Review
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Pug And Play · 06/10/2024
Cysmic
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Fin de campagne : 29/06/2024
Fonds récoltés : 230 606 €
YOU CAN STILL BACK THIS CAMPAIGN AND GET YOUR COPY OF CYSMIC!
GAMES ARE BEING FULFILLED AROUND THE WORLD RIGHT NOW!
SURPLUS COPIES ARE VERY LIMITED!
If you're interested in even MORE Cysmic, be sure to click here to follow the campaign for the upcoming second printing to be alerted about new expansion content and other languages! (This is NOT a Second Edition, rather a second printing!)
WHAT IS CYSMIC?
Cysmic is a dynamic tactical sci-fi board game for up to 6 players (with expansion) set on the crumbling surface of a distant planet. Become the next Colony Ship Commander! Use cunning, tactics, and strategy to ultimately build your massive 7-piece colony ship.
Players assume the role of one of the many asymmetrical factions on the planet that is fighting desperately to survive. Throughout the game, players gather resources, capture enemy units, and work to construct their colony ship. Once built, you must evacuate all of your units on the planet before launching your colony ship. The first faction to do so not only escapes with their lives but also destroys the planet with the force of their ship's ignition.
There are no points in Cysmic. The player who completes the objective first is the winner.
GAMEPLAY SUMMARY:
Gameplay consists of managing your empire until you can safely evacuate your people offworld. Players must recruit units, explore their surroundings, wage war against enemies, manage their economy, and obtain the resources necessary to construct their Colony Ship. The game is played in rounds made up of 5 turns per round. At the beginning of each round, players hold 10 Command Cards that dictate their actions each turn. On a turn, players must burn one Command Card facedown and play one Command Card faceup. Symbols at the bottom of each card then allow players to perform a bonus action. Each round ends when all players complete 5 turns. The next round starts with the player who currently holds the first player token. Turns continue until one player successfully launches their colony ship. Games roughly last 6-15 turns depending on player count.
OBJECTIVE FOR WINNING THE GAME:
Be the first player to build their colony ship and launch off the planet with all of their units. Be careful evacuating your units before launching or else your conscience may not allow you to leave.
Pledge now to make Cysmic the crown jewel of your board game collection!
Why Back Now?
What Makes Cysmic Unique?
INFINITE REPLAYABILITY: In Cysmic, there are no guarantees on what can happen. The game state can be wildly unpredictable. Discovery Cards can change the course of the game in an instant. Players who think they don't have a chance at winning can make a massive comeback in one or two turns. There's never a time when a player is out of the game! Fracture events change the landscape of the board differently in every game. Collapsed hexes can destroy units in the middle of a battle before either faction can leave or capture units. Add that game variability to the 18 different factions where each leader has game-breaking abilities and no two games of Cysmic will ever be the same!
TIGHT THEMATIC INTEGRATION: Many games fail to provide a thematic experience but Cysmic delivers. In your first play, you'll quickly refer to your units by name. You won't be talking about game mechanics or moving tokens around a board. Instead, you will be recruiting troops, upgrading vehicles, capturing enemies, and seeing units swallowed by planetary fracture events. You'll be experiencing the thrills and wild moments of a sci-fi action movie on your game table!
HIGH ASYMMETRY: Each faction operates wildly differently with 3 or 4 game-breaking abilities per faction. Traverse the map almost anywhere by embracing the decentralized Liberty Bells faction. Convert defeated troops to your army as the Cutler Covenant cult. Negotiate your way to success at the table following the political Path of the Wrighteous. Manipulate the landscape for your benefit as the failed terraforming team, Moving Mao Tons. Avoid conflict altogether with a businessman or put hits out on other players with the mob boss. Use social media influencers to gain planetary influence among the colonists. Play the biggest entertainer on the planet to use rabid fans to help him win. There are 18 different factions available in the all-in gameplay edition of Cysmic... and more to come. All of them excel in entirely different ways with unique starting resources and ways to break the game just as much as the planet!
