Big Trucks and Bigger Monsters

Last week will be remembered for the unloading of numerous big rig containers. Apparently Monsterpocalypse is too much game to be contained on pallets surrounded by pallet wrap, so those shipping containers were filled top to bottom and front to back with cases of product. Each individual box needed to be unloaded by hand and passed down a line of employees to a shelf or stack of boxes where it waits to be sent out into the world. It was a lot of freaking work! Truck after truck after truck…

Along with the task of unloading the trucks also came an all-new experience for those of us in the office. We finally have product in house to play with! Now we have the real deal! No longer will playtesting be subjected to the use of the heavy big dice we had made for playtesting; we have the real dice now. No longer will we have to use foam buildings (which were expertly crafted by our in house hobby expert Rob Hawkins); we have actual building figures now. No longer will we have to pirate gaming pieces from board games to substitute for units and monsters; we now have the REAL Monsterpocalypse figures to use.

Though the game was more than enjoyable in its playtest incarnation, having the real game in hand takes Monsterpocalypse to a whole new level. When you step away and look at the map, you actually see a dramatic clash between monstrous titans taking place in the middle of downtown “Metroland.” It’s enough to make citizens of Tokyo run in fear!

I have worked on a number of games, and throughout the process of producing a game, samples of the product will trickle into the office here and there. Though that is cool, I can honestly say that there is no better time than the day when you have a real and complete copy of the rules in your hand so you can build a real army, force, or deck and play with it. Last week during our first annual company chili cook off, we received our comp product and actually played a few games. It was awesome watching the people in the office who have not been playing the game for the last six months crack open their starters and boosters, admire the figures, and then actually start playing. Watching the “player’s journey” is one of my favorite parts of game design; it’s rewarding to watch people work out strategic problems for themselves as they learn the game. Nothing beats the look of satisfaction that comes over a player as he puts together a cleaver combo or wining strategy.

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