A Look at the Box Layout and More Progress!
10 months ago – Wed, Jul 05, 2023 at 12:07:20 PM

Hey guys! I hope you had a great June, and that those of you in the US had a very Happy 4th of July holiday, without losing any major limbs.

In this update, we have a look at the core box's final layout, as well as another progress update. Let's jump in.

The Core Box System's Layout

It's taken a long time to get here, but we now have a look at what you can expect from the core box system's layout. (We'll also look at the mockup for one of the individual wanderer boxes.) Unfortunately, this isn't a picture of the final box, but it will show you how we're approaching its design.

Wanderer Box Layout

First, we will look at the individual wanderer boxes, arguably the most pivotal part of the system. There will be four of these in the core box - one for each wanderer. A wanderer's (sleeved) cards and specialized components will fit in these boxes. Things that won't fit in these boxes include the wanderer's storybook and dashboard.

Here's a look at the mockup for Emily's box:

Next, let's take a look at what's inside this box. These aren't the prettiest pictures, but they should give you a rough idea of what to expect.

You'll find the wanderer's final boss and malformation cards on the box's top insert. (Their terrors' cards won't be stored here because those can appear in any story, even if they're not explicitly featured.)

Beneath those cards, you'll find the wanderer's world shard cards (the larger ones) and their existence and finale legacy cards (the smaller ones.)

Here's a look at the top insert with no cards in it.

You'll find all of the wanderer's mini cards in the bottom insert. These are coda cards, finale-specific cards, encounter cards, etc. Then, on the other side, you'll find a space for the wanderer's forgotten envelope and room for standees and tokens specific to this wanderer.

And here's the bottom insert with nothing in it.

Core Box Layout

Next, let's move on to the core box itself. 

On the top of the main box, you'll find six layers of punchboard, followed by the game board. Under that lie the four wanderer storage boxes.

Some particularly eagle-eyed backers may have noticed that the core box will be approximately 172 mm tall (or roughly 6.75 inches.) So, this will be a big box (definitely bigger than we anticipated), but not extravagantly so. It should still fit on your favorite gaming shelf.

You'll reach the Other Component box when you remove the punchboards, game board, and wanderer boxes. This is where all of the other game components will be stored. Let's take a look inside.

On the top will go the rulebook and storybooks. Directly next to them will sit additional regular-sized cards like the item and domain cards. Below that is space for mini cards, such as all of the condition cards.

Below that level, you'll find space for tokens and standees, wanderer dashboards, terror cards, abomination cards, and the sentience pad. (This is the pad we added a while back to keep track of your wanderer's current sentience levels.) There's also room for the abominations' forgotten envelopes in here. 

And that's it! Now you know how you're going to store this beast of a game when it's not on your table. This should make things much easier to set up, tear down, and keep organized. 

In logistics news, all of a wanderer's cards will ship in their specific boxes. So, you should be able to just pull open whichever box you want and game from the get-go. This has the added benefit that we can produce each box separately and then put them all together at the end. (More on that in the progress section below.)

We should have pictures of the metal tokens and the game mat in our next update, so stay tuned for that!

Progress Update

This month's big news is that Claude's storybook writing is 100% done. All of the rewrites are finished, as is all of the editing. We're now finalizing the layout work for his components that hadn't been completed yet and finishing his last few pieces of art. 

Claude Reinhardt - The Detective

• Character designs: Completed. 
• The wander stage story writing: Completed. 
• The finale stage gameplay: Completed. 
• The finale stage story writing: Completed. 
• Art: 99% Completed. (The only part left is the finale legacy card art.)
• Components layout: 90% Completed. (The only thing left is the storybook layout.)

As for Catherine, I have been making progress on her final two endings. Those should be done shortly, and then she'll be in the bag, too.

Catherine Little - The Farmer

• Character designs: Completed. 
• The wander stage story writing: Completed. 
• The finale stage gameplay: Completed. 
• The finale stage story writing: Two more endings to be finished. 
• Art: 99% Completed. (The only part left is the finale legacy card art.)
• Components layout: 90% Completed. (The only thing left is the storybook layout.)

