Beam Saber Kickstarter Anniversary
about 3 years ago
– Mon, Mar 01, 2021 at 07:30:46 PM
It's now been a whole year since this Kickstarter launched and since then a lot has happened in the world, which unfortunately has meant that less has happened on this project than I had hoped. Everyone working on this project has had the wind knocked out of them at some point in the last 365 days (myself included), and as the project manager its my moral obligation to be kind when that happens. So the book will almost certainly not be shipping in April, in fact I suspect it won't ship until September because the pieces just aren't coming together as quickly as I had thought. Partly that's due to my inexperience managing a project like this, and partly that's because of the state of the world.
Thank you all for you patience.
It's not all bad news in this update though! To celebrate the anniversary of the Beam Saber Kickstarter launch, myself and 20 other designers have put our work together for the Beam Saber Supply Drop bundle! This incredible bundle includes lots of new playbooks, GMing guides, setting pieces and more! I purchased each of these when they were released and I can tell you that there is something for everyone in this bundle. The bundle is only running during the month of March so get it while you can.
Lastly, it wouldn't be a Beam Saber update without...
PLEASE complete your BackerKit survey if you haven't already.
Even if you KNOW you'll need to change your shipping address in 2021 later, complete it now. You can change the shipping address later because the surveys won't be locked in until after the layout is done, but I NEED the name that you want to be credited as for the Kickstarter Backers appendix. There are 40 (this number IS getting smaller!) of you who haven't completed this yet, so please do so ASAP! If I don't get your name in by April, you'll get left out of the appendix.
February 2021 Update
over 3 years ago
– Fri, Feb 12, 2021 at 09:38:16 PM
Frankly not too much has changed since the ̶N̶o̶v̶e̶r̶m̶b̶e̶r̶ ̶D̶e̶c̶e̶m̶b̶e̶r̶ January timeline update: work continues on the things that were WIP back then. The choice updates:
- Sasha has shown me a rough layout for the first two pages of the Officer's section in the rulebook and it looks good, but isn't ready for public viewing yet.
- Takuma Okada has sent me 3 samples of their writing to share with you all. They are excerpt's from the journal of Keiko "Pitchfork" Tuesday the Soldier depicted in the game's art (and she pilots a custom Agrarian).
From the Officer: I know Harrow led a squad before the Cenotaph, but it was weird because he’s just my dad. Like not actually, but he’s the closest person I have. Had. Anyway, I know as a kid you like, don’t know everything about your parents. But when we were out there as a squad he was different. At the orphanage he would tell us to do chores or whatever but it wasn’t the same. Those weren’t orders. During a battle he had this weird energy, like he was focusing, but it wasn’t just that. The way he would tell us to move, or the way he would say to attack a certain AWV. It felt like he was taking the other squad apart, piece by piece. When he left us. No. When he betrayed us. It didn’t make sense. I didn’t know the Harrow who made that decision. But I think I’d already realized he wasn’t the person I thought he was, out on the battlefield, a while ago.
From the Vehicles chapter: I remember the first day I stepped into Bert. There was all this training before of course, but being inside an AWV is… hard to wrap your head around until you actually step inside. I’d only seen other AWVs before, the Church ones as they passed through Hulinton, and Bert looked like a rusty tractor compared to them. I started with the arm. Just lifting it up. It felt so fucking heavy, and I was only pulling on a control stick. I think sometimes it’s easy to see an AWV moving from the outside and forget how slow and heavy it still is. Slow, and heavy, and dangerous. We were still in the old barn, and I knew if I lifted the arm over Bert’s head it would punch a hole straight through the roof. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how Bert feels different now. All this new armoring and stuff. He’s heavier, but with new parts to make up for it. I think he moves better than he used to, but it feels weird and I don’t know, bad? A while ago I painted flowers on Bert’s head, to make him look less like a pile of junk. They look real out of place now. I get this sinking feeling in my gut looking at them, knowing how much more damage I could do if I’m not careful. There were all these protocols to follow even when I was just piloting him in a field with no one else around. What happens if I fuck up in the middle of a battle?
