Dawn of Madness Reveals and a Crossover You Don't Want to Miss
almost 5 years ago – Wed, Jun 26, 2019 at 01:45:49 AM

Friends! Fellows! Madness lovers! I have some big news for you today regarding Dawn of Madness!

First of all, last week I promised you a major update with lots of news and fun stuff coming before too long. This is half of that update. I haven't gotten the actual Deep Madness pictures and info yet, so the Deep Madness news will be coming soon. But for those of you who have been very eager to hear some more Dawn of Madness news, read on!

The Preview KS Page is up!

The preview KS page is officially up for DoM! This is a very rough page, and it will have a lot more (and different) content by the time we officially launch. But if you want to take a look at it, you can find it at http://bit.ly/DoMPreview! (And be sure to click the "Notify me on launch" button!) 

The BGG page is up!

The Board Game Geek page for Dawn is also live! You can find it at https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/282527/dawn-madness! (And most of the pictures that we've been posting in our Dawn of Madness Fridays on Facebook and Instagram are on there as well!)

A Huge Crossover with Eternal Adversary is Live!

Today we are very pleased to announce that we have just launched a major crossover with our friends at Petersen Games for their game Eternal Adversary! For the next week they will be revealing a new figure from Dawn of Madness every day that will also be available and playable in the Eternal Adversary faction Dawn of Chaos! Here's a sample of what they (and we) have been up to:

Because all of our DoM miniatures are unique, this will be the only way to get multiple copies of these miniatures. (Apart from buying multiple copies of DoM.) 

Speaking of multiple, Eternal Adversary is a team game for 2-5 players that takes place across multiple colliding universes, bringing the dark legions of Chaos against the few remaining humans who represent Order. It features a ton of awesome monsters and asymmetric gameplay that was co-designed by Ben Donges and one of the fathers of modern gaming, Sandy Petersen. (He of Call of Cthulhu and Cthulhu Wars fame.) They're great folks (I've backed a number of their Kickstarter games myself, so I'm definitely a fanboy) and this looks like a great game. Check it out at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/petersengames/eternal-adversary/description, and check back on their campaign every day this coming week to see a new miniature from Dawn of Madness! 

Well that's it for this update, friends! We'll be back soon with a bunch more cool Deep Madness stuff (including those pictures from the factory!) 

Where We're At and Where We've Been
almost 5 years ago – Tue, Jun 18, 2019 at 03:05:36 AM

Hey guys! 

I feel like the last few updates have all been "short" updates that somehow ended up being pages long. I'm going to try to avoid that this time, and just give you a quick rundown with where we're currently at. (Plus a tiny peek into what happened when!) We'll see if I succeed. I'll divide this into two sections: Reprint Stuff and New Stuff, which is how my team member, Cherry, so kindly supplied the information to me. But basically, the TL;DR is that we are still making good progress, and it is currently looking like, if all goes well, we may be able to book the boats at some point in July.

Cherry sent me the info in kind of a cool timeline, which gives some insight into what happened when, as well as when we anticipate everything else to finish up. I've gone ahead and shared it with you here, just in case you're interested.

Reprint Stuff:

1. Proofreading for all of the printed accessories, including all of the translation packs, was completed as of March. 

2. The miniatures began production and assembly at the end of March, and have now been completed.

3. The factory for our printing materials made the printing plate, double-checking the colors and proofing the materials to maintain the same color as the first edition. This was completed in April.

4. Printing for the paper and cardboard components started in May, and has now completed.

5. We are currently in the midst of quality inspection/control. This means we (and the factory) are examining samples for all of the accessories and components, eliminating any quality problems that we can find cropping up.

6. All of the printed parts are currently being stored at the printing factory. The dice, meanwhile, are being stored in the injection molding plant, and the miniatures are being stored in another factory. Once the quality inspection is passed, we will at long last book the nearest available ship. However, because of the tariff situation in the US and the concern they have created, many Chinese-made goods are currently being shipped to sea in one mass exodus. This means that ships may be very difficult to come by - at least those going to the US. If we run into a delay, this could very likely be where it arises. Once we have determined the schedule, all of the various pieces will be sent to the printing house for assembly. From there the factory can assemble all of the components pretty quickly – up to thousands of boxes a day. The assembled products will then be loaded into containers right away and transported to the terminal. If all goes well, the goods will leave China in early July.

