Hey folks, Sylvan here! Quick update to cover a few key things. First and foremost, surveys are locking in 24 hours, so please please fill out your survey if you haven't already.

As soon as orders are locked, PDFs will automatically be distributed through Backerkit! And at the end of the week, fulfillment will start for the basic, book-only tier of backers.

Oh, yeah. The book came in! And it looks like this:

So pretty! Very wow.

Additionally, Nic and I will be at Big Bad Con together this weekend! Swing by, say hi, buy some games, play Before the Flood with us.

Hooray!

With excitement,
Sylvan

Seemingly with a finger snap, September has come to an end. Rolling, roiling, boiling heat has cascaded down from the foothills and washed over my home like a flood, baking us into the tarmac and sapping away the morning dew before we get back up again. Devildays, the hottest season of the year in Wanderhome, seems to come earlier and stay later every year.

Sorry! Heat makes me languish, and when I languish, I get wordy. September was extremely productive for the BTF crew--we've stayed completely on schedule, which is extremely exciting. Within the next 24 hours, you'll all be sent Backerkit surveys (I'll send out another short update reminding you to fill them out this week). You will have 2 weeks to fill out your survey. That includes adding on any extras you want to snag, giving us your shipping address, and paying postage. Once those two weeks have elapsed, the survey will close, and you will not be able to fill it out.

You can also all expect the PDF to be delivered to your inbox within the next couple of days. We're finalizing a couple of laaaaaast touches, and then the game will well and truly be done. And it looks..

Well.

Take a peek yourself :)

As a reminder, the zine-only orders will start shipping out by the end of October. Once I submit that print order on Monday, I'll be calling a meeting with the team to figure out our precise timeline for delivering All Of The Extra Things(tm) like the postcards, map template, playing and tarot card, and Book of Legend. You can expect that information soon. My optimistic estimate remains that you will all have all of your deliverables in-hand by the end of November, and there's nothing that's indicated to me yet that it won't be possible. I'll keep you in the loop.

Stay cool, stay dry, stay safe, my friends.

You'll be hearing from me soon.

With gratitude,
Sylvan

PS: Nic and I will be at Big Bad Con this year running Before the Flood! Event sign-ups are happening right now, so go find us and get in on the action!

Hey folks, Sylvan here!

After a much needed couple of weeks rest (and an additional waiting period for the funds to hit), the Clawhammer team is back at work and ready to rumble. We met this past week to establish our finalized project timeline, so here's the agenda for today's update:

First things first: the text of the game, as of this past Friday, is fully and completely drafted. From here on out, Nic and I are only going to touch it if Dominique tells us that we need to. Having that draft done is a huge step, and is in fact the biggest thing that we absolutely need to push the game to print.

Our goal is (and always has been) to start printing the zine on October 1st. Our text deadline was August 31st, which we handily hit, and the copy edit deadline is Sep. 8th, which Dominique is on track for. Art and layout are a little trickier, since there's more to do!

With our stretch goals, Reese is now committed to 8 large pieces and between 10 and 15 smaller pieces (or floaters). Here's an example of a large piece:

And here's an example of a floater:

As you can see, the large pieces are a lot flashier and more involved, while the floaters are designed to go anywhere. We're aiming to have all of the artwork done by Sep. 17th. So far, Reese has completed 7 of the 8 major pieces and 11 floaters. I don't know how she does it, but I sure as hell ain't complaining.

And that just leaves layout, which can't start until the artwork and text are done. MC, the legend that he is, says that he can do it in two weeks flat, so our estimated roadmap has layout finishing on October 1st, which is when we would get our print samples and tests done. That means that we will, barring any insane production issues, have the base game shipping to you by the end of October. That will include the standard zine, the foil edition, and the trifolds. We also will have the stickers and bookmarks ready for that order as well.

If you're someone who is waiting on the book of legend, the postcard set, the tarot and playing card, and the map template, fear not. I have not forgotten you, most loyal and brave backer! We wanted to prioritize getting the base game done first, so that we could start fulfillment sooner rather than later. The Book of Legend draft is already underway (we have around 10,000 words written), and I have started snooping around for guest writers for it... so stay tuned on that in a future update.

The postcards, playing card, map template, etc. will be coming as soon as possible. Once MC is done with layout, we'll be starting production on the secondary products. I don't have a solid date for you, but it would absolutely shock me if they weren't in the mail by the end of November. And that's a conservative estimate--I will be trying to get them to you sooner if at all possible. Thank you for your patience and understanding! We're going as fast as we can, while still maintaining the level of quality you have come to expect from me and from my team.

I promised you a bit of a game design blog. Well, nobody asked, but I still answered. This is for backers only... so read on!