Quick March Update
about 2 years ago – Tue, Mar 08, 2022 at 07:53:18 PM

Game Progress

I was hoping to have pictures/videos, but that will have to wait until next month.  Everything except for the artbook is currently at the factory.  The tooling process for the trays and miniatures is taking a bit longer, so I'm still waiting on samples but should have them by next month for sure.  Gustav says he should have the artbook finished by the end of the month, and that is not a hard thing to produce especially compared to miniatures/trays.

Estimated Timeline

• March 2022: Receive samples of each product and approve for production.  Complete Artbook.
• March - May 2022: Manufacturing Window
• June - August 2022: Freight Window
• August 2022 - Fall 2022: Fulfillment Window

Sorry for the light update, but the good news is that the factory has plenty of work to do and it's all about confirming our production timelines now.  If you're interested in checking out the near final draft of the rules/learn to play guide, we posted that on BGG last week.

February Update: Edits are Back
about 2 years ago – Tue, Feb 08, 2022 at 04:46:22 PM

Game Progress

Another fantastic month of progress.  My editors actually finished going through everything in the core game faster than expected, so I will spend the next few weeks updating/improving all the language on the cards/rules etc.  Everything in the core box (pre edit) was also sent to the factory for sampling.  Lots of back and forth. We got everything approved and lined up for a preproduction sample... but just missed finishing before Chinese New Year.  Even so, It will be sent out as soon as they're back and should get to me near the end of the month. I am looking forward to sharing pictures (do you want video?) of it with you.

As far as outstanding items go, the only things we don't have quite ready for press yet are the Time Traveler expansion and the collector's Art Book.  We're really close though. Each product needs to be setup and manufactured separately anyway, so these will just be the final items completed during the manufacturing run.

Needless to say, we are currently very much still in line with my last estimated timeline:

Estimated Timeline

• February 2022: Finish up file preparation for expansions, update core box with edits, send to translation partners, receive core game sample from factory
• March 2022: Update Core game files and approve for production
• March - May 2022: Manufacturing Window
• June - August 2022: Freight Window
• August 2022 - Fall 2022: Fulfillment Window

I'll continue to update this schedule based on milestones and information from our manufacturing and shipping partners. Keep in mind that the Global Shipping situation is still problematic, so it never hurts to anticipate delays and breathe a sigh of relief when they don't happen.  It's always subject to change until the games are in your hands.

ICYMI - Seas of Havoc on Kickstarter

Seas of Havoc launched last week on Kickstarter. It funded in under an hour and is our best launch for a new game (3rd overall). It's continued to grow and is looking like it could be our biggest Kickstarter yet... or at least 2nd best since Wasted Wilds will be hard to overcome.  Backers get a free expansion and there's no stretch goals so you can sit back and relax knowing that you're going to get a great Pirate adventure.  Check it out on Kickstarter if worker placement and deckbuilding are your thing.

Until next time!

- Mike

January Update: Artwork Complete!
over 2 years ago – Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 09:25:19 PM

Happy New Year! 

If you missed out on PAX Unplugged and our Fireman pin, we have a limited quantity leftover that I'd love to send out to longtime Maximum Apocalypse fans.  You can grab it the pin here for only $10 for a limited time.  If you're in the USA, you can use the promo code: MAXFAN to get FREE shipping!

Game Progress

I am happy to report that we have made tons of progress on the game this past month. Gustav got me all of the art pieces last week for the core box and for the Time Traveler expansion and many of the Stretch Goals.  I'm still sorting it all and importing it into our files but here are just a few of my favorites from this batch so far:

I have also finished the campaign (at least in draft form).  The Wasted Wilds mission log book comes in at 36 pages  and a total of 21 missions (including a bugpocalypse epilogue).  Few and Cursed expansion is done so there's really just a bit of development on the Time Traveler expansion with the Fascist soldiers left to do.

In a few weeks, I'll be sending all of our files to our translation partners and the rulebook/cards/etc to some technical editors that I used for Lawyer Up.  This will likely add a few weeks of delay, but it is really important to me that the rules and game are as approachable as ever when the game is finally released and they are excellent at standardizing language and editing rulebooks for precise language.  I plan on minimizing this delay, by proceeding to get preproduction samples before the edits since swapping out card and rulebook files for language changes is an easy thing to do as part of the preproduction review. Either way, I'm very committed to making this the best Maximum Apocalypse release yet and I promise it will be worth the wait.

