Cytress Gets a Makeover: Partnership Revisions Brings New Improvements
about 1 year ago – Tue, Jan 31, 2023 at 12:01:44 AM

Hey Cyberpunks!

It's that time of the month again! As most of you are aware, we began working with a publisher a few weeks ago, and some changes were proposed that helped improve the game's quality. There have been some revisions to our game since our partnership, but rest assured that it is still the same Cytress we know and love. Here's a sneak peak at the Graphic Novel and Origin Novel.

There were only three main bits that had to go through the 'partnership revision,' which I'm still waiting on (since they are handling these changes) , and they are: the rulebook revision (they wanted certain images to explain the rules to a broader audience), graphical updates (they wanted icons and text to be bigger), and box revision (they wanted the back of box to be more retail friendly). 

I'm as excited as you are to see these updates, and I can't wait for this to move on to the next stage of printing. In the meantime, we'll keep an eye on our discord, and if anyone wants to play the game, there's an updated version on the TTS mod, and we're also on facebook and twitter, which is now back on schedule and running. Aside from that, we hope you are well rested for the new year. Cytress is in for a fantastic year!

I understand that many of you are eagerly awaiting the release of the  game and I want you to know that I share the same excitement. I know it can  be frustrating to have to wait, but I want to strive my best to deliver  the best game possible. It's important to me that you have the best  experience possible. I assure you that we're working hard to get  everything ready as soon as we can, and I truly appreciate your patience  and understanding during this time. I promise it will be worth the  wait!

Thanks,

Sean

Been a while Cyberpunks! Here's what's new (personal milestone)
over 1 year ago – Sat, Dec 10, 2022 at 12:56:47 AM

Hey Cyberpunks!

We're a little late with our update, but here's what we've been up to behind the scenes!!!

When I created the Cytress Board Game it was initially just a board game that would be on Kickstarter. As we all know, Kickstarter is a great place to start your first game, and great things can happen from there. Well, something did happen as a result of this! - Good Games Publishing (GGP) from Australia played the game, loved it, and wants to take it global. They are the publishers of many fantastic board games that have sold well both locally and internationally. What a huge milestone it has been for Cytress and the Tress Games Community. And since GGP came on board, they have amplified a few things, from development to design, many improvements that I believe will allow Cytress to succeed in the long run.

They collaborated with us and worked on some late-stage development (where they played the games a lot), making a lot of suggestions that I really liked. And we've been testing them, and here are the results:

1. Trying to make the floating city for functional and thematic focus of the game. Most "3D structures" are either used for purely for table presence (tree) or used for a very specific function (dice tower) and currently there are no games out there that does both of them well. We believe that by adding bonus rewards added to each individual layers of Stratos.

2. Trying to make the set collection much tidier and simpler. To make up for the simplicity we've now added differentiated scoring mechanism to each level of the tubes, the great thing about this, it makes you care about which level of tubes you built to go into Stratos, and score points in different ways, and it creates this nuanced end-game which is really great and I'm really excited for you guys to see it.

3. Trying to make the spy mechanic more meaningful. Spying is an essential skill as a Cyberpunk, and to flesh that out means to make it a core interaction instead of an optional mechanism. This changes the way your operate as a Rebel leader, since your crew locations can be spied on. There is a constant tug of war between choosing the best location for a Stratos ascension while exposing yourself to being spied on.

Because we are now partnering with professionals to bring you the best Cytress has to offer. Working with larger publishers will cause some delays, which is to be expected. However, these delays are primarily due to our work being refined and thoroughly reviewed. So that everything is perfect. Also, I want to reassure you that our publishers understand the importance of our backers receiving their games first, so we will make every effort to fulfill all of our backers' orders before any distribution copies are distributed. So you're all still my main priority. Again, I'm all for trying to get a higher quality product in the end. It's not just a nice looking Kickstarter game, but something that will make you feel good when you open that box and make you want to play again and again! And the good news is... we're almost done.

We are currently in the pre-printing stage to ensure that both the files and the illustration are of the highest quality, as well as some graphical tweaks. At the next update, I'll provide a more precise timeline for when manufacturing will begin. As a result, our late pledge/pledge manager will remain open until our next update. I'll keep you all updated on that.

Until next time, Cyberpunks.

