The long road back...

As I sit here and write this, it has been almost five months since the entire studio staff contracted Covid. While everyone else recovered, albeit with some lingering effects, I took a turn for the worst. Pneumonia settled in on me while I was trying to recover from Covid, and I ended up in the hospital and had to be put on a ventilator. While I was in a serious drugged state where I had tremendous delusions for seven days, doctors and my family did everything they could to ensure I would recover. That I am writing this now is testament to their efforts and I am eternally grateful for everything they have done.

The business, as could be expected, halted during this time, and we are just now looking at getting back to work. While most of the staff have other jobs, as this is still primarily a labor of love, we do have quite a few people that have become interested in what we do. While I do not feel I have let anyone down, I do believe I owe these words to explain our situation and our commitment to come back. We had two loose release dates scheduled for this year, but we will not succeed in achieving them. However, we will begin again in the coming weeks to work on the many projects we still have planned. While my recovery is finally near complete, it will still take some time for the studio to get to back into the full swing of things.

I want to thank everyone out there who has been following us, whether from the beginning or recently. Keep checking here, and eventually on our other social media sites, for future news and eventual release dates of new designs. Thank you again, and it is absolutely wonderful to still be here.

Proofs are Back and Quick Start Rules Released!

There has been a lot of exciting things that happened in the last 24 hours. First was that the proof copy has arrived for our second game release: Chronofields! Everything looks great and we have given the go ahead for printing to commence. Additionally, the quick start rules for Chronofields have been made public over at Drive Thru RPG. We had released a few physical copies of the quick start rules back during Free RPG Day earlier this year to a handful of retailers, so it’s possible you already have a copy! The quick start rules over at Drive Thru RPG are PDF format only so that we could offer them for free to everyone who is interested. If you haven’t picked up your copy yet, head on over there and get yours today!

The cover art for the quick start rules is displayed above. The full game releases in the coming days, and the artwork is completely different. We did this specifically so that everyone could tell the two versions apart without having to guess.

The Waiting Game...

Tonight was a very good night for everyone here at the studio. The final editing had been completed late last week, and the final artwork was approved today for our upcoming expansion for True Agenda scheduled to release in June. All of the files were converted and sent to the printer, so now we wait. Hopefully next week we will get confirmation that everything looks good and we can get our proof back by mid-May.

In addition to this, all of the paperwork was completed and files submitted to the U.S. Copyright Office. We generally like to try to get everything off to them before the product comes out, because it usually takes 2-3 months before we receive our certificate of registration. It’s not a big deal to have it before release, but if it works out that way, then it’s always nice.

Did I mention something about waiting? Hardly. This doesn’t mean there is currently nothing to do. There are two projects on the design side of things to assist some local businesses with their branding and advertising. We also have another two game-related releases still coming this year. In addition, there is an in-house design idea gaining momentum. So while it is great to mark another project complete, we are far from being able to grow complacent. Not that I feel anyone really wants to, but it is nice to think about on occasion.

One down... three to go

We here at the studios hit the ground running in the new year. The final piece of artwork for the upcoming game expansion for True Agenda has just been completed. The writing was finished yesterday and has moved on to the editing process. We are months ahead of schedule considering the release date is not until midyear! However, while it is exciting, we have three other projects slated for release this year, including a brand new tabletop roleplaying game, so there will be little chance for rest. One of these projects is due for release next month! However, even with such an aggressive schedule, there is excitement in the air here. With the business anniversary coming up in March, an ambitious timetable suits us perfectly as we look to kick off our third year! We appreciate everyone who has been following along on our journey and look forward to sharing more news in the coming months.

Commissioned design work

September has been pretty exciting so far with a local business wanting some design work done. They want a “team mascot” idea and over the last couple of weeks I have been working with their manager to determine exactly what they desire in terms of font, size, and applications. This piece could end up on a variety of media that range from banners and signs to more custom work like decorative pins. This has been a multiple-step process and has been very exciting to see the design progress. Next week will be another round of design reviews in the hopes to settle on one particular layout. Then we will discuss final coloration and any other fine tuning before the final piece can be completed. Stay tuned here, and on social media, for a look at the final, approved design!

The proofs are back...

...and there's gonna be trouble. Hey now! Hey now! The proofs are back!

