Mid-year update from Old Dog Games
As the northern hemisphere comes to the end of the dog days of summer, it felt like an apposite time to check in. I live in the southern hemisphere but let’s not split hairs.
The short version is that I’ve spent most of this year very busy on Deathmatch Island. It’s all very exciting, but the nature of this late-stage work is that it’s mostly not stuff I can share, being a mixture of things like text edits and the launch trailer and a promotional webpage.
But just for this newsletter, here’s a sneak peak of the website.
And here is a small preview of the trailer.
More on all this soon!
Blades in ‘68
Deathmatch Island has been my primary focus, but I’ve made time for Blades in ‘68 where I can. This is my Blades in the Dark supplements that rockets the timeline forward 100 years to the swinging 60s.
I finished the final two crews. The definitely-fast and/or possibly-furious Racers, and the caper-crew Heist Team (that may or may not have 11 team members). As with everything in Blades in ‘68, my goal is to echo Blades in the Dark in such a way that things feel oddly familiar yet refreshingly different at the same time.
I also finished two district write-ups; Barrowcleft and Brightstone. As I have learnt repeatedly on this project, a lot of the content in Blades in the Dark may be concise but it takes a ton of work to get right. My hat’s off to John Harper.
Speaking of which, Cole and Marley discussed the supplement on their podcast. The whole podcast is a great listen, and from around the 30 minute mark they dissect Blades in ‘68 at great length and with enthusiasm. It’s a fantastic summary of the project to date.
(To address a final comment in that episode, the character artwork I’ve used so far has been photobashed, not AI. I’m going to do the final art with vectors to more closely align with Blades in the Dark proper and to make this more clear!).
Socials
I’m still using X, but I hate that I have to say “X” now and I am exploring alternatives. Find me:
olddoggames@ dice.camp on Mastodon
I use these platforms extremely unevenly, but I’m trying my best.
That’s all for now. I’m also buzzing with new ideas for Blood Red Clouds in the Western Sky, but can’t dedicate proper time to that until DMI and Blades in ‘68 are out the door.
Expect more on Deathmatch Island soon!
Tim x
I played in a game of Deathmatch Island earlier this year and loved it. Been looking forward to hearing more about a release date ever since!
With Deathmatch Islsand getting an official Evil Hat release, is there any chance that the same might be true of Blades in '68 ever?