Post-launch update
almost 5 years ago – Wed, Jun 02, 2021 at 09:14:13 PM

Hey folks! It's been a month (okay, five weeks) since the PDF came out, so it feels like time for an update. 

How We're Going

Pretty good, thanks for asking! Not including backers, Hard Wired Island has sold over 1000 copies post-launch. Reception has been pretty positive too—check out the ratings on itch.io and DriveThruRPG. (There was some Discourse about the PDF's price tag, but fortunately it seems like pricing the game what I thought it was worth worked out for us.)

This is just the first month, so I'm expecting bigger things down the line as more reviews come in, more people find time to run it, and we get that print version out. Speaking of...

Print Status

Fun fact: We actually blew up our printing plans and switched distributors before release. Turns out that causes delays. Who knew! We've got a new distributor locked in now, though.

Backer copies will be shipped out ASAP—they'll be sent straight to backers instead of going through the distributor. I'll be able to give more accurate dates sometime next month, but non-backers will have to wait for the print copies to get through the distributor and sent to stores and all that—which should happen around the end of September at the latest. Backers should get their copy much sooner.

Incidentally, we've made a few post-launch updates to the PDF on itch.io and DriveThruRPG as we prepare for print. Most of the changes are minor fixes, but there's been a few big balance changes (e.g. changes to how Prep and Defense bonuses work). If you haven't downloaded the PDF in the last couple weeks, it might be worth doing so.

Future Plans

The Behind The Scenes PDF should be released in June. (Backers will get it first, as a treat, and we'll do a general release later.) After that, all we have to do is wait for the print copies to arrive and this KS will be wrapped up.

So, what happens after that? Well, surprise: I'm planning a smaller followup Kickstarter for some quickstart PDFs. Basically they'll be some scenarios like The Terabyte Boys at the back of the book, with sample PCs and maybe a few extras. The KS would cover art and writing, which isn't in the scope of our original budget.

Depending on interest and the final print timeline, I might post it while I wait for the print copies to ship out. At minimum this wouldn't happen until the Behind The Scenes PDF comes out and the printing/shipping process is underway, though (i.e. when there's nothing left for me to do but wait). I'll revisit that plan in a month or two.

Anyway, that's all for now! I'll update in June once I have some more concrete details.

Hard Wired Island is live!
almost 5 years ago – Thu, Apr 22, 2021 at 06:42:41 PM

And we're live!

Backers should be getting Hard Wired Island through BackerKit right now—all 397 pages of it. If you have a problem that cannot be solved by finishing your BackerKit survey, let me know.

Hard Wired Island is also available through itch.io and DriveThruRPG. Once this update is posted I'll start distributing download codes for those sites, if you want to add the game to your libraries.

So, What Now?

First: If you like what you see, tell your friends! The more the game is promoted, the better. (I'd prefer you use the itch.io link if possible, partly because we get better returns that way but also because the itch.io page looks nicer.) If you're up for it, reviews would also be helpful.

Second: we'll be making some updates to the PDF before printing. That includes:

• An index, once I'm absolutely sure nothing is changing
• Anything else readers flag to us that needs changing
• Backers who backed to add an NPC to the tables on p. 390-391 and never sent me theirs—it's not too late! If the table looks full already, that is because I filled the empty slots at the end with Breakfast Cult characters. They are placeholders. I will replace them with your NPCs. Give me your NPCs.
• Fixing the backer credit list: adding backers who finish their BackerKit survey, changing any names on request, and so on. (We're going to drop a day-one patch with an updated list, so if yours isn't on there right now, check again later.)

Sometime in May, once the PDF seems ready, we'll start preparing the print version. I'll also finish up that behind-the-scenes PDF backer reward and get that out. After that, well, Kickstarter done.

For now, enjoy your books!

One last pushback
almost 5 years ago – Sun, Apr 04, 2021 at 07:34:29 PM

Hey folks! Now that the Day of Japes is definitely over, here's an update.

