Gaming Rules! So do Chipboard Upgrades, and Raising $500k+ CAD! 🔥
over 4 years ago – Sun, Mar 06, 2022 at 01:13:36 AM

Thanks to 7,700+ of you, we’ve raised over $500,000 CAD! How amazing is that? And it’s because this community (aka all of you) are incredible. 💗 We are over the moon about the campaign, and the opportunity it presents to share Earth with so many of you across the globe.

Because of the board gaming community’s excitement for Earth, we’ve been able to put together some really neat reveals for you all along the way! Let’s talk about them.

Gaming Rules! (And so does Paul Grogan) 😉

Whether you’re a bookworm (reading rulebooks counts, right?) or you pass along the rulebook to someone else in your gaming group, I think we can all agree that gaming rules and so do how-to-play videos!

Paul Grogan from Gaming Rules! will be filming a how-to-play video to make Earth even easier to get to the table, this will be a great resource for your first play as well as a refresher for future games.

Now Board-ing: Chipboard Upgrade!

All of the game boards, including player boards, solo boards, Team board, and the shared flora and fauna board have been upgraded to 1.5mmm chipboard!

The boards are a substantial part of the game, and act as each player’s “home base” to track actions, in-game scoring objectives, and resources.

Now You See Them… But Some You Don’t (Yet)

While some of you who have been with us from the beginning might remember all of the reveals so far, we thought this would be a great opportunity to recap them all for you. Especially our new backers!

• Screen-printed wooden leaf tokens for each player.
   
• (ADD-ON Upgrade) Stitched edges for the neoprene play mats.
   
• 310GSM blue core cards.
   
• Updated wooden active player token, the same width as an action selection space.
   
• (ADD-ON Upgrade) Laser engraving on the wooden insert.
   
• Updated wooden soil tokens and design.
   
• (ADD-ON Upgrade) Play mat storage box for everyone who adds 1+ mats to their pledge.
   
• Upgraded design for the growth pieces with coupling to improve stackability!
   
• Gaming Rules! how-to-play video.
   
• 1.5mm chipboard upgrade for game boards.
   

And as you can see, there are some upgrades we haven’t revealed yet. Fear not, they’re coming soon!

Until Next Time

As a friendly reminder, if you (or friends!) would like to make sure you receive the KS goodies including the wooden tokens, 12-card month pack, and wooden active player token be sure to pledge during the campaign! We’d hate for anyone to miss out on those fun upgrades, so spread the word!

It’s been an absolute blast so far thanks to all of you! We’re looking forward to chatting with you again in our next update.

All the best from the Inside Up Games Team. 🌎

The Updates (and Growth Pieces) are Stacking Up! 🌲
over 4 years ago – Fri, Mar 04, 2022 at 09:00:59 PM

It’d be impossible to say thank you too many times, and all of you truly deserve a huge THANK YOU from the entire Inside Up Games team. As we’ve said before, this campaign blew up beyond our wildest expectations, and we’re so grateful that over 7,000 of you have joined us for the ride!

We’ve got a few quick updates to share with you all today. 🌎

Maxime and r/boardgames Invite You to Another AMA!

We’re very excited to share that Maxime Tardif, the designer of Earth will be hosting an AMA on the r/boardgames subreddit tomorrow, March 3rd from 12-2pm EST!

Wonder where Maxime came up with the idea for Earth, or the intertwined mechanisms and game modes?

Do you have rules questions, or just want to pop in to say “hello”? Well, now is your chance!

We know that tomorrow may seem like a long time to wait, so here are a few articles Maxime has written about creating and balancing Earth.

Designer Diary - BGG

Balancing Earth - Inside Up Games Article

 Growth Pieces Get the Deluxe Tree - tment 

Our latest reveal is new shapes for the growth pieces, these new samples couple with one another and the canopy topper is tree - mendous. 🌲

Kindly note that the pieces shown in this photograph are prototypes that still need to be tested for stability and play. These designs aren’t final, and we may make adjustments after testing the updated components.

That said, we’re super happy to share this new design with you all!

 Tree Quick Reminders! 

1. Make sure to pledge for Earth during the campaign to be eligible to receive the KS goodies! This applies to add-ons for Earth as well.

2. Everyone who pledges for 1+ play mats will receive the play mat storage box, and mat choices will be made in the pledge manager.

3. To lock in Kickstarter pricing, be sure to pledge during the campaign!

Too Many Tree Puns?

Is there such a thing as too many puns? *shrubs*

Maybe, but I couldn’t help myself! That being said, after making so many tree puns I think it’s time to branch off into another topic.

Before moving on though, I’ve gotta ask ya’ll to share your favorite nature or plant joke with me because I think we could all use a good laugh thanks to acorn-y pun.

Family Update

Hello all 7, 000+ backers!   WAIT?! WHAT?! That’s insane!

Sorry… back to the family update :)

So as mentioned last time, Trey Parker’s comment has sparked a new boom of interest in Summit, which is wonderful! And it lit a spark under my butt to break out the final Summit expansion I had been working on.

