Far Away

What Could Go Wrong?

What Could Go Wrong?

Over the last couple of months, we stepped back from the edge of manufacturing to apply some TLC to Far Away: Corporation Espionage. The main reason was to wait for some relief from the tariff chaos. But the lure of “more time” is undeniable. Every playtest turns up new issues, since the nature of the exercise invites feedback. Amateur game designers often preach that there is no such thing as too much testing, but you can easily fail into a trap of never publishing in the name of quality. It’s a trap that punishes our backers.

FA:CE Production Tasks and FAQ

FA:CE Production Tasks and FAQ

In light of the unnecessary and bizarre global trade pressures, we made the decision to refine Far Away: Corporate Espionage while we wait for the chaos to subside. We decided this before the partial policy reversal, but we already started making extra content and we want to finish that. The game could always use more playtesting too, so we’ll take advantage of the extra weeks to ensure the best product possible.

This all leaves the open question of when we’ll ship. To help answer that, it’s helpful to understand the scope of remaining work. Here is the breakdown of what’s still pending.

New FA:CE CARDs

New FA:CE CARDs

An obvious addition any expansion pack brings is more. Fundamentally, people who buy a game expansion are fans of that game. They want an excuse to return to a game they like and rekindle the fond memories of their first few playthroughs. While it’s nice to talk about ways to reinvent a game through an expansion, it’s essential to add that contingent of extra stuff to the core mechanics. However, doing so risks unbalancing the game. As a follow-up to our description of the Hollows terrain, I want to share some of the smaller additions that are coming in Far Away: Corporate Espionage and how we are ensuring they are net-positive additions.