A Year in the Actuality!
over 7 years ago – Sun, Sep 17, 2017 at 01:45:17 AM

Honored vislae,

A year ago today, you funded Invisible Sun and broke crowdfunding records for the largest original property RPG ever Kickstarted (a record which it still holds). We are all, honestly, still reeling at how far Invisible Sun has come in that time. The Sooth Decks have been brought into being, and are every bit as gorgeous and evocative (and eerily spot-on during gameplay) as we could have hoped. Almost every component, other than the books (which represent the bulk of the design and editing work), is finalized. The books themselves are in layout, a stage that is nearly as secrets-weaving as the writing. A prototype of all the pieces wowed audiences at Gen Con, and it was such a pale shadow of what is still to come.

1,846 of you amazing humans put your trust in us to develop a game that took huge risks to innovate along several axes: it reorients the driving force of gameplay to emerge from character arcs; it celebrates the tactile experience of gameplay with extremely deluxe components, while embracing play away from the table with Development Mode; and of course, it puts forth a truly out-there setting of surreal fantasy, filled with secrets and hidden truths!

We can’t wait to show off more of the components and previews as they come in. Take a peek below at how layout of the books is shaping up, and be sure to stay tuned for more! 

New Corebooks for Numenera

While we’re here, we have some exciting news for Numenera fans. On Tuesday of next week we’re launching a Kickstarter campaign for two new corebooks for Numenera. This is the game that brought MCG into existence, and has led to short films, novels, an incredible hit CRPG, and our ability to make other games—including No Thank You, Evil! 

The new corebooks—Numenera Discovery and Numenera Destiny—aren’t a new edition, but more like a natural next step in Numenera’s evolution. Numenera does a great job of helping players tell stories about exploring the ruins of the past, but we want to explore the next step: using what we find among the ruins to build a better future. You can read more about Numenera Discovery and Numenera Destiny here. 

During the Invisible Sun Kickstarter, your enthusiasm for alternate reality adventures, code-breaking, and more showed us that there remains a lot of room for creativity and experimentation during Kickstarter campaigns. If that sort of thing excites you, you will definitely want to keep an eye on Numenera 2! In our recent blog post, we hint at what is to come: Numenera 2 backers will shape the fate of a Ninth World village called Ellomyr, and those details will be reflected in a sourcebook about Ellomyr, The Trilling Shard! 

We hope you’ll help us spread the word and journey with us to discover your Numenera destiny.  

Who’d Like to See a Medallion (or Two)?
over 7 years ago – Tue, Aug 01, 2017 at 12:29:25 AM

Greetings, vislae!

As we’ve mentioned in the past couple of updates, things are moving very quickly on the Invisible Sun production front these days. We have some exciting stuff to show you.

First, let’s have a look at a medallion!

That’s the Pale Sun. If you like that, you’re going to love this:

That’s the Order of the Vance medallion. These are the first two production medallions to reach us—we have another eight suns and four orders to go. They’re all moving forward, just a couple of steps behind the ones you’re looking at.

Here’s something else you might like: A look at the Sooth Deck. The first shot shows uncut cards. The second shows an almost-final production prototype. (The insert will be black, not white, and the cards you see are placeholders.)

Both shots are from the factory floor. The Sooth Deck is now in full-fledged production, and we should have the first actual, finished decks in our hands within the next week or so!

Finally, here’s something else we think you’ll love:

This is an ephemera card, just one of the roughly 1,000 cards representing spells, incantations, and items in the Black Cube. (Please note that you’re looking at a game element that hasn’t been through final proofing.) The cards, like the books, are in layout, with some of them just about finished while others are earlier in the process. 

Would you like to see more cards? We’ve got you covered, but we’re asking for a bit of help in exchange. As you know, preorders for Invisible Sun are now open, and we’re encouraging gamers to help spread the word. We’ve tweeted this spell card here. Please retweet it. If we reach 45 retweets, we’ll give you a look at a second card. And if that one gets enough retweets, we’ll release another one—and so on, at least through this week and, if people like it, beyond. (And who knows what else we’ll have to show off in the near future?)

We have some other cool stuff to reveal soon, so keep your eye on our Facebook page and Twitter feed, and look out for more updates soon!

(One more peek at the medallions, just because these are so cool!)

A look at the Sooth Deck, a new website, and preorders!
over 7 years ago – Thu, Jul 13, 2017 at 12:27:57 AM

Greetings, vislae!

This is a momentous day, a day in which we hope to invite many other vislae, lost in Shadow, home to the Actuality. Today we have opened Invisible Sun up for preorders.

Here are some things you might notice: First, the black cube is going to be a bit more expensive for vislae who did not support the Kickstarter. You are getting your black cube for almost $50 less than the final retail (and preorder) price.

Second, we’re offering a special to preorder customers: With their preorders, they get an extra Sooth Deck, which we’ll deliver early (as soon as we have them, which will likely be in August). As you know, you get a Sooth Deck in your black cube, so the extra is far from necessary, but it’s a cool bonus.

If you’d like to get the extra Sooth Deck (and you might, when you see how sexy they are), we’re going to make it available to Kickstarter backers at the original add-on price, which is substantially lower than retail. And, like the preorder customers, you’ll get your Sooth Deck as soon as it’s available. (If you already added on the Sooth Deck back during the campaign, yours will ship on this accelerated schedule too.) To purchase an extra Sooth Deck, go here. At checkout, use the coupon code ISBackerSoothDeck, and you’ll pay just $17 (the original add-on price). Both the link and the coupon are exclusive to backers, so please don't share them.