Bad song parodies aside, we received the proof copy from the printer of our first expansion for True Agenda today! Everything turned out very well, and the front and back covers were spot on. Although I was a bit surprised at how dark a few pieces of the interior art ended up, I still think they are fine and fit the overall mood of the particular adventure they help illustrate. 

Just a few short weeks now, and everyone will be able to get their copy, either from our website, or from Drive Thru RPG, in both print and digital formats. Links will be added to the website once everything goes live and we can start filling orders.

Googling...

It has been quiet here lately. Let me clarify. The news on the studio website has been quiet. In the studio itself, work has been progressing nicely, and we are entering the final stages of our first full sized expansion for True Agenda. Our target date is easily in sight with plenty of time to ensure all the final proofs meet with our satisfaction. As far as updating the website, that is where we have not been as focused as we were in those first months following our launch last year. I just have to say, it happens.

As our business moves through its second year, things quiet down during those stretches of time between projects and product release dates. There isn't enough information yet to keep a semi-regular blog post or social media blitz running all the time. Now, while we try not to go more than a month between news releases (where'd you go April 2018?), we certainly want to keep everyone aware that we're still here even if we're just quietly working on stuff.

Having said that, we have just launched a better partnership with Google. The studio website should be appearing in more searches, which helps our overall visibility, which leads to improved search ranking, and so forth. It will take a few days for Google to do its thing, and then probably a few more before we start seeing meaningful data coming back to us. I suspect that in June this process will start delivering results. Still, it is great news for driving the business, because visibility is crucial out here in the electronic world. Stay tuned...

Graphic Design for a New Year

Before diving back into the work surrounding the studio's tabletop game design, I wanted to get one of my projects completed. A good friend of mine, David Murphy, creates some incredible costumes, and not too long ago he made another one. This time it is an Imperial Naval Officer from Star Wars. He took several photos, and below on the left is one of those. I thought it was a perfect pose for a recruitment poster, but I wasn't sure exactly how I wanted to portray it. After spending some time brainstorming and surfing the Internet, I came up with the result you see on the right. It turned out rather well, and David was more than pleased with it, which is all that really matters. The success with this project makes me want to dive into more, which I promised myself I would do in between the tabletop game venture. I certainly do not want to pigeonhole myself into just one medium or end product. There are simply far too many end results waiting to be discovered!  

Release Date is Drawing Near!

First off, I have to apologize to everyone. It has been over two months since I posted anything new on the news feed here. While the studios have been busy finalizing the release of our first tabletop game True Agenda, there has been some neglect on the rest of the operation. The final pages for the game were completed two weeks ago, and editing wrapped up a week ago. Since that time, I have been working with Drive Thru RPG, and their printer, to get the files converted and over for approval. Approval happened today and my proof copy will be shipped to me the first part of this coming week. Now that there is time for a collective sigh by those of us involved in the project, I am able to refocus on the rest of the business and get some information out to everyone on here and in social media.

So, what does life look like after the 17th of November? Well, aside from fulfilling any direct orders, I will begin work on a commission project that has been pushed for far too long. I hope to complete that by the end of the year. Beginning in February, the studios, alongside Lunar Cycle Games, will begin work on the first expansion for True Agenda: High Sea Encounters. Beyond that, there is a personal project I have wanted to complete since late August, but that may get pushed out further depending on if the studios picks up any more business. 2018 is already shaping up to be a busy year. It will certainly be exciting!

No News is Good News?

It has been quiet over here at the studios page mostly because of all the work getting accomplished. As the month wraps up for August, the studios has made a huge advancement in nearing completion of its first tabletop RPG game title. Elements are coming together nicely, and the first round of editing has begun on the sections that have been completed. While it is still too early to announce a release date, 2017 is back in the crosshairs of possibility. Again, however, it must be stressed that the game will not release until it is completely finished, and will not be rushed to make some arbitrary deadline. Too often anymore we see products that would have benefitted by one more pass or a tightening up of a section or two. While the studios is excited to get this product out to everyone, it must be something to be proud of releasing, or else it will not happen.

There is still plenty of other news and behind the scenes looks over at my Patreon page. While most of the news is for supporting patrons, there are a ton of goodies still to be had before and after the release of the game title. Even if you are not able to support my work, you can still follow me. There are occasionally updates that are shared with everyone, patrons and followers, regardless of any pledge.