Critical Kit

Hey all,

So, much has been happening over the past few weeks and we've a fair bit of news to give you about the project. Please read this as, despite the delays, we have some good news.

The Book.

We're almost ready to send out in PDF format. Simon is tweaking layouts and I am doing a few last minute edits. I'm still aiming to get this to you this month and give you all two to three weeks to have a read and report back. At the same time as you get the book we will be sending it for a final proofread, so we can get it straight out to the printers.

Naturally, I have seen Simon's layouts and art and he has gone above and beyond. This book is going to be as gorgeous to look at as it is to play.


Production time.

So, I have had the news that in order to do edge-printing on the pages, the books will need to be shipped from the printers to Germany and then to us, which is going to add weeks onto the process. I have an alternative that might work for everyone which will slim down the production time. Instead of edge printing, we can add a second ribbon bookmark in a different style. IMO, this would offer more utility as during the game you will need to flip between a couple of sections in the book. Before I commit to that, I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

Tariffs.

Lots of great news on this front. Not only will we be shipping from within the states, which will allow us to ensure tariffs don't affect our US backers. We also believe that as most of the assembly and production of major parts of the box sets are carried out in the UK, we can assign this product as manufactured in the UK. That will keep nasty charges down. I'll confirm this in a couple of weeks.

Add-on games.

I've decided that as fulfilment is not coming until after Christmas, I intend to work out a means of sending you any other games you have ordered as PDFs before we hit the festive season. This way you can enjoy the extra games you have ordered rather than waiting for your physical rewards to arrive. I'll need to do a bit of programming magic to make this happen, but I'll action this before Christmas, so be on the lookout in your inboxes.

Final production.

Once all the final production is underway, I'll return with updates on progress. We are expecting everything to take 5-6 weeks once we give it the all clear, so if we can do this in December, my hope is that everything begins to go out in January 2026.

Shipping Addresses.

Once we have everything out for print, I will give you the option to change your addresses as I know some of you may have moved. Lesson learned: next time I do a campaign I won't lock things down as hastily!

That's all for now, but I'll keep you updated as things progress. Please let me know if you have any 

All the best,

Tim (& Simon)

Hey,

Firstly, sorry it's been a while. I've had a hectic few weeks getting things together at CKHQ and attending shows.

The good news is that we're on track to get the PDFs out in November. I have a few proofreading bits to do and Simon is doing whatever magic he does with his pen and inks to make the book a thing of beauty. As you may appreciate, as with any major project, the last bits of polishing always seem to take the longest.

Anyway, you don't to have to take my word for how good the book looks! Below are some spreads from Simon's layouts.







Let me elaborate on that last spread a little because it's one of the things we added to the game to add more depth to the narrative elements. Simon and myself discussed at length what the motavations of our foragers were as well as how they understand their place in the world. This shifted the gameplay a little.

It's still a game about foraging and upcycling, but now there is an added investigative element. As you explore the world, you will also be building your own theories about what happened here. Where are all the former inhabitants and why have they all gone?

There is no right answer to these questions, but there are plenty of well thought out clues that will give you inspiration to make your own theories.

There are plenty more nuances that have been introduced into the game as it has been developed and I am really proud of what we have achieved here, especially from a narrative sense.

Anyway, this attention to detail is why we have run about 10 months over our original deliverly date, but we feel like this is exactly the thing we wanted to see in your hands.

As soon as we are done with proofreading in November, I will put all the time I have into packaging the PDFs up and getting them to you. I really can't wait for you to see the book and I know you've all been patient. For that we thank you.

Okay, won't be around next week, so you will likely hear from me again around the 10th of November.

Take care and thank you for your support.

Tim & Simon

Hello!

I haven't forgotten about you. It's just been a ridiculously busy time at CKHQ. This is a biiiig update, so feel free to skip to the section you want.

1. Delays & issues

Anyway, as things are progressing dissapointingly slow at the moment, I've decided that I am going to drop you an update every Tuesday so we can keep up to date and to give you the assurance that Wires in The Woods is still very much moving on. Each update will have a little preamble like this which includes production updates, followed by something new about the game that I can reveal and closing off with the same list of important things (I know not everyone reads every email) such as changing your address, updated timelines, tariff info etc.