The team has finished Lynas's finale gameplay, which is now in its final playtesting. Roger has also been working hard on the first edits and formatting for Lynas's storybook, the initial writing of which has been finished (both encounters and finales.) Lynas's art is now 25% completed, and his component layouts are at 20%. 

Lynas Gershwin - The Priest

• Character designs: Completed. 
• The wander stage story writing: Completed. Needs further editing and proofreading. 
• The finale stage gameplay: Completed. 
• The finale stage story writing: Completed. Needs further editing and proofreading. 
• Art: 25% Completed. 
• Components layout: 20% 

This brings us to production. While three of the wanderers will be done and ready to submit in August, Lynas will take a little longer. However, that won't hold up printing. Since we're now approaching the game on a wanderer box-by-box approach, we will produce the other three wanderer boxes first and then do Lynas last. In this way, we'll still be rolling even while we're finalizing some of Lynas's remaining stuff.

Finally, we have translations. The work on the translations is going smoothly. We have a fair-sized team all over the globe working on these. Several translations have been turned in already, and now those translators are on to the following books. I have seen some people ask if the translations will ship simultaneously with the English version, and the answer is no. (After all, the translators need the final books to be able to translate them.) However, I don't think the translated copies will be too far behind. 

Gen Con

Just in case the next update is a bit late, too (this will be a busy month),  I thought I'd go ahead and mention Gen Con. DG will be back at Gen Con this year. So, if you plan on being in Indianapolis in early August, stop by and say hi! I'd love to see you/meet you in person! We will be at booth #2471, which is once again back in the exhibitor nosebleed section. LOL! (On the plus side, we're right by the rear bathrooms, so you'll probably run into us eventually.)

Can't make it to Gen Con? No worries. I'll show all the Gen Con goodies online during or after the convention so you won't miss out. (It's been a long time since our last live stream, so maybe that time is drawing near again.)

Lynas's Art

Let's cap off this update with (appropriately) some immolated people! (And some who have suffered from other various maladies, too.)

Okay, that's it for this update! Have a great July, and we'll talk with you again soon!

Timeline Update, Manufacturing Updates, and Current Progress
11 months ago – Tue, May 30, 2023 at 08:00:12 PM

Hey guys! I hope you had a great May (and a wonderful Memorial Day for those of you in the US.) You guys have been waiting for a firm updated timeline, so we'll have that below. I've also listed everything we've accomplished this month - including some manufacturing updates. Let's jump in.

Timeline Update

I talked with Roger about the updated timeline this week, and he informed me that, judging by what we have left to do, he anticipates we will be able to begin the core box's printed component production this August. (As you'll see below, production is primed and ready to roll for the printed components and has already begun for the other SKUs.) Printing everything should take approximately two months, meaning we will ship in October. 

I know this project has gone significantly longer than anyone could have imagined. (I certainly never would have envisioned this situation in my wildest nightmares.) But we're nearly there now. 

 Manufacturing Update

Let's start the progress updates with some regarding manufacturing. Here we go!

1. We have confirmed the printed material samples with the printer. This means that the factory will begin producing the printed components as soon as they receive the finalized files with no additional delay. This step involved confirming the components' formats, color configurations, and adjustments. It has taken several revisions during the past months, but we are pleased to announce it is now completed.

2. The core box's storage solution has been finalized. This process took a while because we needed a close estimate of the final counts for the cards, tokens, etc. So, we made some adjustments based on the near-final quantities, ensuring our estimates are as accurate as possible. We'll have more on the final box in future updates.

3. The miniature boxes (which have been finished since last year) will soon move from the miniature factory to a new warehouse. Once the core games are finished, this location will ship out both boxes (and the wave-one add-ons) worldwide.

4. The manufacturing process has begun for other products, such as the metal tokens and the neoprene game mat.

As you can see, the final manufacturing process began in earnest this month. All of the prep work at the printer is now complete. And, as you'll notice below, we are now moving full-steam ahead toward finalizing the last bits of the printed materials. After these files are finished, we will jump straight into producing the core box manufacturing process.

