175% Funded! Learn More About the Design Tiers
about 3 years ago – Thu, Feb 25, 2021 at 02:39:20 AM

Happy one-week anniversary of the Made Marion Kickstarter launch!  We're now 175% funded and are over halfway through the Beyond Stretch: Art and Music phase. It's so exciting!

Today I thought I'd post a bit more about our Magnificent Menagerie and Character Designer tiers. We still have four creature design slots and two character design slots open!

Magnificent Menagerie:

Backers at this level will be working with me and our background artist Sandra to design creatures both mundane and magical. We have a number of possibilities available, including chances to reflect a beloved pet in the game or to stretch your creativity to the max and suggest a lesser fae creature that our characters will have to confront.

Looking to design a regular (ish) creature? We have:

• Marion's cat friend (actually a cat sidhe, but looks like a normal cat)
• Geoffrey's favorite hunting dog (must be a reasonable breed for hunting)

How about a half-fae creature, a normal animal with supernatural elements? We have:

• Shadow wolves
• Greatstags
• Meissa's bird friend
• A half-fae bunny?  I told our backers on Discord that if somebody wants to design one, I could work it into the game as long as there isn't a holy hand grenade involved.

Finally, we have the wide open category of lesser fae creatures who have wandered through the mists that separate the human world from Faerie. They can be returned to Faerie by destroying their physical bodies, and for some reason a larger number of them than usual have been appearing in Sherwood Forest lately. Mythological creatures appropriate to Celtic, Gaelic, Scandinavian, and Germanic lore are all appropriate choices.

• A troll
• A kelpie
• Suggest your own!

Character Designer:

This tier allows backers to work with Becky and Anna to help design a side character in the game.  These aren't just two-second appearances, but important characters who play a pivotal role in at least one game route. Their appearances are largely up to you (within reason and story/world constraints), and for some of them, you can help design their personalities as well. Character designer backers will receive a more comprehensive description of the possibilities after the campaign, but here are some of the biggest possibilities:

Theo: You’ve met him in the demo!  Marion’s loyal(?) guard. A very important side character on several routes.

Nell: You’ve met her in the demo! A middle-aged tailor who is part of the Sherwood rebellion. She becomes Marion’s friend on the Sherwood routes.

Alvin: Marion’s ex, who you’ll meet in the prologue. He resurfaces to play an important role in one route and perhaps a minor role in some others.

Tam Lin: A mysterious being based upon the character in the famous Scottish folk ballad. Plays a vital role in one route.

[Nameable NPC]: A villainous character in Geoffrey’s guard who must be vanquished on several routes.

[Nameable NPC]: A changeling who was once fae but decided they wished to become human. A member of Robin’s rebels who plays a role in the Sherwood routes.

[Nameable NPC]: Geoffrey’s new Lady Chamberlain in the Sherwood routes and Meissa’s route (Marion fills that role in Geoff/Gui and Alanna’s routes). Very important on Meissa’s route and will probably make an appearance in other routes.

[Nameable NPC]: The leader of the Grey Wolves, a group of young people from Nottingham’s poor district that is strongly opposed to Lord Geoffrey. Plays roles ranging from minor to major in most routes.

[Your NPC Here]: If you have a fully original character idea, we can work them into Meissa's route, in which Meissa and Marion help people who are caught in the conflict between the Sheriff's forces and Robin's rebels. This category is the most open in terms of character look, personality, and social status.

Got any questions about these tiers?  Please leave a comment or message us!

Final Stretch Goal and Beyond Stretch
about 3 years ago – Mon, Feb 22, 2021 at 12:48:27 AM

Made Marion has officially been fully funded and has met all its stretch goals in a single week!  I am delighted and frankly blown away by all the support.  As of this writing, 473 of you have pledged to support our project, which is amazing.

In thanks for this exceptional level of support, our final stretch goal is a free copy of our DLC for all backers at Early Bird/Registered Rebel (digital copy of the game) level and up.

Our DLC is called Made Marion: Light and Shadow.  It will be standalone, but it is strongly recommended that you play the main Made Marion game first so you understand the game world and the base story of the Sherwood v. Nottingham struggle.

