It’s traditional in video games for the developers to write post-mortems after a game has shipped. These briefs provide folks with a way to talk about what went right and what went wrong during the development cycle. Usually, they call out unexpected surprises (such as “synergies”) but also shine a light on bumps in the road, flaws in the process, and areas to be reexamined and/or revised.

I’ve been thinking a lot about Streets of Bedlam, Kickstarter, and the good and bad of this whole process which gave me the idea to do my own post-mortem, a coroner’s report, on the SoB KS.

Now, overall, I feel the Kickstarter was overwhelmingly positive. It allowed me to create a setting I’d been brewing for years, gave gamers some (hopefully) fun and useful tools for telling their own blood-soaked crime operas, and helped some creatives financially in the process. But it wasn’t without its hiccups. As parts of the Kickstarter are winding down and I’m able to focus more and more on the last remaining bits (looking at, Five-Story Drop), I thought I’d take a moment to talk about what went right and what went wrong from my perspective.

What I Did Right

I minimized my own additional work. Especially in regards to Stretch Goals. I’ve seen other projects where the main contributor gives herself more work with each Stretch Goal. I already felt like I was taking on a lot with just the main project so I looked for ways to give backers new, cool things without putting big projects on my plate. Now, I added a fifth episode to Five-Story Drop (originally Four-Story Drop) and put together some exclusive Archetypes but these are rather minor additions in the grand scheme. I didn’t promise a third book, another chapter in the corebook, or anything like that. As each Stretch Goal was smashed, I brainstormed ideas for a big finish, something to reward backers for being far more awesome than I anticipated. This led to commissioning a soundtrack from Ed Lima. Not only is this a huge thing for Bedlam to have but it’s something I could not have done without the support of KS backers.

I gave some unexpected perks. Originally, I was going to buy some generic bulk dice from Chessex for those backing at the 60+ level or higher. But after asking some industry friends, I learned custom dice are actually quite affordable. So I commissioned a run of custom d6s, bundled them with some black, white, red dice, and packaged them inside a sow’s ear. Nice. I try to overdeliver whenever I can and I feel that a custom set of dice in its own bag is a huge plus.

I hired Shawn Gaston. I think we can all agree on that, yeah? I honestly had no clue who I was going to get to illustrate the book. I knew I wanted a distinct and gritty illustrative style—nothing photorealistic, nothing epic—to convey the characters and areas of Bedlam. I knew I wanted the illustrations to use key characters that I would build up throughout the book and the supplements. Beyond that, I was at a loss. The two artists I thought of first were both too busy (one with a new day job; one with personal stuff), leaving me clueless. And then Shawn sent that fateful tweet back in December and away we went.

What I’d Do Differently

I would pad the delivery date. The April date was realistic, y’know, if I lived in a world where I had no distractions, no sudden health problems, no amazing day job opportunities crop up, no sudden out-of-state move. But I did have all those things and each one pushed Streets of Bedlam further and further out. As of this posting, over half the folks who pledged should have everything coming to them, and the rest should have the bulk of what’s due to them within a couple weeks. But that’s ten months-plus out from when the Kickstarter ended back in mid-January. You all have been amazingly gracious—but you shouldn’t have had to be. To that end:

I would have the writing done beforehand. I didn’t feel I could do that back in November last year as I was considering my project for 2012. I was working as a full-time freelancer and any time not spent writing for other people was spent on short, immediate-sale projects (such as the Campfire Tales for Little Fears Nightmare Edition). Launching a new line would require setting aside a large chunk of time that was unpaid. At the very least, I decided, I couldn’t launch SoB in the red. That meant I needed to have the art and publishing costs covered even if my own time wasn’t. The initial goal on the Bedlam Kickstarter, $3000, was to cover those two things. Once that goal was hit, the game would launch in the black. The extra money went towards the stretch goals and covering my contribution to the household budget. This time though, I’m not dependent on freelancing to cover my bills. If I did launch a second Kickstarter, and I’d like to, I would have the writing done. That way, it would only be a matter of accounting for art, editing, and layout time.

