(1/2/22)
Inspiration for the game came from a series of Pokémon-like games, including Pokémon itself. We were intrigued by the branched-evolution system of a kickstarter project named Kindred Fates (somewhat reminiscent of Digimon), and wanted to build a game around type-matchups like Pokémon or Tem Tem.

(1/7/22)
Where Milestone began to differentiate itself was with the Milestone Board (though it hadn’t taken that shape, yet). The idea was to make achievements part of the core gameplay loop: Do a unique action, get a Milestone. And we wanted different rewards for different achievements (like the branched evolutions in Kindred Fates), which would feed back into themselves. Eventually, these ideas would culminate into the base game and advanced play.

(1/8/22)
Brainstorming began with listing type-matchups in other monster-taming games and trying to determine how the types of our game would counter or synergize with each other. Pretty early on in development, the idea of making types based off of physical forces felt right for the design.

(1/10/22)
The original name for the game was “Delta Soul” when the idea was still closely related to monster taming games. Achieving Milestones was referred to as “ascending souls” and the Milestone Paths were evolutionary trees. Then, when the game started to lean into the science-based theming, the fantasy-related language was dropped and the title was briefly changed to “Quantum Fields.”

(1/17/22)
Finally, with a solid idea of how the game would work and what its theme would be, an early prototype was built from a cardboard box. We wanted to get internal playtesting going as soon as possible from the point of idea: if it wasn’t fun, we wanted to follow the principle of “fail early, fail often, but always fail forward.”

Fortunately, it was fun! And so serious work on the project began.

(2/16/22)
We played around with hand-drawn artwork to get an idea of what the card symbols might look like. Then drafted a word document with official rules (at that time) and basic vector art of what the cards could be.

(5/22/22)
Inkscape was our software of choice for creating more professional-looking vector designs and after a few iterations, we arrived at a final look for the cards.

(7/19/22)
The board was not so easy to design. Many, many iterations came and went before we landed on a design that was readable, yet attractive. The challenge was making a board that could communicate gameplay-relevant information without looking too busy or coming across too simple.

(7/26/22-1/4/23)
Almost exactly 1-year from the time of inception, with all the designing “done,” it was time to commission prototypes for market. We used the service at TheGameCrafter to manufacture our variants. Ultimately, we took a Goldilocks approach and chose the mid-size box and board; we wanted a product that had some heft, but was also portable. Just right!

(8/19/22-1/28/23)
With market prototypes in hand, it was time to bring the game to the public! We hosted a series of open playtests at our local gameshop and were able to schedule a focus-group playtest at a local college.

The feedback on the game was immensely valuable. It was encouraging to receive early praise, but early criticism was essential to making the game better. We developed a short survey for our playtests and aggregated the data to get a feel for what worked and what didn’t.

We streamlined the tutorial, tweaked the board artwork, updated the manual, and added a few other points to the base game thanks to this process.

(Ongoing)
Before bringing the official game to market, we began building up the website and made a plan for “Steps Until Launch.”

We also took a moment to recognize that this project was not done alone. Of course there were the friends and colleagues in the present that assisted throughout the process, but also the collaborators across time and space that paved the way for this game to exist.

Bringing an idea to reality has always been a challenge, but the democratization of design has never been greater. It has allowed independent developers like us to flourish.
Thank you Krita, Inkscape, Unity, Visual Studio, Youtube, Kickstarter, and TheGameCrafter. You are making games like this possible.

(5/21/23)
1 year and 5 months from the point of inception, and Milestone: Fundamental Forces has made it to release! Our idea is now a reality, how cool is that?!