Obsidian Protocol is a squad-based, mecha-themed tactical miniature wargame set in the near future. Players assume the role of squad commanders, leading powerful mechs and drones into 1v1 battles and multiplayer skirmishes.
All mech components are modular, granting players unparalleled flexibility in designing the perfect squad for the mission at hand.
Thanks to an innovative initiative system, combat in Obsidian Protocol is fast-paced and brutal, and every turn offers new tactical choices on the path to victory.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
PM Solution Coming!
over 1 year ago
– Mon, Oct 16, 2023 at 07:00:58 AM
Hello everyone, long time no see, we have brought a new update.
This update is still mainly about Stripe problems and their solutions. Regarding the progress of our work, we will make a special update later. This time we will only briefly mention the current progress.
The first thing I want to say is that although we cannot determine the actual order quantity due to Stripe problems, the production work in the factory is already in progress. We will go to the factory again at the end of this month to confirm the production progress and bring you more information. All work in the studio is continuing to advance, and we have just completed the presentation at Shanghai WF.
Regarding the details of this part, we will explain it to you in the next update.
Qinghe is doing QC, and we will go to the factory at the end of the month to continue this work.
About Stripe issue.
The first and most important issue is the next processing process.
If your BackerKit Order was invalidated and refunded, Here’s the solution:
We had an issue earlier that saw some 750 orders on BackerKit refunded due to an unknown problem we had with the credit card service provider. We are happy to tell you now that we’ve managed to migrate all the order information to our future online store on Shopify.
The recovery process hasn’t been easy, but we ensured all the order information is consistent with the PM orders on BackerKit, in terms of included products, shipping fees, and any additional payments required.
We still need a few days to test the mailing and payment procedures and ensure they’re robust enough. Afterwards, we’ll be sending out emails in batches, containing a link to restore and complete your (former) BackerKit orders. Once you’ve made the payment through that link, your order will be locked in for production and shipping.
Here’s how the restoration process works:
- We will first conduct a Smoke Test, sending restoration emails to 10% of the invalidated BackerKit orders. There will be a notice listing all the Order Numbers for the Smoke Test.
- If your order is on the Smoke Test list, please check your email that was registered on BackerKit, especially the junk or spam folder, to see if you have received your restoration link. It should be something that looks like this:
- If you still cannot find the email after a few days, or if the auto-filled order details were wrong or need to be updated, please contact us via email or Discord, and we’ll do a manual cross-check for you and send you a new link.
- Once the Smoke Test is done, we’ll be sending out emails for the rest of the orders.
Due to technical reasons, some order information may undergo changes when transferred from the BackerKit backend to the Shopify backend system (such as automatic address recognition and encoding issues with special characters). We have already corrected these issues through manual review, but we strongly recommend that you save a backup of your existing BackerKit order to cross-check the information when you receive the order email.
How much longer do I have to wait?
Our expectation is that the first wave of testing will last one week.
The subsequent Smoke Test is expected to take 1-2 weeks.
The distribution of orders after that will depend on the results of the Smoke Test, so please stay tuned for our announcements.
Again, we wish to thank you for being with us on this project that we’re all absolutely passionate about. We’ll keep an open line of communication and keep you updated on our progress. We will go to the factory later this month to check the specific production status of this batch and will provide more detailed information at that time.
If you have any questions, never hesitate to reach out!
A clarification on the BackerKit refund situation
over 1 year ago
– Fri, Sep 22, 2023 at 03:27:14 AM
Hello everyone, long time no see.
Some time has passed since the PM ended, and the good news is that the production process is going smoothly. Of course, there are some troubling issues involved, and that's what we're going to address today.
For our dear backers who have ordered an upgrade or crowdfunding pack on BackerKit with a credit card, your order might have been cancelled by the platform. This is due to a problem we had with the credit card service provider Stripe, and according to Stripe, you’ll all get a full refund of your order by October 4th.
* Currently, we see 750 cases of said cancellation.
* Orders paid with PayPal are not affected.
- What happened?
We don’t know what exactly happened yet. Stripe decided that we had a violation of their TOS. We’ve been trying to talk to them, but it’s been difficult for us to pinpoint what actually went wrong.
- Does that mean the orders paid by credit card are all invalidated?
