GATEFALL PRODUCTION PICTURES
about 4 years ago – Sat, Apr 25, 2020 at 12:41:37 PM

Hey, everyone! Hope you're all doing well and keeping some distance between you and the craziness right now.

The factory just sent some more production pictures, so I thought I'd share them with you here. Behold three towers of colored paper:

That is a lot of pounds of paper.

A set of actual figures also showed up, and I love them. All of the tiny parts like the swords on Brog's club are SUPER durable since PVC bends way before it breaks. Unlike all of the resin Brogs I have held and broken over his lifetime. I have been all kinds of worried about people receiving boxes of grey sand as their figures shatter into thousands of pieces during shipping. I've very glad that worry was not warranted.

Speaking of heavy, Brog is crazy heavy. Y'all are getting a LOT of plastic. 

Quartermaster Logistics is coordinating with the factory for the final delivery estimates. I'll let you know when we have a good idea of when the ship at least leaves China. Who knows given current events what will happen on our side when the ship actually arrives, but it will be nice once these are at least all boxed and on the water.

Thanks for everything, and I'll be back with more soon.

Take care,

Jack

NEW PRODUCTION PICS
about 4 years ago – Sat, Apr 04, 2020 at 01:17:12 AM

Hey, everyone. It feels SO WEIRD posting about a game during such an insanely weird time in human history, BUT HERE WE GO:

The factory just sent me some pictures of the plastic trays for the figures about five minutes ago. Which is crazy, because someone just asked about them in the comments yesterday.

I love how they came out. And that Penny is isolated.

I've been playing a lot of Gatefall lately because of the state of things, and I am getting more and more excited to get this to you. I typically never play my own games because doing so is terrifying, but Gatefall is now my most-played game during all of this. It's the kind of game that reallllly makes you want revenge after a close loss, which most losses are in this game.

We are still on track for June. When we get ready to ship, you will get an email asking you to confirm your address. You can change it then if you need to. That email will go out very close to shipping.

I hope you and those around you (plus six feet) are doing well. I wish you had this as a distraction during all of this, and as always I'm very grateful for your support. Now more than ever.

Take care,

Jack

EXCLUSIVES AND ZOMBIES
about 4 years ago – Sat, Mar 14, 2020 at 02:23:03 AM

Hey, everyone! The prototypes for your exclusives arrived today. Here is a picture:

I love how the box came out. The final character cards will be a lot thicker. More like game boards. And matte so they don't reflect much light. These tests were just for size and all that.

And no, the exclusives will absolutely not fit in the core game box. This game is going to turn into an X-Wing problem for some people. For those who have not fallen into an X-Wing hole, it's the kind of game people (like me) end up buying foam-lined cases for that look like something special ops would carry their tiny spaceships in. Multiple cases.

Speaking of one day having a lot of figures:

MALL ZOMBIES

I left zombies out of the last update, because I got the idea some time ago to release Mall Zombies as a standalone expansion for the following reasons IF WE CAN PULL THEM OFF:

THEY WILL ENABLE SOLO PLAY

We are coming up with a simple AI that will have you fighting off swarms as they pour out of their eighties mall and into your world. And as you pour into their mall and use it against them.

THEY WILL ENABLE CO-OP PLAY

With a triangular gate (still being developed), you and another player can work together to take out a more difficult AI as the zombies pour into both worlds.

THEY WILL ENABLE CO-...UHM-...PROBLEMS...?

Imagine trying to beat your friend's Anthropomorphic Kitchen Foods team with your Classic Monsters team while zombies pour out of the eighties and mess with BOTH OF YOU.

None of this exists yet, and I just made that up, but I kind of REALLY want an Anthropomorphic Kitchen Foods team now.

THEY WILL ENABLE ME TO EASILY THROW EXCLUSIVES AT YOU FOR STUFF LIKE FINDING ME AT A CONVENTION IF CONVENTIONS EVER EXIST AGAIN.

The zombies won't have character cards or unique rules for each figure because they are all run by the AI, which means creating a new zombie for you to add to your horde only requires a new sculpt. So I can crank them out without needing new abilities or balance for each one, and give players the chance to build their horde based on visual preferences. Which I think will be really cool.