First up, crowdfunding is notorious for not meeting deadlines. We've succumbed to that here at 6 months over our initial date for release. We're not proud of that, but also I want to produce something that is above and beyond. With that in mind, once we've finished our fulfilment on Wires we'll do a debrief update for what went well, what went no so well and how we will use that in future projects. We are talking 2-3 months more delay here and nothing beyond that. The main issues we've faced with Wires are as follows:

- It was more successful that we anticipated. Which is fine, but it meant a little more writing on my part and more art on Simon's part. That in turn means more playtesting.

- Production has been tricky. Not long after we began sourcing production for Wires those pesky tariffs came into being. 70% of our rewards are heading out to the States, so we have had to negotiate where it's best to produce things and where it is best to distribute things. Rest-assured, we have sourced a lot of production in the UK which is a big plus, but we also won't make any final decision on fulfilment methods until we find out what happens on October 14th when the case against them is appealed. That said, we won't wait on this forever and will make a definitive decision by the start of November.

Okay, enough waffle on that. I'm sorry we're running late and we will keep pushing to get everything out to you ASAP. If you have specific questions I can answer them in the comments.

2. Production update

Well, some things are moving. We have now received the Buds comics, the bookplates and the patches are done and on the way to us. We've also ringfenced all of the other titles that were selected in add-ons, so when we are ready to go, we are ready! Check out the photos below:





Everything is looking gorgeous! Next up will be the neoprene mats.


3. Zeal (at last!)

One of the challenges in designing Wires in the Woods was finding a way to capture the ups and downs of a forager’s journey without falling back on the usual “health and hit points” system. We wanted this to be a cosy game where your story doesn’t end in death, but in pauses, discoveries, and new beginnings.

That’s where Zeal comes in.

Zeal is your forager’s enthusiasm for exploration; the spark that keeps their weird little brain pushing deeper into the woods. You’ll gain Zeal when you find curious items or invent solutions to the problems you encounter. But Zeal also slips away with every step you take: moving between locations costs 1 Zeal.

Certain forager traits or crafted items might reduce that cost, letting you wander further with less effort. But when your Zeal finally runs out? You don’t perish. You simply need a rest. The game encourages you to step away - take a nap, go for a walk, listen to music - and return refreshed, just like your forager.

Every forager begins with 8 Zeal, making it easy to track with a d8. Just place the die with your current Zeal facing up and turn it as you go.

It’s a gentle rhythm: gain Zeal by creating and discovering, spend it by exploring, and know that running out is only ever an invitation to pause.

Next update, I’ll be talking about Heft, or how much your forager can carry before it starts to weigh them down.

4. Useful info, FAQs? I don't know what they are!

- When will we see the game?
My hope is to get the PDFs out in November. We have a few final tweaks, bits of art and proofreading to do, but getting the PDF out is quick and painless. Shortly after this we will send it to the printers. The bad news is that, this close to the chaotic postal season, we are very unlikely to send physical items out. January will be a much safer time to fulfil.

- I've moved. How do I change my address.
Hang tight, we will contact everyone to ensure their address is correct before we go live.

- Tariffs. Wahhhhh!
We are doing everything we can to negotiate the ridiculous tariff situation. For the USA, we intend to ship everything out and cover the costs so you don't have any financial surprises. This means a bit more cost on our side, but we've got this.

- This section doesn't answer my concerns.
Drop a comment below. This section is a work in progress and we will keep updating it.

That's all for now. Thank you for your patience and we promise to continue being transparent about our progress.

Tim (& Simon).

Hey lovely backers,

This update mainly relates to US backers, but please do read on if you are outside the US as it may be of interest.

I'm a bit later than I anticipated on this one. Seattle was wild and exhausting - I slept 15 hours through this weekend, something that I haven't done since I was... well, many years ago before there were mobile phones.

I wanted to make this update about Zeal, but I think there is a more pressing matter, especially for our US backers. The T word. (I'll do a brief production update at the end of this post).

I've followed the tariffs closely since that silly little board came out in front of that big white building in Washington DC. They are a prime example of how the longer timescales involved in big crowdfunding projects are succeptible to global conditions. Previously it was wars, now it still is wars plus ridiculous trade policies, both introduced by idiotic old men.

The current status is that sending the books does not (or should not) incur tariffs. Books are protected under the IEAA and can't be subjected to tariffs. We've had several thousand books enter the US without a single tariff added since the tariffs were introduced.

