Scheduling for Shipping

To avoid some confusion in the coming month, here's going to be the absolute dates for all the shipping in terms of the books in cards in case you supporters would like to know anything.

April:
15th- Final decks will be completed (missing card received)
19th- Senior Show, presenting Masquerade afterwards
20th-Remainder of month- Masquerade decks available for purchase to Champlain College students (in the game labs or upon requests)

May:
4th- Graduation
6th-10th- Shipping dates for all Kickstarter backers

The reason we're looking at a shipping day a month from now is simply because this might be the only chance I'll get to give out the decks to many of the friends and supporters here at college before I might never see them again. That and there might be some polish we need to apply to the boxes to ensure their durability and I can't do that until I return home in May.

If you are a Kickstarter backer on Champlain College campus, I will find you and I will give you your prizes. Expect that soon.

If I know you personally, say you're family perhaps, I'll find a way to get you your backings soon too. For now the focus is successfully graduating. The future of Masquerade is looking bright though.

Thank you all!

Artist's Work

There has been a ton going on this week involving deals with artists and communicating with people to get the Masquerade print out there! I would like to announce to everyone that we're on schedule: the card art is on the way--and looks spectacular by the way, I'll put up files as soon as I get them--and I just finished making a deal with a graphic designer for the book art.

First draft of the new book cover

The good news of all this is we're within the range of our funding and will have plenty leftover to spare on the actual printing costs of the book/card game. The goal is still March, an official date will be announce once the final art is all in place.

There's still going to be more playtesting for the Masquerade game next week to ensure the rulebook is up to speed in terms of details so that people can actually play the game. There will also be a how-to-play video in the works for reference. This actually ties into my portfolio class...

Expect some more updates soon with new art from the card game!

Plans for the Future

Hey guys! This is an update on the blog after a little hiatus. I've been hard at work finding some artists to continue the next steps for the Masquerade update.

What about the Kickstarter, you ask? Oh. We got funded!

But I've not been celebrating though, I've been hard at work at the next few steps. Polishing the project and finding printers so we can get the game/book shipped in March. What does that entail, exactly? Well, here's the planned schedule.

January

• Finish basic edits on book and rulebook
• Find graphic designer for book cover
• Find artist for redesigning cards
• Playtest game to perfect rulebook
• Get samples from several printers for cards
• Get example of final art for cards
• Create Plague Doctor card

February

• Finish final book cover
• Finish final chapter headers
• Decide on a final printer
• Complete final edits on book and rulebook
• Get shipping addresses for Kickstarter backers
• Finalize card box
• Video tape a playtesting round and create a video for it

March

• Complete final card art and put cards together
• Get first edition cards and books printed
• Ship! (late March by the latest)

Obviously, we have a lot to do and more may be added to this list as time goes on. For now, there's a lot to do in the 10 days that remain in January. The real work is going to be February though and getting the final art in place.

I'm going to need volunteers for more playtesting in the card game before we ship, so please message me if interested!

Banking Issues

So, if you might have realized it's December 1st and the Kickstarter for Masquerade still isn't up yet. That would be where you're wrong!

I completely made the Masquerade page but there's a catch. I hadn't counted on all the banking information I was going to need for my Amazon account for Kickstarter. That means that I'm going to have to wait until Monday before I can finally get the project off the ground.

I could sit here and complain about the situation but that wouldn't be fun. That's what the update is anyway and why there isn't a Kickstarter yet. Stay tuned for more updates, with any luck there the Masquerade Kickstarter will launch on Monday.

Wish me luck.

Dawn of the Last Day

Now the nervousness is starting to kick in, knowing that I need to create the Kickstarter tomorrow. It's making me crazy!

It's the last day to get everything I wanted to do done and I have to say I feel like I've made significant progress since the start of the month. If you've been following my Facebook posts, you'll know that I now have the official Masquerade website up and running. You can find it here (http://themasqueradeproject.com/).

So the two major things I wanted to do before the Kickstarter began are officially done: the website and the trailer video. I'm going to start up the project tomorrow sometime in the afternoon and post the crap out of it. I'm not expecting a huge success, that's why I set the bar to just enough to pay for printing costs. But don't get me wrong, I'm going to advertise the crap out of Masquerade everywhere.

