Hi to all of our backers! Matriarchy work continues. We have been closed testing the game for a month now, and so far things have gone really well. We're still looking at an open release date in early June.

We've thought about it, and we've decided we want to open up our beta testing a little bit. Particularly, we'd like to invite you, our loyal backers, to participate in the closed beta if you'd like. This is a chance to see the game a month ahead of the general public. Although you should understand that the game isn't finished, and we have definite rough edges and not-yet-implemented features.

If you're interested in doing beta-testing for the game, please write to ben@likeable-games.com. Include in your mail the e-mail address which is linked to your twitter account and the e-mail address that is linked to your facebook account (if these are two different addresses, please give us both of them.) We use these addresses to check and see who has beta-tester permissions.

If you'd rather wait until the game is released, that's great to. You can see our preview site at www.matriarchygame.com .

Hey folks!

So we're getting very close to having a the closed beta available for initial outside testing. This is really exciting, particularly over the last month as we've really gotten to watch Matriarchy evolve from a pile of parts on the ground to a real, live, (nearly) functional game. There'll still be plenty of bugs and corners to be rounded off once we have the closed beta, of course, but it really feels like a major step.

Right now we're looking at doing our closed beta roll-out on this upcoming Wednesday, the 4th of April. People who backed at the closed beta level or higher, along with our staff and a few advisers, should get an e-mail with instructions and noting details of it then. For everyone else, keep a lookout on your friends' feed: you should be getting some opportunities to interact with the game sooner than you think!

Hello to our backers!

I wanted to give you all an update on our progress with Matriarchy. Game design is always a struggle, and working in a new medium (social games) means that we've had to do a lot of learning as we go. Thank you so much for cheering us on and supporting us through it. It means a lot to us that there are people rooting for us and expectantly waiting for our game to be ready to play.

We have recently kicked the ass of some logistical bullshit and are now proceeding at a pretty good clip, hitting weekly milestones with regularity. If we continue to be able to hit our writing, design, and code targets we will have the closed beta released on March 31st.

The absolute minimum turnaround from closed beta to open beta is a month, so May 1st. Realistically, we'll probably want to incorporate your awesome comments and feedback, in which case June 1st is more likely.

Right now our primary focus is in getting the game ready for you. The t-shirts, stickers, and higher-level backer rewards are in the pipeline, though, and should be ready by the open beta release.

Thank you so much for your continued love and support! We are looking forward to being able to show you this game even more than you are looking forward to playing it.

Please e-mail me (ben@likeable-games.com) if you want to talk about anything related to the project. Or anything else, really.

yrs--
--Ben

Hi everyone --

We made it! (plus a little bit.) Thank you all so much for your support and donations and for spreading word of the game around. It's been really gratifying to have the support of everyone, and I can't wait until beta and launch to show you what we're working on.

That said, every bit of money helps us do new and greater things for Matriarchy. So I hope you'll be willing to help spread the word about our NEW GOAL. I've been talking with our programmer and if our kickstarter reaches $6000 (200% funded), we'll have the resources to launch Matriarchy on Android and iOS, as well as on the already-planned and paid-for web-playable platforms.

I know a lot of people have been asking about Android support in particular, so I wanted to give you all a chance to hit a definite goal. If you're interested in supporting the game further, or in playing it in a portable form, spread the word and let folks know.

Also, I'll be back at you tomorrow with more updates about the game and the art.

yrs--
--Ben

Hi everyone!

Thanks to the incredibly outpouring of support and funding in the last few days, we have almost met our $3000 funding goal: only $79 to go. Thank you all so much for your support and love for the project. I know I say this with every update, but it means a lot to those of us working on it. Of course, every bit of funding counts and, if we pass $3000, extra funding will mean better production, hosting, and more availability for Matriarchy. So spread the word as much as you can!

A lot of the work we're doing right now is alpha testing, which I can't share with you (and, honestly, shouldn't: it's very much a "sausage being made" thing.) But I did want to share this post from our artist, Sushu Xia, about the character designs she did for the ministers who, in the game, act as your assistants and supporters. (You may have to click through to the site to see the images.)

A friend is currently developing a game that is set in a fictional matriarchal country nestled between the Tang and the Tibetans in the 700s. It sounds pretty exciting, and he asked me for some icons for the different ministers. I am not one to turn down a chance to draw cute girls. Plus I got to actually break out my tablet and to some basic photoshop futzing. I was a bit worried because I'm not very good at colors, but I think it turned out all right. I think I've figured out a simple cel-style coloring method on Photoshop that works well for me.

The Foreign Minister

I tried to make her seem a bit more "cosmopolitan" in style, as someone who is probably well-traveled. But also someone with a potential conflict of allegiances, thus someone a bit frivolous.


The Prime Minister

I tried to make her seem like a Serious Person In Charge of Lots of Things. In other words, perhaps the most bureaucratic-looking.


The Spiritual Minister

I pictured her as someone who is a bit spacey, because she is more concerned with spiritual matters. She is also the one with a lot of silver. Maybe in their society silver is a symbol of sacredness.


The Military Minister

I see her as a very gung-ho, exuberant figure, always ready to take action.


One thing that sometimes frustrates me about designs of "women on traditionally male roles" is that they often seem to either completely give up their girl-ness, or become hyper-sexualized. So I was trying to come up with people who look like girls who do their job, but are still girls.

If you're interested in learning more about the Ministers, you can follow them on twitter:
@MinisterHong
@MinisterQing
@MinisterYing
@MinisterZi
where I'm sure they'll be happy to answer questions and talk with you about what's going on in their lives.

Until next time--
--Ben Lehman