My brother Matt and I, and a whole team of other talented folks, have been quietly working away at this hyper-casual idle/clicker game that will keep you entertained (and addicted) for hours, days, weeks… who knows?  All I know is that even though I’m the producer, and I’ve been working on this forever, I still enjoy putting some time into it, so I’m sure you will too!

Though the game is going to be free to play, we’re looking to get some more attention on the game so that we can make a good game great, and get a few more passionate people to really help make Merge Dungeon pop!

We’re working on some more cool content, like a video ad that will go along with the Kickstarter, and some more behind the scenes stuff that we can show off.  If you know anyone who is interested in these types of web games, or you’re hoping we can eventually bring the game to Android or iOS, please spread the word!

The post Quantum Quest: Merge Dungeon Kickstarter is Here! appeared first on Tellest.

None of these characters have graced any of the books or short stories, which I think is a pretty impressive feat, considering how awesome they all look.  Let’s learn a little bit more about these adventurers, and see if we like their chances in the living dungeon.

Denal Gamore might seem like he’s ill-equipped to handle the dangers of the dungeon’s terrible chambers, but he’s good for inspiring his allies and raising morale.  The one bad thing is that when he falls and the music stops, things can get a little worse off than before he came around.

This is one of my favorite-looking adventurers from either set.  Jai Shadiri is big and tough, and he’ll definitely be one of the adventurers who will last the longest in the dungeon.  He’s not witty or overly charismatic, but he gets the job done.

Manali Varezo is the kind of mage who does everything in her power to help out her allies.  Before she found herself in the dungeon, she led her tribe in an exodus across a scorching desert, relying on her magic to keep them safe.

Not to be outdone by kaja mages, Valda Irion made her own pilgrimage through a harsh desert—but she did it alone.  It was a test of her faith, and she came through believing more than ever in the deities she and her sisters believed in.

So there you have it.  Four brave kaja willing to risk it all in the dungeon in order to claim victory over others who would use its power to gain the upper hand in their realm.  But perhaps these kaja will end up on opposing sides.  Only time will tell!

We’ll be back in three weeks.  You’ve seen the cats—it’ll be time to see the dogs then!

The post Sprite Art – Blue Box Kaja appeared first on Tellest.

Today, we’re introducing new adventurers from the dwarven race.  Let’s see how they stack up compared to our red box dwarves.

The dwarves are one of the more plentifully represented races in this expansion, which led us to be able to give them some pretty cool variety.

First up is Berna Darkmantle.  She hails from a dwarven clan where the King was able to camouflage himself to look completely black.  Berna, on the other hand, isn’t quite as sneaky.  She likes to be right up in your face, with either a big axe or a huge hammer.  She voluntarily left her clan in a pursuit of justice and discipline, and she gets to exercise both in the Living Dungeon.

Next, we have Durin Nighthand.  His clan leader could put people to sleep with a simple touch, hence the clan name.  Their emblem became an eye, in reference to the weariness you could see on the leader’s victims.  Durin doesn’t have the same ability, but he’s grown good enough at knocking people out with his staff that he’s content.

Etrius Coldwhistle is one of the characters from the books that makes his way into Quantum Quest this time around.  There’s one caveat there: when he turned up in The Bindings of Fate, he was long dead, the unfortunate victim of demonic attack on the Ruins of Kathka.  In Quantum Quest, a version of him from another realm managed to escape that fate, only to end up in the Living Dungeon.  He utilizes a mythril-banded tome as his weapon.

Elmera Lightdasher is our first powered dwarf to have a card.  Elmera was the kind of dwarf clandaughter who really didn’t see herself being too caught up in her clan’s activities.  She was great at skulking in the shadows and loved going on personal adventures.  But when people found out she had a power (the ability to move forward in a burst of speed), a new clan formed around her, declaring her their queen.  This version of Elmera is one that escaped from her own clan in order to continue her pre-queen lifestyle.

Finally, we have Yara Manaforge.  She’s another powered dwarf who has the ability to tap into the aether and pull mana out of thin air.  She lived in relative seclusion though, and she didn’t have a clan that formed around her.  Despite that, she is very generous to new companions, and she taps into their strengths as well.

