Hey, nostalgics!

It’s been a little while since our last proper MemoryCore update, which means we’ve accumulated quite a few things to share. Sorry for that, but summer holidays in Italy are sort of religious.

With those gone, we are now back to our punk routine: writing, editing, playtesting, and working on the visual and rules language tying all six games together.

Solid State Machine, in particular, has been keeping us busy and, as the first game moving through the entire development pipeline, it’s helping us refine a lot of things that will make every other MemoryCore game cleaner and faster to develop. 

Meanwhile, pre-production keeps moving forward at the factory, with some new goodies to show you as well! So: new software, updated firmware, and some fresh hardware. Let’s dive in!

Let’s start with the big one: Solid State Machine is in very good shape. A chained Claudio completed the first draft of the full campaign and it was extremely solid (pun intended); Cob went through it with a complete content-editing pass, and everything then went back into Claudio’s hands for revisions and a full campaign playtest. And the good news is: it went really well. Cue photo dump:

Kudos to Cappuccino, who stayed with us through the whole playthrough and gave us some great feedback on patting, snack-giving, and, most importantly, some truly excellent tail waggings!

There’s still some fine-tuning to do, but we’re getting close to sharing the campaign with you in Beta, so those of you eager to get Solid State Machine onto your tables can play it and send us your feedback.

A note before you start polishing your sneaking suit: Beware of the spoilers! Playing the Beta obviously means spoiling the entire campaign for yourself. We recommend it mainly to GMs who don’t mind knowing everything in advance, and ideally to those happy to run it at least twice: once in Beta and then again in its final form.

Beta calls, work-in-progress material, development notes, and feedback discussions will happen primarily on the Discord channel. It’s simply a much better place for quick, informal back-and-forth than campaign updates, so check that out: we’ll let you know there as soon as the Beta is ready for infiltration, in about a couple of weeks or so, may be a little more depending if some assets (like the new Exploration Map) will be ready.

Working on Solid State Machine has also pushed forward a lot of work that applies to MemoryCore as a whole. As the first game to go through the full writing → editing → playtesting pipeline, SSM has forced us to answer questions about how information should be organized, how rules should be presented, and which visual conventions should remain consistent across all six games (especially regarding moving through different components, something most RPgs tend to avoid entirely).

In other words: system-wide refactoring. You’ll see plenty of it in the Solid State Machine Beta, but here’s one example already: the revised MemoryCards.

The concepts haven’t changed, but the presentation has. We’ve streamlined the information and cleaned up the hierarchy to make the cards faster and easier to read at the table.

You may also notice the little 1-, 2-, and 3-square indicators beneath the pixel-art illustrations of weapons and gear. Those tiny symbols make every compatible MemoryCard across all six games work with Extinction Protocol’s limited inventory system without cluttering the cards with extra rules text. If you never mix cartridges, you can completely ignore them. It’s a small detail, but it solves an issue Claudio and Cob were facing, trying to make the six games genuinely interconnected without forcing that interconnectedness on anyone.

Look at those cloth bags! And those purple markers! These are still pre-production prototypes, so some details may change before the final version, but we’re very happy with how they’re turning out. And there’s more coming soon. Over the next few updates, we expect to show you additional pre-production samples, including the MemoryCore box, the custom dice (which should arrive this week!) and the lenticular outer sleeve for the Platinum box.

Behind the scenes we're currently putting the finishing touches on our BackerKit Pledge Manager, where you'll be able to review or upgrade your pledge, confirm your details and add any available extras you might want. We're aiming to have it ready very soon (tm), so keep an eye on your inbox for an email from BackerKit with your invitation. We'll post another dedicated update as soon as the Pledge Manager is live.

Sincerely,
The Horrible team

Hello Nostalgics,

time for a development update! The team has been hard at work, and yes... Claudio is still chained to his desk. We checked. He seems somewhat fine.