ONE GOAL - MANY PATHS: It's a race for all players to achieve the same goal in Cysmic, but how you do that varies greatly. Everyone needs blueprints from their opponent to build their colony ships. Choose to engage in battle and capture hostages to trade for the blueprints, negotiate with other players for surplus hostages or directly for their blueprint, or just hack their colony ships from a distance. Cysmic offers a massive variety of different actions based on the current state of the planet board. Pay close attention to every action by every player so you know your best options when your time comes.
VIRTUALLY NO DOWNTIME: Even when it is not your turn, the amount of changes happening to the state of the planet demands your engagement throughout the gameplay. Use Reaction Discovery Cards even when it isn't your turn to influence the game state. Engage in battles when opponents play their Battle Command Card. Trade resources with players when they play Negotiation Command Card. Planetary Events can immediately affect each player differently regardless of who drew the card.
TRUE MULTI-USE CARDS: Throughout the game, you will be gaining and using Discovery cards. These cards can be used to modify your combat dice rolls, gain precious resources, or perform game-breaking special actions. Applying the best use for each card is challenging. There are also rare and coveted Relic cards, each offering the choice of upgrading your faction or sacrificing it to regain a Command Card back to your hand. The game-changing Espionage Cards change the rules of the game as you play for your benefit... or to the detriment of your opponents. Choose wisely!
FAST MOVEMENT: The planet is made up of 127 hexes but the world of Cysmic is quite small to the units of the game. Troops and vehicles can move multiple hexes for each activation. This keeps turns fast and frenetic. A planetary cave system allows for even further movement giving units the ability to jump across the map quickly. However, the biggest movement advantage of Cysmic over any other game on the market is called Planetary Movement. The board may look round but it acts as a sphere for unit movement. Move off of any edge hex and pop up on any other edge hex with the same planetary movement symbol. This ensures all opponents are equidistant from each other without a contrived map layout that doesn't feel natural.
MINIATURES WITH A PURPOSE: Miniatures in Cysmic are not just fancy game tokens. They are the visual embodiment of that unit's abilities built into the sculpture. The massive scale of the Powermech is shown jumping in the air to remind players about its jump jet abilities. The Miner holds a piece of crystal ore to remind players of their ability to gain resources. Speakers have a prominent flag as part of her model showing her ability to influence the colonists by placing a control flag. The colony ship unit is the literal win game condition as you add the ship modules to the miniature piece by piece. Even the tokens are all easily identifiable to make sure there's no confusion about what something is for or how it works.
HIGH PLAYER INTERACTION! Cysmic is a game with high player interaction. Every action can, and most likely WILL, affect all other players at the table. Your best-laid plans may be thrown out the window. It's best to adapt to the ever-changing game state. Use your instincts in place of your mental calculators. So who is it for? This game comes from my love of RTS games from the early days of PC gaming. It's for gamers who enjoy the likes of Kemet, Eclipse, Twilight Imperium, Blood Rage, Rising Sun, Cthulhu Wars, Dominant Species, Root, Ankh, Hellenica, Dune: War for Arrakis, Lords of Hellas, Nemesis, and other highly competitive thematic games. There is also influence and DNA mixed into Cysmic from pure Euros such as Concordia, El Grande, Hansa Teutonica, and so many more. If these games are your jam, then Cysmic is for you!
LEAVE THE GAME TABLE WITH STORIES TO TELL! Cysmic is a game like no other on the market. After evolving Cysmic so much through the years, I realized early on that even if a game WORKS, that's not enough. The game must be FUN. I envisioned this idea as far back as 2015 before I eventually started working on it in early 2017. I had played so many board games at that point but I generally felt like the themes were discordant with the gameplay mechanics. I wanted to make a game where you felt like you were the star of your own action sci-fi movie. The choices, gameplay, mechanics, and player interaction all needed to blend into the theme seamlessly. I think I have done that and it shows with every playtest. When a game of Cysmic ends, all players walk away with fun stories to tell, win or lose, and that makes for great memories. Those memories create a fond association with the gaming experience that Cysmic offers.
