Late Pledge Store - Umami Friends: The Card Game

Happy Umami Monday! February Recap.
about 1 year ago – Mon, Mar 03, 2025 at 10:41:30 PM

What's up, Umami Friends!

First off, huge apologies for the hold-up on the pledge manager. Thanks over and over for your patience and sticking with me through this. I’m now teaming up with Naylor Games for all our needs on the fulfillment for this first round of games.

Naylor Games is onboarding Umami Friends into their system and updating the SKU system, and then we'll be all set to launch the pledge manager. They have an excellent track record and lots of glowing recommendations, which really eases my mind about some of the big uncertainties of self-publishing— namely fluctuating freight costs and navigating any potential extra costs from U.S. tariffs that might pop up.

Shinies are complete!

Pikarar has completed the Shiny Arts! I'm so excited to share all of these with y'all.

We're finishing up the player mats and optimizing some packaging, otherwise all other components are complete and are proofed or ready to be proofed for manufacturing.

Other Updates

I spend a ton of time on game design! Besides putting the finishing touches on balancing the base game and expansion, I am working on potential future expansion ideas and a long-term trajectory for the game.  I'll save those for a future update once they are further finalized. I'll update the TTS with the new balance patch and the player mats once those are finished as well.

Thank you again for all your support and patience—it really means the world to me. Next update, I'll share some more gameplay and lore updates, and of course, keep you posted on the state of production and fulfillment.

Thank you all!

Andy

January Update! Thank you for being patient with me.
about 1 year ago – Thu, Jan 23, 2025 at 06:34:55 AM

I’ve got a ton to share with you all! Thank you for being so patient with me. I will share monthly updates from here on out unless otherwise noted.

Here’s a Quick Update:

• Huge Gameplay Updates / Tabletop Sim Updated
• Pledge Manager will open in February.
• Original Pin Designs are being proofed.
• Shinies are currently being illustrated by Pikarar.
• Plushie Manufacturing is set up and final designs are looking good.
• Printed assets will begin production sometime after CNY.

U.S. trade politics are quite turbulent right now so I am waiting to launch the pledge manager for a little while longer once details about tariffs and international trade become more clear. Waiting does not affect the production timeline.

I’m being consulted by a logistics expert to navigate this space, and talking to potential future publishers and localization partners. I'll get into this more in the next update.

Updated Pin Art!

Pikarar was kind enough to make original, chibi-style designs that look AWESOME as pins. 

Gameplay Changelog

The rest of this post is dedicated to gameplay updates. I have updated Tabletop Simulator to reflect these balance changes, so you can check them out now. I’ll be adding some scripted automations to the game soon too (huge thank you to community member Rockin123)!

Core Gameplay Change

There is a new default action you can take in Umami Friends! This is huge and will affect the base game and all expansions.

“If you have built no Recipes this turn, you may use an Action to place 2 (instead of 1) Ingredient.”

Previously, you could only place 1 Ingredient on a turn. Now, if you don’t want to build a Recipe, you can place 2 Ingredients down. 

This is a massive positive change:

• It saves turns where you have bad luck.
• It makes lots more new strategies viable.
• It makes it easier to buy Recipes and cycle Ingredients for newer players.

Ingredient Deck

I want newer players to understand the deck easily. I inverted the role of Noodle and Spicy. Before, Noodles enhanced Spicy cards. Now, Noodles function as the base of Recipes, and Spicy ingredients are added to scale their power. 

 I changed the frequency of types in the ingredient deck as well for simplicity and balance. A new Umami Friend appeared!

Common Recipes

This is a massive change for Umami Friends. Your ingredients in your hand used to be unsafe cards at a high risk of being attacked by the opponent, and the cards on your board were the safe ones. This is now inverted. 

Placing ingredients on your board is a great way to build up to strong Recipes and get extra Umami points quickly, but it is riskier, as the easy-to-make Spicy Ramen can now target these Ingredients.

This gives Umami Friends a really fun sense of tension. You can see what your opponent is building towards on their board, but you can’t see what is in their hand. 

