Good day! I am home sick, and much of the team is out at the GAMA trade show, but all of us are still working away to get all these fabulous Gloomhaven games to you!

One quick update about the second printing of Frosthaven before I jump into fulfillment progress. We discovered that the outer game box didn't get updated to say "Second Printing" by the barcode on the bottom. We just want to assure you that you are receiving the second printing, with all the inner components updated correctly, so this won't affect gameplay in any way. You can also confirm your second printing by the outer carton, where it will list # of 10,000.

US - Fulfillment begins! The second printing of Frosthaven and multiple add-ons started shipping this week. Forgotten Circles, Frosthaven Play Surface Books, and Buttons & Bugs are scheduled to arrive at the fulfillment center today and should start shipping out early next week. The entire fulfillment process will take a couple weeks, so don't fret if you don't get a notification immediately.

CA - Product has arrived! Our CA fulfillment partner has received the container of all wave 1 and 2 products and fulfillment should start next week once everything has been unloaded and sorted.

Asia - All product has arrived at VFI for fulfillment and been added to the queue. They expect to start shipping these orders to their regional fulfillment hubs late this month into early next month, from there it will take a few weeks to arrive. Once it arrives at the local hub they will contact backers with shipping information.

AU/NZ - Product has arrived! Similar to CA, once everything has been unloaded fulfillment can begin. We expect these orders to start shipping within the next week.

EU/RoW - Frosthaven second printing has arrived! Frosthaven Play Surface Books, Forgotten Circles and Buttons & Bugs still look to be arriving on time to the port in about 2 weeks.

UK - As we mentioned last time, our freight shipment to the UK got delayed, and we've been working with our partners in the US to figure out an alternative solution instead of delaying UK fulfillment into mid-late May. To that end, we've scheduled a freight order from the US to the UK of Frosthaven, Frosthaven Play Surface Books, Forgotten Circles, Buttons & Bugs and other wave 1 add-ons. This shipment should arrive in the UK in 4-5 weeks, allowing us to fulfill to backers about a month earlier in mid-late April. This is later than the original expected fulfillment at the end of March, but it should still be quite a bit faster than waiting for the shipment from China. More updates to come as we receive them.

Our main focus for today's update is Buttons & Bugs, as we have a couple exciting things for you. First of all, the digital tutorial we have been working with Dized on is now live, and you can check it out here. We're very proud of all the work that was put into this, and we hope that you find it useful for learning the game.

In addition, you should start seeing reviews and other content for Buttons & Bugs starting to drop next week ahead of or alongside shipping of copies to all the backers.

And finally, we have another designer diary, but this one is from Nikki Valens talking about what they have learned while co-designing Buttons & Bugs, why listening to players is crucial for creating great games, and how much they enjoy the process of taking games apart and rebuilding them:

People often ask me what kinds of games I like to play, and that makes sense. It's a common question in our industry. We make and play games nearly everyday, and a lot of designer got into this line of work because of their love of games. But it's always been a tough one for me to answer despite the fact that I've been making games for over 20 years.

And that's just it: I've been making games.

Games are an amazing medium for conveying story and experiences, for making players think and feel, and those things stick with you. They become a part of your identity. People like playing games. So it makes sense that they also want to hear about what games others like to play.

But I like making games. I like telling stories. I like building systems and mechanics. I like analyzing games. I like pushing them to their limits, taking them apart and seeing what makes them tick, pressing the wrong buttons intentionally to find out what happens.

I like a game that gives me something to tinker with. I don't mean a dexterity game with physical pieces nor an engine building game with lots of interlocking mechanics. I'm talking about removing myself from the game itself, opening up the shell, and watching the moving pieces inside. I like games that give my designer brain something to chew on.

Which is why I was really delighted by a fan-made Gloomhaven game called Gloomholdin' designed by Joe Klipfel. It was introduced to me as Gloomhaven you can hold in your hand, and at first it just seemed like a cute gimmick. But as I analyzed it, developed it, played it, I started to see something more. The pieces were so tightly packed, but the cogs turned all the same. It was a wristwatch to Gloomhaven's grandfather clock. The engineering and craftsmanship to make it function was very similar. But to take all that and shrink it down to fit in the palm of your hand? That's something special.

