October
11 months ago – Tue, Oct 31, 2023 at 06:57:09 AM

Hello everyone! 

This month's update will be brief—we've been wrangling a series of very frustrating colour issues over the past few weeks, which seem to be some combination of a bug in our publishing software and good old human error. It's remarkably difficult to turn a picture on your computer screen into something that will be printed onto paper if you want the two things to bear any resemblance to one another. I think we're at the end of those issues now though, and I know that I never want to look at Affinity's export menu ever again... 

I'm also still waiting for final shipping costs in order to notify you all of final fees and charge cards. Shipping to the EU remains a complete pain in the ass (thanks Dave), and we want to make sure our IOSS solution is perfect so you don't end up with parcels stuck in customs and exorbitant fees. Again, I think we've worked this out now but I don't quite yet have final pricing.

This means that cards will not be charged until after the next (November) update, in which I will (hopefully, please!) notify you all of final costs.

I do have one cool thing to show you at least! We've finalised the wrapping paper that will be used to protect your boxes and books during transit. This will be used instead of shrink-wrap, which will mean a sizeable reduction in the amount of single-use plastic associated with this project. Plus, I think it looks a million times better anyway!

Apologies for a boring update, but that's October nonetheless. Happy Halloween/Samhain to all those who celebrate it! 🎃

Cheers,

Jack

September
12 months ago – Thu, Sep 28, 2023 at 02:33:45 AM

Hey everyone, how’s it going?

We took a trip along the coast to Brighton for our youngest’s birthday last week, and while it was mostly grey skies and insane winds, we had a lovely time. Lots of tea was consumed (he’s a big fan of tea, caffeine-free of course!). 

It really feels like we’ve entered autumn here—jumpers are coming out, raincoats organised, shorts feel like a carryover from another age. The cozy phase is upon us…

Physical Proof 📖

We’re almost at the anniversary of the project launch, and I’m very happy to finally have the game in my hands!

It’s really wonderful to see it in the real after so long staring at the various files behind a screen. I’m being a little coy with the photos here, because I want it to remain a bit of a surprise when you receive it.

And when is that going to be? Well, I still can’t quite give you an exact date. We’ve gone through the proof with extreme attention, and there’s a small but meaningful list of changes that need to be made to the game before it goes into full production—nothing unexpected really, things like ribbon colours, paper finishes, tweaks to margin sizes, print alignment, illustration positioning and the like. These changes necessitate a second physical proof, or a partial one at least, where some of the important changes I’m making are reflected in physical form. You can only check so much before it’s printed, bound and in your hands—that’s what this stage of the production is for. Better to get it sorted now than after printing 10,000 of them!

Given the volume of books that we’re printing and shipping (thanks again, ha!), there's a 3-4 month process between ‘print run commences’ and ‘arriving at your door’. If the printed proof had been absolutely perfect, we could’ve gone straight into production this month and had a good shot at delivering to you before the end of the year. It wasn’t quite perfect, and I hope you’ll all agree that it’s better to wait a little longer for the best possible version of the game.

My current best estimate for shipping is Feb/March 2024. Once the game is in the production queue, which should be in October, I can work out the rest of the dates and give you a firmer update.

Charging Cards & Shipping 💳

With the game almost ready to enter production, I’m expecting to charge cards next month for any extra items you’ve added in BackerKit.

I’ll also be charging shipping next month, as I have the physical version of the game so I know how much the book and box weigh. I’m currently working with my distributors to figure out the most cost-effective and environmentally-friendly way to get you your books—minimising air freight wherever possible and working with local hubs instead to provide rates that are closer to domestic shipping. This is also impacting my previous plans to ship some stuff from home, as we work out what's best for you & the environment.

¡¡¡No charges will be made until after the October (next) update!!!

I’ll let you know the final costs before I charge cards in BackerKit, as promised. I’m just giving you an extra bit of heads-up here.

Changing your address 🏡

I’m still getting quite a few messages from folks who have changed their address since filling out their surveys originally.  

Here’s how you can do that yourself:

1. Head to koriko.backerkit.com.
2. Enter your email address and click ‘Get My Survey’.
3. Use the email link to go into your survey.
4. Click ‘Edit Your Order’ in the top right.
5. Click ‘Edit Shipping Info’ on the left-hand side.
6. Enter your new address, and hit next.
7. Hit ‘Place My Order’ to confirm the changes.

The sheer volume of messages and emails I get from this project is still kinda wild (💀), so if you're able to do this process yourself it'd help me out a lot.

