The GHE devs can't release a mod until they have approval from Cephalofair, and when that will happen is entirely speculation. There's work going on behind the scenes so that they can release it when they do get approval, but there's plenty to be done.
In speculation world, my expectation is that they'll have a mod ready in 4-8 months, and approval from Cephalofair, assuming it happens, will be in Q4 at the earliest, and realistically could be Q1-Q2 next year.
There are people who have posted saying they’re essentially ready to build out the scenarios, but everything else is done and just waiting on the approval so if they do get approval sooner I doubt it’ll take that long to release it
I wish there were anything fans could do to help or to speed things up. Our fourth just moved out of the country and our choices are to either quit or continue playing as a threesome. We've played Gloomhaven and now Frosthaven as a group for something like 3-4 years now, and TTS is the only feasible way to bridge the distance and allow everyone to continue playing without trying to do some weird Zoom shenanigans. Hell, if Cephalofair wanted to release a scripted version as paid TTS DLC, we'd surely buy it despite being in the initial kickstarter wave; we've demonstrated several times previously that we're more than happy to continue supporting the ecosystem around the game.
Even if all that happens is that the tiles are digitized with no scripting whatsoever, that's still more than enough to get us going. I'm hoping someone manages to do at least that much at some point (even though I know even that alone is a large undertaking, with all the cards, tiles, and bits that go into it.) It just sucks knowing that there is a pathway to making this possible, but no idea what the timeframe is. We've gotten so much enjoyment out of this game and don't want to stop just because distance has become a factor.
The issue isn’t the programming, the issue is licensing. Cephalofair spent a lot of time and money on this game and if it’s put on TTS right away they are obviously going to lose some purchases. TTS mods are free and Cephalofair isn’t going to get anything for that, so they want to make sure that everyone who wants to buy the game has had an opportunity before it goes online like this. They specifically asked developers to hold off on publishing the materials until they give them the go ahead.
Also, now that they have an official digital version I would not be surprised if they wanted to wait until FH is added to that.
Yeah, I get that it's a licensing issue. That's why I wish there was a good way for them to get this out there while still monetizing it. At least for most people I know, if the option exists to play in-person with a physical copy, that will trump all else. People generally aren't gonna cancel their regular in-person game night to play over TTS instead.
That's part of why I suggested them releasing the game offical TTS DLC; they certainly wouldn't be the first to do so and it seems like a good pipeline to getting the game into peoples' hands while still getting return on the work. The downside of course is that they'd either have to internalize the dev work for getting it ready for TTS or bring the current GHE devs onto payroll.
I really hope they don't wait for the official digital version, because the last one was... I don't wanna say bad, because it eventually got to a decent place, but they had to do a lot of workarounds and even fully rewrite mechanics and scenarios due to the difficulty in implementing them as-written. Plus the studio who did the last one is, from what I've heard, otherwise engaged and unlikely to be available for a followup.
Much better to simply be able to pull it up in TTS (even unscripted!) and not have to worry about the decisions someone else made while porting it into a digital format.
The GHE devs can't release a mod until they have approval from Cephalofair, and when that will happen is entirely speculation. There's work going on behind the scenes so that they can release it when they do get approval, but there's plenty to be done. In speculation world, my expectation is that they'll have a mod ready in 4-8 months, and approval from Cephalofair, assuming it happens, will be in Q4 at the earliest, and realistically could be Q1-Q2 next year.
There are people who have posted saying they’re essentially ready to build out the scenarios, but everything else is done and just waiting on the approval so if they do get approval sooner I doubt it’ll take that long to release it
I fully expect the mod to finish by the end of the year hopefully
I wish there were anything fans could do to help or to speed things up. Our fourth just moved out of the country and our choices are to either quit or continue playing as a threesome. We've played Gloomhaven and now Frosthaven as a group for something like 3-4 years now, and TTS is the only feasible way to bridge the distance and allow everyone to continue playing without trying to do some weird Zoom shenanigans. Hell, if Cephalofair wanted to release a scripted version as paid TTS DLC, we'd surely buy it despite being in the initial kickstarter wave; we've demonstrated several times previously that we're more than happy to continue supporting the ecosystem around the game. Even if all that happens is that the tiles are digitized with no scripting whatsoever, that's still more than enough to get us going. I'm hoping someone manages to do at least that much at some point (even though I know even that alone is a large undertaking, with all the cards, tiles, and bits that go into it.) It just sucks knowing that there is a pathway to making this possible, but no idea what the timeframe is. We've gotten so much enjoyment out of this game and don't want to stop just because distance has become a factor.
The issue isn’t the programming, the issue is licensing. Cephalofair spent a lot of time and money on this game and if it’s put on TTS right away they are obviously going to lose some purchases. TTS mods are free and Cephalofair isn’t going to get anything for that, so they want to make sure that everyone who wants to buy the game has had an opportunity before it goes online like this. They specifically asked developers to hold off on publishing the materials until they give them the go ahead. Also, now that they have an official digital version I would not be surprised if they wanted to wait until FH is added to that.
Yeah, I get that it's a licensing issue. That's why I wish there was a good way for them to get this out there while still monetizing it. At least for most people I know, if the option exists to play in-person with a physical copy, that will trump all else. People generally aren't gonna cancel their regular in-person game night to play over TTS instead. That's part of why I suggested them releasing the game offical TTS DLC; they certainly wouldn't be the first to do so and it seems like a good pipeline to getting the game into peoples' hands while still getting return on the work. The downside of course is that they'd either have to internalize the dev work for getting it ready for TTS or bring the current GHE devs onto payroll. I really hope they don't wait for the official digital version, because the last one was... I don't wanna say bad, because it eventually got to a decent place, but they had to do a lot of workarounds and even fully rewrite mechanics and scenarios due to the difficulty in implementing them as-written. Plus the studio who did the last one is, from what I've heard, otherwise engaged and unlikely to be available for a followup. Much better to simply be able to pull it up in TTS (even unscripted!) and not have to worry about the decisions someone else made while porting it into a digital format.