Legends of Sleepy Hollow

October is Upon Us!
over 5 years ago – Wed, Oct 03, 2018 at 09:02:27 PM

Greetings Legends!

First off, sincere apologies for missing the official Update Tuesday; it completely slipped past me (Chris) because we’re in the last few hours of our first Kickstarter campaign since Sleepy Hollow launched last October (Homebrewers, which you can check out if you like).

But, speaking of October… it’s finally October! I don’t know about all of you, but October is my favorite month. It’s finally fall around these parts, the air at night is getting crisp, and things are really starting to feel extra spooky. It’s the perfect month to be working hard on story and files for Legends of Sleepy Hollow production!

In production news, remember that sketch from last update? Well, Colin has been hard at work developing that map, and it’s just incredible. You can get a little sneak peek at the progress below, but that’s probably the last you’ll see of that particular map until you play Legends of Sleepy Hollow.

In other news, we received the revised miniatures with changes I mentioned from last update. Here’s a look at the new and improved damage indicator on the bases (at left). It’s going to be much easier to keep track of the heroes’ and foes’ health now.

Another change we needed was to increase the depth of the Horseman’s base. The punchboard we’re using for the damage rings is 2mm deep and the original Horseman miniature was just slightly shallower. Below you can check out the new Horseman (on the left). The difference is ever-so-slight - but it’s going to make a big difference for the game!

And, finally, we needed to make sure that all the heroes and foes had consistent base sizes, and now they do! We’re officially ready to start production on the miniatures, which is an awesome step. Panda’s plastics team has been great in making these modifications.

As for everything else, we’re still moving along at about the same pace as mentioned in last month’s update. As our production timeline moves forward we promise to keep you all updated with expected dates for milestones.

Thanks again for all the patience and support! Until next time, happy gaming and happy October!

All the best,
Chris, Ben, & Matt

More Peeks Behind the Scenes
over 5 years ago – Tue, Sep 04, 2018 at 11:04:11 PM

Greetings Legends,

It’s the first Tuesday of the Month, and you know what that means - it’s time for an update!

First up, on the miniature front, in the last update we shared pics of the physical miniature proofs we received at Gen Con and, for the most part, they were great. However, there were some inconsistencies in base size and the damage indicator on each base was not as prominent as we had hoped. Also, the depth of the Horseman base was too shallow, so the punchboard damage ring would not fit correctly in its current state. So, we’ve been working with the Panda Game Manufacturing plastics team to make sure everything is just right. They have been great at making revisions and we should be able to approve final edits in the next couple of weeks so we can start primary manufacturing of all the plastics.

Next, for the rest of the game, Colin is currently working on the last map for the base game, which is his biggest undertaking (seriously, it’s huge). You can get a sneak peek at the map structure below. We can’t tell you any more about it, but it should let you see a bit behind the scenes as to how these maps are sketched - and just how complicated they can be!

Ksenia is still cranking on the large art assets list for the rest of the card and storybook art, and we should have a few teasers we can toss your way once they’re in hand.

While talking up Legends of Sleepy Hollow to retailers and distributors, we’ve gotten some feedback about the box. While our current box design is going to look awesome on a personal shelf, some have expressed concern that it might not translate well for sales on a store shelf. We’ve taken this feedback to heart and commissioned Abigail to create the basis of a box sleeve, which you’ll see below. All of your games will come with this sleeve, but underneath you’ll still have the original wooden chest design that we created for the Kickstarter campaign. You’ll all be free to either keep the game in the sleeve, or put it to the side and display the box as advertised in the campaign.

As for the production timeline, in full transparency we are behind schedule. Both the miniature proofing and production process as well as the art production of the game have taken longer than we anticipated. However, where we’ve sacrificed a bit of expediency we’ve compensated in making sure that everything is done right. We want this to be a game truly worthy of the wait, and we absolutely believe it is. In fact, this is more than a game to us, it’s an experience, like a great book or movie. We know you’ll feel the same once you get to play it.

