Crimes in History: H. H. Holmes' Murder Castle

NOMINATED FOR TOP 20 MOST ANTICIPATED BOARD GAME OF 2020 IN THE HORROR CATEGORY!
about 4 years ago – Sat, Feb 22, 2020 at 11:38:02 PM

So we're back a little earlier than planned...a backer just pointed out that...

💀🔪🏰 WE GOT NOMINATED FOR TOP 20 MOST ANTICIPATED BOARD GAME OF 2020 IN THE HORROR CATEGORY!!! 🏰🔪💀  

Please visit the link below, login to Board Game Geek, and vote in category #22 Horror for Crimes in History: H. H. Holmes' Murder Castle! We only need 350 votes to overtake first place. Voting ends at the end of the day, February 29th!
  https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/269401/20-most-anticipated-board-games-2020-4700-votes-fi

Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2) Next Week & Artwork Update
about 4 years ago – Sat, Feb 22, 2020 at 08:49:29 PM

It's been a week since our last update and we wanted to share some exciting news for what's upcoming and provide some updates on our progress! As always, let us know what you think in the comments!

1. The Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2) is taking place next week (February 28-March 1) at the South Building at the McCormick Place. We will have 2 prototypes and will be setup to demo and run games for anyone interested in visiting / playing with us in the First Look section of the Gaming Zone on Level 3. We will definitely be there Friday and Saturday, but Sunday is tentative, so if planning to visit us we would recommend Friday or Saturday. You can also keep up with us on our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram social media and we will be sharing convention location and dates/times there. For anyone that does visit, we will be using an older prototype from October because the latest set of changes post-Kickstarter are not yet complete and will not be producing anymore prototypes until we review the final prototype samples from our Kickstarter manufacturer. We will also be picking out 1-3 more conventions we will be planning to attend this year and will share this with you once we have this info.

2. We will be working on a blog slated sometime this Spring and Summer that will be linked to our website: www.blueprintgamingconcepts.com to give a behind the scenes view and share what we've learned as a part of our game design, self-publishing, and crowdfunding experiences in hopes that this is helpful to anyone that wants to pursue their own game design experience or for those that want a peek into our own Murder Castle origin story. As 2 people who were inspired from the Cards Against Humanity team and read through many of the Jamey Stegmaier board game blog posts, we wanted to give back to the community by sharing some of our own experiences and highlight some of our  findings along the way. 

3. We will be picking a date and sharing with you soon to do a live event (our first Castle Chat) to interact with anyone that wants to connect with us and ask any questions about this game, strategy, theme, Kickstarter campaign, talk through the next steps of the process, or get to know us (favorite games, games we are currently playing besides Murder Castle, etc.)! We will have a few new announcements to share too! While we want as many people live as possible, we realize some folks may not be able to make the live event but would want to watch the recording, so you'll have the opportunity to send in questions ahead of time too! Stay tuned for more info coming soon! 

4. Last, but not least, how are we doing in relation to the schedule? We are SO happy to report that we are ahead of schedule! We began working on most of the new components during the campaign to get a head start! 

