Keep your friends close and your flashlight closer in this one-vs-many hidden movement horror game.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
December Post-Campaign Update
almost 2 years ago
– Sat, Dec 03, 2022 at 03:33:06 AM
Don’t worry - we’re still here in cold, snowy Minnesota! We decided not to abscond to a tropical paradise, as tempting as that was. In fact, after taking a week off to decompress after the campaign ended we’ve been hard at work on a number of things to continue marching towards that ever-important date next year where we need to send all the files to our manufacturer.
As you probably guessed, one of our main focuses has been the creation of the amusement park map. We have a semi-finalized version of the layout and have done a number of preliminary tests to lock in the layout and overall flow before we send our rough draft over to our fantastic artist so he can make it look pretty. Look for more specifics on the map in our next monthly update!
We’ve also been ironing out details for our additional adversaries that were unlocked during the campaign and are excited to see how they’re working out so far. The Cult’s friendly neighborhood demon is in the process of getting its artwork created as we speak, and we’ll be sure to share the results once we have them!
Speaking of artwork, we received a fresh batch of art for the new items from our wonderful card artist, Allan! We'll scatter a few of the new images in throughout the update for your viewing pleasure:
In other news, we’re working on some of the feedback we received on parts of the game. One of the main things we heard was that the card templates could use some work, so we’re in the process of revamping those to be more appealing as we speak. Those of you who are in our Discord and/or Facebook Group got a sneak peek at what the fronts might end up looking like, and we’ll post the outcome in a future update once we’re done with those revisions.
We’re also changing the backs on the cards to be more user-friendly. Right now the back text on certain cards (such as Storm cards) say the name of the map or adversary they’re associated with (i.e. Sawmill) instead of the type of card that they are (which is what the icon below the text was for).
This turned out to be rather confusing, so the back text will now say the type of card (i.e. Storm) and the map or adversary (which is currently the text on the back of the card) will change to an icon so you can still quickly identify which cards belong with which map or adversary. An example of this change is below, but please note that the placement of the new icon is not finalized:
Another thing we’re working to improve is the overall number of tokens/pieces in the game to make things flow more smoothly. Right now we have a token for every single item in the game (which is a lot if we’re being honest). We will be changing it so that item tokens you pick up will all be the same, with the exception of the one cursed item of course. That means you’ll just grab the same ten generic item tokens for setup each game instead of needing to randomly draw them.
Also, rather than having to search through the item deck to find the matching icon from the item token, you just draw a random item card from the top of the deck. Less tokens and less searching = more time playing! Note that certain items that require being placed on the board (such as the glowsticks or lantern) will still have a separate token for that purpose.
As a final update on items, we are tossing around the idea of consolidating where the items are located on the map from 10 spaces down to 5 points of interest. We’ve found that investigators don’t tend to go out of their way to search for items, as they can only find 1 at a time and it takes time away from completing objectives. With this change, each point of interest will have a stack of 2 items or a cursed item nearby, making them more tempting to search.
We are also considering replacing the evidence deck with a choose-your-reward mechanic instead. Instead of drawing an evidence card and revealing an item each time you pick up an evidence token, you will just choose from a few possible rewards.
Similarly, when you pick up your final piece of evidence and choose your escape route you will no longer need to remember to place a dim token and major ability tokens. The evidence rewards will be balanced to make up for this. This will take away some of the randomness with drawing from a deck as well as streamline the process a bit.
We’ve also been continuing to work with our friends over at M.O.B. Vanguard to find localization partners, and we are pleased to announce that we have officially signed our first localization deal! We’ll be partnering with Game Harbor to produce The Stifling Dark in Chinese, and we’re also in conversations with a couple other publishers for other regions. We’ll post on social media as we sign new deals, and we’ll be sure to keep you in the loop with these updates as well.
On the media front, the folks over at PopHorror.com reached out to us and asked to do an interview a while back and we happily obliged. That interview is now live on their website at the following link, so make sure you check it out if you’re interested in a behind-the-scenes look at the game!
We have also posted our long-overdue Halloween livestream on YouTube! Spoiler alert: despite Ethan and Jeremy’s best efforts, Matt finally got his revenge.