Apologies for the new pushback, but Hard Wired Island is now coming out this month. For the sake of transparency, I'd like to explain where we're at in more detail this time.

• First, the book is currently over 300 pages. This is slightly above my initial estimate, and I may have gotten a little carried away. (The NPC chapter has 132 of them. I like writing characters, okay?) This is the main reason it's not done yet, so now we know whose fault that is. That's right: it's COVID-19.
• Editing is very nearly done—only a few pages left to go, and most of those are things I wrote to fill in big white space and make some columns line up better instead of leaving them alone like a normal person.
• Once that's done, layout will be done shortly after. That said:
• Once the book's laid out and none of the pages are likely to change, we'll need to deal with the (p. ##)s. I included a lot of page references so people won't have to go hunting every time I mention a rule or the Hot One With The Boys coffee shop (p. 182) or whatever; this will be great for the reader but not so much for me, as now I have to write comments on 500+ hashtags so Mina can put numbers on them. I'm hoping to have that one knocked out in a day, but we'll see.

For personal reasons I need to wrap the game up this month. I'll even skip some of the finishing touches and make a post-launch patch before going to print if I have to. Maybe even with the ##s! Who knows!

One Last Thing

There are a few people who have yet to do at least one of these: 

• Finish their BackerKit survey. If you need help with this, you can message me on Kickstarter or at hardwiredisland -at- gmail.
• For "Name an NPC" tier backers, give me your NPC. It's fine, I can still add it in! We can even add it after the PDF comes out but before printing, I don't care.
• Reply to messages if I sent any. (If you don't reply I'll just assume I don't need to do anything, so it's fine with me.)

That should be it for now.  The Hard Wired Island OST is out now, so maybe give it a listen while you wait. See you soon!

OST now available
about 5 years ago – Wed, Mar 10, 2021 at 01:07:32 AM

Hey there! Good news: the Hard Wired Island OST is now available.

Backers who have completed their BackerKit surveys should be receiving their download codes. If you haven't completed your BackerKit survey, guess what: complete your dang BackerKit survey. While you're at it, it might also be a good time to check your email, Kevin.

I made that name up. Apologies if there is a Kevin. 

The OST contains a range of tunes for different scenes, in looped and unlooped versions. There's a booklet in the zip that explains what they're intended for. You can use them during play or just chill out to them, if cyberpunk jams are your thing.

If you didn't back for the OST but want it anyway, you can support neon shudder by buying from him through Bandcamp.

Also, Teeth

In unrelated news, one of my other games,  Retrocausality, is currently in a big bundle of small RPGs to help a pal pay for a bunch of dental work.  If you like RPGs and teeth, check it out here.

That's all for now. I'll see you soon with game updates!

February update + preview
about 5 years ago – Wed, Feb 24, 2021 at 12:36:18 PM

Hey! Brief update this time, I'm afraid. Apologies for this update being a little out of sync with the others—I wasn't sure what it would be until recently.

Long story short, we're pushing the release of Hard Wired Island to March. There's a couple reasons:

• Freyja would like to make some changes to the rules chapter before release, which we've been getting sorted. (These mostly involve layout, at least.) Releasing a cyberpunk game and then trying to fix up the gameplay seems like it'd be a real shitshow, so we're giving the other way around a try.
• Minerva is currently finishing off her own Kickstarted game, Voidheart Symphony, and she'll be unavailable until March. (If you're intrigued, I'm told she has a BackerKit preorder store here.)

The good news is that we pretty much just need to lay out those rules, and we're done.

In the meantime, we've put up another rules preview PDF. If you head to the preview's itch.io page, you'll find two of the game's Occupations: Fixer and Thief.  Each one has a list of Talents, cool abilities that Hard Wired Island characters can pick up as they get stronger. (As usual, this isn't how the final version will be laid out.)

That's all for now, but before you go, check out this retro back cover. Hopefully I'll see you soon!