Wish me luck and see you guys tomorrow!

The Website

So some good news before I launch the Kickstarter, I found someone who promised to put up the website before December 1st. And she's a professional no less!

In celebration of this, I've decided to post what the website is going to look like when it's complete. That's right, all the pages up for viewing. Check it out!

The Home Page

I was going with the theme of letters, wax stamps, and childish character drawings. I made the decision that it's actually Mary, from the book, doing these doodles. It's fitting with the style that someone her age would draw in and it adds depth because we get to see what she sees in the world around her.

The About the Book Page

The book page doesn't have the book cover just yet (I haven't created it after all!) but it certainly adds to the feel I was trying to create. There's even a little Mary sketch in the corner of the page.

About the Creator Page

To match the theme, I couldn't use an actual picture of myself so I came up with the Wanted Poster look with a stamp idea of a photo of myself.

About Game Page

This is probably my second favorite page on the website. It's a letter to Newgate, another major character in the game and story. I love the little note from another character, Carnell, to add to the theme.

And now my least favorite page.

Card Page

Yeah, I just don't like how this page came out. In the future, I'll probably rework it. But for now, it's important to have because I want people interested in the game to have a place where they can download the cards from for free.

Finding Editors

I know this was probably a post before much earlier back when I finished the Masquerade book, but I'm in need of editors. Not for the 49 chapter Masquerade book, though to be honest if you're interested I'll gladly take your help.

No, I need editors for the different writings I need to do to make both the game and the Kickstarter work.

The press release I've written for the Masquerade project has been written up and I've shown it to one person, my mom. Not that I want to insult my mother, but I definitely need more eyes to take a look at this considering this is what's going to grab the attention of blogs and newspapers. I've never written a press release after all, every pair of eyes that look at it will help with making sure I do this right.

The other thing I've off editing is the rulebook. If you check this link (http://michaelbujtas.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/masqueraderulebook2-0.pdf) you can see the most recent version of the rulebook so far.

So, is anyone reading this interested in doing some editing? You'll get a sneak peak on everything I'm working on so far. Just give me an email at michaelbujtas@gmail.com or comment on the page and I'll get right back to you.

Have a good Thanksgiving! Fill up on turkey.

Beginning of the Holidays

As I said before, the reason I haven't really been posting lately is because there's simply nothing I can show that you're all not going to see already once the Kickstarter begins. Most of it is boring documentation like the press release, which I need to send out to people to have edited before I deliver it to various websites.

For those who don't know, a press release is similar to a news article except it's what you write and send to news reporters to get them aware of you and curious about you. I currently have mine talk about how different the Masquerade project is, how interesting the dynamic between the card game and book is, and how young I am to be working on such a thing.

I would post it here for you to see, but it probably isn't all that interesting. I will be sending it out to different people though once the Kickstarter launches.

That reminds me, I need to have a link to the Kickstarter page at the top of this website soon!

I suppose if you want something for me to show you guys, here's the new logo I worked out for Masquerade. I'll be using this as the official header for most things related to Masquerade unless I can find a graphic designer to create a better one.

In other news, my Thanksgiving holiday is going to be filled with creating the video for my Kickstarter project, finding someone to create the website (problems arose with that this week), polishing the documents I have, and building some connections for the time when I post the Kickstarter.

This is going to be a real thing! I can't wait to prove to the world that I'm not just all talk!

I don't expect Masquerade to explode in popularity, but if I can even get just $5000 in donations from people that would be a great success in my book. It's like my teacher said, at the very least the reward for working on this is going to be an excellent portfolio piece.

I'll post the video on here once I finish working on it over break. I realize I need to update my video blog soon too...

Where Have You Been!?

That's the question I've been asking myself the past week. Truth be told, I haven't been sitting around doing nothing in that time (I promise!) but instead I have been hard at work with a number of projects including preparing for the Kickstarter.

So what have I done? Let's take a look at the list.