New products (excluding the novel): 

1. In early April the factory produced a prototype of all 12 new models.

2. All printed materials were submitted to the factory (in all five languages) by mid-April.

3. April and May were super busy months. The print factory made a printing plate for color matching and proofing; the mold factory, meanwhile, forged the metal molds and then began debugging and tweaking so that we have the best possible end products for you guys. (A process called tooling.)

4. Currently, printing is in progress. The injection molding plant is making the final preparations prior to shooting plastic into the molds, including debugging the color, temperature, hardness, etc. of the material.

5. It is expected that new products will leave China by this time next month. 

Once the boats are on the water, it will take a month on average for them to reach their destination ports, at which time the shipping partners will have to assemble all of the orders and ship them to your house. Also, just to be clear, even though we may end up taking two different boats to each region, we will still be shipping everything in one wave. The OG stuff may just be sitting there for a short time awaiting their new comrades. 

At this point, it might be best to anticipate a delay of 2-6 weeks. This is not to say that things necessarily will be delayed, but, as we learned with our first campaign, we are currently entering the most volatile part of the campaign when timelines can tend to sail right out the window - no matter how hard we try to catch them. Compounded on top of this is the US situation with the tariffs, which add a whole new layer of uncertainty to the equation. (Though, once again, the only shipments that could be impacted by this are those going to the US. We are looking into the Canadian shipping, too, to see what would be the best option there.)

In the next week or so we’ll have a couple of team members heading to the factory to check the quality of the products. We'll share the photos taken there in an update once we have those, so expect a new update sooner rather than later. 

Oh! Speaking of pictures, if you haven’t been paying attention to our Facebook page, we’ve been posting pictures every Friday from Dawn of Madness. If you’re interested, check them out at https://www.facebook.com/deepmadnessgame!  (I think you should be able to look at the pictures even without a Facebook account.)

Well that's it for this update! We'll be back with another one really soon, and it should be a doozy!

A Quick Progress Update
almost 5 years ago – Thu, May 16, 2019 at 03:18:21 AM

Hey guys! We've just got a quick update for you today to let you know that we're all still alive. There's not a whole lot of pictures or major, earth-shaking news in here, but what news we have is for the most part pretty good. Let's get to it!

First of all, the production of the core games is nearly complete! (Actually, it could be all the way complete, but we're not 100% certain. As such, we're leaving some room for error.) Production is proceeding for all of the other stuff, too, and making good progress. 

Next, I know a lot of you have been wanting to take a look at the Monstrum box. We had a sample briefly, but there were a couple things we needed to adjust on it. As such, we will have one to show you as soon as the next sample arrives with those changes on-board. Hopefully we'll have that in a couple more weeks. 

So why didn't we at least take some pictures of the box before we sent it off, even if it wasn't the final version? Good question. The answer is… We didn't think about it? There is, however, one small consolation: here is a picture I received of the sample Monstrum box chilling in the wild. Kind of a tease? Absolutely. Better than nothing? … Maybe. (And please keep in mind once more that this is not the final box, and is still subject to change!)

On to (potential) release dates! Another thing that a lot of you have been asking about is if we're still on-track for an August release. We can't make any promises. This is Kickstarter, and literally anything could happen - as we learned with our first campaign. However, we can say that things are looking… very promising. Fingers crossed that all continues to go this smoothly.

Now for the one uncertain/leaning toward bad thing of this update. For those who haven't heard, the US and China are currently engaging in a bit of a trade war. Because of this, we're keeping a really close eye on the US tariff situation currently. The word going around is that, if these go through, they will effect board games imported from China (though there is some conflicting information on this, it seems.) If that's the case, it could result in a pretty sizable fee upon importing the games into the US. We're looking into the situation, trying to determine how it will effect us (or if it even will), and also looking at ways we can minimize its potential effects with our partners. 

This is absolutely NOT a certain thing yet, and maybe we'll be able to get the game through customs even before these tariffs are put in place - should they end up being instituted at all. We just wanted to keep you informed of what's going on. As for the other big unknown at this point, Brexit, it looks like we might have dodged a bullet on this one, as it looks like any decision has been postponed until at least the end of October.

