Court of Blades

Court of Blades: The Penultimate Update-ening!
almost 2 years ago – Wed, May 11, 2022 at 09:54:48 PM

Dearest Retainers,

We at House Drake hope as ever that this missive finds you well. We have a lot of news to bring to you, so let us simply dive in, shall we?

We are waiting on one last piece of art. That's right. One last piece of art and then we will be ready to release the final PDF to all of our PDF backers. Once again, a big thanks to Colmena de Papel for partnering with us and lending us some amazingly talented artists! Court of Blades will be complete with all of the art and editing, a final PDF for all of you waiting on full digital fulfillment. Our excitement knows no bounds. Art should be a finished concern in a week or so. We will let you know the moment that file is available through BackerKit so that you can download and enjoy.

For all of our Physical backers, we've been keeping a wary eye on the skyrocketing cost of printing, a figure which has more than doubled since we launched this project. Through the vicissitudes of the global supply chain, supply and demand, and other esoteric market forces, we watched in horror as the cost for printing this game approached figures that boggled us. But that's okay! We've found a printer willing to work with us, have quotes secured, and funds are laid out. 

Unfortunately it means that we're going to be waiting on international shipping timelines. We're expecting that from the moment we put the print order in, we've got another three months or so of printing, transit time, clearing customs, and a big et cetera before we can begin packing and shipping Court of Blades to our patient backers. We appreciate the grace you've shown us thus far, and are going to impose a little more in joyful hope that the wait will prove worth it. Because it's going to be a pretty book.

In preparation for putting in the order, we are going to be locking down BackerKit orders and charging cards on May 14th. That means that if you've been on the fence about getting anything in physical format the 14th is your last chance to order. That means stickers, maps, physical copies of the community and companion zines, and physical copies of Court of Blades. Once those orders are in, physical copies will be unavailable until the physical copies arrive, so this is the last chance to get the Backer price on any of those.

Thank you so much, again, for your support and belief in this project. We can see the end in sight, and it is an absolute joy to have you along on this journey.

Yours as ever,

Shawn and Navi Drake

A Couple of Drakes

(House Words: Find a Way or Make One.)

Court of Blades: The April Update-ning
about 2 years ago – Tue, Apr 05, 2022 at 06:43:53 AM

Dearest Retainers,

House Drake has survived a perilous relocation across the country, and is in the process of getting the House's affairs back in order. We hope, as ever, that you are similarly finding any upheavals and changes in your life as ones for the better. But, alas, to business.

It goes as it has for the past two months. We continue to wait on the final pieces of art which will complete these handsome volumes, and until they arrive our part in this enterprise is largely cheering from the sidelines. And waiting. 

Good news is that our sleepy little town has a post office that we are already buttering up. The moment we have art, we'll start the printing. When the printing arrives, we'll begin kissing books and packaging. And when the packaging is complete, we'll inundate the post-office and get them into your hands soonest.

Two nights ago we played a game of Court of Blades with the Clever Corvids, and it remains ridiculously fun. Look forward to that airing on their feed soon! I'm also going to be reaching out to our Let's Play backers directly to start feeling out schedules. We're in the new place with functional internet, and while the books aren't in hands like we wanted, we can start making good on our promise to run amazingly fraught stories of love, betrayal, and intrigue. 

I do hate to post an update that isn't really much of an update, but we're all waiting together and we endeavor, as always, to be transparent. More as it develops, Retainers.

Shawn & Navi Drake

A Couple of Drakes

Court of Blades: The March Update-ening!
about 2 years ago – Sun, Mar 06, 2022 at 01:50:12 AM

Dearest Retainers,

We hope as ever that this missive finds you and yours well, even if it is a couple of days later than usual. House Drake is in the process of moving cross country and this particular missive is being penned from the bad couch of a small hotel room before a day of stripping floors and mopping walls (long story). 

We're still in the unsexy slump where we are waiting on the last of the art to come through before we do the final arrangements necessary to get Court of Blades off to print. I'd love to tell you how lovely these pieces are going to be, but I've been told that pictures are worth a thousand words. So sparing you those thousands of words, here's one finished piece and a couple of early sketches to whet your appetite for what is going to be a gorgeous book.

Things are still on track, still progressing. Our artists are confident that they'll be able to hit their timeline, and we've asked to be kept in the loop should any of that changes. Communication, early and often, is what we've learned to rely on in this campaign. The moment something changes, we'll be here to drop an update.

But we're cautiously optimistic. Things are proceeding according to...well, it's our second plan. But that's still a plan. Thank you for your continued belief, well-wishes, and support. We wouldn't be here without you, Retainers. 

