The Video Fan Game Nightmare: The Gate Cleaner

[Tyjan]

HEY! Who is cleaning up this filth?! STEP UP!



Based on an ancient joke by The Spoony Experiment, The Gate Cleaner is a fast-talking, sly boss that would sooner turn you on your co-workers than punish you himself. But be warned! Underneath that friendly exterior is the face of a ruthless, demeaning temper that's seen his share of work place accidents...and yours is just waiting to happen.

Cleanliness is next to godliness...and you'll be praying for him soon.

FEATURING:

-A full length expansion to the original Base game!
-New Time & Fate Cards!
-A full, custom soundtrack!

A project 2 months and more in the making, this was originally scheduled to come out on April Fools, but delays in filming cause me to have to push it to later this month. On top of that, I wanted to make my own music for it instead of relying on using the original tapes, as a lot of fan expansions tend to do.

There's no real ETA except for later this month, and I hope you all enjoy it once it's fully released!

[Tyjan]

Hey everyone!

Just wanted to give a quick update on the project here, as I've done a few over on the YouTube channel:

A whole bunch of things delayed the launch of Gate Cleaner, one of the more serious problems was two surgeries I had to go through. Nothing major, but if you've ever had surgery before you know you don't want to do a whole lot of anything afterwards.

I took a break from projects and social media for a bit so I could come back fighting fit, and I've been working on Gate Cleaner ever since.

Here's an estimate on everything that's done so far:

Video Editing: 99% complete - The only thing missing from the video itself is the music, but it's fully playable from beginning to end, complete with video and audio post effects. There's even a backdrop for the timer now, as originally there wasn't going to be one. However, I wanted the game to have that authentic Nightmare/Atmosfear feel, so I spent 30 minutes in a basement dripping water at different speeds.

Time & Fate Cards: 75% complete - Originally there were only 160 Time cards planned, just like the original board game and expansions. However, one of the gimmicks with Gate Cleaner is that you hold onto most of the cards instead of returning them to their packs if the time has expired, as occasionally the Gate Cleaner will ask how many Time Cards players have (Like having "punch cards" for work). Not only was this completely unbalanced in a test run (With someone winning within the first 8 minutes), but you could easily run out of Time Cards if 6 people were playing.

So a new solution was made: Add 40 more cards plus an extra 10 if you have the Skeleton Key from the 30th Anniversary Set, and re-balance a few so you couldn't win right out of the gate! Some of those rewrites are still being done, and I have to test it again once they're finished. But yes, there will be 210 Time Cards for the full release!

The amount of Fate cards is remaining the same 48, and you'll still use the Chance cards provided with the original board game!

Music: 45% complete - This is what I underestimated most. I've done music for my own projects and games in the past, but I've never created an entire hours worth of music before. It's been challenging, and I've stopped to listen to other music to get inspiration on how to proceed, but sometimes I just get stuck in a creative rut with no way to progress.

The music is the one thing holding back the project the most, but it's one of the things I'm most proud of having in this, instead of relying on the tracks from the original board games. I'm really looking forward to finally finishing it.

All of this to say that, even with real life issues getting in the way, I vastly overlooked how long this might take, even after spending a good chunk of February and March writing, filming, and editing a lot of it. There's no current ETA on when to expect it coming out, but I really do hope it's within a couple of months, with the music taking up most of that time. If you want to see some previews and updates on the project, check the channel linked above with the trailer, as I've shown sneak peeks on what you can expect from the game.

Thanks everyone for your patience as I work hard to get this fun passion project out! I hope you all enjoy it when it releases!

[Tyjan]

I'm back with another project update:

Video Editing: 99% Complete - Music is still missing from the finished released, but I recently rendered a version I plan to use for early play testing to make sure it's a (mostly) balanced and fun fan expansion!

I made a couple tweaks since the last post, and also added some new effects for the last 10 minutes of the video (along with a brand new effect for the last minute!) There's some odd mistakes I noticed, but I've since already fixed them and they'll be ready to go for the full release.

Time & Fate Cards: Finished! - In total, there are:

-200 Time Cards, plus the extra 10 Skeleton Key cards for the 30th Anniversary Set (Course nothing is stopping you from just making your own skeleton key and using it ).
-48 Fate Cards, plus an extra 2 as a difficulty modifier.

That's a grand total of 260 for this expansion alone!

Instruction Manual: Finished! - There's also now an instruction manual that was made to look like the original and expansions! You can view it in full here: Click here!

Music: 45% complete - There's been no progress because I wanted to get everything else finished up in time to start doing playtesting. Work will continue on it once that's done!

Now that I've mentioned it several times, yes: I plan on doing some playtesting in the near future! There will be two ways to participate:

1) The Good Old Fashioned Way: Download the cards and instructions, cut out all the Time and Fate cards, and play it using the original board game/30th Anniversary Set!

2) The Newfangled Way: With permission from Tank on Steam, I've taken to modding their release of the Nightmare Board Games on Tabletop Simulator to include Gate Cleaner as well! After a day learning how to use the program (which is mostly just lua scripts), it's playable! Here's a screenshot of it in action: Tabletop Simulator Preview

I'll post a video soon for people that want to playtest, and the only requirements will be:

1) You either own the original board game or Tabletop Simulator.
2) An email to let me know your thoughts, and if anything needs to be changed.

I'm finally nearing the end of this project I thought would be out months ago, and I can't wait to share the full release with everyone here!

[Tyjan]

The Gate Cleaner playtesting begins...now!



It's starts today, August 18th and ends on August 31st!

Be sure to watch the video and check the description if you're interested in playing it, either with a physically copy or through Tabletop Simulator!