Merry Christmas! Here's What's Been Going On!
over 2 years ago – Fri, Dec 24, 2021 at 02:33:56 AM

Hi, my friend! I hope you've been having a great holiday season. We have a short status update for you today - and this one is actually written mostly by Roger, our fearless leader, lead game designer, and all-around good guy. (I've edited it a bit and added a little, as you'll see below.) So, here's what's been going on recently both with DoM and DG in general. We'll start with the miniatures, which you already probably have a pretty good idea about if you saw our last couple of updates.

What's Been Happening with Dawn of Madness - Brought to You by Roger

1) Miniatures

This is always the busiest period of the year for the factories. Having said that, we've solved several minor issues with the "finalized" core game miniatures that we showed you in the last couple of updates. If you missed them, you can check the videos they contained either by looking at those updates or this YouTube playlist. We'll start producing them early next year before the finalized printed materials.

2) Gameplay Development

(A) Gameplay - Wanderer Stage

The gameplay testing for the Wanderer Stage has been making good progress. The main changes being made currently involve fitting Byron's new stories into the gameplay structure as they're completed while also providing him feedback on where we think the stories should go. This will be a continuous process until we finalize all the stories, but it's going really smoothly right now.

(B) Gameplay - Finale Stage

We are focusing on gameplay testing for several wanderers' Finale Stages, as well as finalizing the "legacy" parts of the game. (To emphasize, this is not a legacy game, but the earlier game sessions do have an impact on subsequent games based on the Finale Stage's results.) These Finale Stages aren't that complicated, so don't worry. However, they are all very dynamic and different from each other, with each one having very different goals and gameplay strategies. We'll show you more after we finalize this part, including some new game components, which hopefully will be before too much longer.

(C) Gameplay - Stories

The stories are the core part of Dawn of Madness. They are not random or disposable content forced into the game that can be easily glossed over. I like to think of them more like the stories in Silent Hill. Players will need to dig deep into the stories to get the true horror experience in a board game that we've talked about from the beginning. We're sticking close to this direction, and that's also the reason why it's quite difficult for us to show the game in public without significant spoilers. 

Byron has made great progress on the wanderers' stories. (Aw, shucks. - Byron) In our next update, we'll show you some segments from Catherine Little's story. These segments will all be on the story's surface, so they won't spoil too much. So, you can look forward to those next time.

Other Stuff We've Been Doing - Brought to You by Roger and Byron

(Byron's note: these are just newsy tidbits to show you some of the other stuff that's been going on at DG. If you're not interested in our other stuff, you don't have to keep reading this.)  

1) Twisted Fables Christmas Campaign on Gamefound

We ran a small campaign for Twisted Fables on Gamefound, testing that platform's waters with a condensed little campaign aimed at delivering many of the orders by Christmas. If you'd like to check out the campaign/pledge manager page, you can do so here.  (Though obviously we won't be able to get you your order by Christmas at this point if you decide to buy anything. =)

2) The Celestial Showcase 

We also participated in a board game convention in Beijing this month to show off our next game, Celestial. For those who aren't aware, Celestial has been in development as long as DoM has, and we're finally ready to start revealing more of it to the world. We also want to assure you that the dev team is currently in full swing on DoM, so don't fear about this project detracting from it. Furthermore, Celestial's development has taken place in lulls in DoM's production. In other words, when a team member didn't have anything actively to work on for DoM, then he or she would move instead to work on Celestial. 

Here is a new video King of Average made highlighting some of the miniatures. 

At its heart, Celestial is basically a skirmish game. However, it is still a board game as opposed to a war game or strictly miniature-centered game. It has three different game modes, though, which will offer something for everyone:

Epic Mode

(Competitive or Cooperative/Solo)

In Epic Mode, players (either 1 or 2 playing as a team) will experience Celestial's storyline through a series of scenarios. The players will control a preset team of units to fight against the scenario's adversaries, which are controlled either by another player (as the game master) or by the game’s AI. Each scenario has its own specific settings, rules, and goals.

