The Stifling Dark: A Horror Board Game

Final Stretch Goal Added!
over 1 year 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!
over 1 year 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!
over 1 year 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!

https://forms.gle/ao6r9uuxcDMaMiqF9

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…

The Amusement Park of Terror (Plus Nightfall Details)
over 1 year ago – Fri, Oct 28, 2022 at 09:48:28 PM

We are pleased to announce that the Abandoned Amusement Park was the winner of the poll and will become our second map! In full transparency, that was one of our personal favorites so we were happy to see it do so well. Full poll results are below for your perusal:

Now that the map is selected, we want to hear your ideas for potential escape routes and mechanics! We’ve already been brainstorming some ideas of our own, but you all have come up with some awesome ideas throughout the campaign so we want to keep that going. Comment below with your ideas and you might see them come to life in our second map!

In the spirit of providing another deep dive, we wanted to share more details around the Nightfall expansion! There are a number of things included in the expansion, but perhaps the two most notable additions are the large flashlights and the flashlight augment cards.

Aside from simply being bigger (and being gray instead of yellow), the large flashlights perform a different function than the small flashlights. Rather than making spaces bright and revealing the adversary, this flashlight makes spaces dim and is most effectively used when trying to find items/evidence or to help other investigators move more quickly through pitch black spaces.

Flashlight augments introduce a brand new mechanic that modifies how your flashlights work. Each flashlight (small and large) still has its default function, and playing flashlight augments allows you to change your flashlight’s function for a given activation. Some examples are shown below:

• Investigators ending their activation in this flashlight gain 1 stamina
• It costs the adversary 1 extra movement per space to move through this flashlight
• Spend 1 extra charge to also include partially covered spaces that have a line through them
• Investigators who roll the sprint die while in this flashlight may re-roll and take the highest of the two rolls

Both the small and the large flashlights cost one charge to use, and you can only use one flashlight per activation. They share the same charge track, so you will still have to choose when to use your flashlight and when to recover some charge.

Aside from those two additions, the Nightfall expansion also includes two new investigators, four new items, (including the dreaded Flashbang, which does pretty much exactly what you’d expect it to do), one new cursed item, and a few tokens.

Note that the Deluxe ($70) pledge includes the base game, the Nightfall expansion, and card sleeves. To clarify, the card sleeves are not part of the Nightfall expansion. If you want just the base game and the Nightfall expansion, you can pledge at the $50 level and will be able to add the Nightfall expansion on in the pledge manager at a slight discount compared to the Deluxe pledge.

If you’re interested in giving the expansion a try, make sure you keep an eye on our Discord and other social media platforms for when we announce future playtests!

For those of you who want an inside look at the game and the process behind our Kickstarter, we wanted to share a video from an awesome series called KickSaga. This series, created by Matthew Rodela from Muse & Mettle Games, is super unique in that it focuses on interviewing first-time creators before and after their Kickstarter. Check out the interview below!

Keep an eye on the Muse & Mettle YouTube channel for our follow-up episode, which should be posted sometime in November or December.

Lastly, we have one final livestream planned (at least during the campaign, that is). This one is extra special since it’s both in-person and it’s on Halloween! No promises, but we may have costumes to really set the mood. Make sure you head over to Twitch at 7 PM CDT on 10/31 to check it out! Fair warning, this will be our first in-person stream so it may be a bit rough :)

That’s it for today’s update, don’t forget to leave your mechanic ideas for the amusement park below!

This is Matt, Ethan, and Jeremy, attempting to ride a run-down merry-go-round…

New Adversary Unlocked, and Adversary Overview!
over 1 year ago – Tue, Oct 25, 2022 at 03:42:14 AM

Is that… chanting in Latin? Yes, yes it most definitely is. Something is not right about this place. And those people dressed in deep purple robes look like they are straight out of a medieval textbook. Why are there so many of them?

The followers of the dark increase yet again! And this time, four of them will be played by the adversary player. The Cultists are gathering archaic demonic body parts in an attempt to resurrect a demon long lost to time and centuries of dust. Will you be able to stop them before they summon Mor’gonnod? Once the demon is summoned it will not hesitate to quickly move in and eat every living thing in its path. 

Thank you all so much for unlocking our 3rd adversary! We are very excited to have 3, each with very different playstyles. This should keep the investigators on their toes for many game nights to come. Seeing as we just unlocked another adversary, we thought this was the perfect time to provide an adversary overview, where we go over how each adversary plays:

The Butcher

Ever get the feeling you’re being watched?

With The Butcher around, it’s an all too common feeling… His favorite tactic is to lurk in the shadows and stalk his victims before going in for the kill! As a player controlling The Butcher, you’ll need to use all your cunning to get into position, stalk the investigators, and avoid the light at all costs.

The Butcher needs to stalk the investigators for 2 rounds in a row, which increases his stalk track. He will then be able to spend these stalks on his attack and ability cards. In this way, he’ll have to frequently leverage stalking people from a safe distance so as to not be seen, and then get in close enough to begin hunting down an investigator. Once he kills a single investigator The Butcher returns to the shadows, satiating his bloodlust and winning the game.

The Insatiable Horror

When the ground starts to move under your feet, it’s time to start worrying…

The Insatiable Horror has remained undetected for centuries, hidden in the deep crevasses of the world. But every once in a while an unfortunate soul strays too near to it, never to be seen again.

As The Insatiable Horror, players use their barbed radula to ensnare investigators and drag them to their untimely demise among countless serrated teeth. And while The Insatiable Horror moves slowly on its own, players may use their burrow ability to move quickly across the map, ensuring no investigators ever feel too safe…

The Cultists

Are those voices carried on the wind, or just imagined sounds created by a frightened mind?

The Cultists are here and if they accomplish their goal, no investigator will survive the night! When controlling the Cultists, the adversary player will be racing to collect the sacred corporeal parts of their master and perform a summoning ritual before they can be stopped. With each part collected, their master becomes more corporeal and gains new abilities to use against the investigators.

Once their master is ready to be summoned, the cultists perform one final act of obedience by sacrificing themselves to bring Mor’gonnod from the depths of hell, to Earth. At this point, the demon will always be on the main board, slaughtering each and every investigator. The investigators must work quickly once Mor’gonnod has arrived, as it is extremely deadly and lightning fast.

One Board Family Livestream

Tonight, Matt will be doing a livestream with One Board Family! This will be a live interview and overall game talk to get to know more about one of our developers!  The stream begins at 7PM CDT, and can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m43g7SVqF8

Protospiel Online Livestream

We have yet another live playthrough of the game taking place this Wednesday (10/26) at 8 PM CDT. This one is a little different though, since we won’t be the ones playing! Our friends at Protospiel Online have gathered a group of gamers that will be playing the game live, and we’ll be there to answer questions in the chat. We look forward to the game! https://www.twitch.tv/protospielo

Map Poll

The map poll closes soon! Be sure to get your vote in if you haven’t yet. We are very excited to begin the design process of the next map, and are just a few hours away from choosing the winner! https://forms.gle/r4ncMRBesuUmxSDCA 

Horror Movies

The time of spooky scary skeletons is nearly upon us. We thought we would share our favorite horror movies with you all. In addition, we want to hear your favorites as well! Share them in the comments of this update!

Ethan: Friday the 13th franchise, The Thing, The Cabin in the Woods

Matt: The Omen, The Shining, The Grudge

Jeremy: More of a sci-fi horror fan, so Life, Alien, Pandorum

This is Jeremy and Ethan, watching Matt’s heart be ritualistically removed…