Again, we'd like to thank all of our supporters.  We may not have reached our goal, but we'll fight against the odds to keep working on Storybricks.

We've had a few great comments on our previous update.  Thank you for your feedback, it's invaluable to us.  We've set up a topic on our forums for you to provide feedback more directly to the team.

http://forums.storybricks.com/index.php?/topic/104-kickstarter-feedback/

If you care about the future of Storybricks, please stop by and give us feedback.  Also keep an eye on our forums, as we'll likely announce updates there, particularly any new Kickstarter campaigns as we are able to.

Again, thanks for your wonderful support.  We still believe Storybricks in some form is the future of gaming.  Hopefully we'll be able to continue working on it to realize that future.

We may be down but we’re not yet out.

Thank you to each and every person who pledged toward our goal. You are the true believers and visionaries for you can see our dreams. Keep that faith fresh for though we didn’t accomplish our goals with this Kickstarter Campaign, we will be back.

We understand our failings. We gave you no game to dream about, no world for your imagination. Over the coming weeks we will work hard to develop and create a world that each of you wants to live in and bring your friends to.

Then, we will be back in the hopes that our next Kickstarter will succeed in carrying us through to new investment allowing us to make the game we all want.

Until then, we’ve updated our alpha client for you to play with. Go have fun, create wonderful stories!

And spread the word about Storybricks for only with you is our success assured.

Okay, so we were a bit mean the past couple updates, but hopefully this makes up for it...

You can try out Storybricks!

We've created a special browser version of the Storybricks client that will run during the KS campaign.  Go check it out, write a story, and share it with your friends. Head on over to http://play.storybricks.com/ to try out our public alpha.  (Note that alpha access granted by the reward tiers will continue past the KS campaign end.)

You might want to take another look at our alpha gameplay demo video to get an overview of how to set up stories.

If you don't want to dive in directly, you can try a few sample stories written by our developers:

• http://play.storybricks.com/play.php?STORY=75D42932
• http://play.storybricks.com/play.php?STORY=FD8E1447

But, do try out Storybricks and create your own stories.  Feel free to share with your friends or post to Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc.  Also give us any feedback you have via the in-game Feedback button.

Thanks for your amazing support

We deeply appreciate the confidence you've shown in us.  We hope this alpha version gives you a little taste of the possibilities.  This is what you are supporting, and this is what will change games for the better.

Without you, this wouldn't be possible.  Help us spread the word!

Another milestone achieved

We have our first donor claiming a limited tier of rewards!  Someone has committed to the $5000 reward tier, and when we are funded this individual will get a custom piece of artwork from the talented Liz Danforth.  An awesome reward for an art fan!

Working on communication

We believe that we had some trouble explaining Storybricks and what makes it cool.  This is one of the problems when you describe something that has not been done before.  Obviously we've communicated it well to some of you that have decided to back us, but we are working on a way to reach the rest of the people who don't quite understand why Storybricks represents the future games.

If you have any ideas, please share them!  Either contact us via email, or leave a comment on the Kickstarter site.  Again, without you we will not succeed, so please lend us your time and thoughts to get the word out.

New video of Storybricks gameplay!

We have uploaded a new video of Storybricks gameplay to YouTube!  This is in a very high resolution, so you should be able to watch it fullscreen and see a lot of the detail.  Hope you enjoy it!

An announcement soon...

Time to tease you again!  We have been working on a plan to let you get your hands on Storybricks at least temporarily.  Something to let you play around with it directly.  Watch our site or any of the Storybricks social media accounts for the big announcement!

Once again, thank you for your support and encouragement.  We're still working hard, and we hope to emerge victorious!  We have a long road ahead, but with you we will see it to the end.

We are off to a solid start to our Kickstarter project.  We already have over 200 backers in just the first few days of the project.  We are truly appreciative of your support.

Posted Video of a Dev Diary

We've added one of our recent developer diaries as a video on the front page of our project.  It shows off the current state of Storybricks as we have presented it to our Alpha testers.  You can also see it at http://youtu.be/k-JHQP4q5M8

Take a good look at it, because maybe you might be seeing it sooner than you think..  But, wait, that would be telling, wouldn't it?  I guess we should keep a few secrets for now.

New Interview About Storybricks on Kickstarter

BetaKit did an interview with Brian 'Psychochild' Green and Kelly Heckman about Storybricks, this Kickstarter project, and some of the challenges with the project.  Check it out for more information: http://betakit.com/2012/05/03/storybricks-taps-kickstarter-to-help-fund-its-game-storytelling-tool

Brian Writes About Kickstarter

Brian also wrote a post on his blog about the importance of this Kickstarter project to the future of Storybricks.  Go take a look at his post The defining moment of Storybricks.

Help Us Get the Word Out

We've been watching the social network sites, and we've seen you talking about Storybricks.  Let us give you all a hearty "thank you!" for sharing the news with others.  In this day and age of heavy advertising, it can be hard for a company to get the word out, especially a small company like us.  The word of a friend always carries more weight than any amount of traditional advertising.  Please continue to tell everyone you know how important you think Storybricks is and why they should support us.  We won't be able to reach our goal without your help! 

Again, thank you for your enthusiastic support.  It really helps us to see you talk about our work.  After so much effort, it is great to know that there are others who share our vision of what it means to put the role-playing back in computer RPGs!

Sincerely,

The Storybricks Team