[Iron Prime]

We're also going to be officially bringing an updated TNG block card pool back as a permanent addition for you to play. Once Coming of Age releases, the card pool for this option will include it, all of the Homefront expansions, The Next Generation, The Next Generation: Supplemental, Engage, The Sky's the Limit, and Warp Pack: Emissary.

This is my favorite part of this entire post.

This is a great part!

But I also like this:

Hello everyone, and welcome to your June 2018 status update for First Edition Design Products. I appreciate all the feedback on these reports after the last one back in March! These reports are intended to force us 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 June 2018. As a reminder, these are no longer monthly; they come when there is meaningful information to impart:

ANNOUNCING: Coming of Age
STATUS: PRODUCTION PHASE
(Formerly known as Project Jellyfish, this project is a refresh and remaster of The Next Generation block's starter decks.))

Today I'm happy to tell you that Project Jellyfish now has a name, Coming of Age, and you'll be seeing the formal announcement of the product very soon. In fact, you might want to check our social media this week for an early preview. Our teams have worked very hard on this to deliver a fun and balanced set of starter decks, and to fix some of the issues from the original TNG block. You'll see eighteen (18) new cards and nine (9) reprints when this hits the site.

We're also going to be officially bringing an updated TNG block card pool back as a permanent addition for you to play. Once Coming of Age releases, the card pool for this option will include it, all of the Homefront expansions, The Next Generation, The Next Generation: Supplemental, Engage, The Sky's the Limit, and Warp Pack: Emissary.

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

There have been a few delays with this product, mostly as we iron out the difficulty level of the concepts it's teaching. There's varied feedback on if it's doing too much, or not enough, so it's a tough balance to fine. We'd really like to get another round of feedback before we finalize this, so if you have a friend, family member, or coworker that you'd like to teach the game of First Edition, please let us know. I still think we'll be able to deliver this product sometime this summer.

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

Unfortunately, I have to give you my first bit of bad news regarding this project. In short, the team has had to start over from scratch because there we're some problems with the previous files. This means that this project is going to be a lot later than I'd like it to be out, but hopefully still in 2018. The previous MACO vs Klingon decks have been set aside, and the team is working on a brand new pair.

Our goal for this project hasn't changed, though. Project En Garde is meant 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.

ANNOUNCING: Project Shran
STATUS: PRODUCTION PHASE
(Project Shran is a "remastered" edition of Decipher's Enterprise Collection, updating all the cards to feature the correct icons and text.))

Project Shran isn't really new, but I haven't properly introduced it to you yet. It was an idea born of both our conversion separation process as well as the 22nd century block, where we "reprint" the Enterprise Collection with updated text and icons. It really should have come out with Broken Bow, but it's now firmly in the "better late than never" camp. The main reason it hasn't come out previously is because there was work to be done on at least one of the cards - Revisionist History. Well, not to put too fine of a point on it, but that card has been sorted out, so this can finally head to production.

It isn't flashy, nor is it a high priority, but this is something I expect to see sooner rather than later. And hey, getting a card off of the ban list is always a good thing!

Project Goa'uld
STATUS: DEVELOPMENT PHASE
(Project Goa'uld is a boutique expansion to celebrate [REDACTED].)

Project Goa'uld is in testing, along with it's spiritual brother, Project Blues (below). The two projects are alternating weeks with testers, to give them some variety and to give the design teams time to update the files. Goa'uld is a boutique-style project themed around something we haven't really built an expansion around before. It's interesting and I have high hopes for the final project. Again, I apologize for being coy, but I really want to surprise everyone with this.

I believe this product will be out either in late Summer, or autumn, of this year.

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

Our Delta Quadrant boutique product, Project Blues, is in testing along with it's spiritual brother, Project Goa'uld. The testing is going well, and I say without hyperbole this file has provoked the most excited reaction from our testers as I've seen in years. We're excited for everyone to finally see this project, since it was created specifically to address a community demand.

Like Goa'uld, I'm targeting this for release in either late Summer, or autumn, of 2018. Between the two, whichever one is finished first will come out first, but we won't know that until we're further into testing.

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

I have put more work into Project Delenn that I have ever put into a project in my life. We set lofty and difficult goals for ourselves, and we're bending over backwards to meet them. Along the way, we've challenged assumption after assumption, rule after rule, and everything that's left in the file is far better for the work. In addition to providing new options for decks, we're working hard to eliminate barriers to the game and to avoid traditional restrictions. So much of your feedback has been baked into this project, I am anxious and excited to see how it turns out.

