Hi, everyone!

We’ve been hard at work and have loads of announcements and updates for you. Here’s what your support is making possible!

JOURNEYQUEST 4 & 5

Thanks to a combination of your support here and our recent Orcish Beefcake Calendar fundraiser, we’ve been able to raise enough to hire Matt Vancil to write Seasons 4 & 5 of JourneyQuest. So far Matt has delivered a treatment for Season 4 and is working on the treatment for Season 5. We’ve begun the budgeting process for the fourth season!

This is a six-month process that will hopefully have us ready to Kickstart Season 4 early next year.

WEEKLY GAMING IMPROV 

As you know, early this year we transitioned from monthly live improv to weekly livestreams in partnership with HyperRPG. The Hat Trick Pony team has completed dozens of episodes and is now in the middle of a canon story arc set in Fartherall, with Matt Vancil as gamemaster. You can catch up on the episodes to date at this link and view new episodes live on Mondays at 6 PM PST on twitch.tv/HyperRPG.

NEW PREMIUM CONTENT

Have you checked out the “Premium Video” section at ZombieOrpheus.com yet? We just added new fantasy films from Arrowstorm, The Forge, and an exclusive film for fans of AFK, “Serena’s Journey”. Plus of course the newest JourneyQuest and Gamers films!

Coming next to the platform: “Demon Hunters: S.O.L.”!

NEW PUBLIC CONTENT

We’ve also added season 1 of AFK to our public player! Coming soon? Standard Action, Walking in Circles, and Dark Darkness.

NEW PRODUCTION

Thanks to your support, we were able to fund an additional episode of Dead Gentlemen’s new Demon Hunters series, featuring the return of Duamerthrax the Indestructible. That episode shot last weekend and is now in post-production. We’re also finishing up post for a Ninetails introduction, a Gamers universe tie-in that opens our world up for fan-created stories.

NEW NODWICK

The November episodes of Aaron Williams’ The Gamers: Nodwick’s Story web comic are now up, exclusively for Patreon supporters. This is a great time to catch up on the back story! (Spoilers: we just found out what happened to one of Leo’s many extra Flynn the Fine character sheets.)

WHAT’S NEXT?

Our immediate task is delivering projects that have been shot. JQ3 fulfillment is almost complete (just dealing with unique cases now), DVD and Blu-ray authoring for Shadow Menace is in progress, the Strowlers pilot is in for a final audio mix, Strowlers Ireland is with the composer, Strowlers Mongolia is still editing, Demon Hunters: S.O.L. is still editing, and unfortunately, Wizard Wednesdays isn’t coming together in the edit and will not be released (at least not without reshoots).

As mentioned above, Matt is working on the JQ4&5 scripts. Ben and Larry will be starting soon on the sequel to The Shadow Menace, while new writer Nicole just turned in a third draft outline for the next Strowlers episode.

SPENDING & BUDGET

So how are your contributions being spent?

First, you’re keeping the lights on: we’re able to maintain the web page, server, storage unit, and part time support staff thanks to your support.

Next, we’re currently putting significant resources into developing JQ4 and 5 as quickly as possible. We’re also funding weekly episodes of Masters of the Metaverse, saving up so we can rent the gear to livestream to you from ZOECON in February, funding shoots like Gamers Live at Gen Con and Demon Hunters, and continuing to improve our web technology.

Given our backlog in post-production, we’re temporarily allocating more resources to digging out of that hole and completing current projects than to shooting monthly content.

THE FANTASY NETWORK

We’re also preparing to announce a partnership with Arrowstorm Entertainment and The Forge Entertainment to launch an independent fantasy network modeled on ZOE’s “Fan Supported” philosophy. The new content that we’ve added to ZOE Premium is the first step towards our goal of empowering independent fantasy filmmakers: a streaming video platform, a shared cinematic universe wiki, collaborative storytelling, and new ways to remix, share, and play within your favorite fantasy universes.

What are some of your favorite independent fantasy shows and what would you love to see available on our network?

TECHNOLOGY NOTE

Based on your input we have moved to links to premium content to display in the permanent “ZOE Premium” dropdown menu. You can use these links to access our premium streaming video, Nodwick’s adventures, and to log in with Patreon to our forums and wiki.