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Post by mister frau blucher on Oct 10, 2012 9:31:35 GMT -5
So, this is Dark City Games, where no plan survives contact with reality! ;D
We had hoped to have another game published by now, with another out before the end of the year. 4 games a year has always been mine and George's plan, and it will happen at some point. There is still time to do it this year, as we have some good things coming. But both of our day jobs and associated issues have been chaotic this year, and will remain so for the forseeable future. I know it is tough for everyone, this is not whining or excuse making, just letting you know why we are behind our hoped-for schedule.
However, we have a submission that is close to being finished. George and I are going through final editing now, and we hope to have it out in November. We will provide more details as it gets closer to publication, but it is a unique environment and experience.
George and I also still have separate adventures in development, both behind schedule as referenced above. But we have faith one will be done and ready for Christmas.
Having learned something about counting dragons before they hatch, that is as specific as we will get at this time.
On a more positive note, however, this has been the second-best year we have had, going back to 2006. There are a few reasons, I think, but the main one has been Marco's video reviews. With each one he did, we saw a surge in sales, int the reviewed games as well as others. There have been a few other reviews as well, and they all help us - even the negative one! We brutally playtest our adventures to get them in the best shape possible, and brutal reviews help us identify where we need to be stronger.
So, the upshot is, we hope to have two more great adventures out by the time Saint Nick eases into his sleigh.
And, as always, and we mean this sincerely, thank you all for your patronage.
Bret
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Post by darkscar on Oct 11, 2012 13:00:56 GMT -5
I know George makes an occasional appearance here, but do we know if any of the other authors in the DCG series make appearances on this board? I guess this question is directed at Bret (mister frau blucher), but I suppose I understand if they (the authors) wish to keep their anonymity. Would be cool hearing from them, I think, unless they're not cool. If they're grumpy, then probably not.
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Post by mister frau blucher on Oct 11, 2012 13:09:36 GMT -5
Darkscar,
vladtaltos is the author of Shadows in the Dark. I did not identify him previously out of respect for his anonymity, if he desired it, but as he posted some errata in the board for SitD, it seems he does not desire it! As long as the Falcons keep winning, I don't think he will be grumpy...
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Post by darkscar on Oct 11, 2012 13:32:15 GMT -5
vlad taltos, you Dirty Bird lovin' rascal! You wrote an adventure and didn't tell anybody?! What gives? I didn't think Falcon fans could write, much less get published! ;D I kid, I kid. Congrats, guy. Tell me something about it; how did it all evolve?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 11, 2012 14:25:29 GMT -5
that's cool to know about vlad and shadows. i saw his post about errata but assumed he was an early buyer, not the author.
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Post by vladtaltos on Oct 12, 2012 7:54:02 GMT -5
vlad taltos, you Dirty Bird lovin' rascal! You wrote an adventure and didn't tell anybody?! What gives? I didn't think Falcon fans could write, much less get published! ;D I kid, I kid. Congrats, guy. Tell me something about it; how did it all evolve? Thanks, darkscar...I think. How did it evolve? I wrote it to run for a group of buddies about 3-4 years ago. It was the first game I'd GM'd in a very long time, and I wanted to run something horrific, dark, terrible, and hopefully memorable. So, it began modestly enough at my tabletop. Much to my amazement, the group liked it a lot! A year or so after that, I ran it for a friend of mine who lives out of state. I ran it through emails as a solo game with one character. He liked it as well and recommended I do something more with it. I followed his advice and submitted it to DCG. The rest, as they say, is history. What followed was a couple of rewrites. The first was to get it to word count, it was about 50k words, but DCG's booklet can hold only about 27-30k; that involved a lot of pain, sweat and tears as I had to cut it nearly in half. The second rewrite was to include more combats and to structure it a little differently. Basically, that was it. So don't throw away those old game notes. You never know what they may lead to. ;D
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Post by darkscar on Oct 12, 2012 13:24:36 GMT -5
Thanks for filling me in, vlad. I always find it interesting to see how these things come about. Any particular writer or story serve as inspiration, or did it all come out of your head?
edit: Hey Bret, feel free to talk about how your games came about as well. Don't wanna leave anyone out.
