Cultists of Cthulhu

Good news and bad news
about 8 years ago – Wed, Nov 16, 2016 at 09:17:59 PM

The good news is that Cultists of Cthulhu has finished being manufactured! Whoo!

The bad news is that the ocean freight company I was going to use, UNI International, decided right before manufacturing finished to drop all of their board game clients, which includes Sixpence Games. Nobody had any idea this was coming; they had even recently struck a deal with the Indie Game Alliance to give a discount to IGA members, so it really came as a shock. A lot of folks in the industry were blindsided by this, and there's been a bunch of scrambling to find a replacement, including on my end.

So, I have been reaching out to every ocean freight company I can find. I'm in talks with a few of them, and once I get an arrangement and get the games on the boat, I will post another update to let you know that that is sorted.

If by some miracle you happen to have a contact in an ocean freight company, please reach out to me and put us in touch so I can get you your game quicker!

Since you last heard from me...
about 8 years ago – Tue, Nov 01, 2016 at 10:49:39 PM

Good news and bad news. The good news is, manufacturing is not only continuing on schedule, but might actually be done ahead of time!

The bad news is... well, the good news about the bad news is that none of it should affect you or Cultists of Cthulhu. The bad news itself is that since the last update, I have been almost mugged at knifepoint (I was rescued by a stranger who was doing heroin in the same alley), Allison broke her hand (and guess how good the health insurance a pair of independent game designers can afford is? haha, not great), we tried moving across the country from Portland, Oregon to Houston, Texas, but our car broke down in Berkeley, where we've been stranded since then, someone broke into our car, stealing all our valuable stuff (save our phones and laptops, which we fortunately had on us, but including over $1,000 in other electronics) and covering the rest of our possessions in broken glass, including the press proof of Cultists of Cthulhu, which I just finished cleaning, my cell phone bricked itself (save your receipts, kids, so if this happens to you you can get it replaced under the warranty! I did not, and so had to shell out for a new one), and a bird shat on my only hat.

It's been a pretty difficult few weeks, let me tell you! Fortunately, we just got a pretty sweet deal on an old Honda to replace our classic Beetle (less personality, but way more reliable), I got my new phone direct from Google so it's got a decent warranty this time, and most importantly, we just got the aforementioned good news about Cultists of Cthulhu!

So, with these trials and tribulations hopefully all behind us, things are looking up. Also, now that we are based out of the USA and have a (crosses fingers, knocks on wood) reliable car, we will be going to a bunch of conventions! If you have any conventions near you that you would like to see us at, please comment and tell us about them! If they're close to Houston, that's a bonus, but if you're off in Maine or somewhere don't let that stop you from commenting!

Cheers,
Thomas, Allison, Josh, and Brent

Manufacturing continues apace; estimated to be done by November 15th
about 8 years ago – Sat, Oct 22, 2016 at 11:37:44 PM

It's pretty much all there in the title. I'll let you know when manufacturing finishes and we can start getting the games in the mail!

Printing continues; no real news
about 8 years ago – Thu, Sep 22, 2016 at 06:57:07 PM

With all the typos found and corrected, new printing plates made, and the manufacturing paid for, Cultists of Cthulhu is being printed. No news is good news at the moment, so consider this no news.

I'll post another update in a month or when printing ends and games start getting shipped out, whichever comes first.

In other news, the early (p)reviews of Venture Capital are starting to come in, and they're very positive! I'll post some links once I've got them to show off - so far it's just reviewers telling me their impressions, without posting formal reviews yet. Murder Most Foul is progressing nicely, with the fabulous art of Nicholas Small soon to adorn the cover and interior pages. So far we've just got the cover, but what a cover it is:

 Thank you again for all your support! Making games for a living is truly a dream come true, and I couldn't do it without you. Y'all are just great.

I received the press proof, and it is GORGEOUS
over 8 years ago – Thu, Aug 25, 2016 at 12:02:25 AM

I just gave the manufacturer the go-ahead to start production! Here are some photos I took of the game in all its glory. I'm very happy with how it turned out: the art is vivid, clear and easily legible, moody without being too dark, and basically perfect. The print quality is excellent. There's no artefacting, none of the circle-and-dot thing that can come from other printing methods, and there are no errors anywhere in it.

I'm especially happy with the dice, which is the part I was most worried about. They are great. Nice, deep engraving, ink that stays exactly inside the carved portion, small enough that you can easily shake five around in your hand yet large enough that they have a satisfying heft and are easy to read from a distance. The edges aren't sharp, and they feel great in your hand.

I couldn't be happier with it. As promised, here are a bunch of photos. Let me know if you have any questions!

Looking at the photos, the color looks a little washed out and faded. This is the camera's fault, not the game. In reality they are very vivid and colorful.