Surveys Soon!
almost 6 years ago – Wed, Jun 17, 2020 at 12:21:02 PM

Hey everyone! Update time!

It’s been about 2 weeks since you last heard from me; We’re getting ready to send out our backer surveys (via BackerKit) which, if you’re new to the kickstarter process, are going to ask you to answer a few important questions (such as what address you want your rewards delivered to, how you wish to be credited in the Codex, etc). This will also give you a chance to add some additional products to your order – extra decks, dice sets, stickers, and even full copies of the game if you like – and you’ll be prompted to pay for shipping for your whole order.

With this campaign update, I just wanted to clarify a few things about fulfillment before we send these surveys (and fill you in on where we’re at in the overall process).

First and foremost – SHIPPING. In our campaign we stated that we’d be using ShipMonk for shipping and fulfillment, and that has changed to Quartermaster Logistics (QML). We were having a bit of trouble getting quick responses from ShipMonk and even though QMLs rates are a little more expensive, we felt more comfortable working with a group that we could rely on to respond to any issues in the process quickly. THAT BEING SAID: This will probably only affect a small number of our backers as far as shipping costs are concerned. Backers in Switzerland and Norway will probably see fees about $10USD more than we previously anticipated; backers in Great Britain, the EU, New Zealand, Australia, and Asia (not including China, Hong Kong or Macao), may see fees $5-$10USD higher than expected. If you’re in one of these groups and this increase is a deal breaker, I’d love it if you’d send me an e-mail at [email protected]to see what we can work out. I don’t want to eat too much cost but I also don’t want anyone to feel cheated by an unexpected change.

On the subject of shipping and backerkit stuff: I have never set up a backerkit before and I did my best to match all our add-on shipping fees with our general expectation of how much those add ons are going to weigh. But honestly I felt like I was using a shotgun approach here and if, for whatever reason, when you’re filling out your survey and you go to pay shipping it seems way too high for what you’re ordering? Please let me know at dan@anthromancer. I appreciate your understanding; I’ll try to get back to you and fix any issues as soon as I can.

DEVELOPMENT UPDATE

So in the interests of keeping everyone informed on the behind-the-scenes of Anthromancer’s development I wanted to tell you where we’re at with everything. I’ve spent the last few weeks editing the codex (probably took out about 10 pages of unnecessary or redundant text) and Dana is in the process of finalizing the myth illustrations. As soon as that’s done, Alex will resume typesetting (he already laid the groundwork for this). Once I have all the information from our backer surveys I’ll be able to finish typing the credits section and deliver that info to TJ who will implement the credits in the secret level, don’t @ me. Also: Wella designed us a gorgeous field-manual cover for the codex and I’m extremely excited to get these printed! Check it out!

I’m also continuing work on the Modern Magician video essay/Anthromancer supplement series with a new installment about consuming Magician mythology (and a pancake effigy of Elon Musk) set to release later this month. My editor, Ben Vogelsang, sent me the first cut of section 1 yesterday and it’s our best essay so far. Very excited to share that with everyone.

Anyway, I think that’s all for now. Look for the surveys in the next few days! Thanks for your time.

Dan

We did it (+ Creator Spotlight).
almost 6 years ago – Thu, Jun 04, 2020 at 01:03:45 AM

With over 110% of our funding goal reached and a little less than 10 hours left until we cross that finish line, I think it's safe to say that we've got this sorted. I am extremely grateful to everyone who has helped us get here. We couldn't have done this without you. We'll be sending surveys to our backers through Backerkit in about 2 weeks, at which point you can provide us with your shipping information, pay shipping fees, and add things like extra decks, dice, stickers, prints, or copies of Anthromancer to your order.

In the meantime, there are a lot of brilliant creators I've become connected to through this whole 'making stuff' process, and I'd like to highlight a few of them here. Most of these connections have come to me as a result of attending PixelPop Festival - and I'm extremely grateful for the community the organizers have fostered. It was the first place we publicly exhibited Anthromancer and has brought some amazing friendships and new opportunities into my life. This year they're moving the festival online and if you vibe with the mission of Anthromancer, you'll vibe with PixelPop, too. These are some of the most beautifully creative humans I've ever found myself around.

My first PixelPop was where I met TJ Hughes of Terrifying Jellyfish, whose exquisite (and often hilarious) 3D art and animation has been used in Anthromancer's promotional material, music videos, and an extremely exciting (but very secret) special feature. TJ is the genius behind Nour, an experimental interactive food-based art piece (video game?) that is still in development. He's also a musician and a bit of a fashion icon.

There's a kickstarter campaign that's live right now for a video game called 'We Should Talk'. The devs are PixelPop alums. It's about conversations, tone, and it seems like the kind of empathy-based gameplay the world needs more of. Jordan Jones-Brewster is the project's narrative designer - you can read some of his words on it here.

I was also just made aware of a game criticism website called Intelligame that seems right up my alley, connected to another PixelPop alum, Josh Boykin. I am deeply interested in the ways games can transform people and the world, so you can bet I'll be getting copies of Anthromancer to some of the Intelligame moderators and contributors posthaste.

Also connected to the PixelPop community is a board game project called Battle of the Boybands that's finishing up its kickstarter right around the same time that ours is. Their project looks extremely fun, the rare game whose concept literally delights me. The premise is charming as hell and if you like silly/cool party games, slide in and snag a copy before time runs out.

If you know any developers of color who are looking to exhibit a project or speak on a subject of expertise - or if you are one - the Game Devs of Color Expo recently opened their applications. I highly recommend that you check it out.

Finally, I'll be checking out the Black Game Developers resource list the next time I need to hire some talent, and I think other people should, too.

Thank you for reading, for being a part of this project, and for helping us bring it to the world. I seriously can't express my gratitude enough. This moment is exactly what I needed it to be. We may be a little quiet on our social platforms for a bit after this - but we'll be sure to update everyone with all news related to fulfillment of rewards and project status. In the meantime, we'll be focusing on making sure that this is the best product it can possibly be.

Thank you.

Daniel James Drake

100% (plus some Fun Stuff).
almost 6 years ago – Sat, May 30, 2020 at 06:22:24 AM

Today, I woke up to see that we crossed the line: we've received 100% of the pledges we need to make Anthromancer a reality.

It doesn't feel real to me! I mean, I guess it isn't, until it is, right?

Nevertheless, I have to take a moment to breathe and express my sincere gratitude for getting to this point in what has been a long and uncertain journey. I've got such high hopes for this, and I've spent so much of my life hunched over computers, typing and illustrating and testing and dreaming, and so this project means a lot to me. It's the most ambitious thing I've ever attempted...and it's really, really gratifying to see that other people are excited about it too. So, thank you.

We aren't there yet though! We've still got a little less than a week to push our final total higher.

But, honestly? I'm not worried about it. I've known for a while that Anthromancer is a word-of-mouth product, and that it's not going to really take off until it's in the hands of a few people who can immerse themselves in it, enjoy it, and share it with those around them using their own words. The simple fact that we've got the funds we need to get the first edition made and delivered to the people who found it and recognized the value it held early on...that's it! As far as I'm concerned the rest will come effortlessly. This, in my head, was the hard part, and it seems like we're succeeding.

With all the chaos in the world today I feel exquisitely blessed to have this, to be able to sit here in the safety of my home, fed, well-rested, and knowing that a dream of mine just came much closer to being a reality. I'm grateful that, of all possible realities, this is the one that I'm in right now.

Thank you.

FUN STUFF:

SELFish Podcast Appearance: In other news, over the last few weeks I've had a few opportunities to be interviewed about Anthromancer, about the development process, and the esoteric influences and experiences that helped me carve it into what it is. One such interview was on Justin Mayfield's SELFish Podcast, and you can listen to the whole episode on Spotify or on the SELFish Podcast website by clicking here. I've been connected to Justin for a while - one of those strange emergent social media acquaintances that you sort of 'meet-by-osmosis' over the years, but this was the first time we've ever sat and had a face-to-face conversation and we hit it off! I can tell that he and I are going to be getting into some creative hijinks in the future. We're already talking about creating music for some amorphous Anthromancer expansion! Check SELFish out - it's really good stuff, and I feel blessed to have been featured within the first ten episodes.