Moving on from that possible downer (should it happen), a lot of you have been asking for more info about Dawn of Madness. We don't have a lot more information to share with you today, but we do have another couple of teaser pictures. Here you go: 

Well that's it for today! Have a great day, and we'll be back with more updates as soon as we have them! Talk to you soon! 

Choose Your Own Terror 7
almost 5 years ago – Thu, May 09, 2019 at 02:47:37 AM

You guys have been so patient. (Wow. Seriously patient. I posted the last one of these when?!) And you've asked so nicely. Some of you repeatedly. And often. So, at long last, your wish is finally my command. I have at length finished it: the next part of our little Choose Your Own Terror story.  

As with all of these posts, there is no real campaign news in this update. I can say that to my knowledge everything is still going well, and we are still on track. Having said that, this has not been corroborated by the rest of the team, so you're stuck with my feelings for right now. (And those are never wrong, right?) I'll write a full-fledged update for you all as soon as I have something to report from the rest of the team. Hopefully that will be before too long. Having said that, there will be no further campaign tidbits from here on in, so you can stop reading now if you're not interested in the story.

It has been a very long time since our last little outing, so, if you'd like to brush up on what's come before, you can find part one here, part two here, part three here, part four here, part five here, and part six here. If you just want a quick refresher, though, here you go: The story began when you were separated from your wife, Cynthia, and then heroically saved a woman named Diane from the clutches of a thrashing tentacle monster. You and she were both hurt in the struggle (Diane severely so), and so you and your friend, Thomas, started hauling Diane toward the nearest med bay. Along the way you were joined by your wife's acquaintance, Persephone. Thomas split off not long after that, and was promptly blown up when something awful happened in the security block where he went to get weapons. You got Diane to the med-bay, where the doctors began to patch her up. But then the med-bay was devoured, and when you and Persephone searched for Diane you found that she had changed into something that was now far from human. The two of you fled, the Diane thing in hot pursuit, until at last you encountered a security detail who gunned Diane down. The guards then detained the two of you, and Persephone created a distraction so that you could get away and find Cynthia. At the end Persephone was being beaten to a pulp by the guards, with Dr. William West and Station Commander Terrence Wade both on their way. As for which path we chose last time, it was almost unanimous that we leave Persephone to the whims of Dr. West and Commander Wade and head off for Cynthia. So that's what we're going to do.

Part Seven: Option B 

With one last pained look back at Persephone, you run. She made this sacrifice so that you could get to Cynthia. It would dishonor her to do anything less, even if every bone in your body is screaming at you to stay. You just have to believe that she’ll be okay.

The corridors blur around you as you race through them, ignoring anything and everyone that would try to steal your attention as you hurry past. Large swaths of the station seem to be in turmoil. Whether that’s because of the things you’ve lived through or something else, you can’t say. Regardless, you will deal with whatever else is happening after you’re sure Cynthia is safe. 

You make it at last to the research wing where Cynthia works. Bursting into the laboratory, you cry out, “Cynthia! Are you in here? Where are you?”

A cluster of huddled people all turn to look at you with wide eyes. You scan over their faces, hoping, fearing, until –

“You made it!” Cynthia cries, lunging to her feet and running to you. She wraps her arms around you, hugging you in a death grip. “I was so worried,” she whispers, kissing you. “What happened? What’s going on out there?”

“It’s – it’s horrible,” you murmur. “There are… things running rampant through Kadath. Thomas is dead. I… I don’t know what happened to Persephone.”

“You were with Persephone?” Cynthia asks. “And Thomas is…? Oh, I’m so sorry. What kind of things?”

“There’s no time,” you say, forcing yourself to pull away from your wife. “We need to go. Now. We need to get to the shuttle terminal and get out of this place, before it’s too late.”

“Are you sure it’s that bad?” Cynthia says, gripping your arm. Looking at her, you realize that, even though it feels like you’ve been running from these horrors for months, it’s really only been a matter of hours. It’s no wonder that she is so surprised at the current state of things.

“Yes, Honey,” you reply softly. “I am.”

