Tea time, with Dan and Connie

Photo by Travis Wilkins (@travisnwilkins on Instagram and Twitter), Ontario, Canada.

Wandering in the land of games. Pathways with history and with stories. For sharing. All this may sound familiar for those of you who have read the initial post of this blog. Creations. Creators. Stories of games. Stories of gamers. Stories of the people behind the games.

Today, we are heading to Calgary (Alberta, Canada), not far from Banff National Park, to chat with Dan & Connie Kazmaier, of Steeped Games, around a hot cup of tea. What could be more appropriate when the temperature outside is just over freezing point?

Well, not physically heading. After all, Calgary, Canada, is not around the corner from Aveiro, Portugal. With the Atlantic Ocean and most of a continent in between, over 7500 km, a 7h time difference, and, yes, a 20C difference as well!

It is therefore fortunate that, in both our worlds, messaging is almost instantaneous. Questions sent, answers received, asynchronous communication established. And while we do not seat around the same table, pouring tea into our cups, we still can talk about tea. Or, better said, about Chai, the first and upcoming game of Dan & Connie.

Chai is a game where you become a tea merchant, collecting ingredients, making your own tea blends and fulfilling customer orders. Berries and lavender, with a touch of vanilla and a drop of milk? Yes, you may do that, after shopping in the market and visiting the pantry for the right ingredients. Just don’t get lost experimenting, satisfy your clients and get some tips!

This cup of tea was launched on the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform, on December 2018, backed by almost 2600 people, and raised over 135000$. Still some way to go before hitting the shelves and, more important, the tables.

Pull a chair and join us for this chat!

Where did the idea of turning tea into a game, or make a game around tea, come from? 
We were designing a submarine Euro at the time, and realized a tea-themed game would be a great start. We're still working on the other design and some more, but felt we wanted to run with a tea game that really sparked our interest, and that of play testers too. When you have something that friends and family enjoy, you have to keep working on that.


When did it all start?
Last year in early March, after a three-day design conference called EPOC, in Canada.


It is the first you have designed, or have you developed other games before, even if only for personal enjoyment? 
Connie: I haven't designed any games before, but I am an avid board gamer, particularly co-operative games.
Dan: I enjoyed making some games as an elementary student in my spare time, starting with one on The Hobbit and Sid Meier's Civilization. I played chess competitively starting in junior high, so designing games later on seemed a natural progression.
Me: Sounds familiar, as I've always been making small games, for personal entertainment, and started playing competitive chess around 9th grade (still occasionally do).

Is the finalized version much different from the starting point, regarding gameplay? 
Chai evolved fairly quickly thanks to the help of play testers! The market board was made fairly early on and is the most unique part of the game, so we built around it the best that we could. The tea customer "tips" were added later on, and even though we were happy with where the game was a few months out from the Kickstarter, after adding ability cards we really felt we had nailed it. It's surprising how many times you'll keep tweaking things, but we told ourselves that we had to release it to the world at some point. Setting an early December 2018 date for our Kickstarter launch helped us stay honest with this goal in mind, or else we'd probably still be working on it now.


Did you get significant contributions from the gaming community? 
Oh absolutely - community involvement was truly the heart behind the success of our game's Kickstarter campaign, but also leading up into it. We had countless people encourage us throughout the journey, as some months required more mental energy to keep going. Suggestions on tweaking things from different mechanics to the rulebook were all instrumental in pulling this all off. If it takes a village to raise a family, it can certainly take a global communi-tea (pardon the pun) to fashion a board game. We're so grateful for those that have come alongside and helped us, which also includes different well-established publishers which offered feedback and advice too.

How was the art for the game developed and did that process actually influenced the game?
We hired two amazing artists (Sahana Vj from Bangalore, India, and Mary Haasdyk from Calgary, Canada), who were wonderful throughout the entire process. Leading into the campaign we had them work on 80% of the art, with the remaining being wrapped up now as we head into production. We asked our community and other board game groups what kind of characters they'd like to see in the game, which helped guide the creative process throughout our journey.


What was the main challenge or unexpected issue to overcome? 
Our goal was to try to figure out how to create a game that is accessible for non-gamers, but to be enjoyed at a strategic level with gamers. We focused a lot on the immersive components of tea in the game, which helps bridge the gap, but it was easier said than done. We found at times gamers wanted more strategy and decision-making, so we changed the game slightly to favour this.


And, on the other hand, what turned to be easier than expected from the outset? 
Rallying together a helpful playtesting community proved to be easier than we anticipated! We're at over 1,200 members now in our Chai Board Game Community alone on Facebook, which has proved to be extremely helpful as we navigate what works and doesn't work from different people's perspectives.


Any new projects in the making? 
Yup! We're making an expansion for Chai that will hopefully be released later on this fall, and possibly a "duel" two-player version as well. Perfect for date nights, hah.

Game naming challenge: an “oldie” that is a fond memory or still being played, the last one you played, the next one to hit the table.
Scotland Yard (an old classic) and Rook with family (a trick-taking game).
We played Terraforming Mars on Thursady and Scythe: The Rise of Fenris twice on Monday, so we're on a roll!
And really looking forward in playing Stonemaier's latest Wingspan.


What tea do you prefer? I’m now into Morocco mint & spices.
Connie: I'm a rooibos girl.
Dan: a chrysanthemum kinda guy!


Photo credits: Travis Wilkins (@travisnwilkins on Instagram and Twitter), Ontario, Canada.