Monsters of Aquilae in Full Focus!
over 3 years ago – Tue, Jan 05, 2021 at 09:54:20 AM

Happy new year!  Hope you've all been enjoying your winter holiday(s).

Production Update

Just a quick note that Monsters of Aquilae, also known as "Aquilae Bestiary Part 3" from years ago, is now my full focus.  Layout has begun and work is fully underway.

Rules Systems Note

Layout will proceed simultaneously on all five rules systems editions of the book: Pathfinder, 5E, Pathfinder Second Edition, OSR, and Dungeon Crawl Classics.

Anyone entitled to more than a single rules system edition of the book will receive it in PDF format for ALL FIVE rules systems editions once published.

Timing

My rough target for completion is the end of February.  I'll post another update by the end of this week advising as to how realistic that target remains based on my progress, but it seems doable given my track record on Bestiary books over the past two years.

Hardcopy versions will be submitted for review and proofing following completion and fulfillment of the PDF editions; I'd estimate in March would be when we can start pulling the trigger on those of you who are entitled to a hardcover.

Once we get to that point, I will be reaching out individually to each of you who is entitled to a hardcover, and will ask you to confirm your shipping address, your choice of rules system edition, and will offer you a choice for a partial refund of your pledge if you are instead perfectly happy with only the PDF versions of the book.

Thank You

As always, and as I've said before, I truly appreciate your patience in getting to this point... but the pipeline before it has cleared and we are full speed ahead on this massive undertaking!

Onward!

State of the Realm: Q4 2020
over 3 years ago – Mon, Dec 07, 2020 at 07:14:18 PM

Hiya!  Hope you're enjoying the burgeoning winter (or whatever season it happens to be where you are).

Please find the Q4 2020 Infinium Game Studio State of the Realm update here.

As I established in the Q2 2020 Realm update earlier in the year, I have honest, updated targets for each and every product in the pipeline.  That policy will continue.

We've long established that my ability to estimate is not ideal, but I do enjoy sharing with you my best guess and trying to be as transparent as possible about what's going on, when, and what I'm doing about it.

Accomplishments

2020 certainly has been an enormous year.  Aquilae: Bestiary of the Realm for 5E, for Pathfinder Second Edition, for OSR, and for DCC have all been completed and published.  And I even expanded all editions of the Bestiary by an additional 60 monsters, bringing the total to 1,660 monsters, over 33,000 complete statblocks spread over more than 20,000 pages of published content.

As part of that, I established my first-ever formal agreement with another third-party publisher, and got approval to publish the Bestiary for DCC using the Dungeon Crawl Classics logo and official support.

The FlexAI Guidebook was completed and published.  The FTEG Solo Adventuring Quickstart, and its accompanying Quickstart Bestiaries for PFRPG, 5E, and P2E, were published.

And more recently, just last week, the Content Conversion Guide was completed and published, along with its companion Excel Conversion Mapping Inventory tool.

All in all, four Silver bestsellers and two Copper bestsellers in the IGS library at this point on DriveThruRPG, including #1 Hottest Small Press, #1 Most Popular Under $5, and #6 Bestselling Overall honors (all for the Content Conversion Guide).

Updated Project Targets

In keeping with the new approach established earlier this year, the State of the Realm update features honest, best-guess assessments of where outstanding work will be completed and fulfilled.  I want to remain as transparent as possible, even if that frustrates some people, because as a backer of over 500 indie RPG projects myself, I'd rather have a best-guess that changes, than a vague "I'm working on it" promise.

I want to stress, and thank you for, the overwhelming amount of optimistic, understanding, sympathetic, and generally positive feedback I've received.  Most of you seem to be super thrilled; many of you are eager to hear more, and I do respect that some of you are frustrated.

I have always delivered, and I will continue to deliver, as rapidly, and as completely, as I am capable of.  I thank you for your patience, now in this bizarre 2020 situation more than ever, and for the nearly 10,000 of you who have received at least one IGS product already, I'm always eager to hear your feedback!

Thank You!

Thank you as always for your patience, support, and constructive feedback.  2020 has been a heck of a year for us all, and yet, IGS has continued to produce a TON of products spanning thousands and thousands of pages and over a dozen books.

We're looking forward to much, much more yet in what has already been a record-breaking year of productivity for our teeny-tiny indie geekfest company.  None of this would be remotely possible without you, your support, and your own passion.

So: Thank you!

Onward!

Production Update: ABRE OSR & DCC Complete; Pipeline Progress
over 3 years ago – Tue, Nov 24, 2020 at 11:43:34 PM

Hi all!  Happy Thanksgiving week for those who celebrate it.  Without further ado, let's get into this massive update of good news and progress.