(if you’ve moved countries, you might still need to send me a message)

What’s next ✍️

I’ve enjoyed working on some of the Koriko stretch goal content this month, and will continue with that through October. The production & fulfilment conversations are taking up a lot of headspace at the moment though, I’ll be glad when it’s all finally signed off.

Since we have the physical game now, we’re also intending to record a ‘how to play’ video. Unfortunately that relies on Team Mousehole (me and Rachel) being together, in daylight, without the kids—a rarity! 

Working with kids around remains a challenge... some of you might've seen an early preview of the proof over on our IG, with 'help' from our youngest ( sound on! 🤣).

That's all for this month, thanks a lot you lovely bunch,

Jack

August
about 1 year ago – Wed, Aug 30, 2023 at 03:00:20 AM

Hey folks!

I hope you’re having a lovely summer, those of you in our hemisphere anyway. This is our first proper ‘school summer holiday’ experience with our eldest, and we’ve definitely felt the routine-breaking, endless-seeming, patience-testing chaos of having everyone at home all the time.

Childcare is hard work. The miserable, oft-grey British summer hasn't helped!

It’s had its highlights for sure, but I think we’re all glad that it’s nearly over—and we’ll be back to a more predictable, comfortable routine soon. Anyway, on with the update!

Slow Knife / Zines Early Shipping

If you’ve got one of the following products in your order, this section is for you! Otherwise, please feel free to skip it.

• The Slow Knife (Playset Edition)
• The Slow Knife (Boxed Edition)
• Artefact Beak Zine
• Orbital Zine*

These games are printed and in my house, ready to ship. I had originally planned to ship everything (including Koriko) from here, but now I will be working with a US distributor and one in the UK to fulfil your orders. It makes more sense for me to pack these items I have ready here and send them out directly to you ASAP, rather than pay to have them palletised and sent around the world.

*I only have a couple hundred Orbital zines, which I’ll prioritise to those of you who are ordering other items I have ready here—the rest will be shipped with your Koriko orders.

If you have one or more of these items in your cart, your Backerkit order will be split. This means I can lock your address for the items that are shipping now, without affecting the rest of your order—as some of you might move house between now and when the rest of your order ships.

You’ll get a 48-hour warning before your address is locked, so you can change it if you need to (FYI: you can head to koriko.backerkit.com to recover your survey and edit your shipping info whenever you like!). Unless you’ve changed your address, you don’t need to do anything.

I’m charging reduced shipping for these items, in line with what you’d pay to add it to your Koriko order (it’s cheaper to add a book to an existing package rather than sending it alone, but this is my choice so I’m not passing that cost on to you!). I’ll add shipping charges to your final fee when Koriko ships, as follows:

•  The Slow Knife: £6 international, £4 UK
•  Artefact: £3 international. £2 UK
•  Orbital †: £3 international. £2 UK

†If you added a copy of Orbital in Kickstarter, you’ll have been charged shipping for it already (an error on my part!). This amount is reflected as a positive balance on your Backerkit order, which will be deducted from any final shipping costs.

Fulfilment

Briefly, I thought I’d let you know that I’ve almost signed off on a US and UK/RoW distributor for the game. It feels good to know that I won’t have to do it all myself, as we did with Artefact

Better to leave it to the professionals!

Production

Not much to say on production this month—the ‘Pre-Production Copy’ (PPC), a near-final physical prototype, is being made so I can give final sign-off on the book and boxed game before we move to full production. Once that happens, I can get a lot firmer about the timeline for the delivery as we’ll get our place in the production queue. Until then, thanks for your patience on production!

Briefly, on shipping, I have had some quotes from our fulfilment partners and so far everything seems in-line with my initial estimates. I’ll share more when we’re further along the process, but all is currently on-track.

What’s next

I’m really excited to jump back into Koriko stuff when the kids are back at school and start hammering out the stretch goal content that I’ve put on the back burner while we get the physical product into production. In a way, it’s been nice to have some distance from writing and design—now I’m pumped to start!

Cheers!

J

July
about 1 year ago – Sun, Jul 30, 2023 at 12:28:08 AM

Hey folks! We’ve been in Spain for most of July for a friend’s wedding, and it is hot. We’re keeping cool in the pool, mostly, emerging from the water each evening into the (slightly) cooler night air.

Stickers + Bits

You might’ve seen over on our Instagram we’ve been sharing some behind the scenes videos of the stickers that will come with the physical version of the game. You’ll actually end up with two sheets of stickers, containing all of the confidant icons in the game and some other useful labels for your journal. They’re really cool!

