Week 3 Report - Final Week, Stretch Goal Shuffle, BlueSky
about 1 year ago
– Thu, Mar 20, 2025 at 10:18:45 AM
Hi everyone,
Just one week remains to the end of the campaign! It's not looking super rosy since we're just at 65% funded with a week to go, but I'm hopeful we'll get there.
Please help share this campaign and tell people you know about Ithaca in the Cards and What Should We Have Tomorrow?, and let's finish on a high note!
On a sober note, it's looking like we won't be able to hit any of the stretch goals and we won't be able to produce additional sticker sets or a Japanese translation of the game. The stickers are low-risk enough that I could probably still do them for this campaign, but I'd probably have to come back later with another campaign for the Japanese translation of What Should We Have Tomorrow?.
I am re-ordering the stretch goals so we can focus on getting a Japanese translation for What Should We Have Tomorrow? first, but that still relies on exceeding the funding goal, so please still help us spread the word of this campaign so we can get them done.
In other news, I did a couple of demos of Ithaca in the Cards: Second Expedition at Breakout Con this past weekend, which was a lot of fun, and helped me to refine the demo and setup procedure.
Here's a link to a thread on BlueSky that explains how the setup procedure has been refined, drawing on the design of magic tricks.
Speaking of BlueSky, I also recently shared a thread of some recipe cards from my time demoing What Should We Have Tomorrow? at a local Malaysian convention. I've included the photos of some of the recipe cards below, but you should check out the rest in the thread above:
That's all for now, and I hope my next update is with news of successfully funding. I'm in Montreal at the moment, then back to Toronto for a bit before catching another 20-hour flight home to Malaysia, so I would appreciate any help sharing the campaign while I'm traveling. Thank you!
Sky blue regards,
Aaron
Halfway There, Sticker Preview, Breakout Con Toronto
about 1 year ago
– Tue, Mar 11, 2025 at 09:05:16 AM
Hi everyone,
We've just reached the midway point in the campaign and we've also just hit 50% funding and almost 100 backers!
I'm confident that we'll be able to successfully hit our funding goal by the end of March, but we might need more of a push to hit those translation stretch goals which I would really love to get to, so please help spread the word for this campaign so we can get there! Maybe give the games a go with some friends (it's actually quite fun to play What Should We Have Tomorrow? as a communal activity) as you can get demos for both games on itch.io right now.
In other news, Yon just provided me with the near-final sticker sheet for the base set of kitchen stickers. All the items have been drawn, and we're just tweaking the arrangement of the sheet now, so I figured I could share what that looks like with you all.
In addition, I will be traveling to Toronto to attend Breakout Con this weekend from 14-16 March 2025. I'll be running some games there, including a couple of demos of Ithaca in the Cards: Second Expedition (though those games are already full), and moderating a panel. If you happen to be at the con and you find me wandering about, come say hi and I might have a small horse zine to give you :)
Livin'-on-a-prayer regards,
Aaron
Week 1 Report - A Nice Launch, New Local Pick Up Tier, Ithaca 2E Livestream
about 1 year ago
– Wed, Mar 05, 2025 at 03:02:08 AM
Hi everyone,
First off, thank you so much for supporting the campaign in its early days! We're at about 36% funded within the first week and hopefully we'll be able to maintain some momentum to hit the funding goal before the campaign ends so that we can get to some of the stretch goals.
Check it out, I managed to get the Nice Number right before writing this update (yes, I am 13 years old).
I also actually organised a small launch party last week at a local game shop, and did some demos of both games (which huge thanks to my wife and editor Jeannie for helping out with the demos) right before hitting the launch button on the campaign. It was also a nice opportunity to finally meet up with some of the artists and collaborators in person. Here are a couple of photos from that event:
I also belatedly realised that I could set up a separate tier for Malaysian backers to arrange for local pick up from me rather than have the games shipped. This also allows me to provide a fairer-priced option for Malaysian backers to support the project as AUD25 is roughly RM75 and that's just not a feasible price for a zine here. So now there's a new special tier for locals to pick up the game from me in person, in Petaling Jaya or nearby.
Speaking of demos, I'm also going to be doing a How-to-Play Livestream for Ithaca in the Cards: Second Expedition in a couple of days! It'll feature local Malaysian designers/GMs Valiant Dorian and Dungeon Mother Kir, and it will be live on Twitch on Thursday 6 March 2025, at 10 pm ET / 7 pm PT, which is Friday 7 March 2025, at 11 am Malaysian Time. Check out details below:
That's it for now! Please help spread the word of the livestream and the campaign, and let's get to those stretch goals. In that same spirit, I'm going to share some other games that are currently crowdfunding that I'm really excited for and have supported as well:
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Zhenya's Wonder Tales - I've been singing the praises of Bully Pulpit Games' Desperation recently and have used it to introduce new people to the hobby, and Zhenya's Wonder Tales looks like it will be similarly approachable and narratively fascinating, and might be a great alternative for those who struggle with Desperation's bleak atmosphere. Highly recommend!
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Time Force - I'm a big fan of the Mythworks team, and I also really love fun time travel games (I've tried my hand at making one myself, it's a really fertile space to explore) so this was a clear winner for me.
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Celestial Bodies - If you know the Aaron lore (or if you backed my previous game Spectres of Brocken, hello again), you know that I love mecha and all kinds of mech media and this game is so juicy and aimed directly at my heart. I'm "Eric Andre banging on the fence screaming let me in" about this, so please check it out as well if you're a fellow mecha sicko.
Nice regards,
Aaron
