As INFINIBADGER PRESS continues to grow, part of the plan is to keep our customers posted on what’s going on behind the scenes, as well as do a sort of capsule summary each quarter. This is the first of these going forward. We’ll be much more active on social media such as facebook, Google+, and twitter, so be sure to follow us there as well!
The first quarter of 2016 has been a busy one for InfiniBadger. First off, the company incorporated under a new company name (ONEBADGERUN LIMITED) but is still trading as INFINIBADGER PRESS. This allows for us to continue growing and developing and put into fruition all of the plans that have are being laid out in our current five year roadmap.
We’re in the process of getting our online storefront up and running here at the site which will enable us to not only sell digital (and eventually physical) products worldwide, but also allow us to implement one of the new aspects of the Digital+ program, which is giving you access to a digital backup of any product you buy from us no matter where you buy it from. That’s right – if you buy a digital or physical product on another site we sell on, you’ll also be eligible to get a digital copy of it right here at this site as well! Part of the delay in the getting the store up and running is setting it up properly to handle multiple types of sales tax, particularly EU VAT tax, as there’s some business pieces to that going on behind the scenes. We’ll be doing a full soft launch with the free products on the site first, along with backup copies before we start selling full direct. Part of our future sales strategy is also to get our products into more stores online and allow more options for purchasing them, as well as move towards getting product representation at conventions and in retail space.
The past month has been incredibly busy, with the launch of two Patreon projects. The first is for OSRToday, and is to help generate community-directed content for that site; patrons can not only fund individual content but help direct what gets made. Patrons get access to quality formatted versions of the articles but all articles eventually make it onto the OSRToday website. Two sample articles have already been posted at the Patreon page showing the kind of content that can make it onto the OSRToday website with funding from the community. There’s some more coming, and the first of the funded content from that will be released soon.
The second Patreon is to help support and develop Old School Quarterly (OSQ), the old school gaming magazine we’ve had in development since last year. There have been some hurdles, but the switch to including Patreon as a subscriber approach will help grow and support the magazine. The Zero Issue is due out in October 2016, which gives plenty of time to plan and grow not only that issue, but the subsequent issues as well with a new marketing plan. There’ll be an online store for OSQ as well where issues can be purchased, and they’ll be available digitally and in POD from multiple stores, all following the Digital+ format. Being a Patreon backer though not only gets you issues at a discount, but it also gets you more content; all patrons get the exclusive 36 page MORE supplement providing even more content delivered alongside with every issue!
Speaking of marketing, the future of INFINIBADGER PRESS lies on making sure people know what we’ve got coming out. That’s why we have a new Release Schedule page here at the website that stays updated with publicly announced products. It’s the best place to get information on the rough target dates of when things are going to be released. Not every product we have in development has a page on the site here yet, but eventually it will have.
Products are moving to a new release cycle just to make it easier for schedule release, with products being released/updated on either the 15th or the last day of a month. Because there are a number of projects on the go at any one time, this allows for specific release windows as well as finalization windows for individual projects. Projects that are POD will typically release in digital editions first, then the POD later once proofs have been generated. This gives a bit of time to catch any egregious errors, as well as make sure that we don’t have to issue errata updates (which in these days of digital on-demand publishing should be something that happens less often). With our Digital+ program buying the digital version can get you a discount against the print version, so buying early is low risk.
Newly announced products on the Release Schedule includes THE BROKKANI, which is a supplement that covers space badgers and will be available for use with a number of game systems. The Brokkani are going to be making an appearance in the FREELANCERS setting, so we’re going to be doing something a little bit more experimental with this product, just as we’re going to be doing with FREELANCERS itself as well.
WHAT COMES AFTER continues to be in development, with the main book and the first Expansion being written tightly together to make sure that they mesh well together. Once they are at an appropriate state, we hope to launch a Kickstarter campaign to fund artwork for the entire WHAT COMES AFTER line. Eventually it’s hoped that this game will be successful enough to launch several other genre toolkit games that also allow mixing and matching with existing games. But that’s for the future. The original plan was to make this a gritty black and white only series, but it’s going to be color now, which means revising the project plan someone. We do plan on supporting the game in many different ways with other tools including apps and communities on social networks.
FROM ZEROES TO HEROES was just announced in late March after publicly releasing the cover, and is going to be a vanguard game system for the company. A new approach to old school fantasy gaming, it attempts to break down some of the tropes that exist and allow a different and flexible approach to playing games while still allowing players to use the wealth of existing game resources they already have – it’s like changing out the combustion engine in your car and replacing it a newer electric one. You’ll be able to still use all of your old modules and supplements with it, pretty much as is, but your entire game experience will be changed. There are a few supplements planned for this as well, mostly settings that add game worlds and new content to play in that build on the basic rules explained in the book. The current plan for this game is to release the full game as a no-art version in beta for others to experience and comment upon before releasing a full no-art version for free into the wild forever. A full art version in digital and print versions will help support the game and the development of future supplements for it.
We’ve also got a mostly finalized cover for THESE STARS ARE YOURS now, which continues to be under development. What started out as simple series of tables and rules expansions for THE WHITE STAR RPG by Barrel Rider Games has grown into a very large and complex product indeed, which is why it’s taking so long for gestation. A lot of artwork is being collected for it right now, along with formalizing a lot of the generators in it. The third and last section of the book is nothing but generators, but it looks like those may end up taking up about half the actual page count of the final book. Once the book is out there may be the option of having the generators be available as a software tool as well.
The first of the thirteen free Expansions for THE GRAVEYARD AT LUS was released last quarter (although partially incomplete and being updated shortly). That Expansion is going to be updated shortly, and the remaining Expansions are going to be released as well over the coming months. Each of the Expansions is themed towards adding new additional content and rules, and will be retroactively updated as each new Expansion comes out. By the time the last Expansion comes out, all of the Expansions will cross-reference each other.
So, that’s where INFINIBADGER PRESS sits at today, going into the next second quarter of 2016. We’re glad to have you along with us for the ride.