ABRE: OSR & DCC Completed

Aquilae: Bestiary of the Realm, Volume 2 for OSR and DCC have now been completed, and are published.  This brings a long-awaited end to the production of this massive bestiary across all 5 supported rules systems... and the end, finally, to basically two entire years of pipeline delay as I could not lay things out in an automated manner and was forced to do so by hand.  For nearly 20,000 pages of content, it was... a lot of work.  But it's finally coming to an end.  Which is good news not only for my hands, but for all other products eagerly awaiting my attention in the pipeline!

Digital fulfillment of V2 for OSR/DCC is underway; if you're entitled to either one of these newly-released products and don't receive an automated notification today, please let me know and I'll investigate.

Bestiary Hardcopies

For those entitled to hardcovers of Aquilae: Bestiary of the Realm, good news: over the Thanksgiving break, I plan to finalize the content and cover files for every single volume of the Bestiary across every single rules system, and submit them for review.

The first week of December, I should be in position to order what I hope to be the final proof copies.  Once I receive them, likely in January, I will review them, and assuming all is well, will then commence with hardcopy fulfillment.

If you're entitled to a hardcopy of ABRE, I will reach out to you individually at that point to see what your preferences are regarding: rules system edition; address confirmation; and whether you would prefer the hardcopies still, or would prefer a partial refund if you're satisfied instead with the PDF version you've already received.

Conversion Guide

With the OSR and DCC conversions of the Bestiary completed, this Guide is about a week or so away from completion.  Look for fulfillment in December, I'd guess.

Monsters of Aquilae (MOA)

This is up next as my main focus.  I estimate it will take about 1-2 months to complete now that I can focus fully on it.

I will be laying things out for this book across all 5 supported rules system editions (PFRPG, P2E, 5E, OSR, and DCC) simultaneously.  As I've noted before, the "crunch" has long been completed for all 5 editions of this; it's just a matter of laying things out on pages.

If you're entitled to a hardcopy of this, it'll follow the same approach described above regarding the finalization, the proofing, and the individual reach-out.

Bestiary Master Index

The original vision for this was to merely include the Aquilae: Bestiary of the Realm monsters, but a number of backers have urged me to also include the MOA critters in the listing, which does make sense.

Once MOA is complete, I'll be able to finish the Master Index; all told, it should take about 1 week to complete once MOA is done.

FTEG SAT

Yeah, this.  One of my most beloved initiatives, more than 30 years in the making, the Solo Adventuring Toolkit also one of the most delayed.

I once again apologize for the backup on this; everything listed above is either even more delayed than FTEG SAT, or such an easy finish (e.g., the conversion guide) that it doesn't make sense not to wrap it up quickly.  Rest assured it's still top of mind.

My full focus will be on completing and delivering FTEG SAT ASAP in the new year.  On the plus side, I can guarantee your money's worth: between the Solo Character Compendium and the QuickStart, it's already delivered quite a bit more than many backers reported expecting in the first place, so I can't wait to finish the huge entirety of my vision up on this and get your feedback.

Giving Thanks

I'm honored and just all around lucky to be able to do what I love most.  And if you're reading this, you are 100% the reason I am able to do that.  I never for a day take that situation for granted, and every time I put pen to paper on IGS work, I appreciate anew the fact that I get to do this.

So: it's trite and vapid to say this, but it bears mentioning nevertheless: I'm thankful for you.

Have a happy thanksgiving weekend, whether you celebrate or not, whether you are able to be with family and/or friends or not, and no matter your circumstances.

Onward!

ABRE: Volume 1 for OSR Complete & Fulfilled
over 3 years ago – Fri, Nov 06, 2020 at 11:49:08 AM

Production Update

Just a quick note that Aquilae: Bestiary of the Realm for OSR, Volume 1 is now complete, published, and fulfilled in PDF format.

If you are entitled to this and have not yet received an automated notification from DriveThruRPG, first check your spam folder, and then message me/comment/email and I'll investigate to make sure you get what you're owed!

Timeline

OSR Volume 2 should finish in time for Thanksgiving, after which it's full-focus on Monsters of Aquilae in all *five* supported rules system formats.

Onward!

Production Update: OSR / DCC Editions Imminent in November!
over 3 years ago – Mon, Nov 02, 2020 at 05:48:06 PM

Production Update

Just a quick update that I'm now officially halfway done the OSR and DCC editions.  1,680 pages of mega-crunch content will be published and fulfilled this week.

On target to complete the remaining half by Thanksgiving... a little later than I'd hoped, but it's still a massive effort.

Thence on to the long-awaited and eagerly-anticipated Monsters of Aquilae, which is just layout, so should be a December delivery.

Thank you as always for your patience!

Onward!