September: Printing, Paper, Other People's Games
over 2 years ago – Fri, Oct 01, 2021 at 07:35:00 PM

Hey all, I hope you're doing well. 

I drafted a dreadfully moanful introduction to this update about the miserable little country I live in but let's be honest: nobody needs to read that. Instead, I'll open with this snap of our youngest making mischief in the office. Cute > bleak. On with the update!

Printing

Printing has had yet another delay with a two-hit Brexit kicker: our paper is both more expensive (and thus had to be renegotiated with the supplier) and it's now held up thanks to our nationwide lack of commercial drivers (no moaning please jack). 

We're hoping to have everything on-site this week to get going, as long as they can scrounge together some fuel from somewhere. Wish us luck!

Again, I can only sigh and apologise. Nothing is threatening the project, it's just all slower and more expensive than my timeline accounted for. Clearly I overestimated the clowns in charge of our country (okay okay sorry, no moaning!).

Lost & Found Games

Here's something brighter to talk about! 

The response to this month's Lost & Found Jam, which asked people to make a game based on the same system as Artefact/Bucket, has been really wonderful!

We've had an encouraging & active community forum, and we're now up to 25 submissions with a few days left to go. I thoroughly recommend you head to the submissions page and check out the wonderful & weird things people have done with the toolkit!

Here are some of my favourites:

• A Recipe on Kmiydish Paper is about food. Already a winner IMO. But, rather than a food item that is passed down for centuries (yeuch!), it's about cultural recipes that are handed down through families or organisations. Super cool idea!
• Heavy Weighs The Crown tells the story of a crown and those who wear it, helping you to create a history of monarchs as you play.
• Amayadori (雨宿り) lets you create a little rain shelter in a park, and explore all the people who come to seek sanctuary from the weather.
• Beloved is extremely pink. It's also about the stories of childhood toys being passed down, like Toy Story, which is a genius idea for the system.
• Archived is about documents in libraries. You tell the story of a single book/map/article and each of the people that borrow you (or otherwise!).

(there are loads of other cool entries, I haven't had time to look at them all yet!)

Thanks

That's about it for this month! Cheers to all of you for being so patient, and see you again in October—hopefully with lots of pictures of zines 😅

Cheers,

Jack

August: Proofs, SRD, Jam
over 2 years ago – Fri, Aug 27, 2021 at 07:35:36 PM

Hey folks, hope you’re having a good August. 

After a run of, frankly, dismal weather we're now in a nice run of sunny-but-not-too-warm days where anything seems possible. The news is still a harrowing experience, but I hope you can find a bit of solace in the everyday joys. Anyway! On to the zines.

Bucket print proofs 

This month was pretty special, as we got the test prints through for the books from Dizzy Ink. This is the first time I've been able to look at the whole zine together in print and assemble it into its true 'beaky' form. It looks great—the colours pop and the paper is beautiful. It's also really functional, even with my inept attempt to hand-cut & fold the zine (your zines will be done with the aid of a press!). Folding the zine out to view all the tables is really easy, and it's going to make playing the game super smooth with no need for page turning. 

I've made a few changes based on the test print, but the files are now finalised and everything is go. Paper stacks are en-route, the ink drums are being cleaned & converted. Action stations!

Lost & Found System Reference Document

One of the stretch goals for Bucket of Bolts was to create a system reference document, or SRD, for the game's underlying mechanics. The idea behind an SRD is to support other game designers in making their own, similar games. 

Artefact & Bucket's SRD is called 'Lost & Found', because it's designed to help tell stories of objects that have transient relationships with their users. You can find it at https://srd.mousehole.press. I've tried to make it as usable as possible, including advice & intentions for each concept in the system. I hope you find it a useful resource, maybe even an inspiring one!

If you do find yourself inspired, maybe consider joining the 60 or so other folks participating in the Lost & Found game jam over on itch.io. From the 1st September for three weeks we'll be making games based on the new SRD. Don't worry if you've never designed a game before—if you've got a good idea get stuck in and ask for help if you need it. It's gonna be rad!

Timelines

So, we've gone past our July estimate for Bucket shipping, and August isn't going to happen either. I do apologise again for going past our estimate—it's a combination of me being a little slower getting things out than I'd anticipated, and general delays due to ongoing covid disruption. I'm pretty confident that we'll start delivering fairly soon now—the files are ready, Dizzy Ink are primed with some new staff to boot, and the warehouse are ready to ship. It's still a lot of stuff to print & process, but we're on the home stretch.

If you're concerned about shipping addresses, as I've said previously you can always update your address by going back into your survey. You'll also get 48hrs notice via email before your address is locked down for shipping, and an update on here.

