Dracula’s Feast: A monstrous game of secrets and deduction
Created by Blue Beard Entertainment
A 10-minute social deduction game for 4-8 monsters. Featuring gorgeous, thematic art, no lying, and no player elimination!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
TWO MORE stretch goals unlocked, and competition updates!
over 7 years ago
– Sat, Oct 29, 2016 at 06:51:36 PM
Hey!
Firstly, an important message: Wow.
Didn't see that one coming, did you?
Secondly, a few people have been asking how they can enter the Halloween contest. Email [email protected]* with your entries. You can send photos or links to the social media where you've shared pics - whatever's easiest for you!
*yes, that's a real email address!
A few people have contacted me saying that they're having their Halloween party next weekend, so we're going to extend the deadline and run the contest until the end of the campaign! Are you excited? I'm excited.
Since the last update, we've unlocked two more stretch goals, and have now raised more than $55,000 towards making Dracula's Feast! This is unbelievable; this game is going to be SO MADE. You'll be able to play it and touch it with your face and everything!
I am so incredibly excited.
Sorry that this update is a bit late - it's been a crazy couple of days! Tom Lang, the developer for Dracula's Feast, has been playtesting the game like crazy and collating notes, and he's come up with some tweaks and adjustments that we're going to be testing out next weekend.
Next weekend, I'm going to be at Metatopia for all 3 days and Tom Lang and our artist Tania will be at PAX Australia for the whole con!
I'm (almost certainly) going to be the only blue-bearded Australian at Metatopia, so if you're there come and say hi! Tom and Tania are a bit harder to spot, but if you're going to be at PAX Australia leave a comment, and I'm sure they'll chime in and say how you can find them.
Without any further ado: the updated Stretch Goal chart!
As you can see, we've smashed through the $50k and $55k goals, and we've added a few more to the chart! We're rapidly running out of goals (this is a good thing) but we have some exciting stuff planned for the end of the campaign, so keep telling your friends and sharing the page!
So, what did we unlock over the last few days?
UNLOCKED - $50,000: Upgraded expansion box!
My previous project - Scuttle! - is arriving all over the world, and as well as how pretty and fun it is (I can assure you it's both of those things!) people are really loving the sturdy box. Well, thanks to your effort, we've unlocked an equally-sweet box for Cthulhu and Friends as well!
This is obviously just a mock-up, but it gives you an idea of what the final box is going to look like! That's right, you'll be getting Cthulhu and Friends in your very own Necronomicon.
(If you aren't backing at the DRACULA level or higher, this is the perfect time to consider upgrading your pledge! Look at that sweet box; it could be yours.)
UNLOCKED - $55,000: Two additional reference cards in Dracula's Feast!
The base game, Dracula's Feast, plays with 4-8 players. The expansion means it can be played with 9-10 - during playtesting we've had people sharing reference cards, but unlocking this goal means that we can now include a bonus two reference cards in the box!
As well as the two goals we've unlocked, I've added some more to the chart - at $65,000 we're adding a tenth set of YES/NO cards to Dracula's Feast, so that you can play with a full TEN players using just the base game + promos! A few people have requested this, and we've listened!
Lastly, at $70,000 you'll be unlocking another exclusive promo! The Mirror of the Serpent People is another Artifact that won't be available in retail copies of the game - the only way to play with it will be to back the Kickstarter or purchase the game directly from us after retail!
At this rate, I'm fully confident we can get there in the next two weeks!
In the last update, I asked people to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter, and boy did you respond! Remember, at 600 followers (between the two platforms) we'll unlock J'lyeh Beans:
I'm excited to announce that we're at 498 - so close! If you want to help us unlock another promo Artifact, just check out @PlayJellybean on Facebook and Twitter. We don't spam or do anything boring (it's a company policy: no boring posts) and you'll get a cool card out of it.
(And if we can hit 1000 before the end of the campaign, we'll also unlock Cthulhu's very own Rubber Ducky. I am certain that's a card that no other game has ever offered.)
I'll be back on Tuesday next week with another update!
Cheers, -Peter C. Hayward So blown away by the awesome crop of backers we have here.
