Discussing Some Criticisms and Questions
over 3 years ago – Fri, Oct 09, 2020 at 11:59:07 PM

Hey everyone! Over the last few updates, we’ve seen some criticism and questions of the game and the changes made to it, and we decided to go ahead and address all of this head-on in an open and frank discussion. We’re going to try to give you a better idea of how the game flows in this update, and also tell you why we implemented many of the changes we did.

This update is another long one. I apologize for that. As you’ll see at the end of this update, that is something we’re going to try to avoid in the future. But for this one, it was necessary. Hopefully, it can help some people out, and at the least, shine some light on a few of our thought processes. Let’s get into it.

 The Campaign vs. Now 

One criticism we’ve heard several times recently is that Dawn of Madness wasn’t an actual game during the campaign. Another major one (one that I very much empathize with) is that we’re cutting out people’s favorite features of the game and that it’s hardly the same game anymore. I want to try tackling these two criticisms first.

First of all, Dawn of Madness absolutely was a game during the campaign. Were there parts of it that we weren’t able to finish before the campaign? Yes. Absolutely. But it was a working game. Some would say we rushed it to Kickstarter. I honestly would agree with that, despite all of the delays running up to the launch. (I think the rest of the team would, as well.) But the ugly truth is, if we had waited any longer to launch it, we wouldn’t have been able to continue as a company. (I even floated the idea of pulling a Kingdom Death and running it into January, but we had bills due in January and couldn’t even do that.) So, we were basically forced to launch it then if we wanted to launch it (and our future games) at all.

So, yes, DoM was an actual game when we launched, but there were two problems with it: first of all, we didn’t do a great job of showcasing it (something that still weighs on me.) And, second, there were a lot of features that people just didn’t like. So, we promised you guys a sweeping revision of the game (some of those promises are still viewable on the campaign page.) While we certainly would have still made some changes if we had received largely positive feedback, it would have been nowhere near the overhaul that the game has undergone due to receiving the negative feedback. The changes that we have made are direct results or necessary byproducts of the changes we promised during the campaign.

Now, to be clear, we don’t regret any of these changes. We feel this is a superior game to the first version (which itself was actually just one in a long line of versions.) But I wanted to clarify why we made these changes: it was because of your feedback, not because there was no game there in the first place.

Another thing some have said is that we should have made it clear that DoM was very much a prototype when we launched it. But the thing is, we did. I even specifically mentioned it in the campaign video. In that video, I said that this was an old-school Kickstarter, where you weren’t just supporting a preorder but were actually making a significant difference in a game still taking shape. It has become clear this is no longer what people expect from a Kickstarter, and I very much doubt we will ever do something like this again. (Our next game, Twisted Fables, is almost completely finished, for instance.) But I digress.

In our last update, we got several questions about the change we made to solo play, so now I want to address a few of those.

 Questions About Solo Play 

Q: Is solo play still possible?

A: Absolutely. I’m sorry if I wasn’t clear enough about that. Solo play has not gone away, nor will it. All that has changed is the recommended number of wanderers in a solo game.

Q: Have you abandoned solo gamers?

A: Definitely not. A big regret I have from the last update is saying we were working to make this the best multiplayer game we can. While it’s undoubtedly true, I think it also created the feeling that we had forsaken the idea of this as a solo game, which isn’t true.

Q: Would you personally buy Dawn of Madness strictly as a solo game after this change?

A: This is an entirely subjective answer, but, for me, personally, I would say yes. Unequivocally. Honestly, almost every game of DoM that I have played thus far has been by myself. Most of the team is in a different country from me, so there aren’t tons of opportunities for me to be a part of the regular game testing. Of those games I’ve played by myself, my favorite ones were those I played with multiple wanderers. In fact, I don’t think I would ever choose to play with just one wanderer if given a choice. But, as I said, this is pretty subjective, and I can understand that some might think I’m just saying this to make people feel better. (For the record, I’m not.) I completely appreciate the fact that this isn’t the preferred method of play for some people. (As an aside, I think it’s unfortunate that so many of the test games people videoed only played with one wanderer. It’s so much more engaging with more. Once again, though, just my opinion.)

Q: How many stories will you have to focus on when playing with multiple wanderers in a game?

A: Just one. In the previous version, you would have had to complete other wanderers’ memories, but in the current version, that is no longer an issue. Actually, you will get deeper into the central wanderer’s story than you ever would have with one wanderer because there will be more opportunities for encounters, and the varying strengths and weaknesses of the other wanderers will impact the story in cool and varying ways. It won’t detract from the central wanderer’s story at all. On the contrary, it will enhance it. (More on that below.)

Q: Will the components for multiple wanderers overwhelm the available playing area?

A: As I’ve said, I’ve played games with four wanderers, and I don’t think my dining table is much different from a standard table’s size. (Plus, that was in the previous version, which had significantly more components on the table. The new version has a much more consolidated footprint. Just the removal of the conscious realm and the other storybooks saves a lot of space.) In addition, you won’t use all of the components in one game. So, while the number of cards and tokens can seem overwhelming, you will only use a selection of them in any particular game. For those who own our previous game, Deep Madness, I can safely say that if you can fit it, then you should have no problem fitting Dawn of Madness.

Q: Won’t it be much more complicated with multiple wanderers?

A: I won’t deny there is undoubtedly a little added complexity. I suppose whether or not it’s too much will be up to you. However, I think that there are some grey areas that we haven’t been able to cover yet, which might aid you in making this decision for yourself. I will cover this more fully in the “Why Four Wanderers?” section below.

Q: Could you create an AI system for the other wanderers?

A: I’ll be candid here: it would be far easier to manage the other wanderers than to worry about an AI system. If you want to only focus on one wanderer and use the others in a strictly supportive manner, you can do that. And it would be much easier to do this than to worry about any sort of AI system.

Q: Can I really not play with one wanderer anymore?

A: As I said in the last update, while I don’t know if it will be officially supported, I see no reason why you couldn’t - with a couple of caveats. You will definitely lose some of the game’s flavor, and some workarounds will need to be implemented in certain places. I’ll see if it’s something that maybe I can work on with the team, but I can’t promise anything right now. Honestly, I kind of think you’ll end up wanting to just play with all four wanderers. But that’s only my opinion.