1. Get a proper website: I've spoken before that I'm working on this. I want to post in the future what some of the pages will look like. The art for this is all done save for a few missing components and pictures. (In progress)
2. Design the final cards: This is why I've been working so hard on the card backs lately. Now that the backs are done, I want to get the final art in for the fronts. Then I'll be all set!
3. Copyright: I've also said this before. Copyrighting is going to be a huge thing so that no one steals my idea or name. It should be simple enough to do.
4. Book Editing: The book is now finished, so I need to edit it! I want to send it to publishing agents by the time the Kickstarter starts, so I need to make sure it's as polished as it can be.
5. Perfect the Rulebook: The rulebook has been something I've been working on and off on for the past month. I need to make sure the rules are clear and understandable for anyone who wants to pick up the game and play. A few sessions in the QA lab should fix this.
6. Speak to Blogs: I've been thinking this over and I want to spread the word of what I'm working on to other big named sites once I have something more to my name. It will be awesome to get even one of the major sites on the internet like The Escapist to do an article about what I'm working on.
7. Rewards: Kickstarter is about giving rewards to people who pledge money to you, therefore I need to  think long and hard about the kind of rewards I'd like to give. I have a few ideas and may even do a future article about it.
8. Design the Page: How Kickstarter is going to work is I'll have a page all to myself that I have to post information on about my project to get people interested. I'll be doing research all month to find out what sort of design successful pages go for. (In progress)
9. (Optional Step) Find an Agent: This may be optional considering I may go the self publishing route, but it would be awesome to have an agent to help me publish the book. Even an adviser would excellent in the coming days.

Obviously there still a lot more to do but with what I have right now I'd say I'm making excellent headway. I think the count is 19 days left, so that should be plenty of time to work on the steps, particularly the Kickstarter page step (step 8).

Unfortunately, there isn't much for me to show you guys just yet save for the new cards which are all complete. So here you are, enjoy!

Thirty Days!

It's not like going around the world in eighty days, that's for certain. Hopefully it will be easier, but I'm not counting on it!

So what's in thirty days you ask?

Well, as I've said in some of my previous entries, I plan to start the Kickstarter (http://www.kickstarter.com/) for the Masquerade project on December 1st. That means as of today, November 1st, I have thirty days to complete everything required for Kickstarter. Only a month...Wow...Kind of scary now that I think about it.

So far, I've started work on the eight steps I've assigned for myself by finishing up the card art and working on the rulebook. I plan on completing that by this weekend. I'll also be doing research into a Kickstarter page for Masquerade this weekend to boot. Busy me!

There will be more updates like this as time goes on. Look forward to them!

The Rulebook Updated!

If you read my last post in the blog, you'll know that I've decided to launch my Kickstarter project on December 1st and there's a lot to do before that. One of the things on the list was to perfect both the card design and the rulebook. This week I've decided to do both, I've already begun to make the new card design with about 20 cards out of 60 already done.

=

This is all final card art and text, or at least it is for the results from the Kickstarter. Any minor changes will be added before the cards themselves get printed as real playing cards.

There's also the matter of the updated rulebook. I had been working on it for quite some time and there are only a few changes I need to add to it before it's ready for the final print. I also need to be testing it in the Quality Assurance lab here at Champlain.

If you're curious about what the rulebook now looks like, check out the word version here (http://michaelbujtas.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/masqueraderulebook2-0.docx) or the pdf version here (http://michaelbujtas.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/masqueraderulebook2-0.pdf). Both are the same document.

What I was going for the rulebook this time was a smaller, compact, and more to-the-point design. After all, if I'm going to sell Masquerade to people, I need to expect them to understand the basic rules without me having to explain them.

Please, if you're curious, check out the rulebook and let me know if you spot any errors or inconsistencies. All your editing will be of great help in the future when I finally get around to printing the game. Here's to doing it by next semester!

8 Steps Before Kickstarter

As I've discovered, the steps before Kickstarter are going to be long and tedious but I think I can do it before the final date of December 1st. There's so much to get done!



In case you didn't watch the video and are too lazy to make a mental note of the steps, I'll record them here for your convenience.