Lastly, we just got done filming our follow-up interview with Matt from KickSaga, so we’ll share that link once it gets posted.
Now for everyone’s favorite - a few public service announcements! We’d be remiss not to mention the fact that late pledges are now available. If you know of someone that was interested in backing the game but missed out, make sure you send them a link to our late pledges! We will be matching Kickstarter pricing for a limited time (likely until we place our order with our manufacturer), at which point those will increase to MSRP:
Also, if you signed up for Kickstarter using an Apple account please check your messages on Kickstarter to see if we tried to contact you. This can sometimes result in a “fake” email being generated that doesn’t play well with BackerKit. We’ve seen this cause issues in multiple campaigns that we’ve backed, so we’re trying to get ahead of it. If you don’t have a message from us you’re all set!
Similarly, if you are a retail backer and have not filled out the intake form yet please do so once you get a chance. If you received a message from us on November 20th it means we have not gotten a response from you yet. If not, it means you submitted the form and you’re good to go!
Long story short: make sure you log in to check your Kickstarter messages from time to time! We'll be using them to communicate with you for various things that may pop up from time to time.
Lastly, we wanted to end with a graphical status update and upcoming dates for when you can expect things to happen. We'll be updating this each month as we begin working on things and finalize other things.
In terms of upcoming dates, the next big date will be the pledge manager opening in February of 2023. We’ll provide more info on what to expect as we get closer to that date, but for now you can all sit back, relax, and enjoy the upcoming holidays :)
We’ll be in touch a month from now, but as always please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns in the meantime. You can expect our campaign updates to come out around the 3rd of each month.
With that, we'll leave you with a closing question: if you could have any one board game for Christmas, which one would it be and why? Let us know in the comments!
Thank you once again for your support in helping us make The Stifling Dark a reality!
This is Matt, Jeremy, and Ethan, stalking in the shadows…
A True Photo Finish
about 2 years ago
– Fri, Nov 04, 2022 at 06:38:18 AM
We don’t quite know how to start this, so we’ll just start with this: thank you. When we hit that launch button back on October 4th we had no idea how this would go, nor did we imagine it would go this well. You have all been incredibly supportive over the past month, and it’s been amazing seeing all of your ideas and passion for the game. Even though the campaign is over, this is just the beginning of the next chapter for The Stifling Dark.
We have lots of good info in this update, starting with the results of the social stretch goal poll! The full results are at the very end of the update if you're curious, but here are the winning ideas for each card type:
Cursed Item (1): Move through map hazards as if they were normal
Items (3): Stronger Batteries, Black Cloak / Treehouse, and Metal Detector
Wounds (2): Roll a sprint die to affect movement and lose movement if the adversary is revealed
Storms (2): Fog and either Downed Tree or Eerie Calm (we had a tie for second place!)
Mitigation (1): Tie for first! Adversary can move through a bright space and having the lowest roller gain Mauled
We technically only unlocked nine cards through the social stretch goals, but since we had some ties we’ll add either a third storm card or a second mitigation to bring us up to a nice even ten social cards. Keep in mind we may make some minor tweaks to the winning ideas for balancing purposes, but the cards will stay true to their original intent. Thanks to everyone who voted on the poll and provided ideas for the cards!
So...what’s this we heard about a map editor being unlocked literally at the last minute?
We wanted to provide some more details on what to expect with the map editor to satiate your appetite until it is deployed! The map editor will be a web application where you can start with a blank slate and add/remove things as you see fit to create your own map! You’ll be able to remove spaces to block off certain areas, add in adversary, door, and objective spaces, and customize the map to your heart’s content!
Once you’re finished customizing your map, you’ll be able to download it as a PNG or PDF that you can then print off at home or at your FLPS (friendly local print store). Note that we will likely release the editor in waves and iterate on it from there, so the very first version will not be fully-featured. We are also going to prioritize the stretch goals that are going in the game first, at least until we’ve sent the game files to our manufacturer, so we do not expect it to be released until late 2023 or very early 2024. Either way, we’ll have the first version out by the time you receive your copy of The Stifling Dark.
We did a minor rebranding of our social media accounts to make it much easier to find us! For whatever reason, when we first set up our social media accounts three years ago we used different usernames across virtually every platform. We decided it was time to be a little more consistent, so our handle is now sophcerb on every major platform. That way you’ll be thinking of ice cream every time you visit our page. You’re welcome.