Why Four Wanderers? 

When the team initially started thinking about four wanderers, there was some skepticism about it. But, the longer it was considered, the more it made sense. It allowed us to do some things and count on things that we couldn’t otherwise.

When we had four wanderers guaranteed in a game, we could count on multiple wanderers being there to assist with encounters. They would be there to allow for interesting things to happen in finales. They would be there to offer assistance when it was necessary for intense situations. And, on top of that, we could ensure that every wanderer would be there in the finale’s ending.

That opened up new possibilities as well. Here are a few points regarding why we decided to go with four wanderers:

1. While DoM is a game heavily based on stories, its most unique feature is not uncovering a previously laid out story: it’s forging the central wanderer’s story during the game and finale. Different wanderers will develop the story in entirely different ways. Other wanderers are not just supporting the central wanderer: they are bringing their own unique contributions to the central wanderer’s story. Every choice they make could completely change the core of the plot and forge the central wanderer into a different character. This level of customization simply wouldn’t be possible with one wanderer.

For example, in Claude, the detective’s story, the same stories in Claude’s own eyes and the eyes of the other wanderers are different (for reasons we can’t share right now.) Players need to collect information from both perspectives to draw the whole picture. Also, because different wanderers have varied sentience strengths and weaknesses, they will lead the same encounter to different paths.  

2. The Otherworld in DoM is about several consciousnesses fusing together, which is a key concept of the Deep Madness world setting. This concept comes through in several ways, but one of the most lasting is the fact that the central wanderer’s finale will permanently affect every wanderer in the game. Each different ending of a specific finale (there are usually at least four of them - on top of the four different finales you get in the main game) will leave a permanent game effect on every wanderer in the game, which will be applied to all future games that wanderer plays in. This could be thought of as a “legacy” aspect of DoM - something we will discuss more in a future update. (And no, DoM is still not a legacy game. You will never destroy a card.) So, the overall experience is really about different wanderers affecting each other, their stories leaving an impact on one another even as they each help to shape those stories.    

3. More options mean more fun. The more choices you have in approaching a given situation, the more unique ways you’ll have of tackling it. Having multiple wanderers gives you that, with the ability to have one wanderer fend off the oncoming terror while another delves into an encounter. I can understand how some would feel having multiple wanderers would lower the feelings of isolation and claustrophobia, but this game will be plenty immersive and horrifying even with more wanderers to share the experience. And trust me, for reasons that will become clear when we get to the updates on malformations and abominations, you’ll really want more wanderers to help keep them at bay.    

4. Playing with four wanderers doesn’t require as much upkeep or thought as you may think it does. This is what we’ll spend the rest of this section on. As we’ve said several times, we have been working hard to streamline the rules and create a game experience that is smooth to play, so you can get lost in the horror and not the rules.

For the sake of this discussion, I will once again compare DoM to Deep Madness. I apologize if you haven’t played it and have no frame of reference, but, given that many of our backers backed both games, I ask that you roll with me on this. In Deep Madness, the investigators rotated every round. This made you rely on a great deal of strategy and planning, because if you set one investigator to do something important and then that investigator went last in the next turn, then you could be screwed. This was a feature for Deep Madness, not a bug. But for those worried about handling multiple wanderers in Dawn of Madness, I want to contrast it against Dawn’s mental capacity track. The mental capacity track is easy to figure out and predict, without the headaches of anyone rotating for no seemingly good reason. In our playtesting, once we got into the flow of things, everything became very natural. Choices became easy and quick.

Furthermore, managing individual wanderers is not the pain that I think some envision. A lot of the things that would have made those wanderers a chore to manage no longer exist or are very different in the current game. For instance, as we said in our last update, you no longer have to dive into memory encounters in order to upgrade your wanderer. The inner offerings (which are really a part of the new existence upgrade system now rather than a standalone thing - actually, I only call them that because that’s how we referred to them during the campaign) are far more streamlined than they were previously, with many of their abilities being unlocked through upgrading the wanderers throughout the game. (Meaning you don’t have to even think about them if you don’t want to most of the time. But, if you do want to delve in deeper, then they’re there for you and will certainly help you as you progress.) You will gain coda cards for each wanderer as you play through the game, but you would have collected coda cards anyway: It was that one wanderer would have had them versus several wanderers having them. The only other thing to worry about are domains - both the cards and the resources on your dashboard. But the cards are very straightforward, so shouldn’t serve as too much of a problem. Likewise, the resources are not terribly difficult to understand or manage.

Unfortunately, I can talk about this stuff until I’m blue in the face, but it will still all just be words. We’re hoping to get to the point where we have a polished prototype to show you soon so that you can see what we mean rather than just having to envision it for yourself.

Of course, I also realize that for some this update won’t overcome the glaring problem you see with the game. To you, I want to say that I don’t want you to feel like you’re trapped in something you no longer want anything to do with. You never have been, and we won’t start that now. We have not been trying to pull a fast one on you or hide important details from you until it’s too late: We’ve just been trying to make this the best game we can. Of course, I would love it if you gave the game a chance, but I also realize some might feel like that chance has already passed. And that’s fine. Having said that, if you need help managing your pledge, send an email to [email protected] and we’ll help you out as soon as we can.

Increased Update Tempo

We have been running into a couple of problems with relaying information for the revised game through updates. First of all, we haven’t been able to get information to people quickly enough to fill in gaps in a timely manner, which I think has left a hanging uncertainty over the game. Second, we’ve been trying to cram too much information into a single update (yes, I realize the irony of that statement, since this update was ludicrously long), leaving some feeling overwhelmed or like we’re trying to bury information that we want people to overlook deep in the update. (Or missing all of the cool stuff because of one negative point that overtakes everything else.) Third, I think there is a danger of people forgetting too much of how the game works or its terms over the long gulfs of time, resulting in some feeling disoriented and unsure about how the game functions.

