Hey everyone

As an addendum to the last update, despite my optimism about Roll20 functioning perfectly, we did get some technical issues with the release of the virtual expansions for Lovecraftesque. A small number of backers reported that one of the expansions had not arrived in their Roll20 account. This appears to have been the result of the Drivethru download code email either not arriving or failing to work once it arrived.

If you haven't already, please do activate those download codes and check that they worked ok. Do get in touch if you find you have the same problem.

One other thing to mention, while I'm here, is that there was a bit of confusion over getting expansions twice or having more than one copy. This is because of the way Roll20 presents items in the "my marketplace items" list. Essentially all of the Lovecraftesque virtual rewards have been set up as "packages" which contain the relevant Roll20 module and an art package which you can use for legacy play. Roll20 then shows you, in your item list, both the package and the module, which look identical until you click into them. So, don't worry if you see what appear to be multiple copies of each thing - nothing has gone wrong there, it's just Roll20 being Roll20.

Other than the above everything seems to have gone smoothly with the expansions, but as always please get in touch if you are having problems and we'll do what we can to help.
Yours

Josh (and Becky)

Hey folks

We have just sent out download emails for the Roll20 expansions, for those who purchased them. In theory, you should be able to add these to your Roll20 account and then select them as a game addon, which will cause all the expansion decks and handouts to appear alongside the core game components. The release of the core playroom seemed to go very smoothly so I'm feeling more confident about this! But do let us know if anything seems not to work as expected.

We have also got the results of our box size poll. As you may have noticed, the results are overwhelmingly in favour of increasing the box size, which is what we'll now explore with out manufacturer. 

We've also had a bunch of comments asking about making space for card sleeves. This is a tricky one - we're not sure how many people will want to sleeve their cards, and we suspect Lovecraftesque will have less need of them than a typical card-based game because it simply uses the cards less intensively. More importantly, we're not sure how much extra space this would require. We're having a look at it alongside the other box size issues.

Beyond that, we've had a good look at the prototype game components and everything is mostly in order. There's a small issue with the layout on the box lid (which we'll need to adjust anyway because of the box size issue), and the book covers aren't quite as solid as we'd like so we're looking into that too. These adjustments may add a bit of time to the delivery date - we'll let you know once that has become clearer.

We'll be back in touch in mid-May with an update on where we are with manufacturing.

Thanks as always for supporting Lovecraftesque!
Yours

Josh (and Becky)

Hey everyone!

The sample copy of Lovecraftesque arrived today. It's hard to express how exciting it is when a game you made shows up in physical form for the first time, and this was extra special because it's our first boxed game.

Pictures, and an unboxing video, are below. These are prototype versions, so not quite as good as the finished version will be - but close. I'm keeping them backer-only for now, as I don't really want pictures of a final-looking but not-actually-final version sharing publicly. It's looking gorgeous, and although there's a handful of minor things to fix, it mostly looks like we can proceed to the next stage quite quickly.

However! There is one more medium-sized snag. Currently the box is clearly too small. Here's the deal: everything fits inside the box. But the box comes with a lovely standing card library which makes it easy to put the cards away and get them out, including grabbing the scenario you want, without hunting around. When you stand up the core cards, and efficiently pack the other components, the box is 16mm short of closing snugly. If you add the expansions too, it's 30mm short. This is basically a product of us not having made a boxed game before and underestimating how much space we'd need - though I am slightly disappointed that our manufacturer didn't highlight it as an issue.

We have three options here I think:

We want to know what you prefer. I've set up a poll so you can easily give us your view, but please do also comment if you've got more detailed thoughts.

Once changes are made - and these shouldn't take too long - we'd expect to get a mass production-quality sample in the second half of June. All being well we can then get the factories going.

In addition, the Roll20 playroom assets for the expansions are now ready, and I'll be setting them up on DrivethruRPG and sending them out to you in the next 48 hours or so. I'll do another short update when that happens.

Yours

Josh (and Becky)

Hey everyone

Roll20 have approved the first batch of virtual playroom rewards much faster than expected, and so the virtual version of the core game is now available! Backers who have completed their surveys should have received a complimentary copy email from DrivethruRPG, which includes access to the core Roll20 room.

Despite this, it looks as though the expansions will still take a couple of weeks to process, because Roll20 have a hard limit on how many items one publisher can submit for approval in a week. I will send a further update once those are out.

I'll be honest, I feel a little wary of this process, which combines the rather opaque Roll20 backend with the equally byzantine DrivethruRPG backend. I'd love it if backers who successfully access their Roll20 rewards could let me know by dropping a comment here. This would be very reassuring, assuming the process has in fact worked.

Do also let me know if anything seems wrong in the playroom. There will be the opportunity to update the playroom if there are any issues with it.

I hope you enjoy playing the game!

Yours

Josh (and Becky)

Hey folks

We've made great progress in March:

Thank you for your patience - we're eager to get the virtual playroom out to you!
Yours

Josh (and Becky)

Hey everyone

Just a quick update to say that the Lovecraftesque expansion PDFs are now out. You can find them on the digital download page of your Backerkit survey.

