← Retour au catalogue

Line By Line

Soutenir la campagne

Statut actuel

Campagne en cours Temps restant : 23 jours et 3 h (fin le 17/11/2026)

Fonds récoltés : 5 820 €

Jeu de plateau

Ajouter aux favoris Je me tâte J'ai pledgé

The cafe is empty...

View a plain text version of this page at https://cmichpress.com/2026/10/20/plain-text-version-of-the-line-by-line-backerkit-page/.

Graphic background is white. Left justified is the main image for Line by Line. The art features a small human in an oversized teal robe holding a huge scarlet quill and standing on the ledge of an open window. Wooden shutters are open on either side of them and scraps of parchment with doodles are pinned to the surface. Behind the human can be seen a pile of curling parchment scrolls and endless shelves of coffee pots and teacups. Above the window is a drooping cloth banner with the words Line by Line written over it in curling navy script. All around the edge of the window are curling green vines with little white flowers. To the right side of the screen is a vertical sage green rectangule with black text on top. The text is a series of figures related to Line by Line. The first clump of text reads 2 to 6 players. The second clump of text reads 30 to 45 minutes. The last clump of text reads 14 plus age.

Graphic background is white. In the background and off to the right is a semi transparent graphic of a coffee cup. Overlaid is a section of black text. It reads Become a Bard and craft poetry with your fellow bards to bring business back to your favorite cozy cafe!

Graphic background is white. This image is a header for a subsection. A long golden strip with watercolor-like texture on the top and bottom forms the long rectactangular base. Overlaid is a slightly darker golden graphic with leafy curls like wrought iron. An illustration of a swinging candlelit lantern is positioned off to the far left of the banner. Near the middle is a line of black text which reads Story.

Graphic background is white. In the background and centered is an illustration of a grove of green trees. Black text is overlaid. The text reads, Line by Line, a collaborative poetry-writing game from Central Michigan University Press, turns players into a troupe of Bards gathering at their favorite cozy cafe. Their mission: write lines of poetry to bring business back through its doors. This game features gentle, accessible gameplay, enticing 'recipes' to enable and embolden poetic expression, and the gorgeous art throughout to ensconce you in the warm glow of the cafe environment, no matter where you are. This game was inspired by Travis Baldree's cozy fantasy series Legends and Lattes as well as Anne Lamott's timeless writing manual, Bird by Bird. Below these cluster of main text is a smaller set of text which lists the details of the game. The first line reads Designed by Tilak Vyas. The second line reads Art by Vicky Tran. The third line reads Developed by Gretchen Papazian. The fourth line reads 2 to 6 players, ideally three plus. The fifth line reads thirty to forty-five minutes for play time. The last line reads ages fourteen plus.

Graphic background is white. In the background and centered is an illustration of a red tapestry with a gold border and a fringe on the bottom. The design in the center features a big scarlet quill, white flowers, and various swirls. The tapestry is surrounded with an orange glow. Overlaid on this tapestry are black words in a list. The first phrase is Easy to learn. The second phrase is Cozy Fantasy. The third item is simply the word Collaborative. The fourth phrase is Gentle gameplay. Below the tapestry and list of words are images of Line by Line's box, board, and decks of cards. The board is positioned closer to the left side of the composition. Its art makes it look like a round wooden cafe table decorated with empty teacups, sugar cubes, and utensils. A red table runner divides the table in two. Five fanned-out decks of cards are set around the board with various images visible on top such as a quill, a gear, and a picture frame. To the rightmost side of the composition is Line by Line's game box. The white box features the main image for the game, with the mascot Quill standing in an open window and the title of the game above them.

Graphic background is white. In the background and centered is a semitransparent illustration of a red dragon surrounded by an orange and yellow glow. Black text over the top forms a list. Item one reads Limited Run Deluxe Set. Below this heading it reads, We are only manufacturing enough Deluxe Sets of Line by Line to fulfill this campaign. Get yours before we wrap things up! The second item on the list reads Lower Priced Core Set. Below this heading are the words The Core Set of Line by LIne will be offered as a pledge level for less than its future MSRP price. The third item on the list reads One Hundred Percent Human Made. Below this heading it reads We are proud of the human artistry and labor that went into this game, as well as all the lessons that there learned along the way. The fourth item on the list reads Support a Small Press. Below this heading it reads You make it possible for us to publish games like Line by Line!

