Guys,
A few things about the upcoming release of Umläut:
I hope to have the print version ready for Dragonmeet. The book will be "standard indie sized" at 5½" x 8¼". I don't know the page count yet. I currently have the rather excellent Mr Vincent Warrican working on artwork. There might be a cover by Eamon O'Donohughe, depending...
The PDF will be available some time before that. I want there to be 3 PDFs: One that's just the layout of the print version, one which is like that but 2 pages side by side for landscape printing and one which is proper A4. It's possible that the A4 version might not be available straight away because that needs some re-working. But the idea is that you get all three and can decide which one (if any) you want to print.
I want to have Gregor style CDs for sale. I want to put all the Umlaut PDFs on them including the sheets and whatnot. Also, I want to make this a dual format Data/Audio CD. The idea being that I'll try to get a bunch of unsigned bands from MySpace or whatever to let me put their songs on the CD in return for, well, frankly nothing but my eternal love and exposure to the 20 or so people who buy the CD, plus a free copy of said CD. But to have a CD which you can listen to while you play the game makes me all warm and fuzzy. (Think of it like this: You buy the CD for the PDF version of the game. For free you get some music you could have downloaded for free from MySpace.) This might not prove possible, but I intend to start talking to bands as soon as I get Teh Internets back at my house.
I need to call the publishing company something. Current favourite is Asbo Vicar Press.
There are a fair few rule changes made to the game which I'll discuss elsewhere...
Any thoughts?
Thinking on size (and
Submitted by Malcolm Craig on Fri, 30/03/2007 - 12:31.
Thinking on size (and totally speculatively): would anyone be able to print the game in the size and format of a CD booklet? So the game itself is the same size as the booklet you get within a CD jewel case. This would mean the CD version and print version would sit very nicely together (with the possibility of a boxed set, perhaps).
However, these are probably quite expensive options and maybe for the future.
Having different versions of the text on the CD is a solid way to go. Gregor does full print version and plain text RTF files on the Best friends CD, we do full print PDF and plain text PDF versions on the Cold City CD and so on.
The music idea sounds pretty good and I like it. It will be interesting to see how many bands take you up on the offer.
As for the name of the company, I'm not so sold on it. The imagery made me chuckle, but anyone who doesn't know what an ASBO is would probably not get the intrinsic humour. How about just ASBO Press, with a note somewhere on the text about what an ASBO is? Still not sure on this one.
Cheers
Malcolm
Contested Ground Studios
Name
Submitted by Rich Stokes on Fri, 30/03/2007 - 12:44.
The other front runner was even geekier:
$Colour $Creature Press.
(Go to RPGNow and look at the d20 section. How many companies have names which are a colour followed by the name of a creature?)
The idea is that both ASBOs and Vicars are pretty British things and also kinda funny sounding words. Like Marzipan is a funny sounding word. Although I hate marzipan. But I've never tried to eat a vicar.
I had this image of logo of a hoodie with a dog collar and half moon glasses and no other features.
But I'm in no way tied to the idea.
$Colour $Creature
Submitted by Matt on Fri, 30/03/2007 - 12:50.
$Colour $Creature Press.
Made me laugh :)
Might work as: Colour : Creature in some kind of logo.
-Matt
Realms Publishing
Glad to see this is coming
Submitted by Andrew Kenrick on Fri, 30/03/2007 - 21:33.
Glad to see this is coming along Rich! What style is the artwork? Make sure you let us have a sneak peek when you get it in!
I think having multiple pdfs is a good idea - certainly the print and screen versions. I wouldn't bother with the a4 version tho - it'll necessitate time consuming re-layout for little to no gain.
The band idea is a great one too! I'm sure there'll be plenty out there ready and willing - why not offer to put ads for them in the back of the book? Or at the very least, a track listing?
I'm not sold on the name of the company either - but no need to rush it! So long as you have a name by the time you're done with the book, it's all good ;-)