Dev Log #20: StoryGuider, Mystery Snacks, and Origins (and life)
Check out the latest on the TTRPGkids works in progress to stay up to date on upcoming releases! This Dev Log will cover some life event impacts to TTRPGkids along with status for the ongoing StoryGuider and Mystery Snacks projects by TTRPGkids along with some initial announcements about TTRPGkids going to Origins Game Fair!
Find my previous update (Dev Log #19) here!
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Life events and TTRPGkids
*This section has some highlighted text to cover up mention of a medical proceedure so folks can choose to read it or not. To read the text, select the section that is highlighted in black.
In Dev Log 18, I mentioned some cadence changes to TTRPGkids while I was handling some health and family needs, so I wanted to follow up since a couple folks had reached out.
At this time, I am scheduled for a mastectomy at the end of this month. There’s no full dx yet since we’ve just done A LOT of scans, but I’m going this route based on what we’re already seeing plus high lifetime risk regardless of what “this” ends up being. Despite it being a surgery, this seemed like the least impactful (for me) of the treatment options to keep me healthy longterm.
Because of that, I’ll be 100% “out of office” for several days and then will be recovering for probably 4-6 weeks. During that time, I don’t really how I’ll be feeling energy-wise, and I’m also kind of dealing with a lot of feelings associated with this, so the posting cadence is going to probably stay at one per week for a bit, with the occasional bonus post here and there.
I’m also trying to not be too hard on myself about adjusting timelines and having to turn down requests, but I think that’s also why I wanted to be open talking about this.
I’m reminded by this that despite TTRPGkids bringing me A LOT of joy, I also had probably been stacking too much up on myself with it and was either in a burnout state or very much on my way to it (very much not entirely from TTRPGkids because there’s a bunch of other life things going on, but I think me holding myself to the posting, review, game release, and convention schedule I really wanted to do was also a contributor).
Having to back off is disappointing because I want ALL the ideas out there and I want to review everyone’s games ASAP and I want to go to events and playtest and etc… but I’ve also been a bit more relaxed, depsite the looming end of the month and various other life events, now that I’ve had about 3 months where I’ve reduced the article cadence and put a pause on new jobs until my medical stuff resolves. It was out of necessity, but it’s also a good lessons learned for taking a step back once in a while to just do a self check-in too.
Just, I want to say, look out for yourself in what ways you can, and give yourself the time you need between all the other things to stay healthy.
StoryGuider updates
OK! So, gears shift into project progress!
StoryGuider backers all have your surveys, which will be locking in this week so I can see if I can get the print-and-plays for the Big Book of Heroes and the Big Book of Friends fulfilled before the end of the month.
Covers for the 12 stories in the Heroes set and 12 stories in the Friends set:
All 24 total stories for the Heroes and Friends sets are finished and laid out with the physical print proof process underway, however… I noticed a small error and am going to need to resubmit them all. I’m working on fixing it ASAP in tandem with the digital release and then expediting shipping the proofs to reduce the delay.
The digital format PDFs have a slightly different formatting requirement than the physical prints, and I wanted to add links to the PDFs so you can just click on “go to page 10” and it will take you there, so I’m touching those up before sending them out to everyone, and my hope is to get them sent before I have to go out of office so we can hit the April-End target.
Those codes will be sent via itch.io, and I’ll follow up with DTRPG codes when the POD keys are ready for distribution.
ALSO…. I did try for about a day to get the additional PDF accessibility features I wanted in there (alt text, screenreader friendly) on top of the dylexia friendly fonts and black and white pictures that were already in there. HOWEVER… the program that I used to create the PDFs and the program that I have for adding accessibility seemed to not like each other and decided to read each letter of about 30% of the PDFs instead of reading/registering words and also is tagging them very weird (sometimes tagging every word on the page). I’m still planning on adding those features, but it is going to be a very manual process for what will total over 1,000 pages of content, so it’s going to be a later addition to make sure the initial release goes out. I’m also considering that, instead of a screen reader, I may narrate the books, but… it is another thing I’ll need to look into for later as well.
For an overview of the steps above AND what’s next….
