Lets discuss...the future! (Patreon)

So now what, indeed..!

Well, the demo is public, but it's not complete just yet. Already, we've received a number of excellent observations and wonderful advice that we'll be applying to the demo before we start sending media kits to review sites, potential investors/grants, etc.

This is the scary part.
It's the part where we'll see if we can realistically continue  with the project at a pace that will  see the game's completion before the end of the decade...

Before I go further, I think we need to take a moment to place thanks where it's due. You guys have been incredible; all patrons new and old have allowed us to produce the demo that we released last night. You guys have allowed us to bring it to the level of polish. That beautiful artwork and music? You guys did that. The particle effects and all the programmed fine tuning, you guys did that.
Every dime that we received from this patreon account has gone to our beautiful artist,  Jennadelle , our fantastic programmer Chrystal McNair, and our exceptional musician, Olaf Taranczewski. You guys helped us make sure that their time and hard work was fairly compensated for, and have allowed them the freedom to produce the beautiful work they have for this game so far.
Our 10$ patrons have been playing this demo since the earliest stages, back when there was only one background which was little more than a blue placeholder sketch. With every new build released at the start of each month, they sent in bug reports and output logs and helped us find loopholes and game breaking continuity errors that we'd have had a hell of a hard time finding on our own.  
Everyone's hand in the development of this game so far has been way more than I think you may recognize. Even those of you would could afford only genuine excitement and words of encouragement have assisted in keeping our passion for this game kindled. And so, we'll say it now--and we'll say it again... Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

With that said, I think it is time to let you know where we are at, and how we plan to continue.


SO! Like I mentioned, once the demo has the level of polish we're happy with, we'll be handing out media kits like free candy  in hopes to establish a broader audience and reach more people.

I am currently weighing the possibility of making a kickstarter campaign for the game (mostly against my own personal anxieties).  On one hand, a kickstarter will assist our goal of reaching a wider audience. The more people who know what Lark & Wren and ABRAXAS are, the more folks there'll be to support the project.
On the other hand, the very real possibility of the kickstarter not reaching it's target goal--and the consequential sting of failure--makes my knees shake.

Let me be realistic for a moment here...
It cost Sean and I tens of thousands of dollars to produce the demo that we presented late last night. It was a year of development, paying out of our own pocket for ourselves and for the rest of our hard working team.
Granted, the greater half of that year was us becoming familiar with the tool set, understanding (and overcoming) our limitations as independent developers, and establishing a working pipeline for our teammates who are scattered across the globe. But--We estimate that even with an optimal budget bagged and sitting in the bank, we will still require another year and a half to complete development on the game.
If we *don't* bag ourselves an optimal budget for the game, then the time it will take to complete it's development can be much longer.  (And this is just for "Book 1" of 3).
Our "optimal" budget for this game sits in the ballpark of 80k-100k

You can start to understand why launching a kickstarter campaign for this is a frightening and uncertain proposition to me.  
If we launch a kickstarter, our goal will be $90 000 USD.  For the average game development project, this is actually a really humble budget. For the average person looking at that number--it's astronomical. But time and time again, Sean and I have watched  kickstarter campaigns low ball their budget--and suffer tremendously for it. If we were to start a campaign for ourselves, it's all or nothing. I'd hate to present a number that looks appealing to an audience, but fails in enabling us to fulfill our promises to them.

So--that's where I am with that. If you've read this far, please tell us your thoughts about this. Good or bad, we would love to hear them.

Outside of kickstarter, we're considering personal investors and we'll be flirting with the Indie Fund as well, in hopes to catch their eye and win some funding. Again though, I'm nervous. I'm worried that the genre/format of our game will cause them to pass over our pitch without so much as a second glance. Buuut their rejection will sting a lot less than a public Kickstarter campaign haha.




While I'm toiling away on all that, after Sean and Chrystal have applied the final polish on this demo, Sean will be slooowly moving ahead with ABRAXAS's post-demo content.
As well...we've begun development on a verrrry small little prototype for a future title involving a young Irish druid, a dapper werewolf, and the hollow Sidhe set in the 1800's English countryside.

Exciting and terrifying things await us, so please...
Stay tuned!