[MidnightLich]

Welcome to today's First Edition Friday Question, where you get a chance to answer questions that will help shape the future of First Edition. If you'd like to catch up on previous entries, here's a list of all of my previous Friday Questions:

10 APR 2020: Should we make animated series cards?
3 APR 2020: Should we make more Tribbles/Troubles?
27 MAR 2020: Should we develop new cards?
20 MAR 2020: What regions should we focus on in the future?
13 MAR 2020: How would you feel about 1E adding extra "bits"?
6 MAR 2020: What are your favorite "almost good" S/P dilemmas?
28 FEB 2020: What are your favorite decks to play?
21 FEB 2020: Which Decipher expansion most deserves a sequel?
14 FEB 2020: Which "broken link" should be fixed first?
7 FEB 2020: What's your favorite episode of Star Trek?
31 JAN 2020: Which TOS main character needs a new card?
24 JAN 2020: What should qualify a card for the "watch list"?
17 JAN 2020: What card would you unban without changes?
10 JAN 2020: What single card would you ban to improve your game?
3 JAN 2020: What are you looking forward to in The Neutral Zone?
27 DEC 2019: How can we help you recruit new players?
20 DEC 2019: Where do you want the game to be in five years?
13 DEC 2019: Which concepts should 1E "import" from other games?
6 DEC 2019: Which couples should get a dual personnel card?
29 NOV 2019: Which old, unused 1E cards deserve some love?
22 NOV 2019: Which upcoming milestones need celebration?
15 NOV 2019: What's your favorite card image?
11 NOV 2019: What was your first 1E experience?
1 NOV 2019 What is your opinion of the "full page" policy?
25 OCT 2019: What do you want to see in a Halloween set?
18 OCT 2019: What is your favorite expansion?
11 OCT 2019: Which TNG main character needs a new card?
4 OCT 2019: Which Star Trek story needs more cards?
27 SEP 2019: How many points should [SPOILER] be worth?
20 SEP 2019: Which rules always confuse you?
13 SEP 2019: What do you think of [SPOILER]?
6 SEP 2019: Which card needs an alternate image (AI)?
30 AUG 2019: Which characteristic needs love?

Hello everyone! I wanted to take just a minute and give a shout out to our cousins on the 2E side, who released their 50th expansion today! The Omega Directive is an eighteen (18) card boutique product focusing on 50 point missions. It also introduces the Think Tank to 2E for the first time! If you're at all interested in 2E, check it out!

We've recently had some discussions within the Department of First Edition about our structure and how we get things done. I thought that would be a good opportunity to let all of you ask questions of me, and of the Department, about how things work.

What do you want to know about how the Department of First Edition works and gets things done?

I want to answer any questions you might have, both in short replies here and in longer form in an eventual page on the site. Do you want to know how long it takes to do something? How many people work on a set before it comes out? How the groups and teams work together? Any question is fair game, except asking who works on the confidential teams - Errata, Playtesting, and Rules. I won't out those people, that is their decision.

But if you're curious about any of the organizational workings of this department, please ask! I'll do my best to answer, and if I can't, I'll recruit the people that can. Help me figure out where the gaps are in your knowledge about what we do. We want to be as transparent as we reasonably can be, so your questions will help us get to that goal.

Stay safe, and stay sane. I'll be live on YouTube Saturday, 18 April, at 9 AM if you'd like to join me.

-crp

[Ensign Q]

i want a livestream of the office

[AllenGould]

i want a livestream of the office

What office?

[Iron Prime]

But they yanked it from Netflix and Peacock hasn't gone online yet...

[Iron Prime]

More seriously I would like to know how/where things are stored. Dropbox? Google drive? How do we ensure good hand-offs of the most recent version of files?

[BCSWowbagger]

Art.

I'm lucky enough to have pretty intimate knowledge of most of the departments that make 1E go. But Art is a black box to me. It's like magic: we feed in finished designs and errata and out pops a gorgeous proof, which is then, magically, extra-gorgeousified on release day.

Someone is working really hard to make all this happen -- and to make it look easy. But who? How? How long does it take to make a card? An errata? A re-errata? To correct a typo? To lay out a release file? What tools are used? What makes them feel good, happy, and respected? What makes them feel the opposite? How do they schedule their work between the two main departments?