First I would like to say thank you for the kind words about Emerging Forms. It's always good to hear that people enjoyed the fruits of creative labor.
Where has Primal Urge Games been? It's a familiar story, changes in life eating away at precious time. I went back to software consulting which stole some time. When not at clients, home projects beckoned. I also decided to start working on a novel (and yes, the races in Emerging Forms play a role), which is still being worked on. Finally, I got sucked into the ultimate time sapper, MMOs.
This leads to the question: Is Primal Urge Games dead. The answer to that is an emphatic no. Since the beginning of the year, I have been going through the process of converting the company form a solo effort to a partnership. The initial direction of this new effort is different from the older path of the company. Initially, we will be working on software (everyone involved in the company has extensive experience in software engineering).
Does this mean that the older lines will be left behind? To answer that question, I think it prudent to first give a little bit of my background. My first college degree is in Anthropology. Unfortunately, the jobs for a professional anthropologist are few and far between. My wife (my girlfriend at the time) suggested I look at computer science since I had always been good with computers. So I went back to school, got my computer science degree, and have been in the field since. But I've always considered computer science to be something that pays the bills. My first love has remained the study of diverse cultures, which is why Emerging Forms was always such a joy to write.
The Emerging Forms line will change going forward, but in the long term I see the changes as being good for the line. These are the changes I foresee:
First, I will be working with Mark Gedak to get the OGC for the existing races into the Grand OGL Wiki. I wanted to convert the old races to the OGL and get them available as PDFs again, but this seems like a better solution given my current time constraints.
Second is the release a "new" race some time this summer. This race has been a long time coming. It uses artwork from Brad McDevitt which was conditioned shortly before the last of the Emerging Forms books was released. They are probably closest to the Alratheen and Xeshaal in their unusual nature, possessing a physical form far removed from what we are used to (I know, it's cruel to tease, but I think everyone will be pleased when they finally arrive, GodBeasts in tow
).
Third will be the creation of new races. By the end of the summer the initial growing pains for the changes to Primal Urge Games should be ending, and I can focus on new races again. Right now I have a large store of potential races (on the scale of 100+) which need to be narrowed down. I will probably be posting polls where the community can narrow down the races to what they would like to see next.
So once again, thank you for the kind words, and I look forward to putting out more Emerging Forms in the future.