Play It Your Way!
COMPETITIVE - COOPERATIVE - SOLO - EURO-MODE. You will receive a huge box with tons of miniatures, cardboard, and cards. Why should there be only one way to play it? Get all of this in one big box on your shelf!
The classic version of Cysmic is the competitive mode with extremely high player interaction. Be the first player to build your Colony Ship and Launch to win!
The Cooperative mode is called SAVE THE COLONISTS and plays significantly differently than the Competitive mode. Save the Colonists is a reverse tower defense mode where you are trying to get colonists to move toward your ship before the planet is destroyed! Save enough colonists before a set number of hexes are destroyed by the planet to launch and win together as a team!
Then there's the Solo mode which pits the player against the timer of the planet collapse. A fog of war is implemented to keep the player from knowing which opponent is attacking them until those units appear in the hex. Modules are not obtained through traditional means but rather through a set of mission objectives. Meet your goals, build your ship, and launch before an AI player does... or the planet explodes!
Euro-Mode is a game mode that evolved from the Solo mode. This is for players who want to avoid so much direct player conflict in the classic mode. 12 missions will be laid out at the beginning of the game, 2 per Colony Ship module. Each player tries to fulfill the objectives to unlock the blueprints while still building their ship as fast as possible. Player interaction is still present but you can choose to coexist with almost no conflict and achieve your goal of launching first to win!
Gameplay Summary
Component List
What Are People Saying About Cysmic?
Check out the coverage from the industry professionals!
Listen to me talk about all things Cysmic on The Meeple Dungeon Podcast!
https://themeepledungeon.podbean.com/e/episode-94-interview-with-jason-blake-designer-of-cysmic/
LOOK AT THESE TESTIMONIALS AND QUOTES FROM REAL PLAYERS:
WHAT ARE INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS SAYING ABOUT CYSMIC?
The Evolution of Cysmic in Photos
8 Years of Design, Development, Playtesting, and Fun!
I want to know more!
Who is the Designer?
Investing in Cysmic also means investing in the passion and dedication of me.
So, who am I? Let's move past the formalities and get acquainted.
I'm Jason Blake, a 49-year-old gamer from Texas. My world revolves around my wonderful wife, our twin 13-year-olds, and our furry companions—a golden retriever, two white labs, and three outdoor cats.
By profession, I'm deeply entrenched in Information Technology and Marketing within a robotics company. I'm also a serial side hustler using skills I picked up working for an advertising agency. I am constantly delving into graphic design, 3D animation, motion graphics, scriptwriting, audio and video production/editing, voiceover work, talent scouting, and marketing campaigns. Plus, I'm the go-to guy for hosting both corporate and personal events.
Gaming has been my lifelong passion. From Atari systems to PC gaming and onward to modern consoles, I've traversed the digital landscapes of most gaming genres, but RTS games are what grabbed my attention the most. Total Annihilation and Supreme Commander were my absolute favorites but I also had a healthy love for Homeworld. My love for board games surged during the modern renaissance of this hobby, propelling my personal board game collection to nearly 1000 titles. Inspired by my gaming odyssey, I embarked on a design journey to create the ultimate board game experience—an homage to RTS classics infused with cinematic flair. Thus, Cysmic was born.
But it's not just games that fuel my creativity; movies play a significant role too. As a self-proclaimed movie geek, I draw inspiration from the world of sci-fi and action cinema. The thrill of a well-crafted plot and the spectacle of visual effects have influenced my design aesthetic, infusing Cysmic with cinematic intensity and immersive gameplay.
Now that you know me, let's talk about why it matters.