The one thing that I've been wrestling with, for the 400 or so EU customers I have, is the best way to get books to you without incurring large fees on your end. I looked into setting up IOSS but it's eye-wateringly expensive for the volumes of shipping I do to the EU (3-4x the amount of all my EU orders!). There are a few other options to look into though—I'm hardly the only person with this problem! I'll share details with you when I've got a plan.

Cheers!

That's all for this month everyone. If you've played around with the digital edition of Bucket of Bolts, please let me know! I've had a few really fun stories & photos of your awesome little spaceships, but I can always do with more—it's such a source of energy for me (and most game designers!)

All the best,

Jack

July: Digital Release!
almost 3 years ago – Fri, Jul 30, 2021 at 02:06:41 PM

Hey everyone,

We're pretty under it here at Mousehole HQ as we juggle kids, work & house renovation. But through it all, Bucket of Bolts has made its way to release!

You should all be getting your download codes via email over the next few days. This will get you access to the game on itch.io, which has three files available for download: the rules, the content & a single-page version of the content (like the beak zine). 

It's been through the editors, but if you notice any typos/errors/PDF weirdness please let me know and hopefully I can sort it before we go to print.

If you don't receive your code, the first thing to do is to make sure you've completed your BackerKit survey. If you've lost your invite, you can recover it here. If it's still not coming through, drop me a message and I'll sort you out. Messages are better than comments as I can access all your info quickly!

There are still plenty of fun things to be added to the project over the coming months. I usually do a same-day release for accessible versions of my games, but I know this would push us back into August so I decided to release now. If you're using a screen reader, I've added alt text and done my best with the text flow but it will be improved immeasurably next month when the professional accessibility conversion is done. The soundtrack will follow later in the year, but for now you're welcome to use the Artefact soundtrack. We've also got some exciting bonus content in the works which will be added as it comes in.

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So yeah! Please let me know how you get on with the game, I always love to hear your stories. There's nothing better than seeing your scrawled paper notes & great little sketches. The game has been a lot of fun to write, and I hope it helps you tell fantastic stories of spaceships and their motley crews.

Thanks for all your support, and I hope this builds excitement for the physical release! Craig is working hard on the risograph process, and I should have some photos for you next month.

Jack

June: Process, People, Printing
almost 3 years ago – Fri, Jun 25, 2021 at 03:10:57 AM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

May: GIFs, Generators, Guitar
almost 3 years ago – Sun, May 30, 2021 at 06:30:54 PM

Hey everyone, how are you doing? We had our first sunny day yesterday after a mostly wet & grey May, and it's got me excited for warmer days outside in the sunshine. We've got our vaccines booked and our eyes on the horizon. I hope things are looking brighter where you are too!

Right. Let's talk project.

Artefact Beak

The layout for the Artefact Beak Zine is finished, in draft state at least. I'm getting a RISO test print done, which usually throws up a few things that need changing, but the (somewhat fiddly) task of laying out the content in this tighter format is now complete.

The rules themselves look great, and I'm happy with how much of the original aesthetic (large, readable fonts & white space) I've managed to maintain in the redesign. I've also really enjoyed integrating the art assets directly into the layout—breaking my strict grids up a little!

The real challenge though was getting the reference side of the beak zine looking good. It's a lot of information to fit on one big sheet, and I also wanted to be sure we didn't lose any of CROM's amazing artwork. It was quite a fun puzzle though, and I think it's turned out really well (the folds of the zine will also create a bit more structure to the sheet than this image suggests). Playing the game using this new version of the zine will be frictionless, as all the information you need during play is right in front of you. I'm excited!

Bucket Beak

With the Artefact layout done, I've now got a good baseline to work on with Bucket of Bolts. I'd estimate it's around half-done, with most of the remaining work to do on the tables. I love writing prompts, so I'm looking forward to getting it finished in June. The aim is to provide a digital release next month, so expect a draft version in the next few weeks before the full launch.

The preview above is of the physical zine layout — I'll be creating a separate simpler layout for the digital edition that's more suited for screens.

You'll also be seeing orders lock & charge in the next few weeks as I prepare for printing & shipping — your address will not lock until I'm actually ready to ship though.

Ship Generator

Torben has also been hard at work on the digital ship generator tool. He's got a working prototype going now, and it's already really fun to generate little ships! The assets (ship parts) and names are all placeholder at the moment — he's working on the final assets now and I'm working on the name generator content. But it's pretty fun right?!

Soundtrack preview

Finally, I thought I’d share a little preview from the OST. Chris has been working on finding the new sound, and I’m really excited by the way it’s going.

It’s still a draft, most notably the guitar on the track is planned to be recorded live at some point, but I thought it’d be fun to show how it’s going.

That's all folks! As always, I'm committed to providing an update once a month, every month. Please don't ask me for an update if it's been less than a month! It's one of those little infractions that winds me up a lot more than it should 😬

Cheers everyone, speak again in June. 

Jack