It was hard before Kickstarter
This weekend I played game called Conquest of the Fallen Lands. Published in 2005 by small publisher Assa Games it was quite successful – it had pretty good rating at BGG, it had many votes at BGG and in a fact it nearly made it to the top 1000 in BGG ranking. That’s good.
Unfortunately it was not picked up by bigger publisher, it had no foreign editions and right now it looks like pretty dead title. It’s a pity. This weekend I had a good time with it and I believe this game doesn’t deserve to be dead.
If only there is Kickstarter in 2005…
With Kickstarter this game might have a much bigger success. If published in 2014 with Kickstarter:
1. It would have much better artwork, because these days you have to have great artwork,
2. It would have cardboard tiles and good quality cards, not these thin one it has now,
3. It would have fancy markers instead of these Ikea glass markers,
With successful Kickstarter campaign designer and publisher would have much more money to produce this game. That would lead them to have better production quality. That would lead to better reception of the game. That would lead to bigger chance for bigger success.
Conquest of the Fallen Lands deserves bigger or smaller success. Rules are simple and let players engage in the game. Game play is very quick. Theme is cool. The only problem – it can’t hold against today’s production quality. Because – let’s face it – games published these days look freaking awesome. Titles from 2005 look like antique. So does Conquest of the Fallen Lands…
I strongly believe that good board game is the one that tells a good story. You play it and suddenly you are sucked into it, you feel chills on the skin. Emotions grow. In a moment you defend castle. You hear roar of warriors. You smell boiling oil. You are into it.
That's how I design my games. I always want to tell a good story. I want players to be into it. As deep as possible.
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