With our Kickstarter campaign launch looming, we realise we’re going to have a lot of old BaRPG supporters with the question “So what’s this about ‘BaRPiG’?”
We’d like to us this blog to bring everyone up to speed. You may or may not have known yet, but BaRPG has been through a lot. Don’t worry, it’s still the good old BaRPG at heart you know and love.
BaRPG was a great success. Selling 200 packs in 6 months proved that. One thing we did run into constantly was where other people saw BaRPiG as just a “Drinking Game”, we saw our “Drinking Game” as more of a silly social game for at home or out with friends. In the end we realised we didn’t have a drinking game, we actually had the makings of a brilliant social event – drinks not included nor required.
It was this realization along with the heaps of feedback provided to us by all the players of the original game that brought us to work on improving our game. BaRPG was released as Beta exactly for this reason, and we got to enjoy one of the best parts of being a developer; Seeing your game evolve. Here’s a list of what’s been changed in the meantime…
Why a ‘BaR – PiG’? A little nod to our dear friends and test players who always mispronounced the R-P-G part of the name. Aside from this joke however, the extra ‘i’ in it’s title symbolically represents its own evolution: it’s like the original BaRPG but augmented into something better, something for everybody, more than just a “drinking game.” It also gives us a chance to sneak in a little Pig mascot, as well as make all the character illustrations cute little pigs. Notice what the pig in the logo is holding in his hand?…- Wait? Illustrations?! That’s right! MJ, our dear friend and artist is back and has not only given us an amazing logo we’re very proud of, but she’s also fully illustrating the game for us.
- We’ve also done away with the need to drink and added a resource management system that makes the game even more strategic. Still want a drinking game? Just leave the new ‘Bar Tab’ out!
The characters have also been adjusted somewhat. Four of the characters have been changed, and the other games have been adjusted slightly, making the game easier to learn for newbies, increasing group engagement, and making the game much more replayable.- The items have been tweaked slightly, making the game more challenging whilst also shortening game times to 30-45 minutes for a 4 player game.
- The rules have been simplified. You don’t need to roll higher than your level anymore, making endless re-roll circuits a thing of the past.
- Visually the game has gone forward leaps and bounds. Our new cards have a beautiful layout with a colored border, the colors are also cross referenced in the rules to make things simpler for first time players.
We did mention it’s been through a lot! In essence it’s the same game, we’ve just made it for everyone!
We launched the prototype of BaRPiG in November at the Spellenspektakel convention in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. It was an immediate success, and also the event at which we sold out the last of our BaRPG stock, 20 packs in just two days.
The evolution had made the difference, and we knew our game was now ready for Kickstarter.
Through all this we keep remembering that we couldn’t have made it this far without our family, friends, and especially you guys. For this, we remain eternally grateful. It’s been amazing, and we know the fun has only just started. On to the journey ahead together!
Until then,
Keep questing you fine BaRPiGs, and BaRPGers
~Johno & Phil