Cynthia studies your face, then nods. “Okay,” she replies. “If you think we need to go, Babe, then we’ll go.”

“Can… can we go with you?” another woman says. “I don’t want to stay here and just wait for whatever’s coming.”

“Of course, Vickie,” Cynthia says. “Whoever wants to come with us can.” 

“I’m in,” says a man you recognize as Caleb. So do three others. 

Hurriedly those who are going with you gather their things and assemble before you. There’s you and Cynthia, Vickie, Bertrand, Caleb, Jennifer, and Nathan.

“If you have anything you can bring as weapons, grab them,” you say. Several retreat to grab knives, saws, or whatever they can find. Once they return, you say, “Okay, stick together and be ready. Anything could be out there.” 

Heading out the door again, the seven of you race toward the shuttle bay. 

“Attention all Kadath residents in Dome Two,” a voice announces over the speakers. “A temporary lockdown is currently in effect for your area. Please return to your quarters or workplace and remain there until the situation is resolved. Thank you for your cooperation.”

“Do you think the shuttle to Dome One is still running?” Bertrand asks.

“I guess we’ll find out,” you reply. 

“Maybe we should go straight for the emergency evac submersible b –” Nathan stops talking midsentence with a wet slapping sound. You look back just in time to see him ripped in half by two long scythe-like appendages, attached to a creature your mind can’t quite comprehend.

The corridor erupts around you with tentacles and growths and vile whipping things, horrors birthing from bulging orifices that are growing out of the walls. Barbed tendrils impale Vickie before a circular mouth rips her head from her shoulders. Something else descends upon Bertrand, its talons disemboweling him as it plucks off his limbs.   

“RUN!” you scream, your hand clenching around Cynthia’s wrist. Those of you who are left do just that, a seething wave of impossible horrors surging at your heels.

You manage to pull ahead of the maddened mob, skidding around another corridor with Cynthia panting and screaming beside you. Looking back, you see that Caleb and Jennifer are still with you as well, sweat and blood soaking their clothing. You’re almost to the shuttle bay. Turning another corner, you see it up ahead. You run for it, run as fast as you can. You’re almost to the door. A guard steps in front of you, blocking your way. 

“The shuttle is closed until the lockdown is lifted,” he says. “Return to your rooms, please.”

“We have to get in there!” you cry. “There’s a swarm of those things right behind us!” 

“Then get in some place before they arrive,” he says. “This room’s off-limits.”

“Let us through!” Caleb yells, advancing toward the guard. 

The guard raises his gun. “Don’t make this a thing,” he says. “I will shoot you all if I have to.”

“Please!” Jennifer says. “We’ll die if you leave us out here!”

You hear the monsters coming from around the next bend. You know you have to make a choice, and you need to make it quickly. You could try to rush the guard, though he might shoot you all down before you can overpower him or lock the hatch, using up all of the time you have left. You could run for the emergency evac submersible bay that Nathan mentioned, and hope you can get there before those things reach you. Or you can try to evade the horde at your back by finding a place to hide. Your choices are all perilous, and you feel your own mortality breathing down your neck. But you have to do something. And you have to do it now.

WHAT WILL YOU DO?

A. Try to force your way past the guard into the shuttle terminal. 

B. Run for the emergency evac submersible bay.

C. Find a place to hide from the coming onslaught. 

There will be one more part in our little Choose Your Own Terror saga. As such, your choice may very well determine if anyone lives, or if everyone dies. Choose wisely, because this is it, my friends.

Deep Madness Progress and Dawn of Madness Update!
about 5 years ago – Tue, Apr 09, 2019 at 02:13:26 AM

Hey Deep Madness friend and fellow investigator!

We finally have some fun stuff to show you, so we thought there's no better time than the present to send it your way!

Our very own Cherry is visiting the manufacturer's factory as we speak, and has been taking some cool pictures for us all. Let's take a look as we talk about how things are progressing.

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PRODUCTION OF OG MINIS

The factory is producing the miniatures from all of the original DM content right now. Currently they are focused on the miniatures from the core game. As of right now, there are three production and assembly lines working full steam ahead on Deep Madness.

