Avant c’était un peu compliqué car nous ne savions pas trop où nous positionner. Depuis Essen et la rencontre du responsable des licences chez Phalanx, c’est plus clair. Là on attend juste le contrat pour le signer donc c’est plus facile de vous tenir au jus du dessous de l’affaire. 
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Pourquoi !?
Mais merci beaucoup !
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Roh, grillé 
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La dernière Actu, perso cela me réconforte sur mon pledge 
Résumé
A thorough look at Purple Haze
We promised a more thorough look at what has changed in Purple Haze since January, and here it is - plus a quick production schedule update.
Greetings, Marines!
First, let’s start with some good news. The core game is now complete! All the scripts have now been reviewed and edited by a professional script writer, the playtesting is over. We still have a lot of work to do on the three expansions, but we are over the hump.
So now is a good opportunity to provide a thorough explanation about where we are with Purple Haze, what type of game is it, and what has changed since the prototype you all know from our campaign.
First, what type of game is it?
Purple Haze remains the same as it was when you backed it - a story-driven campaign game set in the Vietnam War with RPG-style character development and tactical combat. Let’s break that down a bit.
Story-driven game
The heart of the game is the interactive and branching storylines that you will reveal and help to create.
Maybe you’ll be investigating a local hamlet for insurgent infiltration and stumble across an old VC tunnel network. You might believe the local headman that it’s long since disused, and move on. Or maybe you’ll order a thorough search and discover contraband. Perhaps you’ll choose to question him. If you pass a charisma test he may reveal where a local VC cell is taking refuge.
Thus, every decision you take will have a consequence. On a given Mission you will only follow one of the multiple branching storylines. You can return to the same Mission again and again, and have a different experience each time.
Separate from the Story Elements, each time your Squad moves there is a fifty percent chance that they will face an Encounter. Encounters are micro-events that can be negative, neutral, or positive for the Squad. A VC sniper targeting your Radio Operator. A downed US jet. A group of friendly local children wanting sweets. Encounters are not core to the game’s story, but help to fill in the gaps, and create short storylines to help you bring your Squad’s experience to life.
Campaign game
The nine Missions of the core Campaign follow a chronological timeline that culminates in the Tet Offensive. Some Missions are directly linked - you may be required to return to a hamlet that you have already visited and encounter individuals with whom you have already formed a positive or negative relationship. Other times it will be micro-narratives that you create.
Throughout the Campaign, your Squad Leader will be following one of three ‘motivations’ that you decide at the beginning of the Campaign - keeping your men alive, climbing the career ladder, or taking out the enemy. This mechanic - though optional - provides you with a baseline for what the Squad Leader may choose to do if the decision isn’t obvious. It also provides you with a way of determining how ‘successful’ the Campaign was, as each Motivation leads to one of three different outros based on your performance.
RPG-style character development
Your Marines gain experience during the campaign that allows them to level-up their Specialization. As they level-up, the Marines will gain access to new skills, allowing them to undertake new types of actions or gain boosts for combat, pathfinding, first aid, or other relevant actions. And if you lose a Marine, temporarily or permanently, his replacement will be a cherry, joining the Squad at level 1, regardless of the level of the Marine he is replacing.
Marines also carry with them the burdens of war. Stress and mental Conditions remain between Missions. Most importantly, this supports the story-telling of the game, but Conditions also have an ongoing detrimental effect on Marine’s traits, making certain tests harder to pass.
Tactical combat
Each Mission, you will have between zero and four combats, most often one or two. The number will, in part, depend on the choices that you make, and, in part, on luck and the outcome of the Threat die rolls.
The Combat system is tactical. It is designed to be exciting and tense, supporting the narrative. Often the outcome for your Squad will be unsatisfactory. Just as you start to get on top, the VC may pull back. You’ll need to decide, given the situation, whether to take the offense or focus on damage limitation. Each Combat is unique, and each can be very deadly.
So that’s the type of game that Purple Haze is. None of that should be a surprise as it’s the same game as was advertised during the Gamefound campaign.
So what’s changed as part of the 10-month development process?
We won’t list everything, but here’s a good flavor of the most important changes.
