The Cards Are Here!

So I got them, yep. We're still missing a few due to printing issues, so don't expect to see any decks just yet. But the important thing is I can actually physically touch them.

If you live on the Champlain campus, please find me if you'd like to take a look at them. The cards came out really nice.

The Unpacking

The actual box. These still need a little work on the next print

All the cards save for one, we're missing the 61st card, the Plague Doctor

A close up on the cards. The art Deanna did is outstanding and really sticks out

The card backs

It's been a long, strange trip and there's still a long ways to go. After the missing card problem gets sorted out (I'll have to wait for another shipment from home for that), I can start to hand out these babies to some of the backers nearby.

I probably won't get everyone on Kickstarter their prizes until sometime in May though. Just a heads up. My capstone is the next biggest thing on my plate, that and preparing for graduation.

But please don't worry, the end is in sight. Thank you all for your support!

We're Printing!

I know this blog hasn't been updated in awhile, but things have been moving along on Facebook. We've already printed the books and we're working on printing the cards.

In fact, the cards have all been printed as of today (though there's a slight issue) and all they need to do is get cut out.

Here's what I mean, this is the card box

I'm expecting to see the cards in my hand next Tuesday. That means HOPEFULLY, the game will be ready to ship next weekend. But with the complications at the printers, we'll have to see.

If you're on the Champlain College campus though, expect to see the decks around. I'll be sure to show them.

Other than that, all that's left is the book signing and printing out the certificates some of the backers on Kickstarter have earned. There's also the matter of mentioning a few backers on this blog, which I'll be sure to do once the games have been shipped.

It's going to be an exciting week! Once more, check out the Facebook page if you haven't to see some of the pictures of the printing process.

Book Covers and Card Design

Here's just the quick announcement that the book will soon be printed. While we're waiting for the process to go through on creativespace.com, let's take a look at the final cover design.

The final book cover for Masquerade

I really like how Elliott stuck to the main colors of Masquerade, red, black, and white. It's a very simple and minimalistic style that I feel compliments the story very well. I look the blood dripping for the 'q' on the cover most of all.

Card front

Card back

After careful consideration, I decided to use the Masquerade novel cover for the card back. Adding a border made it look more like a card back, which I felt was everyone's initial criticism about it. This would give it a connection to the novel.

The card front is a cleaner version of the original design, keeping the wax seal and parchment look. This time there is more focus on the art, so we can showcase Deanna's hard work to the fullest.

We're just re-sizing the cover now to fit with the book. I'll post pictures of the printed copies as soon as I receive them.

Art Update #8

As promised, here we are later in the week with a new set of card pictures and 5 more already on the way. Things are really winding down here, the card art and card backs are nearly done. I'll be posting those soon as well. Lots of updates this week, or at least I'm hoping.

Also, I should probably mention here Elliott (our graphic designer) has a new portfolio website. Check it out.

And now, on with the unveiling:

Bodyguard Ogg- Another barbarian from the outland countries, Ogg has come here as  Jaroc's bodyguard. Unfortunately, he's lazy and sleeps a lot.

Richard Leowulf- Richard is a bit of an odd shaped man with lanky arms and legs, making him good with a spear. He's not too bright, especially for a guard and might have accidentally let in a few assassins.

Arthur Mourne- A young guard, but still very determined. He respects the  Guard Captain, Newgate, and the King. Though he can be a bit of a bully as a guard.

War Hero Jap Lancelot- Jap is a jouster and a knight. He is hailed as a war hero from the great battle between Berma, but really all he did was hide behind his troops.

Sergeant Oldman- The old trainer of the guard who still commands the respect of all the soldiers in Castle Dacre. He's pressing 70 years old.

So as you can see, there's a lot of soldiers here. But we're almost done and the last step will be finishing the commoners. I hope you're all as excited to see them as I am!

Marching into March

Hey guys, it's been a long time I feel since I've updated but I have been posting things to the Facebook page if you want constant news. I've done a lot of work on my own since the start of Spring break, but there hasn't been any recent art. Expect some later this week though!

