Is it alright to bring up my own personal done-for-money project? I don't wish to sound all crass and commercial, but I'm rather excited for it, and I think the crowd here would actually like the thing. So if it's okay, then I'll post this and link it in my signature line for awhile. You see, I and my buddies in Megara Entertainment have launched something on Kickstarter: Arcana Agency: The Thief of Memories It is a gamebook, which to many folks means "Choose Your Own Adventure," but that term is copyrighted so we don't get to use it. Gamebooks had their heyday in the 80's and early 90's, which is a convenience when trying to explain them here: many of you folks were attracted to Card Hunter because of card games, board games, and general visuals from that era, so I'd wager almost all of you have played a gamebook at one time or another. In this one, you play a team of private investigators in 1930's New York City out to solve paranormal mysteries--and, if at all possible, stay sane and alive. Arcana Agency is rather thoroughly illustrated: . . . And it's hopefully going to be printed in full-color hardback. Hopefully. If you've never heard of Kickstarter, the idea is that we ask you for funding, and we send you the product (and various other rewards as applicable) if we get enough funding to create said product. If we don't get enough funding pledged, then you don't pay anything, and we sit around twiddling our thumbs. If you need evidence the contents are any good, you can see more at the above links and on Facebook. Further, we know gamebooks: our other projects have involved taking classic gamebook series and adapting them to new forms, such as pencil-and-paper RPG's. We've been involved in Lone Wolf, Fabled Lands, Fighting Fantasy, and The Way of the Tiger (just look 'em up if you don't know 'em). This one, however, is all our own creation, so we're eager to see it come into existence. If this is the sort of thing that interests you, then please think of tossing a few dollars our way. We really, really want this project to succeed, and we think a lot of people would enjoy playing in our little world. Thanks for lending me your ear!
This got "likes"? Including from Jon? And no one hates me for bringing up an outside project? Hooray! So how about "pledges" I MEAN I'll put a link in my signature, then, and get back to posting about Card Hunter like a good little fan. But so I'm not bumping this thread without content, here's more detail for the curious: The book is written in third person, not second person, which is a departure from most gamebooks. Apparently this is a "selling point": some readers don't like second person, I guess. All I know is you get to control multiple investigators at once (from your external perspective), which is pretty cool: it's like you have an adventuring party in print book form. And the text takes full advantage of the print medium. There are all those little stunts you can only manage in a book, like "Go to the page number that matches the combination on this lock," to make the game more a challenge on the player than a "Darn, wrong route, I'll just cheat and take the other one" fest. We really think that it's fun and challenging, and we hope that you'll take a moment to look at the Kickstarter and think about pledging. If we succeed, there's so much good stuff we'll get to do. ( . . . You have no idea how excited I am that Jon, one of the team members on Thief, "likes" this. Dude.)
Thank you. Thank you thank you thank you! I've never been able to stand anything written in the second person. I've tried, but I can never get past the first few sentences. I have no problem with putting myself in the shoes of some other character, but being told that *I* am the character just completely breaks all notions of suspension of disbelief for me. I'll have to check this out when I get home. Sounds cool!
Ha ha ha, you're welcome! See, I know there are people who feel like you, but this "selling point" is kinda hard to explain to the average reader. There are lots of people who don't even know there's something here to HAVE an opinion.
So, I'm curious, what is your involvement on this project? Illustrator? Writer? Kickstarter guru? For some reason, 'Sir Knight' isn't listed on the project team Also, I love the Risk and Challenges section. "The only 'risk' is that the printer's place will explode or the shipped items will get eaten by paranormal beings." Hope you guys didn't jinx yourself there!
Why no, but I am listed on Megara Entertainment's forums as a moderator. (Technically, I'm "community manager." That means mod.) I wrote for a number of our projects, and I'm writing for upcoming stuff too, but I did not write this one. I just stood back and watched with amazement. For the Kickstarter, my qualifications are basically "I live in the United States," since no one else on the team lives somewhere that Kickstarter operates. I'm the second person you see in the project video; the first fellow is of course the author, and all the other content-creators are listed in the description below. See, see, it's a joke. We've got this "paranormal" book, see? So it's funny, see? And not dangerous in any way, see?
I don't want to be crassly commercial on this forum (we're all really here because of Card Hunter), so I wasn't going to update unless there were new things to show you. Today . . . there are. First, the less-important thing: I added more images to my initial post. Second, the more-important thing: remember this? Below please find a free "demo" of Arcana Agency: The Thief of Memories. Yes, I come bearing another way to procrastinate! http://www.megara-entertainment.com/ArcanaAgencyFreePreview.pdf If you were uncertain about "gamebooks," or just didn't want to look into this without evidence it was any good, then there you go. This mini-gamebook is a prequel for the big project up on Kickstarter. It is fully self-contained, but can also link up with The Thief of Memories if and when the latter is published. If you think the "demo" is any fun, then you know what to do. But even if you don't think you can support us, please please pretty please pass our mini-gamebook along to your literate (both literature-literate and gaming-literate) friends. All of them. We really hope we can succeed in bringing The Thief of Memories into the world. We're also going to be on reddit tomorrow (see the Kickstarter front page), so we'd love to hear from you (and with this "demo," we'd have something to discuss). Thanks for listening yet again!
