Hello Blogger!

 Long time no see!

It has been a busy new year.

The good - I published my novel on Kindle. Paperback & hardcover to follow. If you're into Japanese ghosts, WWII enemies, Shinto exorcists, and all kinds of Tokyo weirdness, give it a read.

BUY IT HERE

The bad - we left Newfoundland and moved to Vancouver on the prompting of a former colleague, but it has been hard getting a job. The teacher credential office won't accept my outer provincial license, so I have had to sic the union on them. I have an interview with an online medical interpretation outfit tomorrow, low pay but any port in a storm and I get to stay home with sonny, whose autism is skyrocketing from the stress. I interviewed at 2 unis but one already denied me. Finger's crossed for the last place

The Ugly - The people who invited us out here to stay and work on a start up kicked us out of the house January 2nd because sonny was sick at night and made noise because his ears hurt. We've been floating around in Air BNBs for 2 weeks now, trying to save money (impossible) while job hunting. At least we have a car.

I have never been this close to homelessness. Especially not with a child.

I've started a Go Fund Me, so if you can help out please do. Link is HERE.

And how has your 2025 gone?

AI Art Apology & NUNA

A few followers of NUNA pointed out what looked like wonky AI fingers in some draft art for the game last year. I was totally flooded with the Kickstarter + work + single fathering, and so didn't pay enough attention.

My apologies. I had told the NUNA team that AI art is unacceptable from the start.

I talked to the artist, who is a graphic designer. He uses Photoshop, which has AI tools and enhancements, some of which are options, some of which were hardbaked in. He finds it harder to do without them year by year. The fine line between photo manipulation and AI art is blurring rapidly.

He apologized and returned the pay I had sent him.

Let me be absolutely clear.

First, I abhor AI art. I hate the way it steals from real artists, and detest the schlocky, canned art products it creates. It is threatening the future of art itself - why work hard to be an artist when with a click you can churn out AI schlock?

Second, for my current RPG project, the Japanese social game Giri-Ninjou, I am making all art myself. By hand. I think this is perfect for a small, indie product.

In fact, I had a HUGE problem finding good artists for NUNA. Especially indigenous ones. Some didn't like RPGs, some didn't get the project. Lots that I saw make amateur or folk art, again, not suitable. My own art looks like 90's first time pen ink RPG art, and pales in comparison to all the professional level Kickstarter RPG art I see. Just look at Coyote & Crow, my inspiration, and you'll know what I mean.

Once again, my apologies, and expect nothing but human made art from me.

PS Living out a suitcase in Vancouver now, but on the trail of some academic work. Wish me luck!

Nuna Art

An Inuit woman with child talks to a Mystic Tuniit in its cave. What is it telling her?

On KS Postage & Pricing

Hello Nuna people, and thanks as always for your support!

I had intended to post some art and content about A Rosa Branca and the Grave of Leviathans (the what now?) but got sidetracked by real life, as single fathers about to move across country do.

I don't want to talk just about Kickstarter all the time and bore you, but I thought I'd give you my thoughts and experience on postage and pricing as it has been an interesting journey of discovery.

So I did massive amounts of reading from KS articles before the campaign about postage. The advice was all the same - nail down every detail, then overcharge to account for unforeseen costs or changes at the post office between the campaign and delivery of product.

Simple, right?

Except roleplaying games are a different beast. Looking through campaigns, some had no postage, some had limited to certain areas, others had high rates. The clock was ticking, so I made the decision to overcharge and make up with content or refunds at a later date. I put it up on my pre-launch and figured I could get some feedback.

Except I didn't. I got a lot of "Looks great!" before launch, then a wave of "Why did you do that? Wish I had told you earlier!" after launch.

Maybe people didn't want to offend me or were too busy / intrigued by concept and content to look at the nitty gritty details. But even though my decision was not the best one, I was thrilled that so many of you still backed the project.

So when I relaunch in 3-6 months with an actual book in my hands, postage won't be calculated until after the campaign succeeds.

Moving onto pricing, there was a similar phenomenon. The advice was get down all the nuts and bolts, then overprice to not be caught offguard by surprises. Refund excess or offer content to make up for it.

