My new game - already funded! 🔌 New Story Pack! 🎬 Also, art stream happening! 🎨
7 months ago – Sat, Apr 13, 2024 at 10:15:57 AM

Hello filmmakers!

Mal here, nice to see ya. I hope your cameras have been rolling to your satisfaction since we last spoke.

I wanted to let you know that the new game from Keen Bean Studio, Power Vacuum, went live on Kickstarter this week, and it's already funded! Power Vacuum is a competitive trick-taking game set in a dystopian world of anthropomorphic household appliances all competing to take the seat of absolute power after the death of the dear leader - a vacuum cleaner, obviously. My love of puns has not waned since Roll Camera!

If you like the stuff I make and want to support me in making more of it, backing this project is a great way to do that!

Oh yeah, AND there's a new Roll Camera! Story Pack available with that campaign as a thematic tie-in with Power Vacuum: Spy Thriller! It'll be available from my store later this year, but you can get it for a special price during the Power Vacuum campaign.

I'll be live in 45!

At 11am Eastern / 2pm Pacific / 8pm CET (ie, in roughly 45 mins) I'm going to do a one-hour live stream art session of Power Vacuum card art! I'll besimultaneously on Keen Bean Studio's Facebook page, YouTube and Twitch channels. 

Come by, say hi! I'd love to see ya.

Okay that's it, thanks! You are great.

Your pal,

Mal

Murder Mystery Story Pack is live! UKGE award for B-Movie!
over 1 year ago – Fri, Jun 16, 2023 at 08:04:18 AM

B-Movie wins the UKGE award for Best Expansion!

Hey filmmakers,

You know, creative work can be a lonely road, full of self-doubt and second guessing. Even if you're making something as part of an awesome team, like on a film set, or like I was with B-Movie's awesome developer John Velgus, at a certain point it lies with you alone to make decisions or come up with ideas and bear the responsibility for whatever their consequences might bring. Which means I usually just do whatever I think I would want, or what I think is funny, or what I think is fun, so then if no one else likes it, at least I do. But sometimes that can make you feel like you don't really know what the hell you are doing. 

So, I'll tell ya, it does help to get some affirmation that maybe it was NOT a bad idea to put a bunch of "useless" tokens into an already-packed expansion box or create and draw 25 more Scene cards than was entirely necessary or give players permission to instruct each other on how to roll dice. I attended the UK Games Expo two weeks ago, and they awarded Best Expansion to B-Movie. Sure, awards aren't everything. The UKGE award isn't even all that important in the industry. But you know, it did make me feel like - okay, I have some amount of permission to be weird. And from the British, permission to be weird is no small thing!

And I mean come on, we beat out the expansion for the Spiel des Jahres winner Living Forest, and 7 Wonders! Yeahhhhh!!! 😃 

Also, thanks in large part to your help, we were nominated for a Golden Geek for Best Expansion! Also, the wonderful reviewer Jarrod Carmichael of 3 Minute Board Games named Roll Camera (and the B-Movie Expansion) his favorite game of 2022!!

So...I guess I'll just keep doing my thing. 

I know I say this in every update, but this could not have happened without you. Thank you. And also: thank you again.

Speaking of doing things:

The Murder Mystery Story Pack is here!

Story Pack #2 has just released and is available now on my web store. It's almost twice as packed with stuff as the Super Hero pack, including a bunch of cards and a neat new whodunnity twist to the set grid puzzle. We hope you enjoy it!

If you want to save on shipping (I know it's a bit crazy, I'm absorbing of it as much as I can for you), both Super Hero and Murder Mystery packs will also be at Origins and GenCon at the booth of my partner Grand Gamers Guild. Feel free to grab 'em there. Also, story pack #3 - X-mas Movie - will be available in October at Essen and in my store after that, and of course you save on shipping if you get more than one at once. 

I'm doing the art for the X-mas Movie scenes right now, and it is a bit weird humming holiday tunes in June, I'll admit...🎄

What holiday movies should I watch to get into the spirit? Besides Die Hard, obviously.

The game is afoot, filmmakers!

Your pal,

Mal

New Story Pack! Golden Geeks!
over 1 year ago – Wed, Apr 19, 2023 at 06:36:29 AM

Hey filmmakers!

Long time, no chat! Hope you've been filming up a storm. I just have a few things I want to share with you, as my beloved campaign supporter.

Help me get B-Movie a Golden Geek nod! 

The annual BoardGameGeek Golden Geek Awards are open for nominations. Roll Camera! was nominated last year for Best Thematic and Best Cooperative game. If you've been playing the B-Movie Expansion, have been enjoying it, and are an active BGG member, consider nominating the B-Movie Expansion for Best Expansion! It would really pull the room together, ya know?

Of course, we all know the Root Marauder Expansion is going to win since it's so dang great, but even getting nominated would go a long way toward getting a little publisher like me some visibility. Thanks!

New Story Packs inbound!

