FUNDED! Now let's talk stretch goals!
over 1 year ago – Fri, Aug 19, 2022 at 05:06:04 AM

We are FULLY FUNDED!!!  Because of your support, Junk Drawer will become a reality.  We appreciate all of your support; THANK YOU! 

We celebrated the milestone, coincidentally, by demo’ing Junk Drawer at our favorite local game store, Labyrinth Games and Puzzles, and then grabbing pizza and a drink nearby!

Since we are now funded, let's talk stretch goals! 

Our 1st stretch goal... dual-layered player boards... will be unlocked when we reach $22,000.  

Our 2nd stretch goal... linen finish cards... will be unlocked when we reach $24,000.

We wanted to focus our stretch goals on component upgrades that will enhance the overall quality of the game and play experience.  For our first game, 10 Gallon Tank, we got linen finish cards and were astounded by how wonderful they looked.  And so naturally we wanted to include linen finish cards as our second stretch goal.

If you'd like to help us reach those stretch goals, please keep sharing the campaign and game reviews. With your help, we will meet them before too long!

Again...  Thank You!

We thank you so much and are humbled by all of your support.  Without you, we could not make Junk Drawer.  The game has been a complete joy to work on and we can't wait to bring the game to you. 

Feel free to reach out, our email is [email protected] and we'd love to hear from you! 

Thank you all so much!

David and Travis

Artist Spotlight: Asha Farmer
over 1 year ago – Thu, Aug 18, 2022 at 02:15:02 PM

The last few days have been amazing in terms of the new support for the campaign.  We are almost there at 96% funded! You all have had the best feedback, questions, and comments, and we appreciate all of YOUR help in spreading the word about the campaign.  For today's update, we wanted to dive a little more into the creative process for Junk Drawer and highlight what we consider to be one of the most important aspects of the game: the artwork!

The wonderful artist who brought so much life and vibrancy to Junk Drawer, Asha Farmer, is a recent graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2021, where she received a Bachelor's Degree in General Fine Arts and Illustration.  When David and I first started thinking about the art, we knew we would want someone with a colorful style that could draw the junk objects realistically, but not be so photorealistic that they would lose any of the charm.  So we reached out to a few folks about potential artists and one responded that while she was not available, she knew of someone who may be a great fit. And that's how we found Asha!

These are just a few images in her portfolio, which you can find here!  You can see why we thought she would be a great fit given her range of ability to draw pretty much anything you could think of in a colorful and cartoony, but still realistic way.  But there was one picture that stood out and once we saw it, we knew she would be the perfect artist for Junk Drawer.

First of all, you can see that she's great at drawing those everyday items that you might find on your sink or perhaps...in a drawer with other random things ;-)  But then there's the WOOD GRAIN of the doors.  That was exactly what we were looking for as a background for the player boards.  So when Asha decided to collaborate with us, we knew we would have a special project.  She also researched and chose a number of the items that ended up being the final ones and one thing we loved about the final products were the little bits of flair added into some of the items.  

So from the bottom of our hearts, thank you Asha!! 

You are super talented and you took our rough ideas and even rougher google image junk pictures and turned them into something that attracts people to the table when they pass by.  For all of our backers, if you ever need an artist to dome work for you, Asha is one of the kindest and most patient people we've met (trust us, we spent a lot of time on Discord waffling on what the end items should be and Asha never complained)!  Here's a link to her website:  https://www.ashafarmer.com/

Until the next update, thank you again backers!

David and Travis

Winsmith Games

*Artwork can be found on www.ashafarmer.com/ and is property of Asha Farmer.

Update #4: A look at the Goal Cards (plus our 1st STRETCH GOAL!!!)
over 1 year ago – Sun, Aug 14, 2022 at 08:53:10 PM

Happy Sunday!

You all have shown AMAZING support over the past few days, pushing us to 87% funded! Thank you!  

For this update, we showcase a few goal cards, so that you can see the types of objectives you'll be working towards each game.  But first...

Our First Stretch Goal:  Dual-Layered Junk Drawers 

We are excited to announce our first stretch goal, dual-layered junk drawer player boards!  These will be unlocked when we reach $22,000 funding.

All of our prototypes to date have used single-layer chipboard for the player boards.  However, as soon as we began brainstorming stretch goals, making the player boards dual-layered was naturally one of our initial ideas (and the most requested upgrade from playtesters).  

We deliberated for a long time on whether or not to make the player boards dual-layered in the base game.  However, we felt it most important to keep our cost down, focus on funding, and make this premium component our first... and possibly our favorite... stretch goal!  

Now that we are close to funding, we are thrilled to share this stretch goal that, when unlocked, will enhance the games look and feel! Here is a mockup of what we expect the dual layer boards to look like. Each section will have a raised edge so that pieces don't slide around too much if the board moves. 

Overview of Goal Cards

In each game of Junk Drawer, 4 of the 24 goal cards are placed into the four sections of the Goal Board (as shown below).