Many Gothic Horrors fans really enjoyed the spawn tokens (for smoothing out dice rolls), but we're going a step further in Wasted Wilds with the monster spawn deck (unlocked as part of our final stretch goal):

This deck not only helps smooth out dice randomness, it also allows you to modify the difficulty by adding/removing certain cards.  Best of all, as you progress in the campaign with the legacy rules, you can spend XP to add safety cards like First Aid or remove negative cards like Surrounded.

I'm going to attempt a very rough timeline here but keep in mind that the Global Shipping situation is still problematic and COVID is still reducing staff in factories and ports which leads to delays.  We also have Chinese New Year coming up.

Estimated Timeline

• January 2022: Finish up file preparation for core box, send to partners/editors
• February 2022: Finish up file preparation for expansions, start preproduction with factory
• March - May 2022: Manufacturing Window
• June - August 2022: Freight Window
• August 2022 - Fall 2022: Fulfillment Window 

I'll continue to update this schedule based on milestones and information from our manufacturing and shipping partners.

Seas of Havoc Kickstarter

Seas of Havoc heads to Kickstarter next month!  It's been a long journey for the designers of the game, which you can read about in their designer diaries over on BGG leading up to the Kickstarter launch on February 1st. Checkout the game's trailer (above) which just went live yesterday and if the game looks interesting to you, you can follow the project on Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mikegnade/seas-of-havoc

More next month!

December Update
over 2 years ago – Tue, Dec 07, 2021 at 10:15:08 PM

I hope all of our American backers had a Happy Thanksgiving and that everyone is looking forward to the Holiday Season!  I wanted to get a quick update out before we're swallowed by Pax Unplugged, but we will be at there this weekend in Booth #3636, please stop by and say hi and play some games with us if you're attending:

If you're a pin fan, this is the first time we're an authorized Pinny Arcade dealer and will have a pin for sale based on the Fireman from the OG Maximum Apocalypse:

Game Progress

We didn't quite get all of the artwork done for the core box last month, but we are like 95% done and just have the Beekeeper and a few other stretch goal items left.  GameTrayz finished up the new trays and molds so that was another thing off of our checklist:

Development wise, I'm confident that I can finish up the Scorched Wasteland campaign over the next few weeks.  We're making progress, but there are a lot of moving parts. I'm confident that we will be able to get preproduction copies early next year and look forward to sharing those pictures with you in a future update.

Rock Manor Games News

We got preview copies of Seas of Havoc this month and will be publicly demoing the game at Unplugged:

Anyways, this week is a busy one and then the holidays are right around the corner.  I feel like people enjoy our little game progress graphic so I'm including it below for notoriety, but there's no big updates there.  I hope everyone enjoys the holidays and has a happy new year!

-Mike

November Update
over 2 years ago – Tue, Nov 09, 2021 at 03:47:58 AM

Pledge Manager

As an FYI, we will continue to lock orders and reattempt failed cards weekly in the Pledge Manager to make sure we get the last few stragglers.  If anyone needs to make a change to their order or for us to charge your card on a particular day, please just message us on Kickstarter.  Addresses are not locked and will continue to be editable for the foreseeable future. 

Game Progress

This month's focus was on the core Wasted Wilds experience.  Gustav has been drafting up a bunch of the final artwork for the character cards and final bad guys.  We should have all the base game art wrapped up this month.

I spent this month finishing up the Frozen Wilds campaign. For those that are interested, each campaign is looking to be around 10 missions (this campaign length is pretty consistent with how we structured the original game's and gothic horrors missions). I'm still working on the Scorched Wasteland campaign so it could change a bit but Wasted Wilds will feature at least 50% (7) more missions than the original core game!

Rock Manor Games News

In other news, we are finishing fulfillment of our Set a Watch: Swords of the Coin campaign this month and should have new games in stock at our webstore this month just in time for the holidays. If you're interested in Set a Watch, Swords of the Coin or our new roll & write, Merchants of Magick, be sure to check out our webstore.  Preorders are up now and should start shipping in less than 2 weeks.

Our next game heading to Kickstarter early next year is a competitive naval/pirate game for 1-5 players called Seas of Havoc.  It is designed by Sebastien Bernier-Wong and Peter Gorniak and started as the game Sloops! in 2013 going on to win two design awards in 2016 (Canadian Design Award, Cardboard Edison Finalist) before it was finally pitched to us in 2020.  It's a fantastic tactical combat game that combines worker placement and deckbuilding.  You can learn more about the game here, but keep an eye out for more information, designer diaries and more as we get closer to launch.
 

Want a glimpse into what’s coming down the pipeline? Be sure to sign-up for our newsletter for more info, but here’s a quick tease of all our current projects: