01: Feeling Okay
over 2 years ago – Wed, Oct 05, 2022 at 01:18:33 AM

wowweeeeeeee, feeling okay here!

This is now my second-biggest project to date, and it's been running for.. errrr... two and a half hours 🤯 thank you so much to all of you who've backed, shared, commented and all the rest, your support means so much to me, and is going to make this book amazing.

The bookmark is in!

Almost as soon as I posted the update, we hit our first stretch goal. Your books will contain a lovely bookmark, to help you keep your place and navigate the book. Hooray!

Stretch goal #2: Chapter Art

I need to write this quick, because it looks like we're about to hit our second stretch goal already (!). At £40,000, I'll commission Deb to illustrate four more pieces in the same style as the cover art to mark each of the four major chapters. Deb's art is amazing, and filling the book with more of their work brings me a lot of joy.

Stretch goal #3: Map Stickers

I thought I'd better announce a third goal here, to give your inboxes a rest 😅

As your witch spends time in Koriko, you'll create lots of different places and people that they encounter. You'll track this with a map, which can either be a big single sheet or several spreads in a notebook. To make this process a little more fun, I'd like to include a custom A5 sticker sheet with little labels that you can stick into your journal. You'll get this sheet alongside your book (and bookmark!), if we hit the next stretch goal at £50,000.

Over to you...

That's it for now, but I'd love to know if there's anything you'd like to ask me? I'll have a fair few of these updates to write over the coming weeks, so if there's something you'd like me to talk about let me know in the comments.

~

Until then,

J

00: Taking flight
over 2 years ago – Tue, Oct 04, 2022 at 11:03:29 PM

Broomsticks at the ready folks, we're off to the skies!

Funded in ten minutes!

Wow, just wow. This launch has been incredible, and it's all thanks to your support. The fact that so many of you have decided to come on this journey with me is heartwarming—I really, truly appreciate it. I'm sure you're all busy people, but there's three things I want to cover quickly.

1. Who am I?

I thought I'd take this opportunity to say hello. Hi!

I'm Jack. I've been designing games my whole life, but more seriously over the past four years as Mousehole Press. This coincided with the birth of my first child, mostly because I needed something to fill my brain during the long, boring nights when they refused to sleep. Now I've got four solid releases out into the world, and I've also got two kids who don't sleep. Hooray.

I balance my games writing alongside being a dad and a day job where I wrangle data for a map company. Which brings me neatly onto point #2.

2. Expectations

Delivering four projects has taught me that it's worth setting clear expectations up-front about communication. Hopefully this all sounds sensible to you!

Office hours

I don't have Kickstarter, Twitter or any other social media on my phone. I used to, and I found that it was pretty ruinous for my mental health to be checking things 24/7. Instead, I check for comments and messages first thing in the morning on my laptop (around 8am BST), and periodically through the working day. I don't usually check anything on the weekend or holidays.

Emergencies

If something can't wait that long, you can always drop me an email: jack at mousehole dot press. I have that on my phone, and will do my best to get back to you as soon as possible.

Updates

I'll be posting more while the campaign is running, but during fulfilment you can expect one update a month from me until it's delivered. Some months will be busier than others, but I will make sure to get something out regardless. Please don't request an update unless, somehow, a month has passed without word (but this won't happen!). I keep my updates brief to respect your time (this is a big one!), but if you want more behind-the-scenes detail you can subscribe to my monthly newsletter here.

3. Stretch goals

Okay, housekeeping done, here's something fun.

I have a whole host of stretch goals for this project, and most of them are physical—making the book even nicer.

The first, which I can now reveal, is that at £20,000 (err wow, that's not far away!) I'll be including a fancy gold-foiled bookmark with every physical book. As well as being a second way to mark your place in the book (which has a ribbon), it will also have page references to help you navigate the book more easily. Pretty, but also practical.

That's it for this one, speak again soon. Thanks again ❤️

Jack