Hey guys,
Just to let you know, Fight Class is still alive and under development. Work on it has slowed to a crawl due to the amount of real life work piling up, but I’m determined to release something by the first half of the year.
That said, I’m posting to solicit feedback on something.
One of the biggest difficulties for this at the moment is getting help on the artwork of the game. I’ve managed to tap a few friends to help me out, but I feel that the game could really shine if it had the kind of glossy artwork that I imagined it would need to have.
I initially considered having a crowdsourcing effort to help with getting the budget for this, but I think that I might be able to work on a different model. I’m considering getting a copy of my edited draft through layout with minimal artwork first. I just need it to read well and have the illustrations that I’ve managed to acquire, and I’ll release it as a low-cost (less than $10) version of the game. It would have all the rules you need to play, just without the fancy artwork.
Would people be interested in checking something like this out?
Let me know as I’m seriously considering it.
Life and Times of a Philippine Gamer 
What advantages do you think this route offers over a crowdsouce campaign?
I’d personally rather you work out a minimal art budget and try a crowdsource project to fund a complete pdf version and then as the people donated and got excited you could stretch out more art or a printed version add-on. You could provide a basic rules and adventure to show off what you’ve put together.
Basically i’m not keen on an edition people buy for cheap that may keep them from buying again later. (Also not fond of learning and relearning if mechanics change in the later version)
That being said as a fan of your work i’d buy the version you proposed to support you.
Hi Bob!
Honestly, I’m just looking at my options at the moment. Given the sheer amount of real life work on my plate, and my difficulty sourcing artwork at a price that I can afford, I’m wondering if it would be viable to skip crowdsourcing and head to actual sales first, then upgrade the product later.
I think you make a very good point though about the annoyance of having to purchase again later, and splitting my potential market. I’ll have to think about this a little more while I hammer away at the game. Thanks for the feedback!
Hi Jay,
Coming from an eager awaiter rather than a business professional: on the one hand, I’m dying to get a slice of the game right now and the artwork is a small price to pay for early access. But If you released it without art, some fans wouldn’t have the cash to find enough value in the later version with it. That is to say, we want that art bad but if we can’t afford it, we can’t afford it.
You deserve to honour Fight Class with a full, proper release. If you’re stuck for cash, hold off on the release for a bit.
If you REALLY need to get something to flow in, might I recommend releasing a 3-5 player one-session scenario for $5 or so? Just stick in the rules needed for that much and leave character creation and any long-term mechanics out. That means broke student fans like me will still buy the full game with art.
Use some of the art you already have, put a good bit of time into it, playtest it, and hopefully it will be good enough to build positive hype.
Best of luck anyway.
Hey there crutzy,
Thanks for the feedback, it seems that majority will be willing to wait until I can polish the product up with spiffy art before release so I think that’s a good sign. I’m going through some Real Life work funkiness at the moment, but I’ll continue scouting for more art resources so I can give Fight Class the kind of release that it needs.
I backed a RPG project where the creator had and said all the right things (a demo pdf and some nice art) but unfortunately has fallen off the face of the Earth. So I really appreciate you wanting to make sure you are ready before starting this endeavor.
I’d honestly hate to let people down, which is probably the reason why I’m being hard on myself with being unable to source enough artwork in time. Thanks for the support, I’ll keep working on this to make it as good as I can make it.