The Bubble Net Collection

Attention PNP Playtesters!
10 months ago – Thu, Jun 05, 2025 at 01:10:41 AM

That time is finally here; we have the print-n-play files in our hands and we're ready to provide them to our waiting playtesters. Included in the package is the latest version of the rulebook; a huge amount of work has gone into the recent revision (huge thanks to Kate Finch!) and we think it's a great step forward in communicating the game to new players.

We're really curious to see how you get on with the assembly and play, and eagerly await your feedback!

If you missed our initial call for PNP playtesters and would like to join the team please leave a comment on this post and we'll add you in to the pool. 

That's all for the moment, be well and talk to you soon!

State of the (Bubble Net) Nation
10 months ago – Fri, May 16, 2025 at 12:04:03 PM

Hey folks, here's an update on everything going on with Bubble Net's journey, and us in general.

Tariffs

You have probably seen the news that US tariffs for Chinese products have been “paused”, but it might not be clear that they have only been “paused” for 90 days, and they are still at 30%, which is 30% higher than they were when we planned, ran, and completed this campaign.

That means we still can't fund manufacturing, even if they stay at 30% forever.

But there's no guarantee that they will, and that's worse: because it takes about 3-4 months to complete manufacturing.

So even if we were hovering over the GO button, ready to print as soon as the announcement was made, we couldn't be sure we could get our games made, shipped, and through customs before more volatility hits the fan. And volatility is bad for business, at every level.

So we have two choices: keep waiting for stability, or give up.

Currently, we are going to keep waiting. Thanks for bearing with us.

PNP

Speaking of waiting, the PNP files have been with our specialist for a while now; we have followed up again, and hopefully, he will have good news for us very soon.

PNP Test group, we will be in touch as soon as the files are available.

Rulebook

We did some extensive testing of our rulebook at several recent gatherings, and we feel pretty confident that the next version will only need minor changes for things like typos, because Kate has done an incredible job with it already. Most of the feedback was related to draft diagrams and exactly which bits needed to be highlighted in the text, and that's an excellent sign. We are incredibly grateful to Kate and Joel for their volunteered help with the rulebook - their deep industry experience has made it so much better than we could have hoped.

The rulebooks will be part of the PNP testing, too.

Personal

Things are very tough right now. Small businesses in the USA are desperately struggling to survive these uncertain times. Usually, most of us would have had our games on boats right now, excited about a big convention launch (ours was originally planned for Origins) ahead of the holiday shopping season.

We have cancelled all of our convention bookings, and paused our business spending and plans for the future. Instead of being the start of an accelerating series of campaigns to establish a small library of Drayer Ink titles, Bubble Net has to just sit there, stalled.

For us, personally, this is a grim, terrible time.

When you price out a campaign, you look at how low you can go, not how high. You try to build in contingency amounts, but the idea is to make it for as little as possible, so your backers feel like they got a good deal, while you still have enough to ensure delivery of a good quality product.

If we had known about these tariffs, and the associated volatility of the market, freight, and the much higher sample costs (the de minimis removal means all our samples will be double or triple the cost, and samples are essential), we would probably have needed to aim for at least double our target amount. We didn't know, though.

Despite what some people might be saying (why, though?!), no one goes into publishing looking for an excuse to cancel a project. No one genuinely goes into business with the explicit intention of failure - unless they're scammers. We are not scammers.

We want to make a game. We want to make a lot of games. And despite everything, we still have hope that we can bring this game to fruition.

Please remember that there are only two humans behind this project, and neither of them is doing well right now.

We appreciate the kindness and support from those who have reached out, and we wish there was something we could do to magically create this game we have poured so much of our lives into - but the decision is currently out of our hands. We simply can't risk ordering a print run that could cost anywhere from what we originally planned to ???% more. So… we wait.

WHAT IS A TARIFF - A TRANSLATION

A tariff is a kind of tax charged when a company or individual imports a product into a country. The tariff is charged by the country and paid by the importer, based on the country of origin.

