[Iron Prime]

I put a note on my calendar. I'll start hourly checks as soon as I get up...

[Iron Prime]

Not 1E specifically, but could we get an note or two about a main page redesign? Even just it's spot in the priority line?

[MidnightLich]

Not 1E specifically, but could we get an note or two about a main page redesign? Even just it's spot in the priority line?

It's in progress. The big elements are done, but there is a lot of coding work to still get done. The team working on the new site is small, but making progress every day. I don't have a good timeline for you yet, but as soon as I do, I'll share it.

I'd personally like to see it up for beta testing before the end of Q1.

-crp

[BCSWowbagger]

Maggie asked for a "preview" of the new website for CC leadership by the end of this month, which is slated to include:

* New main page (designed by Kamala)
* New template (designed by Kamala)
* Basic skeletal site structure (lots and lots of pages that say "this page under construction!" but they exist)
* For all games: new game-specific landing page (not necessarily complete, but functional)
* For all games: card view
* For all games: card search
* For all games: expansion / card lists (some neat new features here I'm pleased with)
* For all games: errata / watchlists
* For all games: new dedicated rules pages
* Nothing else

With a great deal of help from JeBuS, we are on track to hit this milestone on January 31st as scheduled.

I don't know what plans are for sharing with the public, but I suspect a lot of that decision will be based on whether CC leadership loves or hates the preview.

[Takket]

Maggie asked for a "preview" of the new website for CC leadership by the end of this month, which is slated to include:

* New main page (designed by Kamala)
* New template (designed by Kamala)
* Basic skeletal site structure (lots and lots of pages that say "this page under construction!" but they exist)
* For all games: new game-specific landing page (not necessarily complete, but functional)
* For all games: card view
* For all games: card search
* For all games: expansion / card lists (some neat new features here I'm pleased with)
* For all games: errata / watchlists
* For all games: new dedicated rules pages
* Nothing else

With a great deal of help from JeBuS, we are on track to hit this milestone on January 31st as scheduled.

I don't know what plans are for sharing with the public, but I suspect a lot of that decision will be based on whether CC leadership loves or hates the preview.

I didn't know a new search engine was being designed but can I make a request if one is? Can there be.... sorry if i'm using the wrong term... a fuzzy search? something less specific? Like, the other day I wanted to find "Getting to know you" but i didn't remember the exact working of the card. i knew it contained words like "draw" and "intelligence" and "infiltrator" but if you search for "draw intelligence infiltrator" the search looks for that exact phrase and returns nothing. whereas i want a "search for a card containing all these words" type search.

[Boffo97]

If Kamala designed these things, then I fully expect them to change based on the personalities and desires of each individual user and...

...oh. The person with the user name of Kamala on this board designed them, not the character. My bad.

[AllenGould]

If Kamala designed these things, then I fully expect them to change based on the personalities and desires of each individual user and...

...oh. The person with the user name of Kamala on this board designed them, not the character. My bad.

The user is pretty badass - I wouldn't put it past her.

[Maelwys]

I didn't know a new search engine was being designed but can I make a request if one is? Can there be.... sorry if i'm using the wrong term... a fuzzy search? something less specific? Like, the other day I wanted to find "Getting to know you" but i didn't remember the exact working of the card. i knew it contained words like "draw" and "intelligence" and "infiltrator" but if you search for "draw intelligence infiltrator" the search looks for that exact phrase and returns nothing. whereas i want a "search for a card containing all these words" type search.

It's more of a new skin than a new search engine, I haven't looked at it recently (so BCW is free to correct me) but I think that at the core it's basically the same.

That said, if you type in "draw%intelligence%infiltrator" it will at least find all cards that have those words in that order. So not entirely as fuzzy as you'd like, but at least reduces it to only 6 searches that you need to run, if you're not sure what order they appear in.
(undocumented, behind the scenes feature )

[Iron Prime]

Thanks, team!

[Takket]

I didn't know a new search engine was being designed but can I make a request if one is? Can there be.... sorry if i'm using the wrong term... a fuzzy search? something less specific? Like, the other day I wanted to find "Getting to know you" but i didn't remember the exact working of the card. i knew it contained words like "draw" and "intelligence" and "infiltrator" but if you search for "draw intelligence infiltrator" the search looks for that exact phrase and returns nothing. whereas i want a "search for a card containing all these words" type search.