P.S. If you've read this far, you probably like my writing - I am actually doing some writing for another Kickstarter project which ends in 14 hours! I've put together a prologue which you can download on the page, and they hit a stretch goal which unlocked an extended story.
Another two stretch goals unlocked!!!
over 7 years ago
– Wed, Oct 26, 2016 at 11:26:09 PM
Hey!
First things first: WOW.
Two more stretch goals unlocked, $45k reached, almost two thousand backers!?
You are unstoppable. There are no words.
Wait, sorry, I lie. There's one word:
Wow.
Let's have a look at the updated stretch goal chart!
Before we go into the new stuff, take a second and look at everything we've crossed off so far! In just over two weeks, we've unlocked:
4 new characters: Bride of Dracula, Magic Mirror, Village Children, and Swamp Thing
3 new Artifacts: Dreamplate, Ceremonial Dagger, and Silver Key
4 component upgrades: Thicker card stock, an upgraded box for Dracula's Feast, an additional Yes/No card in every game, and custom-cut dance tokens
And let's not forget, we've managed to unlock the greatest gift of all: my heart. That's right: before this campaign started, I was planning to spend the weekend kicking down orphanages and shouting cruel things at goldfish.
Now, thanks to your overwhelming support (and the amazing conversations people have been having in the comments), my heart has been thawed. My weekend will now be spent...well, I'm probably just going to clean up my apartment.
Think of all the orphans and goldfish you've saved from my wicked ways!
And now, without any further delay, the card you've all been waiting for:
I'm going to let you know, that ability is not final. This is developer Tom Lang's favorite card, and even since we announced it as a stretch goal, he's been tweaking and iterating different versions of it. During the last week of the campaign, he's going to be at PAX Australia (come say hi!) doing a metric heckload of playtesting, and right now this is the card that we think is going to change the most.
We don't know what the final ability will exactly look like, but we definitely know the feeling we want for it - Swamp Thing is lurking, waiting for the right moment to strike. Exactly how we make that work isn't clear yet, but we can promise that the final version will be super cool and as balanced as possible.
The other component unlocked since the last update is custom-cut dance tokens! The game comes with 56 dance tokens (in 8 different colors), and thanks to your awesome teamwork and good looks*, they're now each going to be cut into a different shape!
*I don't understand how they know this, but Kickstarter assure me that I have the best-looking supporters on the whole site.
We don't have a preview of those yet - Tania has been hard at work on the promos we've been madly unlocking, but as soon as we have those ready, I'll share them with everyone.
This is a great example of a way that you can help shape the game! We want the dance tokens to look like flowers, so here's my question for you: which flowers do you think would make good "dance tokens" in the game?
Leave a comment with your suggestions, and your idea may well end up in the final version of Dracula's Feast!
Lastly, you'll see two new additions to the stretch goal chart! At $55k, we'll be able to add an extra two reference cards to the base game! These can be used as spares, or to ensure that everyone has their own when playing with the expansion.
At $60k, we'll be unlocking a new Artifact: the Jade Statue! This is going to our first promo Artifact - it won't be coming in retail copies of the game, and will only be available to backers of the Kickstarter or people who buy the game directly from Jellybean Games.
We're continuing to power through those stretch goals, and if you keep helping us spread the word, I'm confident we'll have them unlocked before long.
Exciting!
That's all for this week! Thanks to everyone who has been sharing the project with their friends - remember, if you can find two other people to join you for an order, you save significantly on both shipping and the base cost of the game.
Leave your flower suggestions in the comments, and I'll talk to you again on Monday!
Cheers, -Peter C. Hayward Looking forward to learning what everyone's favorite flower is
P.S. I'd also like to apologize for this update being a day late - my partner got sick, and so I spent most of yesterday being the dutiful boyfriend! I did have time to attempt the Live Stream, but I don't think I got it working - I'm going to try again on Monday, at the same time - I'll include a reminder in the update!
P.P.S. Almost 2000 backers? Sometimes I wonder what my life is and then I remember and then I can't stop smiling. Thank you, each and everyone of you. You are the freaking best.
P.P.P.S. People have been suggesting roles and cool Artifact ideas in the comments. I don't want to say for sure, but it's possible that your ideas have inspired our artist, Tania. More on that next week...