For example:

Cat imports a box of 50 otter soft toys into the USA from China.

They cost $1 each to manufacture and ship. Cat is expecting to pay $50 and sell them for $5 each.

When they arrive in port, the USA charges Cat 30% more on her shipment. Cat has to pay this. China does not pay this. Cat cannot take and sell the otter toys first. Cat has to pay the whole bill right now, then try to make the difference back from increasing her prices.

Cat has to pay $65 for her shipment.

Cat recalculates her costs, her wholesale pricing, and all the other fees, overheads, and running costs involved in business. 
She realises that she can no longer sell her otter toys for $5 - they need to be $6.50 each, but wait - all the other costs have also gone up, because of volatility and uncertainty. She receives new quotes from her suppliers that mean she now has to sell the otters for at least $7 each to stay afloat, with no profit. Cat needs a profit so she can live, because this is her only income, so she sets her price at $8.

Three months later, the tariffs go back to 0%.

Cat has still paid

$65 for her shipment
$$ for her suppliers and freight
$$ for her increased overheads
$$ for her staff
$$ for her next order

She still needs to sell all her otters from this order at $8 each, because she has paid all of that money and needs to make it back from otter toys sales. She doesn't have a magical fund for unexpected costs. The margin on toy sales is slim - and now that they cost $8 instead of $5, sales are slower. Added to that, customers require much more service, because of the price increase and the drop in tariffs, so she has to spend MORE time and money managing something that was never part of her original sales plan.

These numbers are obviously artificially low. We are actually talking about tens, even hundreds of thousands of dollars, and a shortfall that has people taking on debt, selling personal assets, and desperately struggling to meet huge, unexpected bills.

If you went to fuel your car, and the price changed as you were filling the tank from $50 to $65, but you only planned $50 for fuel that week, what would you do? Borrow? Dip into savings? Use a credit card?

What if it was $6,500? Or $65,000? 
What if it was $122.50? Or $12,500? When does the number get big enough for consumers to understand that surprises are bad news in business? Do you have $$$$ set aside in case someone decides to almost triple all your invoices on a whim?

Exactly.

Recent news, and progress on the road to production
12 months ago – Thu, Apr 03, 2025 at 09:35:02 PM

Hey Podmates

Let's get right into it with...

TARIFFS

We are still absorbing the impact of 54% tariffs (possibly even 64%, according to some sources).

These increases are part of a trade negotiation and we don't know the actual aim of it, so it might well be resolved before we are fulfilling anyway, but for now, we are simply observing what the more experienced publishers are doing, and trying to get over the shock. It will almost certainly result in some kind of a price increase for US backers, but at present, there are too many unknowns for us to estimate.

We do have some other news, though!

PRE-PRODUCTION

We sent our files away to both the factory and our PNP expert.

Both of these processes will result in PPCs - pre-production copies - which will need to be tested and examined in detail.

We have no idea at present how long it will take for the physical PPC to get through customs and everything else, but we hope to test it at an upcoming event and have lots of cool news to share.

PNP TESTING

We have some volunteers for the PNP files, and will be in touch as soon as we have things for you to do. We expect the initial drafts after this coming weekend, and as soon as we have checked them and signed them off for testing, they will be on their way to you. We will coordinate feedback sessions once everything is underway.

A LITTLE NOTE

Please, support your local creative people - we are under assault from a lot of different directions right now. If you know an artist, a maker, a creator, maybe give them a hug or even buy something from them, if you can.

That's it for now.

As always, for more regular updates and details, follow our social media - Drayer Ink on BlueSky is most active, and we still have a presence on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook, too.

Bubble Net on the road; getting the details right
about 1 year ago – Thu, Mar 20, 2025 at 05:29:33 PM

GAMA Expo

We had a booth for the first time as standard exhibitors at GAMA Expo this year.

It was a much quieter experience for us than previous conventions - very little traffic made it back beyond the first few rows where the best-known publishers had booths.