Lastly, we wanted to provide some guidance on what to expect going forward. Your pledge should be in the process of being collected by Kickstarter as we write this, so that’s the first step. From there your next to-do will be to fill out the pledge manager, which we expect to open in February of 2023 and is where you will pay for shipping and taxes and have the option to modify your pledge. After that you can sit back and relax until you receive your very own copy of the game!
As for us, we will be taking a week off once we finish all the remaining to-dos now that our Kickstarter has finished. Don’t worry - we’ll be right back at it after that! Even though we prepared as well as we could, running this campaign was exhausting so we need a bit of a break to recharge after all the stress and excitement.
Once we get back, we’ll be hard at work finalizing the new additions to the game (such as the adversaries and the amusement park map) and making minor tweaks to existing parts of the game. We’ll keep everyone posted on the work we’ve been doing with monthly updates on Kickstarter, and you can always reach out to us on social media or via email if you have any questions or comments.
We’ll continue hosting regular playtests, which you can find on our Discord server. We’ll do our best to cross-post those to our Facebook group as well, but Discord will be the official source of our playtest schedule. Be sure to keep an eye on those if you want to be some of the first people to test out new things as we develop them!
That’s all we have for now, and we wanted to end with one last sincere thank you to everyone who has helped us over the past three years. It’s been quite the journey, and we still have lots more ahead of us!
This is Matt, Jeremy, and Ethan, getting ready to enter a stifling slumber
Final Stretch Goal Added!
about 2 years ago
– Thu, Nov 03, 2022 at 08:46:01 PM
Hello everyone! We did not think we would get close to this final stretch goal, and initially just left it off entirely. But once again, we are very surprised and also ecstatic! You have all blown us away with your support, and so we have one final stretch goal for you…
A map editor! We will be developing our very own map editor so you can create your own maps at home if you would like! This one will definitely take some time to get done, and will likely have releases every few months with new updates. However it will be extremely helpful for both us as the game developers for future expansions, but also for anyone who wants to print-and-play their own ideas! This stretch goal will unlock at $220K, but we believe we can do it! Thank you so much everyone once again!
This is Jeremy and Ethan, locking Matt in a basement until he completes the map editor…
48 Hours Left!
about 2 years ago
– Wed, Nov 02, 2022 at 01:23:46 AM
Well folks, we’re down to the last two days of the campaign. It’s been quite the wild ride, but we wouldn’t have it any other way! Thanks once again to everyone who has supported us in one way or another throughout the last 2.5 (soon to be 3) years - we wouldn’t be where we are today without you!
We have a couple quick updates to close out the campaign, the first of which is the announcement of our final stretch goal!
We will be teaming up with Tabletop Audio, the legendary creators of epic ambient music to create a custom soundtrack for The Stifling Dark. We are very excited to add this last level of immersion to our game, as it will really set the mood for game nights. The soundtrack will consist of five or six tracks that are roughly 10 minutes long each, and that loop well. Let’s make our final stretch goal happen!
Thanks to everyone for the amazing response on our social stretch goal update a few days ago! We have since unlocked both the final Facebook Page and Instagram goals and quite literally just unlocked our final Twitter goal. That leaves us with only two goals remaining: Discord (currently at 85%) and Kickstarter (currently at 75%). Let’s get one final push to unlock all the social stretch goals!
Speaking of social stretch goals, don’t forget to vote for your favorite card ideas! The poll will close upon the conclusion of the campaign, and we will include the results in our update that we post right after the campaign ends. There are some great ideas in there, so make sure you check them out!
Lastly, we want to acknowledge the fact that some people were hoping for minis, acrylic standees, more adversaries and more maps. These are all things that we would love to see in the game as well, but the reality is we only have so much time and so much room when it comes to component costs.
For context, we have to balance development time and unit cost for everything we add to the game. Since we’ve already added two new adversaries and a second map we’ve hit the limit of what we expect to be able to properly test and balance prior to sending the game off to be printed. Sure, we could add another adversary, but we weren’t confident that we’d be able to properly balance it in the time we have left. We’d much rather have three well-balanced and tested adversaries than four that are just average.