Sean

TRESS GAMES

PAX Recap, Rulebook Upgrade, Finalization of the Packs
over 1 year ago – Mon, Oct 31, 2022 at 03:35:03 PM

Greetings fellow Cyberpunkers,

Hope you have been well. There's been a lot of progress in this update so without further ado let's begin.

PAX Recap

Thank you for those visiting our booth earlier this month at PAX AUS. We had a blast getting to meet many of you,  showcase our game to you and hear many wonderful stories from you.

Here is a compilation of some Cytress action:

Rulebook Upgrade

As you may recall from a previous update, we had mentioned that the rulebook was ready for a graphic overhaul. So in the past 4 weeks, we’ve been working to revamp the look of the rulebook. Much of the work was completed earlier this week, and here’s a quick look at how certain sections have been updated:

Cyberpunk and Narrative Experience

After the hard work of from my copyeditors, proofreaders and of course our graphic team, I’m happy to report that all the packs in the Narrative & Cyberpunk Experience have been finalized!

If you haven’t already, please complete your pledge soon!

This is the final month!! We’re making good progress on pre-production, which means that sampling  and manufacturing should start quite soon. As such, please consider completing your pledge on Backerkit earlier than later. We use your finalized pledges to gauge our final manufacturing numbers, which is why  it’s important that as many pledges are completed before that happens.  

Shortly after this update, we’ll be sending out invite emails again  for those of you who’ve yet to complete your pledge. If you don’t receive an e-mail though, don’t worry: you can begin to manage your pledge by directly going to https://cytress.backerkit.com/sign_in

Important: Your email on Backerkit must the same as the one you used on Kickstarter, otherwise it will not work. For  those of you who need your email addresses on Backerkit changed (due to  Apple Private Relay or some other issue), please message or email me at [email protected] with your current email address, your desired  email address, and we’ll process the change for you.

That’s it for this update! With the next one, I  hope to share the finalized rulebooks and continue working hard at preparing Cytress for print. As always, thanks for checking in, and see you next update!

Rulebook Drafts Ready, PAX Aus Next Week & Final Playtesting Push!
over 1 year ago – Fri, Sep 30, 2022 at 07:11:14 AM

Hi Cyberpunkers!

Hope you have been well. It has been a busy month with the finalization of the game components and preparing for board game conventions! But without further ado let's begin.

Pledge Manager Charge Reminder! 😉

As mentioned previously we have decided to keep the pledge manager open until the month of December. So we'll charge the cards on the first of each month (which is tomorrow!) until the pledge manager's final day. 

Cytress Rulebook Draft - Ready for Proofreading! 👀

Note this is a text version of the rulebook to be formatted by our graphics team. These drafts have been fully copyedited and are now ready to be proofread! We’ll be sending them to our graphics team next week, but you can also access them in the links below:

Cytress rulebook (PDF, with selectable text): Click here to view

While we’ll be counting on our proofreader to catch all remaining  errors/issues with the rulebook, we’re hoping you can check it out too,  as it’s always helpful to have fresh sets of eyes looking over our work!  If you have any corrections or suggestions at all, just let me know in  the comments below or email me at [email protected]

We’re trying to get the draft to readable version before we send it of to the graphic team to do their magic where you'll see a more "game ready" version. Even then, please keep in mind that the rulebook is a continual work in progress!

Demo at PAX Aus (Sep 9th) 📸

Yes, that's next week. We will be having a demo at PAX Aus, in Melbourne, my home town. This time I will be there and again its with Good Games Publishing. We'll be there for the Sunday (9th September)! I'll be happy to give you a teach of the game as well as answer any question you might have about Cytress. See you at PAX Aus!

More Playtesting throughout the Month! 📈

Solo mode against the elites? 2 player duels? 3 player standoffs? 4 player skirmishes? or 5 player bonanzas? It's been a blast playing with you all. And there will be more this month. So if you're free this month, please join our discord group: Click here to join, we love hearing your feedback, comments & suggestions! If you are interested please reach out to me on discord too, as I'm most active on that platform.

What's next? 😎

October's a particularly important month for us as we’ve got a couple  of  things planned. If all goes well, here’s what you can expect in the coming weeks:

• Finalized Rulebook: By our next update,   we’re aiming to complete proofreading of the rulebook and send it to our graphic artist for a final makeover. 
• Continued Playtesting: Alongside the  rulebook, we’ll also be consistent with our playtest on TTS. You’ll have  access to all Cytress content through these Tabletop Sim, including the Solo mode! We can’t wait to hear  what you think of the updated version of  the game.

