Fire Squadron Talks About Their Project, Black Market Warehouse

I was able to get in touch with Tracy and Andy of Fire Squadron to talk about their current Kickstarter project, Black Market Warehouse. It only took a few minutes to get a response from Tracy, really showing how dedicated  he is to his project. At this point, they have already raised enough to complete the project at $5,000, now looking to hit $7,500 as I write this, with 14 days left to go.

Black Market Warehouse is a game of completing smuggling contracts while avoiding the authorities. Get the customers exactly what they want and get paid. You can give them a little less than what they asked for, but you’ll lose out on the bonus.

The game is for 2-4 players and can be played in about 30 minutes. You can find the whole rulebook, which isn’t that long, on their Kickstarter page. 

Q: Plenty of gamers dream of designing their own game or think they “can do it better” than other companies. When does the switch flip and go from thinking about designing to actually doing it and committing to it, especially with a day job taking up your time?

Tracy: I think for me I just had so many stories in my head that would be awesome as games. That’s how it started for me. I wanted to make a cowboy skirmish game, which I still haven’t gotten past initial artwork.

Andy: About three years ago, Tracy and I decided that we were going to create our own campaign for a very popular tabletop game. We put in hours of work creating the campaign, testing out ideas, creating a site and online database for tracking wins and loses.

It became a gigantic project. After about a year, we felt just about ready to go when we were informed that if we went live, we’d get the “cease and desist” email a minute later. Instead of letting this discourage us, we took our experience and created our own company. I’ve wanted to have a gaming company for a while. Having Tracy as a partner to keep me honest (and do all the artwork) has been the motivation that I’ve needed to forge ahead.

Q: You have an interesting concept on using the community (Fire Tested) to help keep the rules up to date or modify the game. Where did the idea to have the players help build a “living” version of the game?

Tracy: We are both gamers and have been for a very long time. We play games all the time from many companies and often find ourselves looking up rule FAQ’s and changes to see if something that doesn’t feel right was changed. We thought that a community of gamers play testing games can come up with all the different game play options that we may not run into. We don’t want to become so complacent in our rules that we don’t allow for a better idea. And that’s what it’s all about. Making the games better!

Andy: I would also add that I find gaming companies to be these silent fortresses. We all scream up at them for advice and clarification on a regular basis. We normally get silence as a response. From my experience, if gamers want anything, it’s a voice. We want to provide that for them. Additionally, to one of Tracy’s points, I personally believe that I can always do better. There may be times when people playing our games find a mechanic that’s just wonky. Or a card that’s completely broken. Instead of acting like some sort of omnipotent being that’s going to force you to play the game as I intended, I want our community of gamers to play the game that they want to play. I love feedback and I love growing. I can’t wait until we get to continually improve and enhance our games through feedback.

Instead of acting like some sort of omnipotent being that’s going to force you to play the game as I intended, I want our community of gamers to play the game that they want to play.

With that said, all of our games are tested. Our backers/customers won’t be getting an alpha or beta version of the game. It’s the version that we’re happy with sending to production. We just understand that there’s always room for improvement, and we’re willing to listen.

Q: Can you tell us how the “Fire Tested” method has already made a change to the game?

Andy: The best example I can give to you so far is straight from our Black Market Warehouse campaign. In designing the game, I had to determine a scoring system for Black Market Warehouse. For simplicity sake, I made everything worth between 1-5 points. Not very thematic, but it served its purpose.

Once we went live, many people felt that the point system felt weak and that some sort of monetary value on the cards made more sense. This was one of those moments where I could kick myself. I sometimes get so caught up in making sure rules work and the game is fun to play, that the little nuances get lost in the shuffle. The monetary idea was a great one and we implemented it the same day.

Q: How do you feel offering exclusive “never to be seen again” cards affect the game as a whole, and how do you design these cards? Obviously, you want to give the players something neat for the contribution, but you don’t want to add an imbalance to the game.

Games like Eminent Domain created cards such as “if you own this game, you win.” That didn’t go over well with players that didn’t have the card or had a play group that didn’t realize the card wasn’t meant to be part of the competition.

Tracy: The exclusive cards so far don’t change the game play much. The majority of the cards offer new items that can come up in the deck, or 5 new warehouse cards that will extend the length of the game just a bit. The Crooked Cop card is pretty powerful, and it’s exclusive, but it added an element that we felt was cool, but not crucial to a game play experience. The latest unlock for The Backer we haven’t decided if it’s exclusive or not. I really like how she turned out and feel it’s almost a shame if she doesn’t make the retail version.

Andy: Fortunately with Black Market Warehouse, there’s no “I win” button anywhere. When you play with your friends, anyone who plays a Kickstarter copy of the game could potentially get any of the exclusive cards in their hands. So that’s fortunate.

In future games, this is where I feel our “Fire Tested” theory will really pay off. If we were to make the same mistake that the listed company made, we would address it immediately to our community. Issues like “a play group that didn’t realize the card wasn’t meant to be part of competition” are easily cleared up with a clear, concise ruling from the gaming company. Tracy and I could look at that, discuss it in five minutes and have the change up online in six.

But really the trick I find to exclusive cards is to not introduce a rule or mechanic that is specific to that card, piece, chip, tile, etc. Introduce something that’s the same, but more fun/funny. As a spoiler, there’s potentially a Zombie George Washington in an upcoming game that would serve this sort of purpose. No special rules to him. He would be classified as an existing card in the game. But he’s George Washington. As a zombie. That’s awesome!

Q: While developing the game, have you run into cards or concepts you wished you were able to add, but they just didn’t work with the game after testing?

