Post Kickstarter Update

So, what happens now?

While we are disappointed that the Kickstarter did not reach our funding goal, we have not given up hope that Lifeship will one day become a game on the shelves of game stores and homes worldwide. To that end, the whole Ikarangi Labs team has been and continues to work hard to bring this game to your game stores and gaming tables.

We are writing, designing, and testing missions, balancing classes, and playing through the campaign. We are committed to attending national board game conventions where we can showcase Lifeship and our progress toward a final product.

‍Responding to some feedback & our critical thinking

During the Kickstarter campaign, we received some extremely valuable feedback. Upon reflection, we have also identified some areas that we wish to address.

Price: One major piece of feedback that we received during the Kickstarter campaign was that the price per unit was too high. We hear you! During a global recession and with uncertain markets, it is a big ask for $200USD/$360NZD for a board game. We are looking at areas that we can reduce the cost per copy of the game without compromising our vision for the game. We are also looking at how high the overall funding goal was, and thinking about how this can be lowered, while still guaranteeing the production and fulfilment of Lifeship.

Timelines: We understand that pledging money towards a game that you will not receive for multiple years is a tough sell - especially with the extremely rough timeline of “fulfilment in 1-2 years”. We will be waiting until the game and campaign are feature complete and almost ready for manufacturing before launching the next funding campaign. This way, we will be able to give a much clearer timeline from the get-go.

Options for offline mode: Lifeship is an easy game to learn, but there is a lot of work happening in the background in order to deliver the bespoke experiences and choice matter outcomes that Lifeship is built on. The Lifeship companion website represents a huge financial commitment that we have already paid for. But we definitely understand your concerns regarding longevity. What happens if the website doesn’t last indefinitely? Or if you want to play the game where you don’t have access to the internet? We have heard this feedback. We know this is an important issue, and will be looking into options to ensure that Lifeship is always available. We are 100% committed to keeping the website online, as well as continued support for the the game.

Artwork and the use of AI: Ikarangi Labs is committed to supporting Human artists and creatives. We do not use AI in our writing or artwork. During the kickstarter campaign, it was brought to our attention that some of our artwork may have been ‘finished’ by AI. Essentially, an artist creates a sketch and then augments the finished product with AI. We have increased our diligence to ensure that our art is 100% created by humans. Thank you for your help identifying this issue.

Again, we want to thank everyone who has supported us on the journey so far. Lifeship may have hit a stumbling block, but we believe in the game, and the vision. We hope you will join us on our journey as we bring Lifeship to...uh Life.

Find us at selected Board Game events around New Zealand. Come say hi, and play some Lifeship with us.

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