Seize the Bean - A Light-Hearted Deck Builder about Berlin!
Created by Quality Beast
Thematic deck builder with brutal resource management, card drafting, set collection, engine building, modular setup & wild components!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
DE & ES Expansion Rulebooks, Translation Feedback & Timeline Reminder
over 3 years ago
– Sun, Nov 01, 2020 at 07:14:02 PM
Hey everyone! As you can imagine, we’re working hard over here, so this will be another short one. For those of you who are not interested in our translation progress, feel free to skip this update!
(We know there have been many frequent updates recently, but this is the best way for us to share the translations before printing, as many backers requested.)
As promised, here come the German and Spanish Expansion Rulebooks. Again, we ourselves are still in the process of proofing these files, so don't be alarmed that they are not perfect yet (for example, there are at least 3 headers in the Spanish one that don’t fit optimally yet). We wanted to honor our promise of sharing these with backers while there is still time to implement your feedback, so here they are:
We mentioned last week that we did not get the French text in time to prepare and share the Main Rulebook. Our team is nearly done with the FR Main Rulebook now and the French team is finishing up the Expansion Rulebook text. We will share the FR Main Rulebook with you next week. Once the Expansion Rulebook text is done, we will try our best to share the FR Expansion Rulebook with you too, as long as it does not delay our timeline.
If you have feedback regarding the Expansion Rulebooks posted above, feel free to send it to [email protected]. You only have until November 2nd, so if you want to give input, check these files out now! (Yes, there will be some extra time for those of you looking at the French, since those files haven't been shared yet.)
We know that not yet seeing the finished French Rulebooks will worry some of you, but please remember that our deadline for submitting files to the manufacturer is not today, but November 13th.
After that, the manufacturer and our team will have 3 weeks to provide and check digital proofs until the print date of December 7th. It won't be easy to make these deadlines, but as of now, we still believe we can do it. This means that even though the French files are a bit behind their "sharing on Kickstarter" schedule, our expected delivery date stays the same as in the timeline we shared in Update #53.
You'll hear from us again once we can share the French Rulebooks. After that, we'll try to space out the updates because we know we've been sending quite frequently and especially with the translation topics it isn't relevant to you all. As always though, communication is very important to us and we want to make sure you are all informed, especially this close to our target printing date. Until the next update: be well, stay safe, and happy gaming!
Translated Rulebooks, Timeline Reminder, & Solo Mode Stream
over 3 years ago
– Sat, Oct 24, 2020 at 05:42:16 AM
Hi everyone! On top of being wildly busy with Seize the Bean, we're also up to our eyeballs in SPIEL.digital shenanigans, so we'll keep this short.
We know a lot of you who backed for the English game have been reading update after update about the translations. Unfortunately, Kickstarter doesn’t give us tools to send updates based on your game language selection; if they did, we’d send more targeted emails. So, if you’re not interested in news about the translations, please feel free to skip below to the Timeline Reminder or SPIEL.digital sections. :)
And for the rest of you...
As promised, we are sharing backer previews of the foreign language rulebooks. Please note that these will still go through another final round of proofing, so if you find any typos don’t be overly alarmed. If you have any feedback at all, please email us at [email protected]. Here are the links:
No French? Unfortunately the French team hasn’t finished the Main Rulebook in time for us to provide it today. Therefore, we are only sharing the German and Spanish rulebooks at this time. The French rulebook will still be shared, but it may not be until next week, when the French Expansion Rulebook is also planned to be shared.
It’s important to say that despite the French rulebook not being ready for sharing, we still believe that we’ll make our print date of December 7th. It creates some extra crunch but we are dedicated to get it done!
(And for anyone wondering about the Chinese, we are not providing previews of that here, as that is done by our partner in their own crowdfunding campaign.)
The most common question we get is “when will Seize the Bean deliver?”, and we completely understand why you're all asking this! Since it’s easy to miss an update, we want to quickly remind everyone that the timeline and expected delivery date we shared in Update #53 is still up-to-date! You will all be the first to know if anything changes in this plan.