Tracy: The entire game was totally different when we first sat down to play our hand written card prototype. I don’t quite recall how it went, but it didn’t work. A few times playing it we made changes each time and ended up with the game we have now. When we first played through the version as it is now we both had a moment of “Yeah… this is awesome,” and that’s when we knew we were on the right track. When we had other people play test it there were small details to think about, but overall the game play has stayed the same after that light bulb moment.

Andy: Oh man, I think this happens all the time with all of the games we create. The initial idea for Black Market Warehouse was this complex tower defense game where everything was based on luck of the draw. This got thrown out well before we even got to the testing phase as it was just too complicated and didn’t have the feel I was looking for. After all, if I wasn’t having fun creating the game, how could the final product be any fun?

But I never find myself wishing that the finished products were different or that we could squeeze something else in. So far, I’ve been really happy with everything that we’ve produced. It’s also think of it this way: I start out thinking that I’m building a house and I end up with a rocket ship (if that makes any sense) and I find that to be loads of fun.

Q: Your Kickstarter description says that you will be expanding on the Black Market game concept. Will the Black Market game just be getting expansions or is it more detailed than that? Perhaps Black Market will become a greater game including several “mini-games”?

Tracy: The Black Market game is going to get an update in a couple of months after we see how well it’s received. We want each new version to build on the last so it gives you options on how you want to play, but still be able to remain a standalone game. Our next version is Black Market Cargo where the warehouse theme is swapped for a Cargo and Dock theme. There are going to be different elements to the game and different insiders and mechanics, but the items will be able to be used in both games. We want to eventually put out a very large game where you’re running a city and Black Market Warehouse and Black Market Cargo will just be small elements of the game…but that’s still in development.

Andy: After making Black Market Warehouse, I realized that we had something pretty unique. What I find with most of our games is that there’s a broader story that we want to tell with all of them. So that means there are a few different approaches we could take.

We can take the “stand alone” expansion route, where each version following the first could be played by it self or be combined with previous iterations of the game. Or we could use the Fluxx model where each game has it’s own theme and is a stand alone completely on it’s own, but with a somewhat comedic theme behind it (Black Market Egypt? Black Market Aliens? Etc). Or we could expand on the story and do a much larger board game or tabletop skirmish game where, as Tracy says, you’re trying to manipulate the entire Black Market and run the city. (We have to be careful with these sorts of conversations as I find myself wanting to pull up Evernote and start brain-storming ideas for a Black Market Warehouse skirmish game.)

With all that said, our focus right now is to create Black Market Warehouse, then introduce a solid stand alone expansion in Black Market Freighter down the road. Once those two goals are complete, then the sky’s the limit. Our user feed back will have a lot of influence on that.

Q: How do you, Andy and Tracy, balance daytime work with designing, developing and running a Kickstarter? Have you pulled out any hair?

Tracy: I work all day on a computer and have a window up with Kickstarter always on. I want to make sure I’m responding to every message and every comment right away. It’s not been as stressful as I would have thought. We hit our goal early on and the community of people backing us is amazing. They have been very supportive and helpful and just a pleasure to work with.

Andy: My job doesn’t always require too much mental effort, so while I’m on mundane tasks I have my pen and note book in my pocket for ideas. I normally work an idea in my head for a solid month, playing through concepts and rules before I even present them to Tracy. It’s almost like a form of therapy and something that I truly enjoy doing, so it hasn’t been stressful at all.

It’s almost like a form of therapy and something that I truly enjoy doing, so it hasn’t been stressful at all.

We also make sure we have one night a week for “game night”. We’ve been doing that for four or five years now, and we stay on top of that regularly to keep the edge off. Sure we’ll discuss business while we’re doing it, but it’s always good to play other people’s games to keep things in perspective.

In regards to managing Kick Starter, technology has been a beautiful thing. With the cellphone app, I have anywhere access to the campaign and I can respond to comments immediately (that’s not a plug for the Kick Starter app. Honest!)

Q: What is the feeling of meeting your project goal and realizing that this IS going to happen?

Tracy: It’s surreal and exciting! We are fans of what we’ve built as much as anyone else. We can’t wait to have the games come in from the printers and have our copies too! I went out the day it was funded and had a Black Market Warehouse poster printed up to hang in my living room! It’s a real game now! It’s just too awesome!

Andy: It’s exciting! You have this dream and goal in your head and it’s like “WOW! This just happened!” It’s nice knowing that if you really push hard towards something and you keep focused, you can reach your goals.

Q: What do we have to look forward to next in the Black Market line or otherwise?

Tracy: I want to continue with the comic book idea for now. Tell the story of the insiders in the game. But we have big plans for the game! It all depends on how big we can grow the community behind it.

Andy: I’ll be working out some “advanced” rules and mechanics for Black Market Freighter. Nothing too off the rails, but I’d like to see a couple of goods cards and/or warehouse cards that would give you an instant in game bonus for completing. That’s the idea kicking around in my head anyways. I haven’t worked on it much more than that to give you any clearer definition.

Q: Would it be too much to ask for a card art spoiler?

Tracy: I think we’ve shown all the artwork for what we have so far. A few of the unlocks happened the day before we unlocked them, with me drawing the cards then posting the updates. One of the luxuries of having the artist run the Kickstarter I guess!

Here is The Backer without the card part, just the art work…will that help?

Thanks, Tracy and Andy. I can’t wait to see the final product on store shelves and look forward to more products from the two of you. The art seen on this page comes from the Black Market Warehouse Kickstarter page. Go check it out!