Live stream this weekend, links to this week's happenings, and Campaign info!
almost 4 years ago – Mon, Jun 06, 2022 at 12:05:02 PM

Arcs Live Play This Weekend!

Tune in to GuerricSamplesGames on June 5th at 2PM CDT, on Twitch!

Live Stream Link Roundup!

We have one final act to play in our Arcs Studio Campaign stream series. Mark your calendar for next Thursday, June 9th at 2PM CDT. In the meantime, catch up on the previous acts:

• Catch the replay of Act 1 on Twitch or YouTube!
• Catch the replay of Act 2 on Twitch or YouTube!

Cole conducted a bit of a design-along stream this past Tuesday. He talks through the history of Arcs and even hazards to do a bit of design, live! Catch it in replay on our Twitch or our YouTube. 

Cole also sat down with Space Cats Peace Turtles, and the interview premiered this week! Listen to the Space Cats and Peace Turtles Podcast and learn more about Arcs.

Campaign Mod now Available!

Here's what you need to play around with the campaign game.

Questions and/or need Support?

Please email us at [email protected] for any questions or assistance. Please do not use the Kickstarter messaging system to contact us.

A Big Milestone and Act 2 of our Campaign Coming Your Way Tomorrow!
almost 4 years ago – Thu, Jun 02, 2022 at 12:58:22 AM

A Big Milestone

Monday the Arcs campaign crossed a million dollars. Though we don't have things like stretch goals, this was still a very big milestone for everyone at Leder Games. We stopped doing stretch goals a few years ago for a pretty simple reason. We had a good sense of the size of our audience, and it felt disingenuous just to make a bunch of stretch goals which we would then blast past in the first 24 hours. We also didn't want to lock ourselves into a bunch of promises that sounded good on paper but proved to be anything but in practice. Sometimes double-layered playerboards offer huge gameplay improvements, and sometimes they are a big waste of money. It's hard to know which component upgrades are the right ones to spend money on until a product is pretty close to competition, and we want to empower our creative and production teams to make the right call for each game. The campaign's success means that they will have lots of tools for making this production really special. 

Of course, this isn't the only reason we've all been happy to see the campaign do well. It seems likely that the campaign will surpass Oath in the coming days. This means that there still a big appetite for the kinds of ambitious design projects that we love making. The campaign also means that we can fund a few improvement to our studio workshop, such as nicer printers and maybe even a laser cutter after we move to the new office building this summer. 

And, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that the money matters too! Years ago we put in place a bonus structure that rewards every member on staff for the performance of our games, from the folks on our customer service team to the creative team. When a campaign does well, we all do well. 

In short, a million dollars is a big deal for all of us. Thank you!

Arcs Studio Campaign Series Continues Tomorrow!

Join Nick, Josh, Alita and myself at 2PM CDTon Twitch as we continue our Staff Live Play series with Act 2!

Catch the replay of Act 1 on Twitch or YouTube!

If you don't have the time for the entirety of Act 1, but you're curious about the "intermission" step between games, here's a timestamp to the end minutes of our campaign play last week.

If you missed my design stream from yesterday afternoon, you can find it  on our Twitch channel. I talk through the history of the design and even hazard to do a bit of design, live! The chat will be uploaded to our YouTube page soon. Stay tuned!

If you missed yesterday's r/boardgames AMA, find the post here.

And, if you still want to learn more about Arcs, you can listen to my appearance on the Space Cats and Peace Turtles Podcast here. Come for the chat about Arcs and stay to hear my JRPG hot takes!

Questions and/or need Support?

Please email us at [email protected] for any questions or assistance. Please do not use the Kickstarter messaging system to contact us.

Monday is a day of rest … but Tuesday we’re taking off again! 🚀
almost 4 years ago – Tue, May 31, 2022 at 01:31:09 AM

The studio is closed today.

It's a bit wet and gloomy, but we're enjoying the long weekend. We will address comments and emails when we’re back tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, there’s a lot happening!

Join us tomorrow morning on r/boardgames for an AMA at 10AM CDT with Cole and Kyle!

Then, in the afternoon, tune in for a Design Stream with Cole at 2PM CDT on Twitch! Pop into the chat with your questions. Can’t make it live? No problem! The VOD will be available on our Twitch channel for 14 days, and we’ll post it to our YouTube channel later in the week. Stay tuned!