Where Made Marion itself is a politically charged action adventure with a sprinkling of magic, Light and Shadow delves deeply into a supernatural conspiracy that is happening behind the scenes of the main story.  The love interests featured here are our resident rebel druid, Layton Tuck, and a mystery love interest who will be revealed after Made Marion's release. We'll talk about it more at a later date!  It will not be completed at the same time as the main game, so make sure to keep your e-mail address updated with Kickstarter over time!

Beyond Stretch: What Now?

Since we've reached all our stretch goals in the first week, what's next?  This is a tough conundrum for all super-successful Kickstarter campaigns. I was a journalist covering the game industry during the original rise of Kickstarter, and I've watched a lot of campaigns come and go. 

One big thing that happens with games that exceed their original funding goals is massive scope creep. There's a temptation to make huge promises on top of the original stretch goals, and then suddenly your game that was supposed to come out in two years ends up taking five.

We don't want to do that with Made Marion! So instead of further stretch goals, we're going to release two Beyond Stretch phases.  These phases come with a number of possibilities for spending the funds, and as we get further into the phases, we'll be asking you all to help us prioritize those possibilities by what you're most interested in seeing in the game.

$23,000-$30,000 = Beyond Stretch Art and Sound

This phase will fund more art assets for the game!  Looking at it, I probably priced the More FX and Cut-in Graphics a bit too low, and I'll be able to do a lot more with that stretch goal with added Beyond Stretch funds.

Other possibilities here include more outfits for the characters, purchasing higher-quality sound effects, creating more creature sprites, and ambient sound packs, and more original music.

$30,000 and up = Beyond Stretch Goodies

Beyond Stretch Goodies are things that will enhance the game, but that I can pay other people to do, so they won't greatly impact development time.  Some possibilities include creating a maps of the game world and the Sherwood/Nottingham area, hiring somebody to program a more full-featured glossary (with sorting and cross-referencing and such), and providing Linux support.

Things We Won't be Doing:

Here are a few things that we're commonly asked about, but that we won't be considering for various reasons.  Usually the reasons are a) because they would add a ton of development time or b) because I'm not yet experienced enough as a coder to properly support the feature.  Often both.

1. Voice acting

2. Translation

3. Character customization

4. Console or mobile ports

Console ports are a future possibility, but I don't want to tie them to our Kickstarter. I've seen this backfire on a lot of devs, and I'd rather fund it myself without disappointing backers if it doesn't work out. Mobile ports aren't happening because the mobile marketplaces have made the release of a one-time paid game quite untenable.

Party Time, Excellent!

As our Kickstarter progresses, keep an eye out for polls about what you'd most like to see added to the game.  Have an excellent weekend, everyone!

1st Stretch Goal and Campaign Q&A
about 3 years ago – Fri, Feb 19, 2021 at 07:46:56 PM

Wow!  We've hit our first stretch goal - some original music by composer Alexander Nakarada!  Alexander is a talented (and extremely nice) guy who has a goal of making his music available affordably to indie content creators.  We're members of his Patreon, which generously gives us the right to use his previously composed music in our game royalty-free (and technically attribution-free, but I want to give him credit).  Celtic-themed music is one of his specialties, so he was a great fit for our project. Most of the music in our demo is his work.

With this stretch goal, we'll be able to commission some original pieces for our game from him.  I'm looking at a number of possibilities to flesh our our game soundtrack, including a theme for John (I have a general theme for most of the characters, but haven't had a chance to show them off for our Sherwood guys yet) and possibly an original arrangement of the Ballad of Tam Lin for Alanna to sing to.

Next up is More Visual Effects and Cut-In Graphics!  Please don't hesitate to help spread the word so we can meet these stretch goals!

Campaign Q&A

Here are some questions I've received about the campaign. I'm posting them here in case you had them, too!

Q: Can I customize the name in the credits?

A: Yes! At some point after the campaign, we will send out backer surveys, and you can add whatever name you like (within legal and taste limits, naturally) to the credits. Feel free to back in the name of a loved one or go by Long John Silver; it's all good. Just make sure you keep your Kickstarter e-mail updated so we can reach you!

Q: Are there any physical rewards?

A: We decided against physical rewards for environmental reasons, because of the continued shipping issues during the global pandemic, and because VC Games Central is located in Canada. That adds extra shipping costs onto rewards for the vast majority of our backers. Our booklets are all digital, as outlined in the reward descriptions.

