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[BBreakfast]

Thanks Jimym! Now that the teaser video is done we're moving our focus onto the Kickstarter (coming April 5th!). We may extend the teaser video some more for the Kickstarter, and of course the "talking heads" portion will need to be filmed so look for those here or the YouTube page in the near future.

But besides videos, next up is getting the title screen image drawn (it will double as our Kickstarter image) and the reward tiers planned out. If you guys have any suggestions for rewards you'd like to see please let us know. 

[BBreakfast]

Working on Des's title screen illustration. Trying to get him & the background finished so we will have a nice looking title screen/Kickstarter image come April. Lots of other cool ideas & fun gifs we are cooking up for the Kickstarter & Steam Greenlight launches in April! 

BTW, it got paged. Did you know... We released our teaser trailer?

Check it out!

[BBreakfast]

Hot off the pixel press - Des is done!
Now it's time to focus on creating informative & fun gifs for the fast approaching Kickstarter. 

[gimymblert]

hot guy and hot pixels? well done!

[Jad]

Guy needs more neck! more neck befitting of such dreamboatness

[BBreakfast]

Whoops! Spent so long elongating his legs and torso I didn't even realize his neck had become too short. This a bit better?

[sonder]

He still appears a bit squat.  Assuming that's not what you're going for, I'd recommend overlaying him with a stick figure and making measurements, using his head as the unit.  There are images of the "average" human measured in heads around.  I forget what the proportions are. 

When I'm doing realistic characters I start everything off with the pose first, in stick figure form.  When that looks correct I overlay all the flesh and costume

[BBreakfast]

Arcadian Atlas Prepares for Kickstarter




Focus. If someone asked me, "What is the most difficult thing about preparing a Kickstarter?" that would be it.

One of my managers once laughed at a job posting that read, "Must be able to multitask." She said, "Multitasking - good joke. Haven't we all learned that's impossible by now?" More and more I tend to agree with her.

Kickstarters are difficult precisely because there is too much to do and not enough time to do it in. No matter what precautions or preparations you make, roadblocks are going to crop up and you're going to miss something. But we're trying really hard, and working some crazy long hours because this is so important to us.

We wanted to share some of the different threads we've been chasing down in preparation for April 5th. This has been, and will be, our blood sweat and tears for the next couple of months.



Weaving a Tapestry
The elements are coming together slowly but surely, and we're so excited to share the rewards, stretch goals, and exhilaration of a Kickstarter with you all. Here are just a few of the things we've been busy badgers at lately:

    Kickstarter Campaign - you know that huge block of text and images on every Kickstarter? Yeah, turns out that's a lot of work. We've been researching and writing and drawing and punching and slapping. Rewards, bios, story and class summaries - it's all in the mix!

    Extended Trailer - we had such an amazing response from our teaser, and now we're extending and improving that footage for a longer trailer cut for the Kickstarter. Who knows, you may even see a bit of our goofy faces (but not too much. We're super awkward).

    Community & Press - if you've seen our Twitters, you know we have too much fun on the internet. Community is what makes this all worthwhile, and we want to spread the word about Arcadian Atlas so more people can know about it. Every article, every follower, every tailored comment helps, and we don't take that lightly.

    Gorgeous Art - oh man, if it isn't the title screen image or the new character designs or the monster designs Becca is working up, it's something else that completely blows me away. We're hard at work on gifs and stills that help draw people deeper into the world of Arcadia.

    Music - Mortiz is tapping his toes and snapping his fingers to a few new beats for us all as well that we can't wait to show off!


So yep, it's all happening, and it's all happening soon! April 5th is just around the corner (and believe me, we feel it more than anyone :D)



Reach Out
Seriously, if you haven't added us on Twitter yet, WHY NOT? We LOVE talking with you guys. I mean, I have more fun in 5 minutes on Twitter than I do in 5 hours at my actual non-gamedev job. Please please please reach out to us, even if just to say hi!

