Miniature Mayhem!
over 9 years ago – Fri, May 29, 2015 at 03:37:57 PM

Hi Everyone, guess what came in today? Brandishing my own form of martial arts, I skillfully ripped apart the mysterious box that was waiting for me at the door. Ok, I used scissors but still, I got the box open. Anyway, as I opened the box, Dragons and Tigers appeared before me. Fortunately, I was able to catch some on my phone before they disappeared into the night. Don't believe me? Here's some proof! (Keep in mind they were taken by my pretty outdated phone....)

Updates and Progress:

First off, great news on Blackbird. Per your impressions (and fortunately through good timing) we're giving him a re-sculpt to be much closer a tribute to the original. There were several things we had to make sure of before promising you this, but we've got it covered. Hopefully during his next introduction, you'll be even more excited to see him!

The Prequel Mini-Scenes are looking pretty good! For those who don't remember, these were prequel Scenes for Bruce, Brandon, Viktoria, and Luke that were individually unlocked during the campaign. Each character experience offers something pretty fun and are different from each other. Working with Kevin and Luke on them has been exciting and I'm looking forward to hearing how you like playing through them.

For the unlocked characters/variants from the Pledge Manager, we're still sculpting away. As well, we have some pretty exciting things to show you in the next update in regards to the collaboration characters. Also, by the next update you'll be able to check out Brandon Lee's character board and signature move cards.

In the meantime, if you're a minis enthusiast and love customizable, highly detailed resin please check out Greenbrier Games's new Kickstarter campaign that's going on now. 

Their campaign focuses on miniatures with a gothic horror theme to be used as awesome avatars in other minis games. Their campaign offers resin versions of a few Fairytale Games characters (they picked 5 from our huge roster of characters) and Yashima. It's an interesting offering since they have "mutation packs" that let you customize those characters with alternate weapons/heads, creating an exciting variation. Plus they have big 40mm and 50mm resin monsters coming up in their stretches. And that's always a good thing, right?

Here's the banner link to their campaign!

Enter an Update!
over 9 years ago – Wed, May 06, 2015 at 10:34:11 AM

Hi everyone! Just want to give you all an update. We've been working hard with Bruce Lee, LLC after a "stop the presses" moment in order to meet their current needs and suggestions. Among a few storyline tweaks and working edits, they were very adamant on a few graphical updates. One of which were our showdown cards. Here is the before and after (before on the left and after on the right). Right now, the updated showdown cards are in the similar art style as the Player Boards/Signature Move Cards:

If you like the original artwork, don't worry! We'll be using them as part of the "unique artwork" that you all unlocked. So they will be back, but as a representation of a signature move!

As well, there is another major change. Because of Dragon Tides debuting Bruce and Brandon Lee, we have come to understand that the retail game of Dragon Tides should highlight them first and foremost. This said, we have altered the look of the "Tigers" per request. Here is what they look like for the retail core game:

This will probably look really strange especially since you all remember what the original versions were! But rest assured, all backers will receive BOTH versions, so in a way it's a win-win. Expansion and bonus characters will stay untouched, it's just for the core game that we needed to make these adjustments for retail.

Character Creations

Because the current changes/edits took top priority to ensure that we wouldn't lose too much precious time, we had to postpone character creations. This week we will start back up on them again. Thanks again for your patience throughout this! We can't wait to start getting your characters into the game... some of the ideas we've had so far are pretty darn awesome!

Character Spotlight

By now, you should have had enough time to check out the instructions for the game from one of our last posts. Now that you understand the rules for the game, let's start spotlighting characters! For our first character, let's review the character board and signature move cards for Bruce Lee:

Besides being the most well-rounded character in the core edition, he's also extremely versatile. Bruce's signature moves give him a bit of something different for several situations that may come up during completely different Scenes. He's great at adapting to your opponents moves like Intercepting Fist, One Inch Punch and his Character Card's super move. Meanwhile, Patience is a Virtue is an amazing card when you know your opponent is just one step slower than you ;)

Minis Production

The great talents at Greenbrier Games are still hard at work on the sculpting of our newer characters and finalizing the expansion characters. Because we had to halt the presses to make necessary core edition edits, we're still waiting on the mini proofs for the core 8 characters and henchmen. We'll keep you in the loop once they're in. As well, since we're sending them final edits this week, getting the game proofs will be back in business again. I know you're all anxious to see how some of the BackerKit minis have turned out, especially "The Maid and the Skunk", so I'll be sure to try to get a peek soon!

In the meantime, I don't know if you've seen this yet:

The Blackbird doesn't have his more recognizable pose, for obvious reasons, but as an early sculpt concept, he's looking pretty good. I especially love the base and the details of all the straps. The great minds behind the gameplay of Dragon Tides, Kevin G. Nunn and Luther Bell Hendricks V, have made this character a lot of fun to play. Fans who are familiar with the character The Blackbird is playing tribute to will be excited to see the similar theme with the way he plays. Not giving out spoilers, he does have a Totem.