Q: What will the wallpaper set entail?

A: The wallpaper set will include one wallpaper per love interest at the least.  I think Anna’s considering a group shot or two, as well. She likes to give 110%, so I think everyone’s going to love what she comes up with. The wallpapers will all be related to a particular theme (A Gift for You, Bath Time, In Their Element, something like that). After the campaign we'll ask for suggestions and have a backer poll for which theme you'd prefer!

Q: Can I add on to my pledge after the campaign?

A: We are hoping to facilitate this, and I should have a more solid answer before March 16.

Q: Does Erotic Adventures include Layton and the mystery DLC love interest?

The original version of Erotic Adventures does not, because the stories are set after the end of each character's route, and the booklet will come out before the DLC does.  Since EA has been so popular, though, I'm definitely considering adding in the DLC love interests later. 

Q: Most tiers say "Add $20 for beta access."  So I just add $20 on top of my pledge?

A: Yep, that's what you do!  We'll make sure you're properly enrolled as a beta tester during the backer survey process.  We wanted to make it an official add-on, but that feature isn't yet available for all Kickstarter campaigns (it was in Beta for a while, but hasn't been rolled out to everyone yet).

Q: Tell me more about the top two tiers!

A: I'll be doing that in an update soon!  

Q: May I join the Made Marion Discord server?

A: Yes! So far we've only been open to our early Beta testers and Patrons, but I'll be sending out an invite to the server in a backer-only update within the next few days. We're trying to expand slowly and avoid a spambot invasion, so the server will be existing members + backers only for a bit.

That's it for now!  In our next update, I'll be talking more about our big tiers (Magnificent Menagerie and Character Designer) and about the possibilities for backers at that level.

Stretch Goal 2, Visual Effects and Cut-In Graphics, Unlocked!
about 3 years ago – Fri, Feb 19, 2021 at 07:46:46 PM

It's Day 3 of our Kickstarter, and two of our four original stretch goals have been reached.  You all are the very best!

This stretch goal unlocks better visual effects and cut-in graphics. What does that mean? Let's look at Meissa's tarot reading from the Nottingham side of the demo for an example.

Right now, Meissa's tarot reading is only described via text and a cute tinkling sound effect. With this stretch goal, you'll get a lot more out of the scene.

Picture three blank cards popping up in the middle of the screen. At the right time in the story, they will come alive with a swirl of color, which forms into the images of the Knight, Spy, and Death cards. Much cooler and more interesting than what we have so far, right?

Depending on prices and post-stretch-goal funds, I'll try to sprinkle these bits in important scenes throughout the game.

We'll be looking for an artist who specializes in animations to help us with this goal, so if you know anybody who fits the bill, keep an eye out for an update post-campaign when we start our search!

If we go past our final stretch goal (which is looking likely the way we're trending, so cross your fingers and tell your friends about us!), I'll be able to devote even more funds to this goal.

Stretch Goal 3 - Love Interest PoV Segments - Unlocked!
about 3 years ago – Fri, Feb 19, 2021 at 07:46:41 PM

Holy moly, late night backers!  You've unlocked our third stretch goal, Love Interest PoV Segments!

Made Marion's main story is written strictly from her point of view. I decided on this because there are a lot of secrets and intrigues swirling around Marion, and having the player remain in her shoes at all times helps reinforce that sense of mystery.

Of course, I know some of the things that happen when she's not around, and now you all will have a chance to learn about them, too!  For instance, when Marion is Lord Geoffrey's Lady Chamberlain, Gui becomes her retainer in order to help protect her. However, this only happens on Geoffrey and Gui's route, not on Alanna's.  Why?  Well, a little scene between Gui and Alanna will help shed light on that.

And, of course, we'll have some scenes in which players will be able to find out what the love interests were thinking about Marion at certain crucial moments. Especially nice for love interests like Robin and Will who don't exactly wear their hearts on their sleeves.

Love interest PoV segments will unlock for a route once you've reached a good ending. I'm planning 2-3 per love interest at this point.

This has been such an amazing week, and I'm thrilled to bits that you're all coming along on this journey with us!