As I mentioned earlier, ideally, we would have an updated prototype to show you that would answer most (or all) of people’s outstanding questions. But, until that’s ready, we’re going to give something else a try. We’re going to try to publish more frequent and shorter updates to try to get you more information in an easier-to-digest and quicker manner. I can’t guarantee how long this will go on for, or how good we’re going to be about it. But we’ll give it a try and see how it goes. So, expect the next update soon, and then the following one around two weeks after that.

Well, I know that this update hasn’t answered every question or criticism, but hopefully, it has helped somewhat. Have a great day, everyone, and we’ll talk to you again very soon.

Phases, Actions, and Some Cards
over 3 years ago – Wed, Sep 16, 2020 at 02:46:14 PM

Hey there! I hope you've had a great few weeks. Today we have some finished card layouts to show you, and our next deep dive into Dawn of Madness rules! This deep dive is another foundational one, so we won't be getting into the really fun, cool mechanisms today, either. But those wouldn't make as much sense without knowing how the game actually functions. So, with that in mind, let's get into some more of those crunchy details.

First, though, we received some more samples from the factory! These were initially in dozens of tiny pieces that the team had to assemble, so the individual pictures didn't make it in time for this update. But here's a look at all of the assembled miniatures together:

And just to assuage any fears, the miniatures you will receive will be fully assembled. They are made in pieces at the factory and then assembled before they are shipped to you. We just needed to see all of the pieces before the final approval. 

New Terms and New Cards - Existence Cards

Existence - In the previous version, existence was your health. We really liked the thematic ties associated with this, but it was also a little cumbersome and everyone just ended up calling it health anyways. So, we just changed it to health. A bit more boring? Yes. Instantly easier to understand and use in a sentence? Also yes. However, we didn't want to get rid of the idea of existence, and memories ended up not working as they did in the previous version, either. So, it made sense for memory shards and memories to become existence.

Memory Shard Tokens Become Existence Tokens - While memory shards still worked thematically, we preferred the idea that you were slowly collecting the shattered pieces of your existence. So, existence tokens superseded memory shard tokens.

Memory Cards Become Existence Cards - As mentioned above, the idea of piecing together your own memories during the game was cool, but there were some problems with it: it interrupted the flow of the game, required multiple Wanderer storybooks on the table at once, and needed other Wanderers' World Shards on the board (which became an impossibility as we added more World Shards for each Wanderer.) Also, it was really just another kind of encounter, and there are plenty of those already. (In fact, all of the memories we wrote have now been converted to regular encounters.) So, the basic idea of memories was kind of dismantled. When that happened, memory cards no longer made as much sense as they did previously. So now, they are instead called existence cards. You use existence tokens to buy existence cards, which provide useful stat boosts or add new abilities to your Wanderer.

The previous inner offerings system is now tied into these cards as well: for instance, some of Emily's existence cards can grant treatment cards to another Wanderer, such as a Lobotomy or Trepanation. (Sorry/you're welcome, other Wanderer.)

A Closer Look at Existence Cards

Here is a closer look at a couple of existence cards. There are two kinds of these cards: locked and unlocked. The unlocked ones are available from the very start of the game. The locked ones, however, have to be unlocked throughout the chapter. Only after they've been unlocked can they be purchased with existence tokens. (Unlocking more existence cards is another reason you may want to dive back into a Wanderer's storybook.)

Deep Dive - The Basics of DoM

I plan on breaking down a lot of DoM's basics for you today. I'm going to cover a wide range of stuff, everything from winning and losing to actions you can take to how co-op works. There are bound to be some things we don't cover in this update, which there are three likely reasons for: either I'm saving it for a later update, I glossed over it for the sake of space, or I forgot to mention it. So, if you have questions, feel free to leave them in the comments and we'll get to them in another update. First, let's start with winning or losing a Wanderer Stage in DoM!

Winning and Losing the Wanderer Stage

As mentioned previously, each game is now split between the Wanderer Stage and the Finale Stage. To get into the Finale, the total ending points accumulated through encounters for all endings must equal 50. (Except in rare instances, such as those mentioned in the last update where you can be propelled directly into an ending.) You will lose, though, if the 10th game round ends, all Wanderers die at the same time, or one Wanderer dies four times.

Yes, you can now die multiple times in a single game! Death in the Otherworld is not like death in our world: when you fade out of existence, a trace of you always remains. However, that doesn't mean there are no consequences to dying. Actually, the consequences are one of my favorite parts of the revised rules, which we will get into in more detail in another update. You also may notice that failing to kill the Abomination is no longer mentioned in this list. There's a reason for that, which we'll cover when we deep dive into the Abominations in another update.

Once you get into a Finale, you're basically guaranteed a "win." What I mean by that is, you will always get a conclusion, no matter how poorly you do in that Finale. Will it be a good conclusion if you perform terribly? No, almost certainly not. But it'll be a conclusion. Will it be a good conclusion if you play really well? Um… Chances are better?

Wanderer Stage Phases

During the Wanderer Stage, each round is broken up into three distinct phases. Those are the Event Phase, the Action Phase, and the Refresh Phase.

Event Phase

During the Event Phase, the round tracker will advance and direct you to a different entry in the central Wanderer's storybook. These events can change what's going on during the game (sometimes significantly), and will often be directly shaped by your previous actions and choices. For instance, some encounters will only appear if you have done something else previous to that round.

Action Phase

The action phase is where, you guessed it, stuff happens! Wanderers and monsters will use their mental capacity to perform actions, working down the mental capacity track and taking turns until everyone has exhausted all of their available mental capacity for the round, just like we originally mentioned during the campaign. The actions a Wanderer can take are:

Move action - pretty self-explanatory. You can use up to 3 mental capacity to move across up to 3 World Shards.

Attack action - also pretty self-explanatory. Kill you some monsters! (We'll go more in-depth into combat in a later update.)

Encounter action - this is how you get into all those stories and dig into DoM's world. (As well as advance the game, get into the ending, get resources, etc.) So, obviously, it's pretty important. Below is a World Shard with all of its pieces broken down, including where you'll find the initial encounter that's accessible through that World Shard.