Progress Update

We've accomplished some pretty significant things this month. First, the initial writing is completed for Lynas's wanderer encounters. 

Lynas Gershwin - The Priest

Lynas's storybook is now being edited and formatted by Roger; then, it will move over to me for final rewrites and proofreading. Furthermore, the gameplay for two of his endings has now been finalized. His writer is also currently 30% through writing his finales. There is still the most work to be done on Lynas, but we have made major progress with him this month.

• Character designs: Completed. 
• Wanderer stage story writing: Completed. Needs further editing and proofreading.  
• The finale stage gameplay: Two endings are completed.  
• The finale stage story writing: 30%  
• Art: 25% Completed. 
• Components layout: 20% 

Claude Reinhardt - The Detective

For Claude, I have completed the final proofreading of his wanderer encounters, meaning his wanderer encounters are 100% finished. (This was just a final look/touch-up after completing the rewrites last month.) I have also finished my rewrites on his ending A and anticipate the other endings to progress quickly. 

• Character designs: Completed. 
• Wanderer stage story writing: Completed. 
• The finale stage gameplay: Completed.  
• The finale stage story writing: Being edited and proofread.  
• Art: 95% Completed.  
• Components layout: 90% Completed. 

Catherine Little - The Farmer

We didn't progress much on Catherine last month, but she will be a focus this coming month as I work to finish her final endings. 

• Character designs: Completed. 
• Wanderer stage story writing: Completed. 
• The finale stage gameplay: Completed. 
• The finale stage story writing: Being finalized. 
• Art: 99% Completed.  
• Components layout: 90% Completed.  

Side note: I have been working through a lot of emails this month, but it's possible I haven't gotten to yours yet. If I haven't, don't worry. I will. It takes me quite a while to handle a request since not a single one can be phoned in, and obviously, I can't devote all my time to this since then you'll never get your game. But I have been making steady progress and will continue to do so. (I'm focusing mostly on emails currently, but once I've gotten those more in hand, I will start engaging more in the comments again.)  

Okay, that's it for this update. I know there was a lot of crunch in this update and not a lot of soft, gooey, tasty bits, but hopefully, it has provided you with the light at the end of the tunnel that I've been seeing the last couple of months. It's been a very, VERY long ride, but it's almost over now. Talk to you guys again soon!

Claude's Stories, New Art, and Current Progress
12 months ago – Mon, May 01, 2023 at 01:55:54 AM

Hey, my friend! I'm sorry this update is a few days later than our updates usually come out. I was trying to bust out the rest of the rewrites for Claude's wanderer encounters - which I did. You'll see several segments from those encounters below, along with some new art for him. 

Also, I want to mention up front: I know some of you have been waiting to hear back from me - some of you for quite a while. I wanted to apologize profusely for that and let you know that I will be going through emails and working on requests much more over these next 1-2 weeks. It's been a tough year so far, and the email has suffered because of it. But I will work hard to get caught up and take care of you. 

Progress Update

I will start with this, and then we'll dive into a couple of samples from Claude's stories and some new art from his cards. We largely focused on Claude and Lynas this month, but there was some Catherine progress, too. 

For Emily, we have started getting some of our translated versions back. We'll get those double-checked (and edited as needed), and then layout work can begin. 

For Catherine, the finale stage gameplay is now 100% completed. Her art is also 99% completed, with only a couple of cards remaining on which to finalize the art.

For Claude, I had to do some pretty extensive rewrites on his wanderer-stage encounters. Those are now 100% completed. Meanwhile, his art is now 95% completed. All that remains for it are his finale legacy cards and a few coda cards. His component layouts are also 70% completed. Here's a look at a few of those: 

For Lynas, his story writing is currently 80% completed. It would be a bit further along, but the team wanted to go back and do some rewrites with Lynas's writer now that the whole story has come into focus. The process is going smoothly. The testing has also commenced in force for Lynas's finale stages. 

Also, the writer for Cary, the actor, has written about 30% of his wanderer encounters. I hear it's going well. (This expansion will ship in wave two.)

