Some additional notes on the recent game update from Alexis, who I’d like to thank again for all the hard work he’s put into this, as well as those who’ve been helping him:
In addition to the more obvious introduction of save/load functionality, there’s a error reporting tool built in now! If ever you see an issue you want to report, just press the “~” key (under ESCAPE), and press space to dump a screenshot and the game state to us. This may or may not destroy our error reporting server in the process.
This debugger, and the much more robust file loading that you now enjoy, is courtesy of Fugiman, who has been my right hand man on this development. He seriously deserves a medal for the hoops he’s jumped through for me (and you!). Furthermore, big thanks to LtSquigs for the awesome Save/Load functionality we’ve been able to include, as well as fixing up my mistakes with SburbML manipulation. Finally, thanks to illuminatedwax for his work on making sounds more reliable and helping with a lot of the core engine.
If you see an issue you think you can help with, we’d love to get your contributions.
About a week to go
As of typing this, only nine days remaining in the Kickstarter. The response to it continues to be fantastic, and my gratitude to the backers is equally continuous.
Thanks to everyone who beta tested the recent update in advance of its release. Anyone who pledged $50 or more was sent an early beta version and a feedback form to help us sort out the bugs. The same offer will apply for the next and final minigame installment. If you have pledged $50 or more by the end of the Kickstarter, you’ll get an advance copy to test sent through the Kickstarter message system. If you pledge, just be sure you select a reward tier at $55 or more, so that we know to send you a copy. (Note this is unrelated to the $1.5MM stretch goal, which states that ALL BACKERS will be allowed to beta test the adventure game itself, before it is released in 2014.)
Also, once the Kickstarter is over, we’re going to put up a Paypal pledging option for the project. A lot of people seem to only be able to use Paypal to pledge, which Kickstarter doesn’t allow. So for a brief window after, one or two weeks, you’ll be able to pledge via Paypal for the same reward tiers at the same prices. The window will be fairly short so that we can compile all the orders and ship the rewards out in a timely fashion. We’re expecting a good number of people may want things to ship in time for the holiday season. If you’re in the U.S. or Canada, it’s very likely this will be the case.
For those who haven’t pledged yet, this might be something to consider. The timing of the shipping here means that buying rewards could actually double as holiday shopping. If you see yourself doing holiday shopping for people a couple months down the road anyway, this might be a good advance opportunity. A lot of those pricier bundles start to pile up so much extra cool stuff, seems to me this makes for a good chance to divvy them up as holiday gifts for friends, maybe some of whom didn’t have enough money for the bigger bundles.
Whatever the final total winds up being, you have already helped make this Kickstarter an overwhelming success. Thank you again for your support!
villainsgoleft:
Hey everyone thank you all so much for being excited about the Homestuck Tarot Deck (Available now through the Homestuck Kickstarter Project!) A lot of work went into making this dream a reality so if you guys have a chance to help support the artists and the kickstarter as a whole, please do…
Ah! Some good info on the tarot project. Click the post to see full list of art credits. Thanks Left!
SEERPAK
Check out the new Kickstarter reward tiers here.
This is the final batch of reward tiers we’re releasing for the Kickstarter. Hopefully this is now a sufficiently tantalizing buffet of options to get you thinkin about making a pledge if you haven’t already!
The extra-cool thing in this bundle is that tarot deck. Get a better look at all the art for the cards by clicking on the preview links on that update page. Quite a few great artists chipped in some really fantastic stuff for this. There was a lot of emphasis put on matching Homestuck imagery up with the Major and Minor Arcana of the cards in ways that are meaningful with respect to tarot symbolism. So if you’re wondering why certain characters and scenes appear on certain cards, do a little research into tarot lore and you’ll find your answer.
A little more than two weeks to go on the Kickstarter! Next stretch goal is $1.5M, which will unlock some more perks for backers. We’ll also reveal something higher up on the ladder.
Another update to the stretcheladder!
