Dwellings of Eldervale - Mar 2020 Production Update
over 4 years ago – Wed, Apr 01, 2020 at 03:38:30 AM

Hi all,

We hope you are all healthy, at home if possible, staying safe in any case. Our hearts go out to the whole world right now. We wanted to keep you up-to-date on game production as we head into April.

Things are changing on our game timeline, but we ARE making this game, and it will be awesome. More in the video below:

Stay tuned for pictures of the latest Gametrayz and print materials, a timeline of components through the Summer, zoom videos to chat about the game and play!

Take care of yourselves, please!

Peter and the Breaking Games Dwellings of Eldervale Team

Highly Anticipated! BGG Top 20 and Gametrayz Sneak Peek!
almost 5 years ago – Thu, Feb 20, 2020 at 11:35:49 PM

Dear Dwellers - We need your VOTE!

Dwellings of Eldervale is nominated for the BGG Top 20 Anticipated GAME OF THE YEAR!! We're so excited! Voting is open NOW and closes Feb 29 ≥≥ VOTE HERE ≤≤ 

Your vote makes a huge difference - Kingdom Rush asked for help, and sent their nomination from 150 votes to over 1000! YOU can take us to the top spot! There's no rules against asking for any and all votes, so please forgive us this worker placement request AND politely tell all your friends that they too should vote for us.

Here's the LINK again. :)

We're ALSO nominated in the DICE (yeah, we have those) and ARTISTIC (right?) categories! What about Fantasy, Miniatures, Thematic, Solo Play, or other categories you ask? Well, we oddly aren't in those but hey,.. we don't want to be greedy. Some other games should get a few. :) THANK YOU for your VOTE

 Behind the Scenes at GAMETRAYZ!

Dwellings of Eldervale got on a plane (summoning portal travel was unavailable at this time) and traveled to see the world of Gametrayz...

Thank you to Noah Adelman, who hosted us at Gametrayz HQ to give us a look at tray techniques and reviewed this first round of the trayz. All of the Dwellings trays are overall very, very good. We are changing the color of the base trays, and tweaking a few other minor things, and sending this for approval when the plants reopen.

Here's a behind-the-scenes video of our time with Noah, followed by some pictures of the trayz!

 In the video, you notice one shot with a big wall 'o incredible games - all which have Gametrayz inside. There's actually a Gametrayz family category on BGG here. We're super proud to be in this family!

PICTURES

Please keep in mind these pictures are of pre-press initial trayz, which are subject to change to make the best product possible!

PLAYER TRAYZ - The player tray uses several Gametrayz distinctive features such as an easy dice sloping, art boards as the lids (more in a future update!), push and tilt for treasure tokens, and incorporating game rules (max resources and meeple worker summon costs). 

MONSTER TRAYZ - These hold any combination of Deluxe and Legendary Monsters securely, yet with that flexible storage. 

RESOURCE TRAYZ - The lid is marked with the icons of the resources, so they each have their own home - the same order as on the player trayz. The push and tilt on the magic mini cards is used here, along with the ability to hold sleeved or unsleeved cards. The lid design keeps resources secure in their slots.

The resource tray card well is being resized for a perfect fit, one of the changes implemented.

DUNGEON TRAYZ - The lid has a minor detail which we found especially clever - it features a two small indented parts between card wells, which touches the base tray for that prevented movement of cards. Also, classic Gametrayz push and tilt is used on the card wells and treasure token slots, as well as allowing for sleeved or unsleeved cards, and all items stay secure for your next game!

 Which door to adventure will you choose?

Bottom line - Gametrayz helps control your chaos! There's so much glorious chaos in the box - and at the same time, balanced order.

 TOY FAIR, DICE TOWER WEST, GAMA NEXT

You'll be able to see Dwellings pre-press copy at these industry shows in the next couple weeks - New York Toy Fair, Dice Tower West and GAMA. If you're at one of these shows - stop by to say hello!

We'll be back soon with news on the timeline, updating everyone on the manufacturing situation in China and we'll continue our behind the scenes tour with the sound effect bases. Until then - please remember to VOTE for us on the BGG top 20 most anticipated GAME OF THE YEAR! Thank you!!

Cheers!

Peter and the Dwellings Breaking Games Team

Dwellings of Eldervale Pre-Press - All About the MINIS
almost 5 years ago – Mon, Jan 13, 2020 at 02:00:28 AM

Hey Dwellers of Eldervale,

We're back again with a pre-press component review, this time showing all the miniatures that have arrived for approval into production* (well, we're showing all but one - the hidden one in the box is still secret!)

LATE PLEDGES

If you finished your order AFTER NOV 15 - meaning you filled out your survey and entered your credit card info after we hit the button last time, then you have not been charged yet for shipping and the rest. Please note we are charging cards again THIS WEDS, Jan 15. This includes upgrades/add-ons - all are allowed, while supplies last. FYI - Most of you can disregard this!

