AuZtralia is an adventure/exploration game for up to 4 players set in an alternate reality 1930s. The theme is inspired by Martin Wallace's game A Study in Emerald. It can be played competitively, or as a solo game or as a fully co-operative game.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
BackerKit pledge manager closing soon!
over 6 years ago
– Fri, Jun 22, 2018 at 01:06:11 AM
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Last call for addresses and shipping payments!
The Pledge Manager will be closing end of June - just over 1 week from now. If you do not complete your Backerkit survey and pay your shipping fee by this time, you may experience a delay in fulfillment and we will not be able to guarantee that your shipment will be customs friendly!
There is an additional 30-day grace period after the deadline where you can contact us to complete your pledge manager. If we still have not heard from you by that point, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to fulfill your reward and you may be issued a coupon code in lieu of a reward. If you do not think you will be able to complete the pledge manager by the deadline or the following grace period, please contact us beforehand so we can make arrangements for you.
If you are in a group pledge and the backer is 'Tom' - he is one of the few dozen backers who have not yet replied, so we have no delivery address or shipping payment. If you read this please ask him to complete his survey. He is not responding to my messages!
The manufacturing is under way and seems to be on target for completion by the end of July, which is bang on schedule as it will allow international freight to happen in August and local fulfilment in September as we planned.
The Kickstarter and pre-order copies of the game will be sent to all our backers in special packaging prepared at the factory. The carton has internal corner protectors, so your game should arrive in good condition, as well as reducing the amount of handling time at the fulfillment centres.
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Greetings from wintry New Zealand.
~ Amanda
Proofs, Beautiful Proofs!
over 6 years ago
– Tue, Jun 05, 2018 at 01:31:30 AM
Greetings AuZtralians,
News in summary
Our website www.Auztralia.net has had a makeover...
The booklet of biographies is available for download...
Proof copies have been received.
Mr Big is about to catch a train in Western Australia
4,000+ backers!
We've had more people joining us through the pre-order page and our backers are now over 4,000 strong! If you know someone who missed the Kickstarter - there is still time for them to pre-order and get the mini Cthulhu in their game. You can pass them this link: https://auztralia-game.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
Biographies
The booklet of biographies of all Auztralia's personalities is now available for download. Click the picture below to visit the website and check it out. The pdf is near the bottom of the 'Story' page.
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New website!
Our auztralia.net website has had a major workover recently and contains a lot more information. You can check it out here.
Proof copies approved
The digitally printed proof arrived from the manufacturer and everything looks great. The mass production of the English edition is underway. The proofs of the other six language editions are on their way to our publishing partners.
Here is the final box for the English edition.
And here's a preview of some of the objective cards that were added during the campaign...
Three of the ten solo objectives
Finally, if you are in the very last few (less than 4%) of backers who have not filled out their Backerkit survey, please do so soon.
Thanks again for your amazing support.
Amanda
Final call for surveys!
over 6 years ago
– Mon, May 14, 2018 at 01:41:55 AM
It has continued to be busy here since our Kickstarter finished. I have been preparing the print-ready artwork, coordinating the seven language editions, and managing the questions and data around the pledge manager. On that note, we are in the process of locking down all backers' orders so that we can firm up the production numbers required. We need to know how many of the special Cthulhu editions to make and ship to different parts of the world.
For backers that miss the cut-off period, you can still submit your information, but your shipment may be delayed. For backers that do not complete their survey, please note that we will be unable to ship your rewards so please ensure to fill out your survey as soon as possible!! If you're having problems accessing or filling out your survey then please contact me.
PRE-PRODUCTION
We are moving smoothly through the pre-production process! All seven language editions are now with the manufacturer for a final check through of the files before proof copies are created. Here's a snippet of the French player board:
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BIOGRAPHIES
All thirty-six personality biographies have now been written / unearthed from the writings of the honourable Timothy Strachey. One of my upcoming jobs is to format these into a booklet that we will then make available for download. More on that later. Here is a preview of the entry for Colonel Khouri who is also our box cover lady...
COLONEL KHOURI - Zaina Khouri was born in Beirut in 1902. She was thrown into the world of warfare after her family were massacred by irredentist forces loyal to the Old Ones. Khouri joined the resistance to the infamous Lawrence regime. By the time of their defeat at the Siege of Jerusalem, Khouri was recognised as an outstanding military commander. It was only natural that she was chosen to command the protection forces sent with the first pioneers to Australia.
Khouri was seriously wounded at the Battle of Parramatta and returned to the Lebanon. Since then she has been a reclusive figure, living with her childhood companion, Mazia Haddad, on the shores of the Mediterranean.
EVENTS
There are a bunch of the events on the horizon that I will be attending. Come and play a game, have a chat, or just say Hi.
May 19 - 20th at Board Games by the Bay, Auckland
June 2nd - 3rd at WellyCon, Wellington
October 25 - 28th at Essen Spiel. I will be the kiwi wearing the AuZtralia T-shirt and trying to practice my German :)
LINCOLN
Lincoln is Martin's 2-player game about the American Civil war being published by the Plastic Soldier Company in English, Polish and Spanish. The game is on Kickstarter until May 26th. You can check it out here.
