I’m full up, between my work at Posthuman Studios and my existing freelance clients. I don’t anticipate even thinking about taking on any new freelance clients until October.
Existing clients: I love you guys!
Eclipse Phase is Origins Award RPG of the Year
June 30th, 2010 § 4 comments § permalink
Eclipse Phase was just voted the Best RPG of the Year at the Origins Awards. To say that I am pleased, after all the hard work that went into this game, after all the business kerfuffles over the last few months, and considering the competition —well, I am very pleased.
Eclipse Phase is a complete game with a detailed science-fiction setting. It’s published under a Creative Commons license; because we have to build the future we want to live in, and sharing is an integral part of gaming culture. I’m thrilled to sanction and encourage that kind of sharing in a formal way. We sell the electronic version for $15 because we want to get it into your hands; after you’ve bought it, give a copy to your gaming group so they can fall in love with it, too. The print version is a gorgeous, 400-page full-color hardcover book, and it should be available in stores everywhere.
Eclipse Phase is a base for experiments, also. If you buy the Gamemaster Screen Hack Pack, not only do you get PDFs of the GM Screen and the Glory adventure, but you get the InDesign files we used to build the GM Screen, to let you hack your own custom GM screen. And when you’ve built your screen, you can share it with everyone. We’ll have more experiments soon.
But for now, we have our game back in sales channels, there are two print releases coming soon (the Gamemaster Pack and the glorious sexy space whale-filled Sunward), it’s thrilling to be working with Rob and Brian on future stuff, and we won an Origins Award for Best RPG. That all feels pretty damned good.
Don’t Ask: “Would you consider?”
June 6th, 2010 § 1 comment § permalink
Often, a fan phrases a question towards a company in this manner: “Would you consider releasing this book as a hardback?” or “Have you considered releasing a fiction anthology?”
Please don’t ask questions in this manner. You’re trying to ask a question about the end results but the question you are actually asking is about process.
Some people would actually argue that someone can’t answer that question without quickly considering both possibilities, and so the answer to any “Would you consider?” question is always yes.
Let’s use an example: “Would you consider printing future books in hardcover?”
Before a publisher decides to print a book in hardcover, they have to look at the additional printing and shipping costs for doing so, compare that to the expected sales for the book, and ask some necessary sub-questions: will making this book hardcover sell more copies? Will making it hardcover make it possible to raise the price enough to cover the additional printing costs? Will this actually add value for the people buying the book? Does it conflict with the way that series of books has been published in the past?
It’s safe to say that if you see a book on the shelf, the publisher has considered all sorts of different things to try and make the book more attractive to buyers and more profitable to themselves. That is simply part of running a publishing business. Considering happens a lot.
If you want to ask a question about the process, do it:
“What factors most influence you when deciding if a book will be hardcover or softcover?”
or:
“Book X was hardcover, but Book Y and Z were softcover. Wasn’t Z similar enough to X to merit a hardcover? Why wasn’t it?”
If you want to ask questions about the end result, do it:
“I’m looking forward to Book A, but I really want it in hardcover. Is it going to be one?”
I understand that some people think that asking a “Would you consider?” question is a polite way of requesting that end result: but it’s better to just say “I would really like to see this book as a hardcover. I bought your other hardcover books and want more, please!” (“Please” is still a magic word, even when money and business is happening.)
Please don’t ask me if I’m considering things. Ask me what it took to get previous things done, or what it would take to get the things you want done.
Wired app for iPad
May 26th, 2010 § 2 comments § permalink
Not quite living in the future, but the Wired app for the iPad is really cool. There’s a few little tweaks that would make it even better. I hope that since each issues is an app on its own (or at least, that appears to be the model they’re going for) that it will be easy for them to incrementally improve it each issue perhaps until they feel they can release it as an app with in-app purchases for each new issue?