Any changes after you are charged becomes a special case - email Peter AT breakinggames DOT com after January 20.

GAME MATS! 

Are already DONE. Can you believe it?? Those folks at Game Toppers are fast, and would win for fastest worker placement turn! We're going to hold these until closer to game delivery, so as to avoid double shipping to EU and other zones. More on mats when we get closer!

Other add-on news: Wooden Dice Trays have already begun wood production. Meeple Source painted resources are about to begin. We'll show all the moving parts on a calendar to come.

MINIATURE REVIEW

And now, for the epic reveal of the 18 large scale monster minis! Check out this video of the full set, as well as some photos below.  

And some RANDOM notes:

• It looks like the Iron Golem is going to punch me in this video. Good thing I'm no ordinary worker unit, I fight like a Warrior.
• All the miniatures were approved into production. This video shows the final versions which will make the molds. We actually edited them 2-3 times per mini to accommodate shapes for Gametrayz and also for production molding. They came out fantastic!
• I refer to the Winged Serpent as a "he", but truthfully I am not sure. I think our flying divine serpent might actually be a "she." Just noting this so that a) she doesn't kill me in the next game I play for the error and b) just saying we don't know all the secrets of Eldervale monsters just yet...
• All miniatures shown from other games are shown with love and for a fun comparison. We celebrate all big... miniatures!
• One thing I don't mention here is how these all fit in the box. YES, they all fit in ONE box. This will be clearer in the tray update - 16 of the monsters fit into Monster trayz. The Mother of Dragons, Frost Giant and 2 mercs have spots in the core box tray. You'll see!

 PICS - from the Grey Age of Eldervale...

A special thank you to our manufacturing teams and the plants in China that are working hard on this game. It's been months of back and forth coordination which has gone very well.

These teams are about to celebrate the Chinese New Year (January 25), which is an exciting time for them and their families, and we wish everyone celebrating a wonderful New Year!

It is the year of the Rat - and we have a faction for that! If you play the Ratlings of the Swarm this year, you are sure to be successful, ha!

 That's it for now! Cheers!

Peter and the entire Dwellings of Eldervale team! 

Dwellings Update - MEEPLES and more!
about 5 years ago – Tue, Dec 24, 2019 at 02:36:22 AM

Hello Eldervale!

2019 is wrapping up, so we wanted to check in on all things Dwellings. Happy Holidays and most of all, end of the year gaming! We're looking forward to an awesome time in 2020! 

Latest News!

What's been happening on Dwellings? Quite honestly - a lot. The first samples are coming in, and it is exciting! A video helps sum it up, with key points below too. 

  For the quick read on what is in the video, here are some takeaway points: 

•  The print files are in*, and samples are arriving!! (*except rules which was planned as a last piece). The pre-press components (meeples, minis, dice, coins, etc) are arriving for review! The game is coming out great, and we're making magic happen!
•  Production schedule tight, some delay expected -  mostly due to my health (Peter). It's all good seriously. We're taking a bit more time but making it right, and we're going to post a more up-to-date timeline in January when we know more from the minis and main plants. The game is also a complex beast of a thing, and there's tons of production decisions to navigate for a game this size, so it is done with care. Huge thanks to our team members, Chris Strain, Wes Straub and Josh Heake, as well as Noah Adelman from Gametrayz for the awesome help. 
• As we make approvals, and make design decisions, we want to share the process and journey with you! All the things! You'll see here in these updates tons of behind-the-scenes decisions. We care about you being a part of this game. We will endeavor to put out a series of videos on the components, starting with this video featuring meeples (below). 

Component Review - MEEPLES

Dragons, wizards and warriors - with silk screening - custom meeples are here! Your worker placements will never be the same! All the details in this video:

TLDR (or TLDW? "too long, didn't watch)... We show the custom meeples with silkscreening on both sides, discuss some of the reasons why we chose different colors for the elements and noting final approval decisions. We also cover the dice, the deluxe wooden resources, the deluxe gold coins... AND the Dwellings! Everything is looking fantastic, with only a few things to change.

Special thanks to Derek and Lizzy Funkhouser for visiting our studio to inspect the meeples for a colorblind check! Derek gave us a ton of insight from his point of view and helped confirm the colors we need to improve on for final production.

Stay tuned for more. Here's a couple of pics of the awesomeness!

 -

 -

Chicken and Eggs - which came first, Box or Gametrayz?

As mentioned in the video, we are sharing stories of production. One such story to tell is that the entire box is basically Gametrayz inside - which we LOVE. It's going to be fantastic for setup and tear down. But it does raise a new production challenge - normally the Gametrayz are completed AFTER the rest of the game when the box is in the "white box" sample stage, and all the other components are locked. However here - the size of the trayz determines some other things - size of board, size of minis, size of box, etc. 

