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Upstairs, Downstairs: an Obsession Expansion

Created by Kayenta Games

A servant-focused expansion for the award-winning thematic Euro + 2nd printings of the sold out Obsession base game & Wessex expansion

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Video Series Complete, Backer Update, Promotional Tiles
over 6 years ago – Sat, Dec 07, 2019 at 12:23:02 AM

This Update is long and may put you to sleep. I've even included that other species in my photo as an olive branch.

101 Lost Souls

There remain 101 backers who have not filled out their survey. I have been trying to contact each of them individually, but I wanted to put this reminder up front in the hopes some of them see this and contact me at [email protected]. 

Video Series

At around 1 hour, 25 minutes, the presentation of the new market system is complete (along with a lot of other new elements). I apologize for the shaky camera; all my attempts at a static cam have failed so far, and I had to get this out. 

If you have no appetite for a full watch, I recommend the first and last video to get a sense of the market scaling system. This is important because I have to address the need for a modified Supply Board for those who will be staying with their 1st edition of Obsession (addressed below).

Obsession, 2nd Printing, New Supply Board

As shown in the 1st video, I have designed the Supply Board to support the new market system. This board will be in the 2nd printing of Obsession that begins production in the first week of January. I thought long and hard about the new market system because of the issue this now creates: owners of the 1st printing of Obsession—folks near and dear to my heart as they are the ones who 'brung Kayenta Games to the dance'—do not have this lovely board.

Please let me know in the comments your thoughts about these proposed solutions:

  • Add this Supply Board to Upstairs, Downstairs. Owners of the 2nd edition Obsession and UD will have a duplicate board.
  • Print a run of Supply Boards that I will send to owners of the 1st edition at no charge for the board (but I would have to charge shipping).
  • Create an extension (a little like in my video, matched to the current Supply Board) and put it into the UD box.

I lean to the solution that puts something in the UD box because those who own the 1st game and have no interest in UD can continue to manage the market by the old rules. The game does not suffer at all as those 1st edition owners know the current system well (and usually have some hack in place for handling it easily). 

For those who are happy with the 1st edition Obsession and have decided to get UD, they would get a solution in the expansion. The free boards upon request worries me because that board will be somewhat expensive to ship to many places around the world.

Thoughts?

Production

All graphic design files have been submitted, and pre-production copies are being created. Once I dive into the PPCs and tweak/approve the content, we will move to production. There will be videos of the box storage system at that time (before Christmas). I plan on starting production in the 1st week of the New Year.

Backer-Developed Promotional Tiles (BDPT)

You saw some of the BDPT in the videos, and I will be—a week or so late—finishing up design tweaks on BGG this weekend. Head over there if you're interested! 

Here is screenshot of the BDPT punchboard art, and you can see that I am slowly putting tile sorting numbers into place (doing the SERVICE tiles 1st).

 Thanks!

Dan Hallagan, Kayenta Games

Video: Playthrough (2P) Showing New Market System
over 6 years ago – Thu, Dec 05, 2019 at 12:33:01 AM

Here is the first video in a series of five showing the new Market setup/scaling system along with a complete 2P playthrough. I apologize, but Kickstarter is glitchy today and won't permit me to embed the video. Here is the YouTube link...Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/1-9yjIe-MFU 

I will use one Update to post to the remaining videos; this one has special significance because of the new market system.

Dan Hallagan, Kayenta Games

Slight Delay in the Pledge Manager Closing
over 6 years ago – Mon, Dec 02, 2019 at 01:53:41 AM

Due to the holiday here is the US (family in town, much eating), I was unable to get required housekeeping done before closing the Pledge Manager (PM). That housekeeping is planned for today, and I will be closing the PM this evening, US Eastern Standard Time (about 12 hours from the timestamp on this Update). A couple notes:

  • There are about 5% of pledges from the Kickstarter campaign that have not been completed.
  • If you are reading this after the PM closes and you did not fill out your survey, do not despair; you'll need to get Oz involved (me) to fix things and there will be no access to upgrading, but we'll get it figured out. As always, Oz is located at [email protected].
  • Late Pledges do not need to do anything additional; if you placed a Late Pledge during the last month, you had to provide all the needed information to complete your pledge, so you're done.
  • All artwork is submitted and PPCs (preproduction copies) are being created.
  • I will start filming this week.

Thanks!

Dan Hallagan, Kayenta Games

FIVE DAYS LEFT (to complete your pledge...still 184 lost souls; are you sure you're not one?)
over 6 years ago – Tue, Nov 26, 2019 at 12:24:53 AM

 There are five days left to fill out your pledge survey!

Last week, I had a pledge reminder pop into my Inbox for the deluxified version of Madeira. "Why are you emailing me?" I grumbled. "I did this already." I promptly checked my folder of game pledges...nothing. 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Happens to us all, but I don't want it to happen to 184 of you! Please email me at [email protected] if you have any doubt. NOTE: Late Pledges do not have to fill out a survey.

Thanks!

Dan Hallagan, Kayenta Games



Progress Report
over 6 years ago – Tue, Nov 19, 2019 at 11:01:53 PM

I am back in my Private Study after a refreshing break. Thanks for your patience with my slow answers to your various questions. If anything was missed, please re-contact me as I had less than reliable communications.

Pledge Manager Update

I have some concern that there are 224 backers (~ 9%) who have not completed their surveys. Please, if you have not received an email from BackerKit, contact me immediately at [email protected], and I will send you a custom direct link to your pledge. There are only 11 days remaining until the Pledge Manager is closed. 

Production Update

I am in the final stages of reviewing my production files, which is a heavy workload given that there are four product codes this time around. I hope to submit for my PPCs (preproduction copies) on Monday of next week (which permits final review of all components). 

Market Population and Scaling System

As soon as those PPCs are underway, I will move next to filming a complete playthrough (by Season) showing the new market population and scaling system. It is marvelous! Those videos should start going up around 11/29.

Backer-Developed Promotional Tiles (BDPT)

The vacation interrupted the refinement of the BDPT, which will resume this weekend. We have made great progress (about 60% done), and it shouldn't take long to finish them. I will get a BGG entry up as soon as they are completed. 

Thanks!

Dan Hallagan, Kayenta Games