I, myself, have been running around all week trying to find literacy agents for the Masquerade book and talking to printers for the cards. There's good news on both fronts too.

The good news for the printers is that we found someone willing and able to do it below the price range I was expecting, meaning we may have some extra budget to work with. No promises though! There's still much to do and combined with the costs of the box, we'll just have to see.

The promise I can make is that everything is all set and we're waiting on the art to be finished up. It's going to look perfect.

As for the literacy agents, I've heard back from a few of them...They declined. But that doesn't discourage me one bit. There's plenty of agents out there and it's only a matter of finding the right one for Masquerade. Expect to hear news on if one is found as soon as I receive word.

The next update will be an art one. Look forward to it.

Updated Book Cover Direction

As I mentioned in the last post, there has been a lot of work done in the art department for Masquerade. Not only in the card art but the book cover design as well.

Our graphic designer Elliott Lutton has taken a minimalism approach to the cover for the novel, and I can't say I'm not pleased with the outcome.

The new book cover almost takes a "Godfather" approach, using the color theme I think suited Masquerade the most, red, white, and black. The crown hints at the business of royalty present in the book while the single drop of blood gives a small window into the bloodshed that is present throughout the story.

Elliott is also working on the back of the book (though that's still a work in progress), the chapter headers, and has promised to look into doing new design work for the actual cards.

Look forward to seeing more art from these guys!

The New Card Art

As promised in my last post, here is a preview of the new card art for Masquerade, done by the wonderful artist Deanna Vaida. These images really capture the silly yet dark feeling I wanted Masquerade to portray.

Baron Radolf Maynard: The smug, greedy nobleman who values money over all else.

Queen Beatrice Dacre: The powerful queen of Avalot, her motives are as questionable as her heritage with a rivaling nation.

King Alric Dacre: The wise ruler of Avalot. He is seen as a kindhearted king among the nobles, but the commoners have mixed opinions about him.

Sampson the Sneak: A giant of a man, who was, at one point, Maynard's servant. He's now out for revenge, taking up the mantle of a thug under orders of a mysterious masked man.

More card images will be updated as the project goes along! More images for the new book cover should be coming up soon as well. Remember to check out Deanna's page as she's a very talented artist and will doing 60 of these images! Thanks Deanna!

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!

The Last Day

It's hard to believe it, but we're on the last day of the Kickstarter.

We've come so far in the past month, it's hard to believe where we once were. I'm so happy I did this, even if the Kickstarter probably isn't going to go through this first time. The last 30 days have been some of the most enlightening and beneficial moments of the project. I've learned so much in regards to editing, marketing, building connections, and selling a product that I think this Kickstarter has been worth it.

Even to those of you who feel this project doesn't deserve to go forward, I say thank you. Thank you everyone. This has been a major learning experience in my life, both the good and the bad parts. Thank you everyone who has backed me and given me the support I've had this month. Thank you those who have given me criticism. Everything has been valuable.

I'll be posting a "plans for the future" page soon to let all the backers know where I'll be taking Masquerade next. This project is far from over.

Link to the Kickstarter

Working on the Chapter Header

If you've been following the Kickstarter updates for Masquerade (shameless link here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/708854852/masquerade), you'd know that I've recently begun my search for a graphic designer. Personally, I think I'm going to stick with a student graphic designer who'd be interested in doing the project for their capstone or such.

This includes graphic design work for both the book cover.

And the chapter headers, which are the little detailed pictures you see in a book at the start of a chapter. Similar to the drawings in the Harry Potter books.

These are the examples I have so far of each, I hope that there's a graphic designer out there who can do more with them.

In other news, I'll be holding a Kickstarter "fundraising" event at school in hopes that I can spread the word out more to my fellow classmates. You can find that event here on Facebook. (http://www.facebook.com/events/118540901647589/) There should be free food and a chance to read Masquerade's first few chapters as well as play the card game.

That's all for now, more updates as things move along and the Kickstarter days start ticking down.

The Plague Doctor

If you've been paying attention to how the Kickstarter has been going (shameless link here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/708854852/masquerade), you'd know that the King Prize, a prize which allowed the backer to make the 61st card in the Masquerade game, had been taken.