Here are these five new dwarves, standing in solidarity.  Those of you who’ve played Quantum Quest know that just because you’re of the same race, that doesn’t mean you’re on the same team.  Still, for now, they’re in solidarity.

Keep an eye out over the next several months while we show you other new characters in the Quantum Quest universe.  We’re still going alphabetically, so next time, you’ll see the elves.  See you then!

The post Sprite Art – Blue Box Dwarves appeared first on Tellest.

We’ve shown you an assortment of races already, and after today, we haven’t even hit the halfway point.  But this will be the second half of our more diminutive races.  We’re proud to introduce to you our gremlins!

Look at them little guys!  So cute, and yet, so deadly…

First up, we’ve got Cravat Keeno.  A master of thieves, he actually benefits from having other unscrupulous folks nearby.  He’s a brilliant tactician, and one heck of a good aim with his crossbow.  Of course, he’s just as deadly in the shadows with a blade.  Mostly mischievous, it’s Cravat’s greed that truly makes him dangerous.

Kor Laros doesn’t exactly have the same level of charisma that the other gremlins in this group have.  Ugly even by his race’s standards, Kor has steered the disdain he’s found into pure mayhem.  He’d be happy watching the world burn, and he’s happy to start with the dungeon that has mysteriously appeared.

Merris Dath: sometimes rival, sometimes friend to Cravat.  She’s another thief, so she’s gives him some kind of edge.  As much as Cravat likes to lean on other people though, Merris likes to work independently.  She considers herself the queen of thieves, and values expedience over all else.

It’s a face only a mother could love, but Wecca Innis has earned her praise among her people for being a tough warrior.  And despite that strength (and those chompers), she’s known for being a bit of a charmer.  That good nature belies her skill, and she’d just as soon cut you down as compliment you.

And there’s your goblin crew.  Next time, we’re bringing you the race you’ll be most familiar with, no doubt: the humans.  For now, enjoy the tiny, tough bunch you see here!

The post Sprite Arts – Gremlins appeared first on Tellest.

Tellest Art

First, some “bad” news, just to get it out of the way.  Over the past year and some change, we’ve been doing an awesome job of getting character and concept art in front of interested fans.  For a little indie publication, this is an incredibly huge feat.  You don’t often get the little unknown guy making a big splash with that kind of thing – it’s the people who have already gained popularity, and fans pour their hearts into art for their favorite new series.

As it stands, we have art that’s going to run for about three more months before we’re all tapped out.  See, that’s part of the plan right now.  Because of where I’m hoping to take Tellest in the future, as well as other life events (Rhianna and I are getting married this year… yay!), I need to be a little more frugal with finances, and invest properly.  That’s not to say that the art will be completely cut off.  I’m going to have certain needs for art that will require my attention (like cover art), and I have certain talented people who are both affordable and dependable, so I will lean on them whenever they are available.  Also, it’s completely possible that Tellest breaks out in the next few months.  When it happened in 2011 (albeit for only a few months) it was a complete surprise, so I’m not discounting the possibility.  But, in the case that it doesn’t play out like that, we’ll still be getting more pieces, just not at the same pace we’re getting them now.  As I said before, it’s ludicrously lucky that I’ve been able to do this as long as I have!  As for some of those other investments…

Side Projects

Part of what I love about Tellest is how accessible it is to other mediums.  This is a written universe about medieval superheroes. How awesome is that?  It would be a wasted opportunity not to try and see where else Tellest could go, and in a lot of ways, we’ve already scratched the surface with ideas (see Heart of the Forest – not dead, just sleeping).  Part of the reason that these have just been scratched, and not really followed to their truest potential is the aforementioned lack of capital.  And one of these ideas has potential financiers, which is an awesome thing to say the least.

In the interest of being transparent, I have about 10-15 ideas for games stirring around in the back of my head (including card and board games and video games).  I really want to be able to set my sights on things like those.  But there’s also plenty of opportunities for Tellest to evolve into the realm of comics as well.  Kev and I have been talking about that for years, and the nature of this universe fits that kind of thing perfectly.  But again, to do that, we need capital, which brings me to my next point.