In the worst-case scenario, yes. This means the upgrade packages of the Kickstarter packs on BackerKit are also invalidated. We have tried our best to recover the order details. Again, this only affects the orders paid by credit card; PayPal orders are not affected.
- What’s going to happen next?
If you wish to continue to support the project, we would like to first express our utmost gratitude, and we’re working on launching a revamped version of our own website/web store, using Shopify, with a more reliable and direct payment solution. The switch will take about 2-3 weeks and will be available in October.
PayPal will be available on the site, and we are working on evaluating and setting up a new credit card service provider. Once that’s done, all our supporters will be able to order and purchase the packages (including the upcoming mass-production packages) on that website.
- What about package upgrades purchased on BackerKit?
We have retained most details of the canceled BackerKit orders. And we are working on uploading it to our new web store.
If your order on BackerKit has been refunded, you will receive an email from us containing all the order info on BackerKit in October. You may use the purchase button in the email to re-order it (at the same price) on the new web store.
The email will be sent to your email address registered on BackerKit. If you cannot access that email address or you found the order details inaccurate, please contact us via email or Discord. We will do a manual cross-check and verification for your order instead.
Again, we wish to thank you for being with us on this project that we’re all absolutely passionate about. We’ll keep an open line of communication and keep you updated on our progress. We’re doing our best to get the Kickstarter packages shipped as soon as possible. Recently, we have been busy submitting final documents and producing products, but fortunately, the progress of this part is in line with expectations. We will go to the factory on the 25th to check the specific production status of this batch and will provide more detailed information at that time.
If you have any questions, never hesitate to reach out!
PM are coming to an end！And some short News！
over 1 year ago
– Fri, Jul 28, 2023 at 11:37:13 AM
PM are coming to an end！And some short News！
Hello everyone！
We apologize that we've been really busy lately, so this is a short update to put out only the most major news.
We'll be releasing more information and progress updates after the show early next month.
PMs are coming to an end:
First of all, thank you all for supporting us during the PM phase!
As of the release of this message, 80% of KS backers have completed the survey.
We will send out one more survey after this update, and then we will lock the order on July 31st, Beijing time when Backerkit officially deducts the money, the Carp Grocery Store（our Taobao store）related products will also be taken off the shelves ~ so the PM phase is over!
The funds collected from this PM are very important to us, thank you all again, it's only because of your support that this project has made it to this day!
After that, we will continue to devote all our energy to the production and delivery of our products, and we have no plans to start PMs again until all the remaining crowdfunded products are delivered.
Correspondingly, when we finish shipping each batch, the corresponding pass-through version of that batch will be put on the market for sale.
Show Preview:
In the upcoming August, we will participate in two trade shows.
On August 5-6, we will have a booth at the Shanghai Center Building, the site of the Shanghai Summer Scale Modeling Open.
We expect to have some Obsidian Protocol miniatures on display, as well as some products in development.
We expect to start selling our newest LAB product: the "Metal Cockroach", an enemy unit that will debut in Argo soon, some of which have been captured by humans and converted for use as combat drones.
Produced in small batches by metal casting, these mechanical units will have their own attribute cards in the future. They can be used as drones by various factions in the Obsidian Protocol~.
We will also be premiering the sale of peripherals, including but not limited to a newbie tool set co-branded with Box, so come by and pick it up!
We'll be at Dicecon 2023 at the Beijing Agricultural Exhibition Center from August 25th~27th~!
At the show, we will be showing off new content from Moon Dust: Obsidian, as well as more progress on Moon Dust: Argo.
This includes but is not limited to, showing off Argo's PVE battles~
In addition to this, several light strategy board game products that have been collaborated with independent designers will also be on display at the same time, so please come and try them out~
Studio Logo is being updated with a new design:
We will be updating our studio logo soon, and the images here show some of the options in the development process of the new logo.
The final choice is already going through the registration process, I believe we will meet you soon!
The UN nameless Pilot is basically designed:
This marks the second half of the graphic design work related to the United Network, two of which are shown in the image below.
As with the RDL nameless characters, we've also done styling differentials for each of the UN nameless characters.
However, the second instalment has a lot of other stuff besides the United Network's units, so the follow-up workload is still pretty heavy.
The above is the most recent information, and I'm sorry that we just don't have the time to go into more detail and organize it, and I'll have more and more detailed reports on the latest progress in the middle of next month!
