It's all happening. It's all the KS-prep stuff now, not game design (which I enjoy a lot more, but after the KS I can spend as long as I like doing that - assuming it funds!) It launches on Monday! Lots of last-minute stuff coming in as we speak! I feel like a champion juggler...I feel this sort of info (like the printing costs info I shared a few days ago) may be useful to other Kickstarter-ers. Fred Hicks shares tons of info about his Kickstarters, and I think that's great (he's also been very helpful with advice for mine, as have others); Monte Cook has pubilshed Kickstarter advice, too, and also wrote a book about it. Kevin Kulp has offered plenty of advice, as has his publisher, Simon Rogers of Pelgrane Press. There's advice out there to be had from awesome people, and I hope that me recounting my own experiences can add to that in a small way - although I possess none of the expertise those people do.
So here's some of the stuff I'm doing right up until the last minute:
- four layout preview pages incoming to show folks (courtesy of Hal Mangold)
- some incoming audio flavour narration which should be real fun (thanks to professional voice actor George Ledoux and some of his friends)
- some more awesome O.L.D. short fiction pieces like the elven musketeer one I showed yesterday (from Wade Rockett)
- banner ads in progress (thanks to Dave Gilham)
- stretch goal chart in progress (thanks to my beardy brother, Darren Morrissey) plus some revised section headers which I hope will work: I want a scroll to turn into a viewscreen from left to right
- all the print and shipping costs are pretty much in
- an interview this evening
- some odds and ends from previous Kickstarters
What else do I have to do? I need to get updated playtest documents ready for Monday. Over 3,500 people have downloaded the previous ones (which is terrifying - partly because they will have seen the current problems with it, too - but that's what playtests are for!) and over 300 people are signed up for the Early Bird notifier.
The Kickstarter is all about timing. I've learned so much from my previous one, and planned things *so* much better. There are a number of tasks - playtesting, art, layout, etc. which will each individually take months. The art, especially, is going to be a long, long process (assuming funds are raised to cover it!), as is work on the manuscripts, playtesting, and so on.
Doing those things sequentially, rather than at the same time, doesn't make a lot of sense in this particular instance - months of playtesting followed by months of art is a very inefficient way of doing it, when the art - and some other things - could start right now. Especially with some of the planned stretch goals which I'd want ready on launch, not months afterwards. For example, I would love to have Hero Lab support for character and ship generation right from the get-go, but that's a task that needs to start very early because it's not easy, and requires me to contract a solid, reliable freelancer to do it.
Even with all that, it's still going to take a year. Doing them sequentially, it would take much longer.
So I want the art to commence right now, while playtesting and development is going on, so that it's ready when the manuscript is ready. Additionally I want that playtest process to be very inclusive and community-driven, and part of the plan is that there will- additionally - be large community driven databases of fan material on launch plus possible some third-party support and publications, all of which needs to start long, long before the final manuscripts go to layout.
It's like baking a cake. No, more like making a meal with a bunch of elements, and wanting them all to finish cooking at exactly the same time!
That's something I learned from TSAD, my previous Kickstarter. There were delays with that, and various problems, for sure, and I know how to avoid every one of those issues this time. Plan development, art, etc. all simultaneously; use an actual fulfillment company to ensure everyone gets their products on time rather than relying on volunteers; and so on. With that one I did everything sequentially and consequently it took ages - and some parts are still coming. All of that could have been done at the same time with better planning. I'll have some good news to share on that front very soon, incidentally - and the sequel, To Stake A Vampire, is currently being polished by Mike Myler and is going to be awesome. I can't wait!
I feel like I've done everything I possibly can to give this thing its best chance of success. Soon it'll just be time to let go of the string and see what happens. If it doesn't take off, it won't be for lack of effort on my part!
(Did I mention this thing is gonna be OPEN AS ALL HECK, too? In my most pie-in-the-sky dreams, third parties will create tons of stuff for it. There's already some cool fan content I've seen.)
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