It's more of a new skin than a new search engine, I haven't looked at it recently (so BCW is free to correct me) but I think that at the core it's basically the same.

That said, if you type in "draw%intelligence%infiltrator" it will at least find all cards that have those words in that order. So not entirely as fuzzy as you'd like, but at least reduces it to only 6 searches that you need to run, if you're not sure what order they appear in.
(undocumented, behind the scenes feature )

thanks for the tip!

[BCSWowbagger]

I didn't know a new search engine was being designed but can I make a request if one is? Can there be.... sorry if i'm using the wrong term... a fuzzy search? something less specific? Like, the other day I wanted to find "Getting to know you" but i didn't remember the exact working of the card. i knew it contained words like "draw" and "intelligence" and "infiltrator" but if you search for "draw intelligence infiltrator" the search looks for that exact phrase and returns nothing. whereas i want a "search for a card containing all these words" type search.

It's more of a new skin than a new search engine, I haven't looked at it recently (so BCW is free to correct me) but I think that at the core it's basically the same.

This is correct. The new search should be functionally identical to current search. There were major changes to how it communicates with the database (which ended up taking months), but those are all behind the scenes.

It even looks the same, except it's now on a responsive layout, so you should be able to use it more easily on your phone.

That said, if you type in "draw%intelligence%infiltrator" it will at least find all cards that have those words in that order. So not entirely as fuzzy as you'd like, but at least reduces it to only 6 searches that you need to run, if you're not sure what order they appear in.
(undocumented, behind the scenes feature )

I just checked this now, and it does still work in the new search. (Which is actually a bit surprising to me, since I assumed the wildcard characters would be escaped during PDO parameterization, but apparently not!)

[MidnightLich]

Hello everyone, and welcome to your February 2018 status update for First Edition Design Products. It's been a few months since we've spoken, so there's a little bit of new info here for you as well as the usual spate of updates. I hope you enjoy this status update. If you have any questions, or concerns, please share them. If you guys PM me questions, I'll do my best to answer them in subsequent updates.

Also, I'm writing this while still pretty under the weather, so if anything here doesn't make sense or seems off - just ask.

Here is your update for February 2018:

Project Discommendation
STATUS: PRODUCTION PHASE
(Project Discommendation is a special, off-cycle project designed as a final "end-cap" to 1EC cards.)

Discommendation is on the last bit of testing and will soon be heading off to proofreading and production. The Art team will soon be hard at work finding images for this larger-than-average expansion as it begins the process of going from a testing file to a finished file. There are plenty of conversions to be had in the final file, but also lots of new cards to support the major expansion themes. So not only will you be getting cadets and "Revised" holograms, you'll see new cards to support them.

This expansion is still on track for an earlyish Spring 2018 release, but all dates are subject to change. We'll also be posting more information on the process to sever the link between 1E and backwards compatible cards as we get closer to this expansion's release.

Project Keiko
STATUS: DEVELOPMENT PHASE
(Project Keiko is a scripted learn-to-play experience for new players.)

The second draft of the Federation and Klingons decks and script for Project Keiko are done and being refined. This isn't a project that contains new cards, and thus it doesn't need testing in the traditional sense. We're currently running a beta test for this, so if you'd like to teach someone how to play 1E, please let us kno!

Project Jellyfish
STATUS: DEVELOPMENT PHASE
(Project Jellyfish is a refresh and remaster of The Next Generation block's starter decks.)

Jellyfish, focusing on remastering the original TNG starter decks, is well on its way to completion. The decks have been tested and tweaked extensively, including several new and reprinted 1E cards, and are on pace to finish up in the next few weeks. We're still ironing out the details for this expansions release, but I expect it to be out in your hands this Spring.

Project En Garde
STATUS: DEVELOPMENT PHASE
(Project En Garde is a pair of balanced decks designed to give great games against each other, and fit into tournament play.)

The first pair of these dual decks - led by Niall Matthew [sexecutioner] will be heading to testers in the next week or so. These decks are going to be the first of many, and in order to make them relevant to the current metagame, will be focused on the century factions. We're going to ask our testers to give these lots of rounds against each other, because the goal of the project is to provide a great game each time they're played. Not only will they help people play their friends and elevate their own games, but they'll serve as entry points into local tournaments.