Our team, including myself, co-lead James Monsebroten (Orbin), Jason Drake (wambundu) and James Heaney (BCSWowbagger) are working tirelessly on this. We've written and rewritten cards based on early feedback, and we're adding a ton of extra work up front to make things easier for testers, rules, and creative later. All of this work has lead to a much higher quality product, but it's also slowed things down. This is why Project Blues and Project Goa'uld have jumped in front of her for testing. As soon as those expansions turn the corner, this beast will be given to our testers; hopefully that will happen in July. That does mean that it's unlikely this expansion will come out before December, but I'm confident the frameworks we're building now will lead to a much, much better set of products for you in the future.

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

Not much has changed for this project, other than a very rough update to the eta: I expect this to be released in Spring of 2019. Here's the text from the previous update, for reference:

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.

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

Not much has changed for this project, other than a very rough update to the eta: I expect this to be released in Summer of 2019. Here's the text from the previous update, for reference:

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.

Project Warrior
STATUS: EXPLORATORY DESIGN
(Project Warrior is an exploratory design project looking for ways to do to ground combat what Tactics did for ship combat.)

Our team of exploratory designers, Allen Gould [AllenGould] and Jon Carter [pfti] are starting to play around with ideas tried in Metamorphosis. The project was born from the attempted conversions of the Assault and Maneuver cards, which weren't satisfying in the original file. Allen and Jon will be working hard on this, trying to innovate, over the next few months.

Project Annika
STATUS: EXPLORATORY DESIGN
(Project Annika is an exploratory design project looking for ways to play Borg along with other affiliations.)

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 he and his team have a lot of big, exciting ideas. That's idea for these exploratory projects, because it's all about trying things without deadlines or fear of failure. Now, they'll test and try their ideas and hopefully get a better sense of the possibilities.

Well, I didn't really have a lot of new stuff for you to read up on today, but I hope you enjoyed the update anyway. There are a lot of really cool things coming, even if some of them are taking more time to see the light of day than I'd like. But I'd always rather delay a project and make sure it's great, than rush it and put it out in subpar condition. I hope you'll forgive these delays as long as we continue to be upright and honest about them with you. But even with delays, there's some cool stuff coming. 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

I would much rather have something done right than fast (gamers see Blizzard). Pushing out a project is tough, and this community can be a tad unforgiving at times, but it sounds like this is the right call and I'm glad it was made. I would appreciate a tad more detail on " problems with the previous files" though; was the data corrupted, or was it simply not working out to use those two decks/factions?

Thanks, Charlie!

[HoodieDM]

I'm excited for a DQ boutique set!

~D

[OKCoyote]

The good news, regarding Iron Prime's above post, is that despite the delay on that particular project, the First Edition teams seem to have a great many ideas in the pipeline - and despite this "learn to play" set being temporarily sidelined, the announcement we're going to have... err, tomorrow... should be beneficial to new players as well.

[MidnightLich]

Re: Project En Garde

I would much rather have something done right than fast (gamers see Blizzard). Pushing out a project is tough, and this community can be a tad unforgiving at times, but it sounds like this is the right call and I'm glad it was made. I would appreciate a tad more detail on " problems with the previous files" though; was the data corrupted, or was it simply not working out to use those two decks/factions?

Thanks, Charlie!

Hi!

Thanks for the kind words. The problems with En Garde Mk 1 had more to do with logistics rather than data. The designers came to realize that focusing on wasn't making for great designs, especially given how good those decks are already. We also realized that we shouldn't focus on decks after the block was completed, and should look for other synergies. Finally, the team all ran into personal demands on their time that pulled their focus elsewhere, which has made design slow. But, all-in-all, I still believe in the project and I share your belief that taking our time to get it right is more important than anything else.

-crp

[Se7enofMine]

ANNOUNCING: Coming of Age
STATUS: PRODUCTION PHASE
(Formerly known as Project Jellyfish, this project is a refresh and remaster of The Next Generation block's starter decks.))

Project Warrior
STATUS: EXPLORATORY DESIGN
(Project Warrior is an exploratory design project looking for ways to do to ground combat what Tactics did for ship combat.)

Project Annika
STATUS: EXPLORATORY DESIGN
(Project Annika is an exploratory design project looking for ways to play Borg along with other affiliations.)
-crp

These are the 3 that stuck out the most to me.

Coming of Age: Always good to see a new expansion coming out.