In short, there’s lots of things happening in the next update, so be  sure to keep a look out! And if you’re looking to get involved, there  are absolutely many things we could use your help on, especially with  the rulebook… there’s always a typo or two that’ll sneak past despite  our copyeditor and proofreader’s best efforts!

And that’s it for this update. As always, thank you so much for checking in and may you have an awesome weekend 😊

Sean

It's that time of the month, Cyberpunk Updates!
over 1 year ago – Wed, Aug 31, 2022 at 03:29:07 PM

Hi Cyberpunkers,

Hope you have been well. It has been a busy month with the finalization of the game components and preparing for board game conventions! But without further ado let's begin.

Pre-Order Stores Are Now Open

Our pre-order stores are now open. Get Cytress along with the add-ons while you still can. As the game progresses into its final stage, we will continue to provide updates and improvements to these add-ons.

All the packs ranging from travel to the origin narrative has received big enhancements and extra content added. In an effort to make Cytress an authentic Cyberpunk experience. 

Pledge Manager Extension

We will be partnering with a publishing/distribution company to help us with retail distribution in the future. This will enable us to reach a much larger audience and market! As a result of the partnership too, our manufacturer date is now set to kick-in in November, and games will be shipped around march which should still be on track with the time we have set on the Kickstarter page. Our pledge managers will, therefore, remain open until the end of the year in November/December. However, card charges will start on September 1st (tomorrow), so please check your account balances and make any necessary adjustments before then. These charges will occur on the first of each month until the pledge manager's final day. So don't worry if you have budget requirements, just plan accordingly for one of these dates.

PAX Aus 2022

Come visit us in PAX Aus at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) We will be showcasing Cytress with demo opportunities. Details on where we'll be will be announced later as we finalize the details.

Travel Pack Reveal

Here's a quick look at the travel cards. You can think of these cards as miniature versions of the main faction boards found in the original game.  It reduces the table space required by 50%, making it more ergonomic for smaller spaces. It's also easier to carry with if you were planning on taking it elsewhere and fits in the main box with ease. These can be used interchangeably with the components from the base game. So if you want to, you could mix and match where you see fit!

Narrative Pack Update

All of the story packs are progressing nicely. We have completed our character books and look forward to sharing more images with you in greater detail in our next update. Additional lore has been incorporated into them, as we dive deeper into their origin story in the Cyberpunk packs. The mission books also coming along well. We made an effort to provide you with intriguing narrative choices as you play Cytress rather than just provide you with a thematic flavor textbook. Though it won't change how the game is played or how you win. These narrative books will reveal thematic outcomes, consequences, and happy/sad endings based on your decisions throughout your play. It stands on its own as a narrative puzzle in the same vein as pick-your-own-adventure novels.

Cyberpunk Pack Update

Now onto our cyberpunk pack! I can't wait to show you the new material we've been working on.  Starting with the universe pack, we have decided to combine the three universe books into one and make it into a graphic novel instead. The reason is we did not see the benefit in splitting the three different settings of the universe and believed this will make the story more coherent. Plus now the story will be accompanied by original graphic images which will help bring the story to life, and really show you the world of Cytress through its visuals. It's been renamed Cytress Origins: The Cyberpunk Fortress.

The Cytress origin novel for the game also has a new title: Cytress Origins: The Novel. It has been moving along pretty swiftly, and we're down to the final stages of proofreading before sending it out to be formatted into a book. More info on that in the next update.

Playtesters Needed!

We are currently looking for playtesters! Want to participate? You will first need access to Tabletop Simulator which is on Steam. Then please join our discord group here and then send me a message on Kickstarter or discord, alternative you can email me at [email protected]. We will be playing the 'final' game with a few new groups which will go on for a couple of weeks, as we make our way to our final game.

That's all for this month folks!

In the next few weeks, we will be playing the punk out of Cytress to make sure everything is final and at a level which we are satisfied with. Then it's all off to the printers. I want to make sure it's great, but I know I don't want to keep you waiting too long. Until next time. Keep on punking.

Best,

Sean (Tress Games)