Fairlie Theta Interview: Just a few days ago I was reached out to by Fairlie Theta, an astrologer and content creator whose husband, Stevie, just so happens to be way into board games (I think they're our perfect demographic, lol). Fairlie asked if I'd be interested in an interview to talk about Anthromancer and, never missing an opportunity to talk about myself at length, I was totally on board. You can check out the video embedded below, and also: you should totally go give Fairlie some support on YouTube and Instagram (IG handle: @fairlietheta). It was a lovely interview and I'm glad to have some new friends that seem to be into the same things as me! I'm hoping I can work with them more often in the future.

S. E. Fanetti Map/Mercenarium Collaboration: Finally - for those of you who don't know, my mom is a professional author - and she's very good at what she does. And prolific, too! She's only been publishing for a few years now but I think she's written like a billion books or something, it's all she does (when she's not doing Mass Effect sci-fi analysis for her literary students). Her most recent work, The Cleaved World, is an epic fantasy novel in which Mercenarium will be featured as a part of the worldbuilding! The first installment of this 3-part series (The Cleaved World: The Gathering) will be available on Kindle on 2 June 2020, and my mom asked me to employ some of my fantasy cartography skills from back when I was still doing D&D campaigns (and, y'know, what ended up being prewriting for Anthromancer) to help her breathe life into the world her story takes place in, Brisira. Since Mercenarium is a part of the setting I felt it would be appropriate to share that map with our backers, and maybe get a few more readers headed my mom's way. Enjoy!

75% and counting
almost 6 years ago – Tue, May 19, 2020 at 09:57:42 PM

Hey everyone! Wow, past 75% now. We're getting closer every day! I wanted to fill you in on some of the awesome things that have been happening on our end.

First: Last night I was interviewed on Backstage with Bebo (of Be Bold Games) over on the Tabletop Backer Party facebook group. It was a lovely interview with a couple of special guests and you can check it out right here: [bonk] (interview starts at about 2:30!)

Next: We've just announced that this Friday at 8pm CDT we'll be streaming a listening party for The Hymnal over at twitch.tv/anthromancy. I made some fancy graphics to promote it on the socials over the next few days so hopefully we'll have a cozy lil' room. Oh yeah, I'm gonna give simple Dragonfruit readings to folks in the audience at the album's intermissions - I hope you'll be able to hang with us! Bring your friends! Tell them it's like Muse meets Nobuo Uematsu. If they reply something like "what are you saying to me," tell them "nerd stuff" and bring them anyway. Thankssss

Last: I recorded an interview with Justin Mayfield for SELFish podcast that's supposed to drop in the next few days. We talked about magic and nature and Alan Watts, and I can only imagine we'll be talking again soon. Stay tuned for that and check out the podcast in the meantime! It's fascinating stuff.

But yeah click this big ol' picture if you wanna follow our twitch channel for that listenin party real fast

We've passed 10k - we're almost there!!
almost 6 years ago – Wed, May 13, 2020 at 01:00:43 AM

I had a wonderful experience today, as Trevor brought to my attention that someone pledged at the Patron level and we shot past $10,000 all at once. A few other pledges have come in since then, and since we're moving into the middle of the campaign having this kind of continued momentum is welcomed with enthusiasm! This was in addition to the news that our patent application is moving to the next phase, one in which - we're told - rejections are rare. All this hit me in the span of about 5 minutes. It was a good 5 minutes.

We still have a ways to go but we're almost there, and that makes my heart sing! I'm thrilled and excited at the thought that, hey, this is really looking like it's gonna happen. Anthromancer is gonna be a real thing.

If you're not already subscribed to our YouTube channel, now is a great time for it. In the last few days we released a Let's Play of Mercenarium, another Dragonfruit ASMR video, and we've got more scheduled to drop. Then, next week I'll be the special guest on Backstage with Bebo, a livestream interview series hosted by Bebo (of Be Bold Games) in connection with our partnership with Tabletop Backer Party. We've got a few other secrets up our sleeves to close this gap in the coming days - including some more Let's Plays of some of the different games in the Mercenarium Arcade.

I'm also thinking about hosting an online hangout/listening party for The Hymnal. Would anyone be interested in joining me for something like that? Let me know in the comments.

Anyway, it's past my bedtime and I've got a lot of work to do tomorrow, so that's all for now. Thanks for reading, and for being a part of this.

Dan