So on the weekend we masked up (as we are still isolating) and sat down to a good old family game of competitive Summit to try out the new mechanics/components I had created. It was fun because the kids have so much more life and game experience, and it’s great to see the way their brains work from a design and “play experience” perspective - and to see what is fresh on their minds, such as “not talking about Bruno!”

They all know the game well, as it’s been around the house for 7-8 years, so I just had to tell them what I was aiming for with the expansion and what the new mechanics were. Then we got creative! Everyone got blank cards and could write out anything they wanted, as long as it worked with the theme and feel of the game :) I told them I didn’t care about spelling, or titles or anything, just to have fun and shuffle them into the decks!

Then we got playing. And it was a blast! Reading their cards as they came up was so much fun. I felt like a player experiencing Summit for the first time! Normally I write every single card, detail and flavour text, and then balance them… now I was completely surprised by what came up! It was awesome, and still thematic…

And the test was super productive as well. It showed what worked (the idea and base mechanic) and what didn’t (the lineal nature), it got my creative juices flowing. I stayed up way too late researching the new element of the game. I then built 2 improved “boards” and it’s AWESOME. Players have more choice, and I have more elements to fold into the theme.

I am really excited to test it again… next time co-operatively!

Storage for Play Mats and The Soil Shape Winner! 🏆
over 4 years ago – Tue, Mar 01, 2022 at 02:07:22 AM

Hello, everyone! And hello especially to the 600+ of you who have joined the campaign since our last update! We are so grateful to everyone and can’t thank you enough for making this campaign as successful as it has been.

This update will be a bit shorter, but we’ve got some fun news in store for you!

The Soil Found Its Shape

Never did we imagine that our childhood experiences playing around in the dirt would follow us in our professional lives! However, all of that time making piles of dirt in our backyards has paid off years later.

Let’s take a look at the soil shape winner and… drumrollllllllllll please! 🥁🥁🥁

Option #2 won the vote, and for those of you who’d like a reminder of the shape you can see both the flat icon and 3D render above.

Our graphic designer will use this shape to create both the wooden tokens and implement the icon in the appropriate places in the rule book, on the player boards and cards, etc. Thank you all for your help in selecting the shape of this token!

Thinking Inside the Box?

We have some great news for anyone who has already added on play mats to their pledge, or has been thinking about doing so.

Everyone who pledges for 1 or more play mats will also receive a complimentary storage box that can hold up to 5 of the stitched-edge neoprene mats! 🎉

This is especially great for anyone who is also receiving the wooden insert, as the mats and insert will not fit in the base box together.

Let’s Hang Out!

Do you have questions, ideas, or comments about Earth? Want to chat with other backers, or find a game to join in on?

Join us over on our Discord server! Everyone is welcome, and we’d be glad to have you.

AMA on r/boardgames!

Have you ever had a nagging urge to ask Conor well… anything? Now’s your chance!

Conor will be hosting an AMA over in the r/boardgames community on Reddit on March 2  at 2 pm EST, so stay tuned and get your questions ready about Earth and Inside Up Games. We can’t wait to see you there!

An Invitation to Join us on Social!

We’d like to invite you all to join us on social, whether you’re a Facebook’er, Tweeter, or Instagram’er. Head on over and you’ll find all of the links to our accounts where you can give us a follow and stay in the loop!

https://direct.me/insideupgames

Until next time, thank you all for joining us for this campaign. It’s been a blast so far, and we’ve still got a week to go!

All the best from the Inside Up Games Team.

Final Soil Shape Vote, New Reveals, and a Par-TAY with the Dice Tower! 🎲
over 4 years ago – Mon, Feb 28, 2022 at 04:15:14 PM

As always, I’d like to begin this update by thanking the 6,200+ of you who’ve joined us for this campaign, who have shared in our excitement, played Earth with us in our TTS sessions, supported the amazing content creators we’ve worked with by watching their videos, and recommended the game to others you think might enjoy it. 💗

This is Inside Up Games’ largest Kickstarter so far, and it’s all thanks to this amazing community. Passing the 6k backer mark, and raising over $400,000 CAD is something we never could have imagined, we are beyond humbled and will surely take time to celebrate when we have a moment to spare! For now, our entire team is focused on doing everything we can behind the scenes to make Earth the best it can be.

We truly cannot express just how much your support means to us, and just how EXCITED we are to share Earth with you all! We’ve got a few updates and reminders for you all, so let’s dig in.

The Shape of Soil - Third Time’s a Charm

Who knew soil could be so tough, eh?

Well, we’ve been burning the midnight soil trying to get it right, and thanks to all of your help we’re close!

This will be the final poll for the soil shape. #3 and #1 from the last poll were the fan favorites but many wanted to see what #3 looked like with a flat bottom, so we’ve made that an option as well.

Please use this form to cast your vote, and may the best soil win!

Follow the Leader with a New Active Player Token Design

Our team has been so grateful for the ideas you’ve been sharing in the comments section! Michal shared an idea to incorporate the active player marker with the player board, so Conor worked on a redesign!

