April Update: New Printer, New Schedule!
6 months ago
– Fri, Apr 05, 2024 at 10:45:58 AM
Wow! Time flies!
Especially when you go straight from a month-long Kickstarter campaign straight into a convention, tax season, and apartment hunting! I gave myself a little bit of time off to avoid burnout and catch up on local projects, but rest assured that additions, editing, and final layout on The Details of Our Escape are continuing apace! Hinokodo's dominos are just about done (after giving them some time off too following their gangbusters Miiiru campaign) and I'll be sharing those designs with you soon!
Our biggest update is in regards to our printer!
I've been making games of a while now, but wow, y'all really showed up for this one! What's more, this is a full-color project, which scales differently in print price than black & white books. Once the dust settled and we took stock of our ink and quantity needs, it became clear that it made a lot more sense to print this project overseas. So, instead of going with our typical domestic option, we'll be printing with the same company as our friends a PEOW (the publishers of Linnea's previous work)!
Speaking of, PEOW has a new campaign running RIGHT NOW! Check out Dreaming in Color: A Natalie Andrewson Artbook to see the kind of print quality I'm talking about!
It's an exciting moment of growth for Possible Worlds Games that will mean an even better book, but it also extends our schedule some! Everything takes a bit longer when you're mailing proofs and print runs across an ocean.
Rather than try and rush things, we've decide to bump our release goal from early-June/Origins to mid-July/GenCon.
It's not a big shift—just a month & change added to most of our timeline—but I wanted to keep you all in the know! It means that instead of proofs arriving this month they'll get here early May, and it means our campaign fulfillment manager will go up a bit later than planned since I want to make sure weights, postage, etc. is as precise as possible. That said, it also gives me some extra time to work on some fun BackerKit extras! Maybe some prints, merch, or even... a game?
More on all those fronts soon, but I hope spring is finding you all well! We had a freak snow shower in Pittsburgh this morning, but I'm holding out hope for sunnier days.
All best,
Tyler
Game Plan & Game Face!
7 months ago
– Mon, Mar 04, 2024 at 02:34:30 PM
Hi all! I hope you had a restful weekend!
I certainly did, although I'm still getting used to not compulsively refreshing this campaign anymore, haha. I've said it a ton already (and I'll keep saying it) but thank you again for helping make this project a reality. It really has been a dream come true.
In terms of our fulfillment timeline, here's what to expect:
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March (aka now): I'll be finishing layout on the zine itself and ordering proofs from our printer. The game's art, fiction, and core rules are all done, but there are a handful of advanced gameplay mechanics and best practices I'd like to add from recent demos and playtesting. We'll also be finishing our domino designs with Hinokodo, so keep an eye out.
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April: With proofs in hand we'll be able to weigh everything for accurate shipping costs. At that point BackerKit surveys will be sent out and shipping addresses and fees will be collected. You'll have the opportunity to add additional copies of TDoE to your order as well as titles from the PWG back catalog (and even a few surprises).
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May: May is for manufacturing (unless we approve the print run earlier)! As soon as copies are in hand we'll start shipping them to you.
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June: With any luck all backers will have received their copies by early June, paving the way for a public release at Origins 2024 (June 19-23) and retail distribution after.
I'll keep you all updated here, but you can stay in the know about other Possible Worlds Games news via our twitter, instagram, or newsletter! And if you need to contact me for any reason, always feel free to message me here on Kickstarter or to reach out via the Possible Worlds Games website.
In the meantime, I'll be in Baltimore this weekend (March 9 & 10) for Game Face—a new indie TTRPG microcon!
Organized by Severed Books & Toy's Justin Sirois (who I actually already knew from my indie theatre days), Game Face will be at Peabody Heights Brewery from 12-8pm both Saturday & Sunday. Over 30 indies will be tabling at the event and entry is FREE! If you're in the greater Baltimore area, be sure to stop by and say hello! I'll have dominos on hand and will gladly walk you through a turn of The Details of Our Escape between sales.
That's all for now, but more soon!
-T
220%, Reading, & Rest!
7 months ago
– Thu, Feb 29, 2024 at 10:37:58 AM
WE DID IT!
Thank you all for helping us raise $22k! I firmly believe that genre collaborations like these benefit everyone involved, and I'm SO excited to share both this game and Linnea & Renee's talents with the TTRPG community soon! I'm taking the rest of the week off for some much-needed rest, but I'll be back Monday to talk through next steps, production schedules, fulfillment, &tc.
In the meantime, you don't need to wait to read more of Linnea & Renee's work!
Linnea's award-winning graphic novels Stages of Rot and A Frog in the Fall are both available in print from our friends at PEOW Studio, but she also has an itch.io page where you can buy & read her work digitally at a discount!
I especially like Killer's Everyday, available now for pay-what-you-want download:
You can find links to all of Renee's books on her website, and while they're all EXCELLENT, I strongly recommend her Ravicka novels for fans of speculative fiction and worldbuilding! All four books are available via Dorothy, a publishing project and were released in this order:
One of my favorite sections from Event Factory, in which the protagonist encounters a group whose language is made up of puffs of air, can be read excerpted in The Brooklyn Rail.
That's all for now! Thank you again for your kindness and support, and thank you most of all for supporting indie artists!
-T
160%, MIRU, & G.U.!
7 months ago
– Thu, Feb 22, 2024 at 10:22:35 AM
What a week!
Kickstarters usually start to slow down by this point, but thanks to your continued sharing and highlights in Dicebreaker, Rascal (an exciting new outlet you should be reading) & even the official Kickstarter Games newsletter, we're still going strong! Just one week remains before the campaign ends at 12pm EST on Thursday, February 29 and I'm so excited to see where we wind up. Thank you as always for your continued enthusiasm and support!
If you like this campaign, check out team member Hinokodo's new Kickstarter for MIRU 3!
We brought Hinokodo on to design The Details of Our Escape's pack-in domino sheets, and one look at MIRU 3 will show you why! Beyond being a new entry in an already fantastic solo TTRPG series, Hinokodo's product design skills are on full display here in a campaign featuring beautiful hex tiles, cards, and coins. Check it out!
PITTSBURGH: You have one more chance to hands-on preview!
For our last demo day I'll be posting up at another Pittsburgh favorite—Games Unlimited—from 1-6pm on Sunday, February 25. Whether you want to sit down and play or just to try out the game's core mechanic for a single turn, all are welcome! I'll be at a dedicated table near the front of the store chatting and showcasing the game for folks between browsing. The number of locals who've come out so far has been so exciting, encouraging, and an excellent reminder that we belong to a larger, vibrant community! If you're a local backer (or would-be backer!) I'd love to meet you, and I'm working on setting up more opportunities (online & off) for folks to try out the game between funding and release.
More soon as we head into the final days of the campaign!
-T
130%, Interview, & CMU!
8 months ago
– Fri, Feb 16, 2024 at 11:38:19 AM
Thanks for another fantastic week!
This Kickstarter has been exceeding all of our expectations, and we can't thank you enough for your help funding the campaign and spreading the word. We've got just under 2 weeks left and I'm excited to see where we go from here!
Want to learn more about The Details of Our Escape's origins and mechanics? The Weekly Scroll had Tyler on this month to talk all things TDoOE and TTRPGs in general! You can listen to the show here or watch the interview on their YouTube channel. Thanks to Ryan for having me on, and if you or your publication has any questions, always feel free to reach out!
Lastly, our first demo night at Mimic's Market was a blast, and we're excited to give more Pittsburghers the opportunity to try out The Details of Our Escape before the end of our campaign!
Join us this Sunday, February 18th any time from 12-4pm at Carnegie Mellon's Tepper Quad building in Simmons Auditorium B. The event is free, and while RSVP isn't required, you can find more details and do so at linktr.ee/pghplaytest
Have a nice weekend!
-T