In addition to the encounters on World Shards, you can also dive into encounters through encounter cards. You will unlock encounter cards through your choices and actions in the game, like in the previous version. What's different in this version is that you no longer need to pay with domains to get into encounters, because domains are a rarer resource than they were before - which we'll look at briefly in our next action. 

Domain action - this is a synthesis of two separate actions from the previous version: drawing a domain card and gaining extra sentience cubes to make new domains. To gain the extra sentience cubes, you will roll dice based on the colors of the sentience icons on your current World Shard. (See the World Shard example above to see the sentience icons.) To gain a domain card, you'll just draw the top domain card off of the deck. You can use the domain action to perform either of these tasks, but you can't do both at the same time. Speaking of changes, domain cards have changed quite a bit in this version of the game. They're now a bit more like an item that you can gain. They can be different types of items (such as a melee weapon), and they can also be part of a set that can unlock new abilities when both cards are in the game. They also still have some of their original domain card aspects as well: Along the bottom of the card are three domains that you can sacrifice this card to use in a pinch. Here's a breakdown of the new domain card: 

A domain action can only be taken by a Wanderer once per round, making domains a more precious commodity than they were before. (Don't worry, though: you'll also get domains as rewards throughout the game, such as from encounters.) Another reason to be very careful with your domains is that each one has a very useful special ability which we'll go over in greater depth in another update. 

Lastly, some domain cards are unlocked by specific encounters in certain chapters. We'll go into that, too, in more depth later on.

Existence action - this action might cause a little confusion if you didn't read the section on Existence up above, so read that first. You can use an existence action to spend your existence tokens on an existence card, using it to permanently upgrade your Wanderer. (This also doesn't cost any mental capacity. Sweet deal!)

Confrontation action - If you are on the same World Shard as the Abomination, you can perform a confrontation action to attack it. This doesn't cost mental capacity (nor does it cost existence tokens as it did in the previous version.) Instead, it costs something potentially much more valuable: a coda card. As mentioned in a previous update, every coda card (which is a card that you gain after an encounter, giving you increased stats or new abilities) now has a resistance card on the back of it. (Though it's normally just called a coda card now, rather than a resistance card.) When you use a coda card for this, you will flip it over and use its resistance side, then leave it turned over like that for the rest of the game. 

 When you fight the Abomination, you will roll dice equal to all of the sentience icons on the resistance side of the coda, trying to attack the weakness that is present on the Abomination's current confrontation card. We'll get in-depth with this in the forthcoming Abomination update, but, in the meantime, here's a look at the revised confrontation card as well:

As I said, we'll get into the meat of this card and how it works later on. 

Trade action - This is pretty much like it sounds. You can swap domain cards with other Wanderers using this action. 

Component actions - Lastly, we have component actions. This isn't any one action, necessarily, but rather any specific action mentioned on a particular component (such as a coda, existence, or domain card.) 

Of course, the Wanderers won't be the only ones taking actions and storming across the Otherworld. There will be plenty of monsters doing the same thing. But, for the sake of brevity, we'll cover how they work in another update. 

Refresh Phase

The final phase is the refresh phase. In this phase, devour cards will be resolved (if the Abomination is on the board - we'll get to this in another update.) Each Wanderer with a devour token on their World Shard will resolve a devour card. Then, dead Wanderers will (likely) be respawned, working to regain as much health as they can. Following this, mental capacity is restored for everyone, domain rifts are refreshed for monsters (more on this in a later update), and the round tracker is advanced to the next round. 

Co-op in DoM

One idea that has persisted with DoM is that this is really a single-player game masquerading as a cooperative multiplayer one. I understand how people could feel that way since everyone is working together through the Central Wanderer's story. I further have no doubt this idea was exacerbated by some of the mechanics mentioned during the campaign that some took issue with, thinking they favored the Central Wanderer to the detriment of the other players. Well, hopefully, this section will help to soothe those fears and help to establish DoM is a thoroughly and viscerally cooperative experience. 

First of all, what can other Wanderers not do that only the Central Wanderer can do? The answer is... nothing. Every action is available to every Wanderer in every story you're playing through, from fighting the Abomination to exploring the dark depths of an encounter. In some Finales there are certain things happening to the Central Wanderer and not to the others, but in this case, it normally means the other Wanderers must rally around their struggling ally to save him or her - or band together to defeat him or her. 

If you are not actively playing as a team in DoM, then you will all die. If you are not strategizing together on the best way to accomplish your goals (or perhaps one player is stingy with his resources, such as his Codas or Domains) then you will all die. If you are not using your unique abilities or proficiencies to help your friends in a tight spot, then they will die - and then you will as well. 

Furthermore, because each Wanderer has different strengths and weaknesses, it means that each one will shape the story differently, pushing it more in one direction or another. The encounters are not written as though you are a detached observer: you see the game through your eyes (which often happen to be fused with the Central Wanderer's twisted mind), and the stakes for you are very real. In fact, you won't be able to get through some obstacles on your own. You'll need your companions to bail you out. 

The game revolves around working together, and around figuring out the best way to advance to the finale without being killed permanently. It is about sacrificing so that your teammate can succeed, or banding together to defeat a common adversary, or scrambling to recover health for your fallen comrade so that she doesn't die for a fourth time. 

In reading this, you may have started to wonder how playing with a single Wanderer is even possible if there is such a focus on teamwork. And that's where I have some more news that I suspect some people won't be thrilled with, but that is nonetheless necessary for the good of the game. We came to realize that, with so many moving parts and such a reliance on teamwork, it's not really possible to play the game in a balanced way with only one Wanderer - or even a couple of them. As such, the team came to the conclusion that it will be necessary to play with four Wanderers rather than just one. I'm sorry for those of you who were hoping to just play through a chapter with a single Wanderer, particularly since I said during the campaign it would be possible. But playing with four Wanderers is such a more strategic, intense, fast-paced, and, frankly, fun way to play the game, that it is worth the momentary disappointment. Plus, the way they affect each other during the Finales (and the way the Finales affect all of them from that moment on) is a very cool thing that we will go into in much more depth (along with all of the other "permanent" effects and upgrades) in a later update. 