Map-crawling
How you navigate the map now involves more tough decision-making. We have introduced Enemy Activity Zones: areas known or believed to have VC activity. These increase Threat if you March near them. This makes Combat more deadly, so all things being equal, you’ll want to avoid them. But with most Missions on a strict timeline, weighing the choice of a higher Threat versus a long detour is an important new decision point in the game.
The Enemy Activity Zone marker. Note : not final art, it’s a playtest version only. The artwork will change.
This links to how you now need to manage Squad fatigue. Previously, if you got to zero fatigue, you had to bivouac. But this wasn’t all that realistic. Marines were often force-marched if it was required to get the job done. Now you can force-march as well, but your Marines will take additional damage as a result. This might be worth it, but it might come back to bite you later in the Mission.
Each Mission has its own unique Encounter deck. This means the Encounters now make sense in the context of the wider Mission. They are still separate from the Mission, but the changes we have made remove the non-sequiturs that existed in the prototype game.
Marines and Specializations
Specializations are now a lot more interesting. Previously, as you went up a level in Specialization, you got access to larger pools of dice for tests and Combat. Now each Specialization has its own set of 5 unique skills. Some of these are new actions only available to that Specialization at that level, some of which boost existing capabilities. This makes each Specialization more differentiated, improving the play experience and diversity of the game.
Furthermore, each Marine has his own unique Special Ability - a little skill or boost that both helps to bring Marine’s character to life, and may help the Squad in particular situations.
The original Specialization card compared to the new one. Note : not final art, it’s a playtest version only. The artwork will change.
Threat and Combat
We weren’t 100% happy with the way Threat and Combat worked in the prototype version of the game. The issues were two-fold.
First was how it occurred. Every time Threat reached a certain level… Combat! It didn’t matter what had just happened from a narrative perspective, or where the Squad was, there was Combat. This broke the immersion of the game. Not what we wanted.
To change this, Combat has been integrated into the story. For example, if you are setting up an ambush, the Combat will reflect that. You will get access to more cover and an initiative bonus. You may have a Log Entry based on a previous interdiction of VC supplies that makes the Combat easier. Or perhaps the headman you roughed up earlier in the Mission has given you up to the VC, meaning you are the ones being ambushed.
Combat can still occur ‘randomly’, as a result of the Threat being high. But this will be rarer, and even then, it will make narrative sense.
Second was the nature of the combat. In short - it got repetitive. The experience was static. Player decision-making was too low. And there were lots of dice rolling. Too much rerolling.
The original M16 card compared to the new one. Note : not final art, it’s a playtest version only. The artwork will change.
We didn’t feel this presented enough challenge or diversity, particularly to last the whole of the campaign. So we made changes. Rerolls are gone. What you roll is what you hit. Each weapon feels different in terms of the number and type of dice that you roll, and the weapon’s special effect.
More radically, we have introduced a Combat Board for the VC and Marines that allows for tactical movement and positioning. Each Marine can do two different commands on their turn, from moving and firing to taking cover or using a specialist skill. There are now line of sight penalties and additional bonuses for aimed shots.
In short, Combat - while still retaining the overall dice matching mechanic - has got a lot more interesting.
An example of Combat setup from Mission 2. Note : not final art, it’s a playtest version only. The artwork will change.
So, there’s your summary. Purple Haze has gone through an evolution, not a revolution. We think every aspect of it is now just a little bit better, though the game itself still remains at its core the one that you backed in January. We hope you have found this summary helpful.
Now, back to working on those expansions. We want to get this game to you as soon as possible!
Production schedule update
Based on the progress we’ve made so far, we can now more clearly estimate how long it’s going to take us to complete the entire project - to fulfill everything we promised, and deliver the best game possible.
Due to the sheer volume of work still ahead, and our own desire to bring this project to the highest possible quality. we hope to finish Purple Haze’s game and art development in early April 2023. In that time, we plan to finalize all four expansions, thoroughly playtest all scenarios and complete all work on art design, from illustrations to various components such as maps, cards, and counters.
DTP work should then commence and take all of April. Then it’s time for the production to begin. It should take additional three months (May to July), and the assembly process should be over by early August.
