Itch Download Keys have been sent
over 3 years ago – Wed, Sep 30, 2020 at 08:37:17 AM

​Hi everyone,

After taking the weekend off to recuperate, I've just uploaded the new PDF to Itch and sent out the download keys. Itch requires manual approval before these emails get sent out - I've contacted them to arrange this, but don't know how long it will take. I'll keep you updated on that.

When you receive the email you should find a download key linked to this email that will allow you to claim the new PDF of The Wretched on itch. This will also give you access to the old files and the original soundtrack.

If your payment method was declined or is waiting for you to fix it, you won't receive an email with the download keys. Once you've fixed it and payment has been processed please reach out to me and I'll get a key sent to you.

Once fulfilment starts in earnest (i.e. when the new soundtrack is written and everything is ready to go to print) and backer surveys have gone out, I'll upload the new soundtrack to itch as well. If you've already claimed the game at that point you'll find the files available to download, but I'll also send out new keys,

The additional Kickstarer-exclusive soundtrack will go out in a separate email and won't be available on the game's main Itch page.

Thanks,

Chris

That's a wrap!
over 3 years ago – Mon, Sep 28, 2020 at 10:49:26 AM

Because I'm at work and might not get a chance to do this later I'm writing this update the campaign still has 3 hours left to run, but it won't be posted until everything is finished. What that means is that I don't yet know exactly how many backers we closed on or what the final total raised is - but I do know that it's vastly exceeded even my most optimistic predictions, and that I can't begin to express my gratitude to you all!

What's next for the campaign?

Kickstarter will charge your payment cards over the next 48 hours. It will then be two weeks before the money is deposited in my account and I can start doing things like paying for the print run etc. In that time I hope to get the additional soundtrack completed. Then I can start work on the Kickstarter exclusive tracks that will be pressed onto the vinyl.

As soon as Kickstarter has charged your cards, I'll be sending out download codes for the PDF. The new layout is locked in and I'm not waiting on money to fund any part of that, so there's no need to make you wait. These will go to the email address you have registered with Kickstarter, but don't worry - the surveys will give you the opportunity to change this in a few weeks time if you want them to go to a different address.

I'm also going to start getting Backerkit set up. More on this as it happens.

Another music preview

As a final thank you for backing the campaign, here's another preview of the music I've been working on.

I hope you enjoy it and that you're as excited as I am about this new soundtrack.

What's next for me?

I have a few big projects in the works, the first of which will be a Troika! solo gamebook in the style of the Fighting Fantasy books that I grew up with. That will be coming to Kickstarter towards the end of the year, so keep an eye out for that!

I also release monthly small games through Patreon. This month's is called Whalesong, a quiet, contemplative game for two players about grief and space whales. Patrons will be getting that this coming weekend, and it will be released to the general public a week later. You can find out more over at my Patreon page, and I hope you'll consider joining me there!

Thanks again for your support. I can't wait to get everything delivered to you, and I'll keep you updated as I make progress on everything.

Foil stamping unlocked!
over 3 years ago – Fri, Sep 25, 2020 at 11:23:58 AM

It's the morning of the penultimate day of the campaign, and at the time of writing this we have 807 backers at a physical zine level.

That means we're getting foil stamping on the cover! I'm amazed that so many people want this game and I'm really grateful that I'm getting a chance to do all these cool thing.

Thanks for the amazing support you've shown me. Here's to the next 48 hours!

Another music preview! + Last few days
over 3 years ago – Tue, Sep 22, 2020 at 08:26:46 AM

It's Saturday evening and there's a little under 5 days left to go on this Kickstarter. I'm in absolute shock that we're over £11,000 in funding. I'm doing a lot of work behind the scenes to make sure fulfillment goes as well as possible - pricing up storage units for all the vinyl and t-shirts and zines, setting up BackerKit (I'm still waiting for a referral code to come through which will save me some money on setup fees), and - of course - working on the soundtrack.