To sum up the story, I've been speaking in detail with the backer and he wishes to see a character he invented, a plague doctor, in the game.

This is more than reasonable, seeing a plague doctor in a fantasy game isn't an impossible thing as according to history they've been around since the 500's. The typical image of a plague doctor, however, is a creepy figure with a raven mask. It's very gothic and dark, perfect for Masquerade.

What a plague doctor looks like, art done by Torvald2000 on DeviantArt

It will be fun to play with the concept of plague in the Masquerade game, considering it is a close competitive party game. I was thinking as an effect, the plague doctor forces all players to discard a card they have in play so long as it is face up. The plague doctor, of course, will have to have high defense to make this effect useful.

What do you all think would be a good plague doctor effect? My own concept art of a plague doctor will be submitted in a few days once I get a scanner that works.

Also, please check out the Kickstarter for Masquerade and show some support!

Editors and Book Covers

The majority of my updates concerning the Masquerade projects these days have been on the Kickstarter website with the handy update feature they have. As a result, this blog has been neglected somewhat over the past few days, so here is an update just for you guys!

Remember though, you can find the Kickstarter here (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/708854852/masquerade).

The biggest news I have concerning the Masquerade book is the fact that I have two new copy-editors looking over the book for me. One is a full-time author for a variety of books and the other is a professional journalist for online gaming websites. For privacy, I won't mention their names. This is good news for me, considering I just finished applying my own edits to the entire book. I've already went through a first chapter edited by one of them and seen plenty of errors I'll need to go back and fix.

Another important thing I've been working on is the actual book cover for Masquerade if you recall in my last post. I had a simple design worked out, but I took it and modernized it.

I really like this new design a lot and want to take it to a graphic designer in school to have them polish it up. I feel the font needs a little work.

There's been no real news on the card game side for Masquerade, I need to begin work on the King prize's card, the Plague Doctor. I'll probably start sketches for that idea sometime after Christmas.

King Prize and Book Cover

As of writing, we are 16% into funding for the Masquerade Kickstarter! I honestly didn't expect to get that far in just two days. What's more impressive is that the King prize has already been claimed! That means someone has backed $300 or more for Masquerade and earned the right to create their own card which will appear in the final version of the game.

I won't say who is the victor without his express permission, but he's a friend of mine!

In other news, I realize I'm going to have to work really hard to get everything printable next semester once the Kickstarter is a success (That's right, claiming victory already). That includes the book and the cover, and trust me when I say I've been working hard on the editing all over break. As for the cover, well...

This is the first draft I had in mind, a sort of old fashion feeling. I don't know if this is what I want though, it doesn't feel modern enough. I'm going to have to be playing with styles on my own all over vacation unless I find a graphic designer interested in helping me with the book.

Perhaps I'll have to look around school when I return.

Remember, dear readers, to tell your friends about the kickstarter (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/708854852/masquerade). Shameless advertising away!

We've Begun!

The Kickstarter for Masquerade has now officially launched! Check it out here (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/708854852/masquerade).

I thank everyone who has shown support to me so far, here's hoping that the project becomes a success!

The New Date

After weeks of waiting for the bank to finally get back to me, I've come to the conclusion that I can finally begin the Masquerade Kickstarter project! Hurrah!

The problem is I still need to wait for my new credit card number before that happens. Hurroo...

So basically, what this update is boiling down to is me announcing when the new date is going to be for the Masquerade Kickstarter. It's going to be December 17th. Yes. A Monday. December 17th. December. Seven. Teenth. Remember it.

This is going to be for real this time. I can't wait to see what happens. The new date will also allow my general audience, people at Champlain College, a chance to look at what I'm offering without being stressed over finals, considering that's what's going on this week.

That's all I have to say. I'm also working on designing the new book cover for the Masquerade novel, pictures will happen when I'm happy with a design.

Actually, you know what? I'd like to hear what you guys think. What is YOUR favorite book cover? Post it here in a comment and let me know.