First Post: Logistics Galore
Some updates are more exciting than others. This is probably not an exciting update, but it is an essential one.
The launch of the website is under way (obviously if you’re reading this), and that’s one more tedious logistical problem handled, which is great. But there’s a lot more tedious behind the scenes work that needs to be done. Nevertheless, I love transparency and figured I’d keep anyone interested up to date. This kind of content doesn’t make for a very splashy social media post, so stuff like this will often only appear here. If you’re into this sort of thing, check back regularly for mundane updates on the process!
Now that the website is up, there’s a few things in the pipeline that have moved up a few steps in urgency.
Kickstarter: The landing page is in the process of getting set up. It requires bank information to get approved, which requires a business account for the game/studio. Business accounts require tax codes, and that you have a few thousand dollars in the account at all times to avoid heinous fees. As a one person development team and design studio, that means it’s my personal savings I’ll have to put in there. There’s no Daddy Warbucks behind the scenes funding the project. In the event of an emergency, I really can’t use that savings anymore, because if I go under the threshold they require for money in the account at all times, I’ll start paying fees until the money is put back. It’s a bit of a scary leap to take, if I’m being honest. This leads me to…
Merch: I’ll need some help to make this project move at a reasonable pace. I need money I can put into the game. The website costs money, advertising on Instagram costs money, miniature sculpts cost money, prototype materials cost money, everything costs money. I recently brought a friend onto the team to handle all the art (more on him later, he deserves his own announcement and bullet point). But would you believe… that hiring Glen costs money? Part of my pledge to the community is that I don’t want to launch on Kickstarter without having as much as possible handled. I don’t want to need all the art made still, or to ask for money for a project that is years away from fulfillment. I want to launch with, at the very least, 10 player sculpts ready to go, which means I’m paying upfront for all of that stuff. It’s very expensive. I launched a Patreon, and while I absolutely appreciate any support there, I definitely don’t expect it. People work hard for money, and I firmly believe they should get something in return for that money. I don’t offer much for being a part of the Patreon, because fulfilling monthly rewards would take away from development time, and that’s not something I want to do. So the easy solution, in my mind, is having merch made. Enter Glen again- Glen is going to get us rolling with a merch store to help pay for development costs. He’s going to design some shirts, hoodies, and hats; and we’re going to get them printed locally in Philly when we can. I’ll have a proper store here in the future to sell it, and anything you buy will be reasonably priced and will fund the game. It’s a win-win, and I’m so excited to start that.
For the time being, the merch shop on here is outsourced to a print on demand service. Although less of the overall money goes to helping Slapshot Showdown develop, it has some major perks for the time being. For one, I don’t have to worry about taking the time to personally ship out all the items. That’s huge for development time. Another huge factor is that I can essentially offer limitless options on shirts and hoodies. I can get new things in the store as fast as Glen can design them! If a design flops, we can make a new one. I don’t have to invest a thousand dollars into a print run where I guess what sizes I’ll need, and I don’t waste any merch this way. So buying merch now will help me get some funds for the game, and will help me get to a spot where I’m totally self funding merch from local print shops!Glen: Back to Glen! Glen is joining the team as our 2D artist/Art Director. Glen is a friend, DnD party member, and a local tattoo artist. I’m handing over the reins on some overarching game aesthetics, and I love what he’s doing. He’ll be making all the art for the player stat-cards, and very likely for the rulebook, box, and team logos. Really, pretty much everything. He’ll also be in charge of merch designs for the most part, and I’ll probably handle all the shipping and running of the store. I can’t wait to share his art with you, and I’m sure he can’t either. Once we have some more art to share, there’ll be a formal intro post for him on here and all the socials.
That’s it for this post. It’s a bit jumbled, I’ve had a lot on my mind. I’m also writing this as I’m working on the website, so this version of Mike still has a lot of work in front of him and is pretty over it right about now. The version of Mike that exists as you read this is probably (slightly) less stressed.