SPIEL.digital is going on right now! Our production pandas are not participating at all this year because they're busy making print files, but some of us are around, so don't hesitate to stop by our Discord server and witness the mayhem!
Dylan, the lead designer of Seize the Bean, streamed a solo mode game as part of our SPIEL.digital streaming schedule on Thursday. He actually played a SPIEL-themed Solo Scenario that didn't make the cut to be included in the printed rulebook. It shows off all 3 of the add-on packs: Board Game Media, Quality Beasts, and City Celebrities! It was pretty fun, because the Twitch chat and even some folks from our Discord server told Dylan what moves to make. Feel free to check out the VOD on Twitch.
That's it for now. We'll be back next week with the Expansion Rulebooks! Stay safe, y’all, and if you’re at SPIEL.digital, enjoy the digital halls! <3
Translation Progress, Print File Previews, & SPIEL.digital
over 3 years ago
– Sat, Oct 17, 2020 at 12:45:13 AM
Hey everyone! As promised, we’re coming through today with a mini-update to touch base about the translation progress and also share some files with you all.
The following languages are fully done being translated, proofread, and edited:
German is 100% done
Spanish is 100% done
As of for both French and Chinese, there are only 4 files which are not 100% finished:
FR Main Rulebook - translation is done, but proofreading and editing is still incomplete.
FR Expansion Rulebook - translation is almost done, and proofreading and editing is still incomplete.
FR Cards - there are about 44 cards which have French titles that are too long to fit in the text space provided, they are being shortened to fit better.
ZH Cards - there are 7 cards which the translator needs clarification on to finish the translation.
Our French and Chinese translators confirm they will be done next week. These few extra days should not be a problem for our overall timeline.
As we promised, we are providing print file previews in 3 waves. Today’s previews consist of all German, French, and Spanish components except the rulebooks. (If all goes well, next Friday you will get previews of the Main Rulebooks, and the following Friday will be the Expansion Rulebooks.)
Please be aware that even though translation and editing is done, it is often the case that our team and/or translators see the print files and make further changes. No one is perfect, and that is why we proof files many times, first in text-only format, then later in the graphical PDF format. Please do not be alarmed if you see minor errors. But do feel free to point them out; this is why we are sharing these with you all before we hit the deadline for submitting the final files for print, so we can get your input!
Also, for French backers, please be aware that the 44 cards which have text that is too long have been omitted from the preview file. It makes no sense to share them until the translators have fixed them.
Please do not share these around. Due to these being just for you to check the translation, the image quality is very low. This is intentional to keep the file size small and to discourage sharing / printing. (If you are looking for the print and play and can’t find it, please email us at [email protected].) Lastly, we are not looking for graphical feedback, nor is it helpful to provide it at this time. :)
You will find all the files listed below with links. If you have any feedback or suggestions, please email us at [email protected]. And remember: we will no longer be making changes or accepting feedback after November 2nd!
Next week is SPIEL.digital. We will be streaming Seize the Bean on our Twitch channel, showing the components, and demoing the digital version of the game for people on our Discord server. Please come join us if you’d like to chat or play the game. We are especially curious to meet any solo gamers out there, as it’s possible to demo the solo mode as well! And of course, if you have any requests, please let us know. :)
We’re going to release another mini update next week on Friday. See you then!
Translation On Track, Solo Scenarios Back, & Language File Release Dates
over 3 years ago
– Fri, Oct 09, 2020 at 09:47:58 PM
Hello! It’s been a busy 4 weeks for us at Quality Beast, and the next few will be no different, but regardless, here comes your update, with nothing but positive news. :)
All 6 of the Solo Scenarios will be included in print for all languages! No more need for a digital download.
To explain in more detail, we haven’t been as responsive in comments as we usually are, but we did read all of your feedback after the last update. The message was clear: you wanted the Solo Scenarios printed. We didn’t know if we could pull it off, and it did take a couple all-nighters, but our amazing development and production teams managed to get the Scenarios polished up and included in the Expansion Rulebook. You can check out the updated Expansion Rulebook here.
As a reminder, all translation text needs to be done and proofread by October 16th. Currently, all translation teams are on track, with only the Expansion Rulebook left to finish.