Played this demo last night; it was a lot of fun! Well done, and I really like the setting and characters. I'm looking forward to The Thief of Memories
Oh, whew. I thank you for the kind words, but also I'm glad that you got the file at all: there was a scare that people couldn't download it. Just in case, I'm hosting an alternate download on my personal portfolio: http://richardhetley.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/arcanaagencyfreepreview.pdf And are there any reddit-using folks here? Jon posted about that before, so there might be. If so, I intend to start a thread (linked from the front page of our Kickstarter project) to talk about the game, and it would be really great if folks could post questions sometime during the day. It will start at 8:00 am Pacific time tomorrow (Friday), and, as you know, all (positive) exposure helps. Anyone want to say hi? (And play the demo game, already. It's illustrated like crazy.)
So . . . apparently this thread is broken somehow, for folks have reported being unable to post in it. Is there some button I need to push? I don't know. In any case, I have some "boilerplate" (though hopefully more interesting-sounding than that) which I wanted to post. Ahem . . . By the time you read this, Arcana Agency: The Thief of Memories will be almost two weeks from its deadline, and approaching 50% of our goal! Response so far has been terrific. Most recently, we got a little nod from Ryan North, author of Dinosaur Comics and Adventure Time comics, during his Kickstarter run with To Be Or Not To Be: That Is The Adventure. We've partnered with fellow gamebook Maelorum (successfully funded) and Turn to 400 - The Fighting Fantasy documentary film (in its last hours). Gamebook authors Dave Morris, Stuart Lloyd, Jonathan Green, and Herbie Brennan have all weighed in on our project. We got a review on a new site called Table Tested. And though we think the book stands on its own merits, the Campaign Master blog even reviewed the project as a gaming aide for roleplaying in general. (Aside: A Bear, on that theme, I hope you don't mind if I reference you elsewhere on the internet. I'd like to bring up your discussion when talking about RPG's.) We still have a ways to go, and for that we need your help. If you like the pretty graphics I've posted, and think a literate bit of gaming might be your thing, then please take a look at Arcana Agency: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1615043334/arcana-agency-the-thief-of-memories-a-full-color-g . . . And/or try out our fully-playable game sample: http://www.megara-entertainment.com/ArcanaAgencyFreePreview.pdf http://richardhetley.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/arcanaagencyfreepreview.pdf . . . And/or tell your gaming friends. Thanks once more for listening! (One last illustration: )
Good day, everyone. Arcana Agency: The Thief of Memories has surpassed 50% (and is now at 60%) with one week left in our project. We've seen backers coming from all over (including here) who are interested in the sort of classic gaming experience that RPG gamebooks represent. If a printed solo adventure you can hold in your hands sounds good to you, or you just want a download with pictures you can swipe for free (download link and alternative), then please take a look now: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1615043334/arcana-agency-the-thief-of-memories-a-full-color-g We're almost done, and we're hoping to have a few more nice surprises before we get there, so please come on by. Thank you for reading!
Once more, with feeling! This will be the last time I post about the project, so thank you all for your attention and/or patience. Arcana Agency: The Thief of Memories is now in our last full day of funding on Kickstarter: 12/12/12. The end comes tomorrow, and we need your help now in order to reach our goal! Funding has jumped from 60% to over 85% in just a week. We've been reviewed by VideoGameGeek (thanks to our iOS connection) and Brewin', and we've partnered with gamebook author Jonathan Green's "history book" of the Fighting Fantasy series, YOU ARE THE HERO. But we're not funded yet. If you haven't taken a look at our project and/or our free demo, please do: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1615043334/arcana-agency-the-thief-of-memories-a-full-color-g And if you don't know you want to pledge, but you know other people who might, then please pass the link on to them. There are only so many gamebooks/solo adventures like this being published today, and we really want to help this type of gaming experience thrive. Thanks for reading, and thanks for your support!
Hey Sir Knight, I backed the kickstarter, and played through the pdf of the game - much fun! Since I'm a bit OCD about these things, I also have a list of typos/other problems. I replied to the kickstarter message sending out the files - is that the best way to send typos and such, or is some other way better?
Whoa, looks like whatever was keeping people from posting in this thread has been lifted. Yes, I've received typo things in a Kickstarter message--and I presume this message was from you. You'll know that it's gotten through if you receive this reply I'm about to send. I'm thinking we will need to release some "patch notes" when we edit everything. Thanks for helping out, and, yes, I'm glad you had fun in the game; I think the edits will enhance the general "fun"-ness, too.
