Final 24 Hours!
almost 3 years ago – Sat, Jul 03, 2021 at 02:59:27 PM

Hey Sparks,

We're approaching the final 24 hours and I want to thank you all for your incredible support throughout the NOVA campaign! This will be a quick one, showing off a couple of pieces of art.

The Devil

In case you haven't noticed, we hit 666 backers, which means we're getting the Devil Spark (name pending) added to the game! Eddie has already made some cool concept art you should check out:

 The Drifter

Today we had another art reveal, the 7th of our original 8 Sparks: The Drifter. Drifter-class Sparks were designed to wield humanity's most dangerous weapons, wandering the Dusk and laying waste to their foes with bullets made of the sun itself.

Final 24 Hours

We're now in the final 24 hours of the campaign. As a reminder, I'll be using Backerkit to collect shipping charges later this year as we get closer to fulfillment. For now, let's spread the campaign around as much as we can and end this by going supernova!

-Spencer

Final Week!
almost 3 years ago – Sun, Jun 27, 2021 at 03:50:24 PM

Hey Sparks,

We are entering the final week of the NOVA Kickstarter campaign, with everything wrapping up this Saturday at 5 PM CDT!

To celebrate, we've got a week of fun events.

Everyday this week we've got an event or stream for you to enjoy, starting today with the Great Gila Giveaway, which you can learn more about here.

On Monday and Tuesday I will be interviewing two members of the NOVA team. Eddie Yorke, whose incredible artwork you've been seeing these last few weeks will be chatting with me about Spark design, and possibly revealing the next piece (if the internet gods allow it). Tuesday I sit down to chat with Jeremy Gage, who has been brought on to develop GM tools for the game, including ruin generators and adversaries for your Sparks to face in the Dusk!

The interviews, and all the rest of the events will be streamed on my Twitch channel. All the times listed on the schedule are for CDT (Chicago time). I can't wait to show off more of NOVA, LUMEN, and talk about the future with you all. It will all end with some sort of countdown on Saturday, details on that to be determined. VODs for all the streams will be on my Twitch channel and YouTube.

New Art

Speaking of the team and incredible art, I have two things to show off to you all today. First, Eddie has completed another piece of Spark art. You'll notice that the second wave of Sparks are a bit...creepier than the first wave, and we're kicking off with the necromancy-fueled machine, Grim.

Not only that, but Jam, our incredible layout artist has sent me an updated example character sheet for the Pyre class. Each Spark will have a page in the book like the image on the left, listing out their Powers and FLARE mods for upgrading. Then a blank character sheet will be provided for folks to fill out with their character's specific details! I'll talk a little about how these builds and mods work on stream on Wednesday.

Backerkit

After looking over options and discussing with fellow designers, I've decided to use Backerkit's services for this campaign. They will handle the surveys for collecting shipping addresses, as well as collecting shipping fees from you. Backerkit also has the option to allow for preorders for folks who miss the campaign, and for backers to include add-ons with their pledges when we get close to fulfillment time! I'll have some updates about those add-ons later in the year as we get into production mode. For now, I'm happy to be using Backerkit to avoid any possible headaches of trying to do this solo!

Wrapping Up

This week is going to be a lot of fun, and I'm so thrilled with how the campaign has gone. We have one more "stretch goal" to reach though. If we can get to 666 backers, we will design an Infernal Spark for the game! Make sure to share the campaign with friends and foes, and let's hit an explosive finale to the campaign this Saturday!

-Spencer

Two Weeks In!
almost 3 years ago – Mon, Jun 21, 2021 at 04:15:08 PM

Hey Sparks,

We're just about two weeks in and things are going great! Right now I'm working on finalizing the rulebook text so I can get it into Will's hands for editing. Eddie has been killing it with art updates which I can't wait to show you in just a second. And that Go Nova Strike is currently being developed! 

