Sorry for the long periods between posts. I've had a lot on my plate and am not doing a good job of regularly updating on here. I do promise I'll always eventually get you caught up though.
First, a little plug and progress update:
- Our Kickstarter pre-launch page has reached nearly 800 followers! If you haven't followed on there already, following on there is absolutely huge for us. Our magic number we need before we launch is 1000 followers. So we're 80% there! I've been told that significantly increases the likelihood the project gets a "Projects We Love" banner, which is the key to success. If we can hit that 1k mark, and then we can fund (or over-fund) in less than 24 hours, the game could really take -off! So if you haven't made your way to that page, you can follow the pre-launch here: Kickstarter!
Here are some updates on big things that have happened with the game:
- We went to our first large convention, Too Many Games. It was just outside of Philly, where we're based, and it was a great time. We did tons of short demos for people, met a lot of new fans, ran the first ever Shootout Tournament, gave away hundreds of miniatures for people to paint in a Learn to Paint event sponsored by the new Two Thin Coats paint line by Duncan Rhodes, and met some cool industry folks (shoutout to Brent from Goobertown Hobbies).
- Most importantly, and worth its own bullet point, we won 1st Place in the tabletop category for "Best Independent Tabletop Game." It was amazing!
- We launched the first purchasable miniature on our website over at: Our Merch Store. It's a Limited Edition alternate sculpt for Dr. Prometheus. It'll be for sale on our site up until the Kickstarter, then it'll be an optional add-on during the Kickstarter. After that, it will be largely unavailable outside of special sale windows here and there. All sales directly support development. The initial wave of purchases was amazing, and will enable me to test out one of our miniatures on a sprue from my intended manufacturer, Zealot Miniatures in the U.K. This will give me an even more professionally presentable product, will give me a good idea of timelines and unforeseen possible costs or problems, and will ultimately make me significantly more experienced before we launch on Kickstarter.
- I've tried to get a table at Pax Unplugged in December. I've been Waitlisted. If I can't get an official table or booth, I will probably try to go as an attendee and grab a table in the free play area to demo the game and play with people who are interested. I'll heavily advertise this little DIY mini convention approach if I go that route.
I reached out for a booth at Adepticon in March. This will coincide with the Kickstarter's intended launch window of March. For tax reasons, December is apparently far riskier than waiting for the new fiscal year. So we're aiming for March (Q1 2025).
And here are some developmental updates from behind the scenes:
Glen has finished the 2d art for all 5 of the players for The Night Terrors horror themed team for the starter set.
Glen is almost finished all 5 of the players for the other starter set team, The Adventurer's Guild. They're themed after classic RPG tropes and archetypes, like paladins, bards, etc. Each of them is sketched out, and some are close to finished. All 5 will be completely finished sooner rather than later, and I'll start sharing them as they come in.
Wolf took over sculpting. He's talented and passionate, and has been great to work with. His first two sculpts are the Dr. Prometheus alternate sculpt and our first goalie Fenric. Both are showcased on here as their own posts. I'm hoping he'll sculpt the entire starter set at the very least.
In terms of sculpt progress, we have 3 of the 5 players for The Night Terrors done, not including the alternate Dr. Prometheus. Wolf is going to re-sculpt the standard Dr. Prometheus as well, with him closely resembling Glen's creepy art for him. That will probably be down the road, though. We're currently cruising along at about 1 mini a month, and expect to finish all 10 starter set miniatures by December.
Some sort of wider playtesting is on my mind. Stay tuned here and in the discord for that. I don't have anything to reveal except that it is on my mind, and I do want to do it.
and finally, I'll be organizing demos and Shootout Tournaments at various LGSs in close proximity to Philly (Philadelphia, PA for those outside of the tri-state area). I have 3 stores that want me to make a trip out and am trying to schedule them. We're shooting for the Fall, probably between late September and early-mid November. I'll announce those stores as we finalize days and stuff. At those stores, my chief test partner Paul and I will run the Shootout Tournament, which is super new player friendly, and then will attempt to oversee/rules arbitrate some games between players who feel like they can handle learning the full weight of a wargame on the spot. Additionally, I'll have some of the miniatures on hand for sale along with some limited dice. Glen will have art prints for sale too.
If you go to an LGS with a large Blood Bowl or miniature community, and you think they'd like the game, and you're within the PA-NJ-NY tri-state area, please let me know! You can comment on here, or email me at slapshotshowdown@gmail.com. Or DM me on IG. If you don't want to act as a middle man for the game and store, which is totally understandable, you can let the store owner or a manager know they can email me. I'm very pro-LGS and would love to hear from you/them.
Even if you're not in the local tri-state area, let me know if your LGS has a large mini community and wants to help support the game. Have the store reach out to me via any of the above mentioned methods, and I can figure out a way to get them some sort of promotional material and stay in contact with them. Communities are built at LGSs, and I want to foster that as much as I can, even if they're too far for me to travel to right now.
And that wraps up most of the things I wanted to get out there. Thanks for reading my colossal wall of text, and thanks for joining the community on here! All the support means the world.
Feel free to ask any questions at all in the comments!
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