In most tile-laying puzzle games, the objective is usually to cover as much area as possible.  One thing that sets Junk Drawer apart from those games is that the game comes with 24 unique organization goals, each focusing on a unique tile-placement optimization.  Goals may focus on:

• Maximizing spaces covered
• Minimizing the number of spaces covered
• Specific tile shapes
• Unique tile configurations   

By having goals with competing tile optimization, and every tile being a unique shape, the game creates tense decisions on which goal to place that item, especially as you aren't sure which items are coming up next. Each goal also has a difficulty rating, which we added so that you can tailor the game experience to the game group without having to sift through a stack of goals.  We'll go into each difficulty below.

Easy Goals

The 8 Easy Goals focus on simple objectives.  Some ask you to cover as much as possible, others as little as possible, and others just focus on the center or perimeter squares.  These goals are fairly straight forward and easier to earn the higher end of their point potential.

Medium Goals

The 8 Medium Goals begin asking you to create specific patterns, focus on "Gaps" (ie continuous spaces that are empty), and otherwise a little less straightforward than the Easy Goals.  For instance, you may want to create one big rectangle to score, you may need to keep entire columns and rows uncovered, or you may score your largest gap.  

Hard Goals

The 8 Hard Goals are more challenging to earn higher scores, and can have larger point swings in a single tile placement.  The picture above showcases three Hard Goals:  Only gaps that are exactly two spaces will score, Columns and rows only score when there's a single tile covered in each, or items need to be completely spaced apart to score.  If you want a mind melter, play a game with all Hard Goals!

Thank You

Again, we appreciate all of your support.  We are excited to showcase our first stretch goal, and look forward to hitting our Funding Goal.  Until next time.  

Cheers,

David and Travis, Winsmith Games

Update #3: Gen Con Recap and 2 Copies of Junk Drawer = 1-8 Players!
over 1 year ago – Wed, Aug 10, 2022 at 09:39:10 AM

Hello Backers!

We've just gotten back from Gen Con in Indianapolis and had a blast!  We played some spectacular games but, more importantly, we pulled Junk Drawer out and showcased it (along with other games we are developing) as much as we could with a lot of folks in the First Exposure Playtest Hall!  Below are a few pictures, but first want to highlight our 2 Copy pledge tier.

 2 Copies of Junk Drawer = More Friends Per Game! 

One thing we want to highlight is our pledge tier for two copies of Junk Drawer, and while a single copy of Junk Drawer can accommodate 1-4 players,  adding a second copy expands the game to 1-8 players! 

The pledge tier for two copies, which comes with a few benefits:

• You receive a $5 discount on the second copy
•  Shipping will be significantly cheaper for the second copy
• The second copy expands the game for up to 8 players, or makes a great gift

For Dave and I personally this is especially important because when we have game nights, we tend to invite lots of people and end up playing party games.  So having the ability to play Junk Drawer with more people at the same time is a great way to be able to incorporate it into more game nights. 

If you like having the option to play with larger groups, or if you know someone who may like their own copy of Junk Drawer, you may want to consider backing at the 2 Copies Tier!

Gen Con Recap

For us, Gen Con is always a good time to check out and try the newest games, playtest some new designs, and hang out with friends.  This year was even more intense with the campaign ongoing.  And while we were definitely tired by the end, we want to share a few highlights to give a glimpse to those who haven't attended.

Here is a picture of some wonderful playtesters trying out Junk Drawer in the First Exposure Playtest Hall! 

One of our favorite games that we were able to purchase and play had to be Phantom Ink.  This is a competitive party game where two ghosts try to communicate the same secret word to their team through cryptic questions and the first team to guess the answer wins.  If you like party games you need to pick this one up!

And finally, you can't go to Gen Con without seeing amazing costumes.  This costume of the Mandalorian was LEGIT!  It was made of real metal and the helmet had a voice changer inside that sounded just like the real Mando.  It was one of the best we've ever seen!

We are excited about our current status (almost 70% funded) and look forward to funding!  If you know anyone else who may be interested, be sure to share our Kickstarter page with them.

Sincerely,

Winsmith Games

Update #2: Almost halfway there!
over 1 year ago – Sat, Jul 30, 2022 at 08:49:20 PM

Happy Saturday Everyone!  Just wanted to post a quick update to again say thank you for your continued support and the sharing of the campaign that you've done with friends and family. We are almost at the halfway mark to the goal, which is fantastic!

If you know of anyone on the fence about backing, have them check out Jack from The Cardboard Herald’s review of the game. He strives to always give an honest review and he really explains how the tension builds throughout the game and how that sets it apart from other tile laying games.

Gen Con Next Week

Next week, we are headed to Gen Con (August 4-7), the biggest board game convention in the US! Gen Con is one of the highlights of our year and this year will be no different. If any of you will be at Gen Con and want to meet up, reach out to us on Twitter @winsmithgames. We will have Junk Drawer with us but we will also be testing a few new early game ideas in the First Exposure Playtest Hall. We always love meeting new people!

Have a great rest of your weekend everyone!

David and Travis