Shawn & Navi Drake

A Couple of Drakes

Court of Blades: The February Update-ening
over 2 years ago – Thu, Feb 03, 2022 at 05:54:41 PM

Dearest Retainers,

We hope, as ever, that this missive finds you and yours well. This update is one of the decidedly unexciting ones, but following on the heels of January's shake-up with art, that probably comes as something of a relief. Our new art team is hard at work and the journey continues. Preliminary drawings are looking fantastic, and we're very excited about the direction that the project is moving in. 

We'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for catching typos, quashing layout gremlins, and generally being in our corner as we get Court of Blades into the very best shape we can. They say that a good editor will catch 95% of your mistakes. A pair of trained eyes will still miss something. But we put the manuscript in front of you and you've all been absolutely outstanding at catching the last 5%. We've even gotten a couple of in character e-mails pointing out errors and discrepancies.  Further proof that our Retainers are just a cut above the rest.

Short update today, I know. Everything said in last month's update still stands. We're still on track for the new schedule. The work goes on, and that finish line is in sight. Thank you again for your patience, your support, and your presence. This game is going to be great, and we owe it all to you. 

Shawn & Navi Drake

A Couple of Drakes

Court of Blades: The January Update-ening
over 2 years ago – Wed, Jan 05, 2022 at 07:55:32 AM

Dearest Retainers,

We hope, as ever, that the start of the new year finds you well. It's been a busy time here at House Drake as I'm sure it has been for many of you all. But the work does not stop and neither do we. We've got a lot of things to catch up on, so let's dive in.

First on the docket, we're pleased to announce that we're partnering with Colmena de Papel to produce a Spanish translation of Court of Blades. They're a fabulous bunch of folks who are leading the charge for localizing beloved indie games like Monster of the Week, Masks, and Spire in Spain. We're honored beyond words that we get the opportunity to see Court of Blades stand among such giants. More on that as it develops.

Next, we have acoupleodrakes.com up and running at long last, with a proper contact form to make getting in touch with us easier for our non-Twitter Retainers. And finally, you'll be pleased to know that final proofreading, indexing, and bookmarking for Court of Blades is all sorted and situated. The words of the book are complete and the full course of the text is now set and ready for the printers. Which means that we're pulling down the former early release copy and replacing it with the "Pre-Final Release" PDF on the BackerKit website presently.  

We're releasing it to you now for two reasons: 

1) Your feedback has proven invaluable throughout this process. 

The more eyes on a project, the more of the troublesome little gremlins get spotted and squashed before we go to the big print run. Printing is just such a final endeavor, and if we can fix things before they're set in black and white forever we'd really rather do that.

2) Our timeline to print has been extended by unforeseen events.

Our campaign has hit a snag where art is concerned. The brilliant Al Lukeheart has had to take a step away from the project for personal reasons, and while the playbooks and House crests are all gorgeously illustrated--go look at them now, they're breathtaking--, we are left scrambling to secure the additional art pieces that your campaign pledges and stretch goals made possible. 

But do not worry! We've reached out to the astounding Rafael R. Sinnott (https://deviantart.com/rsinnott) to take up the banner and finish filling this book with amazing art. We're already excited about the initial sketches that we're getting back and will be sharing them as they come in, to help pass the time. (In the meantime, anywhere you see a frame filled with roses inside of the PDF, that is a placeholder!)

It does however, extend our road to the printers. While Rafael is working feverishly, he is quoting us a 3 month timeline to fill Court of Blades with all of the missing chapter and additional incidental art. Which means that we'll be sending the book to our printing partners at Mixam around the end of March. That presents its own challenges considering the generalized breakdown of shipping, delivery, and fulfillment at all quarters. Currently offset printing queues are already up to two months long--and producing a high quality book with all of the promised artwork, and a properly sewn spine remains our priority over cutting corners to reduce the timeline--and we cannot predict how that will change by the time art is considered done. 

We will, as ever, be transparent. When we know what the future holds, we'll post an update here to keep all of you informed. And as such, we will not be finalizing pre-orders or Backerkit add-ons until closer to our updated print time. We deeply apologize for any inconvenience this might cause as we had previously relayed that we expected to finalize those orders this month.

Bad news out of the way; we ordered an incomplete proof copy to ensure that borders and bleeds and all of the technical issues which occasionally plague a project, slowing it at the worst possible time, were able to be hammered out early. The book that arrived was, despite missing art, nothing short of gorgeous. 

So, by way of apology for the unforeseen setbacks, we're releasing the Pre-Final Release PDF ahead of schedule, along with the completed PDF versions of the Community Zine and the Companion Zine! Those will also be available to all backers through your Digital Downloads page on Backerkit. In it, you'll get plenty of new gameable content from us and our amazing team of contributors to keep your appetite for romantic skullduggery whetted while we all settle in for the hardest part of this project.

As always, thank you so much for your continued support, and we are wishing you a very happy new year, Retainers.

- Shawn and Navi Drake, aka A Couple of Drakes