Daniel Solis

While planning the Utara Kickstarter, I commissioned a prototype cloth playmat from Lyndsay Peters/Dragon Chow Dice Bags. This thing is huge, double-sided with heavy cotton fabric and sewn together with brown braided cord. We wanted this thing to be really premium for that authentic treasure map feel. Though Utara's Kickstarter is indefinitely postponed , it's nice having this really nice one-of-a-kind artifact. As always, you can find great handmade dice bags at Dragon Chow .

I've decided to postpone plans for kickstarting my dice game Utara. Here's why. Utara's biggest problem is that it calls for so many custom dice. I thought I could manage it as a small outfit thanks to new tools like Kickstarter. That opened up opportunities for high engagement and distributed costs. Those would compensate for high up-front production expenses of custom dice. That expense was just from the relatively affordable option of laser-engraved dice. Each of those would cost $1.10 to make at a quantity of 2,000. Pricey, but at least it followed the model of similar novelty products like Mathematician's Dice and Writer's Dice. We figured a goal of ~$4,000 would get us where we needed to be. The trick would be focusing on the novelty and flexibility of individual dice, rather than the game Utara. We'd need to develop more properties using one, two or three Utara dice, but at least it could be done. As I sought feedback on the tier rewards, it beca...

We're gradually refining the reward tiers for the upcoming Utara kickstarter campaign. We're gathering estimates from various vendors and comparing them to the hard costs of our last dice run. You might recall the last update on these plans, and now some stuff has changed based on the rising costs of postage, manufacturing, etc. Here's the basic rundown so far. Description Explore a new world with Utara compass dice. These custom dice show either North, East, South, West, a sun or a moon on each side. They can also be used as normal six-sided dice by counting the stars on each side. Use these dice in "Lost in Utara" for unexpected trips in your role-playing games. Roll them in board games like "Tides of Utara." When you back this project, you also help create the world of Utara. Small pledges create an island, while big pledges create whole archipelagos. Explore the World of Utara with Utara compass dice. Goal: ~$5000 in 30 Days Given our experi...

Though it is many, many months away, I can't help but look ahead to the next Kickstarter project: Utara. That image above is the snazzy new branding. The big experiment this time is the backer-generated map of Utara. You've heard me talk about the power of naming rights already. I'm stepping that up a bit this time around. Now, backers can create the world of Utara. Above is a blueprint for Utara's map. It's a grid divided into about 2400 cells, each large enough for a single Utara die. Backers of certain levels will create and name islands, archipelagos, major landmasses, and greater seas. Here's a loose outline... Goal: $2000 — That covers a minimum order of 2000 dice from the manufacturer with the same specs as the Writer's Dice. I've had some requests for Utara dice to be a more traditional ivory with black inlay design. I'll look into that, but it'll be more expensive per-unit and raise the minimum goal. 30 Days — This game is a...

(Click to embiggen!) I ordered etched Utara dice from GameStation and they just arrived! (You can see the bidding process in this post .) So, for those of you who want to venture in the wild and wooly world of dice games, I'll share some key info. Here was the timeline: March 4: Sent request for estimate to GameStation. March 6: Receive quote from GameStation. (Next business day, basically.) March 17: Call GameStation toll-free to order 30d. Get a digital proof same day! March 28: 30 custom dice arrive in the mail. Here are the specs and final numbers: 16mm square-edged opaque blank dice Custom face on each side Etch only Cost+Shipping: $81 I'm happy with my purchase. The rep at GameStation (Jason W) was prompt and very helpful at every step of the process. Plus, the dice look fantastic. I don't know why the etching option is lower-priced. We've roughed up these dice quite a bit over the past few days and show no signs of wear. The price of the or...

Giullina shared this photo of Renato Ramonda teaching Utara at PLAY! Modena . So much of this piques my interest. One, are those paper prototypes? Two, is that a printed rules sheet? Three, they're playing Utara overseas?? Awesome, awesome. Renato shares more on his tumblr : "People gathered around and demanded to play too: we quickly played a good number of games and tried all the variant Sun/Moon options. I can definitely say that the game is fun, extremely simple to teach and learn, has a nice tactile element and when playing with the “advanced” rules I think a nice element of lightweight strategy: will I take this two dice or will I take only one but negate a Day or Tide to my opponent?" Renato and friends also tinkered with a new variant that allows you to change the compass. You can see more on that in his post. » Renato's Tumblr Post » More photos » Janus Design » Official Rules for Utara

While Tim and the Ludo Dojo guys played Utara, they were deciding which moon variant to use. One of the players proposed using the moon's actual phase. In this case, the moon was almost full, so they used the Full Moon variant. That's when I realized just how much "Play Here Now" is embedded in Utara's design. To "Play Here Now" means you're playing something that elegantly reminds you of where you are in that place and in that time. The phrase itself is inspired by spiritual teach Ram Dass' 1971 book Be Here Now . Though the Buddha reputedly discouraged games as a distraction from true awareness, I'll humbly submit that a game can be the spoonful of sugar to help the existential medicine go down. Obviously, the "here-ness" is inherent in using compass directions as a part of gameplay. You could, as I've often done, arbitrarily choose any direction as "North" and begin the game. But there is a very nice element o...