We deliberately kept our schedule more open, after feeling really burnt out last year - for example, we hadn't booked any additional game night spots, because demos until midnight with things resuming at 8 or 9 the next day is a lot to ask.

It was great to see some of our industry friends and get more eyes on the latest versions of our player boards, cards, and fish clocks.

With the uncertainty around tariffs, many retailers are holding back and watching to see how much it will affect their business, and as a tiny first-time publisher, it's even scarier for us - we are waiting for guidance and leadership from the bigger publishers, who will hopefully explain why MSRP has to go up - the margins on board games are very small, and with recent massive cost increases in materials as well, it's inevitable that these increases will carry through to the consumer, just like VAT and GST.

We will update closer to the time, as there's simply no way to predict what things will look like in advance.

TokenCon

We are constantly pleasantly surprised by the attendance and engagement at smaller conventions like TokenCon. It seems like people wait all year for their local events, then they go hard, especially with their support for local and indie companies.

We were flattered at how many playtesters remembered Bubble Net from our indie booth 2 years ago, and we had a really successful con. Thank you to everyone who sent through a pre-order! You can find those here:

Updates on the components

More good news: the latest versions of our player boards, cards, and Fish Clocks have all passed physical review at GAMA Expo and TokenCon, and our team has started compiling files for the preproduction copies, and the test PNP.

We were also able to start testing the wording for our rulebook in person, which has been in development in the background for quite some time - the draft rules are the first things I write, and the last thing I finish. A game without a rulebook is just a box of components, so this bit is so important!

GameStorm

Starting today (3/20-3/23), we will be at GameStorm right here in Portland!

A prototype copy of Bubble Net, with the test version of the rulebook, will be available in the GeekDad library where Jonathan H. Liu will be available to teach it.

We are also appearing as Game Industry guests, and will be participating in at least two of the events (from their description):

Saturday 3:30pm-5pm - Game Design Talks: The Mega Panel (in the panel room)

Description: 6-12 industry guests will address game design and production topics over the course of this panel including but not limited to game production, finance, and logistics, visual design and layout, and mechanics and architecture. If you are in the industry or industry-curious, this one's for you!

Saturday 5:15pm - 7:15pm (or so) - The Game Designers' Reception (in the GameLab suite)

Step away from the convention floor and join us for an evening of great conversation, creative exchange, and camaraderie at the Game Designers' Reception! Mingle with fellow designers, industry veterans, and aspiring creators in a relaxed setting with ample snacks and refreshing drinks for all. Whether you're here to network, share ideas, or just unwind, this is the perfect place to connect with kindred spirits who share your passion for game design.
And, yes, the bacon will be back this year.

Next steps

After GameStorm, we will be updating all our notes and starting the PNP testing process - so those of you who have volunteered, we will be in touch soon!

We will also be releasing the rulebook for comment as soon as it's ready. 

Why does it take so long?

We know some of this has taken a lot longer than expected: we apologise. Our decision was to make the best possible version of the game, rather than a rushed, inferior product. There are so many tiny details involved in file preparation, for example, and so many ways things can go wrong. We thought the preview copies we ordered for PAX U were going to confirm everything was ready to go, and unfortunately, they were full of small issues that have taken our team quite some time to untangle, but we think we have figured everything out now.

One thing we didn't know, for example, was that unless we explicitly state to update the original quote document, any updates we send through aren't applied to the game production parameters, so we ended up with things like measurement typos we thought we had corrected making it through into the sample copy.

Another thing we learnt was that no matter how explicitly you explain something, there can still be misunderstandings.

We are very grateful to Kate and Joel Finch, especially, for stepping in and helping define our parameters and make sure everything is updated and specified correctly!

See you at GameStorm, PNW friends!

It's the "we're going to GAMA Expo" update!
about 1 year ago – Fri, Feb 21, 2025 at 11:50:09 AM

Hey Podmates,