Challenge Mode

(Cooperative/Solo Only)

Challenge Mode is similar to Epic Mode, except that players can customize their teams of units (rather than using a preset team) to fight through Epic Mode's scenarios. The game's AI controls the enemies at a higher level of difficulty.

Skirmish Mode

(Competitive Only)

In Skirmish Mode, two teams of players (with 1 or 2 players in each team) battle against each other, controlling a customized team of units on one of the game's included battlefields. Each battlefield has its own specific settings, rules, and goals.

Well, that's it for this update! We'll be back next month with another one, but, in the meantime, I hope you have a happy holiday season and a Merry Christmas! We're looking forward to this coming year and digging deeper into Dawn of Madness soon. We'll talk to you again shortly, my friend!

More Delicious Minis
over 2 years ago – Tue, Nov 23, 2021 at 10:56:13 PM

Hey there, friend! If you are in the US, Happy Thanksgiving! And, if you're not in the US, I hope you have a great week, and that the upcoming holiday season is good to you! 

We're back in this update with the last of the wave one minis to show you. These are grouped into three new videos: The Terrors, The Rages, and The Masquerades. We hope you like them! Without further ado, let's jump into the videos. 

We'll start with the video for the standalone Terrors.

Next, let's take a look at the Rage abominations.

And last of all, let's see the Masquerade abominations.

We hope you liked this look at the finalized minis! As far as actual newsy stuff, we don't have much to share right now, apart from saying that we're still working away on the game. We should have some more good stuff for you next month, though. 

Well, as I mentioned above, I hope those of you in the US have a great Thanksgiving, I hope all of you get some great Black Friday deals, and I hope all of you stay safe and sane during this crazy time. We'll talk with you again soon!

Live Stream Link
over 2 years ago – Sat, Oct 23, 2021 at 10:38:50 AM

Hey guys! I just wanted to drop the live stream video link here for you. It'll be on both YouTube and Facebook at 2 pm PDT (9 pm UTC), so I've provided the links for both below. Come say hi!

I don't have any real agenda or anything, apart from spending some time with you. As such, I figure we'll just go for an hour or two, or however long people want to hang out.

I hope to see you soon!

Okay, that's it for this update! Have a great weekend, and I'll talk to you later!

Videos of Miniatures and Upcoming Live Stream
over 2 years ago – Fri, Oct 15, 2021 at 09:43:09 PM

Hey guys! Today we have some cool videos to show you many of the core game miniatures. The tooling process is complete, so, by and large, these are the final production minis. We went with a dark gray color for the wanderers and malformations, while the terrors, abominations, and bosses are a dark red. We chose these colors to showcase the minis' details better. 

The wanderers each have their own video, so now I'll get out of the way and let Roger show off the minis!

Catherine's Miniatures

Claude's Miniatures

Emily's Miniatures

Lynas's Miniatures

We'll have videos of the minis that we missed this time in our next update, such as the Abominations. 

There's also been a slight change of plans regarding the minis. The factory is currently working on the plastic trays for the miniature box. (The box is three levels tall, so there are several trays to design.) When they've completed those, they'll put together the miniatures box and then produce the miniatures, rather than waiting until the paper products have finished printing. This way, the miniatures will already be done and waiting when the printed components catch up,  hopefully cutting off a little extra time there.

Let's Do a Live Stream!

It's been WAY too long since we all got together to hang out, so let's fix that. As of right now, I'm planning on doing a live stream next Saturday, the 23rd, at 2 pm PST (9 pm UTC.) We can talk about anything you guys would like, from Dawn of Madness to Deep Madness to Twisted Fables to Celestial. (Or something completely random. I'm sure there will be some of that as well.) I will have some new miniatures to show off, including the king and his stage that we showed off a couple of updates ago. If you guys are interested, maybe we'll do a reading of a story or two from DoM, as well. I'll post the link in a mini-update for you, but it should also be available on both Youtube and Facebook.