Do you cook the Recipe you were planning on going for? Or do you have to pivot and make a Spicy Recipe, to get rid of the Ketchup on their board to stop them from getting Omegaburger?

Fancy Burger

Since Spicy Ramen got a buff, Fancy Burger deserved one too. Fancy Burger now places a card on your board. This gives Burger players really good early game momentum to either build more burgers, or to save Ingredients and scale up Umami Points for a quick win.
 

Garden Salad

Garden Salad got a buff now too. Garden Salad now gives all players +1 including the one who bought it +1 ingredient. This means that the timing of buying Garden Salad makes when to buy Garden Salad a strategic decision to string together a Recipe combo.

Big Burrito

In the last update, I had a long discussion about reworking scoring. The fix turned out to be pretty simple! All abilities that gave +Umami per Recipe were taken out to disincentivize spamming a ton of small Recipes. 

Twice Cream

Twice Cream are now worth +2 Umami (instead of +1 Umami). Twice Cream is a little harder to build into, meaning they are typically only seen late game. They are meant to scale up and eventually end the game.

They are also not discardable or stealable, so that a Spicy player can’t just camp the late-game and wait to steal your powerful Recipe.

Rare Recipes

Basic / Rares now reflect Risk / Reward.

These costs are now statistically just out of reach. Meaning if you want these, you have to set up for them. This really builds tension between players as you see the opponent building up for Rares on their board. Will you counter your opponent, or try to get to the Rares first on your own?

Advanced/Legendary Rares

Before, certain board states emerged that disincentivized building up to stronger Rare Recipes.  Now, it’s almost always worth it to turn in your weaker Recipes and combine them into the more powerful Rares, which scale in points better.

New Rare Recipes

The new Rare Recipes have emerged! I have been playtesting them endlessly internally, but I’m sure the community will find a broken combo to give me feedback on with these guys.

Sweets

In Umami Friends, you can spend Sweets to give you more actions and ingredients early, or you can try to save them for late-game point scaling. I tried to balance the two, and give Rare Recipes that more strongly reinforce either decision.

Chefs

Clara has been added!

Clara is the chillest Umami Chef, by far. If you’re a player who just wants to cook with the ingredients the game throws at you and go with the flow, then Clara is for you!

Fronk

Fronk isn’t directly changed, but the buff to Fancy Burger makes him an absolute beast. He is capable of the fastest win in the game!

Shinra

Shinra’s special ability now costs 7x  Spicy. This is simply reflective of the change of Ingredient Deck frequency, and the fact that Shinra’s ability is incredibly powerful. 

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That’s it for now. I’m still balancing the game up until I have to finalize the print, so please, if you get a chance,hop onto Tabletop Simulator and let me know what you think!I added stuff like player aids to make it easier to get into as well.

Your feedback since the Kickstarter has already improved the game immensely, so I’m sure there’s even more improvements we can make right up until the finish.

-Andy

Thank you all!
over 1 year ago – Wed, Nov 13, 2024 at 07:09:26 AM

Thank you Umami Friends!

Wow. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but the Umami Friends Kickstarter has officially ended, and it was a massive success—all thanks to you. Whether you backed the project, shared it with a friend, or cheered it on, you made this happen. 

I’m so incredibly grateful for every one of you who believed in this game and the world we’re building together.

When I set out to make Umami Friends, I wanted to create something that would be my ideal version of a card game combined with my love for food, animals, and gaming. The fact that so many of you saw that vision and decided to join me on this journey means the world. I can't wait to get this game into your hands!

So, what’s next? I'll be keeping you in the loop as we work on logistics and getting everything prepared. We were so close to the last stretch goal, that I'll release an update and add the character when we hit it via Late Pledging! I just don't want to leave that Umami Friend hanging with $1k short! 

Stay tuned for more updates as we turn this campaign success into the real thing. This will be my last window to refine the game via print, so if you are a dedicated playtester or competitive player, please hop on over to the Discord or email me to help work on refining the final game mechanics! As always, the gameplay experience is priority to me.

I'll be working on building out an Umami Friends website with tons more content, and I'll share an alpha version of some solo mode ideas in the future too. 