Since the entire project will be produced in the European Union (specifically, Poland), we don’t have to worry about any large logistical issues connected with shipping. Thus, the first copies of Purple Haze should be shipped to you in the second half of August 2023.
Thank you for reading this rather long update, and, of course, for your immense patience. We’re putting all our heart and soul into this game, and we just can’t wait until it gets into your hands!
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C’est une excellente nouvelle cette news pour les mécanique/graphisme. Par contre niveau livraison c’est pas pour de suite avec la traduction.
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Oui, le point noir c est que seul la core / 4 boites est finie 
En effet, ça me rassure sur les changements apportés au jeu moi aussi.
Après avoir lu l update, j ai très très envie d y jouer, c est malin! 
Heureusement j ai pledgé. 
Mais il faut attendre 8 mois.
8 mois pour la VO 
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Toujours au même endroit, la ligne de départ… Rien de signé, du positif mais que du verbal…
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Merci de ta reponse aussi rapide que l’attente de l’officialisation est longue
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Une petite mise à jour concernant le changement de nom de deux extensions et un calendrier
Bon coté traduction, ils sont sympa, mais si ils ne signent pas de contrat, c’est sur que cela ne va pas avancer…
Ce n’est que le calendrier du développement, il n’est même pas encore question de pré-production. Ils annoncent tout de même qu’il y aura un décalage entre la version anglaise et les versions française et allemande. Ça vous nous emmener Q2 2024 au bas mot cette histoire.
Ouaip. Lorsqu’ils ont fait une annonce comme quoi les envois du jeu se feraient en Aout (ce dont je doutes mais pourquoi pas), j’ai posé la question pour savoir qui s’occuperait de la VF : pas de réponse évidemment… Ils m’ont simplement répondu que cela concernerait toutes les éditions… Bon bah non à priori, mais je ne suis pas surpris…
Qu’ils prennent leur temps pour réaliser (ou faire réaliser) une traduction convenable au vu des « expressions militaires » est très bien, mais j’ai franchement l’impression qu’ils n’ont pas de visu sur la suite pour les diverses langues.
Nouvelle actu.
Purple Haze will have to be delivered a bit later than we predicted – but no more than a month, two at the most. That means the first copies of the English version of Purple Haze should be shipped to you in September/October, and the German and French versions in October/November.
tl;dr : on est à la bourre, pas avant octobre pour l’anglais et novembre pour le FR.
Euh comment ça peut être novembre pour la VF ? Me semblait que @davidbbg n’avait toujours pas d’accord formel pour la localisation en février ?
Oui donc début 2024 quoi, sachant qu’on ne sait toujours pas qui fait la VF, ça me fait de plus en plus peur (le temps pour traduire va être court !)
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Nous n’avons toujours rien sous la main et aucun contact de Phalanx. Comme ils le rappellent dans leur update, c’est une toute petite équipe, et je ne serai pas surpris qu’ils nous recontactent d’ici quelques semaines !
Par contre, même si nous avions les fichiers sous la main dès demain, nous sommes déjà très occupés avec nos localisations en cours, donc novembre me paraît complètement irréalisable. Vu la somme de texte, et vu ce qui était prévu, nous avons normalement 4 mois pour faire la trad, plus ensuite tout le travail en lien avec le fabricant, les inévitables coquilles repérées au dernier moment, puis enfin la prod. Phalanx nous avait expliqué que le travail avec l’imprimeur se ferait de manière séquencée, règles, cartes puis livrets d’histoire. A chaque étape, le matos est envoyé à l’imprimeur qui prépare tout. Ce qui fait qu’une fois la dernière étape réalisée, ça devrait aller plus vite.
Je sais pas avec qui ils travaillent (je crois que c’est en Europe), mais tous les imprimeurs avec lesquels j’ai bossé attendent d’avoir tout le matos avant de lancer le projet -sur ce type de petit volume de prod, pour plus gros j’en sais rien je n’ai jamais fait !
Mais à mon sens, il est plus réaliste de prévoir 6 mois avant la prod. On gagne 2 mois si la prod est en Pologne par contre…
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