BLOG: Living board game

I planned to write about First Martians being a living board game later this year, when we are closer to the actual release of the game, closer to the street date. Well, I had to change my plans. We’ll talk about living board game today. What happened?

This Tuesday Rodney Smith from Watch It Played published the video about First Martians. In the set up for the first mission, he presented slightly different opening of the game from what players who pre-ordered the game know. Immediately a ton of questions was asked. Did Rodney make a mistake?

Nope, he didn’t. Actually, few times in the video he was telling that he is using the app and future viewers may have a different version of the app and things may vary. First Martians is a living board game. Since Rodney recorded the video we updated the app, we changed set up slightly and we let you play the game without food problems (as it was in the previous version, when Rodney was recording the video).

Let’s talk about living board games. It’s a fascinating subject.

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First Martians comes with the supporting app. This app has all Event and Adventure cards. It has all missions. All set ups, all objectives, all different cool features.

We call First Martians the living board game, because we are going to update the content in the game, adding more and more cards, missions, and features. You buy the game once, but it grows – ‘lives’ – over the months. The game will change and adjust to our – and that means yours because based on your feedback – expectations.

Edits
With a living board game publisher is able to edit every single card in the game. If there is a mistake, it will be fixed. If there is a balance issue, it will be fixed. If there is any way to improve the card or mission, it can be done.

Adding
What’s great about having all the content in the app – publisher can add more content over the months or even years. As for First Martians, the game is technically not even released yet, and we already added few more cards this Monday with the last update – just to surprise players with a few new events. Box says the game comes with 500+ event and adventure cards. As for today, I can confirm that the game has more cards than it had when we sent it to the print. You cannot add content to baord games unless this is expansion or promos. Here, with a living board game that has all cards in the app we can support the game on a constant basis and it cost users nothing. Just update the app and get 20 new cards. Just download the new version and enjoy 15 new adventures.

Celebration
Living board game can adjust to the real life events. You can expect that on April 1st you will find in the app a new set of cards – events and adventures that will change the game into ridiculous series of funny events. They will be available in the app only this one day. The publisher is able to celebrate any event or anniversary – changing or adjusting cards you have in the app. For example for an Early Launch kits, we will have a unique mission in the app. The game box says that the game comes with 16 unique missions, but for this 2 weeks window when we celebrate the official release of the game, there will be 17 missions.

Fan content
Living board game is also a great fan creation supporting project. It can be fueled with the ideas and imagination of fans, who will create the content for the game and it may be naturally presented in the app. No difference between official cards from the game and some sleeved cuts from your office printer. It will be native content presented in the app, as smooth and native as the official one.

‘You know that at some point there might be better fan missions than your original ones?’ asked me Michał Oracz a few weeks ago.
‘I know and I cannot wait to play them’ I said and I really mean it. When buying the living board game you buy the basic content, the things that are listed in the box at the moment of release of the game and you also get a ticket for more, for all the amazing things that designer and fans will come up later on. The game will change and grow fueled with creativity of fan base.

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First Martians is one of the very first games with the strong app support. It meets with a lot of excitement from board games fans and also with a lot of reservation from players who prefer pure analog experience. I know we are stepping into a new territory. I know we will make mistakes. I know we will experiment and we will learn. But overall I do believe that we might be part of something very important for our hobby and good for all players.

Living board concept is something so much interesting from a designer point of view. It’s a way to update the game with new ideas, it’s a way to be in contact with fan base and see the game grow over months and years to come.

Since 2012 I was strongly supporting Robinson Crusoe with new scenarios and promo cards.

Here, with First Martians and access to your copy of the game directly via app I can see endless possibilities. Cannot wait for what will happen in the future.

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Original text here: https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/67338/living-board-game