Custom Table of Contents
I want to tag some article as interesting, and I also want to mark an article as “Read and Not Wanting to Re-read,” essentially creating a second Table of Contents with just the stuff I want to re-read, the stuff I haven’t read, and none of the stuff I’ve already read. And yes, after I’ve looked at it, I’d like to be able to mark ads as “Not Wanting to Re-read.”
(In print magazines, I often rip out and throw away pages if they contain an ad on both the front and the back. I buy things to read, not to fetishize.)
Hop to Web Article
I want a quick way to get a hyperlink for the web version of any particular article, so I can send it to a friend.
Better Escaping from Animated Content
Invaders of Mars has a cool animation, but once it’s swirling the double-tap to stop it is kind of strange: it stops the animation and performs the “bring up menu items” action as well. I think I’d prefer a single tap on the same hot spot that started the animation.
Puzzle
I want to try and type the answer into the puzzle!
iPad and Canadian iTunes Store Accounts
April 20th, 2010 § 0 comments § permalink
An iPad is a business expense, correct?
If the international delays for iPads are getting you down and you’re considering buying one from the USA and having it shipped to you, here’s something to bear in mind: on the iPad itself, you can only buy/update apps if you have and are logged into a USA iTunes store account. If you try to log in with a Canadian account (Can’t verify any other countries, personally) you won’t be successful.
You can, however, buy and upgrade items via iTunes and sync them via USB with a Canadian (Same disclaimer) account. But if you’re trying to live a life-less-tethered, you’ll be frustrated until the international accounts are properly activated.
Life Hack: Remove your Headphones and Say Hello
April 14th, 2010 § 2 comments § permalink
I’m travelling today; the typical jaunt of 4 airports and 3 flights to get from my hometown to one of my usual destinations: Chicago, for some business meetings. It’s been a few years since I’ve spent any time in Chicago, and 5 full days in the city is simply too short.
But this post is about a life hack; one of those little things you can do to make everything just a little bit better. Many of us walk around with our nose buried in our cel phone or other portable electronic device, or attached to our MP3 player via headphones, or both. These devices are distracting and inhibit our ability to take in the outside world … which can be a good thing, but it makes dealing with people you need to deal with that much more difficult, and it irritates those that you deal with.
So when I’m plugged into my headphones or dickering around with my iPod touch or Sony Reader, and I make it to the front of the line at the airport or bank or whatever, here is what I do:
- At 5-10 feet away, I start to put the device away entirely, or take my headphones out of my eyes. Both headphones end up tucked into the front of my shirt.
- As I step up to the person I need to speak with, I look them in the eye, smile, and say “Hello.” If they ask me how I’m doing, I answer, and in turn, ask them how they are. After they tell me that how they’re doing, I offer the appropriate “That’s good to hear.” or “Ouch, that’s a pain. These lines do look brutal—hope that the rest of your shift is easier.”
- Profit! Or Good Service! Maybe both? Why? It’s easy: by putting away your electronic crap and taking off your headphones, you’ve acknowledged to the person that you need to be able to hear and pay attention to them, that they provide value to you. By greeting them nicely and having a short conversation, you’ve shown that they’re a human, you’re a human, and whatever business may happen next gets off on a better foot.
A side tip: If you’re in a situation where things have gone poorly (You’ve missed a connecting flight, your luggage has been lost, your waitress was distracted and forgot to bring you your delicious cheesesticks, etc.) I’ve found the following style of phrase works out really well: “Actually, things are kind of lousy right now, and I would really like your help figuring out what I should do next.” (or: “And this is what you can do to help fix it.” Tell the person that you’re in a bit of a bind, or a bad mood, but make it clear to them that it isn’t their fault (unless it is) and that they can help you. Someone who wants to be helped is, shockingly, easier to help, and most people do like helping others, even if it’s their job.
I’d Rather be Working than Spinning
April 9th, 2010 § 21 comments § permalink
I wrote this post over on Dumpshock in response to praise on how Posthuman Studios is handling the ceasing of our business dealings with Catalyst Game Labs, and I’m echoing it here:
Y’know what’s work? Spin.
Y’know what I’d rather do than spin something? Other work.