Of course, you can still play the game solo. It's just that you will need to play with four Wanderers rather than only one. (I mean, you could still play the game with only one Wanderer. It's your game, after all. But some house-ruling may be necessary, and you might miss out on certain experiences or advantages that you would get playing with four.) Here's how we recommend playing DoM:

• One player: the player chooses 4 Wanderers. 
• Two players: players choose 2 Wanderers each. 
• Three players: one player chooses 2 Wanderers and each other player takes 1. 
• Four players: 1 Wanderer each. 

This makes the game a bit more like our previous game, Deep Madness, in this regard. 

In any case, I hope this isn't a big bummer for you. And I also hope that you can see our commitment to making this game the best multiplayer experience (actually, scratch that - the best experience, period) that we can. 

Okay, I think that's more than enough for one update. I think we'll start being able to get into the fun stuff in the next update now that a lot of the basics are out of the way. With that in mind, be sure to stay tuned! I can't wait to tell you about some of the cool stuff that's coming up! Stay safe, my friend, and have a great week! 

The Shape of Things to Come
over 3 years ago – Thu, Aug 13, 2020 at 07:09:50 PM

Hey guys! I hope you've all had a great month. We've got some fresh info for you, so let's get into it!

First of all, we're getting really close to having the rules in a finalized version! We're pretty excited about the changes made to the rules. As mentioned previously, streamlining has been one of our main goals, and we certainly have done that to the rulebook. It went from a Word document approximately 30 pages in length (minus extra stuff like quick references and stories) to around 19. There will still be a few tweaks, but overall we are delighted with how much easier the rulebook is to understand.

This simplifying moves past just the rulebook to the gameplay, too. For instance, setup instructions shed around a page-and-a-half. This change means that Dawn of Madness will be far easier to get to the table, much quicker to set up, and less fiddly with its components. In-game mechanisms have also been significantly refined to make your choices clearer, the terms cleaner, and your experience centered squarely upon the most thematic and nerve-wracking elements.

Since the gameplay mechanics are finally reasonably well nailed down, we thought we'd start up some deep dives again to give you a better idea of how this game will work. We'll start that today by taking a global look at the game, drilling down deeper in future updates. We once again don't have too many pictures for you, unfortunately, but what we have we'll share. Let's get into it!

Deep Dive: A Terrible, Living World

When we were looking at Dawn of Madness, the piece the team was most excited about was the thematic, narrative experience. So we really honed in on that, bringing everything else (combat, spawning, Wanderer advancement, etc.) into the service of that experience. This mindset helped us to zero in on precisely what Dawn of Madness is (and, honestly, what we always wanted it to be): a terrifying story you shape in a feverish, fluid, and inconstant world. The Otherworld is much more of a living world now: one where the choices you make and how you play will impact not just a set-length campaign, but potentially every future game you play. (Including if you play the same Wanderer again.)

 First, the narrative. As we've said all along, the real meat of Dawn of Madness is its story. That's where we're hoping to unsettle you, creep you out, and maybe even scare you. A two-inch-tall miniature's actions might bring tension, but it's the story accompanying that miniature that will truly bring your situation to life. 

We wanted to show you a small thumbnail of what one of those stories looks like. This is a super-zoomed-out outline for Emily's rough narrative structure:

What this graphic doesn't show you (at least from this level) is all of the encounters that reference, influence, and trigger each other. It would be almost impossible to make a mindmap of that which looked like anything but a ball of twine. This also doesn't include any of the endings. And, I want to stress, this is for ONE Wanderer. There are three more in the core box!

Up above I made reference to this being a living world. I think it's pretty obvious how that works in a single game since that's something we've talked about since the game launched. But what about outside a single game session, or with the finale? That's what we'll talk about in the rest of this update. 

First, let's discuss the relationship between the main game and the finale. In a previous update, we mentioned that now there would be an ending with every Wanderer you played and that the ending would be tied to points that are tracked using the new fancy Round Tracker. We've refined that mechanism a little: The ending is no longer a separate game, but rather another stage of the game. We made this decision because the amount of setup necessary for the finale has been reduced, and now almost all of the components from the main game carry over into it. Honestly, it just made more sense at this point to move directly into it rather than having to break everything down and then set it all back up. This also allows for a little more bleed-through between the finale and the main exploration that weren't quite as easy to pull off before. As such, a game is now broken up into two stages: the Wanderer Stage, and the Finale Stage. 

This makes for some interesting things we can do in-game. As an example, there are certain pathways that, if you follow them to their end, will automatically propel you into a particular ending - regardless of how many points you previously had towards that ending. It is, honestly, extremely difficult to pull this off, but it is possible.  And, as soon as you trigger this ending, you'll be able to jump right in and see what your actions have wrought. 

Once the ending is over, your actions will leave a lasting impact. As we mentioned during the campaign, each of a Wanderer's four finales has four endings of its own, and each one will find things wrapping up differently depending on what you do and how well you do it. You can't "lose", per se, when you get into a finale: no matter what, you'll get an ending that reflects your actions. Even if you all die. 

But what about after the game? Well, depending on what ending you get for your finale, you will receive a permanent condition or consequence that will impact your Wanderers and the world for as long as you play the game - for good or ill. (For instance, if, as in the example above, the finale ended with everyone dying, then the consequence would probably be pretty awful.) On a more personal level, it is also possible for your Wanderer to receive conditions that dog you from game to game. One way you get these is to die too many times during the game and to not deal with the consequences of that death. (You can now die up to three times each in the Wanderer phase of the game. If anyone dies a fourth time, though, then the game is lost. Conversely, if you die once in the finale, then you're out for the rest of the game.) I would very much like to tell you what those consequences are, but I'm going to save that for another update as it has to do with another area that deserves its own section: the Malformations. 

The Abominations will get their own update, too, as the way they work has changed, as well. But I can confirm that their legacy effects will continue, causing more chaos depending on how you dealt (or failed to deal) with the Abomination during the game.

I'm honestly itching to tell you more of the in-depth mechanics for the game, and this "deep dive" has barely scratched the conceptual surface. But I realize this update is already pretty long, and so I think I'll stop there. Coming up in future updates, though, we'll break pretty much every element of gameplay down into chunks. I can't wait to talk to you about some of them, but that'll have to wait for another day. 