My diverse skill set, honed through years in technology and marketing, empowered me to craft Cysmic with minimal reliance on external resources. From initial prototype to refined designs, I've shepherded every aspect of this project. With a meticulous eye for detail and a knack for innovation, I've navigated the complexities of production, even utilizing my new love of 3D printing to bring Cysmic to life. While production is important, it's only truly valuable with a strong game design foundation. That's why I've carefully curated a Google Drive packed with over 400 gigabytes of data dedicated to this project alone. Every note, token, board, and design element dating back to 2017 is carefully preserved within it. For more insights into the journey behind Cysmic, delve into the designer diaries available on the BoardGameGeek page:
Designer Diaries and Forums: Cysmic on BoardGameGeek
But it's not just about the game—it's about trust.
By backing Cysmic, you're entrusting me with your support and belief in this project. Rest assured, I'm committed to maintaining open communication throughout, ensuring your journey with Star Reach Games is nothing short of extraordinary. I aim to establish personal connections with each of you, ensuring that we all feel positive about our relationship moving forward.
Thank you for joining me on this adventure and believing in the vision of Cysmic.
Sincerely,
Jason
What has changed since the Kickstarter from last year?
To all the returning supporters, WELCOME BACK!
To all of you just discovering Cysmic for the first time, WELCOME ABOARD!
To everyone reading this, THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE!
This section hopefully clears up concerns about what happened with the original Kickstarter from 2023 and why Cysmic is relaunching on Gamefound.
WHAT HAPPENS TO FAILED OR CANCELED CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGNS?
When a crowdfunding campaign (Gamefound/Kickstarter/Backerkit/etc.) is canceled or fails to fund, backers are never charged for their pledge.
But wait, I put my credit card in and it said "Thank you for being part of this project!"
That's true but it doesn't charge your card at that moment. The action of clicking the pledge button is more like an authorization to be charged at a future date. In this case, the future date is when the campaign ends and the crowdfunding service collects the funds from all pledges. This means during the campaign, a financial pledge is an INTENTION to provide funds to the total goal of the project which determines the success of the project.
WHY WAS THE CYSMIC KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN CONSIDERED UNSUCCESSFUL?
The first campaign was canceled intentionally by me. No money was ever collected and there were no rewards to fulfill from the first campaign. There were a variety of factors involved in the cancellation that I will explain further in the following sections. Canceling the campaign means the campaign was considered unsuccessful by Kickstarter. No funds were ever collected.
Let me reiterate, no one is ever charged if the campaign is unsuccessful. The last thing I want is for someone to think I had financial gain from my first campaign on Kickstarter. If anything, it was quite the opposite. In full transparency, it was the single largest financial loss in my personal life I have ever experienced. And yet, here I am again... because I believe in the game and the project as a whole.
WHY THE GAMEFOUND CAMPAIGN NOW?
Plainly put, this is a new attempt to bring Cysmic to market on a different platform. Cysmic is still the same but even more refined and expanded. However, I want to be clear that this game has never been produced yet. This is not a second edition. This is not a second wave. This is not an attempt to make money to fulfill a past Kickstarter. This is still my first game and I am not trying to raise funds to cover expenses from a prior Cysmic production or even a non-Cysmic-related project. We all know the world of crowdfunding has seen its share of ugliness over the last few years. This is why I am approaching this campaign with as much transparency as possible to help ease backers' minds about an indie project of this magnitude.
SO WHY DID YOU CANCEL THE CYSMIC KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN?
There are many issues why I canceled the Kickstarter from last year.
Did it technically "fund?" Yes.
Was that funding goal a lie that I was pushed into by many entities guiding me through the process of my first campaign? Yes, it was. I am not proud of that.
Having said that, be aware many funding goals you see on crowdfunding projects are at best, not realistic, and at worst, knowingly disingenuous. If you're a veteran of crowdfunding, you'll know this practice has partly led to many projects being mismanaged by using funds from the next project to pay for the previous one.
