Project Updates for Pocket Odyssey on BackerKit Page 4

November Update
over 11 years ago – Sun, Dec 14, 2014 at 10:43:38 AM

Hello Backers!

Sorry to say, but it’s time for That Email… yes, I am running behind schedule. Things have been very busy for me this past month (and there was a little burn out happening as well). The only work I have been able to do is to gauge feedback from testing and spend time on business and tax stuff, yuck. However! I have put together a plan to finish up this other personal work by mid-December and then to take a couple weeks off dedicating them to finishing up production on Pocket Odyssey.

I would like to apologize again for the wait; I have learned an AMAZING amount concerning game development (scheduling, printing, shipping, finances) and am truly thankful that you have been so patient. To start, I know now to finish a larger majority of the work up front. For some reason, December didn’t seem like a long wait to me initially, but now after going through it, it’s way too long! And on top of that it’s going to be stretched out even more since I am behind schedule! Sorry guys.

A couple other things, first, the play testing is going smoothly and has been very helpful. There won’t need to be any large changes, though I have had sparks of inspiration that may or may not be added into the final game. I would however like to announce that I am working right now on adding a “storyteller free” game mode, a combat focused rule system that would allow for solo play. This would be included in all versions of the game, but I am not ready to release any specific information on it as it’s still in the works. So, for the future, you should look forward to seeing a large content update mid-January. The game should be completed and the printing should be started. I would like to end this update with a game play session summary that was posted on the beta test site, I loved reading it, and hopefully it will give you a glance into the Pocket Odyssey world… (Oh, yes! And keep supporting Kickstarter projects!!!)

-- Anthony

Posted by “mermuse” Oct14, 2014 8:28 PM

Players = a Berserker and a Pantomath

Quest Cards= Bodyguard, True love & Rescue

The two character started out on a mission to protect their magical cargo... A rare accursed beast on its way to its knew owner. The job was organized by their new business partner, the Charmer. The Charmer and the Pantomath had recently fallen love and were Inseparable... and insufferable.

While passing through a narrow bridge in a swamp the unthinkable happened... Yes, the escort mission got ambushed. While dealing with a threat in the path through the tanglethorns (the Pantomath used a flash bang to draw away a nasty swarm), several gobs burst up from under the bridge and stepped between them and the wagon holding the caged beast. At the same time they heard the sound of something massive charging through the tanglethorn forest towards them! The berserker used his force wall to launch the gobs back into the deep waters of the swamp and then turned to face the new threat. A Minotaur charged from the forest and right at the wagon. The berserker used his ring of languages to talk to the beast. He offered it double what the gobs were paying it to fight for them... But based on the way it licked its lips and smiled it seems that a fresh snack or two was what the gobs had offered to pay him. They fought valiantly but the Minotaur quickly beat them to a pulp.

They woke up in a half-submerged wooden cage in a dark graveyard on the edge of the swamp. The good news was that the Minotaur was gone but so was the beast they had sworn to protect and the Charmer. A lone morpher gob watched over their cage while the two gobs from the ambush sat in the distance talking to an orc war boss. The Berserker polymorphed into a beaver and chewed his way out of the cage, then he distracted the gob guard as the Pantomath searched for their gear. Once they had recovered their stuff they quietly took out the guard and studied the other enemy. The orc was bragging about enemies he'd defeated while the gobs just looked bored. One of the gobs wandered off to take a pee off the stone bridge. He taunted the orc by asking him to tell the story of how he'd defeated the Viscid Cube. The orc stormed off towards the bridge to bully him. This was their chance... The berserker charged the lone gob slamming him into the fire while the Pantomath took a few shots at the orc with her bow. Soon the berserker was overwhelmed by the fury of the berserker gobs and the orc... He fell to his knees. The Pantomath finished off the orc with a shot that pierced his eye and braced herself for the assault from the two charging gobs. Right before they reached her a force wall appeared right in from of her tossing them back against the bridge. She finished off one with an arrow and tossed her animated rope towards the other. The animated rope had the gob neatly tied up by the time she reached it and started her interrogation. It told her about how a Viscid Cube had ambushed their party... they had barely escaped and they had lost the beast and the other human to the foul creature.

At this point the party should have rushed off to try and find and rescue the charmer from the creatures belly before he suffocated but we were out of time so we called it a day. I was looking forward to the chaotic fight with the Viscid Cube that had a human and accursed beast trapped inside it. If the wrong one escaped first it would be a very difficult fight!

