New Offender Character & Game Development Update
over 1 year ago – Thu, Sep 01, 2022 at 07:20:06 AM

Hello everyone!

We are excited to present you today's daily reveal! This mighty double-headed ogre is joining the offenders and is ready to break hearts and bones alike!

 This ogre is the first of countless mighty guardians that are currently awaking all over the island of Oshra. If you like these epic creatures, keep an eye out for Hidden Leaders: Forgotten Legends. It will be all about them!

Apart from our daily reveal we are sharing some development insights with you today. How did Almost Innocent came to be? In this special update BFF Games will give you some insights into how the game mechanics developed and Philippe Attali will tell you how the theme of the game developed and how he fell in love with the world of Oshra.

Best wishes from both our teams!

BFF & KG

From "Who Killed Killey B" to "Almost Innocent"

When we first heard of a little game called "Who killed Kyle B" we were still head-deep into our own Kickstarter campaign and did not expect what would become of it. Our friends at Matagot were excited about this game but did not have any room for it soon. Instead, they spread the word. We all put our heads together and came up with this amazing collaboration.

As BFF Games, we suggested a fantasy theme for the story. An intense night at the tavern guaranteed some urgently needed memory loss and a prison cell created some serious barriers to conversation. This way, we created a quick story pitch and a draft prototype with Hidden Leaders artwork that you can see above.

Investigation Tokens instead of Tracker

The first version of the game had a progress tracker that was counting how many rounds had passed. Depending on how many rounds you needed to solve the game, you scored as a "Detective Lost" or a "Sherlock Holmes".

Although we found these different levels of difficulty interesting, we noticed that we often simply finished the game and checked our score at the end. To increase the stakes, we developed investigation tokens that clearly limit the number and types of questions to be asked.

At the same time, we made the frustrating experience that we often lost the game because one inexperienced member of the team made a small mistake. To counter balance this, we introduced Almost Innocent tokens which serve as life-points. They are forgiving to beginners and harsh to experts, which allows to keep balance when beginners and advanced players meet at the table.

Sheets instead of Tiles

In the beginning, this game was a tile laying game, with a random setup per game. However, we found that the long setup time always kept us from actually playing the game.

Once we noticed that even a fixed layout was infinitely times re-playable (after all there are 7776 possible combinations of solution cards you can draw), this opened many new possibilities. Not only could we cut down the setup time considerably, but also countless new scenarios and a progressive level of difficulty became possible.

Overall, we loved the development process on this game. If you like to give the game a try right now, you can check out the rules and play the three scenarios of the prologue campaign via TableTopia already. We would love to read your feedback and ideas in the comments!

Over the course of this campaign, we'll be including interview questions and answers provided by the designer of Almost Innocent: Philippe Attali! Our first question is just perfect for this update, and if you guys have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments, we'll do our best to have Philippe answer them! :) 

Was it always Almost Innocent? How has the game changed since you first started?

At the very beginning of its design, players played bodyguards tasked with protecting a famous actress. Then, once the game was noticed and signed (thanks in particular to its place as a finalist in the International Contest of Game Authors of Boulogne Billancourt), Matagot and I discussed the theme a lot. Several ideas were discussed including the fact of embodying museum guards responsible for preventing the famous thief Arsène Lupin from stealing works. It was very conventional but it worked well. Finally, Arnaud Charpentier from Matagot told me about the world of Oshra that was in preparation at BFF Games for "Hidden Leaders". I immediately fell in love with Satoshi Matsuura's beautiful drawings and the offbeat and funny names of the characters.

A-t-il toujours été presque innocent ? Comment le jeu a-t-il changé depuis vos débuts ?

Au tout début de sa conception, les joueurs incarnaient des gardes du corps chargés de la protection d’une célèbre actrice. Puis, une fois que le jeu a été remarqué et signé (notamment grâce à sa place de finaliste au concours International des Auteurs de Jeux de Boulogne Billancourt), Matagot et moi avons beaucoup discuté du thème. Plusieurs idées ont été abordées dont le fait d’incarner des gardiens de musée chargés d’empêcher le célèbre voleur Arsène Lupin de dérober des œuvres. C’était très conventionnel mais ça fonctionnait bien. Finalement, Arnaud Charpentier de Matagot m’a parlé du l’univers de Oshra qui était en préparation chez BFF Games pour « Hidden Leaders ». Je suis immédiatement tombé sous le charme des magnifiques dessins de Satoshi Matsuura et des noms décalés et amusants des personnages.

Spread the Word #TwoForOne!

This Double Headed Ogre would love to be shared! Feel free to share this visual on your social sites with the hashtag #TwoForOne and help to spread the word about this game. 

ANNOUNCING: DAILY REVEALS!
over 1 year ago – Wed, Aug 31, 2022 at 02:05:09 PM

HELLO EVERYONE! 

We have such an exciting announcement to make as it will truly change the course of the campaign for the next 20 days! 

For this campaign we wanted to set a very realistic funding goal, it was a risk we knew could hinder the momentum of the campaign because it also meant the climb to get there would require more backers on Day 1 than any of our previous campaigns. But you all showed up, you all came here to support Almost Innocent, and you talked about it on social media, shared photos, and really celebrated your excitement for the game. 