Dev log 19. Happy Dragon Boat Festival!
over 1 year ago
– Wed, Jun 21, 2023 at 12:40:57 PM
Hello everyone!
It's been a while since my last update, so let me start by wishing you all:
Happy Dragon Boat Festival!
In the last 2 months or so, we've had a very eventful period:
Launching PMs, making shipments of the Simplified Chinese version, attending a model exhibition in Beijing, making two trips to Dongguan to push production forward, setting up the QR database, batching pre-assembled models, pushing forward with subsequent rules, developing new products, and restarting the ruler version rules ...... Hoo!
It's still stumbling, but I can feel the studio getting on track, and it's all happening with the support of you, the loveliest of Ember players!
Next, let's talk about the progress of each section in separate chapters:
- PM is coming to an end and the pre-order store will be closed!
Although the original plan was for PM to end by May 30, 2023, due to several factors (mainly related to production), we have revised the sequencing of some jobs, which has caused us to delay production payments to the factory, so that delays the closing of PM at the same time.
However, we are basically coming to the end of our wrangling with these trivial matters, and on the current schedule we need to make subsequent payments to the factory in July, so we hope to close PM on 30 June BST.
We very much understand that many players want the PM opening to continue for a longer period of time, but the studio also really needs the PM funds to be able to continue with this batch. For Chinese players, the Taobao purchase channel will also be closed at the same time. Anyone who has not yet completed Survey, or who still wishes to add Add On, please complete the PM process before June 30th. Your support is greatly appreciated.
In addition, there are still some players who have participated in the KS crowdfunding campaign who have not yet completed the PM Survey.
Although players have chosen a slot during the crowdfunding process, we still need you to complete the receipt information in the PM before we can ship you the product, so we cannot ship you the product without your response to the PM Survey.
We have sent a new Survey email to all players who have not completed the Survey, which contains a link to the PM:
Here you can select the region you want to ship to or switch your pledge level.
You will then need to select the language version for all the items you are purchasing.
Once you have selected your language, you can either add new Add Ons or go directly to the shipping and address checkout page.
If you do not receive your survey mail, or if you experience any difficulties with your PM, please contact us at
We haven't been able to process all of the previous messages, both from Backerkit and directly to us, as well as through Kickstarter, but we will focus on them over the next few days and again I apologise for the speed of processing emails.
Along with PMs, the pre-order store will also be closed. As the RDL faction will be sent out shortly (RDL Core, Cavalry, Heavy Metal), this means that the crowdfunded versions of these three will no longer be available for purchase, while the status of the other crowdfunded versions is TBD and there are no plans to re-shelve them at this time.
-The simple Chinese version has been shipped, thanks for returning the picture!
The CHS version has been shipped since May, and the majority of players have already received their first shipments, many of whom have already posted their artwork on social media platforms.
Note: The above is not all the player display pictures we have collected, only some of them are taken.
Note: The last one is our booth photo at the model show~
I should say that seeing the players receiving the products, making them into beautiful pieces and playing with them gives me a feeling of "it's finally happened, it was all worth it".
At the same time, we had a lot of problems with this shipment. I'm glad we shipped first to the players in mainland China, it made it possible for all the omissions to be fed back to the players as quickly as possible and for us to remedy them as quickly as possible without being too costly.
Once again: if you have received your product, please feedback on any problems and we will do our best to resolve them for you.
- Preparation for the next shipping batch
The next shipping batch, which will include the RDL contents of the English, Japanese, Germany, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese products confirmed and added during this PM (RDL Core, Heavy Metal, Cavalry), will call this batch Block1B.
For Block1B, we have fixed some issues from Block1A, such as text errors on the paper goods, errors in the package contents, and a few minor issues with the moulds, which will make Block1B slightly different from 1A.
The plastic parts for this batch are currently in production, but due to over-stretched machine schedules at the factory, another supplier will be taking on some of the injection moulding work, with a combined delivery date expected in mid-July.
On the paper side, the Traditional Chinese version of Block1B has been proofread and entered and is ready for submission.
The first proofreading for the English version has been completed and we will do the entry and then the second proofreading after the Dragon Boat Festival, and we expect to be ready for submission in early July.
This is a photo taken for me when the molds were handed over and they are going to the new factory.