Avatars, competitions, and two new Artifacts!
over 7 years ago
– Wed, Oct 26, 2016 at 10:24:53 PM
Hey!
In my family, there's a cool tradition. My Dad has the same name as his grandfather, and he has the same name as his grandfather. It's an "eldest son" thing, skipping a generation each time - the eldest son of the eldest son, basically.
As the eldest son of my father, it's up to me to maintain the tradition. But this Kickstarter has put me in an interesting position - will I name my first son Henry Frank Hayward after my Dad, or will I call him something different? Because honestly, after the events of the last few weeks, there's another solid contender:
Wow.
"Wow Hayward". It's got a nice ring to it, don't you think?
For the first time since the campaign started, today I am not announcing a new stretch goal! We are so close to $50k (!!!), and we need your help to push us over the edge.
Interested in helping unlock more juicy goodies for the game? Here's what you can do:
Tell your friends!
There are a few ways you can tell your friends about the game - send them an email, post on social media, print out the free print-and-play and play a game with them, get a tattoo that says "Dracula's Feast! Now on Kickstarter!" (relevant forever!)
But by far the best way is to use one of the avatars that Tania has assembled - at the end of this post, you'll find one for every character in the base set (and a few promos!)
Who's your favourite character? Use them as your Facebook profile picture, and link people to http://www.draculasfeast.com - it redirects straight to the campaign (try it!).
I am personally of the belief that as many people should see Tania's gorgeous art as possible - I've already changed my avatar, and hope to see others doing the same!
Dress up as a Dracula's Feast character for Halloween!
Halloween is just around the corner, and we've decided to run a competition!
Dress up as one of the Dracula's Feast characters and take a photo, and we'll give a prize to our favourite! Here's our developer Tom Lang showing off how it's done:
"What prize?" I hear you wonder - well, that's the cool thing. The more entries we get, the better the prize will be!
If we get 5 entries, the prize will be a free copy of Scuttle! (including promos) with your Dracula's Feast order.
If we get 10 entries, you'll also get a free copy of both Scuttle! expansions: Scurvy! and The Curse of Black Jack.
If we get 20 entries, you'll also get an advance playtester copy of the two next games in the Unmasked series - Monster's Ball and Night of the Mummy.
And if we get 50 entries, the winner will get all of the above AND a drawing of themselves by our artist, Tania, in a style of your choice! You can be a cool Gorey-style monster, or a Disney-style hero, or...well, if you've looked at Tania's website, you'll have seen how versatile she can be!
Halloween is only a week away - we'd love to see what you creative cats can come up with! There's so many cool characters in Dracula's Feast (and Cthulhu and Friends); we'll be sharing the result in early November.
Follow us on social media!
Jellybean Games has a Twitter feed and a Facebook Page! We use them to let people know what's going on, and show off awesome art from our upcoming games.
Between the two of them, they have just over 300 followers. If we can get to 600 followers, we're going to unlock another exclusive promo Artifact: the mythical J'lyeh Beans!
This won't come in Cthulhu and Friends, and will only be available to people who back the Kickstarter campaign or buy them directly from us in the future.
What's more, someone in the comments suggested another Artifact idea: the Rubber Ducky. As soon as Tania heard that, she couldn't resist putting something together...
This Artifact will be unlocked if we can reach 1000 followers between Facebook and Twitter! We're @PlayJellybean on both - hit "follow" and tell your friends to do the same, and we'll unlock the J'lyeh Beans and Cthulhu's very own Rubber Ducky!
(Fun fact: my mother collects Rubber Duckies. I can't wait to hear what she thinks when she hears about this one...)
---
Whew! That's a lot of stuff. To summarize:
Use a Dracula's Feast avatar (below) to tell your friends about the project, or just message them/post on their walls/tell them in person, I guess.
Dress up as a Dracula's Feast character for Halloween and win fabulous prizes! Just email me your picture - [email protected] - and I'll post them as they come in!
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook, and unlock two new exclusive Artifacts!
Thank you so much to everyone who's already helped spread the word about the campaign - it's because of you that we're getting closer to $50k by the day!
I am so dang excited about this campaign. You have no idea.
