AoA:Vanguard Campaign Postmortem

[Heirloom]

What went wrong, and should be fixed next time? What went right, and should be repeated next time? Record your thoughts here.

[Heirloom]

I’ll start with the biggies…
WRONG: HasLab
RIGHT: design team

[GamerDad74]

Wrong: Nearly everything.
Right: Classic 'Scape units--but locked behind ridiculous backing goals.

[Grim]

I am very glad that this was attempted.
I am sad that it was doomed to fail.

I strongly believe it could have succeeded - at another company.
Even more, I strongly believe Heroscape is a viable ever-living game system, that doesn't need crowdfunding.
I believe the "problem" is basically... Hasbro.

I would like to sincerely and with utmost appreciation thank the people who put so much into this:

Originally Posted by Knox

Thank you so much @Dad_Scaper @encarmine @Craig Van Ness @Scytale @skyknight @dok @superfrog @Xorlof

I believe the units and the designs are spectacular. And the sculpts and art are superb! Subsequent exhaustive analysis and playtesting will bear this out I'm sure!

Repeating myself from the other thread:

Craig Van Ness = 5 stars
War Council = 5 stars
Avalon Hill = 5 stars for effort damn they did some aweomeness
(doesn't matter) planning = 1 stars
(doesn't matter) presentation = 2 stars
(doesn't matter) marketing = 1 star
Hasbro = 1 star

Since Hasbro is never gonna give this up, never gonna let this go, I think... well, who cares. This community is it, basically. Same as before.

So, I think it would be better that this never happened...

... UNLESS they sell it to another company. Which they won't.

[Hogg]

Why did they go through all the effort to recreate the whole setting when they could have gone back to the units that were already in development before DnD took over?

['Scaper94]

Originally Posted by Hogg

Why did they go through all the effort to recreate the whole setting when they could have gone back to the units that were already in development before DnD took over?

Most likely due to legal reasons, though the confirmed reasons may always remain opaque to the majority of us (for other legal reasons).

More critically: Why was so much time and focus placed on deep-diving into expanding the lore, especially if the product wasn't officially greenlit for production?

Yes, in an IP-laden entertainment market, lore is important. However, I really believe the cart was placed before the horse with this. If they wanted to expand the lore, a safer option might have been to continue closer to where the lore left off (there should be enough there to work with to satisfy the existing players, and touch on previous details to entice the curiosity of new players). Once the stage is set and the revival is officially slated for production, THEN go crazy with the lore.

[Master Roshi]

Originally Posted by 'Scaper94

Most likely due to legal reasons, though the confirmed reasons may always remain opaque to the majority of us (for other legal reasons).

More critically: Why was so much time and focus placed on deep-diving into expanding the lore, especially if the product wasn't officially greenlit for production?

Yes, in an IP-laden entertainment market, lore is important. However, I really believe the cart was placed before the horse with this. If they wanted to expand the lore, a safer option might have been to continue closer to where the lore left off (there should be enough there to work with to satisfy the existing players, and touch on previous details to entice the curiosity of new players). Once the stage is set and the revival is officially slated for production, THEN go crazy with the lore.

Yeah, the lore focus was strange to me. The trailer they released that was narrated by Thormmun was well-produced and looked nice, but not as valuable as a well-produced gameplay/terrain trailer that displayed the contents of the set.
Personally, I'm not interested in the lore. I wouldn't have read any books/comics/ etc were they to have been released; I'm here for the game
If they want to make that content for the section of the player base who want to read lore then that's fine but it should have come later once the actual purpose of Heroscape is established.

['Scaper94]

Originally Posted by Master Roshi

Yeah, the lore focus was strange to me. The trailer they released that was narrated by Thormmun was well-produced and looked nice, but not as valuable as a well-produced gameplay/terrain trailer that displayed the contents of the set.
Personally, I'm not interested in the lore. I wouldn't have read any books/comics/ etc were they to have been released; I'm here for the game
If they want to make that content for the section of the player base who want to read lore then that's fine but it should have come later once the actual purpose of Heroscape is established.