Looking at the whole picture for a moment, wave one is currently conservatively between 80 and 90% finished. We were certainly delayed by the issues we faced earlier in the year (and late last year), but we are making good progress to catch up and finish this for you ASAP. Furthermore, 90% of all costs associated with this game have already been paid, a good chunk of which was wrapped into the miniatures that were finished some time back. 

It feels like we're finally getting some traction for the final sprint. So, while we still refuse to speed up to the point of getting sloppy, we're starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel - and a finish line up there with it.

Clippings from Claude

Now that Claude's wanderer encounters are finalized, we thought we'd show you some samples from his story as we did with Catherine and Emily. As with those previous samples, these will be completely out of context, with some only representing a small portion of an encounter or coming in partway through a story sequence. Furthermore, any gameplay content has been removed. However, there still will be some mild spoilers below - though I honestly doubt reading these would spoil too much for you.

That said, these should still give you a feeling of the vibe in Claude's story and, hopefully, will still be creepy enough. I hope you enjoy them!

The Man in the Clearing

The rain thins, offering you better visibility. Finally, you see the person is a man wearing a soggy overcoat and hat. He tips his head down as he kneels in the muddy clearing, allowing the water to cascade off his fedora’s brim like a miniature waterfall. He almost looks like he’s examining something on the ground.

Another thunderous lightning bolt scorches the sky. Briefly, you can see the man’s profile, his face distorted in grief. He’s weeping, his hot tears mingling with the cold rain. He holds something dark in his left hand. Is it… a pistol?

The man covers his face with his free hand, trembling as he sobs. Then, slowly, he regains his feet, his body softly swaying back and forth as if being pummeled by the deluge.

Suddenly, a low whisper cuts through the rain, embedding itself in your ear. “It’s not over…”

Startled, you jerk around, looking for the voice’s owner. You don’t see anyone, though the darkness and the downpour have closed behind you to smother your senses. Did the man say it? But if so, how did you hear it through the torrent?

“It’s not over…” the whisper says, sounding like someone hovering directly over your shoulder. This time you can’t help emitting a strangled cry as you whirl around to search for signs of another person. Luckily, the weather dampens its reach, so the man doesn’t notice. Only darkness stares back at you from the deep forest.

Turning back, you see the man reach up and pull off his hat, dropping it to the ground. Then he removes his coat, draping it over something lying at his feet. Finally, he straightens again.

“It’s not over…” the murmur comes again. The sound seems less human this time – more animalistic. Furthermore, it now sounds like it’s coming from inside your own head.

Looking up at the roaring sky, the man joins it in a primordial, elemental roar. The sound he emits is twisted with such sorrow, rage, and longing that it barely sounds human.

Miscarried Union

Panicking, you shrink back as the spreading infection causes the chamber to crumple inward. Women’s faces press out of the walls, their white, milky eyes crinkling as they cry out in anguish. They struggle to pull their bodies free of the walls, but they can’t – at least, until they coalesce in the ceiling’s center. Then, merging together, they droop downward like a congealing drop of liquefied fat, their mass finally appearing like a swelling woman with far too many limbs.

You mewl in horror as the women’s mass grows and stretches, with additional heads joining the extra arms and legs. They’re only hanging from the ceiling by a single foot now. What will happen when they drop?

The fused women swell further, their arms and legs reaching for the ground below. They’re almost touching, too, when the last toes clinging to the ceiling let go. The entire flailing mass falls – right onto the book and its pedestal. Then they split open, erupting like an overfilled water balloon full of the black ichor.

Desperately, you frantically wipe the stuff out of your eyes and mouth. Finally, you can see again – and look up to see half-living babies trying to crawl out of the women’s ruptured abdomen. The chamber fills with bawling children’s cries and the screams of laboring women. They don’t last long.

You can’t take anymore. Clamping your sticky, black hands over your face, you weep until your voice is raw and hoarse. Unable to stand any longer, you fall to your knees, your hands dropping to catch yourself –

You’re back in the empty room. Wires and conduits line the walls; metal beams cross the ceiling. And in the room’s center, you again see the heavy steel chair. It sits there, waiting for you, beckoning for you to sit. Standing, you flee as quickly as your shaking legs will take you.

