Koriko: A Magical Year

May 2024
almost 2 years ago – Thu, May 23, 2024 at 11:28:03 PM

Hello! It’s been another busy month here at Mousehole HQ so I’ll make this quick 😊

Shipping 📦

It brings me no small amount of joy and relief to finally be able to say, orders across the world will begin shipping from Monday!

Our partners in the US, UK and Australia will be packing and posting, and I’ve also got parcels to send from home for those of you who ordered some of my existing stock (Slow Knife boxes & Artefact zines)

There are a lot of packages to get through, so please don’t ask me where your stuff is until at least next month’s update. Both of the distributors I’m working with have dedicated support emails too so I’ll share them at that time—they’ll know more than I will!

At this point, too, there’s a good chance it might be too late to change your address. I’ll still do my best, though!

Digital files update 💿

I’ll also be updating the game’s digital files on itch.io in the couple of weeks, including the bonus written content and fixes to the main book that we caught during the pre-press print process. It’ll also include links to the (free!) digital tabletop version of the game, which quite frankly rocks imo.

I’d hoped to have the game’s tutorial website, koriko.guide, ready for you all when the books arrived but we’ve been dealing with snotty & feverish kids all week and haven’t felt 100% ourselves. Next week is half term (😅), but the week after that it’s my #1 priority.

UKGE 🛒

If you’re at the UK Games Expo next weekend, come say hi! My stall number is 1-1165. It would be lovely to meet you :)

That’s it for this month!

Cheers, J

April 2024
almost 2 years ago – Tue, Apr 23, 2024 at 07:13:47 AM

Hello! We survived the Easter holidays, and even had some sunny weather to boot!

Right. Update time!

Address Locking 🔒

We're (finally!) at the point where we need to lock addresses for your orders!

You should get an email from BackerKit shortly letting you know you have 48hrs to edit your address, if necessary. You can also update it yourself, following the instructions in this post.

Please check that your delivery address has a full name (including surname) and valid phone number—it can make it difficult for you to collect a missed parcel otherwise!

Non-US orders—you will get a separate email from ShipQuest (the fulfilment company) just before your order ships, giving you another chance to edit your address, but it's a good idea to make sure it's all correct now.

Where are the boats? 🚢

I've been advised by the fulfilment companies that it's actually not very helpful to try and track the boats carrying your games. Turns out there are a number of factors (most commonly, containers are transferred between boats one or more times over the course of a journey!) that make it a pretty unreliable way to know what's going on 🤷🏻‍♂️

So anyway, what they have told me is that the Australian stock is being processed on-shore and should be shipping pretty soon, and the US and UK-bound shipments are due to arrive into port in the next 2-3 weeks. They'll need to clear customs and get delivered to the warehouses, but we're getting there! 😅

Anything else? 📋

• All the written bonus content is now complete and with the editors 😊
• I've got sketches for most of the songs on the soundtrack 🎶
• I've also been working on the digital implementation of Koriko (a free update) 🃏
• My Patreon launch went really well, cheers for all of you who signed up 🐭

March 2024
about 2 years ago – Fri, Mar 29, 2024 at 10:20:38 AM

Hello all! The Easter break began for us this week, and helpfully it’s also brought a torrent of grey clouds and rain to really test our child-rearing mettle.

Still, we persevere and get out when we can! Every now and again the rain clears and the sun pokes through, reminding me that warmer days will be here soon. Anyway! Lots to get through today.

Boats! 🚢

Your books and boxes are being loaded onto boats! The smallest shipment, to Australia, is already on its way. The other two, to the US and UK, are loading as I write this update. Soon I'll have tracking codes I can share with you, so you can see them wending their way across the ocean 😊 

I'm currently preparing all the final backer data for the two different fulfilment companies, so that we're all prepped for when the stock arrives. Note that addresses have not been locked yet. You can update your address whenever you like until it's locked (details here) and you'll get 48 hours warning when we do lock them—we're just getting prepared for now ☑️

Patches! 🐈

Your patches arrived last week, and they're glorious!

I've been separating them out this morning to send to the various hubs across the world so they can go out with your orders. They're really lovely to see in person—the colours are fantastic and there's a jazzy sheen to the thread. You can stick them anywhere too, the adhesive seems pretty strong!

Slow Knife MPC 🔪

The hardback version of the Slow Knife is now in full production, and the first copy off the line arrived with me last week to check over. It looks great! I'm really happy with how it turned out 😊. You can see it there on my (messy) desk in the picture above!

Friends at the Table are still playing The Slow Knife at the moment over on their Patreon—it's so great, can't wait for episode three to drop soon!

Koriko Multiplayer Test

I facilitated the first public playtest of the multiplayer Koriko supplement earlier this week, and it went so great! Of course, it also ran roughly twice as long as I thought it might—but we did have five players... We're playing again soon, and then I'll send both supplements over for editing before I publish them for you all ✨

If you were a player in the game, thank you so much & I can't wait for the second session ☺️

Life update

I quit my day job this week! 😱 Scary stuff, but it's been a long time coming. I'm really looking forward to being able to focus more of my energy on this work, and it's truly only down to your support that I'm able to make this change. Thank you all so much!

I've also launched a Patreon to support my move into full-time creative life. I'm hoping to build more of a community there to play games with and share my work—since Twitter died it's felt a lot harder to connect with people who like my stuff... If you'd like to check it out, I also took a punt on (probably too many of) these cute Mousehole Press patches and you'll get one for free if you become a member during the launch 😊

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Phew! That's it for March, everyone. I hope that April is kind to you, wherever you are in the world.

J

February 2024
about 2 years ago – Wed, Feb 28, 2024 at 02:27:52 AM

Good morning all! I hope you've had a good February ☔️

It remains predominantly grey, but we muddle through. Not a whole lot to report this month—your copies of Koriko are currently sat in a warehouse acclimatising, slowly getting them used to the cold and moisture so they don't bend or warp on their ocean travels.

The wizard-school themed A Magical Sandwich content is all written, and should prove a fun alternative if you've already played the regular witchy start a few times. I've got a working version of the multiplayer rules too—it has, err, ballooned in scope into basically a whole other small game (the book is currently 20-30 pages 😅). I think it's going to be really rad though—if you've got a little group of likeminded folks it'll be a great way to play.

This content, along with some updates to the main book and the website (with tutorial videos) is all going to be part of one big update later this year, so watch this space.

That's it for this month! Thanks everyone :)

Jack

p.s. if you've moved and want to change your address, please follow the instructions in this update 🙂

January 2024
about 2 years ago – Wed, Jan 31, 2024 at 04:21:17 AM

Hello all! About half an hour ago, a big heavy box of games arrived at my door. These are the first boxes of Koriko to come off the production line—the same as the ones you'll be getting in a few months when they're being shipped to your doors!

There's not much to report really, which means things have worked as intended (no surprises!). They look very similar to the pre-production copy, except the printing and general level of finish is nicer. I'm very happy with them, and can't wait for you all to start receiving your own copies.

Other than that, I continue to deal with fun spreadsheets as we finalise the details for international freight, I glance nervously at news articles about various international conflicts which might impact the fickle world of ocean shipping, and I spend the rest of my productive hours working away on the Koriko stretch goal content. What a time to be alive!

That's it really! Thanks everyone 💕

Jack