So what is going on with this project? Things are moving along quickly (relatively speaking…), with most time recently being spent on developing/sourcing art and building estimation of production costs for each component of the ‘Feelies’ package.
My call out to people who are interested in a Feelies run has been, well, successful. Pretty much. More than 50 but less than a hundred have signed up, and there are still people signing up every couple of days. There seems to be enough interest, just barely, to go for a production run.
So I am carrying forward with that. I have been delving into the costs for production of the various items, and it seems the sweet spot for production (for this project) is between 100 and 250 item runs. Too much for me, but, 100 might be doable. However, certain items, like the book, must have larger runs, because of the initial set up costs of off-set printing etc. It can get pricey…
However, I am off-setting (haha) production costs by producing as much of the required art as possible. So far, that means all of it. A huge savings. Savings which can be put towards higher quality items. So, that begs the question: What is done?
Here is a breakown:
The Game
- 99% done.
- Code stable for several months now.
- No outstanding bugs, and Beta testers are playing through a second time.
- Needs a final packaging for installation over default Ultima IV install.
The Box
- Layout is 100% done.
- Art is sourced, but requires a slight modification (though not critical, merely aesthetic). Its not Denis Loubet, but what can you do?
The Map
- 100% done. Ready for production.
- Test print finished. So pretty.
The Reference Card
- 100% done. Ready for production.
- May change the small cover illustration in a final version.
The Quick Reference Card
- 100% done. Ready for production.
The Trinket
- 100% done. Ready for production.
The Disks
- 100% done. Ready for production (Though the installer is not done).
The Book
- 20% done.
- composition is finished.
- currently working on the layout and art.
So, as can be seen from above, most of the action is on production of the Book. I have planned out the content of the book, and am now laying out the pages in InDesign. Border art features heavily in this book, rather than ‘illustrations’, and I am trying my hand at that currently. I have never really done line-art before, so I am learning fast, taking inspiration (and style/technique) lessons from Denis Loubet, Zhu Baijee (borrowing his style heavily), William McAusland, Milivoj Ceran and others.
Here is some of my progress thus far:
Experimenting with Border Designs
Close-up of 'Dungeon' Border
I am not entirely happy with what I have up til now, and am still considering to commission a proper artist to do the art professionally.
However, there would be satisfation in doing it myself. And it is cheaper, as mentioned above. So for the moment I am pressing on.
Financing
So, what about funding all this? Kickstarter? What is going on with that?
Well, I have not looked too deeply into that yet. I am not sure that Kickstarter applies for this project, as I am looking at a collective ‘funding’ of the physical production of finished items, rather than getting a ‘kickstart’ to fund development of a vision. So once everything I can do is done, then I will look to ‘crowd’ financing.
What I don’t want to do is have stuff pending, as much as possible. That may be unavoidable in the case of art to be commissioned, but if I can avoid it I will. Ideally I would like to just have everything ‘done’, then move to financing and use that to fund the final physical production of all the items.
In any case, we shall see.
Current step: Finish the book, prepare all items for physical production.
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