All of this is crazy experimental and under development. Between Mall Zombies and Alexei's Nordic series, the "Chapter" element of Gatefall looks like it is in jeopardy, but I don't think it will be. I like the idea of one-sided expansions (with a lot of figures from that world) mixed with two-world expansions that combine very different and interesting worlds.

We have a lot to work on, but it is all very exciting work. I absolutely cannot wait to load up on neon paints for the zombies.

I hope you’re all staying well out there, and I’ll update you again when the next batch of stuff comes in.

Thanks and take care,

Jack

Gatefall timeline and new figures!
about 4 years ago – Sun, Mar 08, 2020 at 03:37:20 AM

Hey, everyone!

I finally have the complete production timeline now that the factory is cranking everything out. They are telling me the games will ship from China in early May. To state the very obvious: Earth is a really weird place to be living right now I have zero idea what the state of global shipping will be like in May, but I have discovered some rare optimism about things working out somehow.

NEW FIGURES

These are all new sculpts from Alexei Konev, the artist who sculpted all of the Gatefall figures.

Alexei told me about an art series he wanted to create around some original Nordic-inspired concepts of his. I asked him what size they were going to be. He told me they were probably going to be the same size as the Gatefall figures.

So I asked if he would be interested in letting his art series be playable in Gatefall, and he said he would. Which makes me very, very excited.

This series will not be Chapter Two. This is an art series by Alexei that will come with character cards for Gatefall. They are art first, and game second. As they should be.

Also: one of them is an immobile disembodied giant head. For which I am so, SO excited to create Gatefall abilities and strategies.

There are a lot of details to work out, as I am sure you can imagine, but I couldn't wait to show all of this to you. The series will be kickstarted here, and I will give you more details in an update when we have them.

SPEAKING OF CHAPTER TWO:

I have gotten the idea WAY under my skin to make one of the teams in Chapter Two be classic monsters (Dracula, Werewolf, etc). That was an idea a lot of us talked about in the comments during this campaign, and it just stuck with me. If one of the teams gets traded out for those monsters, what team should oppose them? I really like the idea of a western team. What do you think?

The real development on Chapter Two is of course waiting until you all have Chapter One and are playing it so we can all think through this together with experience, but I figured it's not too soon to ask.

As always, thanks for your patience and support. And I look forward to the final few updates as factory pictures and final dates roll in.

Thanks a lot!

Jack

Gatefall Stuff!
about 4 years ago – Thu, Feb 27, 2020 at 01:34:37 AM

Hey, everyone! Gatefall's factory was under quarantine until last week, and I have been waiting since then to get an update from them on when we can expect the games. They said they should have that new ship date for me this week. As you can expect, things are still very much in flux over in China right now. For all kinds of reasons, I am glad things are okay enough to reopen factories and allow some people to return to their lives.

We used the delay to make some improvements to the game, like adding quick reference cards for turn phases and upgrade costs. We also polished up a mode that allows you to respawn a fourth character, since you will all have four character per team. I spent a lot of time playing this mode over the last month, and it is soooooo fun.

A lot of games are coming down to one final move, and are presenting a mountain of choices. I love it.

Here is a picture of some dice they are working on today:

These are still being painted and polished and all that, which is why there is so much excess color on some of them.

SURVEYS

Most of you have now paid for your shipping, and your cards were charged over the weekend. For those of you who have not paid yet, please head over there as soon as you can. If you did not get your survey, you can head to https://gatefall.backerkit.com/ to dig it up.

BOARD GAME GEEK MOST ANTICIPATED GAMES OF 2020

If you get a second, I would really appreciate the love for Gatefall over on this Board Game Geek Unofficial Top 20 Most Anticipated Games of 2020 list. Gatefall has already done so well over there while surrounded by huge titles. I would really love to see it continue to hold up in that environment. Thanks! 

Thank you all very much, and I'll let you know as soon as I hear something from the factory.

Thanks again,JAck