I'll be back on Thursday with more...including another competition! Whaaaaaat? You'll learn more then!
Cheers, -Peter C. HaywardWondering how my partner is going to cope with the news that our first son might be called "Wow"
P.S. Thanks for all the flower suggestions in the last post - there's been so many, that we've come up with a cool flower-related idea! More on that soon! (I know, I know, I'm such a tease.)
Another stretch goal unlocked, and a new pledge level!
over 7 years ago
– Tue, Oct 18, 2016 at 08:51:49 PM
Hey!
Last week, when I was driving back to Toronto from Saint Louis, I noticed a huge crow flying alongside my car. And I mean alongside; it was really keeping pace. I sped up, but to my surprise the crow did as well - I couldn't lose it.
It started tapping at my window, and I was curious to see what he wanted. I slowed down, opened my window, and he dropped a small note - it was written in perfect cursive; black ink, on an old, weathered parchment. One word:
Wow.
We have more than three weeks to go, and we're fast coming up on $40k! Since my last update, we've unlocked another stretch goal - the Silver Key, a new Artifact from the Cthulhu and Friends expansion:
The Silver Key is a classic Lovecraftian object; in Cthulhu and Friends, it has a simple (but powerful) effect - whenever someone incorrectly accuses another guest, they would normally be banished. While the Silver Key is in play, however, they instead take an additional action - the first time someone does this, the Artifact is destroyed.
Wild!
I have some more exciting news today - firstly, we have a new pledge level! One of our backers suggested it, and so Tania and I have been going back and forth trying to work out how to make it a reality:
BLUEBEARD - Become a part of a future Jellybean Game! At this pledge level, our art director Tania will draw you into one of our upcoming projects - Tomb of Doom, Village Pillage - maybe even one of the future Unmasked games!
If you choose this pledge level, we'll privately work out which game you'd best fit into (or which you'd most like to be a part of) and we'll keep in touch throughout the whole process! When the game is complete, you'll get a copy AND a high-resolution digital file!
As you can imagine, we can't do many of these, so get in before they're all snapped up!
I have some exciting Spanish news for you. Firstly, we got a review in Spanish from Doc Logan. I actually don't speak Spanish, so I'm not sure what it says, but he seems to be pretty positive about the game!
Secondly one of our backers has put together a Spanish version of the print-and-play! I'm so blown away that he's taken the time to do this - you can find the Spanish print-and-play here.
Lastly, the votes are in - on Thursday the 20th of October, I'm going to be doing a Kickstarter Live Stream! It'll probably be about half an hour or so; I'll go through the latest prototype version I got, maybe show off some of the expansion cards, and answer any questions that people may have!
The stream will start at 7pm Eastern Time on Thursday - that's 7pm in Toronto, 4pm in Los Angeles, midnight in London, and 10am Friday in Melbourne!
It's going to be super fun, and so if you get a chance, please tune in!
That's all for now. I'll be back on Thursday with any new and exciting Dracula's Feast news, as well as another reminder about the Livestream!
I'll talk to you then, -Peter C. Hayward Wondering why that crow is so excited about my Kickstarter
P.S. In the last update, I may have been a little misleading - the game definitely comes with dance tokens! Dracula's Feast will be coming with 7 in each color, for a total of 56. We knew that one of our stretch goals was going to be custom-shaped dance tokens, so Tania hasn't actually finalized the art yet; we didn't want to do the work twice for no reason!
But just to reassure everyone - the game will come with dance tokens; that is not something you have to worry about! :)
TWO more stretch goals unlocked, and a community poll!
over 7 years ago
– Sun, Oct 16, 2016 at 07:07:41 PM
Hey!
As some of you may know, I'm Australian. So is our artist, Tania Walker, as is the game's developer, Tom Lang.
In Australia, we have a little expression that I'd like to share with you today:
"WOW."
Since the last update, we've smashed through two more stretch goals, and spent almost a full day as the featured Games Project on Kickstarter.
Not just Tabletop. Dracula's Feast was the featured project for all of Kickstarter Games.
Wow.
You guys are amazing. Let's check out the updated stretch goal chart and see what we've unlocked!