Some crappy stuff happened, so we’ll do what we can do to fix it and continue Eclipse Phase with as little interruption as possible. The important thing isn’t what lousy things happened (and at this point, who knows if anyone’s “scorecard” is accurate…) but that Eclipse Phase will have a bright future.
And now, to repost something from the BattleTech boards, to demonstrate in part why I feel the future is so bright:
One of the things that Posthuman Studios is going to do is be very upfront about sales figures, expenses, etc. So I’ll start with this: we wanted Catalyst to sell EP at $10-15 for the PDF. They argued against it, and basically said “You’ll need to sell twice as many copies in order to make the same amount of money.” We said “Okay. If we don’t sell twice as many copies of the PDF as (ASpecificCatalystCoreBook) did in PDF in 18 months, you can take the difference in dollars out of our royalties.”
Less than six weeks after the PDF was available (and this was after we seeded the PDF to bittorrent ourselves — anyone could have it for free, legally), we broke that mark. This meant that we had made the same amount of money, and we had the PDF in the hands of at least twice as many people!
A few months after that, Catalyst lowered their prices on all core books, and announced that Leviathans would be Creative Commons-licensed as well. And the first print run of Eclipse Phase sold out, also.
So, there will be a quick resleeve for Eclipse Phase, and on with the future!
(Edit: I should offer a hat tip to Fred Hicks at Evil Hat Productions, creators of the available-for-pre-order Dresden Files RPG, who are transparent to a very admirable degree and are a big part of the influence towards Posthuman’s transparency!)
Eclipse Phase and Seattle 2072 nominated for Origins Awards
March 26th, 2010 § 0 comments § permalink
I wrote about these two titles that I worked on last year in the post My Work in 2009, so check it out if you want to read a little about them—the news today is they’ve both been nominated for Origins Awards; Eclipse Phase (Rob Boyle, Brian Cross, John Snead, and more!) in the Best RPG category and Seattle 2072 (written by Steve Kenson with a bunch of authors contributing short fiction) in the Best Sourcebook category.
I’m really damned proud of these books and the teams that worked on them—thanks to all of the contributors!
By the way, Eclipse Phase is Creative Commons-licensed, so if you want to grab the PDF for free, not only will I not stop you, but I’ll outright encourage you to do so!
Updated Publication List
March 19th, 2010 § 0 comments § permalink
I updated my Publication List—if you don’t know what I worked on over the last few years, check it out.
No longer with Catalyst Game Labs / IMR
March 16th, 2010 § 29 comments § permalink
March 17th edit: Internet scuttlebutt makes me want to clarify this—leaving IMR was my choice. I wasn’t fired, asked to leave, or any way “negotiated out” of the company. I had and have no ownership stake in the company.
I am no longer an employee of Catalyst Game Labs / InMediaRes LLC, nor a contractor/freelancer for them. A few more books will come out in the next few months with my name in them, but please don’t ask me questions about release dates or any other Catalyst matters; the answers are out of my hands. This is sad: I love the games I worked on and they’ve been a large part of my life for a long time, as a fan and a professional. Leaving something you love is rarely easy.
Shadowrun fans: thanks for years and years of fun and feistyness. Last year, when Jason Hardy took over as Shadowrun Line Developer, I told him simply: “If you kill the one thing I’ve loved my entire adult life, I will kill you.” As of today, you’re off the hook no matter what, Jase.
BattleTech fans: thanks for letting me mess around in your playground for awhile. I hope you enjoy the Total Warfare line of core rulebooks and my work on them.
Colleagues: I’m looking for interesting opportunities, in or out of hobby gaming. If you have some or know of some, please drop me a line.
People I’ve Worked With: It’s been a pleasure to work with you crazy-talented and just plain crazy people. I look forward to doing so again.
I’m not going anywhere. I’ll still be blogging at adamjury.com, still be posting on Twitter, and life continues on. If you wish to reach me, please send me an email to adam at adamjury dot com — or use my Contact Form.