Sacred 40 Miniatures

For those who snagged a copy of some abandoned pledges of Fairytale Games: Battle Royale or the sacred 40 minis from our online store, just letting you know that currently we are shipping out Wave 1, consisting of the Sacred 40 Miniature figures only. So once the shipping facility starts moving forward on them, you'll be receiving them soon!

Ok everyone, until our next update! Hopefully now that we're back on track with things, we'll start preparing a gameplay video of sorts for you in one of our next updates!

Back from GAMA!
almost 10 years ago – Fri, Mar 27, 2015 at 03:56:53 PM

Hi Everyone! We just returned from GAMA and it was definitely an awesome event. Many thanks to Greenbrier Games for the invitation!

Ok, a few bit of news for this quick update...

Pledge Manager Closes in 48 Hours!

Now that Adepticon and GAMA is over, we are giving this 48 hours from now (right now it's about 11:30pm CST). After that, we are going to hit LOCKDOWN. For the 75 backers who have yet to register, you will be able to change your address, though you can no longer edit your pledges or add-on any items. We've already got the access we need to hit the red button so please make any final changes to your pledge soon!

WHAT'S BEEN UNLOCKED IN THE PLEDGE MANAGER:

• Showdown Dice (Free for Steel Mantis and Above)
• Oscar Kass (Add-on Collaboration Mini Pack)
• Rabid Skunk (Add-on Collaboration Mini Pack)
• Domino Bonaparte (Add-on Collaboration Mini Pack)
• Classic Ninja Henchmen Variant (7 Free Ninjas for Jade Dragon and Above)
• Ivan Castle as "The Hitman" (Free for Jade Dragon and Above)

WHERE ARE WE NOW?

Currently we are at $36,350 and are heading towards unlocking the White Moon "Kill Bill-ish" Variant at $40k and the Merciless General Feng at $45k!

Dragon Tides at the Manufacture!

So per our last update, all the files have been sent and the manufacture is starting the "Tooling" process. We've been told that within 2 weeks, we'll have all the card/paper components and the box for proofing, followed by the 8 production proof minis the following 2 weeks. Though very tight, we are ramping things up so we can get these by GenCon for fulfillment and to debut Dragon Tides. Plus, for anyone attending, I really want you to be able to pick up your game there. We'll keep you posted!

More to come!

Kevin Nunn and Luther Bell Hendricks V are already working their way into the heart of the expansions, Snuff 'Nuff and Internal Affairs. What they have for the scenes are really exciting and I look forward to sharing that with you. As well, the unlocked stretch characters and collaborator characters are looking really awesome. We'll make sure to demo those to you once we're ready. Currently, we're working on the Prequel Scenes.

As we move forward, we'll have that gameplay video up and start sharing even more.

Fairytale Games Sacred 40 Miniatures are here!

If you hadn't seen our other updates, the Sacred 40 Miniatures have hit our warehouse and we are now unpacking and updating our databases. We're also putting together a shipping list (in the exact format they need... which is like going to the dentist) in order to get them to the right backers. I mention this because there are some of you who were able to snag some Sacred 40 Miniatures from our online store (www.artisticjusticegames.com/shop) by picking up an abandoned pledge from one of our campaigns. If you did, you WILL be receiving these 40 minis in the same shipment. So, anyone with address updates please send them to [email protected]

As well, abandoned pledges from our first campaign will receive the EXCLUSIVE Kickstarter Green Sacred 40 minis. I understand that some of you would rather have the Eternal Grey ones that match the ones in the minis campaign. If you want Grey instead of Green, please e-mail your request to: [email protected] with the subject line 40 SHADES OF GREY. You'll have until April 1st to do so before we begin Fulfillment :)

If you are going to GENCON and would rather pick the minis up then, please let us know at the same e-mail address, but with the subject line: GENCON PICKUP (Please note that this is JUST for the Sacred 40s at this moment.)

You can still get the Sacred 40 in some of our abandoned pledges here: 

www.artisticjusticegames.com/shop

Finalizing Pledges and some Reading Material!
almost 10 years ago – Sun, Mar 15, 2015 at 10:10:34 PM

Hi Everyone! It's been a very exciting past few weeks for us as we were trying to get files and whatnot ready for print. The great news is that we have made the "last call" and have sent things in for the Core Game. Now that Dragon Tides is moving forward in production, we can concentrate on all the extra characters and expansion. Soon you'll be seeing manufacture proofs of miniatures and more prototype material here and there. So in short, things are going to be even more epic as we get closer to GenCon!