Third, preorder customers don’t get the sun medallion and sun-based secret you’re receiving as a Kickstarter backer. That’s exclusive to you.

 

Please help spread the word about preorders. So many vislae labor in Shadow, forgetful of Satyrine and the Actuality. Help us reach them by sharing the preorder link, or by sending them to. . .

Our new website

In conjunction with the launch of preorders, we’re also unveiling a new Invisible Sun website today. It’s great for nudging vislae out of Shadow, and we think it looks pretty nice. It doesn’t contain a whole lot of info that you, as a backer, don’t already know, but we invite you to have a look. We think you’ll like it! And the URL (invisiblesunrpg.com) is great for sharing!

The production train is roaring down the tracks

In other news, we’re now getting deep in to the production phase of Invisible Sun. All but the last little bit of writing and design is complete. Some of the books are still in editing, but layout on the first title has begun. We are sending final versions of components—the box, cards, tokens, cloth maps, props, resin figures, medallions, dice, tomes, and of course books—to our vendor in five distinct waves, the first of which starts this week.

As I mentioned in the last update, we’ll be getting more and more samples in from our vendor in the weeks to come, and we’ll share interesting ones with you as we have them. Keep an eye on these updates!

Loads of new news (and art!) for Invisible Sun
over 7 years ago – Sun, Jun 25, 2017 at 11:17:48 PM

Greetings, vislae! We have much exciting news from the Actuality!

Do you like what you see? These are just three of the sixty—yes SIXTY—pieces of awesome art that are now complete for the Sooth Deck. In fact, the entire Sooth Deck is now fully designed and developed, and in the hands of playtesters.

Sooth Deck Art Book For You

The actual Sooth Deck cards are, as you may be aware, round, and they typically use only a portion of the complete pieces as you see them here. Some of these whole pieces will probably be used in the game books or elsewhere, where you’ll be able to see the entire piece. But some might never be used in their entirety.

But don’t worry, you’re going to see them all—these pieces are too wonderful to keep hidden away. So we’re putting together an exclusive, backers-only bonus item: A PDF art book featuring all the art from the Sooth Deck. And the best part: We’re going to send it to you ASAP. (Note: This isn’t the same art book as the one included in the black cube. That will be a physical book featuring art from throughout the game. This is a separate item, and a new bonus for you.) Look for an email from us for instructions on how to download your book in the days to come.

The Black Cube Is Moving Toward Production

The Sooth Deck, of course, isn’t all we’ve been working on. Monte has been writing incessantly, and we’re now in the fourth round of external playtesting. And after almost a year of development, we're transitioning into the phase of turning words into beautiful products. Large chunks of the text are in editing, our Art Director Bear Weiter is working on layout, and we have prototypes of many of the components zooming back and forth between us and the vendors. Expect lots of exciting news and great images in the weeks and months to come.

More and Better Means a Shift in Release Date

As you may recall, in updates past we’ve talked about adding more content to the black cube. As it now stands, it’ll have half again as many pages and words as one of our big corebooks (like Numenera or the Cypher System Rulebook). There will be three or four times as many cards as a Magic: the Gathering core set, or twice the number in a typical deck-building game like Dominion. (And each card has unique content.) And we’ve added tokens and other elements to the black cube since the end of the Kickstarter.

(And let’s not forget that this is a masterwork for Monte—a vision he’s wanted to bring to fruition for years. This is a dot-every-I-cross-every-T project.)

With all this additional material, we’re pushing the release date back from November to February. This was a tough decision—we have a great track record of delivering fantastic products on time, every time, and we didn’t want to break our streak. But as Monte said, pushing a game back makes us all sad for a couple of months. Not doing it right is forever. We think you’ll agree.

Of course, elements such as the Directed Campaign will shift accordingly—you wouldn’t want your Directed Campaign to start before you have the game. But for items releasing ahead of the game (like the Rules Primer), we’ll do our best to stick to the original schedule.

Look for More Great Stuff Soon

The Testament of Suns. The medallions. The map of Satyrine. The figure set, dice, and props. The Sooth Deck was the first element to complete the passage through development, but a bunch of other stuff is pretty far down the pipeline. Expect more frequent updates in the weeks and months to come—we’re super-excited to share more and more of this with you!

Our Warehouse Sale

One more note, for fans and players of our non-Invisible Sun games. We just launched a Warehouse Sale, and it’s a great chance to get not only fantastic deals on every print product we make but also rarities, cool promos, and other nifty stuff for free with every domestic US order. If you like Numenera, the Cypher System, No Thank You, Evil!, or The Strange (or are thinking of trying these games out), now is a great time to shop. But don’t delay—the sale only lasts about a week.

Even more for the Black Cube!
over 7 years ago – Tue, Jun 06, 2017 at 10:57:32 PM

Greetings, vislae! We have news from the Actuality.

(Warning: Creepy spider art below.)

We’ve realized that this game and setting deserve even more, so we have increased the amount of content in the Black Cube. This is in addition to the extra components we discussed in a previous update—we’re adding more pages to the books to provide you with a richer game experience.

Have you been keeping up with Monte’s design diaries? We’ve been posting one every month. If you missed any, you can always find them at the “design diaries” keyword on our site.

If you ever want to show someone an overview of Invisible Sun, guide them to our “What Has Been Revealed So Far” web article. We update it every time we release new information on the game.

May the true spiders whisper to you of secrets.

—Sean