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.
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.
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...
Just a quick note to say that I clicked the Lock Down button yesterday, and it looks like nothing broke. It also looks like those of y'all who grabbed Electric Sheep Shuffle, Jumpgate Charade, and Station-bound Semitones have started downloading your PDFs.
Feel free to reach out here if you have any problems!
About 90% of y'all have filled in your surveys, which is awesome! Thanks, everyone! (Thanks also to folks putting add-ons in...) I'm going to give it to Monday before I start locking down orders. Once that happens, I believe (if I've entered the right cheat codes) PDFs and Itch codes should start going out for the published books.
Progress on the new book has admittedly hit a snag. I lost my day job a couple of weeks back. It was not a great working environment, and was already slowing me down because of the stress, so it's not a huge loss, except that I need to find a new one. Trying to do creative work with bad mental health is like trying to run on a broken ankle; doable but it'll cause some complications. I'm working on finding a balance between chasing job leads and editing my game content, so I should get back on track soonish.
(Also I was so sure I wasn't going to join my fellow creators who ran a crowdfund, then immediately hit Significant Life Complications, so I guess I'm being cursed for my hubris also.)
Alrighty, seems like the smoke test went off without a hitch. So, I just clicked the big button and sent surveys out to everyone! Those should be in your inboxes.
Comments seemed to work well for initiating any conversations, if folks have questions or issues (That said, don't post any PII, we can take it to email if needed). Although there weren't a ton of questions or issues from the dozen or so of you in the smoke test.
For folks who're waiting on Electric Sheep Shuffle, Jumpgate Charade, and/or Station-bound Semitones PDFs, it seems I have to lock orders before those go out. So, I'll start locking orders in a few weeks, and you'll get those once I do that. (We're learning together!)
As for the main book, I'm still plugging away at the draft. Once I'm happy with that, it'll go out for developmental editing. Meanwhile, I'm also working with a couple of artists on some bespoke pieces that'll go in the book. This is a new thing, the other three books are mostly public domain/free license art or stuff I made myself. So, I'm also excited to tap into skills that I don't have.
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.
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.
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...
Just a quick note to say that I clicked the Lock Down button yesterday, and it looks like nothing broke. It also looks like those of y'all who grabbed Electric Sheep Shuffle, Jumpgate Charade, and Station-bound Semitones have started downloading your PDFs.
Feel free to reach out here if you have any problems!
About 90% of y'all have filled in your surveys, which is awesome! Thanks, everyone! (Thanks also to folks putting add-ons in...) I'm going to give it to Monday before I start locking down orders. Once that happens, I believe (if I've entered the right cheat codes) PDFs and Itch codes should start going out for the published books.
Progress on the new book has admittedly hit a snag. I lost my day job a couple of weeks back. It was not a great working environment, and was already slowing me down because of the stress, so it's not a huge loss, except that I need to find a new one. Trying to do creative work with bad mental health is like trying to run on a broken ankle; doable but it'll cause some complications. I'm working on finding a balance between chasing job leads and editing my game content, so I should get back on track soonish.
(Also I was so sure I wasn't going to join my fellow creators who ran a crowdfund, then immediately hit Significant Life Complications, so I guess I'm being cursed for my hubris also.)