In Sum

That’s the list I have, off the top of my head, so now I’m looking to you. What are your thoughts? Where did I fall short? Where did I succeed? Do you regret backing the Kickstarter? If so, why? I’d love to hear your thoughts, warts and all, so that I can learn for next time—and maybe some folks launching new projects can learn from these lessons as well.

Empty Envelopes

I blundered sending out the first batch of SoB orders. The envelopes I bought seemed like they were solid, had a nice sticky strip of self-adhesive, and I saw no problem shipping them as is.

Stupid me. Seems a handful of these envelopes reached their destinations with nothing inside. *sigh*

If this happened to you, please let me know. By “first batch” I mean the test batch I sent out early last week. The two big orders were all reinforced with tape. If any of those arrive empty, I’ll be busy banging my head against brick if you need me.

Pre-Orders

Now that the Kickstarter copies have all gone out, I turn my attention to those of you who pre-ordered. I plan to pack all of them up tonight and get out in tomorrow’s mail, ideally, though some may slip to Thursday. I’ll update when they’ve gone out.

Purchase Page

I was too busy sorting through the stacks of Kickstarter and pre-order books that needed fulfilled to add even more to my to-do list, but I finally got the Purchase Page up. You can order both the corebook and the dice set from there. When Five-Story Drop launches, I’ll add that as well.

This has all been far from an ideal launch but I’m getting my feet back under me. Thank you all for your (continued) patience.

The past two weeks have been a busy time full of signing, packing, stamping, filling out customs forms, and spending a lot of money at the post office. All in the name of Kickstarter fulfillment! Here’s where things are:

If You Pledged $25

Your book is either on its way or in your hands! This includes domestic and international backers. Three batches went out: one last week; one on Saturday; one today. All the internationals at this level went out last week and Saturday (most of them last week). The domestics were fairly split between Saturday and today. A few domestics went out last week so I could gauge postage cost.

If You Pledged $45 or More

I had originally intended to wait until the hardcopies of Five-Story Drop were in-hand but I can’t, in good conscience, leave you all waiting. So I’m going to fulfill all your hardcopies this week, including any dice or additional books due at your pledge level, and then ship Five-Story Drop separately once it’s done.

Five-Story Drop

Speaking of, Shawn and I both are still in production on this book. I hope to have it done (including print copies) by end of November but I can’t hard promise that. I will keep you all in the loop.

Sounds of Bedlam

Ed is still hard at work getting the last half of the soundtrack together. I don’t have any further news on that front currently.

Ready-Made Characters

A lot of you are due that six-pack PDF of ready-made characters as well. I should have them done the same time as Five-Story Drop.

All of this is much later than I had anticipated and promised. I will keep working to make this up to you all. Your patience has been amazing and humbling. Thank you all.

Good news, Kickstarter backers! I have begun the long (and awesome) task of signing, packing, labeling, and shipping books. Most of the orders are signed, packed, and labeled (I ran out of labels last night and need to pick up some more) and are now ready to fly toward their final destinations.

If you’re an international Kickstarter backer, odds are good your order went out this morning. All others will go out this week. For those of you in the States, you’ll probably get your orders by next Monday at the latest. For my international friends, you should get yours by the end of the month. (I hope sooner but I don’t control the boats.)

I will update again once all the orders have gone out.

If you have the corebook and Five-Story Drop coming to you, I’m waiting until 5SD is done to ship your order. On that front, I am working hard to get the file done!

Today’s a special day round these parts. Streets of Bedlam illustrator Shawn Gaston is another year closer to retirement. Shawn’s work went a long way towards bringing the people and places of Bedlam to life. I can honestly say the book wouldn’t have been the same without his remarkable artistic style and sensibilities. Happy birthday, man.

If you enjoyed Shawn’s work in Streets of Bedlam, consider swinging by his website, maybe buying a print or three of his work. And be sure to pop by his Twitter account to give him a birthday spanking. Don’t forget the one to grow on.