As you can see, some exciting new goals have been added...but let's start with what's been unlocked over the last few days:
UNLOCKED - $25K: ADDITIONAL YES/NO CARD:
The game was going to ship with 8 Yes and 8 No cards, BUT thanks to your amazing support, we've added in an additional Yes and an additional No! For people who buy the game at retail, these will just function as handy spares...while everyone who backs us on Kickstarter can include the promos, to play with up to 9 players!
(You'll need to use makeshift dance tokens, but that's pretty easy to do - grab some cubes from another game, or just use a pile of pennies!)
The expansion, Cthulhu and Friends, adds in the capability to play with more players through the use of face up cards - all the white-bordered guests are revealed at the start of the game, and those players cannot be guessed, accused, or danced with (which means they don't need to use Yes/No cards).
Speaking of face up cards...
UNLOCKED - $30K: VILLAGE CHILDREN PROMO
The latest promo card is a face up guest, Village Children! This was originally part of the Cthulhu and Friends expansion, but its ability became so weird (in a good way) that we knew it would be a perfect promo.
We're still working out the exact phrasing, but the Village Children have a really cool, unique power: as an action, they can possess.
Possess: Pick up all the accusation cards and hand one, face down, to another guest. If it's theirs, they lose all their abilities and you take an action whenever it would be their turn. They accept all dances - whenever they dance with another guest, you look at the other guest's card instead of them.
(You can see why we're still working on the phrasing! We might have to move some of that to the reference card; it's a pretty wordy ability.)
In short, the Village Children can - if they work out who another player is - take overtheir guest for the remainder of the game! Creepy!
---
I have a question for you! Kickstarter just gave us beta access to their new "Live" feature, which allows creators to stream a video to their backers - it means I can answer your questions live, show off the prototypes, and just hang with the community generally.
It sounds super fun, and so I've decided to try it out. So here's the question - if you're interested in watching the stream, which night next week (Tuesday-Friday) would work best for you? I am going to a playtesting night on Monday, but I'm free every other night! We'd probably do it around 9pm Eastern Time, which is noon the next day in Australia (where a lot of our backers are based) and 6pm on the West Coast.
Leave a comment with the night that would work best for you, and I'll be live on camera on whichever night gets the most votes!
Lastly, I have some new art for you! Tania has started working on the Cthulhu and Friends Artifacts, and we have some sketches to show off:
The Artifacts are one of my favorite parts of the expansion (my favorite is probably King Kong - I cannot look at that card without laughing), and they are looking every bit as cool as I imagined them to be! From left to right, we have:
The Necromonicon: Perhaps the most famous Artifact, this book of the (un)dead was featured in the Evil Dead films. As long as The Necromonicon is in play, guests cannot be banished! That's right, it is impossible for any guest to be banished as long as the book is around. Fortunately, it's pretty easy to destroy - as soon as anyone dances, it's gone!
Ceremonial Dagger: This is the Artifact that we unlocked when the project reached $18k! As long as the Ceremonial Dagger is in play, you can accuse two guests as an action. If either (or both!) are incorrect, you're banished...but if both are right, you immediately take two additional actions! This fancy knife is destroyed as soon as anyone gets two dance tokens.
Silver Key: This card won't be unlocked until we reach $35k...but at this rate, that could happen any minute, so Tania got excited and started sketching it out. When the Silver Key is in play, you take an additional action when you incorrectly accuse another guest (instead of being banished)! The first time someone takes an additional action this way, the key is destroyed.
So far there are seven Artifacts coming in the Cthulhu and Friends expansion (and we're well on our way to unlocking the eighth) - three are used each game, and as you can see, they combo in strange and wonderful ways! The more Artifacts that come in the box, the more cool combos are possible - when Cthulhu is around, no two games will ever be the same.
Thank you again for being a part of the project - the whole team is so blown away by the support you've shown, and we're so excited to see what else we can unlock. Dracula's Feast is going to be amazing, and it's all thanks to you!
I'll be back on Monday with more cool facts and rad news.
Cheers, -Peter C. Hayward Growing increasingly excited by the day.
P.S. Don't forget to comment with your answer - which night next week (Tuesday-Friday) would work best for you for the live stream?
