We funded Far Away: Corporate Espionage! Of course, reaching the goal isn’t the end. We want to make the game even better. Any extra funds will go into that objective. As a way to quantify those efforts, we have listed stretch goals. It’d be amazing to reach them and add some long-requested extra features.
For the sake of transparency, we wanted to list out the stretch goals and explain why they’re setup the way they are. We know we’re avoiding publicly stating our costs for these goals, but we don’t want this to dissolve into a discussion of where to get cheaper services (there’s enough of that in for shipping). If you feel like something is still unanswered after reading this, please leave a comment!
CUBE STICKERs: These are stickers to put on every resource CUBE. They show the resource symbol that is used on CARDs or in text. These should help colorblind players or players in low-light gaming environments. They’ll take the form of a sticker sheet that will come in the expansion. The stretch goal cost represents an overall per-unit price increase for the expansion.
Federation Explorer Minis: We will work with the Seattle-based company Lethal Shadows to make 32mm-scale minis for the two standard explorers. These will be packaged separately from the game. There has been a common request to decouple these from the stretch goals, but unfortunately there is a high base cost for the sculpting fee. Regardless of the number we order, the design costs the same. We’re getting a bit of a discount because the two explorers will look similar, but it’s still a high enough cost that we can’t float the bill and hope for future sales.
Crash Site Minis: This design would be a two-piece interlocking ship (either with a corkscrew style connection or magnets – whichever is more durable). The mini would start “broken” and be connected when you fix the ship. Again, the sculpting fee requires us to reach a certain threshold before buying the minis.
Corporate Explorer Minis: Same deal, but for the Conglomerated Enterprises explorers.
Secret Mission: This is a mission that’s unlocked by solving a code scattered throughout the game. It’s conceptually inspired by the secret mission in the Space Cadets expansion. We really want to do this, regardless of the cost, so we made it a backer count stretch goal. It’s still work that requires art, design, playtesting, and components, so we need a certain guarantee of sales. Also, what’s the fun of making a cool mission if no one plays it?
Soundtrack: I love the soundtrack for 7th Continent. We have a couple artists lined up to make ambient space music. The goal is to have a track per mission. Of course, musicians need to be paid, hence the stretch goal.
More swag: There was a request for a thematic tote bag, so we added that as a stretch goal. It’s a backer count goal because we’d want somewhat of a backer base getting the swag to justify the design costs and minimum order.
We do want to note that the campaign’s conclusion doesn’t lock us out of these goals. Since we funded, we’ll have a pledge manager live to continue getting preorders. Those will contribute to the stretch goals up until we print the game.
I hope that clears up what we’re attempting in the final stretch of the campaign. Thanks for your support!