1.  Get a proper website: I've spoken before that I'm working on this. I want to post in the future what some of the pages will look like. The art for this is all done save for a few missing components and pictures.
2. Design the final cards: This is why I've been working so hard on the card backs lately. Now that the backs are done, I want to get the final art in for the fronts. Then I'll be all set!
3. Copyright: I've also said this before. Copyrighting is going to be a huge thing so that no one steals my idea or name. It should be simple enough to do.
4. Book Editing: The book is now finished, so I need to edit it! I want to send it to publishing agents by the time the Kickstarter starts, so I need to make sure it's as polished as it can be.
5. Perfect the Rulebook: The rulebook has been something I've been working on and off on for the past month. I need to make sure the rules are clear and understandable for anyone who wants to pick up the game and play. A few sessions in the QA lab should fix this.
6. Speak to Blogs: I've been thinking this over and I want to spread the word of what I'm working on to other big named sites once I have something more to my name. It will be awesome to get even one of the major sites on the internet like The Escapist to do an article about what I'm working on.
7. Rewards: Kickstarter is about giving rewards to people who pledge money to you, therefore I need to  think long and hard about the kind of rewards I'd like to give. I have a few ideas and may even do a future article about it.
8. Design the Page: How Kickstarter is going to work is I'll have a page all to myself that I have to post information on about my project to get people interested. I'll be doing research all month to find out what sort of design successful pages go for.
9. (Optional Step) Find an Agent: This may be optional considering I may go the self publishing route, but it would be awesome to have an agent to help me publish the book. Even an adviser would excellent in the coming days.

Well, that's it. Those are the eight (nine) steps I have ahead of me before I get the Kickstarter started. Remember, it will be on December 1st. Mark your calenders, we're going for the gold!

New Website- Coming Soon!

I know it sounds cliched, with the coming soon thing that is, but Masquerade be having it's own official website where I plan on advertising and eventually selling the products. That and the card back has been where I've really pooling my resources during the weekend.

I promised last week was going to be where I looked into copyrighting the game, but things have been moving forward with the website. I found a friend who is interested in organizing the site as I had envisioned it but he needed me to create all the pages, so I couldn't resist.

Here's what the new homepage is going to look like, call it a teaser:

The style is going for a realistic feel with all sorts of nods to events and characters in the book. The cheery character drawing will also be seen on many of the pages, as you can see from the homepage. A lot of the symbols like the wax stamps and letters are things that appear in the card game as well.

My hope is that this flashy new site will grab people's attention and allow me to show the project more seriously at conventions. The hosting has already been purchased and soon www.themasqueradeproject.com will be going live!

There's also the card backs which I've been working on. I was going for a stained glass window look, but I'm thinking about swapping up the colors for something more relative. Going to ask my artist friends though, but if any of you have feedback, feel free to comment!

This week I hope to print out the latest versions of the cards for a final playtest round to test the rulebook again the week after. I hope things go well!

The Rulebook! (As promised)

Sorry, but Blogger doesn't let me upload documents directly to their website, which is incredibly stupid if you ask me. So I ended up having to post the rulebook on my portfolio website. Fair enough I suppose, it's better than nothing.

The rulebook is currently in version 1.1 and is not quite complete. A few things may change over time, but I'll be sure to update everything when they do.

You can find a pdf version of the rulebook here: (http://michaelbujtas.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/rulebook1-1.pdf)

You can download the word version of the rulebook with this link to my portfolio page for Masquerade: (http://michaelbujtas.wordpress.com/masquerade/)

Let me know what you guys think of the site while you're there, it's the thing that may or may not get me hired in the future.

Video Three and Rulebook Coming Soon!

So once the weekend started, I resolved myself to working solely on the Masquerade card game all day. The result was completing the newest version of the game all the way to print, a feat that means all the recent changes to the game are ready to be tested.

Afterwards I decided to do another video blog which you can see right here:



I have plans for posting the rulebook or a how-to-play video of the Masquerade card game in the very near future (that is within the week). The how-to-play video is something I've been meaning to do anyway, so you may even be able to expect both.

As usual, please comment on any opinions or requests!