Just wanted to drop a quick update to give you a sense of the progress I have been making on Hellfinder over the past couple of months, so without further delay, let me get right to it.
Playtest Round 1 Complete
I am happy to report that the first part of the Hellfinder main story has completed playtesting. This took quite a bit longer than anticipated, but the results are 100% worth it. My table had a really good time and there experiences have allowed me to fine tune the story to give it all the "punch" that it needs. I don't want to give any spoilers, but I will say this. They did not see the end coming at all and were shocked and excited to see where the story goes next!
Mapping
It's not nearly as fast as paying a professional, but I have decided to do all of the maps myself, by hand using photoshop and my digital drawing tablet. All of the maps for Part 1 are well underway and I have sketches coming together for part 2 here soon. Just to give you a sense of what these are going to look like, here is a work in progress map of the Oshkad Falls Field Office (a critical location at the start of part 1 of the story). I've really been enjoying working on these and I hope you like the results.
Quality First
Well, I am sure it is obvious by now that this is not coming out on the original schedule and that I do, in fact, still have quite a bit more work to do to get this ready to share with all of you. Most of the player facing rules are ready for edit, the story parts are coming together, but making sure I get these right is taking quite a bit longer than I anticipated. That said, I am making steady progress, every week, on Hellfinder. Making it the best it can be is more important to me than getting it done fast.
I apologize for the delay. I know some of you were hoping to run this soon. I hope it will be worth the wait.
Now that I have a bit more of my free time back, I am going to try and post more regular updates and give you all some samples of the work as it makes it through it final paces.
UK Games Expo
Unrelated to Hellfinder, I am going to be at UK Games Expo this upcoming weekend, working at the Paizo Booth, showcasing our new board games and roleplaying games. If you are planning on being at the show, do stop by and say hello!
It has been a few months since I have posted an update and I wanted to reach out to post a quick update. Overall, there is a lot of progress being made on Hellfinder, but I've had my fair share of setbacks and complications, so without further delay, let's dive right on in.
Writing Continues
The biggest update here is that the writing on Hellfinder continues at a good pace. Design has hit some snags over the past few months due to some health challenges I was facing. Although serious at the time, I am on the mends and have a good prognosis for the future. It continues to take a bite out of my time with visits to with my medical team and trips to see the physical therapist, but all of that is abating, fortunately.
As for the game itself, I think I can see the end of the line for all of the player rules for the first two packets. The third is still in design. Also, the central narrative adventure is coming along very nicely. Playtesting has been going very well and I may post a bit of a spoilery update on that front here later this month. The playtest group is almost done with the first dossier... which means the first major reveal is just around the corner. It's incredibly exciting to see how they are responding to the unfolding story.
New Art for Hellfinder by Riccardo D'Ariano
New Art
As part of the crowdfunding campaign, I was able to order new art for a variety of characters from the story, including AD Graven, some agent profile pictures, and several headshots of characters from the town of Oshkad Falls. All told, I ordered ten more pieces and I may put in for a handful more as the layout for the game comes together.
White Samples
One part of the creation process is ordering "White Samples" from the manufacturer to check material quality and overall component specifications. I am happy to report that the white samples for the game have been ordered and I have the first of them in my possession now. They have no printing on them at all (hence the name "white samples" since they are just plain paper), but getting these is an important step in the printing process. Once I have a few more samples, I will put together a post showing off these early prototypes.
Road Ahead
Well, the hard truth is that I have fallen behind my original schedule. I wanted to be in layout by this point, but the truth is I am still in the writing phase. Editing, layout, printing, and shipping are still yet to come, but I am committed to getting this project done and out to you as soon as is humanly possible. One of the challenges of being a game publisher with a staff of one is that when something goes wrong, there is no fall back and that certainly cost me here. But, I am very happy with how things are going and I am still very excited to share more of this game, this world, this terror with all of you in the coming months.
So.. thank you for your patience. I am hoping to get the Pledge Manager up and running here in the next few weeks, so expect that to be the next major announcement. Until then, I am going to get back to work, forging away in the darkest corner of the pit.
Just wanted to pop on and give a quick update as to where things stand right now.
Writing continues at a good pace, although perhaps not as fast as I would have liked over the past few weeks. All of the additional art has been ordered and I expect to have it all in hand toward the end of the year (my artist was booked until the end of this month). I am still working on getting the pre-order store up and running, but that has taken a back seat to getting more of the script completed.
So, nothing too groundbreaking to report, but I wanted to reach out and make sure that you all knew that things were still coming along nicely. If I seem a bit quiet, it is mostly due to that other crowdfunding campaign that is drawing away a lot of my attention. But no worries, that campaign ends next Friday!
Thank you again for your support. I look forward to sharing more with you soon!
Although things have been quiet over the past few weeks since the campaign closed, that does not mean there has been not progress, quite the opposite in fact. Hellfinder is moving ever onward toward printing and making its way to your game table. Here is the first update on our progress!
Finances have closed out and everything is looking good. There is always a period at the end of a project when all the initial bills come due and it comes time to check costs versus money raised. While things have been a challenge, I am happy to report that everything is looking pretty good on this front. I've covered a lot of the early costs and I am confident than the printing will go off without a hitch. In fact, this leads to the next announcement.
The down payment to the printer is underway. This locks in my print price and ensures that any future volatility on print costs do not affect this project. Mind you, this does not account for tariffs, but it is nonetheless a relieve to lock in the print prices.
Additional art is about to be ordered. As part of the crowdfunder, we unlocked a good amount of additional art for the dossiers and I have sent the artist the first 10 art orders for his review. I expect these will be done well before our print date and I look forward to sharing sketches with all of you as they move forward.
Writing continues. I am nearing completion on the player rules from the first dossier and all of the adventure text is coming along nicely. There is still a lot of work to be done here, but progress is happening.
Finally, for those that might have missed out, I am hoping to open up a Pre OrderStore for folks to get a copy of the game and some of the add ons. I will post a big update when that is ready to go live.
Well folks, that is about all I have to update you on right now. It is truly rewarding to see this project come together and I cannot wait to share more of it with all of you. I will continue to update you all when I have important news to share, but rest assured, things are moving forward.
Thank you all for your support. I could not do this without you! Jason Bulmahn Minotaur Games
Your support helped make Hellfinder a reality, closing out today with a tremendous surge in support! The final total is $37,219 raised from 464 backers! With this support I will be able to add more art to the game, pay for professional editing, have a Foundry Module created, and, most importantly, have the game printed and boxed up so that I can ship it to you!
So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for your support! It really does mean the world to me and I cannot wait to share Hellfinder with all of you!
But first, I am going to go unplug and take it easy for a bit. I'll post an update in about a week to give you all a roadmap for the path ahead. I promise there wont be quite so many updates over the coming weeks and months, but I promise to keep you informed of how things are coming together.