As always, we want to share where we’re at with the print files. Our deadline for finished translations isn’t until next week, and even after that there is a full month for proofing and adjusting the print files, but we did submit a number of final files to the manufacturer since the last update.
Summary: all English files have been submitted to the factory.
Summary: many of the smaller language files are also submitted by now.
It’s worth noting there are some files marked as “proofing” which we are on track to submit by the end of next week. At that time, we’d be ready to actually share some of the language files with you all. Speaking of that...
Of course, our timeline does not allow for weeks and weeks of collecting feedback from backers, but we still do want you to have a look at the print files before they hit the press, as many of you requested. Here’s the plan:
Oct. 16th (Friday) - We will share DE / ES / FR boxes, sticker sheets, cards, and player boards
Oct. 23rd (Friday) - Then one week later, we will share the DE / ES / FR Main Rulebooks
Oct. 30th (Friday) - And another week later, we’ll share the DE / ES / FR Expansion Rulebooks
You have until November 2nd to give any feedback. That means you only have one weekend for the Expansion Rulebook, but we’re letting you know in advance so if you want to give feedback you can plan it in now.
(Please note that the Chinese files will be shared by The Wood Games through their own crowdfunding campaign and therefore y’all won’t see those files in an update from us.)
We’re going to release mini updates on the dates mentioned above. See you all by next Friday!
Delivery Date Announcement, Translation Deadlines, and Fully Revised Timeline
over 3 years ago
– Sat, Sep 12, 2020 at 07:40:12 PM
Hey everyone! Sorry about the 3 day delay to this update. We accidentally set our due date for this update to be 2 weeks from the last update, which was a short corrections update (#52), not a full one (#51). Hopefully this confusion didn’t let anyone down! Regardless, we have some big news that we know you’ve all been waiting for...
We’ve spoken to our translators and set a firm deadline for them. We’ve done the same with our internal team that works on the final print files. Lastly, we’ve spoken to our manufacturer and our shipping partner and gotten updated estimates from both of them. With all of this info we’ve built a revised, realistic timeline including an estimated delivery date:
Oct. 16 - Firm deadline for all translated text to be 100% completed & proofed
Nov. 13 - Firm deadline for submitting all final files to our manufacturer
Dec. 7 - Start printing the games at the factory
Mar. 15 - A mass production copy of the game is sent to us for final check
Apr. 7 - Games are completely done, assembly (packaging) starts
Apr. 19 - Freight shipping (by boat) begins for all countries
July 5 - All warehouses have games and begin shipping to backers
July 9 - July 30 - Backers finally receive their games!
Please note that the largest chunks of time on here, manufacturing and shipping, are completely outside our control. The parts that we can control we have tightened as much as we can without being unrealistic. For those who are interested, we’ll go into more detail below to explain this.
We are truly sorry to disappoint everybody who had hoped for an earlier delivery, especially those wanting the games for the holiday season. You all deserved an earlier delivery than this. We’ve said it before we want to say it again: we are extremely sorry for this entire gigantic delay since the beginning. It may be hard to believe, but we are as upset by it as you are. Our hope is that you find some assurance now that we are setting firm deadlines, providing a realistic timeline, and committing to an actual delivery date. This is what you all deserve and we’re doing our best to deliver it.
We said before that we could not provide a delivery date before hitting the print button, but we are glad that's changed. With the creative process being complete on our side, we have been able to get realistic estimates for the other parts of the timeline. Based on these, we’ve set the two deadlines mentionedabove:
Oct. 16 - All translation text final & proofed
Nov. 13 - All print files finished, proofed, & submitted to the factory
It’s important to note that we did not build any significant buffers into this section of the timeline, so this will be very intense not only for the translators, but also for our graphic and print team. As many of you know, we’re a small company with limited resources. However, we do have some ways to make up for any issues (e.g. employee illness) by shifting the order in which things happen. This is why, based on our experiences with the English files, we are confident we can make the deadline.