@ArcadianAtlas
@Tupeloshoney
@wtaylorbair

Have particular rewards you really loved in previous Kickstarters? Let us know! This stuff is for you guys, so we want to do our best to make it a wonderful experience for the people who care most. Sound off in the comments or our Twitters - we'll listen!



Behind the Scenes
And if you haven't seen them, here are some behind the scenes interviews and podcasts about our lives, our game design ideas, and whatever weird stuff we happen to be thinking about at the time!

Sibling Development Team Bring Arcadian Atlas to Kickstarter - Examiner.com

Interview with Becca and Taylor Bair - Black & White Productions

Podcast with Becca & Taylor Bair of Arcadian Atlas - Darkstation.com

And that's all for now! Back to the ol' grindstone until we think of something else to post on the internet for all you lovely people!

[rentheunclean]

Awesome, looking forward to seeing how the Kickstarter goes for you guys!

Some small feedback: that kickstarter splash is pretty busy.  I have been following your game, so I know all the components and it still doesn't read very well to me, just a lot going on in the background behind the logo.

Keep up the great work you guys!

[Superpowism]

I'm typically a fan of SRPGs, so I'm definitely looking forward to this! The artwork also looks really good.
I wish you luck on the impending kickstarter.

[BBreakfast]

Heya guys! As always thank you for the kind words and useful feedback. 
Totally agree on the KS splash image, I'm cooking up something that will read a little better and has more appeal for the real deal. I'll share here as soon as it's ready!


working on some skill icons for a lvling mechanic gif I'm making for the Kickstarter campaign! This gif and a few others will be used to explain what makes our skill, stat and job class systems unique.


Also recently finished up the sprite concept for our street-smart dabbler in the arcane arts & Resident Bad Boy of Arcadia, Fennic. You'll learn more about him and a few others within the story section of our KS.

Stay tuned for more soon!

[BBreakfast]

Here's the finished version of that Skill Tree gif I mentioned in my last post. Obviously there will be MANY more skills in the actual game, just wanted a quick mockup to show how the system will function.

[BBreakfast]

How do we feel about this for the Kickstarter image?

[BBreakfast]

[io3 creations]

How do we feel about this for the Kickstarter image?

Yep, this one looks much better.

[rentheunclean]

How do we feel about this for the Kickstarter image?

Looks great!
Simple and appealing!

[BBreakfast]

Thanks guys :D



Here's another gif we've been hard at work on for the Kickstarter!
A pretty Kickstarter isn't guaranteed to fund, but at least it'll keep folks on the page for a while. 

[Zorg]

I think the right GIF for the Apothecary is better, because the animation leads the eye to the class of interest. The racoon animation drags the attention away from the Ranger.

Since you are using high res portrait images, did you consider using a regular high res font? I don't think a non-pixel font would necessarily look bad in a pixel art game.

There are many different pixel resolutions in the skill tree. You should stick to one virtual resolution. I don't mind one virtual resolution in combination with the native solution, but two virtual resolutions mostly look odd, in my opinion.

Good luck with the Kickstarter. (Don't forget to put the link in your signatures, opening post ... basically everywhere.) :D

[BBreakfast]

Heya zorg, thanks for the great feedback! The font is still something we're toying around with - we have one high res font that seems to fit also so on the Kickstarter you'll see a mix of two different fonts throughout the images.

Pixel resolution inconsistencies in the skill tree gif are something I did to help fill the space of the image a little better and make it more visible as you're scrolling past, but don't worry - we take special care in the actual game to ensure everything is scaled properly. The portraits (IMO) look better in the actual game since the pixel scale is small there so the sprite & environment surroundings appear a bit less blocky.


Here's another Kickstarter banner image:




Today our musician Moritz is recording a friend playing some live clarinet to make our new Starcrossed Lovers (Des & Vashti) theme song complete. The demo he sent for this tune was already SO good, we really can't wait to hear the final version. You'll be able to hear some of Moritz' music for the game on the Kickstarter page. 

Also, my brother is bringing his recording equipment down to Austin today so we can film the Kickstarter talking heads portion of our video! Excited to share more from that soon.

[BBreakfast]

Lil' gif to explain our job class branching for the Kickstarter.