Barrage the Legendary Box campaign

FOCUS ON THE BRAZIL COMPANY
2 months ago – Sun, Sep 15, 2024 at 04:46:15 AM

Dear Backers,

Thanks for your support!

 We are almost there, only 48 hours left to the end of this campaign!

Now it’s time to discover all the secrets of the Brazilian Company with Simone and Tommaso:

“For Brazil, we started from a different mechanic. We wanted to create a flexible and customizable faction. Normally, the rewards you unlock are static and must be unlocked in a specific order. In this faction, we wanted to give players the ability to choose which rewards to unlock. So, we created smaller rewards, and each piece would unlock one of them. To balance the strength of these rewards, we introduced a cost similar to external works: to unlock them, players had to sacrifice machinery.

The Company’s special ability, which we developed after some testing, also needed to align with the faction’s flexibility.

So, when producing, the player could spend one engineer to choose a contract from the common board and fulfill it immediately. From the very first tests, players enjoyed the new factions, as they introduced fresh challenges without drastically changing the game. The refinement phase was relatively short, requiring only minor tweaks and balancing, tested with highly skilled players to ensure that the new factions were well-balanced compared to the others.”

And here the references Arianna, Art Director in Cranio Creations and the artist Alex Galbero took their inspiration from for the final look of the Brazilian Company.

Brazilian Company Final Look for Playerboard and components

The Cranio Creations Team

FOCUS ON THE JAPANESE COMPANY
2 months ago – Thu, Sep 12, 2024 at 02:54:38 PM

Dear Backers,

 Thanks again for your support, you are now more than 4000!

Given the love you have shown for Barrage, we would like to share with you the process that led to the creation of the new factions of The Far Companies.

 Let’s have a deeper look at the gameplay development process by Simone and Tommaso:

 "We started with a brainstorming session about the two new factions, with a clear central idea: we wanted factions that would change the game more than the ones we had created so far. When we work on new content for Barrage, we often draw inspiration from real-world elements of the hydroelectric industry that Tommaso brings to the table, using them to design new mechanics. 

In this case, we began with the first faction, drawing inspiration from earthen dams.

"Earthen dams are made of compacted soil and have a pyramidal shape, with a wide base and a narrower top. Based on this idea, we decided that the faction would use only excavators, both for the base and for the elevations. Another interesting idea came from the pyramidal shape itself: this faction would have two components, the base and the elevation, that together formed the pyramid. Due to this structure, a second elevation couldn’t be added, but elevations could be placed directly on the map, acting as bases. However, in this case, the dam would be limited to a height of 1.

This peculiar mechanic was balanced by providing strong rewards from the elevations, tempting players to build them quickly to unlock these rewards, though this would result in height-1 dams that couldn’t be further elevated. To work around this issue, Tommaso proposed a special ability that could, with a single production, use multiple consecutive conduits if they were connected by two dams. Thus, with a well-organized structure, the limited water storage of the dams could be compensated. With these features, the Japan faction was ready!"

After finalizing gameplay, the next step was to create the LOOK of the Japanese faction.

Arianna, our Art Director, shared with us the references used to get the inspiration for shaping wooden pieces and for Alex Galbero amazing illustrations!

Tomoko Mori's Character Design: from reference to sketch

And here below is the final look of the Japanese Company's Components

Thanks for your support

The Cranio Creations Team

FOCUS ON THE LEGENDARY BOX
3 months ago – Thu, Sep 05, 2024 at 01:39:58 PM

Dear backers, 

Thanks for your support again!

We are happy that you are loving this project!

First of all we want to thank you for making this project possible and in this case also for giving us the idea for the BIG BOX.

As many of you may remember, the idea of the big Box came out from strongly from our community and we decided to listen to this request.

We would like to provide you here with some information answering the most FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS about the BOX:

Can the Legendary Box contain the 3D MAP?

