IGS State of the Nation: July 2017
over 8 years ago
– Thu, Jul 20, 2017 at 01:55:29 PM
TL;DR: Executive Summary
- I am committed to deliver everything I've promised, regardless of whether or not a given product gets its own "enhancement KS" or if such a KS gets funded.
- Kickstarters for already-committed work are, and will only be, used to fuel additional content, primarily in the form of commissioned artwork.
- Kickstarters for already-committed work do not, and will not, interrupt the development of earlier-committed work.
- I need to up my dedication of time to increase the output, and make sure we deliver more, more quickly, than we've been on track to thus far in 2017.
- I'll use surveys increasingly to get feedback from backers, to make sure that we are working on the things that are most important to the people who make our work possible.
- Although it will take time to deliver on everything promised, all products will be completed. And hopefully many more, besides!
Detailed Thoughts
I wanted to take this opportunity to muse about where we are right now, and offer some insight as to how we plan to move forward.
The good news is, we've had a number of hugely successful Kickstarter projects in 2017.
The more frustrating status is, we're behind schedule on delivering.
In 2017 thus far, we've delivered quite a lot--the Players' Guide to DO1, three books of pregenerated characters (including the largest such volume known in indie RPG publishing), and a massive proof-of-concept magic item that has set the stage for two future books of such items. We've also fulfilled a great deal of pledge rewards--over 700 individual PDF, hardcover, and softcover distributions. We've gathered professional reviews, and have commissioned dozens of pieces of new artwork--including illustrations for the entire suite of NPCs from Dark Obelisk 1, to be featured in the upcoming Berinncorte Basecamp book.
Kickstarter & Commitments
I definitely do consider myself committed to deliver all of the books promised throughout the KS projects that I've already had, and I do fully intend to deliver them. Druid Enclave, for example, will be produced and published and delivered regardless of how its KS goes. I need no further funds to produce what I've committed to. Frankly, I get such a kick and a rush out of writing this stuff that it is truly its own reward. It may be difficult to believe based on the enormous success of recent Kickstarters, but I really do lose money net/net on all of this--every cent I earn from KS goes right into tools, artwork, printing, etc. So I'm in this for the long haul, regardless of what Kickstarter does, or what sales turn out to be on RPGnow, or whatever.
The main catalyst for the several most recent Kickstarters has been art leadtime. DO1 had very minimal artwork, so timing of those commissions wasn't nearly as much of a factor. But now that so many projects have enjoyed so much success, I really do want to have more art--and for books like Artifacts & Artifice, for example, art is crucial to the presentation. A single illustration takes up to 3 weeks from initial ask to completed file, and I'd like to have dozens in each of the books on the radar--even with a cadre of five artists helping, the math dictates a pretty significant leadtime to spin things up.
If a Kickstarter fails, or if I decide to simply not do a KS project for a particular book, then that book will still get produced, but it'll lack the artwork that I feel would make it a more complete, professional product. Basically, the Druid Enclave KS, for example, allows me to scale the planned commissions inline with the project's success... but the book will get written regardless.
None of the recent or new Kickstarters has delayed production of other products already in the pipeline. BB, for example, is so behind not because of the intervening Kickstarters, but frankly from a combination of three factors: my day job having changed, the birth of my third kid, and the ambition of the project having grown.
Crowdsourcing, Crowdfunding, & Quality
As a superbacker myself of over 300 Kickstarters, I can appreciate a variety of backer perspectives on delivery.
Personally, I recognize that KS is far less a store than a creative crowdfunding and crowdsourcing engine, and as a result, I tend to prefer eventual delivery of a better product. I'd also estimate that 10% of indie RPG projects I've backed simply never deliver anything, another 50% end up taking an order of magnitude longer to deliver than the initial estimates projected, and 20% of the remaining projects that deliver somewhat close to on time turn out to be disappointments of really amateur quality. I'd estimate that, generously, maybe 20% of RPG products I've backed deliver on time, with decent quality... and every single one of those "on time and good" projects was either already completed when the Kickstarter launched (which I interpret as simply using KS as free marketing and sales, which isn't bad but doesn't seem quite in the true spirit of KS), or was created by a "real company" who had full-time employees etc. YMMV as to the projects you've backed, of course, but that's been my experience over the last few years.
All of that said, I absolutely do respect the preference to have work completed within estimates. Ironically, I'm a project manager in my day job, so I get it, really I do!
Communications & Expectations
I've tried to be pretty transparent about all of the above in my update postings and in the descriptions to each Kickstarter, but I recognize that I tend to put a ton of verbiage out there and sometimes the spirit of what I mean to say gets lost.
I always welcome feedback, and several of you have messaged or emailed me with your thoughts, recommendations, and concerns. Going forward, I'll be more active in explicitly soliciting input from backers. As a matter of fact, I actually have a survey already authored, and ready to pull the trigger on. But I wanted to get at least DO2 out the door and delivered before I do that; hard to ask what order backers want pipeline products to be delivered in when a major looming one hasn't yet gone out the door!
Capacity Planning
This may be more transparency than you care to know, but I just this morning had a sit-down with my wife, and we arranged childcare duties in weekday evenings so I can squeeze in an extra 1-2 hours a night to work on getting committed projects out the door more quickly. That should help considerably.
Nobody's Reading Any More, Wrap It Up, Dude
So in closing: I always welcome feedback. I respect and value each and every backer from each project, and it is absolutely my goal to make sure everyone ends up with products that make them feel thrilled, and glad that they backed me to begin with. And to be a bit modest, I do feel that the output delivers in that regard. It's the time element that's definitely lacking right now, and I hope to improve that going forward.
Sincerely,
Jason