Warrior and Annika: christ, these sound like awesome ideas. I have always thought that more could be done with Tactics and battle. And the thought of Borg mixing gives me the feels.

Oh to add what Iron Prime said: I agree. Something done well is WAY better than something half-assed and rushed out. So while it sucks to have to wait longer, it's a much better alternative.

[OKCoyote]

If anyone has been on Facebook recently, you might see something interesting.

[Ausgang]

ANNOUNCING: Project Shran
STATUS: PRODUCTION PHASE
(Project Shran is a "remastered" edition of Decipher's Enterprise Collection, updating all the cards to feature the correct icons and text.))

Project Shran isn't really new, but I haven't properly introduced it to you yet. It was an idea born of both our conversion separation process as well as the 22nd century block, where we "reprint" the Enterprise Collection with updated text and icons. It really should have come out with Broken Bow, but it's now firmly in the "better late than never" camp. The main reason it hasn't come out previously is because there was work to be done on at least one of the cards - Revisionist History. Well, not to put too fine of a point on it, but that card has been sorted out, so this can finally head to production.

It isn't flashy, nor is it a high priority, but this is something I expect to see sooner rather than later. And hey, getting a card off of the ban list is always a good thing!

Could you please give an update to the progress of this project? I have a bunch of pages I want to dispatch to an online printer. A hint about the release date would be helpful for me, so I eventually would delay that order.
Nevertheless, thanks for these Update posts - I really enjoy them

[admiral-mogh]

Will Shran be released during Starfleet week?

[jadziadax8]

That would require us to be organized around here. [emoji14]


Sent through Subspace from the Starship Enterprise

[MidnightLich]

I just sent the final info on Project Shran to Art. I believe Johnny has all the images, so that part of the process won't need time. The time will be needed to build the file and get it proofread, so I'd say it's still a few weeks out from being released.

-crp

[Takket]

When are the 2EBC cards actually going to be banned/removed from the game?

[Armus]

When are the 2EBC cards actually going to be banned/removed from the game?

"After Worlds" is the only answer I've heard to this question.

[jjh]

I just sent the final info on Project Shran to Art. I believe Johnny has all the images, so that part of the process won't need time. The time will be needed to build the file and get it proofread, so I'd say it's still a few weeks out from being released.

-crp

Pulling back the curtain a bit… (some like to know details like this)

I got Charlie the two page PDF for proofing this weekend (8/25). Huge props to former Art Team Member Jorn for his image digging to get the best shots possible for the printable Enterprise Collection. Thanks to Jorn the cards will look terrific. There's quite a bit of proofing that needs to be done on the lore and personnel game text. I agree with Charlie that we are probably a couple weeks away from release as some details get locked down.

Related Note - The graphic design choices for the initial Enterprise Collection were oddly interesting. I don't know anything about the visual design history of these Decipher cards, but it is obvious to my eye that they were designed by someone that had never designed other 1E Decipher cards. I used to think the Enterprise Collection just looked bad (subjective). However, I've come to objectively see the odd formatting isn't just the graphic designer's "fault" - on multiple cards the designer was forced to break templating because of content overload.

I learn a lot by re-creating Decipher cards (usually for promos or Homefront/supplemental/starter cards) and this expansion was no different.

Johnny

[Iron Prime]

I just sent the final info on Project Shran to Art. I believe Johnny has all the images, so that part of the process won't need time. The time will be needed to build the file and get it proofread, so I'd say it's still a few weeks out from being released.

-crp

Pulling back the curtain a bit… (some like to know details like this)

I got Charlie the two page PDF for proofing this weekend (8/25). Huge props to former Art Team Member Jorn for his image digging to get the best shots possible for the printable Enterprise Collection. Thanks to Jorn the cards will look terrific. There's quite a bit of proofing that needs to be done on the lore and personnel game text. I agree with Charlie that we are probably a couple weeks away from release as some details get locked down.

Related Note - The graphic design choices for the initial Enterprise Collection were oddly interesting. I don't know anything about the visual design history of these Decipher cards, but it is obvious to my eye that they were designed by someone that had never designed other 1E Decipher cards. I used to think the Enterprise Collection just looked bad (subjective). However, I've come to objectively see the odd formatting isn't just the graphic designer's "fault" - on multiple cards the designer was forced to break templating because of content overload.

I learn a lot by re-creating Decipher cards (usually for promos or Homefront/supplemental/starter cards) and this expansion was no different.

This is really great info and I thank you for it!

[BCSWowbagger]

That is extremely interesting and I look forward to seeing how it is reflected in Shran!