Due to this, we are so pleased to announce that for each weekday, we will be revealing more and more components to the game! 

For today's update, we also are excited to surprise everyone with TWO new reveals! So let's get to it!

With these 2 scenarios, we are adding two alternative endings to the game! Will you stay righteous with the Well-Funded Queen? Or work with the shady Queen of the Streets? Both endings will not only impact the story but determine what mechanisms you face in your final challenge! Here's a sneak peek of the two queens you can, which will you pledge your loyalty to?

This brings our campaign, so far ;), to a total of 12 SCENARIOS! 

Satoshi has been hard at work on creating new "hands" for those empty spots on the scenario boards! These spots are great starting points when filling out your solution pad because each X is just another step closer to solving your own crimes! We are excited to share today that we will be including 6 unique sets of hands that celebrate the diversity of Oshra and the Hidden Leaders universe. Check them out below! 

That's it for now, but be sure to join us in tomorrow's update when we reveal the next surprise! Hmm, we're curious what are maybe some things you'd like to see added? Let us know in the comments below! 

From all of us at Kolossal and BFF Games, we truly cannot thank you all enough for bringing this project to life. These SIXTEEN REVEALS were made to celebrate you all, and we can't wait to share more! 

See you tomorrow!

KG, BFF

FUNDED! - Thank you :)
over 1 year ago – Tue, Aug 30, 2022 at 08:32:34 PM

THANK YOU!

Kolossal has successfully funded over 25 campaigns and to be able to say "We've Funded!" on Day 1,  let is something we will never take for granted.  We cannot thank you all enough for your immense support for Almost Innocent. Whether you are here as a Kolossal Support, joining us from the incredible community of Hidden Leaders players with BFF Games, or just happen to see us on the front page of Kickstarter we welcome you all to the campaign! 

We wanted to talk a little bit about the upcoming 21 days! You may have noticed that the funding goal was set much higher than anticipated. That's because we at Kolossal are making huge strides to only launch with realistic funding goals, despite how high they may seem for such an inexpensive game. Because we set it so at $25,000 we were able to offer the backers a pledge of $30 which was much more important to us than reaching our goal early on in the day.

This also allows us to set realistic stretch goals as well, meaning instead of having to complete unobtainable challenges for new content, we can now set our Stretch Goals appropriately to what we feel could be reached by the end of the day. This also means we have tons of gameplay content in our Stretch Goals that we want to reach so expect to see some new unlocked content soon!

FUNDING GOAL: 5TH PLAYABLE CHARACTER!

We are excited to announce that Almost Innocent is now a 2-5 player deduction game! Even if you're not playing at the full count, feel free to use this character throughout your campaign to have an extended choice of characters and abilities! 

Edd is the outcome of the union between a fire salamander blacksmith and a water salamander carpenter which makes him both, the only purple member of the salamander species and a widely talented artisan. As a craftsperson, Edd is an expert when it comes to investigating objects of any kind. A skill that certainly will come in handy whenever the party is in trouble.

Feel free to share the above image on your socials celebrating the news! We'll have more updates than usual for a Kolossal campaign as we've partnered with BFF to give you all even more of an insider look at the design process! 

Thank you all again for your incredible support! 

- Matt, Kolossal Games

Welcome to the World of Oshra
over 1 year ago – Tue, Aug 30, 2022 at 11:22:53 AM

Greetings,

and a warm welcome (back) from both our teams! We are so glad to be joining forces with Kolossal Games to bring Almost Innocent to you. In this update we will take a quick look at what the World of Oshra is, where it came from and what role we (BFFGames) play in this intriguing Kickstarter campaign.

The Premise: A Light Fantasy World

The fantasy world of Oshra is a light, fun and quirky fantasy setting that is characterized by a grain of self-irony and a diverse set of characters:

 For us, it is important that everyone finds a character in our world that they can positively identify with.

 The World: An Island without a ruler

As a story setting, the island of Oshra is shaped by the power struggle between four factions: The Imperial Army, the Hill Tribes, the Water Folk and the Undead. However, most characters have their heart beating for more than one faction.

Due to the recent death of the Emperor, the island is currently experiencing a power-vacuum. Although the initial shock is over, conflicts are brewing all across the country. If you like to know more about the backstory of this world, have a look at this little story video that we created with some Hidden Leader cards:

 Roots and Destiny: Beyond Hidden Leaders

The world of Oshra originated as a setting for Hidden Leaders, our first Kickstarter game for which the Forgotten Legends expansion is also coming to Kickstarter in October. The Kickstarter campaign last year really gave this setting a jump start. More than 12.000 backers participated in guiding and co-creating the world and game during our last campaign:

With Almost Innocent, the world of Oshra is now expanding beyond the context of the original game. As a partner on this project, we have created all the artwork with our favorite artist Satoshi Matsuura and worked out the scenarios and story. Also, we have participated extensively in the development of the game mechanics to make sure that you get the best game possible (more about this later).

We are very excited to be a part of this project and would love to further expand and shape the world of Oshra with you. In this sense, this Kickstarter is not only a crowdfunding campaign, but also an option for you to (yet again!) leave your stamp on the game and the world. Stay tuned for more!

Raphael, Markus and Andreas

from BFF Games

Follow us on Twitter for live updates during the campaign: @boardgamegoblin