The same thing goes for the cost when it comes to acrylic standees and minis. Either of those would be the single most expensive component in the game, and would actually cost more than every other stretch goal we’ve added so far combined. We wanted to keep the game affordable, and our hope is to get the game into retail. If we were to add either of those components into the game we’d have to raise the MSRP of the game in order to not lose money on distribution, making it less accessible in the process.
All that said, we just wanted to provide some insight into why we didn’t end up adding any more of those things to the game. It’s not that we didn’t hear you, it’s that we want to be responsible about what we’re adding to the game (especially as first-time creators) and ensuring we have enough time to deliver on our promise and make the game a reality.
Keep in mind this does not mean some of these things won’t show up in expansions or later versions of the game! We absolutely plan on having expansions with more adversaries and maps since the game lends itself very well to expanded content, and some of those expansions just might contain acrylic standees or minis as well. Keep an eye out for more news on that front down the road, but for now our focus will be on getting our Kickstarter out the door.
If you (or someone you know) is waiting to pledge, you have until 3 PM CDT (UTC -5) on November 3rd to do so! Thanks once again, and we’ll be back with one final update once the campaign closes before switching to a monthly cadence going forward.
This is Matt, Jeremy and Ethan, hunting for evidence…
Social Stretch Goal Update - Less Than 5 Days Left!
about 2 years ago
– Sun, Oct 30, 2022 at 04:41:28 AM
We’re down to the last five days of the campaign, not that we’re counting it down or anything :) For those who don't know, the campaign will end on November 3rd at 3 PM Central Daylight Time (UTC -5). We’re preparing for the (hopefully) inevitable influx of last-minute backers that help maintain the classic U-shaped funding curve that most Kickstarters have. With more backers means more opportunities to finish out our social (and normal) stretch goals!
So far we’ve unlocked three of our five initial social goals and are pretty close to unlocking two of our added goals. That said, we need some help to unlock our initial goals on Instagram (currently at 80%) and Twitter (currently at 75%) so please give us a follow if you haven’t already.
We’re excited to announce one final social stretch goal for those of you who have already liked/followed everything you can. Now you can follow us on Kickstarter (just click the link and hit “Follow” right below our profile picture) to help us add a new cursed item into the game!
We’ve consolidated the comments with new card ideas for the social stretch goals and added a few of our own, so now it’s time to choose the cards! The poll (linked below) will be open for the remainder of the campaign (until November 3rd at 3 PM CDT), so make sure you get in there and vote!
You didn’t think we forgot about the engraved dice, did you? Of course not! Not only did we unlock the stretch goal to include enough dice for everyone, now they will be engraved as well!
Engraving the dice ensures that they last longer than screen printed dice, and there’s no need to worry about accidentally scraping off the printed part. We’re super excited we unlocked these because engraved dice just feel so nice. Unfortunately, this upgrade won’t help you roll any better :)
With just under five days left, we’ve been keeping an eye on projections and are hoping we will break the $200k mark prior to the end of the campaign. You’ll notice we did not add a new stretch goal after the upgraded cards…yet. We’re going to be seeing how things go the next couple days while doing some number crunching to see not only what’s possible but also what’s practical.
We did, however, drop the next stretch goal down from $190k to $185k to make it more attainable. Keep an eye out for more news on stretch goals within the next few days.
As we’re sure everyone is well aware, Halloween is only two days away! It’s obviously one of our favorite holidays, not only due to the spooky nature of it but also due to the fact that we get to stuff our face with candy. See below for each of our go-to candy, and post your favorite candy in the comments!
Jeremy: Twix
Ethan: Reese's Pieces
Matt: Snickers
Lastly, we have one final livestream planned for the campaign. Join us on Halloween (October 31st) at 7 PM CDT for an in-person playthrough on Twitch. Since it’ll be our first in-person livestream we may run into a few hiccups along the way, but we’ll do our best to make it an enjoyable experience! This will be your chance to see the physical game in action (aside from the review videos on our page, of course).
Don’t forget to leave your favorite candy in the comments, and thanks once again for the incredible support throughout the campaign!
This is Matt, Jeremy, and Ethan, rolling straight 1s…
