Surveys Are Going Out!
3 months ago – Tue, Feb 28, 2023 at 09:44:08 AM

Hi, Family!

We're excited that we've been approved by Backerkit to send surveys! They always catch one or two things for us which helps us ensure everything goes smoothly.

A few minutes ago the Smoke Test was sent to 5% of backers at each level, and tomorrow the rest of everyone will receive their surveys if everything goes well.

Be on the lookout for these surveys from BackerKit! I'm excited to see everyone's orders finalized.

I appreciate your patience with everything!

Publishing Snag

As we went to send files to our original publisher two Fridays ago, the final pricing ended up ballooning for one reason or another and we decided to switch publishers. This is causing a delay, but as of now, we are still looking at fitting fulfillment inside of April, although during the later half. We will keep everyone updated as we receive more information.

Till next time! Much love,

Marco

Jan.2023 Advancement Report
5 months ago – Thu, Jan 12, 2023 at 01:02:39 PM

Good afternoon, Family! We’re excited to share the Constant Downpour Remastered advancements we’ve made in the month the campaign has been over.

The bad news: We lost three weeks of work from the flu devastating the family.

The good news: We’re still on track!! Here’s where everything is at:

• Writing: 100%
• Editing: 40%
• Art: 70%
• Tuesday Knight Licensing Approval: 50%
• Layout Style Guide: 100%
• Layout: 20%

Rough Dates of Completion:

Editing, Art, and Layout should be done and ready to send the finalized PDF to Tuesday Knight Games for licensing approval by January 20th!!

We have a healthy amount of time set aside for approval since CDR turned out to be 20k+ words!! So we are still planning on printing in the second half of February.

8-Page zines, Retro Scifi Weapons Catalog #1 & #2, and Stims From the Dark Web should be finished around Feb.10th.

2023 Q1 + Q2 SpicyTuna Projects

A Butterfly Dies is a zine for Primal Quest inspired by Mexican Myth and the Mexican Muralist Movement. Launching with ZiMo / Zinequest on Feb.1st. You can sign up for the prelaunch here 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/marcoserrano/a-butterfly-dies

We’ve been cultivating A Butterfly Dies for about a year and the weird stone and sorcery with infused sci-fi setting of Primal Quest really brought it out of incubation and the ~20pg zine is looking to be ready to print by the end of February. We’re excited to share more!! Here's a sneak peek of the cover WIP.

Outsourced is a Mothership 1E zine and extension of the Constant Downpour part of the Tunaverse. 

The zine details Luko Fin Corp who was (could be) responsible for the crew ending up in Venus 3 from Constant Downpour. The zine features 3 deadly planets, a large mercenary outsourcing corporation, and a bunker escape adventure written by Christian Sorrell (Bloodfields at Blackstar Station).

Eric Hill is on layout, Walt Wood is on Editing, and Evangeline Gallagher is on illustration.

Coming late April/Early May. Project 60% done.

That's all for now!! Much love and thank you again for the support.

Downpour Engaged!!
6 months ago – Thu, Dec 08, 2022 at 06:59:41 PM

We are damn grateful for all of you!! Thank you for believing in us to provide an awesome book! It feels incredible to close out the campaign this much further than expected. Now that it’s done, we’ll be head down making sure we make this book as great as we can.

A few notes on what to expect.

Timeline + Pledge Manager

We’re feeling pretty confident about our timeline. The last update has all of the progress we’ve made with the book, and we’re looking forward to being able to focus on writing, editing, art, and layout for the rest of the month.

Here’s the timeline from the campaign:
JAN - Backerkit surveys + Pre-order store launched. Surveys collect shipping and allow backers to upgrade their pledge or purchase add-ons. Editing and Layout finished.

FEB - Books and all other items are ordered

APRIL - Fulfillment begins.

Please see the Shipping & Fulfillment section on the campaign page for any questions about the subjects. If you have further inquiries, feel free to drop a line at [email protected]

Rate of Contact

We plan on doing updates every 4-6 weeks and a few squeezed in at the end when shipments are sent to fulfillment partners and when the majority of people can expect to start looking out for their packages.

Much love, Family!! Thank you again. It means the world to be able to make these books and for people to believe in them enough to buy them. We can’t wait to flashflood your tables.

Final Days + Hallucination Boss Battle
6 months ago – Tue, Dec 06, 2022 at 04:24:09 PM

Thank you for making this an amazing campaign!! The entire ruthless retro sci-fi package of Constant Downpour + all the unlocked stretch goals has come to life because of everyone here.

