Mud is a zine and solo roleplaying game about life as a golem.
We are also taking pre-orders for the first-ever print editions of our experimental roleplaying games Enter the Orb and You, an Astronaut.
Our nano games have been updated and redesigned for a special print run.
Thank you for being here!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Micro draft of Mud complete!
over 3 years ago
– Tue, Dec 01, 2020 at 02:44:29 AM
Hey everyone, happy December!
We’ve put a lot of work into Mud over the past month. We’ve finished a full outline of the book, complete with sample text for each scene and for the zine’s choose-your-own-adventure elements. We’re calling this our micro draft -- something between an outline and a first draft of the entire book.
Screenshot from Mud story outline.
Evan has also been working on storyboarding out the art for the illustrated pages. Here are some concept pieces:
Golem trying to connect with forest sprites.
Golem seeking shelter in the hollow of a tree.
It’s been neat seeing the Mud story develop in full. From the moment the golem first awakens and discovers its body and sentience, to its first encounter with people -- some of whom embrace the golem, some who shun it, all of whom are clearly different from this being made out of clay. We follow the golem’s story from creation to the end. We’re proud of the ideas we’ve come up with so far, and we hope you’ll like them too.
Golem leaving the home of its maker for the first time. Where to go?
We’re going to keep up with this pace over the next month. We’re eager to get a complete first draft and excited to keep sharing more. We’ll be back with another update in a few weeks. Thank you all again for making this work possible!
Best,
Hannah and Evan
Mud has funded! What comes next?
over 3 years ago
– Sat, Nov 07, 2020 at 07:30:13 AM
Hello everyone,
First, a heartfelt thank you for making Mud a success. The campaign funded above and beyond our expectations and we’re so grateful!
What comes next?
We’re going to be diving into work on Mud immediately. Here’s what we’ll be working on over the next few months:
Complete Mud outline
Mud storyboarding, art first drafts
Mud text, story first drafts
Second drafts of art and story, and initial layout
Final layout and edits
Printing
We’ll be sharing art and text along the way as we bring Mud to life. We’ll also be making some small edits and improvements to our nano games, and making a second edition of You, an Astronaut. You can expect lots of previews of that work in the weeks ahead :)
Pledge Manager
Later this month, we’ll be launching a Backerkit for Mud. Backerkit is a pledge manager for campaign add-ons. We’ll be offering our previous roleplaying games, a la carte nano games, and maybe some fun artsy/craftsy extras! If you don’t need any add-ons, that’s no problem. We’ll just use Backerkit to verify your address before Mud ships.
Thank you all for believing in this project. We’re excited to begin!
Hannah & Evan
Turtlebun
Mud has 36 hours to go!
over 3 years ago
– Sun, Nov 01, 2020 at 11:51:39 AM
Hello everyone! We wanted to take a moment to post an update during this most auspicious hour! 36 hours to go, with one day to Halloween, AND an upcoming full moon. Cue the *oooOoooo.*
The Mud campaign ends tomorrow at 11:59pm EST. We’re so happy with the direction of the campaign and can’t wait to begin weaving a very special golem story.
Thank you again for backing Mud and sharing with others who might like to take part in this story too.
Best, Hannah & Evan
You’ve helped us reach over 200 backers!
over 3 years ago
– Thu, Oct 29, 2020 at 01:52:59 PM
We wanted to head into the weekend with a thank you. With your help, Mud has reached over 200 backers. There’s still one week to go in the two-week campaign, and we’re excited to be reaching more people before the campaign draws to a close!
These milestones of support mean the world to us. The wonderful thing about Mud is that it’s a story we want to tell, and one we hold dear. We’re grateful for the chance to explore what it means for an identity to be shaped by something beyond control—a mysterious creator, a community, your world—and what it means to take back that power.
Have a wonderful weekend. We look forward to next week!
Hannah & Evan
What does extra funding mean for Mud?
over 3 years ago
– Tue, Oct 20, 2020 at 08:15:01 PM
Hi everyone,
When we sat down to draft out Mud, we always had the aim of keeping this project small. Any project has the potential to spiral into more and more complexity, and that especially goes for Kickstarters. So we set our goal low, avoided custom rewards, and set no stretch goals for the project.
Now, to our surprise, we’re already funded at over 800% of our goal. We feel so relieved, grateful, and excited. And we wanted to talk a little about what that surplus means, and how it changes this project, even though we don’t have any explicit stretch goals.
First of all, this gives us time. We’ll be able to scale back on our freelance work, and rely on Mud to pay the bills while we complete it. That gives us extra hours in each day to spend on the zine, more time to edit the text, to improve the art, and to make the presentation as beautiful as possible.
That extra time and stability will change the spirit of the work. We are always happiest when our work is the best it can be. Some level of compromise is inevitable in any project, but we both want to feel proud of what we’ve made, and want to give this all the love and effort it deserves. Knowing we have the space to make this zine beautiful makes us excited to work on it!
And all of that will decide the future of this work. This is a new kind of creative endeavor for us, and we weren’t sure what level of support we’d receive. We were already eager to make Mud, but your support validates its creation, and makes us all the more excited to be making zines!