We will likely be providing updates more often than once every month from here on out as we push toward the end of file production. We appreciate everyone’s patience and enthusiasm! As an aside, if you plan to be at GrandCon in Grand Rapids, MI on Sept. 14-16 please find us and say hello. We’d love to meet you, and we’ll have a copy of the first chapter with us if you’d like to check it out! Who knows, we might just have some mini proofs with us…

All the best,
Chris, Ben, & Matt

Gen Con 2018!
over 5 years ago – Thu, Aug 09, 2018 at 12:06:01 AM

Greetings Legends,

Well, we're back from Gen Con and wow, was it a great show! We're totally exhausted, mind you, but it was so great to be able to show off Legends of Sleepy Hollow and meet so many of you there. 

As promised in our last update, we're here to show you some pics from the convention, as well as some more pics of the minis which we now have in hand! Time for show and tell, then later we'll discuss some production notes on the miniatures from this point forward.

Now it's time to show off more of the minis!

As you'll no doubt notice from the picture of the heroes, not all the heroes have consistent base sizes. That is something that we will be addressing in the next iteration of the minis. This is why it is crucial to get physical proofs of everything to make sure it all works together as planned!

From here on out we are past the main hurtle for the minis, and they should go into production in the next couple of weeks after those fixes are made. We'll be sure to keep you updated on the progress.

That about wraps it up for now. Next time we'll be talking about the submission and edits for all the print files, and probably a bit about the special assembly that will be done at the Panda Games factory. Until then, happy gaming!

All the best,
Chris, Ben & Matt

Mini But Mighty
almost 6 years ago – Sat, Jul 28, 2018 at 01:46:43 AM

Greetings Legends!

It's time for an update, and we're posting ahead of schedule for a couple of reasons: 1) We promised that when we had pics of the actual miniature prototypes in hand we'd show them off, and 2) Gen Con looms and we want to see you!

So, first things first, after working with Panda Games Manufacturing's plastics team on sizing issues for the miniatures they were finally able to produce the first set of physical proofs - and they look awesome! We still need to work out some consistency issues on the custom bases and tweak a few small details but this is fantastic progress. Below you'll see some close-up shots of the minis from the factory. 

Now, about Gen Con - If any of you are planning on being in Indianapolis for the big show this coming week, please stop by our booth #1343 in the Exhibit Hall to see these beautiful miniatures in person! There will be a display case full of all kinds of awesome things from Legends of Sleepy Hollow and many other upcoming releases. 

Also be sure to check out our demo room #140-141 to see Legends of Sleepy Hollow, the upcoming Dice Hate Me Studio game Homebrewers, Sentinels of the Multiverse: OblivAeon, Spirit Island, Fate of the Elder Gods and much more. Of course, you can also just stop by to say hello - we'll all be there and we'd love to see you!

That's all for now, but we'll be back in a couple of weeks with some pics from the con and more on production progress. Until then, thanks for all the support, and happy gaming!

All the best,
Chris, Ben & Matt

Better Late Than Never
almost 6 years ago – Fri, Jul 06, 2018 at 10:26:44 PM

Greetings Legends!

First of all - a big whoops on my part. I thought I had posted an update before I headed to Dice Tower Con this week but apparently I hit the wrong button and it didn’t publish to Kickstarter. It also didn’t save so I’m here trying to make up for a technical hiccup.

Regardless, here I am to update you all on our progress! In the past month our focus has been on the miniatures. Last update we talked about how important the mini process was to this project and that hasn’t changed. We have been working with the Panda plastics team to get everything right. We’ve since seen the team having problems with scale - we need precision on the height above all else - so we asked Francesco to revisit the mini files and make them totally consistent in scale to help the plastics team get everything right. I’ve since seen the preview updates and we are fully approved to move toward physical samples, which we should have in the next couple of weeks. I will be sure to post an update with pics of the samples as soon as I have them!

As for the rest of production that continues to roll along nicely. Colin is wrapping up the last two Chapter maps and then will be working on the epilogue (expansion) map after that. Ksenia and Abigail continue their progress on the rest of the game art, including something a little extra from Abigail that I can share in a future update.

If you happen to be at Dice Tower Con and see me, please stop and say hello. As for future cons we will all be at Gen Con in August and will have demos of Legends of Sleepy Hollow in the booth and in our demo room. We should also have the miniature proofs on display, as well. I’ll be sure to post an update with more details on all of that shortly before the show.

Until next time, take care and happy gaming! Chris