If something is unclear now, bear with us. This update was pretty hard to write because I had to keep so much for the separate sections later on. (They just wouldn't have made sense without some explanation, and that explanation would have spoiled a bunch of surprises that really deserve their own spotlight.) The important TL;DR things to take away are: 

1) We've focused the game on our favorite element: the narrative. 2) The game is a living, feverish, and inconstant world. 3) Your actions not only impact the game you're playing but leave a lasting ripple across all of your future games. 4) And there's a bunch of info coming up that I can't wait to tell you.

It may be a little while before we can have a finalized rulebook for you to take a look at because layout work is expensive. As such, we need to make sure we have it pretty close to perfect before we put it into a new layout to send out to you. Having said that, we're pushing to get the game to a point where we can create a new demo to show you all, so you can see what Dawn of Madness plays like for yourself. We'll have more information on that in the coming months.

Have a great week, and we'll talk to you again soon! Thanks for being with us, and I hope you're all staying healthy and safe!

A Quick Update and Diving Deeper into the Forest of Teeth!
almost 4 years ago – Fri, Jul 03, 2020 at 12:41:39 AM

Hey guys! We don't have an enormous update for you today, but we wanted to keep you in the loop with everything that's going on.

The development team has been fine-tuning the gameplay flow using Emily's encounters and finales, as well as working on Claude's encounters. We're pretty excited about how different the two wanderers feel at this point and the flavors that are developing for all of the wanderers, and we're feeling pretty good about the framework that's coming together. Unfortunately, very little of what we've been doing involves things we can easily put into pictures, so it's hard for us to show you anything right now. As you have likely noticed from the last few updates, we like to show you the progress whenever we can, but sadly this isn't one of those times.

As for the miniatures, the tooling process is continuing unabated. We don't have many samples left to show you, but we'll still post the few that remain when we get the samples.

The Miniature Box contains 54 miniatures as a result of stretch goals, so it looks like we'll have to enlarge the size of that box from 310mm  x310mm x 130mm (12.2in x 12.2in x 5.11in) to 433mm x 323mm x 150mm (17in x 12.7in x 5.9in).

Here's a side view of the Miniature Box's layout:

There will also be two layers of vac trays inside the box. Here's a look at our initial layout mockups for those:

Yeah, we were pretty desperate for pictures in this update. =D

So, one other thing some of you who follow us on social media may notice is that we will be launching another campaign this year for the game Twisted Fables. (We gave a brief teaser for it at the end of the Dawn of Madness campaign.) We wanted to assure you that this game won't take away from Dawn of Madness or the team much at all, because not only was the game designed by a freelance game designer in cooperation with our team, but the game is basically finished. It's a smaller game and will have a smaller, more laid back campaign. If you're interested in following along with it, you can like the Facebook page we've started at https://www.facebook.com/TwistedFablesGame/.

Which reminds me of the one question we are asked more than anything else: when will we launch the next Deep Madness reprint? Well, we're still working on the new stuff that would be included in that campaign (you can't run just a straight-up reprint on Kickstarter), so I'm not sure. I think it would be after Twisted Fables. It could be that we won't be able to launch it until early next year, though if that changes, I'll let you all know.

But now, I think it's high time we travel back to the Forest of Teeth!

The Forest of Teeth Part 2

It's been a while since we last visited the Forest of Teeth. So, just as a refresher, here was the start of the story:

The sunlight drowns behind the green canopy as you step between the trees, their branches strangling the day as they seem to lean hungrily, greedily, down toward you. You advance deeper into the forest's belly, your gaze flicking left and right as you scan the undergrowth for movement. You used to know this place like the back of your hand. At least, you think you did. Even now you feel the pulse of its power as the emerald life radiates around you, but it's stranger somehow. More feral. Perhaps that's not a bad thing.

Eyes follow you in the gathering gloom, marking your progress deeper into the forest's belly. This place is alive in more ways than one, and it is as watchful as ever. Looking over, you catch one of the eyes looking at you. Picking up a stick, you stab the thing out. The branch squeals in pain and alarm as it is blinded. The other eyes blink in surprise, their lids cracked and rough.

Something shifts in the forest behind you. Sticks snap under the feet of whatever is back there. It is tracking you. Stalking you. You can almost smell its faintly sweet aroma.

Up ahead is a fork in the path. There appears to be a clearing down the left-hand route, while you think that the way to the right may take you to the network of caves that run beneath the hills of this place. You could very easily take either one, but a third option is also presenting itself to you: in front of you is a fallen log, and below that is a small hollow. You know someone is coming after you. Perhaps you should hide there and try to catch your pursuer unawares.

--

It was pretty close between the option to run for the caves or stay and ambush our pursuer, but in the end, the ambush won out. Having said that, there also seemed to be many of us who thought we should hide and see what we're up against first. So, we'll take a peek and see if we can take it. Just a word of warning: this will be (or at least a version of this will be) in the final game, so some slight spoilers may lie ahead! Let's get to it!

--

You dash forward, your footsteps nearly silent as they race over the forest's floor. Leaping over the log, you duck down into the hollow below it. Quickly you look around, surveying your surroundings. A half-broken branch dangles from another tree to your right. Maybe it snapped when your covering fell. The bright white molars and incisors lining its bark make you think it might serve as a wonderful club. Reaching up, you yank it off and cradle it in your palms as you peer through the crack between the ground and the felled trunk. Your breath comes in short pants as you wait, sweat beading on your forehead.

The forest grows hushed around you - apart from the sounds of your pursuer moving steadily in your direction, its feet crunching loudly over sticks and brush. The sweet odor is growing stronger now. It almost smells like... honey.

He comes into view beyond the trees. He is dressed in a sharp business suit, his black shoes glinting even in this twilit forest world, his black tie sharply contrasting with his white shirt. But it is not his body which gives you pause.

In place of a face, the man has a honeycomb. Dozens of tightly packed holes are arranged in an organic geometric shape, honey dripping from the latticework structure and down onto the collar of his jacket. You see bees hovering around his head, landing in his black hair and crawling into the myriad holes in his face before taking flight again. You find that you can't see the back of those holes. Each one has its own little pool of shadow collected within it, making it seem that each opening is its own miniature tunnel into oblivion.

You realize you are frozen in shock. You didn't know what you were expecting, but it wasn't that. The log lined with teeth slips from your fingers, thudding on the ground. The honeycomb man might not have a face, but he does still have ears. His head jerks toward you. He is moving faster now. He'll be on you in moments.

--

He's almost on us, guys! What are we going to do?

A. Run

B. Fight

C. Try climbing a tree and hope he can't follow us.

Now, don't feel like you just have to answer one of these, either. You can tell me what actions we should take, or whatever you'd like. Let me know what we should do in the comments!

(Also, there were some really good and thought-out comments in our last little foray into the forest. If your idea didn't make it in, don't worry! I'm creating a "swipe file" with your ideas, and maybe they'll make it into the game somewhere else - or even later on in our little story. ;)

Pledge Manager and Gameplay Update (A Big/Important One!)
almost 4 years ago – Sat, May 30, 2020 at 11:06:28 PM

Hi there, friend! We've got a big update today, so buckle up! 

Pledge Manager Update

First of all, the pledge manager. I've been talking about this with the team, and we've decided that we will go forward with closing the pledge manager on May 31st. The reason for this is because we need to make a pretty sizable payment to our manufacturer, and the more we're able to put down now the bigger our potential discount is (and thus the more we'll save later.) However, in order to do this, we will need the funds raised in Backerkit to ensure everything continues running smoothly. 

However! We know some of you need more time due to the current worldwide situation, or for other reasons. So, for people who need to have the pledge manager open for longer for whatever reason, simply don't finalize your pledge yet. Anyone who doesn't have their pledge finalized yet will not be charged on May 31st. You'll get updates every once in a while from Backerkit telling you to finalize, but other than that there will be no problems with this. We want to make sure you don't have undo financial pressure on you during this time, so if you can't afford the game yet, don't worry about it. You can finalize when you're able to. (Having said that, if you're able to finalize now, we ask that you do so in order for us to give the manufacturer as accurate of a count and to maintain as much of a financial buffer as currently possible.) 

What if you decide you want something down the road but don't know right now? No problem. We set a precedent during the Deep Madness reprint that we would help out our backers however we could, and we're going to continue that. So, if you would like to add something to your order down the road, we'll be happy to help you with that. We still don't know if we will reopen the pledge manager after the first wave (though if we do it will not contain wave one items), but we'll be happy to add stuff to your order at any time if you contact us. 

Speaking of contacting us: if you need to reach us for any reason (making sure your pledge isn't finalized yet, adding stuff after May 31st, etc.), you can always do so by emailing [email protected] or [email protected]. 

 Gameplay Update

You guys have been very patient waiting for gameplay updates, and today we will have the first glimpses of a lot of the changes coming to Dawn of Madness! Now, we want to preface this by saying, there are a LOT of pretty major changes. As such, I am fairly confident some of you may not like all of them. But please bear in mind that every change made has been for the good of the overall game experience, and we are working hard to ensure that you get the smoothest, least fiddly, scariest, and most fun experience that we can create. The "name of the game" has been streamlining for ease of play, and to make sure you're thinking about (and enjoying) the experience rather than having to dwell on the crunchy, dry stuff. So, without further ado, let's get into the changes!

Boss Fights

One of the biggest changes to the entire game is going to be to the boss fights. Basically, in playtesting we discovered that it just wasn't that fun when only one Wanderer got to fight his or her boss at the end of a campaign. It left other players feeling kind of gipped. So, we've changed the way the boss fights work. Now, rather than only fighting one boss/ending at the end of a campaign, you will fight a boss/get an ending at the end of every game. This will essentially add three games to a four-player campaign (for a total of eight games rather than five), and will ensure that everyone gets a sense of closure for their story.  It will also remove the slight feeling of competitiveness that may have come from jockeying to play your ending, but, honestly, this game was never about that. It was about working together to get the pants scared off you. 

Now, on the surface this may seem like only a relatively minor change. (I.e., "Hey! We just added a few games to every campaign!") However, this will have a huge cascading effect on many aspects of the game. These include:

•  Now the Abominations must be killed before you can get into your finale. If the Abomination doesn't die, you lose and the game is over. (Think of the Abomination as kind of the gatekeeper mini-boss keeping you from the real boss.) We're working out how the legacy aspects of Abominations will work in the new version now that their progenitor has to die in the previous game. But we think this will also add another layer of tension to each game, since it's no longer an option to let that beastie just do its own thing and hope for the best.
•  This will change the way Memories and Inner Offerings work. Previously, Memories were little side encounters you could have to draw you deeper into your story, unlock new abilities, and gain extra points toward your endings. Well, because of this boss fight change (and the changes to the board, which we'll get to below) Memories don't work quite as well as they used to, so they've been adapted a bit and combined with the Inner Offering powers to become more of a level-up system that unlocks new abilities. We're still working out the details on this system, but it'll be more of a gradual unlocking of sweet, sweet powers to help you throughout the game rather than just buffs to your current stats. 
•  Because of the changes to Memories, Inner Offerings and Boss fights/Endings, you will now only ever use one story book in any game. In the previous version, there was a certain amount of skipping between story books when you dove into Memories, looked at Inner Offering setup rules, etc. That skipping between books is now a thing of the past, meaning you can safely stow all of the other story books in the box and not bother with them until that chapter starts.
•  Now, the tragic bit: the puzzle pieces have gone away. Don't hate us! We're really sad about this, too, but with this change to the boss fight mechanism they just weren't necessary any longer. Plus, we'll be perfectly honest: as much as we loved them, they were fiddly. Supremely fiddly. Maybe we'll be able to find some other way to bring the beloved puzzle pieces back, but, for now, they have been sidelined. (That's a nice, easy-to-take way of saying dust-binned.) 
•  But the redeeming good news: the round tracker! A number of you have asked to see the round tracker, since it is one component we never did show off during the campaign all the way until now. The reason for that is, until the game system was firmly in place, we honestly didn't know what the final form of the round tracker would look like or how it would work. But now we do. And, in my humble opinion, it's freaking sweet. In fact, let's get into the round tracker in its own little segment!