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Post by vladtaltos on Oct 13, 2012 7:52:02 GMT -5
No, darkscar, it all came out of my head, a frightening place to be I assure you. I have a long list of favorite authors, and maybe in a very general way many have been an influence, but if I could attribute one in particular as someone I'd like to emulate it'd be Dean Koontz, for the ability to consistently capture suspense in a very meaningful way.
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Post by darkpumpkin on Dec 10, 2012 23:56:34 GMT -5
On a more positive note, however, this has been the second-best year we have had, going back to 2006. Really glad to hear that. I know DCG is a labour of love and after a few years it would be natural for things to slow down. But I hope there are enough fans out there (and keen authors) to keep things simmering away for years to come.
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Post by mister frau blucher on Dec 19, 2012 10:02:43 GMT -5
Hey darkpumpkin,
Thanks for the well-wishes! I wish our day jobs did not interfere so much with our hobbies! Ha!
Bret
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Post by mister frau blucher on Dec 19, 2012 10:11:03 GMT -5
Update for our customers:
Well, there will not be a new DCG adventure under your tree this year - Sorry!
Many of you have probably received this information from George via the email list. If you did not, please email him at admin at darkcitygames dot com and get on the list!
We have two adventures that are very close to completion, but playtesting makes it clear they need more development. While we want to put more games in your hands, we need to make sure they are the best they can be. Not that we can make everything perfect - but we are trying!
I am reluctant to make predictions - my accuracy rate is comparable to Nostradamus' drunk uncle's cousin thrice-removed - but by the end of the first quarter you should see the next adventure. I promise the wait will be worth it!
As always, we really appreciate your business, my friends!
Bret
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Post by darkscar on Dec 19, 2012 11:27:50 GMT -5
Hey Bret,
Is "Out of the Void" the same as "The Iron Moons," the Sword-n-Planet game you were working on?
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Post by mister frau blucher on Dec 20, 2012 11:43:46 GMT -5
Hey darkscar,
No, those are different adventures. I was about a third of the way through The Iron Moons when we got a submission that featured skyships, which were also prominent in my adventure. So I set it aside to rethink some things as George did his initial edits of the submission. I developed another adventure in the meantime, which has come together rather quickly.
It was during the playtesting of the newer adventures that we realized that they needed more work. Both are solid, but need more to make them great.
So Iron Moons will still see the light of day, hopefully late next year, but is being re-written to eliminate or change significantly the skyships. I still really like the overall story and certain scenes, but I do not want it to have a similar feel to a contemporary release. Even while one is fantasy and the other sword-and-planet, the prominent use of skyships in each just made them too similar.
Out of the Void (working title; I like something else better, but George has final say!) is a fantasy that has developed very quickly, and based on some very specific feedback received in a few threads. There are some smaller adventures that are connected, and the reasons they are connected gradually becomes clear as you wander about the land. It is a semi-sandbox, semi-gazeteer, with the various quests revealing not just the underlying plot but the region of the land as well, and each of these quests being suitable for an evening's quick play as part of the whole adventure, or just a separate mini-adventure in and of itself.
So it is episodic in nature, with all the quests in a decaying orbit toward the underlying plot. I really like it; as I allude to, it needs a bit more work in smoothing out some links and fleshing out some of the regions/locations. I am hoping to complete this over the holidays, and get it into the hands of our most brutal playtesters shortly thereafter.
Sorry for the long explanation, amigo; hope you stayed awake! And as always, thanks for your interest and support, darkscar!
Bret
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2012 12:09:42 GMT -5
Out of the Void sounds delicious. it is fantasy? the title made me think it was LTS. maybe it fits the plot though. maybe (with george's permission), you could start a Poll-thread giving the teaser-text, the above, and several different titles to be voted on.
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Post by badpixie on Dec 23, 2012 7:27:40 GMT -5
Can you post the characters levels of the proposed new adventures please?
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