We're going to show you the glorious tray results in another update, but just to touch upon one of the hardest challenges - fitting 20 miniatures inside, "ready to grab and go" just like all the components, and among hundreds of other pieces. And I don't mean 20 small minis, I mean 18 extra large 50mm scale miniatures!!, and 2 regular size ones (mercenaries). Oh, and we wanted to hide one merc, remember? And of course - it has to fit the IN ONE GAME BOX. 

We had to decide between a methodology where each piece has a "exact location" and one where the minis can go in any spot. While we appreciate the safety and security of the exact location method, it has a couple issues. Namely - you can't lock it down until the minis are made. Second, You have to make multiple molds for the trays. Third - putting away the game is fiddly. (which piece goes THERE?)

So, we decided to do multi-location wells. The two tricky parts with that method are that 1) minis might be less secure? and 2) minis have to conform to the same general shape and size - no wing or tail can be too far out of place. Now, I wasn't worried about #1, because this is gametrayz we're talking about - this is exactly the care that goes into the work. However, to address the second point we did have to revise some miniatures to make the "blob" of all the shapes conform a bit. On top of that - the plant then had some suggestions! A huge thanks goes to our modeler Erick Tosco, who revisited his shapes and helped us make the best looking minis ever - again and again! 

Noah shared a pic with me during this process to explain what he and his team were doing: 

When elemental monsters merge! - the above pic shows the process of creating a single monster well to hold any given Dwellings of Eldervale miniature. Note - the colors reflected above are NOT at all the colors of the minis in the game. 

and now... 

 Dwellings of Eldervale - ta da!

Your workers are now Dwellings (note, rooftops will be in elemental colors!)

Thank you all for your support! Be sure to ask any questions in the comments below - we're here for you at all times. Cheers and game on in 2020!

Peter and the Dwellings of Eldervale team

The portal closes! Make sure you have your Minotaur!
about 5 years ago – Sat, Nov 16, 2019 at 02:04:52 AM

A quick update as we begin a "regroup turn". We'll have a production update full of more pictures later this month.

PLEDGE MANAGER CLOSES!

Four critical messages:

IMPORTANT -  If you have NOT filled out your survey, please do so right now. Here's a link to the BACKERKIT SURVEY

IMPORTANT - If you are a retailer or a leader of a group pledge, and you have not been in touch with me about fixing your pledge total, or have any issue with your order - even to confirm something we discussed - please email me immediately: Peter AT breakinggames DOT com

IMPORTANT - If you did NOT put the Minotaur or sleeves in your cart, you will not be receiving them! We cannot guarantee we will be able to ship a Minotaur to you after your pledge if you forgot or missed it, and if we are able to do so, it may be at your expense for the mini cost and shipping purposes.

Finally: YOU MAY STILL CHANGE YOUR ADDRESS ALL THE WAY UNTIL WE SHIP GAMES.

--

Now that those warnings are out of the way, a huge thank you to all the backers who filled out their survey on time, helped us unlock new stretch goals, upgraded or ordered add ons and shouted out the news of the game. We love the excitement for this game. We got about 85% of surveys completed - it truly helps us enter production with good numbers. At this point, we are locking orders and charging cards.  As mentioned, you can still change addresses, but we will not be able to adjust carts once charged. If you have missed the survey deadline, we will still get your game to you when you complete the order and get shipping fee taken care of, but please understand we cannot guarantee every extra and option will be available.

WOODEN TOKENS ARE UNLOCKED!

Thank you to all who ordered these treasure tokens, as well as the added dragon's trove discs and tactics discs in wooden glory! It was fun to see the immediate interest, and while the game will be great either way, it's awesome to see the support for this feature!

T-SHIRTS ARE UNLOCKED!

This one was a bit of a close one, but we got there with your support and we're making exclusive club shirts happen. For all those who took up the chant of "Shirts!" on every form of social media - we appreciate you. I know some of you wanted more colors and other types, and trust me, when we get to fun colorful elemental or dragon merch, you'll be the first to know! 

--

PRODUCTION UPDATE COMING!

As mentioned, we'll have much more to share soon on production. Everything has started, and we'll share some progress and more about the timeline, etc so you can be in the loop on all things Dwellings of Eldervale. Until then, thank you so much for supporting this game, which is now officially IN PRODUCTION.

Cheers,

Peter and the Breaking Games Dwellings of Eldervale team

p.s. for those wondering about box cover selection, Elemental covers were chosen at about 2/1 over Dread Crocodiles - both will make stunning boxes! It will be fun seeing those on two tables next to each other at some convention in 2020!