However, Wires in The Woods is a much more complex project and many backers have items that would be subject to tariffs at varying levels dependent on the type of goods and the country of origin (for us this is a mix of UK, Europe and China).

We want to get everyone their rewards without having unrealistic charges placed on them, so I've worked hard to come up with some solutions based on the following scenarios:

1. The appeals court has paused its ruling that the tariffs are illegal, allowing them to remain in place until 14 October.

In any case, this would be the earliest date we could begin fulfilment due to delays in production we have already experienced. This gives us an accidental luxury of seeing what happens then. If the tariffs are deemed illegal, theoretically it will be full steam ahead for fulfilment with no fear of ridiculous hidden costs.

2. The tariffs are deemed legal by the supreme court and remain in place.

Okay, this is the worst case scenario - effectively what we have right now. However, we have a solution. We would send everything into the states on a pallet and pay the tariffs from our side at cost. Then we would get our consolidators in the US to ship everything to you with zero extra charges.

Sounds ideal right, why don't we just do that?

Basically, this will cost us more for the initial shipping, tariffs and fees for packing and picking Stateside. It will also add time onto the whole process as we transport everyting en-masse to the States.
 
We can, of course, do this and we have it as a contingency to ensure you get your rewards. However, because of the higher costs involved, we need to ensure we have the cashflow to pay everyone in the chain. This will add at least two months on to the fulfilment. That sucks, but it also solves a problem.

I know you will have a lot of questions, so please do throw them in the comments below and I'll answer them to the best of my current knowledge.

As far as production goes, we are expecting the first items in this week (Buds comics) followed by patches, playing cards and many other auxillary items this month. I'll send photos as I have them.

I am hoping to have the book ready as a PDF for all backers in the first half of October and we will give you a couple of weeks to peruse it, play it, ask questions and spot any glaring errors (which should be minimal thanks to our fabulous proofreader).

I promise the next update will be Zeal at the end of this week!

Have a great remainder of the week.

Tim (and Simon)

Hello,

Firstly, thanks to those of you who remembered to nudge me. It's been a busy time, so I'm grateful for all of you acting as my crowdsourced personal assistant.

I've got loads of stuff to add to this update, probably too much to make it a nice weekend read, so I will cut it in two and do the second part next week (during the week). Again, please nudge by Thursday if I ain't posted anything.

So, first up are some new STLs. I have no idea how this 3D printing business works, but a good few of you asked about having unsupported STLs. I've enrolled the help of the original designer and got that sorted.

If you already downloaded them, you should have an email with a new link to download them. If not, grab them from here and use the checkout code from this update.

Right, other business...

I was hoping to give you a production update. So much so, I went into the office on my day off as I received the following message from Royal Mail...



Only to get an email today that looked like this.



So, I believe these are some elements of Simon's art. Specifically the Buds comic. The sucky news is that I will be on a plane to Seattle on Monday. I've prepped a business neighbour to receive them for me, but unfortunately I won't be around to show take any photos until the 4th of September.

Which brings me on to Seattle. I'm heading out to Pax West to show off the games and promote a horror/western game which we are launching on BackerKit in October created by a writer who I have mentored over the past 18 months. 

The mentorship program was a little experiment of mine and it has gone well. I've already signed up my second creator and I will likely be making it into a formal thing next year where I help two writers create their vision and get them published.

Anyway, back to Wires in The Woods. I promise I will do that Zeal overview update next week, so please nudge me by Thursday if you have heard nothing. I've wanted to show you all how Zeal works in the game for a while now; how it ties to your temperament and abilities. It's been a fun mechanic to work on and Simon put down his drawing tools and helped me develop it.

Once we have the game out, I'd love to do a video with Simon where we talk about design choices and how we worked together. This has been my first major collaboration and, whilst it has been very smooth, it has naturally taken a bit longer as we  have discussed all the different ideas we both had for the game and shaped them into the ruleset we currently have.

I also want to discuss the tariff situation in more depth. We've done our best to have the majority of production carried out in the UK or Europe, but some things have inevitable ended up being made in China. More on that in the next update.

Right, I have to prepare for Seattle. If you are at PaxWest, please stop by and say hi. I have a handful of copies of the Quick Start from Free RPG day, and I'd be more than happy to give you one.

Have a lovely weekend!

Tim