The Update About Dice Tool Samples, Poster Maps, and Layout
over 5 years ago – Sun, Nov 18, 2018 at 01:10:26 AM

Ciao ciao, Martians!

As the cool breeze drifts in over the island we're pleased to pass along more production news for you about Over the Edge.

Dice Samples

Our dice producer, GPI, sent along a sample of the dice and the packaging for us to review. As you've no doubt noticed we've been going back and forth about the proper way to handle the dice and we're extremely pleased with the final outcome, which is rounded corners, translucent plastic, and custom spots with good and bad twists specially marked. Now we have photographic proof!

 Poster Map Update

Our map artist Axel Ortiz has wrapped up the illustration for the full size color poster map in the style of classic theme park and tourist maps, and we're working on tweaking it with graphic overlays and so on. We think you're going to love it. The map isn't exactly to scale, but it's a heck of a lot more interesting and detailed than any other map of the Edge has ever been, and you'll get both a side that has labels and transit lines on it, and a side that's just the map (you know, so you can scribble all over it with marker pens.)

Layout Update

Skilled graphic designer Thomas Deeny has finished the first layout of the rulebook for us to examine with our proofreader and editorial eyes. It's just about as stunning as we hoped it would be, kind of a nod toward the Sixties with a 21st century vibe and gorgeous artwork as directed by James Mosingo. Over the next few weeks we're going to polish this up and aim to have a version of the book to backers in advance of sending the book to press. Do you like early review PDFs? We thought so.

More visuals and updates in our next monthly update, scheduled for some time in December. If you're one of our Stateside backers, enjoy your turkey and stuffings. If you're one of our Al Amarja backers, we see you and we know what you did. 

Peace,
Cam and the Atlas Gang

The Update about New Art, Music, and Dice Production
over 5 years ago – Thu, Oct 04, 2018 at 01:24:35 AM

Ciao ciao, Martians!

It's a cool autumn day here in Minnesota and we're all missing the balmy weather of Al Amarja right now, but here were are, and here's where the action is.

Sounds from the Edge

James Semple and his co-composer David are already working on the musical accompaniment to your Over the Edge experience, and so far it's got Jonathan Tweet's enthusiastic approval. It's always nice to get the creators agreeing on the direction of something as subjective and visceral as music. Our plan is for three EPs of ambient tracks to play during your session, themed to a degree on the D'Aubainne siblings and their spheres of influence. So you'll be able to play something weird, something urban, and something dangerous at any stage in your game. (That's a bit of a stretch, we know, but the Tourism Board says we have to frame it like that.)

Dice Production

Following up from our previous reports about needing to go with opaque dice for the OTE Dice Set, we're pleased to report now that we've secured a deal with Grand Prix International to produce translucent, rounded dice that more closely align with Jonathan's original intention for casting lots. The color scheme is still largely the same, but we think you'll be much happier with the assurance of no bubbles in your randomizers and the smooth, easy roll that each die produces.

New Art

James Mosingo has been wrangling our talented team of artists against deadlines to produce some stunning visuals for the upcoming rulebook. I'd like to share some of those with you here - note that these aren't necessarily final images, but they're getting real close.

 That's all for now. Don't forget to tell folks that our BackerKit pre-order is still open! Share that link with your friends and enemies while there's still time.

Peace,
Cam and the Atlas Gang

The Update about Dice Mockups and Pledge Level Switching
over 5 years ago – Tue, Sep 04, 2018 at 04:18:01 PM

Ciao ciao Martians!

Two items for this update: a look at the colorful dice we're ordering from Q-Workshop for those who grabbed a pledge level with pips, AND some more information about BackerKit, especially how to switch pledge levels if you backed at another level.

OTE Dice Set Preview

One of the things I wanted to do with the dice when it came time to choose colors was to evoke memories of older editions of OTE while also bringing in the new edition. As such, the OTE dice set includes a pair of dice inspired by the 1st edition cover and logo, a set inspired by the second edition cover and logo, and three more pairs that draw from the new edition's cover.

 Aren't they attractive? Notice also the pips on the three and four are connected by lines to remind you that the three is a bad twist (so, a minus) and the four is a good twist (so, a plus.)

Switching Pledge Levels

Several of you have reached out to ask us about who to switch pledge levels in your BackerKit survey. I went to check on this feature which we've activated for this project and was able to see where the confusion lies. When you get the survey in your email, following the link takes you to a loading page with the OTE book cover and a big button that sends you to review your order and add-ons. In rather small type below the big button is another link: switch your pledge level!