• We last mentioned we began production on the design and artwork of the character minis. We've seen a few previews and are very excited on the level of detail in the design! We should be able to share some or all of the character mini design images in the next update (~1 more week). For anyone that doesn't know what we are referring to for character minis, here's a link to a sample image: https://www.pngkey.com/detail/u2w7w7e6a9t4r5a9_godfather-board-game-miniatures/
• We have picked picked out our rulebook translation service provider and will be pursuing translation for German, Spanish, French, Italian, and Czech. We will be working to finalize our rulebook (including the new solo mode & play as holmes rules) by the end of March and will begin rulebook translation afterwards. 
• Though we don't have an image of the upgraded durable cotton evidence bag just yet, we can tell you we have decided on a red evidence bag and will have the game title logo printed on the bag in white! 
• We have added a backside to the Explore the Castle room tile called Explore the Room and have included the artwork below too! If all room tiles are explored and built to the castle, the Explore the Castle action tile will be flipped over to activate a new action tile option to Explore the Room. Any player that selects the Explore the Room action tile will be given the option to complete the selection bonus to fill the safe with evidence from the evidence bag in a room they occupy. The safe must be currently empty to use the selection bonus. All other players will be able to add 1 piece of evidence from the evidence bag to the room they occupy. 
• The Kickstarter campaign had 3 backers that unlocked rooms for all backer copies. The room concepts have been finalized and are as follows: The Whitechapel Suite, The Atrium, and the Ale Pub. The Whitechapel Suite is a designated special effects room. We introduced the concept of a mini game in "The Laboratory" in the 2nd Story Expansion, and wanted to incorporate a mini game in one of the new rooms for the base game too. Players will now have a "safe room" with a 50% chance to evade Holmes, each time he enters this room with other players, by selecting a hiding spot either in the bathroom or underneath the bed. You'll be relieved when this room is drawn since we've toggled Holmes to be even stronger - and that's true for Solo Mode, Base Game, 2nd Story Expansion, and with the Play as Holmes variant! We have a preview of the completed illustration for this room below. In addition, we've included a sketch of The Atrium. Our favorite part of this process has been viewing the final sketches and then seeing how Holly Carden's illustration process transforms the room to life and we wanted to share this experience with you on The Atrium! In a future update, we will include a final version of this room so you can see the transformation. 
• Speaking of Solo Mode (Automa), the playtesting has gone extremely well - it turns out our game was a natural fit because solo mode will pin you against the castle and Holmes. And though solo mode is already hard, you will also have the option to toggle the difficulty. It will be a great way to learn the game and then teach others. We are finalizing the solo effects deck and initial draft of rules today and will begin incorporating these rules into our rulebook within the upcoming weeks.

BackerKit Surveys and Late Pledge Links are coming!
about 4 years ago – Sat, Feb 15, 2020 at 10:07:49 PM

We are working with our pledge manager, BackerKit, to create a late pledge link (you may have already noticed an artwork touch-up of our Kickstarter Campaign Page) and a BackerKit survey. You’ll receive an email from us with a special link to your BackerKit survey. It’s important to respond to your survey as quickly as you can since we need this information to fulfill your rewards. 

You don’t need to create a BackerKit account to fill out your survey. When you receive the email with the survey, click the survey link to respond. Answer the questions about your reward preferences and provide shipping information. All backers of our Kickstarter campaign will have the opportunity to upgrade their reward level at the same pricing levels that were offered during the campaign! 

After you respond to your survey, you can always go back in later and change your responses at any time before we close the surveys to get our final counts. You don’t have access to this survey link yet, but it will be available soon via email and we are expecting this to go out on February 27, 2020. 

If you need to review your information or pledge status, you will be able to return to your survey by clicking the link in your survey email or requesting your survey link under "Lost your survey?" on our BackerKit project page at https://murdercastle.backerkit.com.

If you used your Facebook credentials to log in to your Kickstarter account, the BackerKit survey is sent to the email address you use for your Facebook account. If you have another email address that you prefer to use, please contact support at https://murdercastle.backerkit.com/faq.

Also, the 3D design of our character minis began production this week and we should be able to share previews of those by early March!

Seth & Brandt 

Thank you for your strong support!
about 4 years ago – Wed, Feb 12, 2020 at 07:54:12 PM

First, a huge thank you to all 1066 backers!  We appreciate all the support we recieved during the campaign from each of you that lead to a fantastic 228% of our funding goal. As a result, we were able to unlock 5 stretch goals, Ferris Wheel upgrade, evidence bag upgrade, spot UV coating, upgrade to a metal key and the highly requested player minis! 

Due to popular demand we are also working on getting the rulebook translated to German, French, Spanish and Czech as well! Additonally, we will have a post Kickstarter link ready for pre orders to continue as well.  

Thank you again to all of you, we couldnt have done it without you!

Spot UV Coating on Game Components Unlocked!
about 4 years ago – Wed, Feb 12, 2020 at 01:34:27 AM

WE did it! Spot UV Coating on Game Components has been unlocked! A glossy varnish spot UV coating for the Ferris wheel, all punchouts, evidence boards, and room tiles will now be included for the final production! 

We are now in the final 10 hours until the campaign ends! 5 of the 6 stretch goals have now been unlocked on this project and we couldn't be more grateful to each and every one of you. You've now made it to the ground floor where the door is unlocked...do you escape or dare to go down into the basement?!