Sorry for the Radio silence! We have had a bunch of transitions on the backend, with some health and other issues for the writing and creative team, but things are generally moving forward at pace!
Surveys for custom content went out to those backers this month, and we are working on pledge manager elements for late pledges (as we have had several requests).
Currently, all core writing elements except one (mine) have been turned in, and most are through the initial review process.
The art team is adding elements as sections are finished, and we are still hoping to have everything to print as projected +/- 30 Days.
So I believe cards still haven't gotten charged or locked down yet. I'm going to pretend that it's for Strategic Reasons and not just because I got busy and distracted last week. Definitely something that makes me sound cool, mysterious, and generous.
Planning to lock 'em down tomorrow or Thursday, so brace yourselves for impact.
Brief update this month. I'm back on track with my working schedule after dealing with some personal matters (listed in the previous update).
Will have a backer preview of the full PDF coming for you in the next month or so but in the meantime here's another preview of a WIP spread with some new Troubles & Blues for OB.
I've also included a new timeline to account for the adjusted schedule I've had to adapt. Still looking at this year for delivery if all goes to plan. Any adjustments to this, I will of course let you all know!
Just got a reminder that there are 3 days until cards are charged. So, this is your reminder to check your orders (maybe double-check addresses?) and make sure you've got all the stuff you want, your cards are up-to-date, and all that fun stuff.
Progress on the book: I've gotten notes back from my Dev Editor, the amazing Josh Domanski of OB Month's Paramour. So now I'm working up the courage to go back and make updates to the main text.
I've also been pulling together art for the book itself, including the commissioned pieces, the art I've made myself, and stock art (which includes Due Diligence of "Was this made by an AI?", and when in doubt, tossing it out). Once I've got the text updated, and all the art together, it'll be Layout o'Clock. Then we get to figure out how printing works...
Day job hunting continues as well, nothing particularly exciting there. Let's talk instead about one of the factions:
The Surrealists
I've worked in cybersecurity for 12 years now, and one of the most enduring things one picks up in that industry is the knowledge that any new technology is going to attract curious people who want to see if they can break it. Not maliciously, just to see where the boundaries are of what's possible. I had some of my colleagues in mind when I wrote the Surrealists, the hacker collective in the DreamScape.
The DreamScape is going to have some rudimentary tools for building and designing shops and other virtual spaces for people to hang out in. People given a toolbox will create, and I'm envisioning the Surrealists as a group who really love doing just that. They build virtual parkour courses, and challenge each other to beat them. Compared to the more grounded spaces over in the Open Market, the Surrealists' courses are cobbled together from random assets. Think Mario Maker levels designed by people trying to put the "Dream" in DreamScape.
The book includes a procedure for making your own courses, in a collage style from maps of other platformers and 3D games, as well as a minigame for completing those courses. Impress the Surrealists, and you could gain access to their hacker knowledge: They're not *just* pushing the limits of the physics engine, they're also testing the limits of the system-wide network security and trying to understand what Commway's got going on under the hood.
Paramour progresses! Below are the biggest developments from the last month.
For the main zine, I've started working on maps and some design work. That'll be the biggest time sink on putting everything together, as the text should slot nicely into the templates we already have setup.
Ragtime Repo has been framed out. There's some writing ahead to fill it all in, but that should go pretty quick. I'm hoping to have a playable version available by next update, but we'll see where things end up!
Some of the updates to Starfall have begun. Not too much to share on this front yet, but if you would like to take a look at the original zine please go check out the Backer Only section of the July update for a link to download the current PDF.
That's all for now! I'll be back in a few weeks with more updates!
A short update from us as we're at that stage of post project where we're all hard at work behind the scenes.
With the manuscript finished, we've been working through edits and layout. With half of the book written by Sam and the other half by Josh, we want to make sure the style is distinctive enough to match the feeling of which side of the book you're reading, while still feeling cohesive and solidly part of the Orbital Blues universe.
Josh has continued to create some gorgeous art work for this project, he is brilliant at bringing the dust-bowl retro future to life and its a joy to see his range of art from maps, to faux advertisements, to character illustrations.
Some of the CORPO GEAR your Outlaws could find, borrow or steal
We really appreciate your patience while we finish up projects. We know it sucks to wait, but we promise that its so we can bring you the best final book possible. Trust us, we want to get this to your hands as much as you want it!
I have just put the finishing touches on the first draft of the manuscript, and I've sent a copy off for some developmental editing. Really excited/nervous about that
We're also working on some commissioned art for this book. This is a first for me, and I'm really excited about adding some bespoke work to the book. I've already got a couple of the pieces back, and I'm really excited about how great they look. Galen Pejeau is fantastic to work with, and has a really incredible eye for technical details. Here's the blueprint/patent drawing for the Dreamscape pods:
DreamScape Pod Blueprint, by Galen Pejeau
I really love the vibe here, it's a very tactile-looking machine. Even with this being a line drawing, it feels like something I can imagine walking into a cassette futurism-style space station and seeing people lining up to use. I like that the helmet looks like they're strapping a whole PC tower to your face (and let's be real, VR looks a little silly). I'm excited to put this thing in the book.
There's one more art asset I want to get for the book, and I'm trying my hand at making it myself (while looking for someone y'know, good at that sort of thing). I'll maybe talk about what it's gonna be in a future update...
Paramour continues to move on forward closer to completion. To keep this update short and sweet, the big news for this month is that Lur has completed all assigned art pieces! I'll post a taste of what's to come below.
Starfall
I'm still working on getting the pledge manager up and running, but in the meantime check out the Backer Only content below for a link to a Google Drive folder. I'll be using this for early drafts and such of the adventures once they're ready to go. Right now, you can find the original version of Starfall. While this is absolutely playable as-is, note that the final version will be getting a little bit of a facelift to cleanup some stuff here and there and bolster the content a bit to make it easier to integrate into longer campaigns. For a bit of fun, I also tossed in the Delusions of Grandeur Trouble that I wrote for an OB game jam a while back.
That's all for now! I'll be back in a few weeks with more updates!
I'm really looking forward to the Foundry stretch goal. What are your plans for the module and do we have an expected timeline? Will it be delivered together with the digital editions (September - October)?