The Round Tracker

The round tracker looks a bit like an X, but every part of that X is a supremely usable part of the game. The middle of the tracker is a dial that will track what round you're in (as its name suggests), and what entry you should go to in the story book to see what events happen that round. Then, on each end of the X is another dial. These dials will show you how many points you've accumulated toward a particular ending. Yep: no fiddly adding, no sifting through pieces, you will now know at one glance which ending(s) you're edging toward. (In my mind, this could also add a bit of tension, as you see the red or purple doors slowly, inexorably, ticking upwards. LOL!) Furthermore, this will allow us to do some really cool in-game things, such as inserting all sorts of story choices that depend on how many points you've accumulated toward a particular ending. (This will be in addition to consequence tokens, which will still be there for very specific events.)

Want to see the round tracker for yourself? Well here you go! (Please keep in mind that this is just a rough mockup that we made, not the final professionally designed version. That one didn't quite make it in time for the update. For instance, in the final version I would expect the story point turn dials to likely be brighter.)

Coda Cards and Resistance Cards

Another area that has changed pretty significantly are Coda and Resistance cards. How so? Well, they've been combined into one. 

Previously Coda cards would have a game effect on the front, then a bit of flavor text and a puzzle piece symbol on the back. Well, the puzzle piece is no longer necessary, but more Resistance cards certainly are. So, on the back of every Coda card will be a Resistance card. That means every Coda card you collect could be used to help fight the Abomination, but at a price. You see, in order to use that Resistance card, you have to permanently discard your Coda card and the game-changing ability/buff it gives you. (Just as a reminder, anyone can now fight the Abomination using a Resistance card. This is not limited to the Central Wanderer or his/her Malformations.)

This will add another layer of strategy and choice to the game, and force you to ask: how badly do you want to win? Badly enough to sacrifice that awesome ability you've had for half the game?

Because of these changes, we suspect that you will no longer be holding onto Coda cards for a really long time - excepting maybe your absolute favorite couple. As such, we are seeing what happens when there is no Coda card limit. (Previously you were limited to four active Codas at a time.) Should this prove to be the way we go (which it almost certainly will be), then the Rearrange action will also be done away with, since it will no longer be necessary. Yes, this does, in theory, mean you could walk around as a superpowered badass with ten active Coda cards. But it also means you'll lose the game when the Abomination doesn't die, and all of your teammates will hate you.

Here's a look at the new Coda/Resistance card. These are still a Work in Progress (WIP), and should not yet be considered quite final. 

Domain Cards

Another component that has changed slightly are the Domain cards. Not much, but a bit. Basically, we're making the Domain cards much more unique than they have been, and putting new pieces of art in the center of every Domain card. This means that Domain cards will now be more like unique items, but the sort of twisted, strange items you'd expect to find in Dawn of Madness.  (You're not very likely to find an assault rifle or an adventurer's sword here, for example. =D ) There will likely be 5 or so that are specific to each Wanderer's world, and then 40 that will be more "generic" to the Otherworld. (And when I say generic, think "Screaming Mind Gash" (generic) as opposed to "Used Syringe" (Emily's world.) Yes, I did just come up with that off the top of my head. No, you're not guaranteed to get a Screaming Mind Gash in the final game. LOL!) Should this be the direction we go, then the expansions will each include 5 of their own Domain cards in them. 

Here's a mockup of a new Domain card. This is a WIP that will no doubt be refined further. 

Game Board and World Shards

We've been working hard on the game board, but unfortunately we just haven't landed on a design that we're satisfied with yet. (We've scrapped two or three designs since the one you saw during the campaign because they just weren't "it.") However, we do know exactly what will be on it. 

Basically, there will now be only the bigger World Shards, the connecting paths, and the Mental Capacity tracker on the game board. Everything else has been removed. (I.e. Encounter cards, card deck slots, etc.) While this is absolutely NOT the final game board, this mockup should, at least, give you an idea of how it will function:

Seriously. That's something I just slapped together in Photoshop. It's not the actual game board. =D

Now, the World Shards, as we've discussed before, have increased significantly in size. There will now be 16 of them for every Wanderer's world, and no other Wanderer's world will be present on the game board at any one time. In addition, as I mentioned above, the Major Encounter cards have been removed from the board. Actually, they've been eliminated altogether, and the contents from them have now been moved to the bigger World Shard cards. (There will still be Encounter cards for Minor and Unlocked Encounters, though.) In addition, the numbers that previously were on the game board (1-16) have been moved to the World Shard cards, allowing for a bit more randomization in general, and further cleaning up the look of the game board as well.  The three Sentience icons are still in the upper left corner of the World Shards, as they've always been.

One major change to the World Shards is that, on the back of every World Shard is now the Boss Battle/Ending side as well. So, when you're ready to play the ending, you'll just flip the World Shards over and you're good to go. Now, not every World Shard will necessarily offer access to a boss encounter in a given ending. (Only about 8 of the World Shards will have an encounter tied to the ending you're playing through.) But that just means you'll have to move faster in order to get to those encounters. =) 

Here's a work-in-progress version of the front and back of the new World Shards. (One of the back, and several of the fronts.) As with everything else, this is still a WIP and will be refined further as testing continues.

So that's a look at a few of the DoM gameplay and component updates we've been working on. I know this update hasn't answered all of your questions, but honestly it's already so long that I think we need to stop to avoid information overload. (Plus, we have to save something for future updates, right?) 

Please keep in mind that nothing we've shown here is final. For instance, we're still working out the flavor text size and placement on the World Shards, etc., and several of these were just straight up mockups that Roger and I made. (Like the game board.)

Now, let's end this update on another high note and show you a couple more tooling samples from the factory! As with previous tooling samples we showed off, these do not have their final bases and may change slightly from the final version you will receive. (Should they change, it will only be for the better, though.) 

Okay, that's it for this update! Did you make it all the way through? LOL!

I hope you're still doing well, and that your world is maybe starting to get back to normal. Talk to you again soon!