The Kickstarter campaign is over and games have shipped to backers, but you can still bring these cute and mildly dangerous pets in your home! Manage your dice workers and the chaos in this light engine builder.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
The First Proof is in!
almost 3 years ago
– Tue, Feb 01, 2022 at 10:42:11 PM
Petshoppers!
It's a glorious day in the galaxy. Just before Chinese New Year, I received the first proof for Alien Petshop! I thought I would share some images and an unboxing video for you to enjoy. Before we dive into links and images, a little disclaimer: This is not the final proof and I have some improvements/fixes/changes I am looking to make. Regardless what you'll see is 95% perfect!
And some beauty shots:
Now that you've been teased and beguiled by beautiful pets and plastic, here is an update on our ship date. Hopefully we'll begin manufacturing late February and begin ocean freight by the end of March. We're doing product safety testing to carry the CE mark certifying our materials are safe.
I know we are a good bit behind schedule but I hope and think the iterations and tweaks to make the best game have been worth it.
Thank you for your support and patience petshoppers!
Best regards,
-Greg
Happy Holidays from Outer Space, and a production update
almost 3 years ago
– Thu, Dec 23, 2021 at 06:19:34 AM
Petshoppers!
The cute and mildly dangerous pets of Alien Petshop wish you all "happy holidays".
The inspiration for Alien Petshop comes partially from a holiday movie. I had not seen the movie, Gremlins, since I was a kid, but the idea of adorable critters causing trouble was there rooted in my subconscious.
Speaking of gremlins, there have been some delays in manufacturing. It’s been a challenging environment to make a game in, but progress continues nonetheless. Avoiding Chinese New Year was always the goal, but now it looks like it’s in play to add some delay. I would estimate an April shipping date to backers right now. I’ll have more clarity after the game is printed and safety testing is completed.
I hope that isn't coal in your stocking. Early in the New Year, I’ll have an update showing some production proofs of Alien Petshop! It’s going to be exciting!
Best regards,
-Greg
Monthly Update from the Petshops in outer space
about 3 years ago
– Thu, Nov 04, 2021 at 02:50:12 AM
Greetings Petshoppers!
We have hit a lull while waiting for the production printers to start kicking out copies of the game. There will be a few rounds of proofs to make sure the game looks great. That back and forth takes time and that was all planned for.
But as we wait, most of you know what a snarl-fest international shipping has become. There are even rolling blackouts in China where our cute pets will be made, but our printer thinks the impact on our schedule will be small.
It is looking like March is a more likely timeframe to begin shipping out copies of Petshop to you eager folks. I added padding to the timeline posted in kickstarter but apparently not enough to account for so much disruption. I will be able to give a firmer time estimate once freight is scheduled from the factory.
In other news, I have begin preliminary design work on expansion ideas for Alien Petshop. I feel strongly that there is so much potential to extend the gaming experience of Alien Petshop. I have enjoyed drawing the cute pets and incorporating your feedback. If you want to be more involved in the expansion design process, feel free to join our Discord. Here is a link for the first 10 signups:
If you're late to the design party, send me a message at [email protected] and I'll add you in manually.
Finally a reminder. If you are interested in the 5th player Add-on and its 9 new pets, there are just a few copies left to add to your pledge via the BACKERKIT SURVEY
Here are a few of the pets from the 5th-player addon:
Thanks for your support and patience!
Best regards,
-Greg
5th player add-on available for Alien Petshop!
about 3 years ago
– Mon, Oct 04, 2021 at 04:36:21 PM
Greetings Petshoppers!
I have some exciting news for you this update. A 5th player add-on pack is available for purchase for Alien Petshop and can be added to your order here--> BackerKit Survey
I have considered the cost and impact of a 5th player add-on for a year now. It would make EVERY copy of the game more expensive and many people don't need a 5 player game. I also needed to understand how a 5th player impacts the play experience. After researching and playtesting this option, I feel confident it's a quality addition to the game. The last piece that fell into place was the manufacturer giving me good pricing for the add-on. All I needed to do was design the new pets, do the new art, and playtest and balance the new pets. All that has happened!!
What comes in the addon?
* 5 worker dice
* 1 credit tracker cube
* 9 new pets including 1 starter pet
*1 reference card
*1 random shopboard**
**You'll receive 1 of the 4 double-sided shopboards, randomly selected.
The 5th player add-on does not change any of the game rules or setup. With 5 players, you can expect a little more scarcity of market items so buy those habitats and mutations while you can! The game will take longer to play of course, but with 2 of the 4 phases of play happening simultaneously for all players, game rounds are still pretty snappy.
The addon is priced at $10 and will not increase your shipping. Ogre Crossing Games will handle the extra VAT for UK/EU backers to keep things simple. As the add-on is not an official expansion with its own retail packaging, the only way to get this for now will be as an add-on with your order.
So if you want your copy of Alien Petshop to support 5 players, head over to the Backerkit store and add the add-on: available on your BackerKit Survey
There will only be 100 add-ons made so reserve your copy now!
Best regards,
-Greg
Another new pet!!!
about 3 years ago
– Sun, Oct 03, 2021 at 12:50:59 PM
Greetings intergalactic petshoppers!
It's update time!
Art files are off to the manufacturer. It's a huge step towards getting the game in your hands. I'll send out an update when the printer's machines are actually making our game. That will be a few more weeks yet. This process is running a few weeks long, but hopefully the padding I put into the schedule will absorb this, and we'll still hit a February ship date.
New Pet!
One unexpected bonus, is that there was 1 more pet needed to hit our 5 extra from the stretch goals. Using your earlier votes on sketches, this pet has been added to the game:
Scuttle!
It didn't have the most votes out of the remaining sketches, but it did fulfill the very tight attribute requirements this pet needed to maintain game balance.
Surveys
Lastly, I wanted to remind folks to complete their survey from backerkit. Ninety percent of you have done this. Thank you!!! If you haven't, you should have received emails from backerkit asking you to enter your mailing address. This information is not stored by Kickstarter so if you don't do the survey I cannot get you your Alien Petshop! Please check your emails and maybe your spam folders for a survey.
You can email me at [email protected] if you need help with the survey.
That's it for this update, but stay tuned for a very cool and important update coming soon!
