New expansion coming March 3!

Hello friends!

By this time, many of you have received your backer rewards. I hope you are truly enjoying playing Beasts: Edge of Extinction! If you have any questions about game play, please do not hesitate to reach out to Riftway Games on Facebook, Twitter, or here on Kickstarter. I am always happy to help answer your questions.

There are still a very small handful of backers who have not yet filled out our GameFound Pledge Manager to receive their rewards. Please check your email for the invitation link or your Kickstarter messages for instructions on how to access it. If you do not see either of these, or you already filled out your survey but have not received your reward, please message directly for help. I want to make sure everyone gets everything they are due!

Dodo Care

Be sure to prime, paint, and/or clear coat your 3D resin printed dodo first player marker if you plan to keep it out of the box for extended periods of time near sources of UV light. This includes natural sunlight. While it doesn’t happen very quickly, resin is UV reactive, so the longer it is exposed it could have an adverse reaction like shrinking, splitting, or melting. Please take precautions to ensure the longevity of your dodos!

Game Expansion

On March 3rd we will be launching our first game expansion: Revenge of the Dodos

If you are a backer of Beasts: Edge of Extinction who downloaded the print and play files made available last year, you may remember that an early version of Revenge of the Dodos was included for you to play-test. I really appreciate all who provided feedback to help us finalize the cards and rules!

If you are still unfamiliar with the expansion, here is our current marketing blurb:

In Revenge of the Dodos, eliminated players now control a bevy of dodo spirits, each imbued with a unique special ability. It’s all or nothing, as you seek vengeance on the vile beasts ravaging dodo kind!

This fun little expansion has been play-tested throughout the last year, while awaiting the final production of the base game. We now believe it is ready to hit the market! This is a great time for those who missed our first campaign or who wish to pick up another copy of the Beasts: Edge of Extinction base game along with the expansion.

As always, we will be adding some fun exclusive items to your pledge levels as well as some early bird discounts. We hope each of you will be able to join us for the campaign!

Follow the Revenge of the Dodos campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1504559757/revenge-of-the-dodos

September 19, 2019November 1, 2019

Beasts Final Production Sample

At 9:30 AM Friday morning I received a package via FedEx. It was the final production sample of Beasts: Edge of Extinction from our printing partner Whatz Games in China. All I can say is WOW! My phone camera really can’t do it justice, but here’s an attempt anyway:

I’m really excited for each of you to receive this game. We appear to be keeping on track for our October through November estimated delivery schedule. China is celebrating a holiday right now, but production should start back up in a few days. Once they do, I’m told it should take about 15 more days to wrap up production and deliver them to the docks in Shanghai. From there we will hope Poseidon keeps a watchful eye on our shipment as it traverses the great wide ocean.

I honestly don’t expect any trouble with customs, but there is an unknown amount of time before it can be cleared and transported by truck to our storage facility. I’ll be sure to keep each of you up to date as things transpire.

Thanks again for being a supporter. We’re in the final stretch!

– Derek Zyn

January 1, 2019January 1, 2019

Happy New Year!

Well, we did it! Beasts was successfully funded on Kickstarter on Dec 14 and the funds were finally transferred yesterday to begin the journey of production . I can’t thank each and every one of you enough for your help and support in making this a reality.

So whats next?

To start, Beasts is now on the Indiegogo’s InDemand platform to allow those who missed the original Kickstarter to still get in on the fun, minus the Kickstarter exclusives. But don’t worry, we’re still working towards stretch goals until mid-February – or until our manufacturer gives us a hard cutoff date – so even if you are already a backer you can still share this project in hopes of unlocking some cool upgrades!

You can use the original Kickstarter link to access the Indiegogo page by clicking on the PRE-ORDER NOW button, or you can go directly to Indiegogo via this link: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/beasts–4

I’ll be running a contest soon to help promote the Indiegogo page, so keep an eye to your email for details. I’ve been asked a few times if backers are eligible to win contests and the answer is definitely yes, so make sure to enter!

The Print & Play version of the game will unfortunately be delayed, due to changes needed for proper health tracking. The physical game requires plastic health clips that slide along the side of your character card, but doing this with paper doesn’t work very well. To resolve this, I’m creating special health cards for the P&P version. I’ll be adding the Argentavis character with Scavenge ability to the P&P version to help make up for the delay.

That’s it for now. Thank you all again and keep checking back for future updates!

Happy New Year!

Derek Zyn

October 31, 2018

Beasts @ Board Game Geek Con – Nov 14-18

Hi all and Happy Halloween!

First, our How-to-Play video has been completed and ready for your viewing pleasure!

Thanks again to Baker Odom over at Bored Online? Board Offline! for providing this.

In case you didn’t know, we will be at Board Game Geek Con this November 14-18 working with the Indie Game Alliance in booth IL-04. Stop by for some fun Beasts swag and enter our drawing to win pre-release copies of the game and even a 6″ 3D printed dodo!

