Improving the enhancement dot
over 3 years ago
– Sun, May 02, 2021 at 04:00:22 AM
Hello! I hope you are doing wonderfully today! Things continue to progress over here. Everything is getting done, little by little.
It's funny, when I look back at the last two weeks to take an inventory of what's been done, it's just a thousand little things all over the place. This project is so huge, even just tackling all the small stuff can end up taking a long time. We're mostly down to the small stuff, but there is an immense amount of that small stuff.
We are still hoping to start wrapping up files for the printer at the end of May. The finish line is close!
In the mean time I've got a number of really cool things to talk to you about. This week is relatively small, but I wanted to introduce you to the new enhancement system.
This system is largely the same as it was in Gloomhaven, with some updated costs and disarm removed. But the one big change is to take the single enhancement symbol - a simple dot - and turn it into five symbols.
You see, in Gloomhaven, there was a lot of rules overhead and resulting confusion about what enhancements could go with what abilities, and so one of the Frosthaven playtesters, Justin Dowell, developed a new method that would place the restrictions of what enhancements could be used on the symbols themselves.
So first of all, we have a square symbol, which can only hold a "+1" sticker (which is also a square, to make things even more clear). If the ability is a jump, the square can also house a "Jump" sticker (which is the one special case in the whole system).
Next, we have a circle symbol, which can hold anything a square can hold, or instead hold an element (which are circular stickers).
Then we have the diamond symbol, which can hold anything a circle can hold, or instead hold a negative condition.
Or there's the similar diamond-plus, like the diamond but for positive conditions. And, of course, the condition stickers are diamonds to match.
And finally, the hex symbol, which is just for adding hexes to area of effect abilities.
The beauty of this is that the player just has to match shapes. In Gloomhaven, if there was an enhancement dot next to a range or a summon's hit point value, it may be clear to some that you could only apply a +1 sticker, but now it is even more clear.
And this delineation not only helps players keep the rules straight, but also allows us more versatility and balance in the design. Maybe an ability would be too powerful if a player was allowed to enhance it with a condition or element, but a +1 would be just fine. Previously we may just not allow enhancement, but now we can put in a square enhancement symbol, giving the player more agency.
And, yes, it does help us keep a handle on some of the more powerful enhancements to keep the balance in check. No more repeatable mass cursing. No more strengthening yourself with a bottom heal action for two turns of advantaged attacks. No more infusing your favorite element with every single move ability you own.
So, yeah, just one of the many small things to get excited about. We're really working to improve this game over Gloomhaven in every conceivable way to give you a more epic and balanced experience. For now though, it is getting late, and I've still got some things to cross off my to-do list.
So have a great weekend, and I'll catch you next time!
Frosthaven pins, plus finishing up the narrative
over 3 years ago
– Sat, Apr 17, 2021 at 12:35:44 AM
Hello! I am excited this week, because I am finally through getting all the narrative text written for the side scenarios. Yay!
Back in this update, I talked about how there was a lot of work still left to do on this front (and, in fact, a lot of work to do on all aspects of the scenario book). But now I am pleased to say that I am 100% on the narrative text, rules text, and layout for the scenario book, which is a huge milestone for me.
Of course, play testing is still happening, so rules text will still be changing, all the text needs to be edited, and my layouts aren't the final layouts - professional graphic design still needs to handle that - but this is still a big thing for me! That work is no longer hanging over my head, and I can focus on all the other hundreds of things I need to get done.
Next up for me is doing some final passes on item and monster design. Josh has been churning out character cards in the new layouts, so there's a lot of that to look through as well. And I've still got a significant amount of work to do tightening up the campaign mechanics. Also, the flavor text for the non-scenario sections of the section book, which I talked about here, is mostly done, but some sections still need some attention. And we need to finalize the design of all the puzzles, but that's the last big thing on my plate.
The point is, we're making progress, and that feels good.
In other news, I wanted to share with you the Frosthaven character pins we just got back from the factory. These aren't quite final - there's still some minor color changes to make, and the final backing cards will have the updated logos and just background art (without the character) on it - but I think they are still looking pretty good!
Of course, since the pledge manager is closed, it's too late to add these, but we'll have them on the webstore, after the Kickstarter is fulfilled, and at conventions, whenever we resume those!
So, as always, I hope you have a good weekend. Stay safe, and I'll catch you again in two weeks, when I will be fully vaccinated! Woo!