The Hidden Connection

Stepping back from the corkboard, you examine the pictures as a whole. Something feels off here, though you’re not sure what. Why would such innocent images make you feel that way? What are you missing?

That’s when you see the latch on the edge of the corkboard. Frowning, you step closer. Then, digging your fingers under the board, you pull. The whole corkboard swings outward, exposing the cavity hidden behind it. Papers crowd each other on the hidden cabinet’s shelves. Reaching up, you grab a stack and pull them out.

You discover this first bunch of pictures are studies of an eye.  They begin simply at first but grow progressively more detailed until you near the bottom of the stack. You’re impressed with how much improvement the students display as you reach the lowest images. They’re almost lifelike –

You jolt as you reach the bottom. The final images show an eyeball divorced from eyelids – or even its body. The orb lies alone on the page, a frayed optic nerve trailing behind it. All that accompanies it is a red spot on the page which could have been a little pool of blood.

Setting those aside, you grab another pile. These turn out to be ears, which progress in quality like the eyes. Then, when you reach the bottom, you find the ears dissected, drawn on the page in pieces. The following stack is full of mouths. These images end with images of pulled teeth, clipped tongues, and lipless gums.

Your pulse quickening, you try another bundle. These images are internal organs: hearts, lungs, livers, intestines, and uteruses. How did the students get such good references? Did they study them in books?

Your fingers tremble slightly as you reach for the final group of papers. Pulling them down, you examine them – and gasp. These are of an entire female corpse, her skin and muscles pinned back to reveal her insides. Looking at these images, you feel your guts clench. You’re sure now these kids weren’t observing illustrations in a book. These are too real. Too specific. They had been studying an actual dissected woman’s body.

Another thought occurs to you as you look at these images. You have noticed a steady improvement in the artists’ skills this whole time. That couldn’t have happened all at once. Did that mean… Did that mean they had studied multiple corpses? How many had they seen to get to their ultimate levels of proficiency? Furthermore, how had their teachers procured those poor women?

You feel sick to your stomach. Quickly, you stuff the last images into the hidden compartment and slam its corkboard door closed again. Then, turning, you stagger out of the room. There’s one more thought you can’t shake, though it’s too horrible to even contemplate as a reality. The orphans had initially been drawing pictures of their mothers. So, had that process continued? Had all of those images been of their mothers?

Ingested Pregnancies

A strange, shrill squeal interrupts your reverie, returning your attention to the far tunnel. The shapes of human limbs push against – then through – the passage’s twisting walls. Finally, the tissue tears, and a towering, vaguely humanoid figure presses through the rip, accompanied by a gush of translucent fluid.

Slowly, the being straightens and swivels toward you. It looks roughly like a woman – assuming one could accept that women had six arms, six legs, and three heads, their body dramatically bent at a bowed, inhuman angle to allow them to walk on all their feet. Three loose, sagging bulges line their abdomen, pendulously dangling as they stretch the being’s skin.

The being strides forward clumsily, their heads lulling as they growl and mumble as if arguing amongst themselves. You take a timid step back, trying to conceal yourself near the tunnel’s edge. The aberration approaches one of the rounded chamber’s walls, then grasps one of the growths that stretches the tissue and pulls. A deformed, monstrous newborn slides out of the rip into the women-beast’s arms.

For a moment, the women-beast examines the child with a loving, motherly look. Then, raising the baby, their middle head’s jaw distends like a snake, and she swallows the baby whole.

You can’t move. All you can do is stare, your jaw dangling open, your eyes wide in disbelieving horror. The women-beast also pauses, their eyes closed as if feeling the new fetus in their belly. You watch one of the sacs on their abdomen swell as if filled with fresh life. Then one of the heads opens her eyelids – and spots you.

The nightmare-trio doesn’t immediately charge. Their belly is swelling quickly. It grows larger and larger until it finally can’t stretch any further. The skin rips along with the amniotic sac, and the terrifying child maturing inside it pops out, falling to the undulating floor.

