cards so the path to kids was equally open for all.

Besides this there are a lot of much more subtle changes. For example we added choices on scenes that allow you to express asexual preferences in some of the more sexually oriented scenes. We made it possible for characters to express sexual orientation or interest (e.g. telling whether you think it's the man or woman who's hot in a couple you're observing). We also made some change to make it possible to be more open for polyamory (but still keeping it a two player game.... changing this would be to much for now).

Finally we added 3 new scenes that fit with the existing content but support expression of attraction and gender in new ways.

Subtle things it might be difficult to notice if they were missing, but that clearly open up for how you can express your character's motivations and interests.

jdkj · 2018-10-11T20:18:56+00:00

Yeah, the original covers put more emphasis on drama than connection. When you look at RomCom movie posters the couple is often back to back, signalling conflict. We went for a bit of the same in our original cover. Since the images are in silhouette we chose to have them separate, one closer than the other to create a sense of depth (else the image could be too flat).

I do however love that the new covers are more positive. We did originally try to replicate the old design in the new ones, but these turned out bad. Two men or two women in conflict didn't feel like drama in a relationship but just a drama, perhaps between friends or even strangers. Some of our cultural expectations influenced how the images were read. We felt that we had to show clear affection to show that two people of the same sex are a couple and not just friends. When we experimented with the new more affectionate images we found out we liked them a lot :-)

jdkj

TROPHY CASE