Into the Black, a game from I Will Never Grow Up Games launches June 2nd!


  • Hey everyone! We’ve been working for several months on a new game, Into the Black: A Game of Space Piracy that we would love feedback on.

    Into the Black is a sci-fi themed, tile-laying, “dungeon crawling”, semi-cooperative game for 1-4 players that takes 45-90 minutes to play. The board is different every single game as you reveal the layout one tile at a time.

    Our plan is to launch on Kickstarter in late April/early May and, pending success there, having the game available by September-November 2016! Ambitious, yes, but possible considering 90% of the work is done already and all we really need is the funding to pay for manufacturing costs!



    _In Into the Black you are members of a space pirate crew boarding a federal star ship with the goal of taking over the bridge. Each player controls a number of Pirate Crew members to perform a variety of actions in their quest to take control of the greatest bounty.

    As you explore the unknown star ship searching for the bridge more corridors and new rooms are slowly revealed to you. Be wary of where you step, as each new room may hold a surprise. Events may include Enemy Defenders attempting to fend off your plundering, a dangerous plasma leak or artificial gravity failure! Each of these issues must be dealt with in one way or another to be able to proceed in your quest.

    Looting the ship may net you many helpful items, such as stim packs to heal your or another’s crew member, weapons to help fight off defenders, armor to help protect against damage and more.

    In addition to all this, each crew member has his or her own personal goals … be wary of possible traitors in your midst!

    Reach the bridge and defeat the federal star ship crew before meeting any number of failure conditions to win the game together!_



    Enemy defenders in the first room! This does not bode well!

    The first 3 character boards (WIP)

    At the end game - So close yet so far (Failed to defeat the bridge crew before apprehension - DOH!)

    Ken and Brad strategizing

    Check us out;
    Home Page : http://www.iwillnevergrowup.com/publishing/intotheblack
    BoardGameGeek : https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/190047/black-game-space-piracy
    Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/Into-the-Black-710623765705378


  • The “http://%22http//www.iwillnevergrowup.com/publishing/intotheblack” link you provided doesn’t work. At least it didn’t work on my browser a moment ago.

    I have a couple of questions, both related to whatever system the game uses to determine what tiles get placed in what configuration.  First: if the placement is purely random, isn’t there a possibility that the players might encounter the Bridge early in the game, and if so would that mean that the game would end immediately?  Second: since this appears to be essentially a transplantation of the Dungeons and Dragons concept into an outer-space setting (and specifically aboard a spaceship that the players are exploring), does the tile-placement system take into account the fact that the players are exploring something that’s shaped like a spaceship?  In other words, do the tiles have to be placed within any kind of ship-shaped boundary, or can they simply head off into random directions for unlimited distances (in the same way that a network of tunnels in a cave could plausibly do)?


  • @CWO:

    The “http://%22http//www.iwillnevergrowup.com/publishing/intotheblack” link you provided doesn’t work. At least it didn’t work on my browser a moment ago.

    Thanks Marc, that happens to us every time we try to enter a URL here. Doubles up the http. heh. Fixed now

    I have a couple of questions, both related to whatever system the game uses to determine what tiles get placed in what configuration.  First: if the placement is purely random, isn’t there a possibility that the players might encounter the Bridge early in the game, and if so would that mean that the game would end immediately?  Second: since this appears to be essentially a transplantation of the Dungeons and Dragons concept into an outer-space setting (and specifically aboard a spaceship that the players are exploring), does the tile-placement system take into account the fact that the players are exploring something that’s shaped like a spaceship?  In other words, do the tiles have to be placed within any kind of ship-shaped boundary, or can they simply head off into random directions for unlimited distances (in the same way that a network of tunnels in a cave could plausibly do)?

    Re: Tile placement - The airlock is the start tile and placed on the table. You then place 2 corridors off of that and any rooms (face down) if there are doorways on those corridors. As you move through the corridors you continue to place 2 tiles ahead of any players pawn/meeple unveiling the rest of the ship as you go. How the ship is shaped is different every game, there is no boundary or predetermined shape to it (let’s face it … not all ships are going to look the way we think they should, right?). They can go in any number of directions. There are a number of rules in place as to HOW to place the tiles to help prevent overlap and dead ends as well.

    Re: Encountering the Bridge - During setup there are 3 “command center” rooms. Upon encountering the 3rd, that then becomes the bridge. The first is to be dealt into the first half of the deck, the other 2 in the last half. This means you will never encounter the bridge until at least half the rooms are found.

    When encountering the bridge you still have to defeat the bridge crew, which is not easy. You almost need to find some gear first before attempting it, unless your rolls are really lucky.

    There is a version of the rules (3.3) available at our webpage if you want to preview them. These are not the final rules (there are a number of changes being made currently to streamline things and to fix some unexpected errors that have been found in all of the play testing) but they are workable and a fair representation of what the final rules will resemble.


  • Thanks for the additional information.  I’ve tried the fixed link and it now works fine.  And just for fun, here’s a good piece of advice from the Evil Overlord List which could be useful to the crew of Federal ship: “If I must have computer systems with publicly available terminals, the maps they display of my complex will have a room clearly marked as the Main Control Room. That room will be the Execution Chamber. The actual main control room will be marked as Sewage Overflow Containment.”  :-D


  • @CWO:

    Thanks for the additional information.  I’ve tried the fixed link and it now works fine.  And just for fun, here’s a good piece of advice from the Evil Overlord List which could be useful to the crew of Federal ship: "If I must have computer systems with publicly available terminals, the maps they display of my complex will have a room clearly marked as the Main Control Room. That room will be the Execution Chamber. The actual main control room will be marked as Sewage Overflow Containment."   :-D

    Bahaha. Love it! /thumbsup


  • Kickstarter Launch day is set : May 3rd, 2016!

