Automaton-a-Thon #2

*blows dust off of blog*

Oh my it has been a couple of months since my last blog post hasn't it? Needless to say, I underestimated the amount of time necessary to throw a successful wedding. Now that I am officially married and I have slapped on the last stamp on the thank you cards, I'm more than ready to get back on the horse so to speak and make some progress on the games, art, and company. It has been a theme in the blog that you should take some time for yourself, regroup, and refill the well with inspiration and a little bit of leisure. With my little break, I was able to refocus and take a step back to plot out a course for the remainder of the year and the year to follow. There is a lot to do with very little time, so let's get to it.

ATOMIC AUTOMATON UPDATES

All roads lead to Protospiel

The most urgent thing on the agenda is the San Jose Protospiel in October. That gives me a couple of months to get everything I need to get in order in order by then. It isn't a lot of time, but Protospiel is shaping the agenda for the entire company. Whatever was on the list of things to do, if it does not pertain to being ready for Protospiel, it takes a back seat.

Taking the next steps

Building a company takes a lot of work, and part of the work is not necessarily the big things, but all the little things that seem to pile up. This includes paying taxes, tweaking logos, building a brand, oh and making business cards. I've been doing some work on the branding, logo tweaks, and filing the necessary trademark paperwork for the company. Business cards as silly as it sounds are on that list and need to get designed.

Web development reigns supreme

Web development has been my primary focus over the last couple weeks (sorry blog). I've fixed some minor issues, made social media accounts, and polished up a few of the visuals. By the grand forge of the Kravix, I will have the website fully released by August 23rd. I've blocked access to a couple of pages that won't be ready, but at least it will be usable and do what it is intended to do. The cellphone optimization is another beast, but what I may do is create a stripped down version of the site that is extremely utilitarian. I'm not sure if it is a platform issue, but the transition to desktop to phone is shoddy at best.

KINGDOMS OF IMMACUS UPDATES

Let's get in formatting

I got one more round of formatting to go with the game since we decided to remove status aliments. I still want to look at buildings one more time and domains one last time. I feel the game is at that 99% level, but that final 1% is a little tricky. For Protospiel, I plan to have at least 2 kingdoms playable and at most 4. That means I need to spend a good chunk of time really sitting down with the cards and hammering out this one last go before showtime.

One rulebook to rule them all

It's also time to finish up that rulebook now that core mechanics are pretty much done. I've done a lot of experimentation and leaning with InDesign, so with this next go, I'm going to polish up the file and make it easier to maneuver on the back-end for me.

Token things seriously

One of the earliest things I did with the game was printing out tokens. Since then, I've revamped all the designs for everything, so they need to be reprinted for Protospiel. The changes aren't dramatic, but they are enough to justify a reprint and have them done in time for the convention. Basically, I want everything to look as polished as possible, so playtesters can focus on playing the game and give proper feedback without being distracted by bad elements.

TROLLTEM POLES UPDATES

I need a (6) hero

I really want to get these 6 heroes done before Protospiel. They take about 2 weeks per hero, so it is possible to get them done, it just may be really close to the wire. This is where I have spent most of my time and effort as of late. I have finished one hero, and I have also finished the sketches for 4 others. Just 2 sketches to go. I put that finished hero on their hero board and it's looking pretty good if I say so myself. My hopes is after my current commission for this week, I can focus on cranking those guys out.

Offerings to the Ancestors

Aside from the heroes, I've also been working on the offering cards. I'm about a third of the way done. These won't be done in time for the convention, but enough will be done so players get the point of it all. I decided to work in vector for these guys, which may have been a mistake with how long it all takes, but I've committed, so I just need to follow through.

THAT'S ALL FOLKS

That's it for updates, now back to work on it all. I know I've been bad wit the blog updates, but now that I'm in full-drive mode, I'll be posting more frequently again.