Again, simple on the surface but not the best option for an RPG. So my work now is to get the book written and playtested, then get actual figures for printers instead of vague estimates. This will help me keep the book cost down as much as possible. I don't want to break anyone's bank with NUNA, just be industry competitive and be able to pay off my team for their hardwork.

Thanks again, and look forward to more content & art next!

NUNA & Tedankhamen Aren't Going Anywhere

 

Posted by Tedankhamen Oct 24, 2024 View on Kickstarter

Hello beautiful backers! This is Tedankhamen. It seems that our growth has levelled off. Our goal seems difficult to achieve at this time. And that is OK. Just from running Kickstarter for a week, this is what we have achieved: 200 glorious backers pledging nearly $4000. People from all over the globe giving positive feedback about NUNA. Tons of helpful people giving advice and criticism that will make our next attempt 100x more likely to succeed (first time KS succeed 40% of the time, second time 80%). Turned my notes into a playtest draft. Went from a one man outfit to a creative team of three. Created a ton of art for the project. So whether this Kickstarter succeeds or not, NUNA will live on, and will someday make its way into your hands. Let me tell you why. First, because I believe in this game, its vision of adventure and representation for people of the North. And lots of you have told me you feel the same. Second, because Tedankhamen learns from his mistakes. Why do I have a blackbelt in karate? Why did I get 2nd place in a Japanese provincial tournament? Why did I get the highest level in Japanese? Why did I push through to become prof? Because I jump in feet first, embrace my mistakes, and learn from them. Already, I have learned in weeks what other teams take months or years to acquire. And Kickstarter is a unique beast with scads of moving parts and the added complications of TRPGs and being a first timer.  So I hope you will stick around as we continue developing NUNA, and push it through to reality. And since there's always hope, I will be updating this KS till it runs out, and keeping our social media feeds open and running. Nalligavagit!

Kickstarter Is An Education

KS is a real education. School of hard knocks in a way, especially for indie creators.

It is very hard to make the right decisions.

Case 1 - Shipping

On the one hand, I was told nail down shipping cost details, which is impossible considering I don't know where backers are and what postal rates will be in 6 months. On the other, after posting it was pointed out that most KS don't include shipping, which lowers your overall funding and thus chance of reaching your goal.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Case 2 - The Interface

KS is a bit of an unforgiving interface. Once you launch it is hard to go back and change things. Maybe it is my old brain but it is taking some getting used to. I flubbed my digital copy tier so had to create a new one.

But it is all a valuable education.

Case 3 - Outreach

On the one hand, some people have reached out and given great advice. On the other, I am flooded with spam and bots. I was offered a podcast interview, but told they don't do direct messages.

I'm not sure how this is supposed to go. 

BUT

I am LOVING every minute of it!

I am LEARNING every minute of it!

Very grateful I took this chance.

Meta-ads and other kickstart considerations

 Hi everybody.

I started running ads for Nuna on Facebook. One week left in pre-launch.

The social media campaign is a mixed bag. Doing well on Facebook and blue sky, Twitter and email list are duds. Have to try and fix that in this last week of pre-launch.

What Is it like a kick starter? Some people only do that for six months to a year in advance with their team. Not me. Go look at Coyote and Crow, an example of a brilliantly executed kickstart campaign.

Some people do a little workshop in their house and line everything up by themselves and get it done in advance. Again not me that’s Ben Milton. And he kills it.

I have connected to lots of Indie designers. Some of them work a year in advance for the team and fail. Some of them slap it together by themselves and succeeded. So there’s a lot of luck involved.

I am leaning into my creative side, learning about marketing, and putting my passion out there. By kickstart followers alone, I could conceivably have half of what I need to fund. But that number is considered 25 to 40% off.

So this week I’m going to try and plug my holes and start kickstart off on the right foot with three weeks of half decent PR behind me.

I am still being a single father to a special-needs child.

I am still working some days, but also taking days off

Most importantly, I am still going for walks in the sunshine with sunny, exercising at night, eating right and slowly getting ready for the move to the West Coast

Wish me all the luck I wish you!

Tedankhamen