What’s Next for the Tellest Written Universe?

I might as well get this out of the way first.  The Fall, the final book in this most recent endeavor, is nearly done.  To give you an idea of when I think that will actually be the case, I believe you’ll see me on Twitter next week telling you “the dragon is slain.”  It’s been an amazingly long process – something that somehow wasn’t as daunting for the other four novellas in the Tales of Tellest collection, and I hope that the care and patience I gave to it comes across well to all who read it.  Still, finishing that initial draft is only the first phase of the writing process – Nace and I still have to go through about three waves of editing before it goes to the Tellest street team (don’t forget to sign up for that and our newsletter over on the sidebar – free books are never a bad deal).  I’ll let them mull over it for a few weeks and we’ll try to have it out in time for my birthday in the middle of July.

And here’s the big reveal.  I don’t think that I’m done with the Tales of Tellest.  I really don’t.  It wasn’t done intentionally for this reason, but there were always threads that I lay out a little loosely in each of these stories.  There were ideas that I’d come back to them eventually, but I didn’t think that I’d have the itch this soon.  In fact, I was even ready to pass along the torch for Mageborn to Rhianna, who had a lot to do with the original story.  After some consideration though, I think we’re going to co-write the sequel to that, and I’m going to work on follow-ups to each of the other stories in the quintet, with the ultimate goal being a set of five trilogies (at least). Now, this is by no means a formal reveal of this goal – anything can change, but I’m very interested in continuing these stories.

Now here’s the rub: I’m still committed to continuing the story that was unlocked at the end of The Enemy Within.  There are still things that haven’t been explained.  How did Steel Tip end up in a tower in Blacklehn?  Why was Eltan Mane held captive in Viscosa?  How was Bolt able to use the ring of amplification?  These are all things that need to be told.  And on top of that, there are other novellas that I want to write, too!  I have 11 other novellas with various bits of pre-production done on them, and I don’t want them sitting down on the back burner for too long.  So what’s a nerd like me to do?  I really need to sit down and put my nose to the grindstone.  Last year, I was working on Tellest for at least 2 hours a day.  I’d like to resume that pace and eventually eclipse it – after all, some day I would like to make this a full time job.  There’s no better time to practice than now.

Grand Announcement

If you’ve been clamoring for some nice summer reading, we released our first bundle on Amazon.  The Child of the Stars Trilogy, books 1-3 are available now for the low price of 2.99.  Three books for the price of one isn’t a bad deal!

So be on the lookout for The Fall in the next few weeks.  When that comes out, I do hope you enjoy it.  I spent a lot of time on it, and I really hope that it shows.  In the meantime, I hope you’re picking out a bunch of other fantasy books for your summer reads, and that none of them disappoint you.

Until next time!

The post State of Tellest, May 2015 appeared first on Tellest.

For some reason that is honestly beyond me, the name Black Furnace Games has always been in my mind if I were to have a development company of my own.  As of right now, that company is one person who is subcontracting to other people, but hey, this logo right here is going to be what you see as you’re loading Heart of the Forest (and all the other games I plan on creating)!

It’s such a simple thing, but I really dig the logo, and I hope you do, too!

Heart of the Forest is chugging along in the background.  We’re done our initial phase, which is cobbling together images for mockups. Now we’re moving onto our next phase of development, where we keep our eyes peeled for a Unity programmer.  We’ll keep you apprised of the details in the weeks and months to come!

The post Black Furnace Games appeared first on Tellest.

One of the things that I would love to do is make sure my interviews are moving forward at a decent pace.  I’ve had a couple of great authors lined up for a while now, but life seems to be getting in the way a little lately.

Last Friday, my grandfather, Arthur passed away at 98 years old.  You obviously expect the end to be near at that point, but it still came as a big surprise to us.  I’ve also been dealing with health problems of my own.  Mine aren’t too serious – just the kind of nuisances that can sap your creativity and productivity.  Since the weekend following Easter, I’ve been having stomach issues that have been unexplained, and I’ve been going from doctor’s appointment to doctor’s appointment, from lab work to CAT scan, and it’s all just been very taxing.  To round out everything, yesterday I was admitted to the hospital for a new emergency (again, nothing life threatening).  I’m the proud new owner of a kidney stone.  So on top of everything else over the next few days, I’m also going to be heavily medicated.