The Japanese version is a little behind schedule, as our plan was to finish the 0.9.94 rules and discuss them in depth with the translation team before we started translating Block1B content, but we have added a lot of new work to the 0.9.94 rules process and have only recently almost finished, so we will continue to move forward with this work after the Dragon Boat Festival.
Thankfully, the trial passages for the Japanese rules have been approved by the players with the help of the translation team and player ωistar! α and Soichiro Oizumi, so presumably the subsequent work will not take too much time, and ideally proofreading and submission will start in mid-July.
The German and other languages have been delayed by our belated 0.9.94 rule for the same reasons as the Japanese version, so sorry again! At the time of writing this update, I haven't figured out how to make this part more efficient, and the only way I can think of at the moment is to rush the English version of the 0.9.94 rules first so that we can move forward.
In summary, we hope to have Block1B out in late August, which is later than originally planned for late July, but does not affect Block2 which is already in the process of being reworked.
The terrain blanket and dice will also be sent out with the additions.
- Follow-up development: United Network
As the mainstay of Block2, We used to show a test model of the UN before, and when we went to the factory the other day, the moulds had just been pulled from inside the warehouse to start modifications, so there's nothing new to see at the moment, so no pictures today~
However, our artist DK has completed the artwork for all of the UN's elite pilots for this season, I hope you like it!
Some of these characters have gone through multiple rounds of revisions, with the possibility of further tweaks in the future.
- Follow-up development: Argo
The latest news we released at the Beijing Model Exhibition was a new project for the Ember series: Argo.
This is a cooperative PVE game within the Ember worldview, where players will take on the role of an elite team aboard the Argo, a research vessel belonging to the Seed Vault, and travel to several new battlefields in the solar system to fight new enemies.
In this mode, players will have to face a complex and varied enemy whose behaviour matches the timing mechanism of the Obsidian Protocol, so units from the Obsidian Protocol will also be available for use in Argo's gameplay.
While this use may not be completely free given the level structure and balance, we are keen to make the two games as "seamless" and "equivalent" as possible, meaning that members of Argo's squad will also be able to play in Obsidian Protocol. The renderings of the mechanical monsters in these renders are very good.
As for the mechanical monsters in these renders, most of them are "runaway cores", and to explain their origins, we have to go back 40 years to the main Obsidian Protocol timeline - these automaton clusters were the main characters in "The Great War". They were the protagonists of the Great War, bringing "automated warfare" to life through rapidly updating and iterating self-organising algorithms. But when the "War Key" of the warring parties failed because of the principle of mistrust, the runaway core of the war took all available capacity, including the humans in it, hostage and kept the wheels of war rolling.
The hard-won truce cannot really be enforced, the former superpower is on the verge of collapse, and the High Orbit Alliance is the last to win. By assisting the ground states in building up their defences, the HOA gradually freed the planet from its stranglehold and seized key benefits.
And it was not only the surface armies that were brought under the control of the war core; the terraforming facilities of Mars and the deep exploration vessels of Jupiter II all became cogs of war, and as the decades passed, not only did they not perish on their own, but they designed forms more adapted to their environment in order to complete the great task of victory engraved in the underlying logic.
In this context, the Seed Vault sent the Argo, employing an elite group of soldiers from the High Orbit Alliance, to prepare for a trip to Mars, their mission is to visit the pre-war data centre "Hippocampus" and, if possible, to examine the development of the runaway core on the Martian surface... developments...
Note that so far the Argo project is in its early stages and all the styling, rules, story, etc. may be substantially modified in the future.
- Follow-up development: ruler version
Another piece of news worth reporting is that, with the main rules largely complete, we have started work on rewriting the 'ruler' version of the rules.
Thanks to suggestions from players, the ruler rules will be very different from the grid version and our current direction is that the ruler version will have the following features:
A simplified data structure, allowing for more units to be fielded, which will support larger battles (from 3-6 to 8-15 mechs) and allow for a more macro focus for players;
The linking of pilots to configuration cards, with more emphasis on the combination of pilots and "careers" in the process of organising troops;
Part destruction mechanics are retained but simplified, and mechs will have a resource similar to HP.
Again, this is a very early design and we have tested and validated some of the content, but there is still the possibility of significant changes to follow. The only thing we can be sure of at the moment is that, as both the ruler ver and Argo are completely new rules, many of the lessons we have learned in the past will be well applied.
