A 2-6 player sci-fi board game. Lead your fleet into battle. Conquer planets. Research technology. Ensure the survival of your colony.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Board Creator, Production Update
over 9 years ago
– Thu, Dec 22, 2016 at 10:25:34 PM
It's holiday time! I hope you get to go on holidays, sorry for those of you stuck at work this time of year.
Board Creator
I've done lots of play testing with the app since we spoke last. I'm happy to say the app is a hit, with most players saying they enjoy how much quicker the game is to setup and play.
One last feature I'm planning to add is a gallery of board layouts. In the rule book there is currently 6 example layouts as seen below:
Of course in the app I can fit far more than 6 and can also categorize them depending on players, teams etc.
That's where you come in. In the next month I plan to add to the website a HTML5 app that can be used to plan your own Mothership games like above. Then I want you to send me your best ones to be included in the app.
Here's a screenshot of the beta version:
And here's what it will look like after you move around the tiles:
When the game finally gets to your house I'd like you to have a huge range of board layouts to pick from.
Production Update
Manufacturing is complete!
Pretty cool huh!? So remember it has to sit on a boat for a month before it gets to the warehouse that will send you your copy.
Before we put it on the boat I have to sign off on the game, so I'm expected to get the final production copy around the 3rd of January (public holidays are causing delays).
After I double check the quality of all the parts I'll sign off on the whole run and away it'll go.
I also haven't taken any photos of the ships since I painted them, so here's a couple:
Keep in mind the final ships will be in full colour but you can still paint them to look rad.
Production Update
I have received all materials in the mail for colour checking from the offset printers and I can say that they look great. All components have been approved and have moved on to the next phase of production (don't ask me what the next phase is, just assume its magical).
Pretty neat huh?
Your Postal Address
Lots of people have been asking me about changing addresses. You will get 2 weeks notice before I finalize your postal details so don't worry about it just yet. But if you're pretty sure you know where you'll be in February, you can change them now through your BackerKit email.
Talk again in a few weeks :)
Peter
PAX Aus 2016 Photos
over 9 years ago
– Wed, Nov 09, 2016 at 10:10:56 PM
Wow that was a busy weekend!
We met so many people and had so many games of Mothership. It's great to see everyone who played had a great time too. Here's some of the photos from the weekend which include painted ships (I haven't done a post about them yet).
Our first game for the weekend was a 4 player free for all with a standard planet layout.
Another 4 player FFA. Check out purple's Mothership attempting a sneaky rush of yellow's base only to be cut off.
(1/4) The start of a 6 player 3 vs 3 team game. Michael (pictured at the top) did a double take of the game as he walked past our table and then game back with a bunch of friends to play it.
(2/4) The game continues with players blocking the asteroid choke points.
(3/4) Sugar sells games. Remember that everyone!
(4/4) Once the front lines were broken, players zipped their way past enemy ships, straight for the Colony Stations. See orange at purple's base and blue at orange's base.
Kim (top left) from Good Games Publishing debating the finer points of realism and science fiction.
6 Player FFA.
My favorite group from the weekend (above). These guys were hilarious. They scoffed at the idea of a team game and instead insisted on 6 player FFA. Then first move in, Lee (middle left, yellow) asks me "So, I could just go straight for green's base right?" and I nodded. So he opened with an all-out rush for green which caused green to quickly re-evaluate his strategy for the game. The best part? Lee plays Star Craft! Trust the SC player to rush, amirite?
The weekend was an absolute blast. The app was a hit too (which you can see being used in some photos). Half wanted the app and half wanted real dice so I can imagine the same response from the rest of you. Those who did use it agreed it made the game go quicker.
For those that are interested, pretty much all the games played averaged about 2 hours which is good considering all players were first timers.
A big shout out to Mark J who backed the KS. He came down to say hi and play a bunch of games. Thanks Mark!
What's Next
So now with PAX out of the way, the next thing on the Mothership calendar is the release of the app and Print and Play, due end of Nov / start of Dec.
I'm in the process of reviewing the print layouts for the game. Other parts have started full production which is very exciting!
Talk again in 2-ish weeks!
Peter
Announcing the Mothership App + PAX Aus
over 9 years ago
– Wed, Nov 02, 2016 at 12:41:09 AM
It's going to be a busy weekend! I'm off to PAX Aus which will run until Sunday night. All the details of where to find me and what I'll be doing are towards the bottom of this post. Before we get to that, let's talk about the most exciting piece of Mothership news:
The Mothership Companion App
Soon you will be able to download an app that will enhance the game-play of Mothership! The application features modules that are designed to complement your ship exploding, dice rolling experience. The main feature is a module called Fleet Manager.
