Photographic World & Alynthia: Just a Few Days to Go On Kickstarter! - Community Newsletter Issue 5


Hey Reader!

Emily Vincent here.

Part of what I love about attending Protospiel Online is that we get to see games in all stages of development. And over time we get to see games grow and progress until eventually they head out into the world via publication. It's always exciting to me when someone is able to make that jump and I'm always impressed when they self-publish via the Kickstarter route.

As a community of creators, we celebrate and support each other's successes, so today we wanted to highlight two of our own who've recently launched on Kickstarter. Perhaps you played one of these games in their earlier forms or perhaps you haven't seen them yet. I invite you to check them out!

Photographic World

Designed by Juliet Smith, Photographic World puts players in the role of wildlife photographers, traveling the world taking photos of amazing animals to gain fame and be crowned the Wildlife Photographer of the Year. This set collection race game for 1-5 players has players taking photos, fulfilling commissions, and becoming world travelers to increase their fame.

Photographic World features beautiful artwork of animals from across the globe, a world map that encourages travel and exploration, and a market that lets you strategically sell and buy your photos to achieve victory. The training and specialization systems allow you to customize your character and experience, making it a unique game play every time.

Juliet has brought Photographic World to Protospiel Online twice, gaining valuable feedback and interest both times. From Juliet:

Photographic World was first play tested by the Protospiel Online community in August of 2022. I brought it to Protospiel Online again in January of 2023. I think the community will be very interested and encouraged to see a game from PO being crowd funded and made available to the public.

The Kickstarter campaign will be live February 1-28, 2023. Late pledges will be open after that on Gamefound.

Alynthia

Designed by Travis Jones and Andrew White of Xplody Games, Alynthia is a fast-paced kingdom-building and dragon-battling game where 1-5 players cooperate or compete to save their homeland from vicious swarms of dragons. Alynthia is their first completed game design and is in its last week on Kickstarter.

Alynthia features swarms of dragons, five different guilds, and customizable research tracks. It also has cooperative, competitive, and solo modes.

When asked how the Protospiel Online community helped Alynthia on its development journey, Travis & Andrew said:

Alynthia wouldn't be half the game it is without feedback from incredible playtesters at events like Protospiel. Our time at Protospiel in August of 2022 was really helpful and really helped us to finalize the design heading into our Kickstarter.

The Kickstarter launched on January 31st and will end on March 2nd of this year.

📣Announcements Announcements Annooouuuncements!

Protospiel Online Community members are getting recognized by industry reviewers! Here are some great reviews our members recently received:

  • Panchayat, by Andy Desa, was featured on Tantrum House as one of their top 10 anticipated games of 2023!
  • Age of Comics, from Giacomo and Sonia Cimini, was featured on the Dice Tower as one of their top 10 anticipated games of 2023!
  • Feud, by Joakim Engfors, got a glowing pre-KickStarter review from The Board Game Kaptain!

Did you know there is a BGG microbadge for Protospiel Online Alumni? If you're an Alumni with some extra Geek Gold or are looking for a microbadge to grab for free with one of the coupons in your "Happy New Year from the 'Geek" geekmail from Jan 2, 2023, we hope this one will feel worth collecting!

That’s it for now. Stay tuned for more awesome events, community opportunities, and updates about games tested at Protospiel!

~Emily

P.S. If you have something you'd like to see featured in our Community Newsletter, you have 3 options -- either submit an official feature request, reply to this message, or post in the #🙌share-your-wins channel in the Protospiel Online Discord server to let us know the details. We'd love to celebrate you!

Thank You to our May 2023 Sponsors!

Hi! We're your Protospiel Online Content Team

We love helping our community of game designers and playtesters find encouragement and connection through our virtual conventions and the supporting content like our Twitch streams, YouTube channel, and Community Newsletter. It lights us up to see all the amazing milestones Protospiel community members are reaching with their game designs.

Read more from Hi! We're your Protospiel Online Content Team
Protospiel online community newsletter issue 32. scattered nexus and sinoda. and free discord channels

Hey Reader! David Kessler here. July is an exciting month for games tested at Protospiel Online. Two games from the early days--we're talking 2020--have found a place in the world this month. Scattered Nexus was tested at PO in October 2020, and again in May 2023. Sinoda was brought to PO in July 2020, and later in January 2022. Congratulations to the creators of these games! The 2024 Edition of Scattered Nexus is live on Kickstarter Scattered Nexus is an ongoing passion project that will...

Hey Reader! Emily Vincent here. Some of you know that last year I decided to branch out from game design into game publishing. I see so many great designs in our online community and wanted to become a part of bringing those games to tables around the world. As part of this process I applied for and was accepted to the GAMA Horizons Fellowship program, an accelerator for emerging publishers and retailers from historically underrepresented groups in the tabletop industry. I'm excited to share...

Protospiel Online community Newsletter issue 30. Bubble net is live. and free community events

Hey Reader! David Kessler here. Bubble Net is live on Kickstarter! Congratulations to Cat Drayer, of Drayer Ink! Bubble Net is Drayer Ink's first Kickstarter, and one of the first games they ever brought to Protospiel Online. Bubble Net is a meditative, multiplayer Solitaire game for 1 to many players, designed and illustrated by Cat Drayer, and developed by George Drayer. In the wild, most humpback whales hunt by lunge fishing - they see a shoal of fish and they lunge at them. It’s not very...