Metallic Ink Tokens Unlocked!
over 2 years ago – Thu, Aug 04, 2022 at 07:20:17 AM

Hello dodos! 

You are rocking the stretch goals and we can't be more thankful for all the love and support we are getting <3 In addition, welcome to all new backers in the Creature Kingdoms' universe! 

You have unlocked the metallic ink tokens, which will be added to all trap tokens, and we are so close to unlock the 2 new cards! I was hesitant about posting the update or waiting for the cards to be unlocked, but the update is a bit long haha 

What's coming up next in the Stretch Goals line? 

How are we doing in the community goals?

Firstly, we added new easy ones, like sharing the pinned post on Facebook and retweet our post on Twitter to unlock more cards being design by you! 

Also, one more community goal arrived, colouring "Dianne & Sarah" in your own color scheme. As mentioned in the previous update all colours are welcome, but Dianne had a particular love of amethyst and amber. We are so happy to see you all having fun painting this racer! 

So, back to the question, how are we going? Remember that you can download the image to change your avatar from Update #2. Let's see: 

We haven't seen a lot of videos from you throwing your dodo token and making a dodo sound! And we are still waiting for Wil Wheaton to accept the challenge, do you think he will do it? Help us reminding him by tagging him in the Instagram post! 

I still feel bad about his birthday haha but, what were the odds?! Wil, if you are reading this, Happy unbirthday! 

Will from Draco didn't waste his time and is participating in the challenge too and he did a hit! Make it looks super easy, right? 

We look forward to seeing your dodo dash shot! 

We are still counting all votes and suggestions for the first racer unlocked but looks like Alberta is leading the contest! 

We have also been reading your comments and questions and we know that the sleeves have been creating some confusion, so we created a graphic hoping it clarifies a bit more about how many you need for each game: 

Gen Con is here! 

Gen Con starts tomorrow and the team is having fun (and a lot of work) setting up the booth and preparing everything to make your experience memorable! 

We joined the Pin Baazar this year with an Osborn & Reynaldo pin, free with any purchase done at the booth (conditions may vary). Here's a bit more information about the Pin Baazar and the participants. 

About yesterday's update, Will was super quick about it, but reality was that Will planned to post it during his stop in Dallas... but the line to cross migration/customs took longer than expected... 2 hours and a half! Making him lost his connection flight directly to Indianapolis. So he was placed on a plane to Austin and then, he needed to run to catch the connection to Indianapolis. The people at the airport mentioned that he didn't need to pick up luggage, just run to the plane, and once in Indianapolis, the luggage took another hour to arrive... But now he is there with the team setting up the booth and happy to start the best 4 days in gaming (and he had a milkshake that might be the biggest reason he is happy) =D  

I'll be sharing the drawings from the community goals in the next update, feel free to share yours to contribute to the goals! 

ROAAAAAR! 

New track! El Dodorado Temple
over 2 years ago – Thu, Aug 04, 2022 at 05:50:26 AM

 Hello Dino-riders!

We are deeply thankful for all your positive comments in yesterday’s update and we are very much looking forward to seeing your colored submissions. You can upload in social media with the hashtag #dododash so our team can find them easily.

Yesterday you unlocked a very exciting stretch goal and one more today. Let’s check them out:

A new track on the other side of the board!

New tracks are great because each one has a unique dynamic. The Path to El Dodorado has hexes that can hold trap tokens. After crossing the perilous road in the middle of the jungle, you may find the Dodorado Temple!

For this track I wanted to create something different: a very symmetric track layout so the illustration could feel harmonic. Meanwhile, Iván was proposing a track layout with some hard curves. So… why not both?
 

We combined our ideas and came up with this arrangement for the outer and inner track!
 

 
What secrets hold this place? Can you imagine? I can confirm that we are hiding some secrets from Dodino’s island past (and future). Let us know in the comments your best guesses!

With this track, Pepe and I are planning to introduce another aspect of kart-racing video games: drifting!
(We are not sure if for running dinosaurs it would be more like sliding or drifting… what do you think?)

