Miru 3 comes to Kickstarter Feb 20. Follow the campaign here to help us launch on day one with a bang. May Alora be with you.
Let’s go back to the beginning and see how we got here.
On August 16th 2022 we launched Miru on Kickstarter during their zinequest event.
I had heard about zinequest back in May or so, and I spent most of the summer putting Miru together. Born from my frustration of never getting to play D&D. I never could find the time they wanted for me to create my character, it felt like it was gonna take a day or 2 to lock that down and then a month from there to schedule me into their campaign. I know now, how silly that is, but at the time that was my only experience and interaction with D&D and TTRPGS.
So I made a solo adventure game. Roll some dice, manage your inventory, stumble into dangerous, and sometimes funny, situations, draw a map, and try to kill a god. I had a blast while playtesting it and after 2 short weeks of campaigning, 576 people changed my life.
Once Miru was funded, the next task was to solve all the business logistics of being an artist in the modern world. There are solutions out there, but they cost money I still don’t have and so I just put my head down and brute forced my way through international shipping, taxes, setting up a website, shipping 300 orders from my studio apartment, getting 500 copies of miru printed, only for them to arrive covered in yellow ink spots, and then getting them reprinted all while slowly building up a social media presence on a platform that is now sinking. (started a discord & made a font as well)
Kickstarter changed the zinequest date from August to February, pretty last minute. I remember getting a notice about it in December, giving everyone about a month to prepare for the February zinequest. I knew the Miru story had to continue (I just thought I had more time to think about it), so I put my head down and got to writing.
On February 21, 2023 we launched Miru 2. The adventure continues but things get scarier. I revamped the layout this go around, added a few more mechanisms that were backwards compatible with Miru 1, and did my best to make it an experience you can jump right into without playing the first game. We worked with international fulfillment partners for the first time. We made a soundtrack and got it printed on a real minidisc! 878 folks backed the campaign.
Miru 2 really leveled up Mimic Publishing. We ordered 4000 copies of Miru 1 and Miru 2 combined during that print run. I had to arrange for a palette delivery to my apartment complex. We moved a week before the books arrived, and even though our new place was bigger (We had to get roommates, rent is wild here) the packages we shipped out for the kickstarter completely took over our living room again.
Since then, I’ve been developing a number of other games, learning as a designer, and playing a ton of games. I went to my first gaming convention, Pax Unplugged, I met members of our discord and Miru won an award! How wild is that??
Which brings us to now.
On February 20th, 2024 we will launch Miru 3 on kickstarter during their zinequest event. We don’t want to spoil too much for those who haven’t played the first two books, but be prepared for an uphill battle in this one. Killing a god was never going to be easy. This is the last book in the Miru series and our last campaign during zinequest. I love the staple-bound low ink A5 format. (Miru 3 will also be a zine, mono-color adventure book) But I’m hoping to stretch my legs this campaign a little.
Besides the last chapter of the Miru books, we’re also making a box collection. This box has enough space to hold all the miru books and can be placed on your shelf with pride (I hope!) It’s not just an empty box though, it also comes with 80 hex tiles, 3 dice, 150 cardboard item tokens, and a player board to manage all 3 of your miru experiences. It essentially turns the Miru series into a board game. Our goal was to eliminate the need for a pen, but players are invited to pick and choose what they wish to use.
We’re also offering a box of metal coins (Bitliths from the miru books!) and a deck of multi-use playing cards. (This includes 3 games that feature solo modes using cards and coins) Our goal with this box was to offer folks playing Miru a premium experience by using real metal coins as they play, but we’ve also designed this box to be for folks who aren’t interested at all in Miru. The metal coins & cards can be used for any board game or tabletop experience or as a game night experience all on its own.
Just like with the past miru campaigns, the first 100 backers (physical tier) will get a free enamel pin. Continuing the Human series, we’re making The Engineer. Once I get better at drawing, I’ll make a little comic about them. The characters we’ve been making pins of are involved with the beginning and ending of the Miru series and I’d love for you to learn more about em’.
The other incentive we have for backing, is more of a long term bet with us at Mimic Publishing. The Cards & Coins box and the Miru Hex kit will each come with a metal coin that can be used as a $100 coin in the Cards & Coin box. We plan to do that with our KS campaigns going forward, including the coin for free with a game. It’ll be available after the campaign for folks who missed the Kickstarter.
Thanks for coming on this little journey with me back in time. We hope to see you at the launch of Miru 3! Thank you so much for your support over the years and may Alora be with you.