Okay, I think that's it for this update. I'll talk to you guys again in a week!

A Wanderer's Growing Existence, More Art, and a Timeline Update
over 2 years ago – Wed, Aug 25, 2021 at 07:03:30 PM

Hey everyone! Sorry that it's been so long since the last time I updated you. I have no very good reason for it other than to say that I got caught up writing the stories for this game and just didn't force myself to stop. My sincere apologies for making you wait. 

Today, we will delve into existence cards, update you on the timeline for the game, get a quick look at the tweaked domain cards, and show you some more art. Let's get going!

The Current Timeline

In the comments, I noticed a few people asking about the current timeline. Of course, that is a perfectly reasonable question to ask (and one we're overdue on answering), so let's cover it. 

If I'm just being real with you, the number one thing that is holding this game back is me, and that is the area where there are the most chances for further delay. These stories are long and involved and, while I'm trying to work faster (and am undoubtedly succeeding), there's a lot of ground to cover with them. My current goal is to have the wave-one stories done by the end of the year. Is that an achievable goal? Honestly, it's a tall order and is at the very least highly ambitious. However, even if the end of the year passes, they should be done by March at the latest. 

As I'm working on the stories, the team is fine-tuning gameplay, creating cards, playtesting, and making sure the systems all work. In addition, they're commissioning hundreds of pieces of additional art (largely for the coda and domain cards) and working on creating the best game board we can muster. (For any wondering about the game board, we have gone through several iterations and still don't have one we're 100% satisfied with. The team is working hard to make sure we get this right, particularly since some boards for complex games with similar bents have gotten some pushback from the community over the past year or so, and we want to make sure we don't fall into that pit. We are getting closer with each iteration, though. We're aiming for "iconic," which hopefully means we'll at least hit "really good." Actually, I suppose that could be said for a lot of the game.) The team is also working on the endings, making sure each offers a unique, memorable challenge. 

Once I'm done with the stories, we will need approximately three months to fine-tune everything, tighten up the endings, finish up/proofread the cards, and make sure everything works great. After that, we will move into production. 

Speaking of production, the wave-one miniatures are currently almost completely tooled, barring a few small tweaks to a couple of the miniatures. However, once tooling is 100% completed, we will need to wait to make the actual miniatures until the printed components begin manufacturing. The reason for this is that the miniatures could run the risk of warping or breaking if they're left in big mini bins for too long, and they won't move into their cozy plastic homes until the assembly process. As such, they will be manufactured concurrently with the printed components; then, both should be ready for assembly at roughly the same time. Following that, we will move into the hated (by me, at least) shipping process. 

All of this means we are probably looking at Summer/Fall 2022. However, we have to throw in the massive caveat of world conditions. Things seem just to be growing more chaotic rather than evening out as I think most of us had hoped. With that in mind, we want to allow for whatever horrors we find ourselves confronting along the way (such as the currently truly monstrous international shipping situation - a situation that some seasoned board game veterans like Steve Jackson are currently projecting will cripple the industry. Here's hoping it evens out and proves him wrong.) So, we are currently projecting that we will deliver your games in October 2022.

We are truly sorry for this extended delay. Thank you for bearing with us as we continue to finalize this game and make it the absolute best product that we can. We will keep you updated as we move forward and will continue revealing more as we get closer to delivery. 

One thing that is weighing on me is getting a new demo of the game out there so that you can see what all the changes have wrought and how the game plays. That's very important to Roger and the team, too. It'll be a bit tough until we get the finalized game board, but please know it's something we're actively working to do for you so you can better visualize how the game works without having to parse the gameplay together based on my updates. 

Until we're able to do that, though, I'll keep feeding you gameplay details in these updates and hope you can at least get a rough idea until you see it for yourselves. 

Some New Art

As mentioned above, we continue to get new art, specifically for the coda cards. Here are a few of the new ones since our last update:

I'll have a couple more at the end of the update, too, just to keep you scrolling. =)

Existence Cards

We might have mentioned existence cards briefly in a previous update, but, regardless, this will be a deeper look at these important components. (Even if we did, it was a while ago.)