From the downtime activities chapter: I think it’s really been messing with me. Not having a consistent schedule I mean. Sometimes we’re gone on a long mission for ages. Sometimes we don’t get called in for a while. I don’t know when I’m going to be fighting for my life or when I’m going to sit in the barn doing nothing for three weeks. Every moment in a battle feels like a lifetime, and every break somehow feels like forever and no time at all. I’ve been trying to rest up as much as I can when we do get some time off. Even after short missions I’m exhausted, and when we’re gone for a week or more? I can’t move the first day we’re back, and that’s if I didn’t even get hurt. Harrow comes in and checks on me, brings me snacks or whatever. Guess he knows what it’s like, but I wonder how he always goes right back to normal after coming home. After a couple days of lying in bed I go check on Bert usually. Sometimes I tinker around a little, try to replace something that’s all rusted out. After that I finally feel like I can be around people again. So I get chicken nuggets in town and that’s kind of it these days. God. Writing it out really makes it seem even worse. I don’t do anything anymore! Everything I do when I’m not on a mission is getting ready for the next mission or recovering from the last one. Fuck.
- Got a summary from Austin Walker of the writing he's working on for the book which will be an introductory short story.
Even in the most intractable war, dramatic opportunities to shift the balance of power sometimes emerge. While capitalizing on these moments requires precise strategic, tactical, and logistical execution, it also rests on the shoulders of those individuals who have to carry out the seemingly impossible. Which is why Violet Viola, ace pilot for the DFS' 561st Mechanized Infantry division, is sweating in the seat of a stolen Norrish AWV. Miles north of her, a convoy containing three of the five leaders of the Adamant Council moved towards the Norrish capital city. And miles above her, a squad of black ops agents is fighting its way through the corridors of a prototype satellite weapon, hardened by Exodus Republic Incorporate to protect it from vast debris fields that surround the planet. In one hour, she'll skate across the wintry hills and plains in this stolen mech, towards her target. All she needs to do is get close enough to dial in the Satellite Canon. She's trained for this for years. So why can't she stop shaking?
- Work continues on the Squad art, but it has become clear to me that the art is a bottleneck for the project. Relying on a single artist to do most of the work has resulted in a wonderful consistent style through the book (which is what I was aiming for) but it has also meant that the entire book is waiting on it. I suspect that an April shipping date is looking unlikely at this time, but the book IS getting made.
That's it. Things continue to be slow because of the state of the world. Thank you for your on going patience.
In the meantime,
PLEASE complete your BackerKit survey if you haven't already.
Even if you KNOW you'll need to change your shipping address in early 2021, complete it now. You can change the shipping address later because the surveys won't be locked in until after the layout is done, but I NEED the name that you want to be credited as for the Kickstarter Backers appendix. There are 42 of you who haven't completed this yet, so please do so ASAP! If I don't get your name in by March, you'll get left out of the appendix.
January 2021 Update
over 3 years ago
– Tue, Jan 12, 2021 at 11:13:54 PM
Happy New Year!
Frankly not too much has changed since the ̶N̶o̶v̶e̶r̶m̶b̶e̶r̶ December timeline update: work continues on the things that were WIP back then. The choice updates:
- Sasha has shown me an updated version of the character sheet for the Technician and it looks great, but en isn't ready to show it to others yet which is why I haven't shared it.
- That's it. Things really slowed down during December, unsurprisingly, and that's on top of an already slow year due to *gestures at everything*. Thank you for your on going patience.
In the meantime,
PLEASE complete your BackerKit survey if you haven't already.
Even if you KNOW you'll need to change your shipping address in early 2021, complete it now. You can change the shipping address later because the surveys won't be locked in until after the layout is done, but I NEED the name that you want to be credited as for the Kickstarter Backers appendix. There are 45 of you who haven't completed this yet, so please do so ASAP! If I don't get your name in by March, you'll get left out of the appendix.
December 2020 Update
over 3 years ago
– Sat, Dec 12, 2020 at 06:40:32 PM
Frankly not too much has changed since the November timeline update: work continues on the things that were WIP back then. The choice updates:
- Layout for the pilot, squad, and reference sheets will be done in January.
- Layout for the rulebook (+/- art and fiction) will be done in March.
In the meantime,
PLEASE complete your BackerKit survey if you haven't already.
Even if you KNOW you'll need to change your shipping address in early 2021, complete it now. You can change the shipping address later because the surveys won't be locked in until after the layout is done, but I NEED the name that you want to be credited as for the Kickstarter Backers appendix. There are 49 of you who haven't completed this yet, so please do so ASAP! If I don't get your name in by March, you'll get left out of the appendix.