We asked, you answered, and Murder Mystery was far and away the most popular vote for the next Story Pack after Super Hero. Developer John Velgus and I worked on it in February and March, and at the beginning of April I approved the files from the factory. They're printing it as we speak! The Murder Mystery Story Pack is jammed with content - almost 2x as much as the Super Hero pack, including new Problems, Ideas, Scenes, Equipment, and an interesting and involved new whodunnit mechanism to give the set grid puzzle more of a twist than a murderer's dagger 🗡️😱

The Murder Mystery Story Pack will be debuting at the UKGE (UK Games Expo convention in Birmingham in June), where I'll have a booth. I'd love to meet you there! After the convention, I'll have the pack available for sale on my web store. 

After that, we've decided that X-Mas Movie will be Story Pack #3 - we're developing it right now, so tell us in the comments what kind of holiday movie content you think we should put on our list! X-Mas will debut at Essen this fall and be for sale from my store after that, just in time for you to stuff stockings later this year.

And beyond that, I'm working on several new games - I'm excited to share with you what they are, when they're ready. Soon! 

That's it for now - thanks very much. Seriously. Thanks to you, I can keep making fun Roll Camera content and also work on these neato new games. I owe you everything, and I won't forget it!

Your pal

Mal

Fulfillment Update #4 + Superheroes
almost 2 years ago – Thu, Dec 01, 2022 at 02:34:48 AM

Hey filmmakers! Quick update on fulfillment:

UK/Aus/EU: done!

Asia: Still rolling out the final regions. Should be complete by the end of the month.

US: in the final stretch! If you still haven't received your copy, don't worry yet - it's likely still in the queue or on its way. Many backers have reported receiving their copy without getting a shipping notification. I do have access to Funagain Games' shipping queue for this project so I can look up your order if you're concerned. Just send me an email or a private message. But as I said there are still a handful of orders awaiting fulfillment, so there's no cause for alarm if you don't have yours quite yet.

Canada: the most patient backers in the universe, my goodness. Last but certainly not least. Your games have been picked up by Pick & Pack Logistics last week, so give them this week to process everything, and next week to start shipping. Obviously this is the biggest shipping crunch time of the year by far, so let's agree to be cautiously optimistic about that timeline.

Spanish language: these are being handled by Salt & Pepper Games. If you have questions about your order please contact them directly at [email protected].

Superhero Story Pack now available! 

For those of you interested, the first Roll Camera! Story Pack is now available on my freshly launched webstore. It includes content you won't find in the B-Movie Expansion, if only because I thought of the story pack idea long after B-Movie was already at the printers...! Use the code WEAREOPEN at checkout for a bit of a discount as well.

Currently my store will only ship the story pack to the US, Canada and EU. If you're in the UK, Australia or elsewhere and want one, please get in touch with me directly and I'll arrange it for you. As for a Spanish version of the story pack, Salt & Pepper Games has expressed interest, so we'll see!

This story pack has already been a big enough hit that I've had to order more from the factory. That's great news, so I am moving forward together with John Velgus, the co-designer and developer of the B-Movie Expansion, on designing several new story packs. I'd love to hear your thoughts - which genres or sub-genres would top your list for the next one? 

Happy filmmaking!

Your pal

Mal

Fulfillment Update #3 + Reminders
about 2 years ago – Sat, Oct 29, 2022 at 01:23:17 AM

Hey filmmakers - just a quick check in regarding fulfillment. I intended to write an update earlier but I wanted more than speculation to work with first. I really appreciate your patience and continued enthusiasm despite delays!

•  US - Funagain Games just wrote me an email that Roll Camera is "still next on deck. We are wrapping up the two campaigns that arrived before yours by the end of this week, so I’d estimate fulfillment to begin either late this week or early next." I know this can has been kicked down the road a few times now but they're prepping boxes as we speak. Hang in there!
•  Canada - Funagain will be shipping all Canadian games to Pick & Pack Logistics, so expect fulfillment to follow a couple weeks after US fulfillment starts.
•  Asia - VFI breaks Asian fulfillment into regional batches which are slowly being fulfilled region by region, so this is still ongoing!
•  Aus/NZ, EU, UK - Done!
•  Spanish language: these are being handled by Salt & Pepper Games. If you have questions about your order please contact them directly at [email protected].

And a few reminders:

• If in the US your game arrives damaged from shipping, please take photos and send an email to [email protected]. They'll get it replaced!
• If (anywhere) you receive a game with damaged, missing or incorrect interior components, please fill out the replacement parts form and I'll get on it!
• Rate Roll Camera and the B-Movie Expansion on BGG when you play it! Your ratings help keep it visible, and also I read every comment and it's really valuable feedback for me as a designer. Otherwise I just send games out into the vast abyss and have to hope they're being enjoyed as intended. Kind of a strange feeling.

I am SO EXCITED to hear what you North American backers think about the game!! Y'all make up more than half the total number of backers so in a way, we haven't even started yet...!

Your pal,

Mal