Until then, thank you again for making Umami Friends a reality—this is only the beginning, and I couldn’t be more excited to share it with all of you!

-Andy

Just a few hours left!! Thank you all.
over 1 year ago – Tue, Nov 12, 2024 at 11:52:34 PM

Hello to all my Umami Friends!

I am writing this before going to bed, with just a few hours left to go in the campaign. We are officially wrapping up, with an end time of 6 AM PST / 9AM EST / 1 PM GMT + 0.

If you didn't catch the email earlier today, I'll reshare the detils for the final hours here:

Don’t miss your chance to meet Sasha, Shinra, Coco, Damien, Ramona... and of course, Fronk!

My last two updates were really big ones! If you are a dedicated gamer, I'd recommend checking out the big gameplay update. If you are a hardcore collector, I shared some of the Shinies and a chart of Rarities in the latest update!

Shiny Boosters will go up in price during the late pledge phase, and their availability may be limited. All gameplay-centric components will remain at MSRP, with the opportunity to upgrade to higher tiers. As always, I want to make the gameplay aspects as accessible as possible.

Get the bundled pricing on everything Umami, the lowest prices on Shiny Packs, and the opportunity to contribute to a one-of-a-kind board game that only exists because of you!

If you’ve been meaning to dive into the Umamiverse, now is the time!

I really appreciate all of you. As a first-time creator your early support means everything to me, and the community has been so positive! It feels so good.

So awesome to take this Umami Adventure with you. We made the Umamiverse come true!

Thank you all again.

-Andy

Less Than 48 Hours Left!! + Huge Shiny Update!
over 1 year ago – Mon, Nov 11, 2024 at 08:46:37 AM

Less than 48 hours left!!

The campaign ends at 6 AM PST / 9AM EST / 1 PM GMT + 0 on 11/13, which means the last full day to back is tomorrow, 11/12!

We have almost $50k in funding and almost 500 backers! You all unlocked 5 new Rare Recipes and 1 new holofoil Character, Clara the Capybara! There is another holofoil chef character and a handful more recipes to unlock as stretch goals!We should finish really strong; I can’t wait to see what the last two days bring and I’d really love to see the rest of the cards unlocked.

Late pledges will be available. The prices listed under “Add-ons” will be the prices for late pledges, for the most part!

Collectibles, including Shiny boosters, pins, and Baby Fronk Plushies, may go up in price a bit. Collectibles are currently at a discount to make early supporters feel good, and so I could get an idea of many to produce! Late pledge pricing will just reflect MSRPs.

Shiny Themes

• Age: 6
• Gender: Female
• Eye Color: Brown Black
• Hair Color: Black & Tan
• Hometown: Sasha’s Garden
• Occupation: Librarian & Gardener
• Type: Plant
• Keeper of knowledge, books, and gardener protector of innocent plant Umami Friends. Vegetarian. Smart, calm, and level-headed. Sasha loves to dig. Beautiful and charming.

• Age: 4
• Gender: Nonbinary
• Eye Color: Black
• Hair Color: Red / Sesame
• Hometown: Koji Town
• Occupation: Chef
• Type: Spicy
• Class: Adventure
• While Shinra grew up in Koji Town, they were actually found near at the Crater Impact Site (Area U) as a puppy. They were born with fire shaped birthmark, which is reflective of their enthusiastic and temperamental personality. They are a celebrity chef known for their highly lauded signature spicy noodles.

• Age: 5
• Gender: Male
• Eye Color: Black-Bronze
• Skin Color: Olive
• Hometown: Enoki Village
• Occupation: Mailman
• Type: Burger
• Class: Strength
• Abilities: Hop, Wallow, Rush
• Fronk is a mailman for Enoki Village. Beloved by all for his chill attitude and known for his massive appetite. Fronk is very relaxed. He may seem slow moving, but all it takes is a little motivation from a burger to see his true power.
   