I'm going to tentatively earmark these for an early Summer 2018 release.

Project Delenn
STATUS: DESIGN PHASE
(Project Delenn is the first expansion of Block 5, the TOS block.)

This expansion, the first of the TOS block, is coming along nicely. It's focused less on factions and more on deck types, to give players a different starting point for deck building. But don't fret, there will be plenty of and cards to play with as well. (The Romulans will get their turn in Project G'Kar, and the Klingons in Project Londo, both coming later in the block.)

We're trying to bring back the simplicity of the TNG block without sacrificing any of the strategic complexity. It's a lot to ask of an expansion, but we're hopeful. And I'm happy to say that James Monsebroten aka Orbin is doing a fantastic job as the co-lead of this project. We'll be heading to testing in the next six to eight weeks, putting this on track for a release late Summer or early Autumn 2018.

Project Blues
STATUS: DESIGN PHASE
(Project Blues is a Delta Quadrant themed boutique product.)

Project Blues - a boutique expansion focused on the Delta Quadrant, has been in active design for a few months. The team, being led by James Monsebroten [Orbin], is working on providing some fun and exciting new tools for decks. There isn't a slot on the schedule for this product yet (it'll be ready when it's ready), but I'm hoping to get it out in 2018.

Project G'Kar
Project Londo
STATUS: PRE-DESIGN PHASE
(Project G'Kar is the second expansion in the TOS block, and Project Londo is the third.)

Not much has changed with these two projects, so I'll just repeat what I said in the last report. Project G'Kar and Project Londo's lead designers, Dan Hamman and James Monsebroten, respectively, have participated in all of the block planning meetings and are on board with the planned themes. I believe Dan has his team put together and has started preliminary work, while James is still working on assembling his team.

That's my report for you this month. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments, anything I can give you more information on, or just if there's something you'd like to see more (or less of) in future updates. Have a happy holiday season, all!

-crp

[MidnightLich]

Hello everyone, and welcome to your March 2018 status update for First Edition Design Products. I hope that you are finding value in these reports; with little feedback, it's hard for me to know if I should stay the course or make changes. These reports originated from a desire to be transparent about our schedules and schedule challenges, and to dispel misinformation about delays and product changes. If there are specific pieces of information you want to see, please let me know. And if you find these updates to be falling short, I'd appreciate knowing that too. Ultimately, I'm making these posts for you, so if you have any questions, or concerns, please share them. If you guys PM me questions, I'll do my best to answer them in subsequent updates.

With all of that being said, here is your update for March 2018:

ANNOUNCING: Metamorphosis
STATUS: PRODUCTION PHASE
(Formerly known as Project Discommendation, this expansion brings sixty-three (63) new and key conversion cards to 1E.)

As you may have seen, this expansion is officially in the "Coming Soon" step of the production phase. Metamorphosis, as Project Discommendation is now known, will begin previews in the next few weeks for a late April (or maybe early May) release. Metamorphosis features sixty-three (63) cards, including highly requested and popular conversions; however, there are also new cards to support those conversions.

We're currently hard at work proofreading the final file, planning out our social medial previews, preparing a spoiler schedule and writing articles for you to enjoy. Allen Gould (AllenGould) has done a fantastic job leading this expansion, and I'm very happy with where the expansion has ended up. In fact, I have a preview of sorts for you! Check out the release promo for Metamorphosis, Condition Red:

1E Metamorphosis PROMO.jpg (174.01 KiB) Viewed 5488 times

Here's the gametext:

Plays on table. While aboard your ships, each of your personnel gains . At the start of each of your turns, if opponent has more ships in play than you (including cloaked, phased, or landed ships), you may discard a card from hand to download a ship to hand, then discard incident (unless ship is ❖ ). (Captain's Order.)

We're also finalizing plans to officially implement the separation of backwards compatible cards from First Edition. We will be posting all of the details in an article relatively soon, but the separation will be happening after the 2018 World Championships in Australia in October.

Project Keiko
STATUS: DEVELOPMENT PHASE
(Project Keiko is a scripted learn-to-play experience for new players.)