We haven’t locked the mechanic yet but we want to feature a Push your luck mechanic for drifting in those interesting curves.

The curves are a dangerous zone to be in while other players are nearby; projectiles thrown in that area could easily hit multiple racers.

This might be my favorite track in terms of layout and art! It is still a work in progress – colors pending, it will have a ton of gold tones and I want it to look very vibrant!

What's the most interesting aspect of this track for you? 

 You also unlocked new trap tokens! 

These are randomly picked before starting a race and placed in the track. Some have instant effects when you end your movement exactly in those. Others have zone effects that affect a segment of the track. 

My favorite one is the one that ignores being enraged for players in that zone. Make sure you save Aggressive (red) cards in your hand when you reveal that token. (Enraged is a player status when multiple players play red cards and the effects in those cards are cancelled).

Others affect the amount of hexes you advance or trigger damage when certain conditions are met.

Do you have ideas for more trap tokens? Let us know in the comments! Your suggestions have shaped our games in the past and this won't be the exception!

In case you missed it in the updated campaign graphics, here's the miniature render of the 5th racer you unlocked! Thanks Heriberto for another fantastic sculpt!

 Remember we want you to name this dinosaur, let us know which option you like the most from the ones suggested by fellow backers.

Quackalope's New Gameplay video

Are you looking for another gameplay video? 

Check out Quackalope's with Jesse, West, Jeremy and Devon —a professional crokinole player.

Leave a comment sharing your love and excitement for Dodos Riding Dinos!

Gen Con

This update arrived later than expected because I was writing this update on my way to Gen Con Indy! In between connection flights (one lost because of the looooong line at customs/migration, but all good, I finally arrived!)

It's been 3 years since the last time I've been there and I'm so excited to be back. Like many of you, there's a strong sense of belonging in gaming conventions like this one. This industry and community is just the best. Tomorrow we will be setting up our stand and on Thursday we will be ready to receive you at booth #664! I hope to meet many of you at Gen Con!

So with that, the next few updates will be hosted by Pam (who I miss so much already). Remember to participate in the community goals so we can unlock more content and spread the word about this game that we all love. 

Until next time!

A Dodo named Dianne
over 2 years ago – Wed, Aug 03, 2022 at 12:17:05 PM

Hello again dino-riders and welcome new backers! 

We are delighted to see the Creature Kingdoms community grow and very glad to have you all here. You are in a safe, nice and fun place.

Today's update is extremely special. 

Having written over 600 project updates across 28 Kickstarter projects, this update is the one that has brought the most emotion to me, to Pam, and to Pepe.

It is not about our excitement for stretch goals or the amusement we feel with community goals entries. 

It is about bringing people together through games, even when they have departed from the physical plane.

It is about love, about giving back to our community, about creating games for transcendental reasons.

Yesterday, we shared with you half of the story behind the newest characters from Dodos Riding Dinos, a concept taken from our community's suggestions back in 2020. But there's a reason why we haven't locked the colors and patterns. We didn't tell you the characters' names either...

I think I can talk for most Kickstarter creators when I say that one of the most powerful experiences is to present a project on Kickstarter and connecting with a large community of backers who believe in your vision and your capability of creating something truly wonderful. And the mutual trust created in that connection between creators and backers.

Finding out the reasons why backers feel a connection with our creations is even more motivational; relationships with backers become even more meaningful.

Last year Sarah Ayers shared with us the reason of backing our game.

Pepe, Pam and I were deeply touched when we read Sarah's message. It is very inspiring to know that your work is able to hold so much meaning to another person.

A year later (earlier this year), with the original game fulfilled, we created a survey and asked our community what other dinosaurs or abilities they would like to see in this expansion. 

Sarah's request became an objective for us:

As you might have heard or read in the original rules, the Dodos' names in the game are a tribute for the real-life finder of the fossil or a related paleontologist who studied it. I knew that with the egg-concept we had something special, but up to that moment I didn't know it was meant for this.