Graphic background is white. A faded image of a gear is visible in the upper left corner. Black text in quotations reads, begin quote, This game is pure delight. I love how it dispels our common myths about writing poetry. An antidote to any claim that poetry is not for everyone or poems are only written by a rarified few, Line by Line is built on the idea that language is play and poetry is accessible. And rather than claiming poetry as a solitary art, this game highlights the fun of collaboration.... When you play Line by Line, you learn that creativity is somenthing we can all be part of that will bring us joy. Endquote. Below this block of text is another set of black text which reads Nicole Cooley, PhD. Published poet and Professor of English and Creative Writing at Queens College, City University of New York (Mother Water Ash). All of the text is left-justified. To the right of the text is an illustration of Quill, a small human. Quill sits on a three-legged brown stool and writes on a long scroll of parchment that drops below the end of the image. They hold a huge scarlet quill pen and wear an oversized teal robe.

For more on Line by Line, check out Tilak Vyas' interview with Liz Davidson on the Beyond Solitaire podcast:

Game Features

How to Play

Line by Line gameplay moves through two phases of gameplay: Brewing and Open Mic.

1. Brewing

Setup: All Bards (players) take five blank Bard Cards and settle around the Game Board. All decks are shuffled and placed around the Board. Each Bard takes one of each type of Ingredient Card (Device, Word, and Image) into their hand.

House Blend Card: The Bards choose a House Blend card. This will provide a unified subject and tone for the lines they will each write.

Rounds of Play: At the start of each round, a new Recipe Card is turned over, revealing the types of Ingredient Cards which must be played to the Board during the round. Cards are played to the table runner in the center of the Board, which has a point tracker for Tips around its edge.

On their turn, each Bard has a choice of action to take. They can Draw an Ingredient Card;

Play an Ingredient Card to the Board;

Or Discard up to two cards from their hand for points. (Note that the point tracker seen in the gif below is a placeholder for the eventual coin token.)

Bards can alternately Take the Mic to perform a line of poetry aloud to enable all Bards to either draw a new Ingredient Card or replace one card currently on the Board with a new one from their hand.

Once the table runner is full AND every Bard has taken at least one turn, all Bards have two minutes to write their individual line of poetry on a Bard Card. Each Bard aims to use as many of the Ingredient Card elements currently on the Board as possible to help score more points for the group, so conversation beforehand is encouraged!

Round Scoring: Scoring is optional. After the writing time has ended, Player One tallies up points based on which Ingredient cards were used by most of the players. Various Ingredient cards are worth different points. To close the round, the Board is cleared except for the House Blend card. After four rounds of Brewing, Bards continue to the Open Mic stage of gameplay.

2. Open Mic

Bards have the choice to play through one or two stages of Open Mic. In Stage One, each Bard arranges the four lines of poetry they have written during the Brewing rounds into a poem and gives it a title on a fresh Bard Card.

Bards can also play through Stage Two of Open Mic and create a collaborative poem by sharing their lines amongst their fellows.

During both stages of Open Mic, the Bards read their finished poems aloud and discuss whose poem best fit the House Blend card.

Game Scoring: At the end of Open Mic, divide the total Tips in the Tip Jar by the number of rounds played to find the average Tips per round. Compare the average to the corresponding poet title in the game manual for player honors.