We are continuing work on refining this learn to play product, featuring two decks with a scripted game. It isn't a project that contains new cards, so there is no testing in the traditional sense. We'll be doing one more round of public testing after the next set of revisions, and then looking to release this product in mid-to-late spring. If you have a friend, family member, or coworker that you'd like to teach the game of First Edition, please let us know so you can be included in the test.

Project Jellyfish
STATUS: PRODUCTION PHASE
(Project Jellyfish is a refresh and remaster of The Next Generation block's starter decks.)

I'm happy to report that Project Jellyfish, created by the team of Paddy Tye (KazonPADD) and Alan French (adf8), has finished design and is currently in proofreading and the final stages of testing. This product will feature new cards, some reprints, and refreshed and updated versions of all four TNG block starter decks. All of our volunteers have worked hard to give those decks a modern update, while preserving the spirit of the original design.

As part of this project, we'll be solidifying a new card pool option to recreate the original The Next Generation block. This will provide a new, permanent option for players looking for a limited card pool in either limited or constructed play. We'll have all the details on this later this spring or early summer, when Project Jellyfish is rolled out for release.

Project En Garde
STATUS: DEVELOPMENT PHASE
(Project En Garde is a pair of balanced decks designed to give great games against each other, and fit into tournament play.)

The new cards from these decks are in the hands of our testers so they can be put though their paces in the full card pool environment. Once the testers have completed their work there, they'll be given the two decks to test so we can make sure they play well against each other, and as tournament worthy options. The goal with Project En Garde is to give casual, newer, and returning players a pair of decks that will let them play fun, kitchen table games with their friends. And once they are comfortable, they can take them to a tournament and compete without getting obliterated.

The two decks, and the new cards, are themed around the current block and feature a MACO deck vs a Klingon capture deck. It will depend on testing, but I think these will be released mid-summer, shortly after the release of Project Jellyfish.

ANNOUNCING: Project Goa'uld
STATUS: DESIGN PHASE
(Project Gou'ald is a boutique expansion to celebrate [REDACTED].)

Forgive me for being a bit coy with this, but I want to try and surprise you guys a little bit. This boutique expansion (featuring a smaller number of tightly themed cards) is being worked on by yours truly (MidnightLich), Chris Lobban (Maelwys), and Maggie Geppert (jadziadax8). I hope that it will be a fun product that you guys will enjoy, and will solve a problem currently facing the First Edition department.

I don't have a solid timeline on this project yet, other than a strong desire to make sure it comes out in 2018.

Project Blues
STATUS: DESIGN PHASE
(Project Blues is a Delta Quadrant themed boutique product.)

Project Blues - a boutique expansion focused on the Delta Quadrant, has been in active design for a few months. The team, being led by James Monsebroten [Orbin], is working on providing some fun and exciting new tools for decks. This project is a key example of our department responding to community demand. You've let us know you're disappointed in how little content we've made for the Delta Quadrant, so we created a project specifically to address that concern.

As above, I don't have a slot on the schedule for this project at this time, but I'm hopeful it will come out in 2018 as well.

Project Delenn
STATUS: DESIGN PHASE
(Project Delenn is the first expansion of Block 5, the TOS block, and focuses on and .)

Project Delenn has been one of the most difficult designs I've ever worked on, including the design of the Vulcan affiliation in Live Long and Prosper. This expansion is working hard to meet a lofty set of self-imposed goals that have challenged our many design assumptions made over the years. Specifically, we're working hard to replicate the simplicity of the Next Generation block without retreading those expansions. Similarly, we're aiming to provide a lot of strategic complexity with as little comprehension complexity as possible; in short, we want it to be easy to figure out what the cards do, but harder to figure out best how to use them.

Along side these goals, we're challenging ourselves to build the expansion differently. By focusing on deck types and not factions, we're working to make Project Delenn have much wider appeal than just decks. Star Trek is rich with classic story archetypes, and we've been working very hard for the past several months to translate some of those archetypes into First Edition strategies. I can't speak highly enough of the team; James Monsebroten (Orbin), my co-lead, and designers Jason Drake (wambundu) and James Heaney (BCSWowbagger) have put in a lot of time and energy to craft this unusual expansion.

We hope to put this expansion in front of testers in April, for a tentative release this Autumn.

