Excursions Development Diary #7: What Remains

Originally posted on Oct. 29, 2026.

As of the publication of this development diary, there are about 32 hours left in the Kickstarter campaign for Excursions. It's been such an incredible journey, and we are looking forward to what's next. So that brings me to the topic of this final development diary: what developmental things still remain?

As far as gameplay goes, Excursions is locked in. There will not suddenly be any brand new mechanisms added (or old ones subtracted), nor are we going to suddenly try to figure out a way to expand the player count or something. No, no, no. The game is, for all intents and purposes, a finished product. However, that doesn't mean there isn't some shine and polish to still be applied! For example, we are currently in the process of fine-tuning the rulebook for the game. As more and more people have played it, we have become increasingly aware of certain rules that need further clarification. This is the beauty of blind (or semi-blind) playtesting: by synthesizing the feedback from, and noting the pain-points of, players, you can really elevate your rulebook to address these concerns and avoid them in the future. Of course, no ruleset is absolutely perfect, especially when it comes to games of a certain complexity, and there will, of course, be ample forums here on BGG and a thriving FAQ for the game, no doubt, but if we can avoid as much of that as possible, we will have done our job well.

Another thing that we are still finalizing is the solo mode for the game. Much like the rest of the game, the solo mode is a finished product on the whole. What work remains mainly lies in the balance and the nuance. We want to ensure that the various solo opponents are appropriately difficult depending on their advertised difficulty. If the "easy" bot is too hard to defeat, then it's not really an "easy" bot is it? On the flip side, if the "easy" bot is so easy to trounce that there isn't really any effort required on the human player's part...well, that's just kind of boring! Most of this just comes down to balancing and reconfiguring some things to make sure that all the bots are sufficiently interesting, appropriately hard, and different enough from one another (while also being not so different that each bot feels like a brand new learning experience).

Within the multiplayer game, there is not much else to tweak or balance. If anything, we may take another pass through the private goals to ensure that they are awarding an appropriate amount of points. Balancing values is always a pretty massive undertaking, as there is a certain amount of math that is necessary—but also a certain amount of "heart" required as well. Last weekend at SPIEL, I had the pleasure of meeting renowned designer Daniele Tascini, and we talked at length about this very thing: how math is necessary but is far from the end-all-be-all. "Sometimes, I want to reward players. Sometimes I want to punish them. But if all the math is perfect, I can't do either." (This is a big paraphrase on my part, but this was his general sentiment on the subject.)

The biggest thing ahead of us isn't really developmental at all; it's compiling all of the assets for the game and preparing it all for printing. This is where we shift from the developer mindset to the publisher mindset as we continue coordinating with Ian O'Toole for the final art and graphics, and with Panda Game Manufacturing who will be manufacturing the game. And, of course, we will be working closely with Allplay as we prepare to open the pledge manager and coordinate fulfillment next year.

It's been such a pleasure working on this brilliant game. It's been a dream come true to work with Ben Rosset, to receive more gorgeous artwork from Ian O'Toole, to develop this game alongside the best friends and colleagues I could ever ask for, and to run another successful Kickstarter campaign. And it has been a great deal of fun to reminisce on the development journey of the game over these last few weeks in these diaries. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read them!

Excursions is live on Kickstarter until 6 pm EST tomorrow night (October 30, 2026). I hope you'll check it out!