As you can see above, mass production and shipping are going to take at least 6 months, and that’s if there are no further factory lock downs or delays due to COVID-19. We did build some buffers into this part of the timeline, following our own experiences and the recommendations of our partners. It’s important to note that there are a few things which make it take longer than usual:
With 600+ cards our manufacturer says the game can only be produced in minimum 9 weeks, but it’s best to add on 2 weeks buffer.
6 weeks of holidays unfortunately block our schedule, due to Christmas, New Years, and Chinese New Year, so we’ve reflected this in the timeline.
We are so sorry we could not get things done in time to dodge Chinese New Year, as this especially delays the whole timeline. Even for us, it’s upsetting that the process takes this long, but there is one tiny upside: according to our freight shipping partner, April is actually a really good month to be moving games on boats.
We will provide more details on shipping estimates from each warehouse to your delivery addresses in future updates. It’s too far out right now to get clear estimates from our warehouses.
In order to make the above-mentioned timeline possible, we’ve made an important change to part of the game’s content. The Solo Scenarios were the last piece of content missing from the Expansion Rulebook that we recently shared. They are all playable and complete, but our design & development team is not 100% happy with all of them. We don’t want to deliver a product we aren’t 100% happy with but we also don’t want to delay the project further.
Therefore, we’ve made the decision to remove the Solo Scenarios from the Expansion Rulebook. We will still make them available to you before your games arrive, but they will be published in a digital format (such as a downloadable PDF). And yes, they will be translated. :)
We are sincerely sorry to any backers who were eagerly awaiting these Scenarios, but we need to be honest and realistic. We can confidently stand by 100% of the content in the game and we simply want to be able to say the same about the Solo Scenarios. (Also, please do note that even without the Solo Scenarios printed in the Expansion Rulebook, there are 20 difficulty levels for Solo Mode and nearly all of the multiplayer content, expansions, and variants are Solo Mode compatible.)
Here’s the current status of the print files:
As you can see, not very much has visibly changed on these charts in the last two weeks. This is because most of the translators are on a deep dive in the rulebooks, and it can be inefficient to constantly interrupt their flow to approve print files. We are, of course, in contact with them about making sure they stay on track to meet the new deadline.
Thanks to everyone who has been playing our Tabletop Simulator mod, we hope you enjoy it! Despite those playing it and having fun, there have been some complaints, concerns, and questions about it on social media and Board Game Geek that we want to address:
The mod has existed and always been promised since the original campaign.
We’ve recently made more noise about it because it’s been updated with the final game files.
We thought it was the least we could do to make sure all of you patient backers had a way to play the game while you waited for the physical copy.
We are not delaying the game in any way by working on the mod; it is always a low priority topic for our team.
None of your Kickstarter pledge money is going towards the mod, if you are concerned that funds are spent in a way you did not expect or want.
Hopefully these details help to clarify any misconceptions people might have had about the mod! :)
We have updated the mod to include the full Expansion Rulebook content. We’ve already shown it off on our last Twitch stream, but now you can try it for yourselves. Feel free to join our Discord to organize a game among yourselves, or to reach out if you would like to play with us (in-between our work, of course)!
Speaking of playing together, we have a new team member named xate, and playing games with you all is literally part of her job description. She’s coming on board as a Community Developer and will do the following:
Help us get our support inbox back on track!
Hang around on Discord to answer Q’s and teach / play games.
Host and co-host our English and German Twitch streams with Tabea and the rest of our promotion crew.
If you’ve been hanging out on our Discord or live streams, you may have interacted with her already. Either that or you might have seen her in our support inbox, where she’s been absolutely smashing it, so if you’ve emailed us and are waiting for a reply, she’s likely getting back to you soon.
Speaking of support, a gentle reminder: if you want to get in contact with us, don’t hesitate to email [email protected]. It's always better to write an email instead of writing via KS messages, social media, or otherwise.(Though, if you’ve already emailed, please be patient as xate and dilkROM dig through the inbox to get to everyone.)
We want to take these deadlines seriously and focus purely on making sure our team and our translators stay on task. Therefore the next update will be in 4 weeks. We’ll see you then. And meanwhile, wish us luck: this is the final sprint!
