Posted December 18, 2023 by Sasquatch Games
Do you ever look at a finished project and want to do it over? Add the extra bit of shine to it, tweak a few mechanics, or fix the layout? I do this all the time with my released games, to such a degree actually that I honestly make little progress on new games. I'm consistently looking at ways to improve what I've already launched, often times feeling like I rushed the initial project and fumbled the release. Courier is a project that has occupied my mind over the past 2 year and one I continue to return to.
As many people could already tell, Courier borrows heavily from Fallout New Vegas and Death Stranding (not so much the Mad Max universe). During 2020, at the height of another pandemic wave in Canada, I put 75+ hours into Death Stranding, finishing it for a second time since its initial release in 2019. Hungry for more post-apocalypse wandering as an enigmatic 'courier' in a barren wasteland I hopped on Steam and downloaded my copy of Fallout New Vegas. Within a few weeks I'd sunk 100+ hours int the game that holds a firm grip on my early 20's and reason as to why I pursued, and earned, my degree in game development and design. Playing in these post apocalypse sandboxes just felt so right in a time of social isolation.
Spending so long with both games had me thinking about what my next project would be. I furiously scribbled down notes on what I wanted to include and came to the conclusion that follows. Something isolating, meditative, dangerous, a very slow burn. GLIDE ultimately checked all these boxes in 2022 as Courier stumbled. With my renewed energy from both games I began playtesting a few ideas and decided to launch Courier for the 2021 Zinequest.
Courier was a huge success for me. Funding was successful in under 4 hours and Courier ultimately reached 969% of the initial funding ask! I was ecstatic for the future of Courier and all the amazing things I wanted to do with it. Spoiler; I messed up shipping costs, printing was way more than I expected, and I only ended up making about $400 (Canadian) after all was said and done. Courier was a big learning curve and a much needed one at that.
The game design began to bloat immediately after the funding was reached. My excitement from the success lead me down a road of what-ifs, and promises to myself that I could fit everything into 50 pages, or less. Travelling using a modified deck of cards? Check. Inventory management for equipment and cargo? Check. Trading systems that offered floating values on different cargo types? Check. Encounters with unique and recurring NPCs? Super check. Tracking individual reputation with multiple factions? Oh yeah, double check that.
My games features list had too many systems not lining up, being incomplete, or failing to be implemented in meaningful way. Things like weight of individual cargo, stamina usage for everything, and combat rounds felt awful to track (funnily enough the combat wasn't changed, and I've hated it all this time). The storyteller systems I had designed wasn't working (though I later saw a great implementation of a similar system in Dead Belt). I made a brief post about my troubles with the system on the Kickstarter project page. Most of my initial planning never made it to paper as I was back and forth on the systems I really wanted to include. My indecision and waning energy levels for the project was beginning to hurt.
A quick aside; the storytelling system of pathways was a mess to design, with players needing to find specific cards to add or subtract from their base deck of cards. The amount of referencing to navigate your quest was not fun at all. I even thought about having 52 separate story beats for the player based on the card drawn, with additional options depending on your reputation in the game. I sat on this design for a few months, unsure of where I wanted to go and feeling like I'd lost the plot.
I made a few more excuse posts on Kickstarter in May of 2021. In reality, I was creatively broken from new work expectations and the ongoing pandemic but was lying to myself about the reason. I thought at the time that I was just missing the one piece to connect the project and get me back on the tracks. On June 5, 2021, I posted to Kickstarter that Courier was going to need more time as I wanted to rewrite all the rules. This was not a lie, I really needed to start fresh on the game just to get my head on straight. I've attached the rules (below) as they existed at this time. These are embarrassingly little more than a few core rules and the previously mentioned 52 story beats.
The June 2021 version of Courier
The backers were very supportive of the rewrite and I thank them even now for it.
I went back to the drawing board and by the end of July I had the project finished, which leaves a lot to the imagination but keeps things quick (and this development log is already too long). Layout was not ready but I knew that I could push through and get it done in a week, which was laughable as I was using MS Publisher at the time (and honestly didn't understand design very well). I quickly sent the project to a few friends and family to review, made the obvious changes, and exported everything for digital release and to send off for print.
August 13 was release day. My game had undergone 4 major revisions in the span of half a year, and I was ready to be done with it. Almost immediately I was contacted about mistakes with the rules, grammatical issues, and more. I worked quickly to address these issues and answer questions that the players might have, both publicly on the Kickstarter page and itch page, as well as through direct messages. I released an FAQ and cooperative rules companion to help patch things over. The project was done!
So what is the point of all this? Well, I'm reviving Courier for a 2024 re-release. I want to make Courier better, more functional, and expanded for players. Over the coming weeks and months I will be sharing additional insights into my thought process going into this project, how the new systems stack up versus the old, and what I've learned from my 4+ years designing, publishing, and exploring the world of tabletop games.
2023 has been an awful year for me and I want to start 2024 in a better direction. Courier gives me a chance to find closure on a project that I really wanted to do more with but couldn't at the time. I owe it to myself to keep this promise.
I hope you join me on this journey.
Thank you,
- Cody