For us, the egg is a new birth, so Sarah's mum's name and memory may live on yet in another form of remembrance.

With great sense of meaningfulness and inspiration we present to you:

Dianne and Sarah

To complete this concept WE NEED YOUR HELP!

• We want YOU to propose the color scheme and patterns on the egg shells. 

Yesterday we reached out to share our plans with Sarah first and ask for permission.

As per the reply, Sarah would LOVE for this to happen andlooking forward to the community response.

We asked what colors or shapes Dianne liked and Sarah replied:

Mum loved all colours, but had a particular love of amethyst and amber. She loved plants, nature, art and beautiful music. She was intelligent, articulate and a fantastic cook. She was kind and giving.

Of course, we will love to see every single submission from you, our backers, our community. But we will be even happier to see submissions that reflect some or all of the preferences mentioned above.

The miniature in the game will be supplied with a flat and even surface on the egg shells so you can paint your miniature as you like, but for the printed 2D art in the card, we need to decide on a color and pattern. Our art team will replicate the chosen submission and its creator's name will be included in the rulebook.

• You can print the image above to color it or paint it digitally. 
• You, your kids, friends, or family can submit as many as you like.
• Try to include amethyst and/or amber tones (whether as primary or secondary colors)
• Try to reflect patterns that could be read as plants, nature, art and/or music. 

For companies like us, born through Kickstarter, community becomes a priority for all the gratitude we feel towards you and your support which allows us to do what we love. 

Help us to imprint even more community input and meaningfulness in the creation of this game.

Thank you. And thank you Sarah Ayers for sharing the reason why you connected with us. We hope Dianne & Sarah bring bright memories of your mum whenever you see this character in the game.

Will, Pam and Pepe

A new character and TikTok account are born!
over 2 years ago – Mon, Aug 01, 2022 at 12:16:19 AM

Hellooooo Dino-riders! 

You did it again! 

A new character joins the race and now the standalone expansion supports 6 players to join the race when playing without the original game.

This character is a very special one with a big backstory. Today we are going to share the 1st part of its story but stay tuned in a future update for part 2.

Back in 2020, in the campaign for the original Dodos Riding Dinos, Gustavo García Rodríguez shared with us an illustration for his idea of a new character. Jabb also created a new dodino character sculpt using parts of the STL files.

Jabb even shared an idea for the ability to involve advancing by flicking the miniature (or meeple) just as the egg projectile is flicked (but with a proper limit or drawback). We loved Gustavo's and Jabb's ideas and have known for a while that they would eventually join to the official game. 

This concept quickly became Pam's favorite and she was the one who suggested for the dino's eyes to be showing.

This concept is still a work in progress with adjustments pending because we need the eyes to pop out of the hole for the sculpt but here's the current iteration:

Ivan (Gnomosapiens) made some fun variations on the color and patterns to share with you.

In the coming week we will share with you the lineart of the final concept so you can also propose colors and patterns with a few guidelines (which involves part 2 of the background story for this character that we will share in a future update). 

This will become a challenge in the community goals too so prepare your crayons, watercolors or prismacolor pencils. 

And speaking of community goals have you tried recording and sharing a video fo the dodo dash shot doing a dodo sound? Please share the link in the comments and remember to include the hashtag #dododash!

Draco Studios TikTok 

At Detestable Games and Draco Studios we also want to share fun videos. The new TikTok account from Draco Studios is live. Follow us to meet the team doing fun videos every once in a while: https://www.tiktok.com/@draco.studios

We will be back tomorrow with more news and a fresh week-start to continue promoting the campaign and unlocking stretch goals. But before we go, check out this funny video of Rejected projectile ideas from Moy (community manager and mkt coordinator).  We are sure you are going to enjoy it as much as we did!

3 stretch goals + 1 challenge for a level-50 Wil Wheaton!
over 2 years ago – Sun, Jul 31, 2022 at 10:30:46 AM

ROOOOOOAAAAAAR!

Today you unlocked 3 more stretch goals!! You are crushing these so fast that we are already preparing wave 2. 