I’d like to apologize first to the people I was supposed to be interviewing.  It was in my mind that I was going to be able to hammer these out week after week, and I’m being shown firsthand that sometimes its impossible to stick to schedule.  So with that in mind, I’d also like to apologize to the readers who come to this site expecting scheduled content that sometimes goes awry.

That’s not to say that I’m going to leave you empty-handed.  Even though the interview schedules took a detour, some other things are right on schedule.

Here’s another sneak peek at Heart of the Forest:

As you can see, we’ve got the map of our game there.  It’s got a gorgeous hand drawn feel to it, and it very ably puts our story into full effect.

And of course, we can’t have that map without an avatar for Steel Tip.

Keep checking back for more updates on the game, as well as the return of those interviews, starting with one featuring J.S. Morin next week!

Cheers!

-Mike

The post Life’s Little Detours appeared first on Tellest.

What I’d like to do now is let you know what we’ve got planned so far for the rest of 2014.

A New Look

As you can see, the look of the site has changed somewhat…

One of the things that highlighted our big push for Tellest in the end of 2013 was a new website.  Nace Phlaux did a fantastic job of putting everything together in a convenient little package, helping us get to the point where things posted in the right spots automatically, and it all wrapped up with a nice little bow.

Now, we’ve reached a point where it’s time to update once again.  Because of the added content, chapters from the books and novellas and so forth, we need to forge a new path once more.

We know now that there are still some tweaks that we can make to push the website even further, from giving it a unique personality all its own, to helping with readability.  We’re going to continue to bring you great content, and we hope to be able to expand the amount as well.

Tales of Tellest and The Child of the Stars

We’re pushing ahead full steam with the Tales of Tellest series, and I’m confident that we’ll be able to maintain that momentum.  The third tale is in edit mode right now, and I’m on the back half of writing the Awake, with hopes that it’ll be ready to be swapped over to Nace’s hands when he is done with the The Tinker’s Tale.

The fifth story, The Fall, is going a little bit more smoothly because I have more time to work on it, and I knew better where that story was going.  It also doesn’t hurt that the plot is awesome.

Meanwhile, we are taking a step back to the Child of the Stars trilogy once more, because Leo is hard at work on the cover for Bindings of Fate!  We’re in the preliminary phase, where he’s working on sketches and we’re coming to agreement on what works best for the piece.  That looks like it’ll be right on schedule for a big May rerelease.

Side Project

I am always very tenuous when it comes to announcing a new project when it doesn’t pertain strictly to writing.  I’ve been working in the shadows with a couple other people though, and I think it’s time to reveal what else has been going on.

Those that have followed my blog for a while know that I’ve always been very passionate about games and game design.  I’ve often said that I wanted to bring a game into the mix for Tellest, and we’re getting to the point of late where one is starting to come together.

Now, we’ve been down this path before.  I’ve started preproduction on a title once upon a time and seen it fall to pieces.  This time though, I feel like something is a little different.  I’m working with another designer and artist, and he’s just as interested in the project as I am.

I don’t want to give away too many details just yet, because it is still early in preproduction, but it’ll highlight Steel Tip’s arrival on mainland Draconis, in the country of Daltain.

When we are ready for a big push, we’ll likely use the website as a kind of developer’s diary.  The fans of Tellest have been integral in just about everything we’ve done so far, and the game is likely going to need the same kind of sense of community.

Coming off the heels of what I’d consider a monumentally successful Kickstarter campaign, I’d be foolish not to try and secure the same kind of release structure for this game, so be on the lookout for details over the next few months regarding this development.

Other than that, it’s business as usual here at Tellest.  We’re still interested in how to best help out other writers, so the monthly writing prompts are continuing.  For now, we’re trying to set ourselves in place a little more firmly, and if that should go well, we’ll begin taking submissions for full length novels, but that’s still just a bit into the future.

Thanks everyone for making this the best year so far for us.  We can’t wait to bring more great stories and content your way!

The post State of Tellest, March 2014 appeared first on Tellest.