    We will update this thread with the link when it goes live, however in the meantime you can check out www.iwillnevergrowup.com/publishing/intotheblack for details (<– this link will also redirect to Kickstarter when we go live, just in case we don’t get it here for some unspeakable reason).

    Come one, Come all, tell your friends, tell your family, tell your coworkers, tell your dogs and cats!
    We would love to have a huge first day on Kickstarter to get the momentum going right from the get go.

    $49 CAD (That’s about $37 USD for you Yanks!) will get you a copy of the game, shipped anywhere in North America. +$5 shipping to the UK, +$15 shipping to the rest of the EU.
    $59 CAD will get you a signed copy (limited to 50 backers)

    MSRP for Into the Black has been set at $49 CAD (plus shipping and taxes) so backing on Kickstarter translates to roughly a 30% discount off retail!

    • “What about stretch goals?” - We have several stretch goals and social achievements planned to increase quality/quantity/size of the components

    • “But I will just wait to get it from (insert-name-of-online-discount-game-store-here) cheaper” - Aha! We have no retail distribution in place at this time. Any copies (assuming there are any) left after the Kickstarter campaign has been shipped will be sold exclusively through I Will Never Grow Up Games for full retail price!

    • “Why do I have to pay shipping in the UK and even more in the rest of the EU??” - Increased cost of importing the game to the European Union, however, all EU games will be shipped from within the EU so you will have no extra VAT or import costs to pay. What you pay to back us on Kickstarter is all you have to pay!

    • “What happens if (/shudder) the KS does not fund?” - Your credit card will not be billed unless the kickstarter reaches it’s full funding goal at the end of the campaign. IF this does happen, we will re-group and try again. This may mean cutting some components in order to reduce the overall costs, but we will get this thing published one way or another!

    • “How big is the game box?” - 10 inches x 10 inches x 2.25 inches and weights in at 2.6 pounds of gaming goodness

    • “What do I get for my $49 CAD?” - See the image below for a breakdown of the contents of the box


  • Kickstarter launch delayed until June, but I just got the pre release prototype copy from printplaygames.com and it’s nice! Some printing fixes to address, but nothing too difficult to deal with. Some bleed issues (as you can see, white space on some of the large cards), a couple of card backs in the wrong order and lightening up some of the artwork.

    All this can be yours for approximately $35 US ($49 CAD) when we launch!

    Pre release rules available for download at http://www.iwillnevergrowup.com/publishing/intotheblack

    Limited Print and Play coming soon (fewer components, just a preview to try out, greyscale/black and white).


  • Launches on Kickstarter Thursday, June 2nd, 2016 at approximately 6pm Eastern.

    Preview page : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/iwillnevergrowup/1534167851?token=66ea951c

  • Sponsor

    I will be supporting on kickstarter, and I can’t wait to try it at the FMGCon in August.


  • @Young:

    I will be supporting on kickstarter, and I can’t wait to try it at the FMGCon in August.

    You should come try it before then. lol. :P

  • Sponsor

    @IWillNeverGrowUp:

    @Young:

    I will be supporting on kickstarter, and I can’t wait to try it at the FMGCon in August.

    You should come try it before then. lol. :P

    Sure, when’s the next playtest?


  • @Young:

    @IWillNeverGrowUp:

    @Young:

    I will be supporting on kickstarter, and I can’t wait to try it at the FMGCon in August.

    You should come try it before then. lol. :P

    Sure, when’s the next playtest?

    Saturday the 11th sound good?


  • TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES!
    Today was supposed to be the day! Everything was ready, everything was lined up to go … I went to hit the big green “LAUNCH YOUR CAMPAIGN NOW” button that has been sitting there like a temptress since getting approval from Kickstarter on April 20th and, lo and behold, it appears they have to do MORE VERIFICATION!

    Needless to say, a slew of words flew from my mouth that would make a Pirate blush.

    There is currently a help request in with the Kickstarter Support Staff and, unfortunately as a result of this unexpected event Into the Black is in a holding pattern until Kickstarter resolves the issue.

    My sincerest apologies on this delay, I feel like a fool!

    Do not fear matey’s. The moment the page gets RE-approved, it will launch and everyone will be sent notification!

    Once again, here is the preview page for anyone wishing to look at it : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/iwillnevergrowup/1534167851?token=66ea951c



  • Here’s a pReview of Into the Black from The Kentucky Bored Gamer

    https://youtu.be/0lTFjwq5TC4


  • Project Funding Cancelled

    I hope everyone is having a great long weekend here in North America with Canada Day and Independance Day having arrived (and just a great weekend otherwise for the rest of the world)!

    RETREAT!

    It took a lot of deep thought to decide to cancel this projects funding at this point. There were numerous times throughout that I thought I should just cancel and others where I thought it would be best to run out the clock.

    With that, and with heavy heart, funding for Into the Black has been cancelled, for now!

    Thank you everyone for your support through this process. A lot has been learned and the errors that were made have been noted and will certainly be addressed.

    REGROUP!

    Don’t worry, I’m not giving up on it, not by a long shot!

    Cancelling this project is not a bad thing; in fact it’s a start of a new, exciting and better phase of the game!

    Plans are already in motion for relaunch, but I’m going to take the time to do it better!

    In those plans are things such as looking at ways of reducing the funding goal if possible, adding in some of the stretch goal content as part of the base game, upgrading the tile art and looking deeper into the possibility of miniatures, a play through video, better images of the game, more previews, more advertising, more demoing … more of everything!

    Stay tuned for updates, and please join our mailing list at www.iwillnevergrowup.com/newsletter for more info and advance notifications.

    Don’t abandon ship! Into the Black will be published, one way or another!

    NEVER GIVE UP! NEVER SURRENDER! We’ll be back matey’s!

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