The baby’s twisted, wide mouth emits a high-pitched squawk. The women-beast roars in terror and rage from all of their mouths. It doesn’t take long to see why: the horrific child is curling up on the floor, its many limbs pulling inward as it dies. It quickly decomposes, the chamber absorbing it back into the place from which it came.

The women-beast raises their hands, covering their faces as they each howl in misery. Finally, though, they lower their hands again and look directly at you once more. As they do that, bulges forming on the walls crack open, exposing the myriad eyeballs they contained. All of them swivel to stare at you. The women-beast’s faces assume the same gentle, tender look they had before they ate the fetus. Then, they skitter toward you.

Woman in the Coat - 3rd Phase

You stare at the rain streaming down the windshield, unable to move.

An eon later, you look into the rearview mirror. The shadows of running water travel across his face, streaking his features. Then a cigarette’s burning red point blazes, the light briefly illuminating the collar of his uniform and the badge on his chest.

You hear him exhale smoke, though you don’t smell it. Then you hear his slow, measured breath.

“You realize we’ll never escape this, don’t you?”

His deep, resonant voice seems to freeze time around you. You know it’s not a question. So does he. It’s a statement: An unavoidable, almost unbearable edict that reverberates in your heart and soul.

You return your gaze to the windshield.

Okay, that's it for this update! We'll talk with you again soon. Have a great May!

The Fusion of Story and Gameplay
about 1 year ago – Sun, Mar 26, 2023 at 10:07:07 PM

Hey, guys! I hope you've had a great March. We'll get into the progress update shortly, but first, I noticed some comments that made me think maybe I hadn't done a great job of describing how the story is integrated with the gameplay. So we'll dive into that a bit, too. 

Before we do that, though, I know there have been questions about the timeline for DoM. We are seeing some very steady progress now (particularly since sickness and other life-altering things are out of the way.) However, we are obviously not going to make Q1 since it is almost over. At this point, I think it's reasonable to say that we will finish the core game in Q2, and that we will ship it - and you will receive it - in Q3. 

The Ties Between the Gameplay and Stories

After the last update, I saw a number of people wondering either: 

A) why the gameplay elements weren't completely finalized when what was mainly left was writing, or... 

B) how the issues befalling the gameplay team weren't just an excuse to cover for the writing.  

This made me believe I still hadn't done a good enough job of conveying how the two interacted. So, let me give you an example.

During Catherine's story, you are going to be chased - and likely hacked to pieces - by lumbering creatures called Butchers. The Butchers are brutal beings, but they also work very much on their own morality, and will only attack "infected" wanderers. They are very interesting additions to Catherine's game. But here's the thing: the Butchers didn't exist before I wrote the first one into her story. (This fact - plus the necessity of having multiples of them on the board at one time - is also why they don't have miniatures.) The other wanderers don't have butchers, but they do have their own unique mechanics, all of which directly tie into their stories.

Yes, some planning can be - and is - done before a story is written, particularly once the team has established a fairly solid outline. But we also want to leave room for surprise. In part, this is because we don't want any wanderer's story to play exactly the same, because we don't want you to get bored with the game. Plus, we want you to feel like you're actually experiencing a wanderer's story, not that we just slapped a verbose skin on identical mechanics. So, the gameplay grows up with the stories. They are inextricably linked, and one can't help but influence the other.

This is why we haven't provided component overviews for the wanderers besides Emily up until this point. It's not that we're lazy or hiding something: it's that some components don't exist until the story is written for them. The same is true for the art. Most of the art that is currently being worked on are direct results of what is written, and you will gain them as you progress in a wanderer's storybook. On the flip side, the endings can't be written until we have a very good idea of how one will play mechanically, and playtesting may lead to rewrites on an encounter. (And, to flip it again, it's difficult to determine precisely how an ending will play until we know all of the roads that lead to it in the encounters. This is achieved to some degree in the outline, but not completely.)