Streams This Week

• Wednesday, June 23rd, 7 PM CST: We're going to be playing a version of the Go Nova LIGHT Strike on the PlusOneExp twitch channel! I can't wait to show you what the end of the world looks like. Plus, we have a special guest! Author Zac Gorman will be joining us!
• Thursday, June 24th, 6:30 PM CST: I'm playing NOVA on Eva Serrate's twitch channel! If you haven't had a chance to see how the game is played, this is the perfect opportunity!

Art Reveal

Eddie has been hard at work with art since we talked last week. Not only did he finish the Voyager Spark that was teased, but he also finished the Warden as well! That means the first four Sparks that you can find in the quick start officially have art. Check them out:

Since we love forbidden science around here, and we unlocked the stretch goal, Eddie has started work on the concept art for Grim, the necromancy-fueled Spark. Take a peek:

The Devil

We have about 12 days left in the campaign, and it really feels like it is flying by. I have one new goal to announce, something really diabolical.

If we can hit 666 backers by the end of the campaign, we will create a Devil themed Spark for the book! Big fiery personality, feels like a perfect fit for NOVA. If we're going to get that Devil Spark, we're going to need to shout about NOVA far and wide. Make sure you share the campaign with your friends and foes, and let's summon the devil together.

Looking Ahead

I'll keep up these weekly updates going for the next two weeks as the campaign wraps up. After that, we're going into full-blown production mode. So if there are things you want to see, let me know before the campaign ends and I'll see if I can show them off. Otherwise thank you all for you support of NOVA so far, let's keep the explosion going!

-Spencer

One Week In!
almost 3 years ago – Wed, Jun 16, 2021 at 02:03:16 AM

Hey Sparks,

Today marks one week into the campaign, and we have exploded past our goal! Thank you all so much for your support to make NOVA happen.

An update on the production side of things while the campaign goes on. I am currently working on finishing up the last sections of the rulebook, focusing on making example enemies for the Sparks to face while exploring the Dusk. I've got the playbooks for the NecroSpark and PlagueSpark, now named Grim and Pox, all put together, and they will go into the danger room soon for some testing!

I'm currently bouncing around ideas for the final Spark to include in the book. The top three choices right now are a teleporting rogueish Spark, a earthshaking bruiser Spark, and a support Spark. Shout out below with what you are most interested in!

Eddie is also starting up art on the next round of Sparks, with Voyager being the next to get the full-art treatment. I'll have more to share on that soon!

Lastly, I'm going to be doing some NOVA and LIGHT streams in the near future. Follow me on Twitter to stay up to date on when that happens.

Thank you all again for an amazing first week. It would mean the world if you shared the campaign far and wide so we can make it go supernova!

-Spencer

Forbidden Science & Hardcover Books
almost 3 years ago – Thu, Jun 10, 2021 at 03:02:19 AM

Hey everyone,

Three things to talk about!

1. We hit the one stretch goal we had, unlocking the Forbidden Science Sparks! That means the grand total of Sparks in NOVA is now eight with the inclusion of our spook plague and necromancy themed exos. I don't have any big plans for additional stretch goals. I want to keep to our deadline and avoid content bloat and creating possible delays! Plus, overfunding just means our excellent and talented team is even better compensated for their hard work. In the meantime, here is a piece of concept art for the NecroSpark that Eddie made a while back that iterate on.

2. I polled the "limited" hardcover tier backers, and the vast majority of them were more than happy to have a permanent hardcover tier created for other folks! So I've added that if you feel like shifting around your pledge and you missed the first batch of 100. I'll be brainstorming some ideas of ways to say a special thank you to those first 100, but I haven't decided yet. If you have thoughts, I'd love to hear them!

3. In about 2 hours, 5:30 PM CST, I'll be on the TPK Roleplay twitch stream, doing a chill interview and chat. Folks are invited to watch along, and ask any questions they have about NOVA. Would love to hang with you if you're free tonight!

That's it for now! I'm going to be doing a lot of development work in the next few days, but I'll keep you all posted on any exciting things. Thank you again for your support and helping this campaign go nova! Please share it around with your friends if you get a chance, I would really appreciate it!

-Spencer