October Project Update
over 11 years ago – Wed, Oct 15, 2014 at 10:52:24 AM

Hello Backers!

Been a while since the last update, thank you for waiting so patiently. I was hoping to have this update out quite a while ago but the printing took a lot longer than what was originally quoted. This was due to the fact that right now is the peak production time for WinGo. But I can say that not only are the Beta Boxes printed but they are being shipped right now. For US backers you should receive your copy within the next 2 days, maybe even tomorrow! For everyone else, it will take a bit longer, for those in Canada, I believe the shipment was quoted around 7-12 days. For the rest of the World, WinGo will be sending the boxes directly to you; right now they are on Holiday but said they will send them when they get back. This is the only way to get EU friendly shipping for just a few packages.

I decided not to upload pictures so that you can have a little surprise when you see the final beta box print in person. But I can say that I am very happy with them. Last second I changed the box finish from a shiny and reflective finish to a matte finish and am really glad that I did, it is very nice! Though the print is a little darker than what I was hoping.

I will also be sending email invites to the Pocket Odyssey Beta Play Test forum to all Giant Slayer tiers. I will be using the shipping email you sent to me so be looking for that in the next couple days. I want to give everyone at least a month to give input and help balance the game. I have been learning a lot through this process and this will be another of those things, I have not run a forum before so bear with me Giant Slayers!!! :D

Also, I threw all the rules together and started organizing them better; here is a copy of the most recent version of the rules. This is not the final version since the rulebooks are much smaller in size (with more pages) but will work well to print off on normal 8.5x 11 copy paper.

Unfortunately due to the lateness of the Beta Boxes, everything has been pushed back. I wish I had enough experience to give an accurate estimate of how much longer, but I am thinking 1 month at least. I have been working on some extra content to add to the Core and Collector’s Edition boxes to help offset this and to show you my thanks for waiting. I am still developing this and testing it so I don’t want to go into any detail regarding it.

But wow! This has been a great learning process! I am super excited that these Beta Boxes are out now and to get play test help to round all the corners off on Pocket Odyssey for its final release! Thanks again and continue to support more Kickstarter projects!

August Project Update
over 11 years ago – Thu, Sep 18, 2014 at 03:29:59 PM

Hello again!

First thing, if you are a Giant Slayer and are getting a Beta Box and have changed your address since the surveys went out please email me your new address. I have received some updated addresses already, but please resend them just to make sure I have all of them.

Now onto the update! It’s been quite a while since the last update so thanks again for your patience; I have been busy illustrating and play testing since then (see below for some updated art).

Overall the process is indeed taking longer than I had expected, which for many is probably not a surprise to hear. However it is important to me to make up for those delays as best I can as I truly do appreciate all your support (which is why I added those extra goodies to the Beta Box). After getting better acquainted with the whole process, I have a feeling the other boxes may get pushed back as well , so I will be talking with the printer to see if we can still add some more stuff to the collector’s edition box and even the core box before printing (I now know there is in fact a little extra space in core box). But that will have to wait till the next update.

To give more specific details on my progress, I received the first sample print last week (pics below) and I am very impressed with everything, there are a couple changes I am making, for example the maps were darker than I wanted and the box print could be lightened up slightly to show the leather texture a little better. I love the quality of the cardboard tokens, it was very cool to see everything finished, and the box is packed to the brim with content! So I am very excited to get this into everyone’s hands.

As for the Beta Box timeline, this is what it is looking like, WinGo will hopefully start the printing mid-week, and they gave me a 25 day estimate to print all the boxes which puts us around the end of this month. Originally, I was going to ship the boxes overseas in a similar fashion as I will the Collector’s Edition and Core boxes when they are done, but instead I will be using a special service to ship them to everywhere outside the US/CAN (for the EU this is still EU friendly shipping) and those going to the US will ship to my house first, then I will ship them out from here. This is a more expensive and time consuming process than I had wanted to do, but this is the best option. So for the US it’ll probably take another 2 weeks after the prints are done and for those outside the US it should be a little faster. Again, thanks for your patience, I promise it’ll be worth the wait :D.

Also, I will try to get the dragon slayer introductions to you soon! As well as more rules! In the meantime thanks again! And keep supporting Kickstarter projects!!!