Welcome new backers and thank you for joining us in this campaign, you are in a good place. Let's see what you have added to the game:

• Dodo Dash is including a punchboard with tokens to allow for different interactions in the game board.  
• The Path to El Dodorado has treacherous tracks. This idea was inspired in the "Nest trap tokens" that many of you suggested in the original campaign from 2020. These tokens are traps that may have a single effect, or a zone effect that alters the behavior in some of the hexes. Our playtesters seem to enjoy this track A LOT and now we will develop and include more trap tokens for a total of 6 (4+2).
• Also, now it is official! With the $140,000 stretch goal we can create new unique art for all movement cards in Dodo Dash to adapt with the new racers!
• And speaking of movement cards, you also unlocked new movement cards. What would you like to see in an unblockable card (yellow movement cards)? Or if you own the original game already, what Reaction, Aggressive or Normal cards do you feel were missing?

Let us know in the main comments section! Your ideas have been very original and different from ours!

 A very specific challenge!

Today, Pam challenged Wil Wheaton to complete a Dodo Dash shot on a dinosaur and show to us that he received his copy of Dodos Riding Dinos – we sent him one a while ago because Pam is a huge fan of Wil Wheaton for his role on The Big Bang Theory and later she discovered Star Trek. I was familiar with Wil's videos on tabletop gaming because my gaming group used to refer to those to learn new games many years ago.

There's a fun twist because the Draco Studios & Detestable Games teams agreed to have a live dino race if the challenge was met.

And then, there was yet anoooother fun twist to this challenge, because just an hour ago, Pam found out that today was Wil's birthday and that she didn't even wished happy birthday in her video and instead, she miiiiight have called Wil a dodo. This was hilarious for our team, but not that much to Pam who is a bit ashamed. You can wish Wil Wheaton a happy birthday signed from a fellow Dino-racer in his birthday post. 

Who know's? Maybe next thing you see is Wil Wheaton's dodo dash (with a dodo sound) to see us all disguised as dinosaurs in a live race throwing projectiles at each other. That could be fun!

 In any case, let's move on with a status on the Community Goals! The weekend is here so you have no valid excuse to skip joining into these fun challenges and unlock some community-developed cards!

NAMES...

While this is not a challenge, we are expect that you all decide the name of this dino that you unlocked.  

The Dodo already has a name because in the game, dodo's are named after the real life finder of the fossil (or a paleontologist who studied the species). 

The dinos are usually named after an attribute, a backer, or an inside joke...

For those of you already familiar with the original game characters:

• What do you get if you add an "N" to both, Riggs and Sauro? (Hint: Not Gollum or Frodo)
• Do you know what "Rex" means and how that translates to Spanish? 
• Tracy-ratops? (Do we really need to say more?)
• Backers Jabb, Jonhy, and Juan Manuel really wanted us to create a large dodo being pushed by a small dino... we decided to make it 3 compsognathus and name the character Oberndorfer & the JJJ's
• Chicken Nicholas is not only riding a Mecha dimetrodon on dodino actually, you can also find Chicken Nicholas in the comment section of this Kickstarter! The idea of a mecha-chicken-dinosaur was not ours, but we loved it!
• Tom Babbey is the artist behind the Dragons of the Red Moon from Dragonbond just as Dan SRT is the original creator of Dragonbond.

If you are not yet familiar with the original game characters, check this unboxing video and then refer to the fun facts above.

It might not be apparent at first glance but there's definitely a lot of thought placed into every aspect of this game and all the hidden secrets or easter eggs it holds. And the expansion has many of these as well!

But that's thanks to the inspiration you give us. So please keep the comments coming! They are great!

The weekend is here but let's hope we can keep momentum and unlock more stretch goals! If that's the case, you will definitely hear from us! If not, I think you still will because we are very excited for this campaign!

Enjoy your weekend and don't forget to upload your Dodo Dash shot with any token you have at hand! With a dodo sound or with a huge ROOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!!