The Lost & Found Collection: Counterpart, Artefact & BoB

October 2025
11 months ago – Fri, Oct 31, 2025 at 03:23:02 AM

Good morning all, it's getting cold here! This has been a fun month of getting sh*t done.

Counterpart

Writing

I'm really getting into the rhythm of writing the cards now, which is fun. Jason & I are back in our draft / review process, and as with Artefact I'm finding it invaluable to have someone else to bounce ideas off as we go through the stack of characters in the game.

I'm aiming to have all the Operant cards finished in November, and if I manage to avoid getting too ill over the coming months I'm hoping to have the whole game drafted by the end of the year. Things feel like they've settled into a nice pace now, and I'm not expecting any more giant life changes so it should be fairly smooth sailing from here 😅

Artefact

We're really close on this one now, but as the final artwork bits are being sorted (we're back on track with this now!) I decided to prioritise Counterpart writing this month. The finished game should be ready for release in the next couple of weeks, so expect an email with your digital download key soon :)

Bucket of Bolts

Not much to say here, I just wanted to share again that I'm very excited to get to write this one soon! 🚀

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Thanks folks!

J

September 2025
about 1 year ago – Mon, Sep 29, 2025 at 05:42:51 AM

Hey folks! September has come and (almost) gone, and it's really starting to feel like autumn here. Here's your regular monthly update:

Counterpart

Writing

Counterpart writing is going well—it's a very different vibe than writing for Artefact, which is a nice change of pace. Each card is also its own little self-contained writing exercise, which I find helpful to fit around other work + life pressures! After listening to folks talking about it on the Earthborne Games podcast (which has a lot of useful design / production chat, and also lots of them talking about their lives which I tend to skip... sorry lads), I'm trialling using 'data merge' in InDesign to allow me to write in Ulysses (a great writing tool I used a few years ago) and then automatically popular card templates. So far I'm finding it helpful to allow me to write anywhere (the park, waiting in line for the post-office, etc)—though I'm a little concerned it's going to cause me headaches down the road as it's hard to know if what I'm writing will fit into the layout... Still, an interesting experiment at least!

Card backs / style

Liam finished these a while back, but I never shared the final card backs that he designed:

I think they look really great, and also cement the wider work he's been doing with the use of colour throughout the game's cards. The three types of cards are really distinct, while also feeling part of a cohesive whole. I'm very happy with how they all turned out.

Koriko Add-ons

Just a note, in case you saw that Koriko is now out-of-stock worldwide and are worried about your add-on for this campaign. Stock for Koriko add-ons has been set aside in the warehouse. No need to worry :)

Artefact release

I'm still waiting on some final Artefact artwork before I can release the digital version. If I don't get them before my next update, I'll aim to release the game on Screentop anyway so you can start playing (I can update it later with the final few bits).

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That's it for September, folks! J

August 2025
about 1 year ago – Thu, Aug 28, 2025 at 06:50:47 AM

Phew! The summer holidays are nearly over, and I can't wait to get back into the swing of writing in a couple of weeks time.

In between an unreasonable amount of bike-riding, Lego, sibling squabbles, beach trips and ice cream, I've been getting myself in the groove for Counterpart. 

I watched Companion, Wild Robot and I'm Your Man and enjoyed the blood, geese and Germans in each respectively. I rewatched Her, Robot & Frank and Blade Runner, and re-read Klara and the Sun and The Lifecycle of Software Objects, and after all of that I added a big note to my design board:

September's update should be more substantial, but in the meantime I hope you're having a great summer. Thanks everyone!

J

July 2025
about 1 year ago – Wed, Jul 30, 2025 at 09:02:13 AM

Hello everyone.

The summer holidays hath begun. We are hot and already feel exhausted. Not a lot to report this month!

Here's some bullet points for you all, so you can go back to your busy lives:

• Artefact has gone through proofreading. I'm waiting on the final artwork but have started preparing the digital version.
• Bucket of Bolts is now artwork-complete.
• Counterpart is on my brain, but I've struggled to find much time to write this month and next month will likely be worse as the kids are off school. Looking forward to getting in our writing groove again come September.
• Thanks to all of you who posted nice comments on last month's update. I feel confident, at this point in my life, in my ability to deliver a quality product—even if my timelines are once again a little screwy. Thanks for your patience and support!

Cheers for now,

Jack

June 2025
over 1 year ago – Fri, Jun 27, 2025 at 09:27:39 AM

Hello! It's been very hot, and I've been camping. How was your June?

I'm very happy to share with you that Artefact is now writing-complete! It's gone to proof-reading, and the final bits of artwork are coming in, but it should be able to be released soon. It's really one of the best things I've ever worked on, and I can't wait to get it out to you all.

I've started work on Counterpart now, which is quite a tonal shift. I've got a few films/TV shows to watch to get me in the zone (I'm enjoying the Murderbot adaptation so far!), and I've got my editors on hand to make sure I don't get too grim and depressing as I try to imagine our big corporate future...

I'm happy to be making progress through the games, but it's unfortunately all gone a lot slower than I'd hoped. The fairly-prolonged period of 'everything being a bit shit' in my personal life over the past year has really taken its toll on my time and energy—and while I feel that I'm getting back in the zone now, we're not as far along as I'd like. I've also needed to take a part-time salaried job again, to provide some steady income, which has further affected my pace.

All this is to say: I'm still steadily working (and, importantly, enjoying working) on the games, but I'm not going to have the digital versions ready for you all next month as hoped. I'm also increasingly unlikely to meet the February 2026 target for the physical delivery, as the wait between completing development and games arriving at your door can be surprisingly long (proofs, printing, boats, shipping etc). I hope that, like my other games, you'll find that the wait is worth the while when it all finally arrives. And I hope that one day, I'll have enough stability to actually meet the estimates I set 🙃

Before I wrap, I wanted to share with you a little peek at the Fortune illustrations that Torben has been doing. I cannot wait to be working on Bucket of Bolts and giving these beautiful little vignettes the words they deserve. What a fun time that's going to be! 🚀

Cheers everyone!

Jack