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Games I've been playing (now that I am finally getting time to play some games again):
Rajas of the Ganges
Moa
Azul
Barker's Row
The Lady and the Tiger
Pandemic Legacy Season 2
Charterstone
That's all the news from SchilMil HQ right now.
Cheers,
~ Amanda
Progress. Maps. Martin's Musings!
over 6 years ago
– Fri, May 04, 2018 at 01:52:36 AM
With 93% of Surveys complete and artwork checked by the manufacturer, we are on schedule for the planned delivery.
If you haven't yet completed your survey, please do so. We need to know where to send your rewards!
If you have shipping or extra games to pay for, your card will be charged next week, when we lock the orders.
After that you can come back to update the address if needed, and you can contact me to unlock your order if you decide to add something.
You'll get a notification from BackerKit if there's a problem when charging your card.
Most of the add-on games (except for those being delivered in Europe by Spiral Galaxy) are being shipped soon. Some have already been received! All are still available except for Ships which has sold out.
Printing progress: The English edition print-ready files have been approved by the manufacturer, and we are awaiting a sample. Some of you have inquired about the card size for sleeving: there are 121 cards and they are all 63x88mm. There will be room in the box to house sleeved cards.
Maps Maps!
AuZtralia has been under development for three years and has had artwork worked on since June 2017. Here is a quick run through of how the main map has progressed over time, from Martin's original prototype to the final design.
Prototype from early 2017
First version - was thought too bland; went through a lot of testing though!
Second version - too much texture made it hard to read symbols
Third version: new colour scheme but thought to be too flat
Final version: a good mix of aesthetics and function.
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Martin's musings
You may have missed it as it was during the start of the Kickstarter, but our social media expert Ella set up a hotline to Martin Wallace and was fielding questions to him, via this BGG thread, about AuZtralia and all sorts of things. Here are a couple of those Q&As...
Q: "Regarding AuZtralia (and to several of his designs more generally), I am curious to hear him speak to the ways in which several of his designs--Onward to Venus, A Study in Emerald, now AuZtralia--covertly cover the history of European imperialism, and if the break from games that more explicitly model it (like Struggle for Empires) is intentional."
MW: "The fact that a number of my designs reflect aspects of European imperialism came about accidentally, but then I just continued the trend. Onward to Venus was a license that was available to me and was not selected on the basis of it being a critique of the British Empire. A Study in Emerald, as has been noted before, was inspired by the events and actions of anarchists and revolutionaries in the late 19th century, I just added the Old Ones to make it more palatable to blow up those in power. AuZtralia is a conscious attempt to portray some of the aspects of the colonization of the continent, but in a manner that avoids having to deal directly with the history of the indigenous people. As you will be aware, there is no way of simulating this without upsetting somebody, either by whitewashing a particularly brutal process or creating something that is truly painful to play.
If there is a message in AuZtralia it is that we write our own rules, which means we can change them if we wish. By way of an addendum you missed ‘Moa’, to be published by APE Games this year, which sets the colonization of New Zealand in a fantasy world dominated by birds – so yes, I now have a track record of subverting colonial themes to my own ends."
Q: "If you could pick one IP/license to create a game for, which one would it be? "
MW "I would love to do a game on Sandman. Very difficult to get the rights as they are not unified, and still no idea how the game would work. It would be an amazing challenge."
Finally, just in case you are thinking of visiting Australia -here's what to expect. :)
(I couldn't get the video to embed sorry).
Have a good weekend.
Until next time.
Amanda
Cthulhu arrived! Survey update
over 6 years ago
– Wed, Apr 25, 2018 at 02:11:54 AM
An Important Survey Update
Hey!
Most of you answered the surveys by following the instructions and added your game to your cart as an add-on. However, there was a large group of folks who answered their survey without selecting their game as an add-on! This means there were no items in your carts. Today, we've added the correct add-ons to the folks who missed this step in the survey.
If this applies to you, then you will still need to pay for shipping in order to receive the game! Please check that your order looks good, and cover any additional shipping costs by recovering your survey here: https://auztralia-game.backerkit.com/
If you have NOT YET answered the survey, be sure to Add the game as an add-on before checking out. This will calculate the proper shipping costs and ensure you get your game on time!
Once you add the game you pledged for, the right hand side of your screen should look like this (depending which edition you selected)...
Good news ...
Over 80% of backers have completed the survey :)
Preparation for printing is on schedule. We are happy to be working with LongPack
We are making a print run of 20,000 units across seven languages!
Cthulhu is here!
Mr Big arrived on Weds while I was in the middle of a 4-player game on the Western map.
He looks impressive, at 40mm tall, and will come packaged in a black velvet bag
More logistical and business news ...
Most likely we will charge credit cards in June and lock the pledge manager then
Backers who ordered A Handful of Stars, Manifest, Komodo or Granny Wars: your orders will be locked in and charged in the next few days, so that we can ship your games to you soon. You will still be able to come back later and update your address if you need to before the AuZtralia fulfilment starts in September.
Late backers who pledge through the pledge manager will be treated as though they are backers, and will receive the same service and fulfillment.
The KS edition with the Cthulhu is being offered to late backers at $10 more and will not be available once the PM closes.
The Portuguese version is ready. Here is a look at one of the Revelation cards...
Thank you to Rafael Verri and the team at Ludofy for the translation.
We are getting to the exciting stage now - making the game!