To add, cynically: instead of the fanbase looking to HeroQuest as an "example" for the AoA haslab, the marketing team should have looked at the original HS commercial as an example for what elements of the game to highlight. A bit snarky, but true nonetheless.

[nyys]

Originally Posted by Master Roshi

I'm not interested in the lore. I wouldn't have read any books/comics/ etc were they to have been released; I'm here for the game
If they want to make that content for the section of the player base who want to read lore then that's fine but it should have come later once the actual purpose of Heroscape is established.

I'm not a big lore person either but many love it. I think it was good (even necessary) to have it at the ready from the start (whether the direction was liked or not), gotta appeal to as many as possible.

[Grim]

For posterity, copying from the other official news thread:

Originally Posted by Anitar

The Haslab campaign has ended, with 4,353 backers out of the required 8,000. The official response to this is here:

https://hasbropulse.com/blogs/avalon...heroscape-fans

To all the fans of HeroScape,

As of the deadline for the HeroScape: Age of Annihilation, Vanguard Edition HasLab project, we are short of the goal needed to start production on this wonderful game. No doubt you are disappointed in the results. We are too. The anticipation for this project among the Avalon Hill staff was great – we spent months preparing for the campaign, and once launched we worked hard to gain the support of every single backer who pledged.

And it didn’t go without notice that you did the same. So many of you worked hard to help spread the word of our campaign. You offered us your honest feedback, let us know where we may have missed the mark in some places and where we were succeeding. Your involvement in this project was incredible, and we feel lucky to have found such an amazing community of folks who all share the love of this unique and thrilling skirmish battle game. The passion we felt from you was truly an inspiration that kept pushing us to improve the campaign as best we could. So from the bottom of our hearts, thank you. Thank you so much for sharing that passion with us.

We also want to extend a huge thank you to the HeroScapers who came aboard to help us create this project. Your work on this game was absolutely unbelievable, and we know how hard it was for you to keep your involvement a secret in those early days! Sincerely, this wouldn’t have been the same without you and we appreciate everything you brought to the table.

So, with that being said, no doubt the big question on everyone’s mind is…

What’s next for HeroScape?

Our unfortunate answer is… nothing. As we said during the campaign if this project doesn’t meet its goal, we won’t be able to produce Age of Annihilation. That has not changed. HeroScape as a project will be shelved, and there are no current plans to attempt a resurrection at this time. The Avalon Hill team will refocus our efforts on the exciting games we currently have coming soon, such as the next HeroQuest Game System expansion, Mage of the Mirror, or the upcoming Yawning Portal D&D strategy board game.

What we did take away from this campaign was a great deal of learning. And for that, we have you to thank. We hope you remain as passionate, as devoted, and as vocal with all our future endeavors so that we create to the best of our abilities the games you love.

[Pumpkin_King]

Zero issues with the units or factions myself.

[Master Roshi]

I liked the content, having so much new stuff all at once wasn't the best move, I think they should have trickled that stuff in through each release. I don't have a problem with the units themselves though.

For example if we stick with 5 factions, I think they could have stuck with the bugs, pirates, and dryan, then included a fleshed out dwarf faction and a fleshed out omnicron faction. Save the ironclad and clockwork for a future release. This way, old players have something they recognize through the dwarves and omnicrons plus the new factions.

I don't think making so much cotent for a single release was good though. Making a 2 million dollar goal was unnecessary, i think a smaller goal and set should have been sought so that we can achieve it and get something out the door, then focus on expanding content later. A 1 million dollar goal wouldn't have required as many people up front to back it, and if it reaches 2 million then great.

If we stick to 2 million dollars, then the tiers and addons as many have described would have been smart. It would have allowed a greater quantity of individuals to get involved, and allowed the whales to purchase even more content since they can avoid duplicates of stuff they don't want