Out of Orbit

Overdue Updates and Project Status
5 months ago – Sun, Oct 05, 2025 at 11:25:28 AM

Hey everyone!

This summer has been wild... I've been working on a lot of new things now that I'm full-time in game design and taking on client work, and this has likely left a lot of you wondering about the status and... the ever-nearing delivery date of Out of Orbit. So, let's talk.

I want to recognize that my new ventures and work have pulled some attention away from OoO, but I want to assure you all that I've kept all the plates spinning, and things are right on track for getting Out of Orbit into a PDF, playable form for you very soon, with printed copies coming right after. Unfortunately, I'm still not comfortable giving out a final in-hand date until I have the layout finished.

As a result of some big changes to my daily schedule, transitioning from a full-time stay-at-home homeschool dad of two, to a full-time maker with kiddos in school a lot is shifting, and I'm still working out how to juggle all of these projects, both personal, Infinite Citadel, and freelance/collaborations. 

Project Status

We're in the final stretch for Out of Orbit.

The game is written, the cover is finished, and the brand and visual direction are decided. I just need some things off my plate so I can lock in and focus on the actual layout of the book. With Before the Bog God finished and going out the door, and a few other freelance projects finished, as well as the school year kicking off, I'm getting a lot of my time back from the summer schedule, and you'll begin seeing bi-weekly updates from me starting today.

This project is my greatest passion. All the other projects I've taken on have been to fuel this project. Every side-project, to sharpen my skills to bring back to my work, like Out of Orbit.

So what's the plan? I'm going to hunker down for the rest of the year, focus on my projects and get this game laid out and ready for print. You'll begin getting updates more regularly from me with visuals and updates showing off the book as it develops. I can't wait to show you what's in store.

GameHole Con is coming!

If you're headed to Madison WI on October 16th - 19th, I'll be there vending at Booth #21 with Goosepoop Games. I'll have copies of some of my games as well as helping my friend Jordan sell a whole host of incredible indie games from other creators in the space. If you're in the area, you should definitely make the time to visit the con for the day!

New Cover Art - Mörk Sol - Gen Con
7 months ago – Tue, Jul 22, 2025 at 05:56:14 PM

New Cover Art!

Making games for me is like jazz.
I might come into a jam session with a riff in mind—a few touchstones, strong influences, even a clear sense of what I want to make—but at the end of the day, I let the music guide me.

That’s exactly what happened with the cover art for Out of Orbit.

When I first put together the cover, it was born out of necessity. I had absolutely no idea what this game’s visual identity would become. Would it be pixel art and black-and-white like Battle School? I didn’t want to repeat myself. So I threw together a cover that checked off the big sci-fi boxes: some high-level vibes, a few character illustrations I’d been working on for the interior, and called it a day. I honestly didn’t think too hard about it.

Months later, as the game grew, I discovered its true feel: how important ecology, discovery, wonder, beauty, and horror all are to its tone. And when I looked back at that first cover... it just didn’t communicate any of that. Sure, it said sci-fi troupe game, but nothing more. That’s where my limits as an illustrator started to show. I’m still sharpening my axe, and the cover I was imagining was simply beyond what I could pull off alone.

So I called in the big guns.

I reached out to one of my favorite artists—someone whose work you might know from Magic: The Gathering, Square Enix’s NieR Replicant, and countless other incredible projects. Gax immediately got what I was going for and brought it to life beautifully.

And now, I’m thrilled to share it with you.

Meet the new cover of Out of Orbit.

See me at Gencon 2025!

I'll be working the IGDN booth at Gen Con in Indianapolis this year, so if you're attending the con, please come say, "hi!" I'll be at Booth 132 selling games and meeting folks. If you want to chat, pick up a physical copy of Gentlemages, or check out the other amazing games from the other members of IGDN come swing by.

Mörk Sol Pre-Launch

I'm stoked to be sharing more about my new partnership with the team at Infinite Citadel. We've announced our first Kickstarter, Mörk Sol, a faster-than-light Mörk Borg-inspired RPG set in a horrific galaxy consumed by entropic decay. It's rules-lite and vibe-heavy. A self-contained sci-fi horror game compatible with Mörk Borg and inspired by media like The Expanse, Alien, The Thing, and Dead Space.