The active player can place it above their selected action to indicate to all other players which major and minor abilities players will reap during the round. (Yes, there is already a leaf token to do this, but it is relatively small and this should make it easier for players to see it at a glance.)

A Laser-Sharp Reveal

Secondly, we’re excited to share another reveal for those of you who’ve added (or thought about adding) the wooden insert to your pledge!

The insert will now have laser engraving on the flat ends of the four resource bowls. This will make it easier to collect resources for any players who may not be able to see into the bowls from their seat.

Please note the design is a rendering and not final, those of you with eagle-eyes will spot that the rendering for the laser engraving uses the previous soil shape. Once finalized, the laser engraving will be updated accordingly.

A Quick Update on Growth Pieces & Player Boards

(Conor writing for this part!) I know how much you folks are interested in knowing the details on the player boards and growth pieces, and I had planned on revealing this sooner, but the campaign has exploded so much that I have revisited some previously planned components to tweak them that extra little bit. However, I do not like to promise anything without the proper info. So I have been in talks with various factories to send samples and proofs for me to check personally.

They should be arriving next week. Once I can check them I will update you with the awesomeness.

A Few Important Notes & Info for Our New Backers!

If you’re new to this campaign, welcome! We’re so glad to have you here. That being said, we realize you may have a few updates to catch up on. This section quickly recaps a few of the most important things you should know.

•  Only copies of Earth pledged for DURING the campaign are eligible to receive the Kickstarter Goodies. If you’d like additional copies of the game and would like to make sure you receive the Kickstarter Goodies with those copies as well, please be sure to add “Extra copy of Earth (with KS Goodies!)” to your pledge in the add-ons section.

Backers who use the add-on to purchase additional copies of Earth will be able to select their preferred language in the pledge manager.

Kickstarter Goodies include the wooden active player token, silk-screened wooden leaf tokens, wooden soil tokens, and the double-sided 12-card month pack of game-changers. You don’t want to miss out on those!

• All of Inside Up Games’ titles are CVD (Color Vision Deficiency) friendly, including Earth!
   
•  You can play Earth now using Tabletop Simulator! The TTS version of the game includes an automated set-up and you can play all 3 modes including multiplayer, teams, and solo.
   

Surfin’ on Cloud 9 with The Dice Tower

We were overjoyed when The Dice Tower’s Tom Vasel and Camilla Cleghorn named Earth as their crowdfunding pick of the week!

A Big Week at the Tower in South Park

The love from the tower didn’t end there! Trey Parker, co-creator of South Park and boardgame enthusiast, was a recent guest of The Dice Tower and shared his Top-10 games of all time. We were blown away when Trey named the cooperative version of Summit: The Board Game his #1 game of all time.

Summit was Conor’s first design and the game that launched Inside Up Games. It feels incredible to be able to share this experience with you all and to see how much this small company has grown leading up to Earth. 🌎

Family Update

Just as a quick reminder, this section does not contain any important information about the campaign or Earth, so feel free to skip over it if you wish. 😊

Hello folks!

This has been an unbelievable experience for me. This is my 9th KS campaign, so I thought I was pretty used to the ups and downs… but honestly, I was never prepared for so many ups!!

Earth is our highest grossing campaign (over CA$400k), with our highest backer count (over 6k), with the most language partners (12+),#1 on BGG Hotness for the game AND the designer (Maxime Tardif) for almost a week! 🤯

Then on Tuesday I was caught completely unprepared…

Trey Parker’s Top 10 Games of all Time

What?!? Live on The Dice Tower Trey Parker names Summit (my first game) his # 1 game of all time! 🤯

(I even got a text from my mom about it!)

Then by this morning Summit has jumped up to #3 on the Hotness in front of Earth?!? 🤯

And I have sold out of my remaining Summit in the US and am in the process of moving stock down from Canada!!

It’s crazy to think about when it all started here 6 years ago-  The first campaign

I have been so busy with KS comments, direct messages, retailers, publisher, and press requests, teaches, and live streams, that I haven’t really had time to let it sink in and to celebrate with my family.

It was another jam-packed day of meetings when my attention was distracted by a photo texted from my wife who is downstairs isolating…

This is my eldest daughter Kilianne, she has always been my biggest supporter and has been asking all week how she can help. (All 3 kids are home with us in isolation as my wife and youngest tested positive earlier this week.)

Kili loves baking and she’s decided to make an “Earth” to celebrate our success. And that success is thanks to each and every one of you!

So thank you, from my family to yours - these past 10 days have been surreal!

Oh, and I am sorry, I’m not saving you any cake! 🤭😜

Cloudy with a chance of Soil? (New Soil Choices!)
over 4 years ago – Thu, Feb 24, 2022 at 01:54:47 PM

Let's try this again! 

Apparently the majority of you did not like our soil options from yesterday. So we listened to your "pros & cons," we checked out examples that you posted, and we went back to the drawing board and came up with some new ones!

Please cast your vote here to let us know which soil icon and corresponding wooden token shape you like!