I’ve also finalised the design for the dice, bag, box, cards, tuckbox, postcard and bookmark—meaning that all the physical files are now ready for production (in addition to the book itself, which was ready last month!). I'm excited for you to see all the bits in person—until then, I'll keep them shrouded so you can experience them for the first time when they arrive on your doorstep :)

Release

Though the road to the physical product is still pretty long, it’s been really fun see- ing many of you begin your journeys using the digital version of the game.

The response so far has been overwhelmingly positive! Thank you so much if you’ve taken the time to comment on itch.io or write a review, or even send me pictures of your journal and doodles (lots of this happening on our instagram!). It takes a hell of a lot of work to get these projects out into the world, and seeing your responses makes it all feel worthwhile :)

If you’ve enjoyed the game, I’d really appreciate it if you wrote a comment on the game’s itch.io page and/or left a review (weirdly, written reviews aren’t public on itch.io 🤷 ). It makes a big difference to the game’s visibility, and I’d love to get even more people playing it (we have over 10,000 community copies too, so you can recommend it freely!).

You should all have access to the digital version by now—if you don’t have your code yet:

• 1: Check your emails + spam folders for Backerkit or itch.io emails.
• 2: Go into your survey (go here if you’ve lost your survey link) and you can access all your downloads there (help article).
• 3: If they don’t show up there, drop me an email (jack at mousehole dot press) with your name and I’ll sort it out for you.

What’s next

I’m done with The Slow Knife layout, so now I’m moving on to tidying up the Orbital files. I’m also beginning to play around with ideas for the soundtrack—a little treat for me after so much layout work...

That’s it for now—¡hasta luego, amigos!

Jack

June
about 1 year ago – Tue, Jun 27, 2023 at 04:43:05 AM

Hello! This is June’s proper update, never mind about that other one.

Koriko Digital Launch!

Yes, the digital version of the game is now live to download! :)

Alongside this update you should receive your code for itch.io via email (it’ll say something like “New Digital Content for Koriko”).

You’ll also have the option to download a zip of the files directly if you don’t want to use itch.io, though I’ll be updating the game on there as the year goes on with other files so I’d encourage you to use that version if possible.

It's out, but not yet complete. Here’s what I’ve got planned for the digital version over the next couple of months:

•  A soundtrack! I'm very excited to start properly making this now :)
•  The Patron confidant, which all Patron backers will get as a printed bonus.
•  Rules for asynchronous play, that will allow you to play the game alongside your friends (in a very loose sense!)
•  Plain text & accessible versions of the game's files (I'm currently learning how to do this in Affinity!)

I haven’t prioritised these yet because I’ve been focused on getting the physical version of the game off to the printers. Let's talk about that!

Prepress Progress

I’m happy to say that the game is now finalised and with the printers, which is a big step towards getting it into your hands. It’s been edited by three different people, file-checked in more ways than I thought possible, and now we’re preparing the first physical proof to make sure it looks good in the real. I can’t wait to share it with you!

We also have an updated schedule to share, which has the books arriving with you in November. This is a couple of months behind schedule, because 1) this book ended up being bigger than I'd planned & the editing cycle also took longer than anticipated and 2) I had to prepare additional assets for the boxed edition. I’m sorry that we won’t hit the estimated September delivery, but I’m confident that the extra time was well spent and you’ll end up with an even better final product.

Just to state the obvious—November is very close to December, which introduces two little wrinkles to the delivery. Firstly, it brings us into the often-chaotic Christmas shipping period, which could lead to a longer delivery time. Secondly, we run the risk (especially if we hit a major, unexpected delay, such as a shipping crisis or some sort of printing issue) of not delivering in time to give the book as a Christmas gift. My hope is that neither of those things will happen, and I’m doing my best to make sure it all goes as smoothly as possible, but I thought I’d flag those potential issues now so you’re in the loop.

The Slow Knife

With Koriko off my plate (in an active, ‘doing’ sense, anyway!), I’m now moving on to the new Slow Knife layout. Looking over the files has reminded me how much I love this game, and I’m excited that more folks will be able to experience it soon.

On a related note, I’ve actually got an extra crate of The Slow Knife boxes that I’d forgotten about. That means there are an additional 75 boxes available (the version with cards) for you to add onto your order (or switch from a hardback book, if you’d prefer the first printing). I don’t have any more of the printed playset booklets, so this is just the little box with the game itself in it. They’re £32 each.

If you need a refresher on how to edit your order in Backerkit, there's a tutorial in April’s update.

Thanks!

That's it for this month, and I just want to say thanks again for your support. Please, please let me know how you get on with the game—I'd absolutely love to hear your feedback :) And if, by some chance, you spot a typo or equivalent, please let me know as quickly as you can while there's still time to correct it for the print edition (message me at jack at mousehole dot press).

All the best,

Jack