One-Hit Heroes – Co-op Boss Battles With Only 1 HP!

Happy new year!
21 days ago – Wed, Jan 15, 2025 at 08:26:24 AM

Hey, hope you have a great 2025! Here's our monthly update for One-Hit Heroes:

Production Complete

We are now finished game production — this means your copy of One-Hit Heroes is officially real! The next step is to actually get your game to you, so the factory is working on booking ocean freight to our depots. We're on track to begin fulfillment in March as promised.

Design Process: New Heroes...?

Season 1 of One-Hit Heroes took more than 3 years of development... our goal is to make sure you don't have to wait that long for the next instalment! To keep momentum as best as we can, we've already started designing out some new Heroes in advance. Want to see a first look at some designs?

• Archaeologist
  • Gets empowered in different ways depending on what's in your discard pile.
  • I'm designing this one to have a lot of 'discovery' moments, where you can find ways to dig up extra value from your cards with a bit of extra planning.
• Engineer
  • Turrets!
  • Currently inspired more by Risk of Rain 2 than TF2, I want an entire Hero dedicated to managing 1-2 turrets that fight alongside you.
• Giant Battery Backpack
  • Charge up and spend energy to supercharge your abilities.
  • I'm so excited to experiment with this Hero that I'm tempted to write a whole design diary just about the possibilities. The short story is that you'll have extra control over gaining/spending Energy, and cards that give/use Energy will be particularly strong  for you.
• Jetblades
  • Roll the Hero Die to deal lots of damage just for being evasive!
  • This one's designed for people who like to play it safe. This Hero rewards you for drafting defensive cards so you can go full support while still dealing great damage.
• Whipsword
  • Stance dance between whip form and sword form, letting you lean into damage or longevity depending on your Aggro level.
  • To be honest, my prompt for this one was "Whipswords are awesome". I believe the best way to represent dual forms is for your cards to have different effects depending on how close you are to the enemy. 

Which would you want to try first? Or do you have your own dream weapon/fighting style you have on your wish list?

See you next month!

Cheers,

AC Atienza and the Wiggles 3D Team

Happy Holidays!
about 2 months ago – Mon, Dec 16, 2024 at 09:51:17 AM

It's another fine day!

Detail Orientation

Everything has been locked in, and production is under way! Our manufacturer worked through all One-Hit Heroes specs to make sure that you get the most optimized game possible, and the whole process is moving right along within our expected timelines.

Looking at this timeline, a reasonable thing to ask might be... what exactly is happening between October and December? We had already finished game design way back in September, after all, and October was basically just graphic design. 

Well, after envisioning the perfect game, there are a whole bunch of new questions that come up when bringing One-Hit Heroes from the cognitive realm to the physical. Below is a very small sample of the dozens of decision points we worked through over the last few months:

• Planning for Multiple Use Cases: How can we design card trays so that both sleeved and unsleeved cards can fit nicely without things sliding around in the box? (Check out Stonemaier's poll for interesting statistics!)
  • To resolve this, we aimed for a slotted design that gives just a bit of extra flexibility in the tray for sleeved cards. Part of the solution involved making the tray tall enough to hold cards snugly and keep them from flying around the box, while still giving room for your fingers to grab and remove the cards.
• Optimizing Satisfaction: Does it feel more satisfying to open the Episode Box if the card packs are stored within the tray, or "hidden" below it?
  • We first tested card packs below the tray, but our testers consistently asked if they opened the box incorrectly (or if we packed the box incorrectly) for card packs to fall out. So we decided to nestle the packs into the Episode Box tray itself with the bosses.
• Packaging Logistics: Individually wrapped boss card decks could waste a lot of plastic. Given our space constraints, how can we manage the decks to improve first-time setup?
  • Our manufacturers have a limit to how few cards they can wrap together, nixing the option of individually-wrapped boss decks. So we went with wrapping bosses 1-2 and bosses 3-4 with each other, then splitting those decks within the Episode Box. 
  • Our top priority was ensuring that everything was packaged to make setting up each boss as fast as possible with minimum sorting and maximum intuition.
• Predicting Preferences: Is it better to have a shallower token tray with a weaker lid, or a deeper one with a stronger lid? Does the answer change if we anticipate that the majority of players will pour out tokens instead of keeping them in the tray?
  • In physical playtests, most players immediately poured the tokens out onto the table. The most common play pattern across different tray types (i.e. our default deep tray vs the shallow+wider Ares Expedition tray) was the same: players eventually began to keep separate piles as their own supply, rather than reaching into the tray each time. 
  • With these findings, we decided to keep the deeper and sturdier tray: the lid can be a bit 'deeper' this way, making it better for storage, and the tray takes up less box space.

When self-publishing games, it's pretty exciting to have so much control. But it's also challenging to navigate a hundred tiny decisions at once. The above questions have variable impact on the end product — surely the order of cards within a pack has minimal impact? — but decisions have to be made about each of them anyway, and we want to ensure we're making the best ones each time.

