Stonemaier Games, the publisher of Wingspan, writes about tabletop game design, Kickstarter, and the business of running a game company.
HN links it in threads about how tariffs are hurting the board game industry and to credit the company as Wingspan's publisher.
This is one of those games that looks complicated until you start playing. I was one of the Kickstarter backers, and was a bit unsure of the suitability of the game for casual play.
After 22 plays and counting with many different people, I can safely say that this isn't too hard to grasp. Essentially, your turn boils down to picking 1 of 4 (or 5) different actions, over and over again. Compared to Terra Mystica, this game is much easier to learn.
If you want a succinct rules explanation, Rodney from Watch it Played has a great tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffMLIL5qGQg
I will add that Jamey, the designer, has perfected the Kickstarter process for board gaming. He has a book and tons of free articles on his site - I'm a fan of his book here: http://stonemaiergames.com/kickstarter/book/
I'm still very confused about the staff pick badge… Is there anyone here that ran a campaign that could confirm?
There are numerous articles dedicated to maximize one's chances to be a staff pick, and numerous advantages like being in the newsletter, promoted on their social network accounts, etc.
That would mean that there really is a staff pick category with hand-picked projects, but that the badge itself can be added by any campaign. Is this really true? I need more evidence, it doesn't seem reasonable.
edit: found some more info about it from a campaigner http://stonemaiergames.com/kickstarter-lesson-140-the-kickstarter-staff-pick/.
It does seem that being a staff pick means that one staff member flagged the project, and the badge icon usage is largely unrelated.
First I've heard of Asmodee Group, but from a quick Google they own a remarkable number of games (that they call "IP").
A quick note that they at least don't own Wingspan, the first game in the article. It's by an independent publisher called [Stonemaier Games](https://stonemaiergames.com) who "grew up" on Kickstarter (and openly considered it a marketing tool in later years) but vocally moved away because the founder found the experience too stressful.
They make some great games and I recommend checking them out! I particularly enjoy Viticulture, and Scythe if Fantastic, if you can find people to play it with.
That's a real shame as there's some top game companies in the U.S. (Steve Jackson Games springs to mind). Stonemaier Games makes some lovely games - Wingspan and it's variants are beautiful products, but it doesn't seem like they'll be able to survive in the U.S. (Here's a blog post from them: https://stonemaiergames.com/the-darkest-timeline/ ).
Ultimately, the manufacturers are going to have to leave the USA or risk going bust as they'll likely only have U.S. customers and even then their products will be expensive.
Tarrifs have started to hit the boardgame industry pretty hard already, and as an enthusiast, I have started to really worry. Within a very short span, several companies have already announced drastic slowdowns in product production/shipments and staff, to some outright closing.
https://stonemaiergames.com/we-are-suing-the-president/ https://www.cmon.com/press/an-update-on-our-internal-teams-and-company-focus/ https://www.greaterthangames.com/blogs/news/greater-than-games-team-reduced-in-response-to-tariff-crisis
My parrots (Green Cheek and a Budgie) can't stand hearing other bird calls. Freaks them out (even the ones in the console/pc version of WingSpan[0]). A majority of bird calls in the wild are territorial and it seems to freak them out the most in the Spring when their hormones are at their highest, so it's likely related.
I haven't thought too far into it, but I imagine they freak out more when it's a hawk/falcon call than a songbird.
[0] https://stonemaiergames.com/games/wingspan/