A story-driven fantasy tragedy. Anthropomorphic rabbits. Darkly evil faeries.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Wrapping up!
over 3 years ago
– Mon, Dec 21, 2020 at 10:55:40 PM
Hello, dear backers! Here at the end of 2020, I'm finally wrapping up prizes and stretch goals. I'll give you an update on manufacturing, and talk a bit about the future of Thistledown!
Final rewards
If you got physical rewards, they'll be in the mail slightly later than expected. I'm going to be mailing in the first couple weeks of January 2021, to dodge crazy Christmas shipping and potential lost packages/extra charges. Hope the delay is ok with you, I'm really excited to share the cool Thistledown swag with you soon!
Shepherd's Purse short story
First, we have a short story game called Shepherd's Purse! Free for all, this stretch goal was made possible by Mary's post-Kickstarter pledge. Enjoy!
This is only the beginning of Thistledown. I'm working with a developer to create the next game in the world of Thistledown: Bonespur! It's a top-down RPG like the old-school Zeldas, and we follow the Pura-Pura, the opossum folk. We've teamed up under the name Hermit Gamesmiths, and you can follow us below to get updates about our next game in the world of Thistledown.
(Even if you don't use Twitter much, it's still a help if you follow us. If you have a moment, help us get out of the single digits. :) )
I'm so grateful for your support. When I started Thistledown I didn't know how to code, I wasn't particularly good at pixel art, and I had never launched a commercial video game.
You believed in me when you had little reason to, and for that I thank you. Even through Thistledown has its flaws, I'm proud of it, and I have you to thank for helping me have the time to finish it.
I'm looking forward to making bigger and better games, and sharing them with you. Thanks for helping me realize my dreams.
TLDR: You're awesome.
Digital Downloads are going out now!
almost 4 years ago
– Wed, Apr 29, 2020 at 06:32:57 PM
Sending out the digital rewards right now! If you need to recover your survey, go over here:
You'll be able to download everything through BackerKit. Thistledown: A Tragedy of Blood isn't available through Steam yet, but I'll send keys your way in a couple of weeks.
The game is done, but do let me know if you encounter anything strange. This is the first time I've done this, so it's entirely possible that I missed something that I can fix in the final release.
There's one known issue which I'll fix soon, I thought I'd tell you about it. I let my debug tool in the game, so if you accidentally press the spacebar, you'll see red text, like this:
Just press the spacebar again to make it go away. Also, don't press "N", because with the debugger it will skip you forward in the game. Oh boy.
I'll fix these on the next update, but I didn't want to delay sending the game to you. If you want to wait until the next update, I'll be fixing that and any other issues that crop up.
We've also got the Instruction Manual, Lore Deep Dive, and the soundtrack, which has a cool new cover:
And we've got the wall of gratitude, with everyone's names. Thanks so much for helping make Thistledown happen.
I've finished Thistledown!
about 4 years ago
– Mon, Apr 13, 2020 at 11:51:23 PM
Hello, dear backers!
I've finished Thistledown.
Wow, what a weird sentence to type.
When I started Thistledown, I didn't know how to code. I wasn't sure that I was capable of learning - it seemed overwhelming and mysterious. But I had to make this game, so I learned. For nearly two years, I was constantly practicing and honing my ability to make games.
Thistledown is done. It's a humble, small story of tragedy and loss. It's flawed, it's strange. I'm proud of it. I can't wait to send it to you.
I've been working on producing the rewards for this Kickstarter. I've got about half of them completed, manufactured, and in my house. I've got a couple more to go before I look towards fulfillment. I'll hopefully wrap things up early.
New Trailer
I made an updated trailer! Check it out if you wish:
Updated timeline
So, why so early? I've had a lot more time than I thought I would. Here's what I would like to do:
Digital fulfillment: Soon. I'll send out a secret copy of the game for backers, so you can play it first. I'll also send you digital copies of the soundtrack, lore guide, and instruction manual.
Game launch: End of April/Beginningof May. I want to get the game out there for people to play, but I want to give you some time to experience it first.
Physical fulfillment: Hopefully no later than July. This depends a little bit on manufacturing, but hopefully there won't be any delays. I'll let you know if things get delayed.
Stretch goal game: By the end of the year. I've got our free DLC "Shepherd's Purse" written, and a lot of the work is done. I'll be diving into building it after launch.
Sound good to you? Let me know what you think, and how you're doing right now. Thanks so much for going with me on this journey.
Andrew
Entering beta testing...
about 4 years ago
– Wed, Feb 19, 2020 at 06:09:21 PM
Hello! Quick update:
Thistledown is coming along really nicely. I've finished the construction of the game, and I've entered the beta testing/polishing stage, and I'm going to try and polish as much as possible. Thistledown is a compact game. Instead of making it as big as possible, I'm going to make it as good as possible.
That means I am going to be playing the game over and over again, tweaking, re-drawing, re-writing, re-designing - making everything as solid as I possibly can in the time that I have.
I'm also working on the short game "Shepherd's Purse", which I'll plan on launching sometime after the launch of Thistledown. It will be free to all backers!
Thanks again to Mary for making this stretch goal happen - she generously made a post-kickstarter donation to reach the stretch goal. Say "thanks" to her below, she's the reason you're all getting this extra game for free!
Thanks again for believing in my game. I'll do my best to make it great.
Continuing down the road
over 4 years ago
– Wed, Dec 04, 2019 at 02:24:47 PM
Hello! I've been plugging away at Thistledown, and I have a bunch of new things to show you! The game is really coming together.
Quick question:
If things go well and I got the game done earlier than expected, would you like to have the game right away, or wait until I've shipped the physical products?
