November ain't a great month for me at the best of times to be honest. I've never been a fan of Thanksgiving. And I don't think I have to explain why this one in particular sucked shit. I had a hard time working to the quality I expect from myself and want to produce, so no real update of content this month. I hope you please understand.
This month's book was supposed to be The Heart, a...
The Fixer was a weird playbooks to write all things considered. Every character in Protect The Sacred should, at some level, be a heroic figure. The Fixer is a common fixture in a pulp story. The weaselly guy, the snarky coward, the friend who reminds you treasure is treasure. Fun, but Hardly the heroic figures in a vulnerable position of trust to work on behalf of the cultures that call the Me...
2024-11-01 21:56:42 +0000 UTC View PostYou ever do a thing in a project where you’re juggling three ideas that explore a similar space but are still their own unique and distinct thing, but you need to still define these boundaries? That’s been me. This months playbook and the next 2 (the fixer and the heart) are all very socially facing playbooks by default. But they’re all very different, that much is certain. I’m just als...
2024-10-01 20:58:24 +0000 UTC View PostWe're most likely going to be a playbook hell for a hot minute and that's really okay. I think I've finally accepting y'all, my audience, is okay with that. But I think I've been struggling to be okay with it myself. Each playbook is about 6 pages of mechanics, creative writing, and tool tips and that's a lot of work. But I always feel like I want to deliver more and deliver faster. I think...
2024-09-01 18:31:22 +0000 UTC View PostSometimes good plans just go to shit for reasons out of your control.
I had full intentions of doing at least 2 playbooks, doing some design work, restarting playtest. And then my roommate brought covid home from a convention. So instead I spent weeks in bed, drifting between the horrors, delirious flirty text to loved ones, and being passed the hell out. Truly a life of dilettance and wh...
2024-08-01 19:45:26 +0000 UTC View PostLast month my main goal was to finish the Tag chapter of the final book, fully explaining how exactly that mechanic works in great detail. But with out of the way, I set my eyes on a greater task, the playbooks that use them.
As I'm sure you know by now, Protect The Sacred has 28 playbooks in all (though admittedly I have a few more ideas I'm sitting on for post-launch stretch goals.) T...
2024-07-01 21:44:31 +0000 UTC View PostIt's weird to finally be at a place where the game is starting to look like a book to me given how long it's been in development. But given that this month alone I've written almost 4000 words on what the hell a tag is, that's pretty book-ish to me. It feels good to say 2 out of the 15 chapters I have planned for this little shindig are done.
You can read in detail in the chapter attached...
2024-06-01 21:42:10 +0000 UTC View PostI don't think this month's update is likely to be very long. Not because there isn't much to report, far from it, it's probably because there is so very much.
The first of which I want to report is that the playtest are ongoing. I'm currently managing two separate games a week as I run peoples through the same 2-3 session adventure and it's been going excitingly well. The first of these ...
Protect the Sacred's first complete playtest is here!
Protect the Sacred is a anticolonial pulp adventure game that looks to emulate the mood and tone of the pulp movement beyond just as the globe-trekking adventure of stories like Indiana Jones, Johnny Quest, and Tomb Raider, but also pulp as horror, mystery, sci-fi, drama, and even romance.
In Protect The Sacred you work as a me...
2024-04-22 22:02:11 +0000 UTC View PostMost of my month has been preparing a vertical slice of the game for mass consumption. If you aren't familiar with the game design term. It's a polished selection showing the ultimate goal of the project for other folks, often in the form of a playable demo. Vertical slices are a version of the game that is both more polished than anything else, but ironically not as polished as the fi...
2024-04-01 19:28:57 +0000 UTC View PostYou know that secret project I keep telling you all about? Well the nda is up so I finally get to talk out loud to you about it outside of code names and vague gestures. I've been working on a new project with Evil Hat (developers of Fate, Blades in the Dark, Thirsty Sword Lesbians, Apocalypse Keys) on arguably their biggest project yet, a licensed IP TTRPG of Tomb Raider
Most of my work this month have been focused on two things, the top secret nda work I've been under contract for and the last bits of production pipeline work for Protect the Sacred. Two things you'll get to see the fruits of really soon.
For one, I get to announce what this secret NDA project I've been working on is sometime this month. It's been neat seeing bits and pieces of my sugges...
Another year down and I want to thank you all even more for the support you'd shown me through it. My work is slow often times and lacks the turnaround speed of other art forms, so the sustained faith you have in is appreciated. It's allowed me to no longer just survive, but live. And work in a healthy way.
I got my teeth fixed. I got to buy myself actual clothes for the first tim...
I want to thank you for the chance and opportunity to work on stuff that isn't directly tabletop related. It keeps my mind fresh and motivation high to be able to make and complete smaller things. This short story in particular was healing for me in a way I didn't expect or know I needed. It let me throw out a lot of the hurt I've been carrying. I understand that's a lot to put on a gay little ...
