The latest entry in our series Why You Should Kickstart Doomlings Board Game Kickstarter. Who doesn’t love card games with adorable creatures from an alternative planet? Doomlings is an interesting project being brought to you by a well equipped creative team. The game launches on Kickstarter on March 2, 2021. Check out the link below to go directly to The Doomlings Board Game Kickstarter page or continue on to read the interview with the creator.
The Doomlings Board Game on Kickstarter
1. How would you describe your product in a few sentences?
Doomlings is a delightful card game for the End of the World. Somewhere on a distant planet, life has emerged and species of Doomlings compete for dominance. The object of the game is to score the most points by the end of the world. Players score points by playing traits from their hand. Each round is a new Age, which introduces a new rule to the game play. Some Ages are Catastrophes, which introduce adverse rules to the round. After 3 Catastrophes, the world ends. The player with the most points WINS!
2. Introduce the team bringing this to market. What is your background that brought you to launch this?
Justus Meyer and Andrew Meyer are the game designers for Doomlings. They are brothers and gamers who play a wide range of tabletop, RPG, TCG, and video games. Justus is also a filmmaker and a storyteller, and created the world and concept for the game. He wanted to create a game about the end of the world. But instead of focusing on some inevitable doom and gloom, he wanted to focus on the fun of the moment, where players could enjoy the experience they’re having—here and now—as they grow a new species through the ages. Andrew is in Law school, and is unsurprisingly the “rules lawyer” of his game groups. Andrew frequently introduces new games to the family. Both brothers wanted something that could satisfy their need for interesting mechanics and plenty of replayability, while making it accessible for casual players like their cousins and Aunts. This was where the inception of Doomlings was born. He set the foundation for the mechanics of the game.
Chris Svehla and Eric McCoy jumped in to help develop the game with Andrew and Justus (most importantly, acting as vital moral support in the early phases.) Chris is a writer and comedian, and was immediately drawn to the playful spirit of Doomlings. Chris always insists that every card be fun, no matter how dark the content could otherwise be. His background in quippy one-liners and content development helped contribute to much of the personality of the game. Eric is a film and commercial director, and is essential to the successful launch of the game. Eric’s background in filmmaking and storytelling offers a fresh perspective to the story of the game, helping to enrich the vibrant world of Doomlings. His experience in filmmaking translates well to the organization of the team, to ensure we hit our deadlines and deliver a superior product.
3. What existing games would you compare your game to?
The objective to score the most points is similar to Guillotine and Sushi Go!, but with far more depth and replayability. Similar to these games, players are given access to the same community cards to find multiple ways to rack up their scores. Also similar to Sushi Go and Guillotine, the game has a defined ending after a certain number of rounds. But there are far more possibilities for playthroughs, as no two cards in Doomlings are the same. *Note: Doomlings is not a card drafting game. Players draw from a community pile each turn over 9-13 rounds.
We want to tread lightly here, but Doomlings pays homage to trading card games like Pokemon, Magic, and Hearthstone. Doomlings removes the deck-building component of these games, and distills down ideas like ‘elements’ into 5 sets of cards – Red, Blue, Green, Purple and Colorless. Point combos and chaining effects draw inspiration from the feeling of ‘collecting’ that players might get in a TCG. Most cards also have unique effects and interactions, that will feel familiar to any veteran of trading card games. But the objective is to score points, not to ‘knock out’ your opponents, which makes for a more friendly atmosphere. Most importantly, a game of Doomlings comes ready to play…no additional purchases or deckbuilding required.
4. What sets your game apart?
Doomlings offers the excitement of card collection throughout the game that historically comes with a TCG. But the mechanics are built around a grab-and-go game, making it accessible for social game nights, holidays, or palette cleansers. The rules can be learned quickly, but players will make new discoveries through countless playthroughs. Doomlings also has a unique mechanic for card cycling and deck digging, and this is called the Gene Pool. Each player has their own Gene Pool, which determines how many cards they’re supposed to have in their hand at the end of each turn. As the game progresses, Gene Pools will naturally shrink, so players will want to play special cards to grow it back up so they don’t squeeze out their options in future rounds. Players can hold more or fewer cards than their Gene Pool allows. But at the end of their turn, they must ‘stabilize,’ either drawing or discarding to match the size of their Gene Pool. Doomlings has no components, only cards, so to keep track of their Gene Pool, each player receives their own colorful Gene Pool counter card that they can rotate and flip as it increases or decreases.
5. How can everyone be assured that they are going to get quality components and you are going to deliver on all the promises you are making?
We have tested materials, prints, designs, and playthroughs over 4 rounds of prototypes. Our latest round of prototypes has been shipped to 70+ reviewers around the world. While the game is fully realized and playable, we continue to take feedback from our community to make every little detail as personal and enjoyable as possible. Everyone has those moments when they play their favorite games where they wish they could have made a suggestion. We are mining for the community’s feedback to ensure this game feels complete. We are also working with the biggest vendors in card game manufacturing and kickstarter fulfillment, all of whom have years of experience with the biggest names in Kickstarter.
6. Why should someone back your project?
This game was incepted in 2019, and while this is NOT a Covid game, it was indeed developed through the pandemic by passionate, independent artists. We have worked long nights and weekends to give this game every bit of personal love and care that we would expect from the games we cherish. Like many of you, work has been tight for us, but we have put every penny we can afford into the game’s development, with prototypes, playtesting, and community outreach to give you an affordable, truly special game that we think will be a delight to open and a joy to play… Because we believe now—more than ever—people need a reason to smile. Thank you, in advance, for your support.
Well we are satisfied!
Great insight and enthusiasm from a passionate design team. This seems like a wonderful dive into scoring the most points before a unique world’s inevitable destruction. It has clearly been guided by passionate hands and looks like it is going to be a top-notch product. Take a look at their Kickstarter or social media pages for more info!