Project G'Kar
STATUS: DESIGN PHASE
(Project G'Kar is the second expansion of the TOS block, focusing on the Romulans.)

Dan Hamman [SirDan] and his team have been waiting on the Project Delenn team to finalize their plans in order to get started designing, and I'm happy to report that has happened. They've just gotten started putting pen to paper (metaphorically) and will really get cranking once Delenn gets to testing. Project G'Kar will be continuing the themes of simplicity, strategic complexity, and archetype-driven design from Delenn, though I'm sure Dan will zig-zag as he loves to do.

It's way too early to really narrow down a timeline for G'Kar, but as a semi-educated guess, I'll wager early 2019.

Project Londo
STATUS: PRE-DESIGN PHASE
(Project Londo is the third expansion in the TOS block, and will feature Klingons.)

James Monsebroten will be starting up his work on this expansion about halfway through testing on Project Delenn. This is why we have a new lead designer first co-lead an expansion, so they can split their focus once the first expansion is past the midway point and on stable ground. James has shown careful consideration and open-mindedness during his work on Project Delenn, and I'm confident he'll do similarly when he gets to run his own team.

As I said above, its far too early for me to give you a good estimate for this expansion's release, but a bad estimate would be late Winter/early Spring 2019.

ANNOUNCING: Project Warrior
ANNOUNCING: Project Annika
STATUS: EXPLORATORY DESIGN
(Project Warrior and Project Annika are our first two exploratory design projects, feeling out odd and unusual design space.)

Today I'm happy to share with you something that we put into place late last year: exploratory design. These projects are designed to allow unrestricted creativity, free of expectation; in short, they are license to try and to fail. Exploratory design projects are not expected to meet deadlines or to deliver finished expansions. An exploratory design project is one that is staffed and developed "on the side," i.e. on volunteer's non-volunteer time. People who work on these projects do so in addition to their existing volunteer commitments.

The goal with exploratory design is to give a team room to chase down those crazy ideas that get dismissed during normal design. If it's wild, quirky, or so far outside the box it's got a goatee, it might be a good fit for exploratory design. Our goal is to have one or two of these projects running at a given time. Such projects don't have deadlines, or expectations; they aren't making expansions, they are exploring ideas. Such freedom gives those teams a lot of liberty, but the cost is that they don't have any other resources - just themselves. At the end of an exploratory design project, the team will give a write-up and or a presentation of their findings. Perhaps the next cool idea will come from such a project, or perhaps we'll find out something really can't be done.

The two exploratory projects we have right now are Project Warrior and Project Annika. Project Warrior is a spin-off from the Metamorphosis design team, and is exploring ways to do to ground combat what Tactics did for ship combat; it's being coordinated by Allen Gould (AllenGould). Project Annika is investigating the idea of Borg cards being in non-Borg decks and/or non-Borg cards being in Borg decks. Jorn Engstrom (admiral-mogh) is the coordinator for Project Annika.

And with that, I will sign off for the month. I hope you share my excitement at all the amazing projects that are heading down the pipeline. This is a great era for First Edition, and I think 2018 is shaping up to be one of the best years of this banner game. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments, anything I can give you more information on, or just if there's something you'd like to see more (or less of) in future updates.

-crp

[BCSWowbagger]

It's pretty fun to start sharing dribs and drabs about what we're doing in Delenn. Makes all the work worth it!

Question: What's the word on Project Shran?

[MidnightLich]

It's pretty fun to start sharing dribs and drabs about what we're doing in Delenn. Makes all the work worth it!

Question: What's the word on Project Shran?

Good question! I also just realized I don't think I've announced that yet, so let me do that. Project Shran is going to be a reprint and remaster of the original Enterprise Collection. This will allow us to reprint all the cards with the correct icon, and eliminate the rule and rules text "fixing" this issue.

The project is mostly finished, but there are one or two cards still being worked on by our talented and busy Errata Team. The hope is to be able to unban Revisionist History by reprinting it with updated text, but that's still a work in progress. I'm hoping this can be finished up in the next month or so, and then enter production. However, as much as I want this out there, it will be a lower priority project.

Being entirely honest, this should have been done to coincide with the release of Broken Bow, but for a variety of reasons, that didn't happen. We had some staff turnover at the time, but really we just dropped the ball.

-crp