2023-12-25 15:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostWould y'all be okay if I spent some time writing some short stories (with quicker turnaround)? This is on top of doing pipeline and outlining work I need to do for the first draft of course. I have a sort of backlog of short stories I'd like to do and it'd be nice to kinda warm up and get back into the swing of writing things that aren't essays or prose.
The stories I want to write, whi...
Another big benchmark has been surpassed with your support and help! Protect the sacred is officially out of production. So what does that actually mean? It means that all the mechanics are done, designed, and in the final form. The content is locked and the only thing that might change at this point would be sliding some number values around to make things feel good and get more playtest data....
2023-12-01 12:00:03 +0000 UTC View Postadventure journals are how we do experience in this game. They're basically a log of cool things you do in a game as nominated by yourself or other players, creating moments. We want to highlight:
-When a player takes the spotlight and does something heroic, adventurous, or useful in a clutch.
-when a player has a meaningful human connection or experiences something new
-Expression...
This month is busted out some of the biggest mechanical monsters in the entire game. I worked out titles and expressions (the basis for the entire magic system), Stress (the health system), Touchstones (contacts, lived experiences, and cultural connections), and adventure journals (experience system and what you can spend it on). I still have one left to do and it's PHASES, basicall...
2023-10-01 22:44:52 +0000 UTC View PostOnce I got through those playbooks, things really picked up in development. Playbooks, while important (it's 112 pages of content in the final book after all) are very time intensive and thoughtful in how they are crafted. They're part of the primary way a player interacts with the system. I feel like I keep apologizing for how long they took because I feel like it probably felt super long on y...
2023-09-02 00:07:07 +0000 UTC View PostI got a lot done this month in a way that felt like a lot of nothing but most certainly was not. For one, got a new job. I can't say too much about the new job, just that it for a big tabletop company on a game that's big even for them, freelance so I can keep working on Protect the Sacred (and it's something they want me to do), and I have to sign a big giant NDA. I will say when I can freely ...
2023-08-01 22:07:37 +0000 UTC View PostI worked myself ragged this month but I did it. I finally finished the playbooks. It took me a few months, but I finished the first draft of all 28. These things have been vital because they're vital to how you create and play a character. They're more or less the building blocks or kits you bash together for your vision. These playbooks are split into two categories; Form Lodges that explain w...
2023-07-01 23:10:53 +0000 UTC View PostThis month was my roommate's birthday. We had a cool little daytrip to the Zoo where I took a fuckload of pictures and it was honestly nice!
Observe this big kitty and rejoice.
Despite the distractions we have a couple of big updates. One is the completion of three new playbooks, meaning w...
Last update I told you all that I finally finished the first 14 playbooks that all-together form the Form Lodges. Essentially who is your adventurer as a person? What makes them a good and valuable member of your adventuring team? Why does the camera follow them?
But the next and last set of 14 in what I think will be the most exciting part for most folks. It's magic. Namely it's h...
We finally did it!
This legitimately is a major landmark in game development. I apologize if development has felt slow going or invisible, but I wanted to try something structurally different after my experience with Exceptionals. And I'm happy to report it's payed off. De...
I actually had a pretty good birthday this year (outside of the the toothpain). I got a couple games I love, some kitchen stuff, and a new dresser. As soon as I can eat properly I'll make frybread tacos and show you pics! Most of my month however has been me being in and out of mouth surgeries. Somehow I got work done despite this.
I think the ability to step back however did me so...
Last month was a bit of chaos as I had to deal with some medical emergencies. I once more find myself thankful for the people in my life that can help me make the choices and navigate bureaucracy I would otherwise be unable to. Needless to say, I'm thankful for the bit or normalcy a birthday kinda stands in for. Even if I've never had much luck with those either. I'm looking forward to a warm t...
2023-02-01 21:58:21 +0000 UTC View PostI've spent the last month juggling a lot of projects between a lot of social or personal obligations (including needing to make time for an emergency root canal). I think it's safe to say I've been getting better at it if nothing else. there were times in my past where I just would have collapsed beneath all the expectations. I have high school teacher that would shit themselves if they saw me ...
2023-01-01 23:33:27 +0000 UTC View PostTechnically I don't think I've been part of patreon for a year yet, but I this is end of the year enough for me. Having a patreon has definitely helped me work healthier. Having someone to answer to keeps me moving forward, usually at a very steady pace. I can simultaneously know that I have people who look forward to what I do and that helps me treat it like a job and set healthier boundaries....
2022-12-01 20:47:03 +0000 UTC View PostI cracked open a new notebook and am currently on the fourth and final draft of the Protect the Sacred mechanics. For me, this is the stage of game development when all the features that will show up are finalized and the pipeline starts to take shape. If anything new shows up beyond this point will likely bloat the process and as such would need to be vital to t...
2022-11-01 19:09:09 +0000 UTC View PostHaving moved and about to start on a new project, now seems a good a time as ever to take inventory of the big corkboard.
The big corkboard is a very important part of my office. It’s the place I use to keep track of any new games and concepts I have. Any time I think of something new, I write ...
2022-10-09 17:50:40 +0000 UTC View Post