You might have thought ZineMonth is over, but there are still some projects that are funding and can use your help! The team at Spooky Bell Games is raising funds for Hard Light Dynamic.
Q: Easy question first: Give us the elevator pitch of your project. Tell us about it in two sentences or less.
A:
Josh: The Hard Light Dynamic is a Cy_Borg adventure zine that is like a heist turned psychological horror adventure. Players will have to deal with mad scientists, their weird experiments, and the rogue AI that is distorting reality.
Chris: Josh nailed it.
Q: Is this your first ZineMonth project or have you done it before? If it's your first, talk a bit about what inspired you to give it a shot this year. If you've done it before, what's something you've learned from previous crowdfunding projects that you may be doing differently this time, or, if you're not doing anything differently, talk a bit about your previous projects.
A:
Josh: This is my second ZiMo project. I was one of the people who helped create The Holy Artifacts of the Sacred Tragedies with a bunch of people over at Storeywood. I learned a lot about producing a zine, and without a doubt my number one takeaway was make a plan and stick to the plan as best as you can. Everything goes a lot smoother when you've got a schedule.
Chris: This is my second Zine Month and second Zine Quest project (third project in total, thanks to the weird moving and overlapping of events the last two years). My last project was a Mörk Borg adventure and setting book called Beyond Deep that I created with Wes Ascolese, who is the other part of Spooky Bell Games. One of the biggest things I’ve learned so far is to finish as much of the project as possible before going to crowd funding. I always leave room for adjustment and input, but having a solid plan and a knowledge of what you want to make, and what you have executed so far, goes a long way.
Q: Finally, tell us something about your current project that really excites you but the average backer may not be aware of. Maybe a twist to an old trope, a new way of presenting something, or maybe just something you've never tried before that you're using this as an opportunity to try out.
A:
Josh: I’m really excited for some of the encounters that are packed within! I really like a lot of psychological and acid horror, and I think we wrote some fun events that will help create that kind of atmosphere for the players. When we were doing the first play test, there was one specific encounter that I think unfolds really well and shows that something is definitely going on.
Chris: We’ve really created a tool box to go along with the story of the adventure, so even if you have read the book and are running the adventure, there are pieces of it where you don’t know which thing is going to happen. I really want people when using the book to really be free to push hard into the weird and unsettling aspects of it all.