The game focuses on space-faring & ship-to-ship combat. Aboard your Skip, you and your crew explore the Span, completing jobs & scavenging parts. Every windfall is a chance to upgrade your kit and trade for better Skip parts. And a better Skip means bigger jobs.

This is a project that was started by Conlin Durbin was later joined by Matt Best and has been in playtesting and development for the better part of two years. This thing is an incredible game and checks all of my boxes for a creative endeavor. When we started talking about collaboration, jumping in and helping out with art and creative direction was a natural fit for me once I joined the team. So here we are. I've been knee deep in this world, making art and building out the visual language for what is going to be a truly incredible book. Please go check out the Kickstarter pre-launch page and follow to get notified when it launches. 

Can't wait to share more after Gen Con. Stay tuned.

-Andrew

Updates + New Game Release!?!
9 months ago – Sat, Jun 14, 2025 at 01:19:03 PM

Updates!

Out of Orbit is moving forward full steam. The manuscript is locked. The 'game' is done. Now I just have to make it look good, read well, and get it printed. 

The biggest delay lately has been the state of the world and the questions of what is happening with tariffs, printing, and everything involved. That said, as it stands, we're still on schedule for getting the game complete and printed soon here. I'm currently preparing to attend Gen Con 2025, where I'll be selling copies of Battle School, two new smaller games (one that just launched, detailed below), and a new pamphlet adventure for Battle School by DNGN CLUB with art and layout by yours truly.

Gen Con

Yes, I'll be at Gen Con! And I would genuinely LOVE to meet you. I'll be working at the Indie Games Developer Network (IGDN) at Booth 132 if you wanna swing by and pick up any copies of my games, get a book signed, or just say, "hi!"

I've launched a new game!

Now, before y'all get out the pitchforks for launching a new game before delivering one I've crowdfunded... this is not even remotely on the scale of Out of Orbit, or even Battle School. This game and the other games I've been working on are a part of an effort to make smaller projects more regularly and to work on growing as a game designer outside of just TTRPGs. I'm incredibly proud of this game and would be honored for you to check it out.

Now, a little bit about this game...

Gentlemages of the Infinite Citadel is a d6 puzzle duel game where you face off against other mages, twisting your magics, warping your opponents' wards, all while rolling dice and hoping luck is on your side. If you're interested in checking it out, it's available for $5 to help support a growing game designer.

Additionally, I've joined forces with the incredible crew at Infinite Citadel, a new publishing co-op where we work on, create, and publish games together. Alongside Matt Best (Temperamental Upgrades, The Beckoning Dream) and Conlin Durbin (Temperamental Upgrades, MÖRK SOL) and a little bit of inspiration, this game came together in a few short weeks while I was hard at work on other projects. I hope you love it. There's a lot in store for it in the future.

So much progress!
10 months ago – Mon, Apr 21, 2025 at 09:47:11 AM

I've been behind on updates but not for a bad reason. I've been busy getting the game finished. About a month ago I sent off a completed manuscript for the full game to Will Jobst for editing. I've been so excited to work with Will on this and they're handing it back to me... TODAY!

Next step is for me to dive into the edits and make updates. Once that's done we've got our finished manuscript and I begin layout!

Here's our process thus far and what is still to-be-done.

Out of Orbit Production

DONE

• ~~Concept~~
• ~~Create the visual style for the game~~
• ~~Kickstarter~~
• ~~Update Entwine mechanics from Battle School for a more exploration-focused game that was less about combat~~
• ~~Create the camp mechanics and game loop between missions and camp~~
• ~~Lots of layout mockups and artwork made~~
• ~~finish rough draft and get developmental feedback~~
• ~~Finalize the manuscript and submit to editing~~

TO-DO

• Receive Manuscript from editor, Will Jobst, and apply edits finalizing the manuscript
• Begin layout and asses remaining art needs
• Create any digital assets for online play or print-and-play
• Send out early PDFs to backers for feedback
• Send the book to get a print proof to asses quality
• Apply feedback edits
• Send the final order of books for Kickstarter fulfillment

There's a TON more that will begin once the game is finished and sent to you on the business side for me, but hopefully that helps those of you curious about where the project is at. I cannot wait to get this game in your hands and I am incredibly proud of what this game is and how fun it is to play.

I'm going to be sending more regular updates now that the ball is back in my court and it is pretty much just up to me to get it done at this point. The only thing slowing me down is the freelance projects that I am doing to put food on the table.