One thing I've learned from our logistics director Pete is that the physical construction process, just like designing game mechanics, requires a clear and bold vision of what a game should be. Without vision, instead of making something awesome for a certain group, we'd end up with a game that's just middling for everyone. 

But thanks to your communication and enthusiasm throughout this Kickstarter, you've made it clear how we can make this game as awesome as possible for you. We've already crested the crunchy decisions at this point, so now it's just a matter of time until your copy of One-Hit Heroes is built and ready to ship out to you.

Happy Holidays,

AC and the Wiggles 3D Team

All Good Here + New Design Diary
3 months ago – Tue, Nov 12, 2024 at 12:18:29 PM

Greetings, Heroes!

I'll start off with a simple game update:

All One-Hit Heroes files were already sent to the factory last update, and nothing surprising has come up since then. Our manufacturer is processing the order within expected timelines. So we don't have details to share at this point of the journey, but that's a good thing — it means everything is still on track to ship out next March as planned.

In the meantime, I've written out a new designer diary for your behind-the-scenes peek at One-Hit Heroes. Click below to read it!

Design Diary: Designing Difficulty

I’d like to hear your thoughts on difficulty preferences - do you play your games at the default challenge, or do you lean more towards story mode / hard mode? Let me know, and talk to you soon!

Cheers,

AC

Files Sent, Box Tray Changes and a Sneak Peek
4 months ago – Tue, Oct 01, 2024 at 07:33:34 AM

Hello, it's another fine day!

Files Are Off!

We've officially sent our game files to the factory, which means manufacturing is set to begin. We're still working out a few other bits — primarily, ensuring the tray can hold sleeved cards — but once that's handled we'll be well on our way to on-schedule production.

Here's a look at our new box tray, with a deeper well to hold sleeved Armory cards, and an extra Hero Slot to house the DO66-0 you built!

And here is a labeled diagram so you can get a better idea of how things are arranged:

What's Next?

Our team member in charge of logistics, Pete, is currently managing the next step of the journey, which is the "Make the game actually exist" part. This involves processing your BackerKit surveys to prepare the factory for manufacturing, verifying components and costs, and making sure we print enough games. This also requires co-ordinating shipping details as far out as we can realistically manage, so that copies are split between the appropriate warehouses with enough buffer to replace damaged copies or accommodate anyone moving addresses. There always needs to be some flexibility, but planning out as much as possible will ensure that you get your games when you expect them.

Yes, all this focus on the manufacturing side means that game design for One-Hit Heroes: Season One is finished here! So while Pete is ensuring One-Hit Heroes can physically get to you, Connor and I have been able to get the ball rolling on a handful of other projects. Here are some of our future plans...

• Your lemonade stand vs the apocalypse
• Whipswords, jet skates, turrets and more... but just one health
• Returning to a certain real-time co-op game

Looking forward to sharing more soon!

Cheers,

AC Atienza
Wiggles 3D

Pledge Manager Closing Tomorrow!
5 months ago – Thu, Aug 29, 2024 at 08:57:01 AM

Hello backers!

As we announced in our previous update, tomorrow is the day we close the BackerKit surveys! We will do so on August 30 at 12:00 pm (noon) EDT. We are still on schedule to fulfill orders by March 2025, as planned.

Thanks to all of you who have already completed your BackerKit surveys. For those of you who haven’t, please take a moment to do so right away! If you're still hoping to add games or other items to your order, this is your last chance.

What happens when we close surveys?

Your items and quantities will be locked, so you will no longer be able to change your order or add any new items. This is an essential step so we can finalize our order quantities and begin production!

Also, your credit card on file will be charged for any funds still owing, including shipping charges, taxes, and any add-ons.

How can I review what items I added, and find out how much I'll be charged on Friday?

Just go back to your survey, and click the "Edit Your Order" at the top right to see your order details.

What if I never got my survey, or need a new link to it?

You can always go to https://onehitheroes.backerkit.com and enter the e-mail address linked to your Kickstarter account to have BackerKit e-mail you a new link to your survey. If you no longer have access to the e-mail address you used, or if the link isn't coming through, just e-mail us at [email protected] and we'll help you out.

What if I miss the deadline?

Your survey will remain open until you complete it, but we can’t guarantee availability of games or add-ons for backers who complete their surveys after the deadline. So please take a moment and complete your survey as soon as you can!

What if I need to change my address later?

Even after Friday, you’ll still to be able to access your survey to change your address... you just won't be able to add or change items. Once we get closer to our ship date, we’ll send out another update to let you know that we’re about to finalize addresses.

I’m a Late Pledge Backer. Do I still need to complete a survey?

If you placed an order on the Late Pledge Store after the Kickstarter ended, you’ve already provided all the information we need... no need to complete a survey.

I need help completing my survey!

If you ever need assistance or have questions about anything, just send us a Kickstarter message or email us at [email protected]. We're here to help!

Thanks for all your support, and have a great weekend!

-The Wiggles 3D Team