Portrada Devlog 01 - Introductions
Hello everyone,
My name is Max Willman, the lead designer of Portrada, and I really just want to get things started by explaining more about what our game is and what has gone into it so far in the past year or so of its official development.
Inspiration & Origins
To start I’ll write about the origins and inspiration of this product. Portrada originally started out as a exploration, route-making, and building game inspired by the route making mechanics of Klaus Teuber’s Settlers of Catan and the exploration map building mechanics of Play Monster’s The Island of Eldorado. The game originally revolved around traveling and building a map of hex tiles to discover resources like trees, clay, metals, gems, and more. The game included caves for fast travel, cities for trading, and Towers that gave bonuses to adjacent tiles.
The game in its early stages lacked complexity and the end was not defined. With the help of artist and design Aspen Pinkston and Creed Zetzman we were able to theme the game around space exploration and create a prototype that would be tested by many during conventions and design events.
Early physical prototype from Protospiel 2024
The Game Currently
Today the game sets itself in a universe of a newly united people’s federation ready to expand into the unknown realms of their galaxy. The federation has funded many expeditionists to hoist up their astral sails and explore the cosmos in search of more Elysian Ichor. Rare fuel sources that allow interstellar travel to the far reaches of space. Many merchants would soon take advantage of this opportunity by setting up trade routes and influence over various sectors of the galaxy to earn favor and good reputation with the federation and its people.
Each Player plays as 1 of these aspiring merchants setting out during the early years of their federations establishment. Each galactic year presenting new challenges and accomplishments for the galaxy. Players each year will dictate influence among the federation and enact efforts to their cause to gain ichor, collect treasure, battle rivals, or employ assisting crew. The player who gains the most reputation by the time the new federation is fully established win the game, remembered and cherished as the galaxies most favorable trade company.
Tabletop Simulator Screenshot from our most recent playtests.
Where are we at?
Currently we are in design production works with Nice Funny Games to finalize all of our game’s dimensions, limitations, and requirements for future production. We are working hard to implement new designs, finalize aspects of the game, and complete final playtests. There is still a lot to be done for implementations to the art of out game for some of out cards. But we are almost there. Making art takes time, and since all of us work full time jobs, production is slow. We are looking to fundraise soon on Kickstarter to start up our company officially and put all of our efforts into making a polished game you can enjoy.
We are looking into potential investors, publishers, and donors to help make this game happen. We understand that in the United States we are undergoing a major economical recession with a rise in unemployment across many design fields, so we are patient in seeking in funding opportunity that will not take advantage of us designers, and you the consumers. Our goal is more about making this game happen versus making a huge profit. It is a fun game, and we just want to share it with all of you.
Tabletop Simulator screenshot of the Federal Decree, Tokens, Battle Dice, and Market Cards.
What’s on Deck?
We are currently working on finalizing the rules, box art, and card art. All of the cards are play ready, but not ready for full marketing or final distribution. We are looking into the best methods to accept donations right now, as we are just not quiet close enough to start our fundraiser on Kickstarter with its limited timeframe. Lastly we are hard a work getting ready to share our digital version of the game to raise funds for the physicals production costs. The first digital version will be on Tabletop Simulator for free to all Steam users through Maxwell’s Steam Workshop. We hope that if enough people play this digital version it will create enough support for us to allow us to work most part-time if not full-time on this game project.
So with that all said, we appreciate you taking the time to check out our game and learn more about its current production state and what is still to come. We are very grateful for any support on this project. If you want to help us more, simply share this page with friends, family, or other gaming groups to help us build up a community online.
Until next time,
We’ll see you in space traveler.
