The Map of Avalot

Just a few minor updates for today. I've decided to start collecting shipping addresses this weekend, if you backed up our project on Kickstarter expect an email requesting details. Besides that, I'll be pushing to get the book in ebook and printing format over the weekend. Perhaps we will see the first printed copy in a few weeks!

Here's the sneak peek of the Avalot map promised to those who have donated at least $100 to the Kickstarter. It's my hope that this will be poster sized when we mail it out.

In other news, completed earlier this week was the Masquerade card game tutorial video, or the test run at least. Check it out and give some feedback so we can improve it!

More art updates soon for the card game art! Again, expect those emails regarding shipping info so you can claim your own Masquerade prizes!

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!

Kickstarter Prizes

So besides today's blog video, I've also put together the prizes I'm going to have for the Kickstarter. The thing is I'll need some feedback for them to see what you guys think of them. Anyway, here's the video real quick if you're all interested.



Do I seem nervous? I certainly am starting to feel it!

Here's the list of prizes I decided on for the Kickstarter project. If you don't know how it works, basically if you donate the listed amount of money or more, you can choose the prize you want plus all of the prizes beneath it. You can check out the Kickstarter pages for more details (http://www.kickstarter.com/).

$5 or more: You get your name added to the rulebook as thanks

$20 or more: The card game is yours plus all the below

$35 or more: The book is yours plus all the below

$50 or more: Both the book and the cards will be personally signed by me plus all the below

$100 or more: Special Edition pictures from the original card game and book plus personal special mention in my blogs. You will also be mentioned in a special thank at the back of the book plus all the below

$200 or more (Limited to 5): Your name will appear as a character’s name in the game plus all the below

$300 or more (Limited to 1): You will get to design your own card that will appear as the special 61^st card in the game. This includes a picture of yourself as designed plus all the below

The limited prizes are obviously limited to only a few people, the first few who donate that much. I decided to make the prize for the Bloody Christmas Contest, which failed big time, the main prize for Kickstarter. I'm not expecting a whole lot but I am going to try to market the crap out of Masquerade once I get started.

Also, here's the card box I'm working on as promised.

I used a design I found online for poker boxes, so it should be about the same size and hold up to 61 cards for the deck. The design is pretty straight forward and I'll go into more detail with it in the future when I complete it.

Until then, take care guys!

28 Days Left!

The countdown is underway and we're making progress! I've learned that I need to start looking into making an explanation video for the Masquerade and tell the Kickstarter donators what exactly Masquerade is. If you're curious about that yourself, you can check out the new "What is Masquerade?" tab at the top of the page.

Sounds like the video will basically be that page only a little more detailed. More details will be coming up soon on the video. I'll be sure to post it here for you guys to see!

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!

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!

Book is Done!

So now that the book has finally been completed, I have to start focusing on editing and finding people to edit! Email me if you'd be interested in that at michaelbujtas@gmail.com

Also an important note: I've decided to plan the date for the Kickstarter for Masquerade for December 1st! More details on that later including a list of goals I need to accomplish before then.

Thanks guys for your support so far! Here's to taking the next step in the road to publishing.

What Makes a Good Story?

Now that I can sit down and iterate on my thoughts a little bit better, I can safely say that I can agree with myself mostly in this blog. What does make a good story? To me that's characters and how they shape the world around them.

I'm on record for being a huge lover of comic books like Batman, Watchmen, etc. What drives me to keep reading those works is how interesting the characters are in the plot (I'm a huge fan of Rorschach by the way). But as I say in the video, it's more than that. They work off of each other and are just generally engaging to watch, even if it's just two characters having breakfast with each other.

I have a little theory that I'd be willing to test for my next novel, when I get to write it that is. I bet that it's possible to write an incredible story with just five well-developed and thought out characters doing just about anything in the novel.

But my question to you guys is what you think makes a good story? Correct me if I'm wrong!

A New Contest? Upcoming Chapter 3!

Like I've mentioned in this weekend's blog video, things haven't been going as great as I wanted with that new contest.


I think I might do a revamp of the contest so that I'll let people design their own cards and fight over with one they'd like to see go into the card game. That way I can encourage the fans to really get invested with the game.

We'll have to see what people think though, I don't want to manipulate anyone after all!

On the news with the book, if you watch the video you'll notice I said it's almost done, and it is! I'm on the last few chapters and all the really climatic stuff is happening. It's both exciting and sad at the same time, it's been such a joy writing this now I have to focus on editing and publishing it once it's finished. I might go into self-publishing or maybe I'll take it to a larger company and see if they pick up the game and the book.

No one's ever marketed both a card game and a book to my knowledge.

With that note, I think it's time to post the next chapter of the book on the blog (I believe we're on chapter 3). I'd love to hear what everyone thinks of it! Until next time.

Video Blog Part 2

So I decided to continue the little video blog idea for awhile and see how it goes. I'll be updating both this site and the videos constantly, so no need to worry about that. I think the next post I do on the blog will be about the Masquerade Card Game and more details on that, possibly how to even play.




Stay posted and please comment on what you think so far!