Hi!
I'm excited to share some gaming news with the community. I'm leading a team developing a solo board game called
Time Fenix. It's an evolution of the
Twisty Little Passages /
DROD RPG formula, and it will be in a board game format. We've been developing the game for about six months so far, and I'd like to share a sneak preview of the project here today.
Kickstarter Early Preview Page
Concept
Here's are some summary blurbs describing it:
Time Fenix is a solo-only, fully resettable, puzzle-adventure resource management campaign game with non-linear Metroidvania, legacy, *-and-write, and deck-management elements.
Play as Fenix, a warrior sage from an indigenous tribe, to protect a magitek world from an ancient threat with the help of a sentient AI.
* Take on 47 missions spanning 16 areas of an underground futuristic research facility.
* Manage power levels and resources as you navigate mazelike areas on laminated adventure sheets with a dry-erase pen.
* Seek out resources and power boosts, carefully defeat enemies standing in your way to advance, and plan how to defeat floor bosses to reach the powerful Time Crystals.
* Strategize when to perform mystical meditative actions to draw and play crucial resource cards from your Focus deck.
* Learn as you play: Story sections reveal additional game elements, rules, and mechanics as you progress.
* By growing your stats and gaining new Focus cards and abilities, you can replay areas in new ways to unlock additional powers and objectives.
* Seek out hidden bonuses to unlock greater power-ups. The game rewards more efficient play and clever meta-gaming strategy.
Do you have the wisdom and fortitude to descend to the unstable Reactor Core and prevent imminent disaster?
Status
The design and puzzles are nearly complete.
I'm working with artists to create graphical content, and I think it's already looking pretty good!
I'm collaborating with some alpha play testers to polish gameplay and puzzles, including kieranmillar, who has provided excellent feedback to improve the area puzzles, as well as others outside the Caravel community.
As you'd expect, designing a board game involves a huge consideration of the physical aspects of play, and I'm including component design as a core part of the process from the beginning.
You'll notice that this game has cards called your Focus deck, which you will draw from and play strategically to gain resources. There is randomness here, and this is distinct from RPG deck builders where the cards are primarily used during combat. You'll need to tactically integrate the randomness into your strategy for completing areas.
In addition to the adventure play sheets and cards, I'm planning for the game to have a dual-layer board for tracking your character's condition and inventory, various components for stats and resource tracking, and a campaign score sheet you'll fill in to track your campaign progress and character improvement.
Most areas have multiple mission objectives, involving defeating floor bosses to reach a goal point, and you will replay areas at different times during the campaign in different ways to reach new objectives.
The game is intended to be for all levels of players, with introductory tutorial areas at the beginning, and then a steady ramp up in challenge and complexity that gradually take off the training wheels.
I have the BGG game entry set up here:
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/420265/time-fenix
It's currently bare-bones. I'll be sharing more content as things materialize.
Release Date
We're planning to self-publish
Time Fenix. I'm in talks with some board game manufacturing companies to select the best option for us. We're crowdfunding so that we can raise funds to pay for a mass-print production run.
I anticipate the campaign going live in Q2 of 2025, with manufacturing happening in Q3 and shipping and fulfillment in Q4.
So you don't have to remember, sign up here to get notified when our crowdfunding campaign goes live:
Kickstarter Early Preview Page
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Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me. Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White. And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.
[Last edited by mrimer at 04-10-2025 12:19 AM]