Yes, the Legendary Box will be able to contain the 3d Map and all the items related to Barrage. It will also save some space for the 8th faction and a New Map that will be released in the future 

(Regarding these 2 items we are still working on them and we are not able to provide a release date at the moment)

What will be the final dimensions of the box?

We are not able to provide you with the final dimensions of the BOX at the moment, but we are trying to fit your requests of reducing the dimensions where possible.

Will the Legendary BOX be Kallax-friendly?

We understand the importance of having a box that can be stored in a Kallax, so we will do our best to make it fit as much as we can. Please consider that 2 out of 3 dimensions are already fitting, so anyway it will be possible to store it in a Kallax having a protruding side or removing the separation between 2 shelves.

What will be the thickness of the cardboard box?

The cardboard box thickness will be at least 2.5 mm in order to grant a good stability and try to avoid damages.

What will the inserts look like?

The inserts will be in black PS and we are developing them according to your tips where it will be possible, in detail, we are including all over lids and finger grooves.

The thickness will be more than 1 mm (standard insert thickness), but we will increase the thickness of the ones at the bottom of the box in order to be able to handle the increased load.

Here you can find the organization details of the storage of the INLAY

Why have you not been working with Game Trayz?

We chose to work with a company with which we have been working for a long time rather than to activate a new collaboration mainly for 3 reasons:

1) we trust them as they have produced Barrage for a long time and so they have a good know how on the components of the game, as we do.

2) they grant us a good priority timing, as above because of our long-term collaboration

3) and last but not least we wanted to grant a good pricing for you. In this direction producing all the items in the same factory is helpful. 

They are now working on samples and we will keep you updated regarding the decisions we are going to make. 

We just would like to let you know in general that we are working with the factory in order to provide you with a good quality product and to find with them the best solutions for Barrage Storage.

Please let us know if you have any further questions.

The Cranio Creations Team 

FOCUS ON BARRAGE DIGITAL
3 months ago – Sun, Sep 01, 2024 at 08:07:57 AM

Dear Backers,

 we really appreciate your interest in Barrage Digital, you have been so many asking about it!

Don't forget to subscribe to the WISHLIST on Steam to be updated on all future communications

Here you can a recap of the more Frequently Asked Questions about Barrage Digital:

Why are there only 5000 copies available for the campaign?

We are listed as new developers on Steam, so they allowed us to generate a limited number of keys. Therefore, we had to set a limited number of copies available during the KS Campaign, not to create hype but to be sure we could provide all backers with the game.

How can I get the digital version with the discounted KS price?

You will find the digital version available in the pledge manager, so you need to get Access to Cranio Add-ons Store  by placing any level of Pledge and complete the survey as soon as the pledge manager will be open.

There will be a Mac Version?

Yes, we are developing the MacOSX version as well. Here on the Steam page you will find more details

What are the differences between the Digital Version and the Deluxe Digital Version?

The Digital version includes only the base game.

The Deluxe version includes the base game plus:

• XO A, B, C and D;
• All the available Maps (The Nile Affair, The Colorado Connection, The Duel)
• The following expansios: The Leeghwater Project, The 5th Player and The Far Companies expansion

Please let us know if you have further questions.

BARRAGE DIGITAL GAMEPLAY AND IMPROVEMENTS

Additionally, we also would like to share with you the plus regarding this version:

Board for 2-players game

THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
3 months ago – Thu, Aug 29, 2024 at 08:21:32 AM

We are really happy that you are so many loving Barrage, as we do!

Thanks to all for the support in these first 24 hours!

It's been a while since the first release of the game.

After 5 years we are proud that Barrage is still a living project with new expansions and materials to release.

We wouldn't have reached this milestone without you.

We also would like to thank you for your feedback and suggestions, that inspire our projects!

As many of you already know, this campaign was conceived according to your requests in the previous campaign for a box containing all the materials created for Barrage till now and we decided to save some space for the future!

The Cranio Creations Team