It definitely came down to the wire toward the end, but you helped make it all possible! We're successfully funded, and ready to move on to next steps. I'll talk about that below.

You'll have two weeks (until June 12th) to correct any invalid payment information. After that, any early-bird rewards or giveaway upgrades you may have received become forfeit.

Survey-Time
The next step of the process is to deliver surveys. This will ensure you've gotten the right address information, pledge, and aren't surprised by anything that comes later. Folks who purchased add-ons for intro sessions will get a link to a calendar invite to schedule their sessions; and folks who won giveaways will get a special survey to get them the free edition upgrade.

Release Dates
Digital editions of the game (including for folks that have hardcover pledges) are expected to ship December of this year, just in time for the holidays. The actual hardcovers are anticipated to ship in Q1/Q2 of 2025, likely in May-ish if everything goes well.

Updates
I'll continue to be in contact with folks as we move through the process. This is my first go at crowdfunding anything, so there will likely be plenty more learning involved. If any questions come up, feel free to reach out to me on social or Discord. There's some additional information in the FAQ that might answer some questions in advance, too.

Since the campaign funded successfully, it means that pre-ordering is now available! The store will close down toward the end of the year when we need final tallies on book counts and so-on to send to the printer. So if you missed grabbing a book, there's still time!

You can find the pre-order store here directly: https://distal.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
But it's also available directly from the campaign page.

If you didn't get a chance to watch the final Livestream of the campaign, you can watch the VOD here!



Thanks very much, folks!
-Wrel

We're here on the last day of the campaign, and just hit our funding goal thanks to all of you. The community really turned this past week, and I'm so glad we could make it to this point. I'm looking forward to acquiring all of the awesome art to make this book amazing -- and to get the hardcover copies into your hands.

To close out the campaign (and celebrate a bit!) we're running a final Livestream in only a handful of hours from now! Details below.



Campaign's End Livestream
Watch the livestream here tonight at 8pm EDT!
(Convert to your local time or set a reminder for Apple, Google, or Yahoo.)

Bring your questions, your support, and maybe some dice.

See you soon!
-Wrel

As of writing this, there are 35 hours left until the campaign ends... and I can't help but to count every one.

There's a livestream tomorrow, I spent 14 hours yesterday getting Alpha 06 ready to launch, and we're racing the clock to reach our funding goal at the same time. It's all super crazy at the moment. Pause for breath. Exhale.

Okay, so...

We've got $3480 left in pledges to reach our funding goal, which is extremely close. It would only take 58 more folks picking up a hardcover copy to get us over the line. So, 1.66 hardcovers pledged every hour? Seems wicked doable.

At this point, every pledge matters -- so if you're able to spread the word on Facebook, or a Discord you're a part of, or with a friend group (you could all go in on a 4-pack of books!) it would be appreciated.

Like every alpha, this is a free, in-development version of the game that you can play right now. This is the final alpha packet before we move right into beta, which, as of this post -- everyone will be able to participate in via the Development Discord for free. No more Patreon-exclusive.

Ultimately, I want everyone with an interest in game development to be able to see all the steps, and participate in the process. Game design is one of my greatest joys, and it'll be a great honor to share that with more of you.

Check out the Alpha 06 .pdf here.
Fillable character sheets, updated quickstart guide, pre-gens, and beginners adventures are all on the way.

We'll be hosting the final Livestream of the campaign tomorrow. It's a great time to get your questions in, learn more about the game and the process -- and you'll even be able to see it in play with some special guests.

Watch the livestream here tomorrow at 8pm EDT!
(Convert to your local time or set a reminder for Apple, Google, or Yahoo.)

Thanks very much, folks!
-Wrel

Yesterday, Commander Cyrious (a PlanetSide 2 content creator and awesome human being,) posted a video to help rally support for Distal.

The video walks through my decade-long history with PlanetSide 2, including some of my cringey, super-early video content, and catches us up to today -- where I'm trying to bring a project I'm passionate about to the world.

If you're reading this message, you might be one of the new folks that just joined us because of it. So, welcome, and thank you!

I'll link Cyrious' video below.

Crowdfunding (since the days of the internet,) was intended as a way for communities of devoted fans and followers to help bring an idea to life. As crowdfunding became more commercialized over the years, we've drifted further from that ideal, focusing too heavily on the "things you get" rather than the causes and people you support.

I'm glad we can buck the trend a bit.

My deepest, heartfelt thank-you goes out to everyone involved. I'm glad to have you all here.

There is still a substantial hill to climb before reaching our funding goal, but course-correcting the way we have is not something you usually see on these platforms. So, thank you all again, let's keep it going.
-Wrel

We put about an hour's worth of music into a Spotify playlist. It rotates through highs and lows, to lead you on mini-adventures. Use it to help prep your session, or create characters with your table!

Click here for the playlist, and add your own in the comments below this post!

If you've been waiting in the wings to support the project, now is a good time!

Remember, there's no risk to you if the project doesn't fund -- BackerKit is an all-or-nothing funding platform, and you won't be charged for anything that doesn't reach its goal. Here's an (older) video that walks through the process.

Quick Guide to Supporting the Project - Watch Video


Thanks very much, folks!
-Wrel