I. Will. Never. Do. That.
I was told to "play the crowdfunding goal game" or else the project wouldn't be as successful as it could be. In fact, I went as far as bucking the recommendations and still made the goal quite a bit higher than what I was originally pressured into. Otherwise, I would have "funded" in the first day or so... with even less of a way to practically make the game. All this is to say the game could not be made for the goal I set even though I "funded." This was the main reason for the cancellation and I felt terrible about it. I have since rebelled against the idea of ever doing that again, or practicing any other disingenuous crowdfunding methods to achieve success. I would rather be fully transparent about everything than go through with these dishonest schemes to confuse or take advantage of backers.
If the game truly funds based on a realistic goal, then wonderful! We all win! If it doesn't, then I have to acknowledge that Cysmic is a game that is unmarketable, at least by me. But at least I was honest with the backers and honest with myself.
As far as the technical challenges from the first campaign, there was a HUGE glitch on the part of Kickstarter's technical department. It's one they still choose to ignore today and will not admit to (for a variety of corporate reasons.) The campaign page for Cysmic somehow ended up being buried in their database. No one still knows why for sure, but it could have been the use of a certain symbol or emoji displayed on the Kickstarter page or some strange database issue. It could have been just a slip-up by the tech team. We will never know... but the result is that the Cysmic Kickstarter page was only accessible by a direct link. It was not searchable on their internal search engine within their site. Even worse, it was not searchable even on Google because of how their site provides information to Google's search engine. This made my campaign page all but invisible. I was never exposed to any browsing traffic or individuals searching for Cysmic after hearing about it. Even advertisements that didn't provide direct links to the KS page were useless... such as the $10k+ of influencers who covered the game. Without a direct link, your favorite Youtuber who covered it would have you googling "Cysmic Kickstarter" and it would show no such page. For fun, you can try this now if you would like. It's still true to this day.
Google "Cysmic Kickstarter" and you will see no such listing. Then try "(different game) Kickstarter" and it will be the first Google link for that game.
I begged and pleaded with the Kickstarter technical team to fix the issue. I did everything I could to try to figure out what to do. I didn't know about it until a few days into the campaign, although I knew something was wrong, right from the start. They ignored me and never fixed the issue. It nearly bankrupted me personally after an insane amount of effort and work. So it took me about a year to recover mentally and emotionally from that fiasco. My wife has been the driving force for me to get back in the saddle and try it one more time.
THANKS FOR RETURNING TO SUPPORT ME AND CYSMIC!
So here I am on Gamefound.
Gamefound has been a much more pleasant experience and I am here to hopefully see Cysmic get made. If it doesn't this time, I will have no one to blame but myself for making an unmarketable game. And I am okay with that because it will always be on my private board game shelf to share with my game group, friends, and family... But I sure would like to share it with the world!
Many people returning to support this campaign again is hopefully a reflection of my passion and enthusiasm to keep this project alive. I have tried to foster a good community of people by being fun, friendly, open, and above all else, transparent. This is hopefully why you and many others have returned to support me once more.
Please spread the word about Cysmic and help me get it made this time. I appreciate any support you can provide. Thanks for being here. I sincerely appreciate all of the support from you and everyone following the campaign!
Let's make a game together!
Jason
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By pledging to this project, you acknowledge that the final look, materials and content of the rewards (and the project) are subject to change and may differ substantially from what is presented while the Gamefound project was active.
If you do not log in to the Pledge Manager and confirm your pledge in that system within 8 weeks of our notification via email to confirm your pledge, you agree that we have fulfilled our obligations to you in full for payment or donations received. However, we may, at our discretion, refund your pledge if you contact us after the 8 week window has elapsed. Unconfirmed pledges make it difficult for us to plan production and logistics, and in the past have led to project delays. For this project we do not intend to allow this to happen, which may mean if you confirm your pledge too late, exclusive items may not be produced in sufficient quantity for your pledge.
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