If you've clicked through and you're already at the Minnesota resident question, you've gone too far. At that point all you can do is add add-ons to your order and manage payment. If you're a backer who wants to actually switch a pledge level to a different one (say, you backed at the $60 pledge level and really wanted to upgrade to the $100 Luxe) then you want to use that first page link, not the add-ons.

Drop us a line if you're facing difficulties with this issue. As we lock down orders once they're placed so that we can share your digital downloads with you, it's not possible to make changes to your order once that happens. We have to go in and unlock you first, manually. Leave us a note in Kickstarter messages or via our crowdfund AT atlas-games DOT com email and tell us what the deal is, and we can fix it.

Pip pip!
Cam and the Atlas Gang

The Update about Pre-Orders and Surveys
over 5 years ago – Mon, Sep 03, 2018 at 02:01:41 AM

Ciao ciao, Martians!

Yes, we stealth-launched the BackerKit this weekend after sending out a "smoke test" on Friday. You should all have received the survey in your inboxes and should complete those as soon as you are able.

If you accidentally deleted your BackerKit survey email or you don't think you ever got one, you can always go here to log in. This update isn't going to get deleted, though if you're reading this but did not get a survey, we're not sure what's going on as we're using the same emails.

Some questions have arisen!

When is Everything Showing Up

Available to everyone now or within the next couple of days is the older PDF content from the Retro Pack, and EdgeWork zines, and other digital files that aren't new. Not available yet are any printed products (though we can ship out some of those soon if they're from the previous edition) or the new edition of the game. We also don't have Sounds from the Edge yet, as that music's not expected to be done until near the end of the year.

Hey, I'm Moving

Some folks have asked about having something shipped to them but needing to change their address. You can change your address in BackerKit at any time, even after you're locked down! We won't lock down addresses for the core rules until next year, but we might ship out some stuff early, so if (for example) you want the Burger Box shipped to one destination but your new OTE books shipped to another one, change your BackerKit address now to the Burger Box one and change it later to the one you actually want to get your stuff shipped to.

A lot of people move — I'm moving, for example, in December! — but this is not a problem for us unless you don't actually tell us you're moving and don't update your address. Please be sure to bookmark your BackerKit page, and look out for future emails about impending shipments.

Can I Pre-Order Yet?

Yes, absolutely. If you didn't back this campaign in Kickstarter and you're keen to get the books anyway, you can follow this link to the pre-order page and complete an order. We'll do our best to process this swiftly so you can get any Retro PDFs etc, but you're going to have your books shipped out with everyone else's, so expect to see the very same shipping emails later as those folks. The drawback? You have to order everything a la carte. If you don't order a PDF, you won't get one. Please make sure you've added all the things you want to your cart before you place your order!

Chasing the baboons,
Cam and the Atlas Gang

The Update about BackerKit and Progress
over 5 years ago – Wed, Aug 29, 2018 at 12:55:23 AM

Ciao ciao, Martians!

It's been two weeks since we officially funded and as your pledges have now cleared Kickstarter, we're finalizing our BackerKit surveys and preparing to send them out.

How BackerKit Works

You're going to get an email sent to the email you used for this Kickstarter project. In that survey you'll get a link, and you're encouraged either to create a new BackerKit profile (if you've not done this before) or log in with an existing profile. That gets you to the pledge management screen.

Here, you double-check your pledge, decide whether you want to include more add-ons, and confirm your shipping address. You will get a chance to update this address throughout the next few months—even after we lock the pledge and charge your credit cards for any extra stuff, you can go back into that pledge manager screen and make address changes.

We are working with DriveThruRPG to find a way to not just upload digital files such as PDFs to your BackerKit profile (your "digital downloads") but also to send you unique codes for your PDFs. That includes Retro Packs, the freebie PDFs unlocked via stretch goals, and eventually your Over the Edge Core Digital files.

Our current scheduled date for surveys is September 3rd, 2018. That's next week! Please check your inboxes that day and, if September 4 rolls around and there's nothing there, check your spam folder or junk folder for emails from us (and/or BackerKit).

Over the Edge Production Progress

The manuscript is currently in pieces and being edited, chapter by chapter, by Jaym Gates. Jonathan is adding some last-minute fixes, revisions, and notes. If you're a backer at the You're in the Book level, you should have had a message from me asking for you to send in your GMC to get included. If you haven't yet, please do this ASAP!

We continue to get amazing art sketches in. I'm included a couple below. Sketches don't even show half of the talent we've got working on this book, and I can't wait to show you the final pieces.

 Peace and Good Tunes,
Cam and the Atlas Gang