Rising Waters

Update from the Frozen North
about 1 year ago – Fri, Feb 17, 2023 at 09:32:02 AM

I am going to jump right in today. First apologies for the delay on getting you the finalized board. Some of our backers provided the keen insight that the board was too flat. We agreed and asked Lamaro to try and get a bit more three dimensionality into the landscape. This process proved a bit more difficult than expected. Not because it couldn't be done but because as more was added to the board to give it areas more height the board became too busy.  In the end we had to peel back some of the elements that helped give it more dimension. This process took us a bit more time than intended and put us a little behind schedule. It may throw off our fulfillment aim of April by a bit, but we hope to be pretty close to that goal still. We think the delay and the final board were worth the wait and hope you all like it as well! 

What we have is double sided board. One is the 1926 side for the introductory version of the game. The rules are a bit more streamlined and work a bit faster for classroom play. The 1927 side is for regular and difficult play. Of course you can always mix and match rules for one side of the board with the other side to adjust the difficulty if you want. The main difference you will notice between the boards are the hex groupings. In 1926 you move from one grouping to the next and can move faster across the board to respond to flooding. The levies you build also affect the full hex grouping. In essence you move at the speed of the water. There are other rules changes as well, but they aren't reflected on the board. In the 1927 version you move one hex at a time and your levies only affect the hex they are built in. Meanwhile the water affects the hex grouping all at once. Essentially, as in life, the water moves faster than the people trying to stop it. 

We also want to share with you all an awesome article in the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/28/board-games-climate-crisis-daybreak 

The article focuses on what board games can teach people about climate change.  Rising Waters is discussed about halfway into the article. It is a really nice write up! If you are unfamiliar with the other games they mention you should check them out! 

This is all for now. Happy gaming!

Surveys are in the Wild!
over 1 year ago – Fri, Jan 27, 2023 at 07:31:22 AM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

Smoke Test is Away!
over 1 year ago – Wed, Jan 25, 2023 at 02:25:08 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

Surveys are Coming Soon!
over 1 year ago – Mon, Jan 23, 2023 at 05:50:28 AM

Hello everyone! We are reaching out to give the low down on our Backerkit surveys, which will be coming soon. These surveys are important because they allow you to finalize your shipping information for us and pay the shipping costs. While production continues to proceed accordingly (notwithstanding the Chinese New Year pause right now), we're also getting all our ducks in a row for fulfillment.

When Are Surveys Coming?

First, the timing: surveys will go live sometime later this week (end of January) or early next week (beginning of February). Our setup in Backerkit is under review; once that clears, we'll be able to send out the surveys.

However, before the full blast of surveys, there will be a smoke test, whereby Backerkit will only send a small percentage of the surveys out to make sure there aren't any problems or issues. Assuming the smoke test goes ok, the remaining surveys will roll out after that in batches until all are in the wild!

Where Is The Survey Coming From?

Our backend fulfillment partner is Backerkit, so your survey email will come from them, not from Kickstarter.

If you used your Facebook credentials to log in to your Kickstarter account, the BackerKit survey is sent to the email address you use for your Facebook account. If you have another email address that you prefer to use, please contact support at https://rising-waters.backerkit.com/faq.

How Do You Complete the Survey?

You don’t need to create a BackerKit account to fill out your survey. When you receive the email with the survey, click the survey link to respond. Answer the questions about your reward preferences, provide shipping information, and purchase add-on items if you like.

How Long Do You Have to Complete the Survey?

Surveys will be live until March 31, 2023, after which we will close surveys to begin ramping up to fulfillment in the early summer, so you will have plenty of time if you don't get to it right away. Also, after you respond to your survey, you can go back later and change your responses at any time before we close the surveys.

How Do You Access Your Survey After Completion?

If you need to review your information or pledge status, you can return to your survey by clicking the link in your survey email or requesting your survey link under "Lost your survey?" on our BackerKit project page at https://rising-waters.backerkit.com/.

How Do You Get Your Digital Rewards?

Digital rewards will be loaded into Backerkit once completed (right now, the Print & Play PDF is slated for later in February 2023). If you have already completed your survey, then you should receive an email push from us, letting you know that your rewards are available. If you haven't completed your survey when we release the digital rewards, you should see a link in Backerkit after you complete your survey that will take you to the download page. 

We'll be in touch again next week to let you know when the smoke test is starting. Take care, everyone!

New Year's Greetings
over 1 year ago – Fri, Dec 30, 2022 at 08:09:27 PM

Sorry about the long silence. At our press we all have to work through the end of the semester grading chaos. It hasn't slowed down the project (we budget time for it) but it slows down our communication a little bit. Add to that winter travel delays and illnesses and here we are at the end of the year. We are currently preparing files to send to our manufacturer. We requested a few more tweaks to the board art in December as well. When we have that we will share it with you all in another update.  If you are interested in playing the game now, it is on Tabletopia. Have a great start to your new year everyone and happy gaming!