Hello! The quick news: I've sent the files for all three endtimes games (as well as the new edition of my brain is a stick of butter) off to the printer for review. The games are done with editing, revisions, and layout. I'm excited to see the prints, because these games frankly all turned out about as good as I could have imagined. Huzzah!
Quy Serra Serra cover reveal!
In the lead-up to the crowdfunding campaign, I ran out of time to get a good cover for Quy Serra Serra done. I wanted something to capture both the serious and comedic vibe of the game, so the one on the campaign page has been placeholder the whole time. Sashah Li, my editor, partner, and occasional game artist, had a great pitch: what about some skeletons? A little dance macabre for the end of the world? Here's what they came up with:
Mockup of the new cover for Quy Serra Serra
I'm a big fan, and think it looks great in tandem with the other two games:
The Endtimes Trilogy
Digital Releases
In the coming weeks, I'll be working with the printer to get the print run underway, and working on graphics and pitches so that I can upload all three games to itch and distribute them to you all! My digital release plans have changed a few times in the past couple of updates, but I've decided that I want to release them all at once. While the games are standalone and perfectly playable separately, they still feel to me like a set that should go together. I'm excited to hear if you agree, so keep an eye on those inboxes in the coming weeks!
Hey everybody, just a quick update for May. All three games are text complete, laid out, and finished with their first editing passes. The end [of this project] is nigh! In the next week or two I'll be finishing the updates to the game, squeezing in some last minute playtests, and brushing up the layout of all three games before sending them to print.
I ran a playtest of both Quy Serra Serra and Into A Warm Sun last week and both went well. There are a few things to tweak and smooth out, but the games are in a great spot and we are on time for an August delivery.
Here's a spread from each game
Scene setting through three acts of Quy Serra Serra
A bit about life in the bunker from Into A Warm Sun
The moves you can do in The Way Out
Digital Release?
In the coming months I'll also be releasing the games on itch.io so you'll all get your digital copies. Last update, I said I would do these one at a time while working on finishing the others, but I ended up finishing the first drafts of all of them at almost the same time so plans changed. It's a lot of extra work to get the itch pages set up, files formatted for digital release, etc. so I decided on prioritizing the print run first.
That's all for now!
Thanks for filling out the surveys, almost all of you have done so. That'll make it easy for me to get the digital release into your hands, so keep an eye out for the next update when I announce those.
Just here to post a quick update about the Endtimes trilogy. I've made great progress in all three games this month, so here's a bit about each!
Quy Serra Serra
First, I finished the redesign/overhaul of Quy Serra Serra mentioned in the last update. It's got player characters now! It's got a dice hut! I think it's a huge improvement and I'm gonna be playing it soon to confirm. The vibe of the game is still the same: the world is ending and the game is about characters doing everything they can to pretend it's not. But now, instead of playing a zoomed out, worldbuilding-style game, each player will take on the role of one of those characters, and everybody will be setting scenes, cutting between them and destroying the facets of the world that litter the table all throughout. After it hits the table and I'm sure it won't change drastically anymore, I'll put together an overview video like I've done for the other two games.
here's the first draft of the new character sheet, including hidden dice tech
Into A Warm Sun
Game 2 of the series has seen the least concrete action, because most of what's left is filling out the zine with supplementary materials for play. What does that mean, exactly? Well, I'm thinking about it often and writing down little fragments of ideas of things to include as they come to me. Those fragments are approaching critical mass, which means it's soon time to put them into human-readable writing instead of rambling phone notes. Once they're in place and a few playtests go well, the game will be fully done.
The Way Out
The only work left on game 3 is layout, punching up some of the text of the chapters, and writing some suggestions on interpreting the major arcana. Here are a few snippets of the layout as it stands today:
The spread that includes the game's many moves and which cards trigger them
The spread that sets up game's second chapter
Beta Releases and Printing Plan
In the coming weeks, I'm planning to finish the text and layout of Quy Serra Serra and release a beta version on itch. From there, the text will go through editing and incorporate that and any feedback from you into the final, fit-for-print version. I'll repeat that process for the other two games as I finish them, and then finally send all three games off to the printer when they're finished (as well as the new square my brain is a stick of butter).
That gets a version of the games in your hands early, and will hopefully give me an idea of how well they play without me at the table! These are weird, exciting little games so I can't wait to see how you all like them. So keep an eye out for the next update, where I'll get this process started.
Hello to all the backers of The Endtimes Trilogy! This project was kind of a test for me to see if people want smaller, weirder games and the answer seems to be a solid "yes." For that, I thank you.
What's the Plan
Last month while this campaign was running, I also did all the fulfillment for my 2025 kickstarter project Uneasy Lies the Head. Suffice to say, I'm tired in many ways!
I'll be taking it easy for a week or two here at the start of March as I slowly re-acclimate myself to working on these games. Then it's a matter of going through each one, taking stock of where they are in the design and development process, and pushing each one towards completion. Here's a quick overview of where each game is:
Game 1: Quy Serra Serra
Despite being the oldest game of the trilogy, this one has the most question marks at the moment. The last two playtests I did hit some of the goals I was looking for and missed a few more, so I'm whittling away at the design to try to find a way to extract the game I want.
I've been having some good ideas for how to do this, so it's a matter of collecting those until they're playable, testing it, and seeing where we're at.
I have a decent grasp on how the layout for this one will look, but I'm not happy with the cover at the moment. I have about 100 bad drafts of covers, so we'll keep plugging away until a good one arrives.
Game 2: Into A Warm Sun
Unless there's some cataclysmic playtests on the horizon, the game design for this one is finished.
The layout is designed as well, styled after some bunker manuals I found.
There's a bit of content I need to add to the zine for GMs to grab onto during play. With more playtests, I'll get a better idea of what they might need, but for now I have a clear idea of what I think I need to write.
Game 3: The Way Out
Again barring some nightmarish playtesting, I think this one's finished being designed.
I've got a clear picture of the layout, and I love the cover my friend Angelo did for it.
3 of the 4 chapters are written, and then if there's space in the zine I want to write some guidance on how to write your own chapters and how to design whole new loops for the game
Beyond that, I need to go through some production quotes and decide how exactly these will be printed. Thankfully that part is relatively easy since I've done all this before.
Looking Forward
I will aim for monthly updates to the project to check in on how everything's going. If you want to hear more from me, I'm going to try to start using the discord server I have set up for The Locked Room Murder Mystery Game open playtest, so swing on by. I just set up a channel for The Endtimes Trilogy where I'll try to post some updates about the games progress, thoughts, and maybe even some playtests.
We've got just one week left in Zinetopia, and The Endtimes Trilogy is just under $600 away from the funding goal! Thanks for backing and sharing the campaign around, every little bit helps me in my quest to get these zines made. Hopefully we'll cross the funding line soon and set things up for a strong finish this time next week.
The Way Out: An Overview
I've done another in depth overview of one of the games. This time, I talk through The Way Out, discuss all of its influences, moves, and chapters and how I'm using tarot cards to drive forward a story about cyclical apocalypses. Check it out:
