Judge Program Road Map

We’ve got a lot going on and a lot planned for the Judge Program in the coming weeks and months. This page will be updated as objectives are met and new goals are added.

While we have the overview of the Roadmap, this page will host a little bit more detail with regard to what each of these goals is, and possibly shed some light on timelines and potential complications.

August

First up - the Season 0 Events. We’re working with FFG and the tournament organizers selected to run the October wave of Planetary Qualifiers. To that end, we have an open-entry evaluation for individuals interested in working on those events. More details can be found at Nexus.CascadeGames.com/seasonzero.

This is important to us because we want the first set of official organized play events to go as smoothly as possible. We will be using a temporary system to evaluate candidates while the certification and advancement procedures for the rest of the Judge Program are developed, published, and completed by judges.

Regarding the Program Structure and Content, we want to start getting material out to the community as quickly as possible, while maintaining a baseline of quality. Brief explanations of each of the levels can be found at Nexus.CascadeGames.com/levels and the requirements for the Judge Apprentice and Level 1 certifications can be found at Nexus.CascadeGames.com/levels/advancement.

Lessons and an exam for the Judge Apprentice certification will be released over the month of August and will be available here on Nexus.CascadeGames. Those will roll out regularly over the course of the month, with an expectation of three lessons every week. When those lessons are complete we’ll begin rolling out L1 lessons, with an expected cadence of two per week. Alongside those lessons, we’ll also have live seminars, hosted either through the Judge Program discord or live-streamed on Twitch, depending on the size of the audience.

September

September will be a relatively “calm” month, as our key content should all be released in August. We’ll be making recommendations to Tournament Organizers so that selections can be made for October Planetary Qualifiers roughly a month ahead of the first events.

We’ll also continue to release lessons at a regular rate, which brings us to October.

October

October is exciting because of the release of the full Level 1 certification. This will require an endorsement from an FFG-partnered Tournament Organizer, which is one of our tech goals for the month. That will also allow for judges to endorse other judges and judge candidates, but that addition won’t be applicable until down the line when there are higher-level judges. October will also play host to the first of the level two lessons.

We’re also targeting a Rules and Policy update quiz for the Season 0 staffing. While there will be certified judges in October, that certification is designed for running less intense events. Many judges who have that certification will have the skills and experience necessary for Planetary Qualifiers, but there will also need to be some way to distinguish those individuals from those who still require a bit more mentorship and development.

November and Beyond

We’ll continue to provide feedback and recommendations to Tournament Organizers for Qualifier events and the Galactic Championship, as well as regularly develop and release content for further certification levels.

One of our big goals is to make it so that Tournament Organizers can make staffing decisions independently, which is why we’re going to be developing tools to help both Judges and TOs find events and staff, without going directly through Cascade Games.

We also have plans to release exclusive merchandise, with details to come - this includes playmats, promos, and more - with new art, only available to certified judges.

Why Staggered Release?

A question that we want to address quickly is why we’re releasing the levels one at a time, over the course of several months. There are several considerations behind this decision, and it’s important to us that folks understand where we’re coming from.

At the top of the list, we want to ensure that judges who advance in the program are qualified, capable, and have earned their certification and the opportunities that will come with higher-level certifications. Having a system with every level immediately accessible would disproportionately favor individuals coming over from other TCGs, and one of our many goals is to make sure that the Judge Program is a fresh start.

We want to release the necessary educational content to help candidates for higher levels develop the skills and knowledge they’ll need. To make that at the quality that we want, and with the amount of content we want to develop, takes time and resources.

Tied into both of those is the matter of practical experience - it’s important to learn at events, not just from online lessons, and so by spreading it out, individuals will have to take more time getting better, which is only seen as an upside.

Finally, it gives us more time to learn and adapt. While this isn’t the first judge organization Cascade has managed and developed, every game is different, and we want to remain flexible as we grow. As the game, community, and judge program continue to grow, we’re going to evolve to match both the challenges and unique opportunities that Star Wars: Unlimited offers.

This page will be updated as objectives are completed, and content is released.