Ballistic’s Report for the Week Ending March 5

This week was a very “functional” week. Highlights include a massive revamp of the Character Collections project to reflect trajectory and some new learning on expanding stretch goal rewards. Otherwise, it’s been a nose-to-the-grindstone kind of week.

Press and Presence

• The Podcast for RPG Ramblings dropped this week.
• Asfolk, the Viking Martial Arts school I train at, was featured in a short spot on “The Jason Show,” which is a local variety/interest spot. I’m the guy in armor.

Gaming Ballistic Patreon

To help with ongoing funding of art and speed eventual time to delivery, Gaming Ballistic started a Patreon in January 2021. Here’s the weekly update on Patreon status.

• Membership status: 40 patrons and $266 per month
• Special Content: Character Collections 2 near-final preview; revealed the subject matter of the latest Powered by GURPS project to patrons in the Patreon Discord channel
• The funds from the Patreon are 100% going to be reinvested in the business for advance work. Pre-visualization and early-stage art for projects prior to launch is going to be the most likely sink for the funds. Some of these can turn directly into products; others have a longer lead time.

Currently Fulfilling/Shipping

Project where hardcopies and PDFs are going out, or scheduled to do so.

• All but two packages in the USA have been delivered. I believe all but one of the EU orders (one to Germany) have been mailed out. One of the USA packages is confirmed out for delivery and should arrive today. The last is a BIG order…to Austin, TX…and has been “out for delivery” in the system for eleven days. The backer and I will need to work that out; the package was moving through Texas at what may have been the worst possible time.

Crowdfunding

TFT Character Collection (Launched Friday Feb 19; Closes on Tusday, March 9 at 9pm Central)

• Campaign funded in the first day, in nine hours
• We passed the first 350-backer stretch goal on Feb 24
• The campaign is approaching the final 48 hours, when reminders go out and we get the last-minute spike at the end. The current upper bound of backers if we get ALL of the “following but not pledged” is about 685 people. The more likely number seems to be around 525.
• While the 700 and 1,000 backer goals do not seem likely, they are not impossible, and with sufficient sharing and activity by the current backers on social media to increase the visibility of the campaign, could be achieved. It is not, however, likely.
• I am developing a much better sense of which of my experiments (backer-count drive goals, digital expanding goals, physical expanding goals) are going to be utilized in the future. The “lean heavily on Backerkit for the end total” is nerve-wracking but we’ll see, in the end, how it works out.

In Development

Writing and content creation for announced projects. Some of this may be cryptic.

• Art for Character Collections 2 and CC1 is 92% complete and I expect to have the last few pieces today or tomorrow. That should finish up CC1, CC2, and CC3 to be ready for production.
• I started writing on CC4 Wizards anticipating completing that stretch goal. I expect to have it ready for art in a few days. If my plans for this weekend go well, the artists will have it next week.
• Kevin’s new project has almost all of the foundational work complete, and a lot of the supporting work. It’s very “under-the-waterline” crunchy, but the user-facing crunch is going to be very, very low. I hope that everyone else is as excited about this as I am. I’ve revealed the title to my Patrons, and expect to reveal the theme of the content to those on my Discord in the next week.
• I also got permission to significantly expand the scope of offerings that are Kevin’s-Project-adjacent. This is good, and I already have plans.

Friction

Bits of news and items that put a monkey in the wrench.

• This last week had some issues with effectiveness. Lack of sleep, some personal stuff…just not engaging fully. Some weeks are like that.

Fair Winds

Information about things that move GB forward.

• Down to maybe one or two packages not yet in backers’ hands in the USA, and all packages shipped out in not-the-USA.
• I heard that there are good labeling options for boxes of cards that exist to make sense of what goes where. I’ll need to wait until we know how many of each deck to make…but this will help keep them sane
• I have now been on Nerdarchy, Talking Crit, and RPG Ramblings (that one drops this weekend) talking about gaming, GB, Character Collections, and Kickstarter.