COMPLETED:
- Oct – campaign funds released from Backerkit
- Oct – send contracts for funded art to artists
- Oct – draft the Tome Traveller Trilogy (part of the Heroes series)
- Oct → Nov – collect first round of art from early artist kick-offs (from itchio and ko-fi prefunds)
- Nov – artists working on Heroes series
- Nov/Dec – finish writing the new Dragon series adventures
- Nov → Jan – reformat the Heroes series
- Jan – Heroes series art due
- Jan – order Heroes series proofs (round 1)
- Jan – artists working on Friends series
- Feb – Friends series art due
- Feb – Heroes series proofs arrive, review, update (round 1)
- Jan – Mar – reformat the Friends series
- Jan – Apr – artists working on Dragon series
- Mar – Dragon series art due
- Mar – send backer surveys
NEXT STEPS:
- Apr – update + order Friends series proofs (round 1)
- Apr – update + order Heroes series proofs (round 1.5)
- Apr – set up digial pages for Friends and Heroes series
- Apr – fulfill digital print-and-play for Friends and Heroes series
- Apr – May – reformat the Dragon series
- Apr – May – Friends series proofs arrive, review, update (round 1)
- Apr – May – Heroes series proofs arrive, review, update (round 1.5)
- May – if no issues, distribute POD keys for Friends and Heroes series
- May – start weekly releases of a la carte trilogies for public on DTRPG
- May – Jun – order Dragons series and coloring book proofs (round 1)
- Jun – fulfill digital print-and-play for Dragon series
- Jul – Dragon series proofs arrive, review, update (round 1)
- Jul – if no issues, distribute POD keys for Dragon series and coloring book
Mystery Snacks updates
Mystery Snacks work was kicked off, and first drafts from guest writers are due in early May with good visibility for everyone to reach that based on check in feedback.
After first drafts are submitted, I’ll review and give writers feedback for the final draft, and…. I plan on letting you know some of the themes for their mysteries! I’m really excited about what they’ve all come up with, but I don’t want to share just yet in case anything majorly changes before that first draft deadline or during the feedback phase. Just keep an eye out for next month’s update!
And, for the overall project scope, here’s the timeline!
COMPLETED:
- Feb – fund project
- Mar – kick off guest writers (send guidelines, formatting + style guide)
- Mar – set up pre-order store
- Apr – guest writer check in
NEXT STEPS:
- May – guest writer 1st drafts due
- May – review 1st drafts
- June – kick off guest writer 2nd drafts
- June – guest writer 2nd draft due
- June – kick off layout artist
- July – final layout due
- July – order proof (round 1)
- Aug – proofs arrive, check, review update (round 1)
- Aug – order proof (round 2)
- Sep – proofs arrive, check, review update (round 2)
- Sep – order bulk
- Oct – bulk order arrives
- Oct – ship to fulfill project
Origins Game Fair!
I am planning on going to Origins Game Fair, and my first two events have been approved!
I’ll be leading a TTRPG self-publisher meet up and a panel about how dayjob skills can help your TTRPG career!
I’m also probably going to be on about 3-5 other panels/talks/events run by other folks, but I’m not 100% sure on the full schedule yet, so I don’t want to announce those until they’re locked in.
Sometime in late May to early June, once the whole plan is finalized, I’ll have a separate Origins post that has my full speaking schedule with titles, dates, times, and links, and I’ll keep a little update here to share about what work I’m doing to prep in the meantime.
For right now, my work with this mostly involves making sure that folks who wanted to be on the panel still can be, recruiting to fill any panel gaps, and sharing about the meet up. There’s also the whole part about finding out the schedule for the panels I’ve been invited to.
That said… it will be right at the end of my expected recovery time, so I will be monitoring the situation in case I still can’t drive by then and will let folks know if there’s a change in plans. I’m lining up some substitutes just in case, but I’m anticipating I’ll still be able to go (or can find a way).
Thank you for checking out this update and just kind of being interested in what TTRPGkids is doing! I hope it helps with seeing some of the self-pub, crowdfunding, and blog writing process for anyone who is thinking of getting into that themselves, and…
Until next time, happy gaming!
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