So yesterday Tim Rodriguez of Dice+Food+Lodging drops this on me: "Tonight I'll be part of a short playtest/discussion taping of Utara that's going to be used as a lesson in something my friend Scott is working on called Ludo Dojo . Utara I think hits his hotspots for games that are interesting and very good to analyze for their instructional qualities. It's a really elegant game where you can make small tweaks and instantly see how that affects play. Plus, handfuls of dice." Ludo Dojo is heavily involved in teaching game design and connecting new creators with more experienced vets. The founder, Scott Price, has a lot of experience in marketing and development of games with broad appeal. Tim was kind enough to record the audio of that session. That very large file can be found here . Scott Price will be editing together a video as well, which I'll link to as soon as it's available. I haven't had a chance to listen to the entire recording yet,...

Each unit would have about 20 dice. From talking to players at Dreamation and checking out the price point for Steve Jackson Games' Zombie Dice , I sense $10-$15 is the sweet spot for unit pricing. That means each die must cost me less than 50¢. A more reasonable cost would be something like 10¢, to create margin for the costs of packaging, storing and shipping. Plan A: Print a single prototype with the ultimate goal of licensing the rights to a larger producer. Higher cost per die, but lower total cost. Use the prototype to run demos and make promotional videos. Plan B: Produce a short run for direct sales to consumers. Hope to break even within a year, either by selling out of the product or licensing the rights to a larger producer. Lower cost per die, but higher total cost, plus work of marketing and fulfillment. I sent out a request for estimate with the following specs: 16mm six-sided dice Opaque Blue or White Unique design on each face Quantity: 20, 500, 1000 V...

You last saw Joanna while she was playing and teaching Utara in this video . Here, she's showing off her own Utara dice she made at home to test out new rules and play with her home group. In the third photo, you'll see a wagering rules variant created by Rob McDiarmid : "Here's a thought for a gambling version. Maybe you throw half the pot on the table first, before rolling the dice. Those coins represent ports. If you cross a port, you get to collect the coin. Any ports not collected during play go to the winner. But maybe ports also end your turn." Brilliant idea, I thought. Joanna's testing out that variant right now. I think you could add even more wagering options by placing bets along the north, south, east, and west edges of the board. Any time a die leads off the board in that direction, you can collect one coin from that side. These wagering variants and other suggested rules will be included in the official rules. I can't wait to show of...

Utara was a big success at Dreamation 2011. In the video above, you can see a montage of several rounds of play. People gathered around tables to play on their own. Sizeable groups of non-convention attendees huddled to check it out. Audiences were 50/50 male/female. I consider this enough of a success that I'm looking at the math for going commercial. I'll post about that soon. Some new rules that came out of all the demos I did at Dreamation include: » Play one round for each player. » First player of first round is chosen at random. » First player of subsequent rounds is whoever has fewest points. » This game draws a crowd. Ask bystanders for Moon and Sun style. » Otherwise, first player chooses Moon or Sun. Second player chooses the other.

I'm looking hiring the services of a custom dice manufacturer to make a single prototype set of Utara dice. Above, you see the prototype I worked with during the playtesting process and which I used to demo at Dreamation 2011. Simple blank dice with stickers and hand-drawn letters. With an eye towards non-English speaking audiences, I thought it would be good to make Utara's faces non-linguistic. I based these on compass arrows. However, I realized that any time you introduce an arrow into an interface, the human will want to follow it in that direction. In the end, I figured out that there was such a thing as being too abstract. So I went back to the NESW system from the prototype, but I wasn't content with simply putting letters on each face all on their own. I needed to add a thematic element to the presentation, something harkening to navigation by the stars. I needed constellations. Thankfully, boardgamegeek member BT Carpenter offered this diagram for turning ...

Utara is a dice game that makes a game board from any surface on earth. The game's theme calls to mind constellations and stellar navigation. I imagine it being played by wanderers and sailors with uncanny senses of direction. » Development Status: Open Beta. » Inspired by Jorinapeka by Tony Pa. » Developed from this prototype . » Special thanks to Joe Mucchiello for suggesting use of cardinal directions. » Image: " Fishing Boat " CC-BY-NC-SA by Austin King » Utara (उत्तर) is Malay for "North." » Russian Translation: Утара — настольная игра Stuff You Need Two or more players. This is a great game for a group of friends sitting on the living room floor. Special dice. Each face says either North, East, South, or West. The fifth face has a Sun and the sixth face is Moon. You can use any number of dice to play, but you should use at least ten dice per player. More dice will allow higher scores, possibly longer games and require more space to pl...