I’m thrilled to welcome you to the first of a monthly post about the progress of Distilled, the highly thematic strategy card game about crafting spirits in a distillery!
In this big kickoff post, I’ll be sharing A LOT of stuff, including:
- Great WIP artwork samples
- Updates on the game’s design and development progress
- An opportunity to play the game right now from your own home!
- Upcoming events, including Protospiel Online and Gen Con Online!
Also, please follow any of the social media links to the right for more frequent updates – I post to those every few days with images, upcoming events, and playtesting opportunities!
Artwork Update
To start, let’s take a look at the current box art, designed by Distilled’s amazing artist and graphic designer, Erik Evensen!
Erik has gone through a number of iterations of the box art, as well as some of the card designs and illustrations, and we’ll be sure to dive deeper into this process in a future update. For now, here’s a few “then and now” card designs of my original prototype from late 2019, and Erik’s new in-progress versions that he’s churning out on a weekly basis!
There’s much, much more art and graphic design where that came from. I feature it a few times a week on our social media channels, and you’ll get to see it for yourself if you play the game virtually (keep reading)!
Game Development Update
Distilled has now been playtested 55 times, and continues to evolve with every play. It is my goal to create the best possible experience for the largest sampling of players, so I’m taking my time with mechanics tweaks, listening to all feedback, and considering different options as I move forward.
The goal is still to have it on Kickstarter in mid 2021, and that progress is largely thanks to all of you, for your dedication and feedback throughout it’s development.
Distilled has gone through a myriad of changes, so here’s a brief overview video:
While the core mechanic/experience of distilling alcohol, aging it in the warehouse, and selling for big profits and purchases hasn’t really changed, I’ve made other updates to continue to polish the experience for players. The dozens of tiny tweaks are too numerous to list, so here are a few highlights that represent Distilled’s evolution over the last 8 months:
- The game end trigger has changed. It is no longer a “race” to make 3 spirits nor determined by card piles running out. Instead, it lasts for a specific number of rounds, so that you can properly plan out that aged brandy for a nice finish 🙂
- The “deckbuilding” aspects of the game have been reduced. Actions have been removed from most cards, so that players can focus on crafting spirits, rather than trying to figure out how to also build a deck/engine for the game!
- Gameplay is more streamlined. Rather than waiting for each player to finish their turn, I’ve now implemented “phases”, in which some of them are concurrent, so that you all perform it together. This shortens the gameplay experience down to about 20-30 minutes per person.
- Multiple game modules have been added. Many of you have played with the “Distiller’s Awards” and the “Prestigious Distillery Upgrades“, but I’m also beginning to playtest three other modules: Distillery Contracts (focusing on private personal goals), Global Events (that change the state of the game), and Authentic Recipes (for those who want to be factually accurate when making their spirits!).
If you’re curious about the updates above, feel free to check it all out in the updated rulebook, available as a PDF download.
Play Distilled on Tabletop Simulator!
The Pandemic of 2020 has been difficult for everyone, and that most definitely includes all of us who enjoy gathering together with friends to have an experience with a unique board game on the table. As one can imagine, in-person playtesting had to completely stopped as well.
I decided to focus my energy towards developing the best possible virtual experience I could for Distilled, with the hopes of being able to playtest it online for the foreseeable future. In mid-April, I was able to upload a version of the game to Tabletop Simulator, accessed through Steam. Since that day, I’ve been able to playtest the game roughly 20 times, allowing for quick iterations and feedback. While it definitely does not beat in-person playtesting, the ability to connect with so many people from around the world has been a definite benefit.
I couldn’t have done any of this without the amazing help from my friend, Dr. Seth Berrier, who has spent countless hours using his expertise in programming to create a really solid, professionally scripted experience inside Tabletop Simulator for Distilled. Seth’s scripts have helped to speed up playtime and get it closer to what it would feel like in the real-world. Thank you Seth!
Upcoming Events at Protospiel & GEN CON Online
I’ll be conducting playtests at two different cons during July. These playtests will use my most current Tabletop Simulator prototype, and voice chat happens over Discord (if you use Discord, feel free to join our Distilled Discord channel!). If you playtest Distilled, you’ll likely get a peek into new, unreleased variants that I’m testing. The tickets to these events are extremely affordable, so I hope you’ll consider buying a ticket and signing up for Distilled!
The first event, Protospiel Online, is very informal, and all about playtesting various prototypes. For players and designers, this is a wonderful event to network, play new games, and brainstorm with dozens of other creatives. You can buy a playtester’s badge for $10, and it will allow you to play as many games as you want (and provide feedback to designers, which is crucial) for three days. I’ll be playtesting Distilled there, but they don’t tend to have ticketed times, but instead playtests happen organically.
I’m thrilled to announce that I’ll be playtesting Distilled numerous times at Gen Con, and you are able to sign-up to reserve a seat at the table ahead of time! While badges are free (and available now) for Gen Con, there will be multiple avenues to experience Distilled.
Distilled will be featured as a ticketed board game event 5 different times throughout the con. Tickets for these events cost $2 each, with your free badge (all times below are Eastern):
- Thursday, July 30th – 8pm
- Friday, July 31st – 8pm
- Saturday, August 1st – 2pm
- Saturday, August 1st – 8pm
- Sunday, August 2nd – 2pm
Distilled will also be featured as part of First Exposure’s Playtest Hall, which allows prototype games and their designers to be paired up with interested and dedicated playtesters. It will be free to play these games, but I don’t have a schedule of when Distilled might be played yet. Once I know, I will post it to Distilled’s social media channels.
Well, that was a mouthful! That wraps up the first monthly update for Distilled. Finally, if you want more updates than once a month, I’d encourage you to pick your social media channel of choice below, and sign-up to follow us there. We’ve got a community of over 100 members in our Facebook group, and our Instagram and Twitter’s followers are growing as well.
Thanks again for sticking with me throughout this long update, and I hope to see you around the table soon – whether that be in person or online!
Dave Beck
Paverson Games