Apex is a deck building game that centers around Theropods (type of dinosaur). Unlike a lot of deck building games, Apex can be played in single player.
Basic Information
Players: 1 – 5
Ages: 12+
Time: 30 – 60 minutes
Estimated Delivery: July 2014
Location: Gardner, KS
Game overview
Forum: Apex Theropod Deck-Building Game
Apex Theropod Deck-Building Game is a dinosaur deck-building game where you play as one of five apex predators competing for territory. Each playable apex predator has their own style deck that you must master to succeed with that dinosaur. The game will feature over 40 dinosaurs and 8 territories with each territory having it’s own territorial boss that you must defeat to dominate the territory.
The game supports 1-5 players which means it is designed to play by yourself or with up to four friends. The game is huge and requires large play space to play up to five players. The game is also very complex but easy to pick up on and keep track of everyone’s move. Game speed depends on how fast players make decisions for their turns and many house rules can be applied after a few times of playing it.
Kickstarter Specifics
Goal: $4,000
Pledge Levels: 7 levels ranging from $1 – $1,000
End Date: Wed, Apr 2 2014 6:26 PM EST
Chances of success
Right now one of my biggest concerns is the $4,000 initial goal. Honestly this seems too low. It seems like almost all the work is being done internally so on design the cost is only in time taken up by the group members. However, I don’t think $4,000 leaves a lot of room for printing costs and overhead. Hopefully the project won’t run into any problems because of it. Luckily the project seems like it has the potential to bring in a lot more than $4,000 in which case it won’t be a problem.
(**Edit: Herschel added a beta tier which will include an early release that will probably ship in April as well as the final release) Like with some other games I’ve reviewed lately, there’s no beta option. This is again a shame since beta testing by the backers really helps to produce a well rounded end result and also draws in more high paying backers.
To compare, let’s look at Alchemy! The Card Game! which still kept the number of beta testers to rather low number. At $75 for a draft and final copy rather than $25 for just the final copy, they quickly filled up the 20 slots available. That’s a $1,000 spike right there. Now, restructuring the whole campaign doesn’t seem reasonable just to add a beta tier. But it’s not a bad idea to have it as a stretch goal.