Distant Horizon

Distant Horizon. Ink, pastels, and pixelation.

Hello! And thanks for stopping by.  

To those of you who have been following Jupiter Valley Studios, I want to apologize for the lack of updates lately. I've been hard at work, both on Children of the Sun and life itself. (With the latter getting more attention, to be honest.)

It's been an uphill battle finding the motivation to restart things after the cancelled Kickstarter. But thanks to all of the aforementioned life-work I've been doing, I've found the gumption to do so.

(Gumption, by the way, is my current favorite word.)

I've completely redesigned the components and style of the game, which I think was a necessary step to bringing it back to life. The facelift really makes Children of the Sun shine. It has its own style now, one that speaks to my style.

With the old look, I was aiming for the usual bog-box style you'd see on store shelves. I was focusing on making it look good, rather than making it look authentic. And that just ended up making it look amateur. (Though I will say I'm still proud of it. Plus it was great practice!)

The new designs are way more eye-catching. The artwork is minimal, but with a very human touch. In a way it almost seems crafty, as if the art were doodles in the margins of an Aztec god's notebook.

And speaking of gods, that handsome fellow you see above is Ino'itl, the sun god. He gives you a good idea of how the art direction is going. The Creation Card artwork is coming along well too!

Now that I've got my bearings straight, all I've got to do is finish the art & component design, freshen up the rulebook, build a solid fan base, fund the game, and manage a worldwide production and fulfilment process.

Good thing I've got gumption!

In the next few months, I'll be posting the third entry in the Children of the Sun Designer Diary. It will focus mostly on the journey behind the game’s artwork and design. Be sure to subscribe to the JVS Newsletter to read it first! (And check out the CotS page on BoardGameGeek to read Designer Diary #2.) 

In my previous post, I talked about the current state of JVS and the crossroads that I face. To my left, I stay an independent publisher with the whole kit and kaboodle of what that entails. (Namely managing production, sales, marketing, and staff.) To the right, I become a freelance designer, licensing out my work to third party publishers and focusing solely on content creation. The latter choice admittedly sounds nice, but it comes at the cost of losing full control over what I make.

I’ve yet to decide just what it is that I need JVS to be. Am I simply looking for an outlet to create my work? Or do I want to run a company from the ground up? Which path will lead to more fulfillment? Which one financially makes more sense? 

It's a lot to answer, but I know I can't just sit here and do nothing while I think about it. So I'm tearing apart the whole metaphor and moving in both directions. Children of the Sun will be published independently by JVS, but for future projects I'll be open to the idea of licensing out my designs. In fact, I'd still license out the publication rights to CotS if the right company came along that liked my work. But I'm not going to wait around for that to happen, nor will an unfinished project be appealing to anyone. So ever onward I go!

As for a timeline of things to come . . . I don't have one! It's uncomfortable, but also relieving. The only thing I want to focus on right now is getting work done. Once a finished product is more within reach, I can look a few steps ahead and paint a clearer picture for you. I don’t want to make the same mistake I’ve made repeatedly in the past. Impractical deadlines rush me to finish something on time, rather than really taking it to the level of quality that I want it to be. That's not to say deadlines per se are bad. It's just that I've been horrible at making realistic ones.

But! I will say that at some point next year, Children of the Sun will be once again aiming for publication. I can't say for certain if I'm going to take the crowdfunding route, but that may very well be the case. 

I'm also going to be holding a lot of demo events, and hopefully attending a few conventions next year. I've got to start building a crowd if I'm ever realistically going to publish the game. That, and sharing it with others will help stem the tide of eagerness that so easily for me turns to impatience. I'll at least know that more and more people will have had a chance to play what I've been working so hard on for years now.

Another topic I want to talk about is Callisto, both the imprint and the magazine. It's been a huge goal of mine to get that ball rolling. Game design isn't the only passion I have. I love storytelling and the creative arts. Callisto will embody that drive, being a JVS imprint for creative writing and visual arts. And I'd like the imprint's flagship publication to be Callisto Magazine, a periodical featuring short stories, poetry, non-fiction writing, comics, artwork, and pen and paper games.

I keep getting hit in the face with the obvious truth that I'm only one man and making all these things takes time, so I'm pressing the brakes on Callisto Magazine so that I can really make sure I have the resources needed to get it done right. (That includes, I think, getting some staff on board, while also honing my skills as an artist and writer.)

But with that said, I can't keep neglecting the creative part of myself, so I am moving ahead with the Callisto imprint in a bold way. I'm dusting off my novel Junicka Valley and finally getting it finished. 

For those of you that don't know, Junicka Valley is a story I wrote over the course of five or six years. It came in at around 800 pages or so, unedited. Instead of publishing a behemoth book by an unknown writer, I decided to split the novel up into three volumes and release it over the course of a few years. My intent was to slowly build a crowd, but back then I wasn't very good at being slow. I edited the first book far too quickly, then released it with little to no marketing. (Plus little to no confidence!) It goes without saying that it flopped, and I abandoned the rest of the story so I could focus on game design. (Which, despite the many flaws of my decision, led me to release Lock & Spell. A happy accident that was well worth it!)

Now, that's not to say Junicka Valley isn't good. In fact, I think it's great! It's just that I hadn't given it the time and affection that it needed to really reach its potential. (Echoing the same mistake I would make years later with Children of the Sun.) 

After finally facing the facts of what I have to do, I'm ready to slow things down and work harder than ever before. I've got to persevere through all of my inadequecies and focus on doing my best.

You could say . . . I've got gumption. 😎

Returning to Junicka Valley, I'm going to publish the book in its originally intended format as one cohesive novel. It will be the first Callisto publication here at JVS, and I think it's a great fit for the label. Junicka Valley is incredibly unique in its storytelling, and that's exactly what Callisto is all about. 

I'll be posting further updates on Junicka Valley's progress soon, along with a blog post dedicated to what the heck the book is even about. I'm also working on updating the website to reflect all the new changes to the JVS lineup.

I'd like to end this entry with a quote that pretty much speaks to everything I've been dealing with in life. It comes from Alain de Botton, and I'm incredibly grateful to have stumbled upon its wisdom.

“Anyone who isn't embarrassed of who they were last year probably isn't learning enough.”

I've got my fair share of embarrassment, so I guess I'm heading in the right direction.

I'm grateful for everyone's support as I climb a little bit higher each year. It's thanks to you that I write these darn blog posts, which, despite my dislike for them, really do help me grow. With every entry, I dive deeper into being a writer, designer, artist, and entrepreneur. 

Thanks again for for stopping by. Even though I just said I don't like writing these, it's been my pleasure. Be sure to subscribe to the JVS Newsletter to stay up to date on Children of the Sun, Junicka Valley, Callisto, and Jupiter Valley Studios!

-Sam