One thing worth highlighting here: for all people in tiers $50 and higher, I’ll send out a beta version of the next Homestuck mini game update, several days before it shows up on the site. You can help us test it! Aiming to have that done in about a week.
A non-Kickstarter update.
My plan was to post the A6I3 mini-game in three parts consecutively. I’m still going to post all three parts, but I’ve decided to break them up with some regular updates between each instead.
Between setting up and launching the Kickstarter, and then keeping up with the crazy whirlwind it’s become, I’ve had absolutely no time to work on the second mini-game yet. So rather than just keep delaying the update, I’ll post a reasonably regular stream of updates while I work on it. I’ll probably do the same thing between parts 2 and 3.
To some extent I’m doing it this way because I’m getting a little tired of MSPA being in “infinite hiatus mode” which has characterized most of the summer. There have been a lot of long waits, due to traveling, big animation projects, working on the mini-game, and of course planning the Kickstarter. For the entire month of August, my time was split pretty evenly between working on the A6I3 update, and planning the Kickstarter. There was a massive amount of unseen work that went into that, not just to plan the Kickstarter itself, getting the rewards ready and all that, but to make sure we had a solid development plan in place down the road if it got funded.
This has really seemed like one of the busiest summers for me ever, but unfortunately all that labor isn’t reflected too well by the archive spanning those dates. I’m more than ready to get back to business as usual* for MSPA.
*note it still won’t be QUITE up to usual speed, because I’ll still be working on part 2 of the mini-game behind the scenes.
You find a fatherly note taped to your tumblr dash. It reeks of cologne.
The Kickstarter reached its funding goal in what seems like the blink of an eye. I must first say thank you to all who backed the project, and helped us reach our goal so quickly. I’m still utterly amazed by the response. I think a lot of people checking out this project are. There still seem to be so many people out there who’ve never heard of this story, or its phenomenally dedicated following. Maybe that will start to change soon. If that turns out to be the case, again, it’s thanks to you.
The project may have been funded already, but there’s still plenty of time left for pledges to be made. The Kickstarter will stay open for another 28 days. Every dollar raised beyond the goal will go toward improving the game. More platforms will be supported if certain stretch goals are reached. And beyond a certain point, all money will be dedicated to higher production values. $700K sounds like a lot of money, but it’s actually a very small budget for a game. Multi-platform games usually cost many millions of dollars. Increasing the budget for this is only going to make a better product.
This is the bottom line: because the project was funded, there WILL be a game. I’ll make sure it’s the best game the money available can possibly buy. The only question then is, how much is that? This is up to you. Over the next 28 days, the fans will decide how great they want this game to be!
So, here are the stretch goals we’re starting with, which represent both enhancements to the game the extra money gets us, as well as extra reward perks certain milestones unlock. As I type this, we’re already getting pretty close to Mac support. Soon we’ll add a better graphic of all the goals to the Kickstarter page.
$700,000.00 FUNDED!
$800,000.00 Mac Support
$850,000.00 New reward tier perk unlocked
$900,000.00 Linux Support
$950,000.00 ???
$1,000,000.00 ???
$1,100,000.00 ???
$1,250,000.00 ???
(??? revealed later. More stretch goals to be added if necessary.)
Also, later in the Kickstarter we’ll begin revealing some hidden reward tiers. I notice the Snoutpaks sold out pretty fast. We should be revealing new reward bundles later on that contain more scalemate plushes. Keep an eye out for them. Also remember that at any time you can increase your pledge if you ever feel like claiming a higher reward tier. Just remember to select the reward tier you want when adjusting your dollar amount pledged.
If you backed the project, thanks again for the support. And if you haven’t yet, I hope you’ll consider it, and help us make this the best game it can be!
FUNDED
In 32 hours!!!!!!!
7699 backers, $700,009, and still counting.
I will make a follow-up post soon, to announce some stretch goals and say a few other things. Everyone has done an amazing thing here today. Thank you all for your support.