Existence cards are one of the main ways to upgrade your wanderer in Dawn of Madness, adding new abilities to your wanderers, buffing your powers, and offering you insights into how the story is affecting you. While you don't carry over your existence cards from one game to the next, you will unlock new cards as you progress through each wanderer's story. Once a card is unlocked, you will be able to play it in all future games after paying the necessary existence for it. It will never be locked again.

There are two varieties of existence cards: your regular pool and cards unlocked through gameplay. (These cards might not be unlocked through the places you might expect, either. Sometimes, the only way to find them is to fail spectacularly.) Here's a look at both backs and fronts:

You'll notice that both types share a basic layout, though. Let's break it down:

At the top, you can find the title and the wanderer to whom it belongs. Below that, you can see the game effect text, and at the bottom, you can see how many existence tokens you will need to purchase the card. They're pretty basic and easy to understand cards, but what they do is quite expansive.

The existence cards form much of what makes wanderers truly unique - particularly as you unlock more of them the further you progress in the game. This system also ensures that you aren't overwhelmed by too much information at the start of the game, allowing you to get used to how the game plays before adding more complexity (and cool new abilities) to the experience. (This also gives you much greater flexibility in customizing your wanderer each game, adapting him or her to the situations you find yourself in.)

Speaking of unique abilities, some of you may recall long, long ago during the initial campaign when we talked about the inner offerings, which were unique special abilities each wanderer possessed. Well, now the inner offerings have been wrapped into the existence cards. This helps to streamline the special abilities for the wanderers and ensure that those abilities are upgradable the more you play the game. 

For instance, Emily's two types of treatments (psychiatric and physical treatments) are now managed largely through existence cards. (Here's a look at the current versions of these types of cards, too:)

Well, I think that will do it for this look at existence cards. We'll have more game breakdowns in the future. Now, let's take a quick look at a couple of updated domain cards.

Domain Card Update

While I wasn't as sure if we had covered existence cards, I know we've covered domain cards in the past. Even still, there has been some more progress on these, and the team wanted to show them off. Plus, they fit in nicely with the existence cards since both are ways you can strengthen your wanderer in the game, and both kinds allow you to unlock new cards during encounters.

These two are normal Otherworld domain cards. That means these are objects you can always find regardless of what wanderer's story you're playing and can always be found inside the domain deck. (Which, once again, is essentially like the search deck in Deep Madness.) The middle effect text is how the card is used when played normally in-game as a refresher. It also tells you what the thing is (a unique item on the left and a ranged weapon on the right.) So, in the left-hand case, this passive effect is always in effect until the card is discarded. The right one, though, requires an action to snipe at those monsters. It's also only usable once per round. Then, along the bottom, you'll see domain icons listed. Most domain cards only have three icons along the bottom. This means you can discard this card at any time to spend these domain icons as a part of a test, thus buffing your die roll results. 

These two are wanderer-specific domain cards. The left one is Catherine's (which is why there's a branch under the title), while the right is Emily's (with the syringe.) Both of these are items, though you'll notice the one on the right is unique. You'll also notice the one on the right has five domain icons that you can gain from discarding the card. A word of warning, though: if you get a unique domain card that belongs to the wanderer whose story you're currently playing through, you might not want to discard that card unless you really need those domains. It's entirely possible something could come up which would require that card, and if you've discarded it, then you'll be out of luck. 

Once a wanderer-specific domain card has been revealed, it will be added to the domain deck and can be drawn in any forthcoming game, regardless of which wanderer you're playing. Could this lead to some domain card combos surfacing across wanderers' stories? I guess you'll have to wait to find out.

More Art

Okay, that's it for this update! Thanks again for being here with us, guys. We very much appreciate you sticking with us and being a part of this game. Now, to show our appreciation, here are a few more pieces of art!

Talk to you again next time! I hope you have a great week!