It is a divine LORE MONDAY here at JAMR, LLC. Not only are we creating a science fiction IP, STELLAR EMPIRE, with massive fictional series, shorts, and art drops on a weekly basis—we also are in the lab working on GAMES that take place across the galaxy too!
Which leads me to a special announcement. One that
, and myself all agreed would be fun to drop today on my birthday.1COLONIST CO.
What better marriage of our massive lore development around Stellar Empire corporations, imperial aggression, as well as general dystopian view of late stage capitalism,2 than a board game centered around the colonial exploits of far-off worlds by the lowest bidding corporation driven by the machinery of expendable resources (“people”).3
The idea behind the game came from an early, very ambitious, board game concept: FRONTIER. FRONTIER was thematically much more grandiose, an adventure on the fringes of space, centered around a group of explorers trying to carve out a life on new worlds and hinged on new discoveries. However, FRONTIER had way too many parts, mechanics, and was a lot to bite off for a first ‘board game’. Many of the games JAMR (and previously ANDAK) developed were card based games, and the printing and development costs were just too astronomical4 for out team of three to bring to market.
But the idea persisted, which brings us to COLONIST CO.
COLONIST CO. is the first game in a series we have titled “PAPER EMPIRES”, a mix of digital and print-to-play offerings from JAMR, LLC. Up to 4 players will play as a co-operative team of colonists who have been assigned5 a world to explore, plunder, develop, or otherwise tame for their corporate overlords.
The Gameplay
Up to four players play together, landing on a planet with unique features: events and hazards to overcome, resources to plunder, and enemies and obstacles to overcome.
Your team of four play specific roles: Explorer, Scientist, Engineer, and Security. These four roles have specialized events, and each role has unique traits that grant them special bonuses and limitations on any given planetary mission.
But don’t get too attached to your character… At the end of the day, you’re just a cog in the colonial machine and your characters will die… a LOT. Whether, it’s disease, poison gas, meteor showers, alien parasites, or - like - a really, really big fall, your characters will meet their end in the middle of the game and the company will dictate whether they have enough resources to ship you another hapless bit of fodder colonial employee to finish the mission.
What does Digital and Print-to-Play?
COLONIST CO. is a digital/print-to-play game, which means you can play with friends around the table and keep the game files on your computers, tablets, or phones to reference as you go. But you can also print out planets, character cards, equipment, and more. We will have game files in color and printer-friendly grayscale/black and white versions for you to enjoy.
Game files will consist of:
Letter-size (8.5x11 Paper) Planet sheets
Character sheets (Print out versions with multiple characters on a sheet)
Equipment, gear, loot, etc.
And much more to be announced 😉
Why did we decide to do it this way?
Games are expensive—both for us as a company and you as a gamer. We were painfully aware that - especially in this economy6 - we are all making tough choices for our purchases. The overhead costs of printing cards and game boards on a small scale are expensive and scaling up the operation requires massive amounts of capital up front.7 We wanted to develop a game that wouldn’t break your bank… or ours!
We have a LOT of ideas. You may have noticed this already. We have a ton of ideas and one of the best ways to create a game like Colonist Co. is to make it fully digital so that we can bring new concepts, game mechanics, and new artwork to the game more often and more quickly than with a traditional printed board game.
Play in Our World
And we mean OUR world: you and us at JAMR. This is a shared universe that we are building out, and we want you to add your own creative flair into the Stellar Empire universe. Got an idea for an alien species? Share it! You may become a noted wiki creator!
At the end of the day, this project doesn’t go anywhere without y’all.8 We want your hobby - whether its reading, gaming, or creating - to be OUR FUN.
Sign off in the comments what you want to see in COLONIST CO. We will be dropping more about the game in the coming weeks, including a sign-up for beta testing.
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I turn 41 today: prime board gaming years tbh.
I think this last one might be more of MY view on things rather than our collective thoughts. 😂
This statement has not been approved by the Department of Galactic Colonial Regulation, and should not be considered a sanctioned admission of policy.
Pun intended.
Assignment should not be construed as an indicator of full-time employment with salary and/or benefits to the individual described. Terms apply.
Insert ‘in this economy???’ meme here.
We will eventually pursue a printed version of Colonist Co. But don’t worry: if you are subscribed here 😉, you’ll be the first to know about any crowdfunding, pre-ordering opportunity!
Sorry: TEXAN.