By the way, thanks to Lovecraftesque backer DSM, we picked up that the print and play files had the card backs incorrectly arranged. That has now been corrected. If you already downloaded the digital files, you may wish to log in and get the updated version.

We'll be back with a further update in late March/early April.

Happy gaming

Josh

Hey everyone

Just a quick update to say that the Lovecraftesque 2e core game PDFs have gone out. That's everything in the core game, including the six core box scenarios. If you don't have it yet, it's probably because you haven't completed your survey and/or any oustanding payment; but if after checking that you still don't have it - give us a shout.

The Lovecraftesque 2e expansion pack PDFs are not yet up - I expect to have them imminently, and will send a further update once they're out. All other PDFs for add-ons etc have been released.

Please do let us know if you spot any typos or other problems with the Lovecraftesque 2e PDFs, as there's still plenty of time to correct errors in both these and the print files.

I hope you enjoy reading them!

Josh

Hey everyone

Surveys are live! Some of you will have got them yesterday, everyone else should receive a survey link today.

You need to complete the survey to get your digital rewards.

We're a long way off sending physical rewards at this point, so I'm not collecting shipping at this stage, but I do need backer addresses before I release any rewards (including digital rewards), in order to ensure that I'm paying the correct tax on your pledges. (Don't worry - your pledge for Lovecraftesque is tax-inclusive, you don't have to pay extra for that - it's just that Black Armada do still have to pay the tax.)

You'll get an email when the PDFs are up.

I expect to be able to share PDF copies of your rewards some time in the next week. That's a bit later than planned - we had some feedback on the print files and prioritised addressing those over finishing off the PDFs. 

As for the remaining project progress, everything else is basically proceeding as planned:

Best wishes

Josh

Hello everyone

I'm excited to report that we have made excellent progress with Lovecraftesque and have sent our files to the manufacturer (Longpack Games) for checking. As part of this:

Once Longpack's checks and our final proofing pass is done, the next step is for Longpack to produce a prototype of the game. Because of Chinese New Year they won't get started on this until March, so we don't expect to have a prototype in hand until late March/early April. That's in line with the plan I shared with you in November.

During February Nathan will build the PDF version of the game - a process that shouldn't take long, once the final proofing pass is complete. I will therefore send you a backer survey through Backerkit some time in February. I need to do this because even for digital-only pledges, I need to know your correct address to ensure I pay the correct tax* on each pledge. I will send a fresh update when the survey goes out, and soon after that you'll get the PDF versions of the core game and (if you pledged for them) the scenario expansion packs.

I will also be working on the virtual playroom in February/March. I've made a start on this already. I can report that there is a learning curve to making stuff on Roll20. Essentially, I know what I want Roll20 to do and I know roughly how to do it, but there's lots of quirks in the system that make it a little less straightforward than you might think. Even so, it's going well at this early stage.

We are making good progress overall, and I'm excited to get the PDF of the game into your hands. The next update will be in February, when the surveys go out.
Cheers

Josh

* You won't be paying anything extra - the pledge prices were tax-inclusive, but I still have to actually pay the tax of course.

Hi everyone!

Our plan is to update you roughly once a month on progress, just to give you a sense of how things are going. This is the December update.

We've made good progress this last month.

This is broadly in line with the timetable I set out in November.

The next update should come in mid- to late-January.

By the way, I ran a demo of my scenario Ex Nihilo at Dragonmeet earlier this month. It went very well, with some lovely time loop horror coupled with a quantum duplicate. I do love playing the different scenarios - I hope to get to do more of that when we've got a completely physical prototype.

Festive greetings to those celebrating, and I look forward to sharing even more progress in the New Year.
Best wishes

Josh

Hey everyone

The campaign has closed! We ended up with a bit over £45000, which is terrific - our best-funded campaign ever by a big margin. Thank you all for helping us make this great game a reality.

From this point, we'll be focused on delivering the game. This is a relatively slow-moving process. We will keep you regularly updated but the reality is that not much changes week to week. We therefore expect to provide an update once a month. We'll do that even if there's not much to say.

This game is already a good way through the production process, with a well-edited text, most of the art complete, and the layout partially complete. Even so, it will take quite a while before you have the game in your hand. Thank you for your patience as we deliver Lovecraftesque.

That is (mostly) it for now. For those who like detail, there's a high-level project plan setting out what we expect to happen when, just below this message.

Thanks again for your support and we can't wait to get the game into your hands!

Yours

Josh and Becky

---

Project plan

Here's a run-down, showing our best estimate of what we'll be doing in the coming months. We'll let you know if these estimates change, in our monthly update.

Hey folks

We're almost finished with the crowdfunding part of the campaign now. We're delighted with how it's gone and we're super excited to get to work on making the game into a gorgeous physical product.

The last 48 hours of any campaign is the point where a lot of people start paying attention for the first time. In our last campaign we got over half our pledges in the final two days. So, there's a lot to play for and - if you're excited to tell people how great the game is - we would really appreciate it if you share the campaign on social media. It could make all the difference!

If you want something to share other than just "back this great emergent horror game", here's some links you might find handy:

Thanks as ever for your support. I'll be back in touch when the campaign closes to let you know the plan for delivering the project!

Josh (and Becky)