Creators

Graphic Background is white. At the top is a circular illustration of a young man with dark hair wearing a green long-sleeved swearter. He is writing with a pencil on a white piece of paper and sitting at a square wooden table. There is a small illuminated lightbulb at the end of the pencil. The background of the illustration is a deep purple. Behind the circle, as part of the main white field, is a faded graphic of a gear. Beneath the image is a heading which reads Tilak Vyas, Designer. Beneath that is smaller black text. It reads Tilak Vyas is a game desginer, composer, and writer in Toronto, with a Bachelor of Fine and Applied Arts in Game Design from Wilifrid Laurier University. He has scored three plays. The first won the National Theatre School's award for Best Composition, and he directed the pit for it himself. CitaDrill, the base-building roguelike he produced with Studio Moka for publisher Cobra Teku, took Best Strategic Roguelike at Too Many Games. He has taught poetry in Ontario classrooms and works in math curriculum. All of it is the same job in a different medium, handling a craft to someone who is certain they don't have it. Line by Line is his first published game. It began in a high-school writer's craft class, the year he worked out that a poem was something a person had assembled, and that in principle he could assemble one too. He drafts on printer paper stolen from an office. There is a leatherbound journal from Buenos Aires that he is saving for the good stuff. The good stuff is still on the printer paper.

Graphic background is white. There is a light gray transparent icon of a teaup in the upper right corner. Behind the rest of the image is the semi transparent illustration of a red fox standing on a small green hill with a blue haze behind it. Centered and elevated is a circular photograph of a woman with short dark hair wearing a denim collared dress with buttons up the front. Below here is a subheader with black text that reads Gretchen Papazian, Developer. Below it in smaller text are more words. They reads Gretchen Papzian, PhD is a Professor of English at Central Michigan University. Her teaching and research focuses on literature, games, and writing. In the realm of games, she teaches courses on games and stories, and she has published a number of essays on video games, games in literature, and children's games, as well as co-edited a book on video games and film adaptation. Line by Line is her first effort at game development.

The Rewards

You can back this campaign for the following core rewards:

Line by Line: Core Set ($32)

Physical copy of the Line by Line Core Set, plus the Print & Play PDF.

Line by Line: Deluxe Set ($45)

Physical copy of the Line by Line Deluxe Set, plus the Print & Play PDF.

Line by Line: Core Educator's Bundle ($47)

Physical copy of Line by Line Core Set, plus the Print & Play PDF and the Curriculum Guide PDF.

Line by Line: Deluxe Educator's Bundle ($60)

Physical copy of the Line by Line Deluxe Set, plus the Print & Play PDF and the Curriculum Guide PDF.

For greater flexibility in choice, here's the additional pledge tiers in this campaign:

Generous Bards ($1)

Backing at this level gives you our thanks and access to the Pledge Manager after the campaign ends.

Line by Line: Print & Play PDF ($15)

Print & Play PDF of Line by Line.

Line by Line: One for You, One for a Friend ($58)

Two (2) physical copies of the Line by Line Core Set, plus the Print & Play PDF.

Line by Line: Blood & Bards Bundle ($74)

Physical copies of the Line by Line Core Set and Five Hundred Year Old Vampire, two great writing games that taste great together, plus the Print & Play PDF for each game. The discount here is almost 18% off MSRP for both games.

Additionally, if you are a retailer looking to obtain copies of the game before street date, we have a retailer bundle:

Line by Line: Retailer's Bundle ($70)

Four (4) copies of Line by Line, at 50% off the expected MSRP ($35). In addition, you gain access to special retailer/wholesale pricing for the entire CMich Press list in the Line by Line Pledge Manager after the campaign ends.

And for those looking for a collection of games to deploy in a classroom, here's the tier for you:

Line by Line: Classroom Bundle ($175)

Six (6) copies of the Line by Line Core Set, plus the Print & Play PDF and the Curriculum Guide PDF, for use in the classroom—over 15% off MSRP.

The Fulfillment

We will be using BackerKit to collect shipping costs closer to fulfillment, send out surveys, and manage fulfillment after the campaign has ended.

chart showing estimated shipping costs by country or other organizing factors. An illustration of a red dragon borders the chart on the upper left while an illustration of a floating hood borders it on the right. The chart reads that the Estimated Shipping Cost for One Game to the United States is fourteen to sixteen dollars. For Canada, it is twenty two to twenty four dollars. For the United Kingdom, it is twelve to fourteen dollars. For the European Union, it is eighteen to thirty dollars. For Australia and New Zealand, it is twenty eight to thirty four dollars. For the rest of the world, it is twenty seven to forty dollars. Below the chart is a note in plain black text. It reads, Note: Shipping and any required VAT charges (for UK and EU backers) will be calculated, added, and collected in the Pledge Manager after the campaign's end. The above are estimates based on regions; actual charges per country will vary.

US Fulfillment

For US domestic fulfillment, we will be using a US-based fulfillment partner for warehousing and distribution. We anticipate shipping costs through our fulfillment partner to range between $14–$16 for shipments containing a single copy of the game, depending on a Backer’s distance from the warehouse. Backing for additional copies of the game and/or add-ons will increase this cost some, with rates topping out around $18.50–$20.

Worldwide Fulfillment

We will be offering worldwide shipping as part of this campaign, using a combination of our US-based or European-based fulfillment partner hubs, depending upon which hub has the best rates for the delivery country. Our initial estimates for shipping range from $12–$14 for the UK, $18–$30 for continental Europe, $22–$24 for Canada (we are still searching for a better rate here), and $28–$34 for Australia/New Zealand for shipments containing a single copy of the game.

Tariffs

Our expectations for shipping costs were calculated as of the start of our campaign. However, US tariffs continue to fluctuate, which can change the cost of manufacturing significantly. We will do our best to mitigate or absorb these tariffs, but in the event that we cannot, Backers living in the US should be aware that we may need to include a tariff surcharge if there are significant changes between now and shipping. Backers with US shipping addresses will be notified and charged (should it be necessary) as we get closer to the shipment of the games.

UK and EU VAT

For most UK and European Backers, we will be collecting and paying VAT on your behalf as part of offering customs-friendly shipping. This will be done in its own line item in BackerKit when the time comes. This is a change from our previous practice of wrapping VAT charges into the overall shipping costs.

The Schedule

Graphic with a listed schedule for game fulfillment. Each item has a circular nodule next to it and a straight vertical line connecting it to the nodule above. The first date on the schedule reads October to November 2026 in black text. Below it in maroon text, it reads Crowdfunding Campaign. This circular nodule is filled in black with a yellow checkmark in the middle. The next item on the schedule reads November 2026 in black text. Below it in maroon text it reads Files to Manufacturer. The circular nodule is open and unfilled. The next item on the schedule reads December 2026 in black text. Below it in maroon text are the words, Preproduction Starts. The next item on the schedule reads February 2027 in black text. Below it in maroon text are the words, Mass Production. The next item on the schedule reads April 2027 in black text. Below it in maroon text are the words On a Boat! The next item on the schedule reads June 2027 in black text. Below it in maroon text is the word Fulfillment!

The Press

Line by Line is being published as part of the Scholarship and Lore: Games for Learning series from Central Michigan University Press, which is an academic press that focuses on peer-reviewed games rooted in their designer's academic practice, pedagogical goals, or both.

CMich Press Contacts

Dr. Tracy S. Davis, Co-Director, Center for Learning through Games and Simulations at Central Michigan University – [email protected].
Dr. Jonathan Truitt, Co-Director, Center for Learning through Games and Simulations at Central Michigan University – [email protected].
Dr. Andrew D. Devenney, Associate Director, Center for Learning through Games and Simulations at Central Michigan University – [email protected].
Veronica Gregory, Coordinator of Outreach, Center for Learning through Games and Simulations at Central Michigan University – [email protected].

White banner with an offset yellow shadow. Inside the white banner is a cartoon yellow bullhorn with action signs. Next to it is black text which says Promoted by BackerKit.

If you believe that this project is not in compliance with BackerKit’s Community Guidelines or Terms of Service, you can file a report by sending a message via this link: Report this project

▶ Vidéos (0)

Pas encore de vidéo pour ce jeu.

Commentaires (0)

Connecte-toi pour commenter ou répondre.

Pas encore de commentaire. Lance la discussion.