So I poked and prodded and analyzed. I developed, I tinkered, I played. Not just a game, but played the way that I play. And honestly, it's the most fun I've had designing or developing a game in a long while. It was a brilliant challenge working out the bugs and rearranging its pieces to be a refined tiny cogwork system where no space is wasted. And I'm quite proud of what Joe and I were able to create. It packed a lot of very elegant design techniques into such a small package.

The thing is: That game we made isn't Buttons & Bugs. While I was playing my way and enjoying the heck out of it, our playtesters... well, they weren't. In fact, we only had a small handful of my most dedicated longtime playtesters who even played more than a single scenario. It didn't seem like anyone actually enjoyed playing it. And anytime we introduced someone new, it was clear that they were expecting "Gloomhaven but smaller."

That's a big difference between playing games and making games. While I'm designing, it's easy for me to forget that I play games very differently than most of you. I'm not so much playing a game as I am inspecting a game design. And that comes through in my work sometimes. I make something that's fun to analyze, fun to take apart and tinker with, fun to marvel at, but not fun to -play-.

What we had created was less a game, and more a model. Like building up a LEGO set not to play with it but to put it on display in the background of your video call.

I'm still very proud of what we created, of course. I still have that version of the game, and I think it would be really neat to finish it up and publish it. But as a designer, I knew that I had to do right by the players. We would need to pivot to meet not only expectations, but to create something people would enjoy playing as much as I enjoyed making it. And we pivoted hard.

We restarted design nearly from scratch. We started with the concept of miniaturized Gloomhaven, and we salvaged what pieces we could from our little wristwatch. Some of the most innovative pieces we got to keep: the double-sided ability cards and elements being available as long as they're visible. Other pieces needed to be reshaped to fit their new shell. Gone were the micro tactical puzzles that paid homage to a tactical giant, replaced with miniaturized movement grids and simplified monster and attack modifier mechanics.

After all was said and done, we had a slightly larger package than the one we started with. More of a pocket watch than a wristwatch, but still impressive considering we had created a functional copy of a grandfather clock that could still fit in the palm of your hand. But most importantly, would it be enjoyable to play?

Yeah! It was a complete turnaround in playtester engagement and enjoyment. Some of our testers started second and third runs through the campaign. One started playing with their two children and the kids loved it! As a designer, you can't ask for much more than that. I might personally enjoy the process of taking things apart and rebuilding them, but there's a different kind of joy and fondness I have for a game when I see others truly enjoying playing it.

What kinds of games do I like? I like a game that makes me want to take it apart and see how it works. I like a game that is designed just how I expected, and I like games that are designed in ways I'd never thought of. I like a game that makes my friends and all of you smile and want to play again. I love game design.

So next time you see me at a con or interview me for a podcast, instead of asking me "What kinds of games do you like playing?" ask me "Take apart any interesting games lately?" If you do, you might get a glimpse into the inner workings of my mind and what makes me tick.

                               

On the events side, today is International Womens Day! We are so grateful to all the women who have been a part of our success here at Cephalofair Games, both past and present employees, contractors, and collaborators. We thank you for your talents and contribution!

But this month we're also celebrating all things "Mini", where we will be featuring a big miniatures update next time and also sponsoring some live sculpting and painting streams that take our Gloomhaven minis to the next level. You can join Sarah Dahlinger on Twitch, March 22, 1-4pm Eastern, as they do creature sculpting to bring some of our Gloomhaven monsters to life. And Jamie Daggers will be doing a 2-part live stream on painting our Buttons & Bugs micro minis, March 27 and 28, 1-4pm Eastern. Chris Lewis, another major contributor to the miniatures project, with also be running a live sculpting session, and we'll have more info on when that is next time.

In other news, development continues to go well on the RPG. We're starting to get finals in from the writers, and we'll be heavily play testing the included adventure next week. We're on track to move into the editing phase by the end of the month, which puts us slightly behind from what was communicated last time, but still making great progress.

Art and graphic design continues on the new edition of Gloomhaven, though I don't have anything new to share with you there.

And that's it! I'll catch you next time with the big miniatures update!