Congratulations, Competitor [795] you have successfully completed the Crowdfunding Phase of Deathmatch Island. In the next several weeks you will receive a small, vacusealed packet containing a personal recording device, a two-way shortwave radio transponder, and an electric airsoft gun armed with non-lethal neurotranquilizing rounds. Your transponder will begin to beep when another Competitor is within a 3km (1.86 mile) radius. Eliminate that Competitor in order to advance to the next round.
-Excerpt from a rejected Production draft of this Campaign Update. The intern responsible has subsequently been reassigned.

Hey friends, thank you so much for backing Deathmatch Island. Tim has worked tirelessly to make this game striking, subversive, and fun. We're grateful to see his hard work recognized by your outpouring of support and we know you're going to have a great time playing.

What Happens Next

Most of the next steps happen behind the scenes. Over the next week or two, BackerKit will process pledges and transfer the initial funds to us. (If you missed out on an add-on or want to upgrade your pledge, don't worry - that will be possible when we shift into Pledge Manager mode.)

On our side, the book is text complete and Tim has put together the final art. So while there's still a bit of work to be done, in very short order we'll be gearing up to start the back-and-forth process of submitting print files, reviewing galleys, etc.

If you've never backed an Evil Hat crowdfunding campaign, we do our best to deliver on time or ahead of time.

Our most recent crowdfunding effort, Girl By Moonlight funded in June of 2023, was scheduled for delivery in January of 2024, and actually completed fulfillment at the end of October 2023.  (In fact, it's in stores now.)

So while delivery of Deathmatch Island is set for June of 2024, we're hopeful that - barring supply chain disruptions, printer meltdowns, or [REDACTED] - we will get your books and other rewards out before then.

We'll keep you updated here along the way. In the meantime, you still have the text-complete rules PDF and access to the Roll20 Quickstart (and Roll20 character sheets). You're ready to begin exploring Deathmatch Island right now.

(And don't forget the Deathmatch Island-themed Zoom backgrounds and digital wallpapers we unlocked as part of the Instant Reward at the $150k mark. Those are ready to go and available for download today.)

In terms of the stretch goals, the work on those is just beginning. Shortly we'll be sending out final contracts to get creation of those rewards underway.

A quick reminder: the stretch goals will be delivered separately from the physical book. We don't have definitive dates for the new Islands or the Official Soundtrack, but we'll likely release them in batches as they are complete. They will be electronic rewards only and we'll automatically add them to your BackerKit Digital Download page as they become available.

Thank You

We count on the enthusiasm and trust of fans like you to help shepherd new games into our portfolio and get them out into the public. We thought Deathmatch Island was a fascinating, contemporary spin on the AGON ruleset and we were awestruck by Tim's incredible design. You clearly agreed and now Deathmatch Island is going to be a reality. 

We're grateful for your help in making that happen. Winners Play to Win. Thank you for not Breaking the Game.