Development on Solid State Machine is moving along incredibly well, and we're genuinely excited about how it's shaping up. You may have noticed that it's also the game we've shown the least of so far. That's intentional. SSM is packed with secrets, twists, and discoveries, and we'd rather keep those surprises intact than spoil the experience before you get to play it. That said… Here’s a sneak peek:

Once we get into the second half of August, our Discord will become much more active. We'll start sharing and discussing Overdrive Crew tables together with the community, giving everyone a chance to take part in shaping some of the game's content while keeping the main campaign free of spoilers.

We've continued refining the layout of the Memory Cards, and they've taken a significant leap forward. Small improvements add up, and we're getting closer to the final look we always had in mind.

Our next update, in a few weeks, will officially launch the Late Pledge. If you know someone who missed the campaign, they'll soon have another opportunity to join the project! At first the Late Pledge will be open to everyone and you’ll be able to check the items in your pledge, upgrade it to a higher tier, or apply for a pledge if you missed the initial campaign. Later during the year shipping costs will be added and you’ll be able to finalize your order.

Federico “Cobra”, Davide, Toy and other members of the Horrible Guild team are heading to Gen Con next week! If you're attending, come by and say hello at booth 2136!  

Sincerely,
The Horrible team

Dear Nostalgics,

On behalf of the entire Horrible Guild team: THANK YOU very much for all the support you showed us during the campaign!

The MemoryCore journey has just begun. In the next coming months, we'll keep you posted regarding progress, keeping track of development, production and eventually fulfilment.

We'll also work on setting up the late pledge / pledge manager, so that we can gather your preferences and collect the necessary information for the credits to be added to CorePlayer! Magazine. This will likely go live in late Q3 2026.

While we're at it, we'd like to share this early sketch by illustrator Mattia Di Giovanni: he's the artist who worked on the Overdrive Crew characters, and he got so involved in the project that he's working on bonus art! We feel extremely lucky to have such dedicated artists onboard, as well as a fantastic, fast-growing community.

Speaking of community, if you want to take part in the conversation, make sure to join our Discord: Claudio will be there, sharing ideas and gathering feedback!

Sincerely,
The Horrible Guild Team

Dear Nostalgics,

Thanks for staying with us until the very end of the campaign!

Yesterday you managed to unlock two stretch goals, securing additional content for both Final Tournament and Overdrive Crew:

In one hour, we'll start livestreaming 32-bit classics from our HQ!

Since we've enabled Overtime Mode, the campaign duration will extend for each last minute pledge or upgrade. We're going to keep on playing for as long as the campaign keeps going. Join the livestream to keep us company and help us spread the word: there's still a few stretch goals to be unlocked!

► Continue? ◄

Dear Nostalgics,

Just 24h left to the end of the campaign!

If you haven't made up your mind and joined 1300+ backers yet, you might want to check out these updates regarding the addition of the Demo Disc, the Remote Play Toolkit and 3rd Party License.

Speaking of the license, that stretch goal has also been unlocked! We look forward to seeing the game library grow with your contributions. The Discord channel is already brewing with ideas, so make sure to join the conversation.

Legendary Memory Cards have also been unlocked, which means that five games in the collection (all the ones featuring cards) will have one extra. Thanks for again helping spread the word.

Furthermore, results from the latest poll are in: We asked you to choose a familiar for Bloodsong, and you decided for with the Dancing Sword. This brave blade will have your back while you explore the Black Castle.

We still have one last poll up our sleeve, and it has everything to do with tomorrow: we'll be playing and streaming 32-bit classics from our HQ during the last hour of the campaign.

We'll play the most voted games from the poll below, so pick your favorites and enjoy the show!

You'll also determine how long we play: Overtime Mode will kick in after one hour of livestream, and each new pledge or upgrade will extend the duration of 10'. Help us reach the last stretch goals, and possibly prevent us from going back to our desks in the process, since we'll keep on playing for as long as the campaign is live 👏

► Continue? ◄