A reminder of everything unlocked !! + Hallucination Boss Battle Update below !

My favorite stretch goal is being able to work with Alfred Valley! Alfred is developing the Solo Variant ruleset so forever GMs and solo players can now experience the world of Constant Downpour.

Stims From the Dark Web and the Retro Scifi Weapons Catalog #2 are next. The 2x Free physical zines that are 100% player-facing compatible. More retro scifi goodness!

3x Sound Bytes are another very special one to the project. We made printable player-facing artifacts for the original, and now we'll have master edited audio clips players can find as recordings during the adventure.

Lastly, a good ol' book upgrade! We're stoked to be working with a high quality printer on this and even happier to upgrade it!

Fighting the Storm! The Great Hallucination.

The Storm Monster battle is a shared nightmare, where players fight a Kaiju-esque battle against a personified storm. 

There is hope and despair and it's always come through as the most cinematic part of the adventure. Players desperately spray the clouds with bullets, diving and throwing anything they can at it as lightning whips and fists pound the ground around them. The storm reacts to everything the players do, but it always has an answer and regathers its blasted bits.

Finally, relief as the storm passes and players either experience a shared nightmare of being consumed or the illusion of triumph as the Storm Monster falls to the ground and dissipates.

One of my favorite aspects of the Boss Battle is it happens relatively quickly into the adventure. It helps set the pace and really directs the tone of the adventure. I'm excited for you to experience it!

More progress! 

The bunkers on Venus 3 are shaping up! I have a bit more to do on the design side, but I'm really happy with the horrors and Venusian revelations scattered among these bunkers. They also serve as core areas to interact with the rival party, Crew 612 and offer some of the only refuge on the planet...although temporary!

Much Love!

Thank you again for being here! We're excited to see you at the finish line <3

Loading Up! 2x Free Zines + Solo Variant Unlocked. More to Come.
6 months ago – Mon, Nov 28, 2022 at 02:25:50 PM

Retro Weapons Maximized!

Yucatan Tech Co Retro Catalog 2 is a special stretch goal for the Remaster. The earliest version of this catalog was provided as free weapons in our newsletter before it was The Guac. The earliest physical version was provided to the 41 backers of the original Constant Downpour who purchased the physical pledge. Lastly, this will be the catalog's second redesign and introduce 2x never-before-seen retro sci-fi weapons.

The origins of Yucatan Tech Co's retro sci-fi line was originally called "Faulty Weapons" here at SpicyTuna. The Solar Slug Gun has unlimited ammo...as long as the sun is out. It only holds a single shot otherwise. The Cryo Gauntlets can freeze most anything...but practical weaponized cryogenic weaponry requires a vial to break onto an enemy, meaning close combat only, dangerous to load, and requires careful travel. Each weapon is situationally better with better roleplay, but each has a quark to keep it from being overpowered— a variety of starter weapons that reward player ingenuity.

Total Unlocked

2x Free Player Facing Physical Zines. 8 pages each. Both weapons catalogs. 

• 10x Stim Packs manufactured and sold on the dark web by Potamo Major. 
• 6x Retro Scifi Weapons produced by the leader in all weaponry, Yucatan Tech Co.

Solo Compatible Ruleset designed by Alfred Valley

All physical zines are available at the $27 Hardcover Edition! The digital versions and the solo-compatible ruleset is available at all pledge levels.

With these unlocked stretch goals, it brings the total Armory of Constant Downpour and stretch goal zines to 16 Retro Weapons + 10 Stim Packs! Yucatan Tech Co Retro Catalog 1 is available with the Sun Dome Edition ($45) and above or for only $5 during the campaign, and all other retro weapons and stim pack physical zines for free with the Hardcover Edition ($27) and above.

The Final Stretch Goals!

3x Merc Recordings: These are in-game audio artifacts that players will find in bunkers and sun domes. Blake will master the in-house recordings :). I'm super excited about this one. The first Constant Downpour had digital printable "artifacts" that revealed a bit of why they might be there. 2 of these exist on the back of the art prints and all of them are available digitally. Audio is even better! These new "artifacts" will include some of the new information in the remastered version. (Almost there!!)

Super Matte Soft Touch: We set out with high-quality printing, but this will be the cherry on top!

Quick-Reference Tables Only Zine: This will be the third free 8pg Zine with all of the most referenced tables and procedures from Constant Downpour Remastered for even smoother running.

Thank you again for everything! The support on this project is astounding and we're grateful to be able to produce Constant Downpour Remastered and provide a bunch of new zines to enhance the adventure alongside it.

Much Love <3