Not Returning to Kickstarter

Hello Everyone!

We've been working extremely hard to have an upgraded project to launch. We weren't even close by January, when we told fans we were hoping to relaunch our Kickstarter project. We just recently got the art, the mechanics, our website, and everything else all to where we want them to be. We are still working on new videos but should have some posted soon in our Rakasa Video Library.

After a lot of discussion and looking at our costs, our current fan base, our social networks, Rakasa as a new gaming genre, and many other factors, we’ve recently decided this project isn't a good fit for Kickstarter. We have plans in place that will still reward fans for being involved in development and the online community growing around Rakasa, but it just won’t be happening on Kickstarter. We know this may be a bit of a downer to avid Kickstarter fans, but we hope our plans as detailed below will get you excited for what is to come.

So from the beginning we always wanted crowd funding to work for Rakasa, but we didn’t really have to have crowd funding to get ourselves up and going. And we have always LOVED the idea of fan involvement in development, and rewarding fans for their contributions. Being a sandbox style (open gameplay structure) game, the whole design of Rakasa is focused on fan input and sharing in the creative experience. Rakasa is a game that captivates players by connecting them to an evolving world with endless adventures created by a community. Your involvement as a player, a story teller, a master of mechanics and numbers, or even just a by stander watching the creation process helps build the community. The fan involvement is what initially attracted us to Kickstarter.

But beyond interacting with Kickstarter fans and rewarding backers on Kickstarter, we have always had plans to do so much more with the fans of Legends of Rakasa. Taking Kickstarter out just jumps us all ahead a chapter in our journey together. This changes things up a bit, but in the end we think you’ll like what we have coming even more!

First of all, we are planning on having our bulk order of games before July this year. We have finished and submitted all images, documents, specifications, and other details to our print broker for bulk printing. This was quite complicated as we have added a ton to this game! Here is the current list of game contents.

With our current game contents, we are estimating the game costing fans $45, which may go up after our first month of selling. We are coming in as low as possible (perhaps too low) with the new content to create as broad of an initial fan base as we can, which will help grow our online community.

What about fan input and rewards? We are putting in motion something that will be larger and more lasting than our Kickstarter project rewards would have been. On Trivatch.com, under “Connect” and “Evolve,” you will notice the addition of our Forums page and the Trivatch Points Exchange.

When it comes to rewards, fans will earn Trivatch Points for contributing to the Trivatch Forums, for referring other gamers, as tournament rewards at the different cons and expos we attend, and more. And Kickstarter backers will get points just for continuing on with us. Many of our previous Kickstarter rewards and planned stretch goals can be obtained by exchanging Trivatch Points on the TP Exchange page. We will also have extra tokens, tiles, cards, etc. We will continue to post new seasonal quests and other items as well.

When it comes to input, our fans will be in more control than they could have been on Kickstarter alone. Not only will you have the forums to share stories, adventures, challenges and new ways of playing with each other (which will all earn you Trivatch Points), but everything the fans create together will be used to direct the development of all future content. In other words, even though we have developed out expansions and have already included in Legends of Rakasa: Fordra the connecting components that will bind the content together seamlessly, we will adjust this future content to add to and build upon what fans are creating. Fans will also have influence on the content offered in the TP Exchange.

Along with the fan generated content in the forums and the items available through the TP Exchange, we will also have regular expansions like other board games do (that cost actually money). These will be larger but keep the same sandbox style that Rakasa is known for.

You may have noticed we have developed and continue to maintain Rakasa more like an MMO than a boardgame. We are super fans of both board games and video games, but were originally video gamers. Being video gamers at our core, Rakasa is our expression of a need to create games that play, feel, and are maintained and updated more like MMOs, but are still board games. Technology will also have an increasing presence in Rakasa, but will never be a necessity. We are currently working on a basic app for battle calculations, saving player equipment progression, and bringing more contents and tools. Two tools we are looking at right now are a live time tracker and a randomizer that gives a player a random group of monsters to fight. This added digital content will be absolutely free to download and use.

We will post again on our Kickstarter pages when we are ready to take orders. For now, the best way to be updated when games are available is by going to http://www.trivatch.com/store.html and requesting an email notification. In the comments, make sure to mention you were a Kickstarter backer. We will be sending out Trivatch Points to our original Kickstarter backers to thank them for their continued support.

Also, don’t forget to follow us on Facebook! We use Facebook a lot. Also, you can already join the Trivatch Forums and begin discussing Rakasa and earn some Trivatch Points. We will have videos, images, and our instruction manual posted very soon to give you a better handle on what exactly is in Legends of Rakasa: Fordra and how it plays.

Thank you all for supporting and encouraging us on Kickstarter. We hope you will continue to be a part of the adventure and build with us on Trivatch.com.

With lots of gratitude,

The Trivatch Team

Final Box Art

Game Content