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PROGRESS ON THE NEW MINIS

We have seen all of the masters for the new miniatures (i.e. the Visages from Faces of the Sphere, the new epic monsters, and Lucas.) Some of them still need some adjustments to meet our standards. When we're satisfied and this process is finished, then we'll begin to produce some test samples. Here are some pictures of the early masters. Please keep in mind that these are NOT final: they are still being refined to bring out as much detail as possible on them. As such, these are all subject to change.

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PROGRESS ON THE PRINTED MATERIALS

We have submitted all of the printed materials to the manufacturer except for The Art of Chang Yuan and the translated materials. (And Shattered Seas, of course. That'll be shipping to you probably in December rather than August, as mentioned during the campaign.) We're finishing up editing and layout on Chang's art book, and the translation work is almost completed for everything. (We're only waiting for a very small bit more to arrive.) Once those two elements are completed, it'll pretty much just be waiting for everything to get made and shipped.

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A FRESH LOOK AT PROFUNDUM

We've also gotten our hands on an official test sample for Profundum! Let's take a look:

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Now, I know you are really interested in seeing Monstrum as well. (I know I am.) We're supposed to have that sample soon, and we'll show it to you as soon as we have it.

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WHAT ARE WE UP TO NOW?

So, some of you may be wondering what we're currently up to, since Deep Madness is starting to wind down on our end. Well, it is and it isn’t. Here's what's going on at Diemension:

1. We are finishing the reprint materials, as mentioned in this update. There's still a few odds and ends that need to be written, edited, or laid out, though very little.

2. I'm still plugging away at Shattered Seas.

3. We're also focusing a lot of our time on Dawn of Madness, as well as a couple of other projects we are hoping to launch in the not-too-distant future - including, but not limited to, our dark fantasy epic Celestial.

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DAWN OF MADNESS TEASER

Speaking of Dawn of Madness: I know that a lot of you are very interested in some news on what's going on with Dawn, and when you can expect the KS to drop. (Judging by the number of questions I've been fielding about it recently, in any case. ;) Currently, it's looking like Dawn will launch as early as August, rather than March (obviously) or April as previously mentioned. There are two reasons for this. The first one is because we wanted to make sure that THIS campaign was well and truly wrapped (at least on our end) and flowing smoothly before jumping on another one. The second reason is because we wanted to make sure that when you saw Dawn it was far enough along to really and truly blow your socks off. Because of the nature and structure of Dawn, though, it means that we need to have a pretty big chunk of it completed before that can happen, unlike many other games where you can give someone a sample scenario and call it good. So, if all goes according to plan, by the time you see DoM it will be in a much more mature state than, say, Deep Madness was the first time people saw it. (That's the plan, at least. =D )

What's that, you say? That barely counted as a teaser, you growl? Okay, fine. Here's a little bit more about Dawn of Madness.

DoM will be a massively story-driven game. Whereas in Deep Madness the characters were important, in DoM they truly are the game. The game is cooperative for 1-4 players, and each player's character has a story that is showcased in one game of the campaign. (Oh, yeah. Did we mention it's campaign driven? Well, now we did.) It's impossible to truly complete a character's story in one playthrough, but the character whose story is the most advanced will be the character whose final boss is brought in to terrorize the players for the epic finale. The choices that the players have made during the game (and the campaign) will further determine how the boss plays and the ending you get.

There are no repeated sculpts in DoM. EVERY MINIATURE WILL BE UNIQUE, strange, and pretty astoundingly creepy. Plus, there are four different versions of each hero, every one more twisted and bizarre than the last.

Last of all, we want to emphasize that DoM is going to be a true horror experience. More so, in fact, than just about any board game that we can think of off the top of our heads. Think the DM madness cards, except the whole game is that. Furthermore, if Deep Madness was our Dead Space/Bioshock/Event Horizon, then this is our Silent Hill/Evil Within/Alan Wake/In the Mouth of Madness. If we succeed, then it is going to mess with you in a way almost no board game has before, and you will constantly be left wondering what is real and what is nightmare.

In case you haven't noticed, we are extremely excited about Dawn of Madness. We think it's going to be a really unique adventure, and that it's going to immerse you in a way few board games have before. We hope that, after this little look at it, you're getting excited about it, too.

Well that's it for today, my friend! Have a great day, and we'll talk to you again soon!