Bags out, money in! The heist seems to be going off without a hitch, which is curious, don’t you think? I mean, all that money just sitting there unguarded? Clearly some guards are in dereliction of their duty — or maybe they’re otherwise occupied elsewhere in the embassy? Guess we’ll find out what’s happening soon enough!

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So, I have some good news and bad news for our friends planning to swing by our Boston Comic Con table this August. Unfortunately, it appears Beyond the Western Deep: Volume 2 won’t be ready in time for Boston. It will be there by Hartford ComicConn, and if we can land a table at New York Comic Con it will most certainly be there as well.

The good news is that we’re planning to refresh all of our merchandise in the coming months, so all of our convention-goers will have a chance to grab new prints (including a Song of the Eastern Sands print by Jerome), new bookmarks, and our very first Beyond the Western Deep t-shirt!

Speaking of which, we’re still ruminating on a design for it. If you could have any Western Deep t-shirt design, what would you prefer?

Let us know in the comments!

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Interview!

A few months ago, I had the opportunity to answer some questions from Western Deep reader Garrett Simpson and chat about the comic, my career in game development, all sorts of fun things!

You can check out the interview by clicking on this link!

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PAX East!

Last week I was fortunate enough to attend PAX East in Boston alongside the League of Geeks crew, showing off Armello to the greater gaming populace! Fortunately, Armello shows off rather nicely, because the art team is freaking magnificent and those classically-animated trailers are amazing.

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We were also showing off the quirky PS4 title Push Me, Pull You which is being co-developed by League of Geeks and hits the PS Store next week. It’s… well, it’s a little weird! But it’s also a self-sustaining smile generator, which makes it all worth it.

Also at PAX East was the upcoming Tooth and Tail, which I’ve shared a little bit of information on in the past. Jerome is creating character art for the game, which helped to bring in a TON of people to the booth.

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The game itself is a fast-paced RTS that you can play in about 5 minutes. It’s going to be amazing, and will lead to some incredible competitive play (I foresee a lot of great Twitch channels devoted to it)!

Lore-wise, the pitch is basically as follows: If Redwall took place in medieval times, imagine what that world looks like during the Russian Revolution. Well, that sold me. It’s not exactly 1:1 of course — but if you’ve ever wanted to know what happens when you pit an army of temerarious squirrels drunk on acorn vodka against a minigun-wielding badger, this is your game!

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Also, I think I deserve bonus points for bringing back the word “temerarious” in a description about pistoleer squirrels fighting what is basically the mustelid equivalent of a Heavy from Team Fortress 2.

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Jerome also gets the spotlight this week for some fun ensemble artwork he put together a couple weeks ago. It started off as a movie poster-style piece of the cast of Song of the Eastern Sands. But, in typical Jerome fashion, other characters decided to sneak into the piece. First Cain and Yurk bombed the group shot. Then Clovis and Hardin. Then Dak, Quin, and Kenosh swung in. The gang’s all here!

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I love this piece and everyone in it. All of these characters are treats to write, and seeing them come together for one epic (and hilariously hectic) photoshoot is a ton of fun. Bouncing their personalities against one another is fun in writing, but seeing it come across in the art is a completely different beast.