Finalizing Pledges:

For anyone who hasn't logged into our BackerKit Pledge Manager, please be sure to do so. We're trying to close out the Pledge Manager, but I'm afraid it might lock you out from inputting your address (as well as adding on any cool items you missed out on) once we hit the "Lockdown" button. If you haven't received a reminder or a link, please contact me immediately so we can get things going for you. Also, your reminder would have been sent to your e-mail account associated to your Kickstarter account and will be sent by BackerKit. 

For those who've already finalized your pledges, since I haven't officially been able to shut down the Pledge Manager, you are still able to freely add/edit your pledge addons. Currently we are about $213 away from unlocking a free Ivan Castle "Hitman" Variant for Jade Dragons and above. While we're waiting to close the Pledge Manager, we'll definitely honor any pledges towards the stretches.

Dragon Tides Official Rulebook

Ok, here it is! Keep in mind that it's been reformatted to "Web Quality" so parts of the graphics may look low-res. Rest assured that the files for print are at the highest quality :)

You'll also note two things... We're definitely not going to offer any spoilers by releasing the Movie Books. These are actually 2 separate booklets included in the game that have several scenes in each. Some of which you may not be able to play the first time through, since different scenes are dependant on outcomes or choices you make.  Also, in the Rulebook we do not mention anything about Solo Player or Co-op play. This is something that you'll see in one of our expansions's "special rules". I know it's a bit weird, but we're doing this as a marketing and sales approach. 

All right, enough talk... here's some good reading! (It may be a good idea to download it. It's a 13mb file).

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nka2k7b8zjhgune/DragonTidesRulebook_ForWeb.pdf?dl=0

Next week, we'll be at GAMMA, but upon our return, we'll have an updated prototype from our local printers at hand to do a few demo videos so you all can see things first hand. 

Also, if you're attending GenCon, studying these rules might get you a strategic advantage over us if you challenge us (and the gameplay designers) at our events/booth demos there! 

Less than 48 Hours for the Pledge Manager!
almost 10 years ago – Thu, Mar 05, 2015 at 10:50:58 PM

Hi Everyone!

Per the Pledge Manager, we are about $40 shy of unlocking the Classic Ninja Henchmen! For those who don't know, this stretch goal will give Jade Dragon tiers and above 7 Classic Ninja Henchmen to be used in Dragon Tides. Essentially you can use that as whichever henchmen group you want.

But what if you want more Ninjas? Going by good faith, since there's still about 150 backers not yet logged into the Pledge Manager, we're assuming that we'll officially unlock the ninjas anyway. So if you want more ninjas to create an army, then you can get a pack of 7 in the add-ons. Keep in mind that if you have a Jade Dragon or above tier, then you don't need to add these unless you want extras.

Plus... in about a week, you'll really start to like these ninjas ;)

Question of the Day

A few of you asked if these minis were only going to be playable with this addition of Dragon Tides. No.. no way! Like with our Fairytale Miniatures, our goal is to let your minis last, to be playable in current and future games that we create that utilize minis. The way we see it, Dragon Tides has a solid future and has a lot of room to grow. You should see how much story and lore you haven't even seen yet :)

Which brings me to the other question... What will happen to General Feng? Who is he really and how would he play in the game? Although I can't promise anything just yet, I do believe he'll be one of 7 future characters which will be feared.

Show and Tell?

Well.... There was something I was going to show you today, but it's not quite finished yet. Actually, let's give you a quick progress report. These past few weeks, we've all been working hard to get Dragon Tides (the core game) ready for the manufacture. The process has been very extensive as it involves the timed completion (tooling, moulding, casting, etc) of the minis and getting all the files correctly laid out with their respective components. Finally, we see the light at the end of the tunnel! By this weekend, Dragon Tides (the core game) will be at the manufactures to begin post-production! I'm VERY excited about that. We're also waiting on some manufacture proofs of the 4 Dragons and 4 Tigers.

After these files have been completely sent over, I'll have a prototype made locally to run some video demos on so you can all see a scene or two between multiple players. Once you see it in action, you'll be just as excited as we are!

Getting back to what I wanted to show you, it was the link for the full color rulebook for Dragon Tides. I know that was something that was one your minds from time to time, so by the next update it should be ready to go. We have a few more edits to make on it before we send it to the printer so we want to make sure you have the actual copy as well :)

The Creator's Blog!

For those interested in how Dragon Tides's core gameplay mechanics came about from its raw beginnings, you can check out this blog by Kevin G. Nunn. It's a really fun read that we lived through to get the combat, scenes, and interactions as fast-paced as it is. Also, if you're interested in game development, you can relive the trial and error process through their eyes first hand. Check it out!

http://kevingnunn.com/2015/02/13/bruce-lee-and-dragon-tides-playing-the-dragon-part-1

http://kevingnunn.com/2015/02/24/bruce-lee-and-dragon-tides-playing-the-dragon-part-2

http://kevingnunn.com/2015/03/03/bruce-lee-and-dragon-tides-playing-the-dragon-part-3