Speaking of the soundtrack, here's another preview:

This one definitely leans a little more Nine Inch Nails than the rest of the music I've been writing and I'm not sure whether this will actually make it onto the final soundtrack release, but we'll see how I feel about it once I've written the rest of the music.

Foil Stamping

I said we'd get foil stamping once we reached 800 backers at a physical level, and we're well on the way to hitting that. At the time of writing this the campaign has 806 backers total, with 701 at a physical level. So if we pick up another 99 physical level backers before Thursday, foil stamping will happen. I'm positive that's going to happen, honestly.

Best Left Buried

Since I don't have more stretch goals I thought I'd point you in the direction of some other stuff you might find interesting. My friends over at SoulMuppet Publishing have just launched their campaign for the second edition of Best Left Buried, a fantasy horror RPG that I really, really love. (Like, really love. I own literally every product they've released and put out my own one page dungeon for the system not long ago).

The campaign is fully funded and is headed towards stretch goals. It's also got a really great video that you should check out. Find out more about it here.

What's Next?

I'm about halfway through writing the additional soundtrack. After that I'll move onto the further Kickstarter-exclusive tracks. I'll have at least one more preview to come over the next few days. My friend Sebs also sent me a short set of interview questions to answer and once I actually find time to do that I'll share that with you, too, just on the off chance that anybody is interested in knowing a little more about me and my processes etc.

Once the campaign ends on Thursday it will be 2 weeks before Kickstarter deposits the money in my account. You'll have 48 hours after the campaign closes to fix any issues with payment cards etc that may arise. Once that window closes I'm planning to send out the PDF of The Wretched to backers. The work on it is already done and I'm not waiting on money to make any part of it possible, so it seems silly to make you wait for it. Because I won't be able to send out backer surveys yet (I only get one chance at them) it will go to the email address you have registered with Kickstarter, but don't worry - I'll do a second wave of sending the PDFs out once fulfilment starts on the physical items as well.

The music is going well and I'm well on track to have it all ready and for delivery of rewards to happen within the time scale I've set. I'll keep you all updated after the campaign ends, though.

Thanks, as always, and let's see what the last few days brings!

Zine Upgrades, BackerKit, + friends
over 3 years ago – Mon, Sep 14, 2020 at 12:13:06 AM

Hi everyone!

Its Monday morning, there's 10 days left on the campaign, and we're heading towards 700 backers. This is all a little unreal and I'm still stunned and incredibly grateful for the response to this campaign.

Foil Covers

I got the quote back from Mixam re: foil covers and I can definitely afford it. I had also looked into doing an offset run with different printers, but the production time would risk taking me out of the projected timeline for the project and that's not something I want to do.

Here's the thing with foil - my minimum order would be 1000 copies. We currently have 683 backers accounting for 600 physical zines. I don't have the space in my flat to store another 400 zines, so I'm setting a new stretch goal based on backer numbers. If I know that I'm going to move 800 or more physical copies, I'll do the foil cover. I think that's doable, but I'd definitely appreciate it if you share the campaign with any friends who think would be interested in it!

BackerKit

I originally intended to collect shipping through Gumroad because BackerKit is expensive, but at this point that's just not practical. (For example, Gumroad doesn't offer much flexibility with add-ons or combining shipping). So I'm going with Backerkit. This will make it easier for you to manage adding extra zines or upgrading to vinyl and t-shirts if you want to, and will ensure nobody overpays for shipping. I've never used it before, so when fulfillment starts I'll do a test with a small segment of backers before I send the link to everyone. More on that in a few weeks.

Campaigns ending soon

Plenty of my friends are currently running campaigns and I wanted to point you in the direction of a couple that are ending soon!

Paleo Pins is a very cute project producing dinosaur pins and stickers. It just funded with about 8 hours to go, and honestly I want all of them. Definitely check it out.

Mnemonic: A Weaver's Almanac is a behemoth of a project that's expanding on the world of Mnemonic and Beyond The Rift. The team here is incredible, Beyond The Rift is one of my favourite games, and you need to go look at this. It's fully funded with a little under 48 hours to go and it promises to be something really special.

That's all for now!