Speaking of YouTube, the first act of our Studio Campaign Series is available now! Tune in this Thursday for Act 2.

Questions and/or need Support?

Please email us at [email protected] for any questions or assistance. Please do not use the Kickstarter messaging system to contact us.

Wow, what an amazing first few days!
almost 4 years ago – Sat, May 28, 2022 at 05:23:12 AM

Heading into the first weekend of the campaign, we are grateful and overwhelmed. (And a bit tired. Just a little though.)

We’ve watched some great Arcs live streams from Space Cats Peace Turtles and Beneeta_K! (Check out the VODs, available now on their channels!)

Our Studio Arcs campaign kicked off yesterday. Catch the recording of Studio Campaign Series Live Stream Number 1 (of 3) on Twitch, and watch for the VOD hitting our YouTube this weekend! Mark your calendar for sessions two and three, at 2PM CDT on the next two Thursdays.

We’re Taking a Break!

Our studio is closed on Monday, so we’ll get to your comments and emails when we’re back on Tuesday! We wish everyone a relaxing weekend.

More Leder Games to Watch!

If you’re looking for fun tabletop content this weekend, tune in to Tabletop Live Network’s May Marathon, starting at Noon PST on Saturday, May 28. 

We’re proud to sponsor Room 51, streaming Root at 6PM PST | 9PM EST | 2AM GMT on Twitch!

Questions and/or need Support?

Please email us at [email protected] for any questions or assistance. Please do not use the Kickstarter messaging system to contact us.

Design Background and Upcoming Streams
almost 4 years ago – Sat, May 28, 2022 at 03:48:05 AM

Hello everyone!

First, I just want to say thank you for all of your support. We've been working on this project for a long time, and it is tremendously validating to see the response. 

Today, I wanted to take a little time to share with you some pieces I've written about the history of the design. Like our previous projects, I have been sharing design diaries on Board Game Geek over the past couple of months which talk quite a bit about the game. I started by introducing the design in this post.  I got into more specifics in the second post about the game's origins, which covered the earliest history of the design and told the story of some of the things the studio has been up to since we finished Oath. It also gave me an excuse to share a picture of the big pile of books that inspired some of the game's worldbuilding.

After that, it was time to get into the mechanical weeds. I first wrote about the game's trick-taking action system. This post explains a bit about the mechanical context of the games and why I thought the conventions of trick-taking games were appropriate. For the next post, I switched gears and talked about the game's narrative design. Specifically, I wrote a lot about how the game uses time to tell its stories and how it differs from Root and Oath. I also talk a bit about one of my favorite old CRPGs, The Magic Candle.

With that background in hand, we then moved on to the subject of asymmetry and the game's special power design. Though Arcs starts players off with a very symmetrical footing, player positions diverge pretty quickly. From there, we were primed to talk about combat design! In what has now become a bit of a tradition, Arcs went through tons of different combat systems before I found one that I was happy with. I talk about the process of finding the right way to do battle in this post. This post in particular is a real treat if you'd like to see some zany discarded ideas. 

Finally, in my post from last week, I wrote about a subject which we generally don't talk about too much, product design. In this piece, I covered the conversations that led to the decision to split the campaign off from the core game and some of the considerations that we have to think about to make sure the game is viable in the long-term. 

And if somehow you still have not had your fill of Arcs, we've got a lot more in store.

Our Staff Live Play series kicks off tomorrow!

We’ll be taking Arcs through a full campaign, three games, on consecutive Thursdays. Game #1 lifts off at 2PM CDT on Twitch! https://www.twitch.tv/ledergamesmedia

(VOD will be available on Twitch for 14 days, and look for the upload to our YouTube channel next week!)

The live plays keep on coming!

Tune in tonight at 7PM CDT to watch Beneeta_K, with guests Sam (Lord of the Board) and Tim Chuon play Arcs on Twitch:  https://www.twitch.tv/beneeta_k

And be sure to keep an eye out for all of our upcoming streams:

Questions and/or need Support?

Please email us at [email protected] for any questions or assistance. Please do not use the Kickstarter messaging system to contact us.