Some nice art to look at
over 3 years ago
– Sun, Apr 04, 2021 at 01:46:38 AM
Hello! Happy one year anniversary! A year ago, we were settling into a pandemic and watching the millions starting to rack up on this project. Now vaccines are being distributed, and, after spending a solid year in my house working on this beast, we're actually getting close to being done!
There is not a whole lot talk about this week. We're continuing to make progress on all the various fronts of this massive endeavor. The campaign elements have already been refined significantly since we started testing two weeks ago (though there is still a ways to go), artwork is coming in left and right, and we're going through all the various writing for scenarios and sections that needs to get done. Also lots of progress on the graphic design front with various cards and books. It's all kind of coming together!
So today, without too much specific to discuss, I wanted to show you more of the wonderful map tile art of David Demaret. We saw some of the initial pieces he created at the start of the project, but he too has been working consistently over the last year to create vibrant and varied environments for the game.
So here we go! We've got dungeon environments:
Cave environments:
Snow environments:
Metallic environments:
And wood environments:
I could do this all day, but hopefully that is enough awesome for now.
One thing I'd like to touch upon, just because we're on the subject and I know people are going to ask about them, is the JotL-style map books for Gloomhaven and Frosthaven, which we talked about in this update. I just want to emphasize that they are outside the scope of this project. Completing Frosthaven is the only priority right now, and only once that is completely finished will we be turning our attention to projects like that.
And that's it for now! Have a good weekend, and I'll catch you again in two weeks!
Let's update this timeline
over 3 years ago
– Sun, Mar 21, 2021 at 12:26:29 AM
Hello! I hope you are doing well! Things are moving along over here. We just recently started play testing the campaign aspects of the game (players play through the entire campaign by sort of hand-waving the actual scenario parts of it with some simple metrics), and that is proving very helpful in refining some of the overall systems of the game, which is great.
It has taken a lot of effort to get to a point where all aspects of the campaign are in place (outside of some flavor text) to do this, and it feels good to finally get to these last stages of development! We've also brought some additional writers, graphic designers, and artists on to the team to get through all the work we have left in a timely manner, so that's exciting too!
What I want to do now is give you an updated timeline now that we have a more clear ending in sight.
Before I get to that though, I just want to make sure we're all on the same page regarding how HUGE this project is. And not just the amount of content, but every aspect it. Yes, there is a ton of content here, resulting in a bigger, heavier box than Gloomhaven. We are also fulfilling 90,000 copies of this giant box for the Kickstarter, plus all the additional products.
When you add all these factors together, a fulfillment on this scale has never been done by not only us, but any of our partners or anyone else in the entire industry. The amount of cardboard we are manufacturing and shipping out to you is unprecedented. So that is something to feel kind of cool about, but also keep it in mind if something doesn't arrive exactly when we estimate it will arrive.
So, with all that said, let's talk some rough dates. First of all, we are estimating that everything should be ready for the printers by the end of May. I know, this is 4-5 months later than previously anticipated, which is something no one feels great about, but the extra development time was needed to make pretty much every aspect of the game better, as well as keeping all of us sane and alive. This is, of course, still an estimate, but at this point, we have a pretty good idea of exactly what is left to do and how much time it will take to do it.
Once it is at the printer, they'll be proofing, printing, and assembling. Given the huge amount of components and the number of games we have to produce, the factory is estimating that they will be able to start shipping out containers of games by the start of August. Start is an important word here, given, again, the large amount of copies we'll be producing. It will take roughly 2-3 months to actually get all the games on boats out to our fulfillment partners.
The first thing to note here is that not all fulfillment centers will get the games at the same time. We'll be shipping out to the farthest fulfillment centers first (UK and EU) and ending with the closest centers in China. The second thing to note is that even within a single fulfillment center, the games will need to be sent out in waves as the containers arrive. So even once a center starts receiving, it still could be up to a month before your copy gets received and shipped. (Whatever metrics are used by fulfillment partners to determine the order in which copies get shipped out are entirely up to them and based solely on efficiency.)
So this is where the timeline gets pretty nebulous, based on numerous individual factors. We anticipate backers could start receiving copies as early as the start of October, but it could be up to 4 months from the start of shipping before the final backers get their copies, which would be around the end of November.