Every attendee at BGG.Con will receive an exclusive Argentavis character card, not included in the base game.

Not attending BGG.Con but still want to win a pre-release copy of Beasts: Edge of Extinction? Of course you do! In the next few days I will be posting on social media about how you can enter to win.

That’s all for now. Don’t forget, November 14 is our Kickstarter launch. We will be doing some live streams from BGG.Con so stay tuned here on the website or on social media for updates.

Until next time, keep gaming!

– Derek Zyn

This message has been Dodo Approved!

September 20, 2018

Beasts Previews and Where to See Them

Hello everyone! Derek here, back again with another Beasts: Edge of Extinction blog post. I bet you thought I was going to be posting one of these every day since my first two were back to back. I sure fooled you! Truth is, if I were to write one of these every single day I would be setting myself back quite a bit on time, but I do want to keep you all updated on how things are progressing so expect a new post every 1 to 3 weeks, unless something very exciting happens and I can’t wait to share!

On to the important stuff…

Preview game copies: Baker Odom of Bored Online? Board Offline! and Jonathan Hill aka Illusion of The Geekly Grind both received their preview copies of Beasts: Edge of Extinction in the mail yesterday. Joseph Nicholas of Indie Table Top should be receiving his copy any day now. I’m very excited to hear what these experienced reviewers think and I’m sure we’ll be finding out soon when their unbiased reviews hit the interwebs. Lets all keep our fingers crossed for some positive reviews to help our Kickstarter – launching November 14th – pick up some steam.

Today, Brian Fiore over at Just Got Played reached out about doing a game review. I’ve seen a few of their episodes on YouTube and I’m pleased my game will be included in mid November. I also heard from Will Meadows at Tatrum House who suggested I submit information on the game to them to potentially be selected for a review. I love the quality of video they produce so I’m keeping my fingers crossed they are able and willing to fit my game in. Either way, I’ll be sponsoring one of their podcasts soon, so the word will definitely be getting out about Beasts: Edge of Extinction.

As more reviewers sign on board I’ll be sure to let each and every one of you know. Until then, don’t forget to check out the YouTube channels of all the great previously mentioned folks!

Bored Online? Board Offline!

August 29, 2018August 29, 2018

Bored Online? Board Offline!

Greetings and salutations! Derek here with the second update to the Beasts: Edge of Extinction Developers Blog.

How to Play Video:

Baker Odom of Bored Online? Board Offline! has graciously offered to provide a how to play video for Beasts. Of course, I happily accepted and expressed my gratitude. Baker seems like a really genuine guy and I’m excited to see his take on the game. I’m told it should be ready by October 14th (or earlier) so if you have not yet experience Beasts in person, Baker will give you an in-depth look at how the base game scenario, Edge of Extinction, plays out. If you’ve never seen Bored Online? Board Offline! now is a great time to…once you’ve finished reading this blog post, of course.

Where You Can Play:

Beasts: Edge of Extinction will be available to play at 2 up coming game conventions so far.

In the south, you will be able to find Beasts in the Board Game Geek Con library from November 14-18.

In the north, Beasts’ amazing artist Alisha Volkman will have a copy of the game on hand at Crafter Con / Protospiel Madison November 29 through December 2, where she will also be a guest speaker. Alisha is a highly experienced talent of the game development industry, putting ink to well over 30 games currently on the market. If you’re planning to attend, be sure to check her out!

That’s all for now. Until next time…game on!

August 28, 2018September 20, 2018

Welcome

Hello everyone and welcome to the very first Developers Blog for Beasts: Edge of Extinction, coming to Kickstarter on November 14, 2018.

As some of you might already know, Beasts: Edge of Extinction is my first game release under the Riftway Games moniker. Being a first time game developer, I had a lot of obvious challenges ahead of me when I started this journey in early 2017. Thankfully my previous experience in marketing, sales, product development and customer service have given me at least the basic tools needed to get started. I like to believe the last 2 decades of my life have been leading up to this very moment.

Where we’re at:

Currently Beasts is in its final stages of pre-production. Only minor changes to wording, for the sake of clarity, are being performed on the game cards and a few adjustments to the artwork is being made by the extremely talented Alisha Volkman. Instructions are also being finely tuned for your pleasure. If anyone is interested in reviewing the instructions and providing feedback, email me and I’ll be more than happy to share them.

Reviews:

Next month preview copies of the game will be shipped to online game reviewers who have agreed to give their honest opinion of the game. I’m both excited and terrified of this. We’ve had a really positive response from game-testers over the last year and a half, but these guys and gals review games for a living! Who knows what they’ll think, but I can’t wait to find out!

That’s it for now. Thank you for reading and I look forward to sharing this experience with you!