The Speed of Life
As Ferris said, “Life moves pretty fast.” And he was right. But sometimes it doesn’t move as quickly as we want it to. That’s never been more clear to me than since I created and ran the Numenera Kickstarter.
While the Kickstarter campaign was going, I had to move and react very quickly. We reached new stretch goals almost every day, particularly in the last half of its run. It was fun, it was frantic, and it was frustrating. Frustrating because I couldn’t get the people I was working with to move as quickly as I needed them to. That sounds like a complaint. It is actually not a complaint. Normal business doesn’t move nearly as fast as it does in a Kickstarter. In a campaign like Numenera’s, I needed to be talking to printers about one book on Monday and get quotes for another on Tuesday, along with details about the app’s development on the same day. That’s just not realistic. If I could do it all again, I’d try to be even more prepared (although really, who could have been prepared for the way Numenera took off?). It all worked out all right, I think. I ended up keeping backers (and potential backers) waiting here and there, but almost never more than 24 hours. I don’t think anyone lost sleep over it but me.
Now, however, the tables are turned. It’s become clear to me that backers still want new information coming at them at the rate that it was during the Kickstarter. And it’s hard to blame them. Every day, for about a month, they got emails from me giving them updates and sharing new information. They got accustomed to that. I got accustomed to writing them.
But now, there just isn’t as much to say. The campaign is done, Amazon Payments are still collecting funds, and I’m at work on the game, both creatively and administratively, pulling things together from a lot of disparate sources. Just yesterday, I had productive meetings about both the app and the Numenera Thunderstone licensed game. It’s a ton of work, but I knew it would be going into it.
However, I said that it’s become clear to me that backers still want that steady stream of new information. That knowledge comes from the bevy of emails and other messages and comments requesting for more details. The problem is, things are no longer changing on a daily basis. There isn’t new info to share. When there is, I will absolutely post it here, and send out new updates directly to backers. I am thrilled that so many people are excited about Numenera. I am too!
I wrote a schedule of how things would go in the next year or so here. We’re still in the “Next Few Weeks” part of that schedule. We’re creating an online form that we’ll be sending backers to in order to collect all the information we need about addresses, Reward Add-Ons selected, and more. That will take a while longer to create and test.
Later this month, we’ll give details about playtesting. Next month, we’ll be contacting people who will be contributing characters to the corebook. Next month the game design seminars also begin. All of the details about these things will come as soon as they’re ready. I promise.
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I may not be the typical backer, but I have a bit of faith that you and crew are working along whether you communicate or not. I work on a lot of long running software projects and now how hard it can be to pull up from the depths to give status even weekly as progress can be so incremental and its hard to break focus to do reporting, etc. I tend to run with the idea that no news is good news.
Not that I am not hungry for more info on Numenera, but I have numerous distractions to keep my occupied between updates.
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Completely agreed on this.
About the only little quibble I have is a leftover from the KS – whether or not the seminar information will be saved, and thus available for viewing later. I have a strong suspicion indeed there’s going to be note-taking worthy bits to peruse afterwards!
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+1 to Gordon. Updates are great, but don’t let them distract from process getting Numenera in our hands!
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Yeap! Keep on working Monte, and don’t mind us “avid for numenera” gamers
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I recall that you said in an email update that you would likely be very quiet on the communications front, actually writing the game. It’s beyond me how you could have been more clear than that.
As a long time GM and creator of a few games myself, perhaps I have a bit of an inside edge when it comes to understanding the level of work you are facing. That doesn’t incllude all the stretch goal extras like additional books, modules etc.
Yes oh, like Gordon and Mark I crave a weekly tidbit about the game. I am fascinated by the setting and intrigued by the mechanics and I would gladly gobble up whatever details you throw down before me (dramatic or what, eh?).
The reality is I want this game in my hands, yesterday. So rather than interrupting the pace of your creation just to get a glimpse or glimmer, I gladly sit back, daily check your RSS feed and gredily gobble up these posts.
And if you go quiet and I here nothing for months, I will be all that muchmore pleased, surprised and appreciative when your next post arrives.
BTW, I am surprised at your surprise about how Numernera took off. If you have ever read the Internet, you’d know that you are a bright star amongst game developers!
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i think you’re doing fine so far. the occasional little something, even like this, to let everyone know you haven’t died, is plenty.
having backed a lot of projects, getting updates every few days is actually annoying. but they need to be more frequent than every 3 months. somewhere inbetween is ideal.
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+1 to eveyrthing above.
Yeah, I too want to know more, but I know thatdevelopment of all this takes time, and its not the only thing that needs to be done. That is why the delivery is in mid 2013. They could be worried with the end of the world being on december 21
Still, take your time, do things right, and once on a while say something to pacify the natives.
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I’ll add my 2 cents (or whatever they use in the Ninth World), that while I am looking forward to Numenera-quite eagerly actually-I understand that we can’t expect instant gratification. I will wait, as patiently as I can, and look forward to whatever you can give us, when you can give it to us.
Patience is a virtue and we all need to cultivate virtues.
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I work in a fast paced industry.. and my boss has a favorite saying: there’s no prize for finishing first, just instant death for mistakes. The point being: don’t let people rush you, take your time, do it right the first time, because people will forget that it took you twice as long to finish, but they will NEVER forget it if you made a big mistake because you rushed.
Don’t let the backers (myself included) rush you through things just because they’re impatient. Do what you need to do. Do it in a way that you know you’re doing it right the first time. Some will complain. Probably every day, until they get the product. And then they’ll shut up and appreciate what the finished product is (or they’ll switch from complaining to gushing).
Do what needs to be done, do it at your own pace, ignore the people who try to unnecessarily rush you.
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I admit to pure selfishness. I’d want more gaming info from Monte Cook even if I wasn’t a backer. But i am not upset when the supply slows. If you don’t have time to work there will never be a game. As an idea you might want to have a routine update like once a week or every two weeks, that we can look for on certain days. But I imagine you’ll have to be further into the game design before that could happen. No matter what though, assuming I’m going to get the game when it comes out, I won’t be upset with you.
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Monte, I trust in you and hope that you take the time to make the quality project I know you can make. I’m happy to see updates as you release them. each one is like a little treat, arriving without warning. Look forward to playtesting in November
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Add me to the list of patient backers and Numenera fans. Updates are appreciated, but don’t let it distract you from the work at hand. The only thing I have cause to regret so far about Numenera is that I couldn’t afford to back it more than I did. Just promise me I’ll be able to get one of the shirts later on.
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Have to agree with everything here. Your enthusiasm and background speak for themselves. I had one question and I bit my tongue, because I saw how everything was going and knew either a) the info isn’t ready to share or b) you’d look back and realize it was missed and fill us in. The question has since been answered, but I sure didn’t see a reason to be bothering you about it. There is way too much involved in what you have here for anyone to be interrupting the creative (and business) process. Keep on truckin’, Monte.
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I trust you Monte, and as far as I’m concerned you take the time you need to make it as great as we all know it will be.
I’m sure a dedicated forum will spring up somewhere as they do in their phpbb way, and the super-hungry fans will have somewhere to mull over the latest snippets.
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I’m good with the pace of updates now, Monte, thanks! I look forward to them, but I’m realistic about it. Just make Numenara the best it can be.
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During the Ptolus pre-order I can remember salivating for the weekly design diary about some new aspect of the setting, or the book, or whatever. Maybe establishing a regular update cadence for Numenera would let people settle into an expectation of when they would see something new instead of constantly asking? Just a suggestion.
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What about a signup for email updates? Is that doable? (Yeah, I know it’s old school, but still works for me.)
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