But this is the timeline as we see it now:
- End of May - All files to the printer
- Start of August - Freight shipping begins
- October-November - Fulfillment window
One other thing to note is that this timeline covers Kickstarter backers (including retail backers) and Backerkit pre-orders. We'll also be manufacturing copies for normal retail distribution, but that will happen afterward - fulfilling the Kickstarter is the #1 priority (obviously). We won't be putting the game into normal distribution until at least a month after Kickstarter fulfillment winds down (so probably January at the earliest).
Well, I think that covers all the major points. I do want to take a moment to thank everyone for being so supportive throughout this long development process. It's okay to be upset by the delays, though. All of us over here are upset we can't get the game to you sooner, as well. And if this timeline doesn't work for you, I get it. You can always request a refund (well, up until we actually ship the game out to you) by emailing [email protected].
Have a great weekend, and I'll see you next time!
Spending some time with the section book
over 3 years ago
– Sat, Mar 06, 2021 at 02:32:54 AM
Hello! You may or may not have noticed, but the pledge manager is officially closed (for non-retail backers) as of Monday, which means you may or may not have been charged for your wave 2 orders (depending on whether you added anything to your pledge in between wave 1 and 2). As is sometimes the case, a number of cards failed to charge (because they're expired, etc.), and those will be rerun on Monday. If you need more time than that to get a valid card to us, we will try again one last time next Monday (the 15th) as well, but please get that updated as soon as you can, if you are in that situation. And, of course, if you have any problems with your order, you can always reach out to [email protected].
Also, you may or may not have noticed that March has arrived! If you haven't been paying attention to updates at all, you may be wondering, "Where is my game?" As discussed, there have been a number of delays with development. Basically, I was budgeting for a project on the level of Gloomhaven, and as we've found the corners on exactly what we want to accomplish with Frosthaven, it has turned into something significantly larger. Which is ultimately good news for you, because if you thought Gloomhaven was epic, hoo boy! Frosthaven is on a whole other level. But that does mean it is going to require more time.
Exactly how much more time? That is burning question, and I am going to do my very best to put together an accurate answer for you in the next update.
For now, what I'd like to do is spend a little time talking about the Section Book (a name I'm not actually sold on - we may end up calling it something cooler). We've talked about this before when I showed you a preview of the Scenario Book. It is essentially a supplementary book to feed you extra text and maps as you play through a scenario, but it is also so much more than that! Any time we have story text for you to read, we're going to send you over to the Section Book.
I've mapped it all out, and there are 191 Section Book entries that are not directly tied to scenarios. Which is also in addition to the ~275 event cards in the game. There is a lot to encounter in this game, a lot of choices to be made, and a lot of wild rides to go on.
So when might you encounter these sections? Well, a lot of them you'll be writing on your calendar as something that will happen at a set time in the future. Let's say you've just retrieved some valuable metal from the mountains, and the blacksmith needs a little time to work it before he can make what you need for the next scenario in the chain. That scenario won't be available immediately, but instead you'll be instructed to write a section number on the calendar spot, say, two weeks from now, and that's when you'll read a section about how you went back to the blacksmith and unlocked the next scenario.
See, whenever you go back to the outpost, the first thing you do will be to mark the passage of time, putting an X through the next week of the calendar and reading any section numbers that were written in there. And if the section is big and important enough, it may even tell you to not resolve an outpost event that week (we don't want to overload you with too much text, after all).
So anything that requires timing will show up as section on your calendar, but there are a lot of other ways to encounter them as well:
- Whenever you draw a random side scenario card, you'll get a little bit of setup to what exactly you found and how that leads you to the scenario.
- Whenever a character class retires, there will be a section to read, which might lead to events or other timed sections.
- Whenever you build a new building, you'll get a little flavor text about that. There are even some buildings whose primary purpose is to send you through a chain of different sections and scenarios, solving puzzles and unlocking cool things along the way.
- Whenever you modify your Town Guard deck, you'll read a section about how that goes.
- When you reach maximum (or minimum) morale in town, there's a section for that too.
- Whenever you solve a puzzle, it will be a 3-digit number, and that means it's time to read a section.
- And, really, the list just goes on. I think you get the idea.
Anyway, if you can't tell, I'm excited about sections. It really opens the game up to just do a lot of fun stuff outside of the other systems of the game. It's not ground-breaking or anything - I'm sure you've seen similar things in other campaign/legacy games - but it is versatile, and nailing it all down was one of the last big steps I needed to make to really define the full scope of the project.
So, yeah, ideally we'll be able to come up with some new timelines based on that full definition, and I'll be back in two weeks with another update! Stay safe!