Fleet Manager
Fleet Manager combines one player’s Control Panel and Technology Tree into a single screen. Using the plus and minus buttons you can increase and decrease energy across your Mothership’s subsystems. The Tech Tree also highlights when you upgrade your fleet and will only allow you to select one branch per tree. When you upgrade your Support tree to include extra Mothership energy this automatically gets added to your Control Panel.
It doesn’t end there though! As you’re aware, the Tech Tree also adds buffs to the rolls of your Fighters or Bombers. Tap the dice button and you’re taken to a personal dice roller that connects to your Tech Tree and automatically adds your buffs for you!
This screen also sports a large area to display the current roll, roll history up to four places and buttons for regular dice.
Stand Alone Dice Roller
Obviously each player in your gaming group may not have a device to run the app (fair enough!) so there is also a stand-alone Dice Roller which can be used for the entire table. The module features buttons for normal dice, the Random Event D6 and buttons that correspond to Fighter and Bomber rolls, their buffs and multiple ships attacking at once.
Rule Book, Card List, About
It’s helpful for each player sometimes to have their own copy of the rule book and also a list of cards they can expect to appear in the deck along with their quantities. The rule book also includes the How to Play video available on YouTube. The about page has the videos available during the Kickstarter campaign
.
Future Modules
After the initial release, I plan on including a Layout Builder. This is so you can design asteroid layouts on your device and save them as ideas for future games.
I'm also thinking about a way I can implement some single player aspects into another module but that is very far off.
My vision for Mothership was always to make a strategy dice game that everyone can play. A board game that can be played by hard-core war gamers and new-to-genre gamers alike. I want more time spent thinking about moves and less time adding up numbers.
Of course, some people will prefer the physical aspect of counters and dice and that is perfectly fine. The game was designed to be played like that. This is simply just a digital way to complement the game if you prefer it.
Supported Devices
The full app was designed to work on Apple and Android tablets. Unfortunately I couldn’t pack the Control Panel and Tech Tree into a size small enough to be comfortable on a phone. I am however planning a future release of the stand-alone Dice Roller for phones so stay tuned for that.
For all those who wish to use the Fleet Manager on all other devices (ie a laptop or internet enabled fridge), that module will be available on the website as a HTML5 app.
There are no plans to port the app to any other devices and asking will result in me replying ‘nah.’ BUT, I am happy to take suggestions for future updates. Keep in mind though my time is very limited so don’t expect your ideas to be implemented.
The Companion app will also really help out those who are only getting the print and play version. It means less components to print (for example: all the blue and red counters!).
Print and Play Update
The Print and Play should be ready for release by the end of Novemeber.
Delaying the PnP meant I could release it when the app was ready, so thanks for your patience. During the campaign I didn’t want to announce plans for an app because I wasn’t sure I had the skills and time to finish it so I really hope it’s a nice surprise for everyone.
PAX Aus November 4th – 6th
I’ll be in the Tabletop Game Designers booth (TT204) located in the Tabletop hall.
Come down and say hi, have a game of Mothership and check out the other awesome games Australia has to offer.
Preorders at PAX
I'm sure if you're reading this you already have your pre-orders in via Kickstarter, but just in case you don't: Preorders of Mothership taken at PAX will NOT include all Kickstarter exclusives. All preorders will come in the Limited Edition Silver Box but the Special Event D6, Silver Asteroids and Mothership Dice Set will need to be purchased separately.
Apparently Mothership was at Essen, how cool is that? I stole this photo from the Tau Ceti update (thanks Mike and Stan!):
That’s all! Will hopefully have lots of photos from PAX in the next update.
Peter
Random Event Dice, Artwork Update
over 9 years ago
– Thu, Oct 20, 2016 at 12:50:22 AM
Hey everyone! Time for a Mothership update...
Random Event D6 Sample
Here's a look at what WinGo has whipped up:
There were a couple of quality issues with the first batch a month ago. I sent them back to revise it and I'm much happier with this version. The dice size is 20mm as opposed to the normal 14 mm. They've done a really good job in getting the detail in what is a really small surface area. The Mass produced dice should be sharper again.
When I get the full sample of the custom dice set I'll post that.
New Retail Artwork
The old box artwork has been updated and now looks like this:
For comparison sake, the old artwork looks like this:
Soon I'll Announce...
...that I'll be announcing something. This is the pre-announcement announcement.
Just before I attend PAX Aus on November 4th I'll be revealing something cool that will benefit everyone who wants to play Mothership, either with a physical copy or the Print and Play. Stay tuned and feel free to speculate wildly in the comments!
In the mean time, I'm hard at work getting it ready. Talk to you again in two weeks!