Hopefully this has helped to shed some light on why certain things seem to slow down other aspects of the game's development, or how if one team member suffers (whether through extended illness - as happened with the whole Beijing team - or life events, as happened to me), everything does. It's because they're all one and the same, as I think they should be. 

Having said that, the writer working on Claude and Lynas is very quick, and he has made some significant progress this month, as we'll show below. So, without further ado, let's get into the progress update.

Progress Update

This month, we have largely been focused on writing Lynas's stories, editing Claude's storybook, and the layout work for Catherine's components.

Catherine's art is 99% completed. The last thing we need to do is finish her finale legacy card art, and then her art's done.

Meanwhile, her component layouts are 90% completed. The last thing to do here is finish laying out and finalizing her storybook.

Claude's storybook is in final editing. All the writing on it has been completed. Work on his stories should be finished by the next update. 

Gameplay-wise, two of Claude's endings have been finalized. We're working on the other two currently.

Claude's art is 70% completed. His component layouts are currently 10% completed.

Lynas's encounter writing is currently 80% completed. His art is 20% completed.

Finally, the translators are at work on Emily's and Catherine's storybooks. We should start seeing more content back from them shortly, which should include whole first drafts.

Okay, that's it for this update. In the next one, we'll have some story snippets to show you from Claude, plus we'll let you know how everything is progressing (of course.) Have a fantastic April, a Happy Easter, and we'll talk to you again soon!

February Progress Update
about 1 year ago – Mon, Feb 27, 2023 at 11:23:51 PM

Hey, guys! We've got a shorter update for you today, mainly focused on our current progress, so I apologize for the brevity. I'm hoping we'll have more substantial stuff to share soon. In the meantime, though, here's what's been going on.

 Progress Update

We've had some incidents which have impacted our productivity a bit this month, including further illness among the team, the Chinese New Year, and our Beijing team moving to a new office space. (I've had some personal things going on, too, which I'll get into later.)

We've mainly been focusing on finishing Claude's stories and ending designs recently. We've now finished most of them, and the writer has returned to finishing Lynas's stories. Here are the specifics for each wanderer: 

Wanderers:

1. Emily Hawkins - The Nurse

Emily is as completed this month as she was last month. LOL! The translators are currently working on her storybook. 

2. Catherine Little - The Farmer

Translation work has begun on Catherine's wanderer stage stories. 

1) Character designs (including skills, special items, malformations, and other cards and tokens): Completed.

2) The wander stage story writing: Completed.

3) The finale stage gameplay: Two endings have been finished.

4) The finale stage story writing: Being finalized.

5) Art: 95% Completed.

6) Components layout: 60% Completed.

3. Claude Reinhardt - The Detective

Editing Claude's storybook has taken longer than I expected. This slower pace was compounded by my wife and I having to help out a family member who had his bladder, kidneys, and part of his bowel removed this month, as well as another family member breaking up with her long-time boyfriend and moving in with us. Having said that, this process is about 50% done and should be finished by the next update.

1) Character designs: Completed.

2) The wander stage story writing: Final proofreading.

3) The finale stage gameplay: The endings are finished but require a little more testing.

4) The finale stage story writing: Writing for the endings has finished. However, they still require further editing and proofreading.

5) Art: 50% Completed.

6) Components layout: 10% Completed.

4. Lynas Gershwin - The Priest

1) Character designs: Completed.

2) The wander stage story writing: 60%.

3) The finale stage gameplay: Pending. (We've been working on Claude's endings and will switch to these as soon as we're done.)

4) The finale stage story writing: Pending. (We still need a few more wanderer stage stories to begin this process, but we're getting closer.)

5) Art: 20% Completed.

6) Components layout: Pending.

As mentioned in the last update, we've also begun work on the second-wave wanderers. We'll have more on those as they continue taking shape.

Okay, that's it for this update. I'm sorry it feels a little anemic. Our artist hasn't sent over his next batch of art yet, but we should have more by next month. I feel like this is just the quiet, tedious slog before the storm when printed product production moves into full swing. 

You're amazing, and we appreciate you and your patience as we finish this long-gestating project.