3 days to go. Almost $33K raised. Part 3 of playthrough video up!
almost 5 years ago – Tue, May 28, 2019 at 03:57:17 PM

$33,000! (Okay, almost....)

Did I want to wait for $33K for this update just so I could make it all about the 3's? Why yes, I did. :D But while I'm sure we will get there soon, I wanted to hurry up and get this update out, so I rounded up juuuust a smidge for effect ;) 

What a wild ride. Did you know that of 592 Games projects live on Kickstarter right now, Crystallo is the FIFTEENTH most backed?!?! That puts it in the top 2.5%. For a first game, for a little bitty solo game, holy wow.... just blows me away. I can't thank all of you enough for believing in me and this game!

Video Playthrough Part 3!

I've just uploaded Part 3 of my playthrough for Crystallo, in which I trap the wicked Black Dragon and win the game! This one is shorter than parts 1 & 2, just over 5 minutes long. Hope you enjoyed this little series, and please don't hesitate to let me know if you have suggestions for how I can improve in the future!

Here's that video: 

And if you are new or missed the last update, and haven't seen parts 1 and 2, here are the links to those:

Playthrough Part 1: Rules, Setup, and Beginning Play

Playthrough Part 2: Freeing The Creatures

Social Quests Update:

I'm starting to get submissions for the Social Quests! So awesome! It's been a mix of grownups and kids, some using the coloring pages and some freehanding it or even going digital :D I'm loving ALL of these! Keep them coming, and who knows? We could end up with some fan art cards after all! (I mayyyy even extend the deadline beyond the KS, if there's interest in making this happen--let me know in the comments what you think!)

I'll try to get the actual numbers on the goals by tomorrow, but for now I thought I'd share some of the awesome stuff that's been coming in! I hope the artists will forgive me for not including names this time around as I wanted to get this update out quickly-- rest assured any art used on any cards will be credited! 

Firefox Art

Phoenix Art

Unicorn Art

Faerie Art

PNP Awesomeness

Translations! 

Yep, that's the rulebook in Japanese and Portuguese! Dutch rules are also done (just need to be formatted) and other languages coming soon! I'm excited to update the PNP with all these new versions, but to be fair to all (and to make my life simpler) I want to wait and add them all at once! So thank you for your patience once again <3 

New and looking for English PNP files and/or coloring pages?

You can find those in a previous backers-only update, here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lightheartgames/crystallo-the-award-winning-solitaire-puzzle-game/posts/2499414

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That's it for now, but if I've missed something, as always.... well, you know what to do :) Are you ready for the last 48 hours!?!?! EEEEEK! 

- Liberty

Celebrating $30K with a fun surprise!
almost 5 years ago – Sat, May 25, 2019 at 07:03:44 PM

$30,000 today! WOW. 

I'm excited to share some fun news, which I alluded to in the previous update! The second printing of Starving Artists (another award-winning game!) is on Kickstarter now, with 12 days to go. The KS is being run by Zafty Games, who will be my partner for fulfillment and post-KS retail distribution of Crystallo, and they're including ALL SIX creature cards from Crystallo in the Starving Artists second printing, as a bonus set of cards. So if you haven't checked out Starving Artists yet, take a look! Such a cool game :D You play as an artist, completing paintings to sell for more paint and food. As an artist myself, I can attest to how real that struggle is :) So excited to have my creatures included as paintings in such a fun game!

Here's the link to check that out: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/frank-zafty/starving-artists-second-printing-of-the-award-winn?ref=tgra10

How cool is that? :D 

-Liberty

Big Fat Update! 700% Funded, 1400 backers, and I made a thing for you!
almost 5 years ago – Thu, May 23, 2019 at 05:23:07 PM

First of all let me just say thank you for your continued support and your patience despite my being fairly quiet the last week. I had a wedding to shoot in Alaska (Photography was my main gig before this, not sure if I mentioned that before) and it happened to be my cousin's wedding, so I was staying with family and stayed super busy all week! It was really fun but also *exhausting.* More so than I anticipated! Anyway, I'm home and back in action, and I'm SO excited to see what the last week of this campaign has in store. Can you believe we are 700% funded, with over 1400 backers?!?! CRAZY TOWN.

I made a thing! 

By way of apology for my lack of communication, I finally got around to editing and posting two instructional playthrough videos on my very own brand-new Youtube channel. (Well, I'd had the first part up a while but I finally added the second!) Part 3 will be the Dragon phase and it will be coming very soon! 

I know you've probably watched some other cool people play the game by now, but if you're interested in seeing the designer play, well... here's your chance! And you can enjoy my many mistakes and goofs, yay! :P 

PART 1 : SETUP, RULES, AND BEGINNING PLAY

PART 2: FREEING THE CREATURES (Contains a few strategy tips, if you're into that sort of thing!)

If you enjoyed those, I'd love if you'd subscribe to the LHG youtube channel! I have a feeling these won't be the last things I share there :) 

About Stretch Goals

I know this probably isn't what you want to hear, but I am officially calling it on stretch goals. Much as I love some of the ideas that you folks have floated, I am very confident currently that I can deliver what I've promised efficiently and without blowing up costs or delaying delivery. I want to stick with that. This being my first campaign, and with so many people taking a chance on a new creator, I want to make sure this is a great experience for all of you, so you'll be happy to support future games that I hope to bring to Kickstarter.

I really think we can hit that $50K app stretch goal, if we have a strong enough last week! Super excited about that.  

About Social Quests

It's not looking like we will get enough submissions to include alternate art cards in the game (sad panda.) But who knows? I may figure out some other way to feature some of the cool stuff that has been shared by a few intrepid souls :) Stay tuned on that and remember, it's not too late to show off your creativity!