As well as our usual credo: we will only present a game to players if we love it ourselves and find it fun to play.
- QR database
And finally, a word of caution.
Remember the QR code on the back of our cards? That's a database that you can scan to see the rules for each card, some brief descriptions and other information.
The structure of this database was actually set up in May this year, but we were completely busy with post-sales work on shipments and all sorts of other things during that time, so we never got around to starting to enter information into it.
After the Dragon Boat Festival, we'll start entering information into this section, so we'll have the first batch of swipeable part cards in July, and players will be able to give us feedback on how well it works and what needs to be optimized~
I like it!
That's the main content of this update!
Finally, I'll post some review videos about this product, they are all from players or self-publishers, thanks to all those who are interested in Obsidian Protocol, your praise, criticism, and suggestions, are all support for us, and we'll keep working hard!
Frequently asked questions about PM
almost 2 years ago
– Sun, Mar 12, 2023 at 01:33:22 AM
On March 8 we started the Smoke Test for this PM, and just today at 12:00 noon ( 2023/3/12,12:00 CST, 04:00 UTC ) we officially started the PM phase!
Weeee！
As you can see, the big button on our KS main page has been changed to Late Pledge, the entrance to our pre-order shop.
The following are some of the more common questions we currently have about PM, which we have compiled into a FAQ:
Q: When will I receive the survey? Why do I see that some people have received it but I haven't?
A: We opened the Smoke Test on 8 March and only 5% of our users received the survey at that time.
By now, all our supporters should have received the survey, if you haven't, you can check to see if it was mistaken for spam in your email inbox.
If it still hasn't, you can send us a KS message and we will try to check it.
Q: I backed the Core-box (or another level) during the KS crowdfunding campaign and I want to upgrade to the Warlord Pack (or another), can I do that?
A: Yes, after you go to the PM page via the survey, you will see the upgrade button in the place shown below.
Q: Why is shipping so expensive?
A: Our products are too heavy and Warlord has a total weight of 18kg.
We have been working hard to reduce the shipping fee, but this is the best price we have got so far, and it is even possible that the studio will pay a little shipping fee for players in the future.
BTW
This is the amount of Warlord you will receive, it's 18 Kg.
This is the toy cabinet I bought at IKEA the day before yesterday, the biggest wooden cabinet in the middle, and when I carried it to the car I noticed that its weight was marked "15Kg". When I got home, I measured it with a scale and it was true.
Yes, a lot really.
Q: I live in a country or region that is not far from China, and I don't think my address should have that high shipping fee.
A： Singapore is a typical example, allow me to explain.
Relatively speaking, the sales volume of our products is not very large, and there may be only a few orders in some countries or regions, which means that we can only do express delivery, which brings about an increase in shipping costs.
However, taking this situation into consideration, if the order volume in these regions increases, or we find that the price of the express fee is much lower, we will refund the excess fee for these players in the studio's personal name.
Q: Is Warlord Allin? Does it include everything?
A: Before the PM was opened, we usually called the Warlord file "All-in" because it contained the core packs for the three factions, the game pack, and a total of 6 major DLCs, which meant you could experience all of the current game content.
However, we have not added 4 Add-ons to this slot:
Dice Pack
Terrain Pack
Dice Tower
Game Mat
Because these four add-ons are optional and enhance the game experience rather than core content, we didn't want to bundle them, so we didn't add them to the Warlord Pack.
When we talked to the community, we found that it was easy to assume that "ALL-IN" meant "everything that comes with the project", and we didn't have an "ALL-IN" slot that fit what people thought.
Therefore, the "Warlord Pack" is not "ALL-IN with everything in the shop" and to differentiate, we will use the term "Warlord Pack" more often in future promotions. instead of the word ALL-IN.
We apologise if this has confused you and we will not have any more problems with this!
Q: Where can I see the latest version of the game's rules?
A: Here is the working page for our current version of the 0.9.93 rulebook. This version is basically the same as the official rules, so you can use it to get an idea of how Obsidian Protocol is played!
We are about to start updating to version 0.9.94 next.
Q: These images, are there any large files?
A: We will upload various large images (many in 8K) to this online folder, you can click on the links and take them yourself!
