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Metal Heroes and the Fate of Rock: A Rock/Comedy Gamebook

Created by Swen Harder

Bring the world's loudest gamebook on air! [ENGLISH HARDCOVER EDITION]

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Hard Cover Paradox, After Show Update #4
about 3 years ago – Fri, Mar 26, 2021 at 11:22:20 PM

Finally, Metal Heroes supporters

here we are with the latest news for all people waiting for a (possible) hardcover edition of Metal Heroes and the Fate of Rock.

We know there are many people out there hoping for a hardcover edition. (The result of the small survey we did two months ago… 106 persons replied, 76 of which said “yay!” to a hardcover. While this is a strong majority of people who answered, it may not represent the majority of all backers pledging for this campaign.) We've had long discussions about this issue, and you can believe us, we want such an edition, too.

Unfortunately, after contemplating all our options it looks like there’s no easy or perfect solution for this matter. For one, the total number of books is far too little to produce both versions, a soft and a hardcover (besides, we would have to design and proof two different 740+ pages books). Additionally, making a hardcover will result in a thicker book and different dimensions for the Special Edition boxes (which are already produced).

So what can we do? Well, bringing a hardcover to life will only work if we upgrade ALL books to hardcover and print ALL boxes anew. This would result in extra costs of approximately 3-4 Euros per book. But of course, we can't force our backers to spend any extra money. Y'all have backed a successful campaign and you will get your Metal Heroes stuff as promised!

Help making Metal Heroes even HARDER! (Hardcover Edition)

So how can we still handle it fair and transparent?
The only way to do it is to run another 21-days-quick'n'dirty-campaign to upgrade ALL books to hardcover! The funding goal for this purpose is 1,800 Euros (including fees and taxes). This way we also give new backers the chance to chip in (maybe circumstances are better for the the project now than they were in November) and thus help us fund our hardcover edition.

For you, the original backers, it means you will have two options:

1. I want to help make this gamebook even harder!
>> Wait until the new campaign is set-up and pledge there at least as HARD ROCKER* (3 Euros).

2. Sorry, I don’t care about the hard cover!
>> Just ignore the new campaign.

In the end, if the new campaign is successful, the backers who pledged in it are charged with the bit of extra money, and all backers get their books as hardcover editions. And in case the campaign fails, well, everything stays as it is and nobody gets hurt.

Alrighty then, when does the new campaign start?
Currently we're in the process of preparing this second campaign. We will let you know when the time has come to kick it off!

We hope you can agree this solution is the best for everyone!

 Swen + FuFu


*) Minimum pledge level. Of course it will be possible to pledge more, if you wish to.

Here I Write Again, After Show Update #3
about 3 years ago – Sun, Feb 14, 2021 at 11:01:28 AM

Hey Metal Heroes supporters!


Just a small update, what’s going on behind the stage…

Right now, I’m working on the implementation of the bonus songs and the extra sections. As you can imagine, it’s not easy to work these new elements into the structure of a finished gamebook, but it’s so exciting and enjoyable to revisit the Metal Heroes and their adventures again! Thank you all for giving me this opportunity.

To all you die-hard hardcover fans: FuFu and I are still working for a fair solution! I can’t go too much into detail now, but I’m sure everyone should be satisfied if our idea works out. (This is the reason why the Pledge Manager hasn’t opened for backers yet, just in case you were wondering.)


That’s enough for today. Rock on!

Swen

Hit Us With Your Best Shot, After Show Update #2
about 3 years ago – Sun, Jan 17, 2021 at 11:27:05 PM

Welcome to the first Metal Heroes update of 2021!

First of all, happy new year to all of you. I hope you are well! Okay, without further ado, here is the latest from the Metal Heroes project.


Wallpaper

As promised, I prepared the wallpapers with the Metal Heroes cover art in different resolutions for all 246 backers (and the rest of the rockin’ world). You may download it for your desktops, tablets and smartphones.

Get your "Metal Heroes" and "Rider of the Black Sun" desktop wallpaper in different ratios and resolutions!

As a little extra goodie, I did the same with the cover art of my first gamebook Rider of the Black Sun.


Hall of Fame Portraits

I have sent a message to all backers, who are qualified to be portrayed in the Hall of Fame of the book. Please provide FuFu an appropriate metal photo of yourself in high resolution.


UK and the Pledge Manager

With New Year’s Eve the United Kingdom has left the building of the European Union. Besides all the discussions and fears, most importantly for us the DHL fixed their shipping prices to the independent island!

The costs are now in between EU and non-EU countries (they are the same as for Switzerland). I’ve added a new Shipping Region to the Pledge Manager to take the new circumstance into account and to make it as fair as possible.

Talking of the Pledge Manager: Before going live, it will have to undergo some more days of preparation and testing. Please stay patient.


New Illustrations

I prepared a wish list of new illustrations for FuFu. The new panel sequences will show action scenes, mystical moments and fools alike. And I’m pretty excited how the new stuff will fit in the existing art work! FuFu will give you progress reports concerning the illustrations in future updates.


Rock on and take care,

Swen

The Number of the Feast, After Show Update #1
over 3 years ago – Sun, Dec 13, 2020 at 11:15:45 AM

Hello Heroes supporters,

this little update is in response to questions about the PRODUCER pledge posed in the comments/update sections yesterday. We're answering in this way as it might be of interest to many of you.

The truth is, the PRODUCER pledge was once planned as a small goodie (a beer mat with the MH logo), but we’ve changed our mind about it, while the campaign reached its final week, because the stretchgoal for the numbered Backstage Pass was out of reach at that point and IMO this one gives the special edition much more value than the planned beer mat.

It’s true, we promised the extra for “every” book, so we’ll add the Backstage Pass for the 22 backers who went just for a regular edition (but without a number), as well. We hope this decision is in your favor.

And we want to take the opportunity to announce that the Metal Heroes pledge manager for late pledges and all add-ons will start in mid January to get everything set and done properly.

We wish all of you very happy holidays and a rockin’ new year!

Swen + FuFu

God gave Rock'n'Roll to You! END OF CAMPAIGN
over 3 years ago – Tue, Dec 01, 2020 at 01:38:43 PM

Hey, Heroes supporters!


That’s it! We made it. 246 backers funded our special gamebook project Metal Heroes and the Fate of Rock with 9,322 Euros! Many thanks to all who shared, liked and backed this. YOU ROCK!

To be honest, we were hoping to reach a five digit number (as you can tell from the stretch goal list), but don’t get us wrong, in the end, we’re happy with the outcome. These are difficult times. Many people have better things to do than support a crazy gamebook.

And… the opportunity to support the Metal Heroes project won’t end tonight! Remember, this time we’ve got a pledge manager, which lets you add more stuff, and newcomers can get their copy as a late pledge.

I’ll send another update concerning the pledge manager later, when everything is set and done. This will take a while, so please be patient.

I'm well aware many of you hoped and waited for a hardcover stretch goal, like we did with the Rider of the Black Sun campaign. Well, unfortunately this time the funding just wasn’t high enough. Some of you probably think:

What’s the problem, just make a soft and a hardback, give the backers the option to back the edition they want, and add some bucks to the hardcover costs?

Well, it’s not that simple with Metal Heroes. The Special Edition box has the perfect size to fit in the book we produced already in Germany and all the Bonus content (as you can see in the unboxing video). Fitting a hardback in the box isn’t possible. The only solution would be to make a new bigger box, which is really expensive (and printing just a few hundred hardcover books isn’t cheap either). I hope you understand our dilemma. But… we'll discuss if there's something we can do about this in the next weeks, maybe we’ll find a solution—no promises though.

As a final thing for today, here's a very special little clip we decided not to widely use for promotion while the campaign was still running. It’s sad and somehow motivating at the same time. (Music used with kind permission of Napalm Records.)

What a ride! Good night!

Swen + FuFu