About PNP and Translations

If you are a new backer, this is to let you know that all PNP files are available for download in a backers-only update, so check out the updates for that! As far as translations, they are still in the works, and I now have folks working on: 

- German

- French

- Italian

- Dutch

- Japanese

- Cantonese

It's been a bit more of a challenge than I expected, working with so many people on the different versions, so I really appreciate everyone's patience while we work out the kinks!

Coming to Tabletopia soon!

This is another thing I'm a bit behind on, but it will definitely be happening soon! Psyched to try it out, and I love that it's free and available for all :) 

What's next? 

Keep an eye on the updates for the Starving Artists Kickstarter for a fun surprise. ;) 

$25K Stretch Goal UNLOCKED! And a quick update on our social quests :)
almost 5 years ago – Mon, May 13, 2019 at 09:59:35 AM

I set 'em up, you knock 'em down! Another stretch goal unlocked! :D 

So exciting! 

Will there be more between here and the $50K app goal? Very possible. I'm pricing out options, so stay tuned!

I'm playing a bit of catch-up this morning (I swear, it's morning, I'm on Pacific time!) as I took the day off yesterday to celebrate Mother's Day with my 3 lovely and rambunctious daughters. I was spoiled all day and it was a great chance to relax and refocus. I hope you all had a great weekend, too! 

Social Quests

If you haven't yet had a chance to look at the social objectives on the campaign, basically there are some social media sharing tasks that can be completed, along with a call for submissions of fan art versions of the creatures. I'd really like to include some fan art cards as a KS exclusive. Here's what inspired me, it's a drawing that was gifted to me by my best friend's son Maverick, who is 12 and an awesome little artist! 

I know it's intimidating to put yourself out there, making art for what basically amounts to a contest-- but if a 12 year old can make something this awesome and let me share it with all of you, I know there are talents among you just waiting to be shown off :) Share with the artists you know, too! I'll be sharing in a few places myself today in an effort to get this going, because I think it'd be really special to have those alternate cards featuring art by the community, so....I'm not giving up! :) And seriously, use those coloring pages as templates! Paint over them, collage over them, anything, they make a great guide for those of you who may not be confident in your drawing skills!

Here's where we are with the social part of the goals: 

1/25 shares of the campaign on Facebook with the hashtag #crystallogame 

(If you posted the campaign to FB, just go ahead and edit it to add the tag so I can find it and count it!) 

1/10 pictures of PNP’s shared on Instagram with the hashtag #crystallogame

1/20 shares of coloring pages on Instagram with the hashtag #crystallogame

Put those kids to work on the coloring pages! Or do what Sarah did (above) and take a moment to revisit childhood with some adult coloring time!.

1/5 Tabletop Simulator screenshots on Instagram with the hashtag #crystallogame

22/25 shares of the campaign on Twitter tagged @lightheartgames

This one is nearly complete! Great job, Twitter folks!

0/1 full game (Tabletop Simulator or PNP) streamed on Twitch 

So, that's where we're at! I hope this inspires you to use those creative muscles and show your excitement about Crystallo at the same time! We've got 19 days left, I think we can do this. 

Will you tackle one of the social quests today? 

As always, my endless gratitude for all of your support so far in the campaign, and all your encouragement! You've made this one of the most exciting things I've ever done. 

-Liberty

1,000 backers? CHECK. $20,000? CHECK. 500% funded? CHECK! Celebrating with a NEW stretch goal + a whole NEW reward tier!!
almost 5 years ago – Sat, May 11, 2019 at 11:03:39 AM

WOW. Just when I thought I probably had another day to get my update ready, I woke up early (around 8 am Pacific) this fine Saturday morning (Yes, I wrote Sunday in the update I sent out, I'm a mess! lol) to see that we had stormed past 1,000 backers and shattered the $20k stretch goal! Many thanks to Dustin at Side Room Games for the recommendation in their updates for Black Sonata and Maquis for bringing so many new faces! (If for some *crazy* reason you're not aware of those two hit solo games, you should definitely check them out here on Kickstarter!)

So let's start with stretch goals! First off, SO excited to say that we now get to add a beautiful embroidered logo to the satin-lined velvet bag we'll be sending Crystallo in! 

And as I've been hinting at, I am adding a new surprise stretch goal today, for $25K! *Very* excited to say we will be adding spot UV to all six creature cards and both dragon cards! If you're not familiar with what spot UV looks like, it's a special UV coating that is applied only to certain areas of a card to give those areas a glossy, slightly raised effect that makes them pop in contrast to the finish of the rest of the card. You can see some great examples of the effect here. I think it's going to make those creature and dragon cards look amazing!

But wait.... there's more! :D I'm also adding A NEW REWARD TIER! You can now upgrade your pledge to include a gorgeous (and huge) 30" x 30" playmat featuring the dragon and orbs!

For $40 (+ $4 shipping US, or $10 for international shipping) you can get your copy of Crystallo PLUS this big, gorgeous playmat, and have a beautiful and thematic surface to play Crystallo on!  How cool is that?? I can't wait to get a proof from the manufacturer so I can really show it off with some photographs! 

I'll be adding this information to the reward tiers section of the campaign shortly, and then I'll be catching up with new comments, messages and questions after that! So please bear with me if I'm a bit behind today, I really thought I had a bit more time!-- just goes to show I should never underestimate y'all ;) 

Thanks for continuing to make this a thrilling and wonderful experience, I'm continually just blown away. 

- Liberty