• Age: 5
• Gender: Female
• Eye Color: Green
• Hair Color: Cream
• Hometown: Togarashi Island
• Occupation: Barista
• Type: Taco
• Class: Long Resting
• Abilities: Nap, Well Rested
• Coco is lazy, sleepy, and aloof. Coco is a barista who loves coffee, cat-puccinos and palindromes like tacocat. She naps on her tortilla blanket and her favorite snack is taquitos. Often misunderstood as standoffish and unfriendly, Coco always has her friends’ backs when the going gets rough.
• While she is typically sleeping, Coco can unleash extreme power while truly awakened. 
• Fun Fact: She is the only one who can get away with eating part of Fronk’s burger without him getting upset.

• Age: 4
• Gender: Female
• Eye Color: Dark Purple
• Hair Color: Purple
• Hometown: Shiitake City
• Occupation: Streamer
• Type: Sweet
• Class: Charisma
• Ability: Leftovers
• Ramona is a famous pro gamer and streamer in the Umamiverse. She is a cool, fun-loving, loud presence online, but complex and introverted in her down time. A true rags-to-riches story, Ramona still prefers to rummage through trash and sleep in dumpsters like a true raccoon despite her status. She is the drummer in a cool punk band. While in a state of extreme sugar high, she exhibits psychic and telekinetic powers. 

• Age: 7
• Gender: Male
• Eye Color: Black
• Feather Color: 
• Hometown: ???
• Occupation: Chef
• Type: Egg
• Class: Trickster
• Ability: Hatch
• Damien is Shinra’s arch-rival. They are both chefs from Koji Town known for their noodle dishes. Damien never talks, or lets his motivations be known. He is associated with causing disarray, but no one can ever prove his mischievous antics concretely.

Baby Fronk will be have alt arts based on different colors, like how Yoshi comes in lots of different colors.

Clara the Capybara will have different themes based on the passage of time. Clara is so chill, she's always chilling in the bath no matter what time of day (or year) it is.

My Vision For Shinies

Growing up, I always wanted to play Pokemon competitively, but I could never afford cards or put together the decks I wanted to.

I loved the collecting aspect for the cool cards. I never had packs so I'd slowly trade up cards friends would give me (I was so proud of trading up my Charmander into a Base Set Gyarados over time!! ...but I never got into the gameplay aspect of TCGs and I would just watch some of my friends play.

Shiny Boosters are an experiment to keep everything accessible– and it goes even further than that. My vision is that local game and card shops have all gameplay components available – you don’t have to bring anything. You just show up and play, and all chef characters are available.

But just like cool character skins in a video game, you can show up with your Shiny alt art characters. You pick from all the characters available in a draft, and then you swap in your shiny character alt art just to show off! Same gameplay, no pay-to-win benefit, but it shows you have a cool card.

I might even reserve a few Shinies for tournament winners and stuff like that! Let me know if you like that idea or have ideas of your own for Shinies.

Shiny Rarity Chart

Now that I have a good idea for demand, I can more confidently share a Shiny Rarity Chart. 

“Tier Odds” are the odds of getting a card within that tier, per pack. “Cards Per” are the amount of cards in that rarity tier. “Unique Odds” are the odds of an individual card per pack. For example, Ultimate Tier is ~1:120 odds per pack. There are 2 Ultimate cards, and you have a ~1:240 chance per pack.

In a traditional TCG booster pack, there are ~10 cards, with 1 chance at a Rare in each. Since I am an indie producer with a super small print run compared to Pokémon, Shiny boosters cut the fluff and are all relatively rare because I won’t reprint with the 1st Edition Stamp again. They have 3 holos in each pack by design; since the print run is small it helps avoid too much repetition.

With where funding is at now, I have about ~40 Shinies planned. This means if you get a booster box, you will have some duplicates (it’s about the same repeat distribution as other games). Some are very unique arts, while others are just simple recoloring, like the different colors of Baby Fronk (baby Fronk kind of reminds me of Yoshi).

The more funding at the final push, the more varied we can make the art. I’d love to get this number to 50+; it’s kind of like a secret stretch goal to have more shinies. The price of holofoils and printing scales really well, so the more interest, the more we can vary the art and the materials. Hence why “Rare” and “Uncommon” are not completely finalized on the chart. 

Let’s finish strong!

Andy