Here's a more ambitious piece of art that I'm currently about 70% done with. I've found myself improving a lot and cant wait to show off all the artwork going in this book.

If you're interested in collaborating on a project or hiring me for a logo, illustration, TTRPG layout or writing, I'd love to chat and see if we can make something work. Please reach out at [email protected]

Stay tuned and please be patient. I'm way ahead of schedule and I'm doing everything I can to get the best product out as fast as I can for you all.

Reminder: Pre-Order Store is Live!

If you or a friend missed the Kickstarter, fret not, this book is happening and I'm excited to start taking pre-orders.

The price is a little bit higher for those of you coming in late, but hopefully not prohibitively so. There's a lot of costs that go into making this game and that only continues to grow.

Please consider sharing or Pre-Ordering Out of Orbit. It's set to come in Fall 2025 or sooner.

-Andrew Beauman

Timeline, Musings + Pre-Order
12 months ago – Mon, Mar 17, 2025 at 03:55:07 PM

What an incredible Campaign

This campaign was incredible. I'm hard at work now getting everything squared away to get this game to you as soon as possible. I've got things estimated to get to your doorstep this fall but I'm cranking through stuff and hoping to deliver it as soon as possible.

What is next?

In short:
- Playtesting
- Artwork
- Rules finalization
- Editing with Will Jobst
- Layout

I've had an incredible time getting to run and enjoy my own game, crazy right? The incredible people over at Tales of Initiative, people in the GateBreak server, and people from the One Shot's Tavern community have been huge in providing mechanical feedback and time to playtest and it's going super well.

The biggest stuff I'm learning about the game is, "feel" and finding ways to codify and encourage a specific type of play without forcing it. Similar to my inspiration from Microscope, it is a far more collaborative game than I even initially envisioned. I'm not prepping at all for the playtests, and relying on the creativity of the players and asking them questions.

Moments of Beauty, Horror, and Mystery

One of the earliest revelations I had about the game was that it was about facilitating moments of Beauty, Horror, and Mystery. Those words have become a tonal backbone. Let me explain using LOST as an example:

Moments of Beauty

Being stuck in a strange place, with little reprieve from the desperation of survival weighs heavy on you. In LOST, Hurley sensed this and made a golf course for survivors of Flight 815 to cut loose, relax, and enjoy the gorgeous island environment in which they were stuck. 

I think finding the beauty in the human experience, in enjoying nature, and the purity of it all is important. A big part of this game is about creating an alien world together full of strange ecology. That can be beautiful and truly special. In the incredible show Scavengers Reign, of which Out of Orbit shares a lot of narrative DNA, we get genuinely beautiful, intimate, and human moments between Azi and Levi that come from being together. 

Moments of Horror

Oh, the Smoke Monster... One of the first things that made LOST weird and special. The crashing of trees in the distance, is it a T-Rex? Nope... something far more strange and unknowable. Horror is a genre both foreign and near and dear to me. I've never been a huge horror buff... unless it was Scifi, then I was all in. But as an adult, I've come to learn so much of what Horror can provide on reflecting on the dark side of what it means to be human and what it means to live in community with other humans.

In Scavenger's Reign, they do this through the deeply interconnected ecosystem. This world cares not for the people that have crashed here and sees them as meat more than anything. The lifeforms that we see all exist somewhere on the spectrum of symbiosis and parasitism. Nothing exists without a deep relationship to the world around it. Creatures puppeteering other life forms, growing on their backs of them, stewarding and pastoring smaller lifeforms that provide for them somehow. It's all connected, but it is deeply horrifying when humans get in the mix.

Moments of Mystery

Mystery is the reason we keep looking. The unknown is a quantum question of, "will it reveal beauty or horror." Humans are deeply curious, often to their own detriment, but there is something deeply special in that pursuit, and sometimes the not-knowing. Mystery and the answers it implies is what I think keeps people coming back. Hundreds of questions, and a handful of half-answers.

Thanks for entertaining a bit of my musings on the game so far. I'm truly falling in love with it.

Pre-Order Store is Live!

If you or a friend missed the Kickstarter, fret not, this book is happening and I'm excited to start taking pre-orders.

The price is a little bit higher for those of you coming in late, but hopefully not prohibitively so. There's a lot of costs that go into making this game and that only continues to grow.

Please consider sharing or Pre-Ordering Out of Orbit. It's set to come in Fall 2025 or sooner.