Good morning, afternoon, evening, or night - Felix here, with our first true post-campaign update on PICO.
As you might expect, not a huge amount happened between Christmas and the New Year (even we weird bug-making types need a bit of time off), but since January crashed in with a load of uncomfortable resolutions and a surprising amount of frost, art and writing have have been back on the table!
So what have we been working on? Well, there's...
NEW ARTWORK
The 'Bug Me In' and 'Picotitan' tier backers have been pretty good with getting me their ideas in good time, so we've got over half of the campaign-related artwork done. This is a good thing, because it always takes a little longer to do and it's also always the hardest to place - you sometimes end up writing a whole new chunk of text just to match a picture because it's cool enough to demand it, or shuffling other things around to make sure that a new backer piece slots in where it makes the most sense.
Backer-based art is something we started doing for the original Wildsea, and while it does mean a little more work for both me and the artist, it really is worth it - and not just monetarily. Some of the ideas that backers have come up with for their bugs are things I just never would have thought of myself, and they make the book richer for being there. I'll also be sending an e-mail poke to some of the Bug Me In and Picotitan backers that haven't gotten in touch yet, probably at the end of the week - make sure you check your e-mail if you haven't already!
Though I will say that it's lucky we unlocked the Nekopolis realm, because it turns out PICO backers love cats! :P
NEW WORDS
But it's not just zkarab that's putting in the work, honest! I've been looking over feedback on the original playtest, as well as a few wishlist-ey type things that people have mentioned both here on kickstarter and on the Wild Words discord (which has its own section for PICO progress and feedback, JUST IN CASE YOU WANT TO JOIN).
And, based on that feedback, a few new things have made their way into the game!
One is the Size Comparison page, which I'll share a little work-in-progress snippet of below. It's a two-page spread with some hopefully helpful hints on bug sizes compared to various kinds of food AND an associated splash illustration (WIP, as the backer art takes precedence for now). But that's not all - I'm also in the process of adding a page or two to the Weaver's chapter, giving them advice on how to bring the variable sizes of bugs (and the scale of the world they inhabit) into both the mechanics and fiction of the game. It's the suggestion I think we've had the most, so I'm glad it's taking shape - watch this space in the near future for more.
Another is an expansion for the setting chapter at the beginning of the book, just giving people a little more optional information about the world of PICO. Much like the Wildsea, I don't want to define too much - these games are made for oddities to flourish, after all - but creativity does better with some guidelines and boundaries.
NEW WAYS OF TRACKING PROGRESS
Okay, not quite new - I've done this for previous projects as well, because it really helps with working out what needs doing in the moment and what can be left until a little later, as well as who needs poking to produce things. Excel-style spreadsheets, like the extremely pixellated one below, are slightly soul-sucking to produce but such a useful tool for productivity that I can live with the boredome of putting it together.
And having one also means I can colour-coordinate things for you backers! On the table below everything that's in green is in a 'finished enough' state, which doesn't mean I won't fiddle with and change it but does mean that I don't specifically have to. Yellow is in progress, pages where the writing is still covering bare basics without the flourish it needs to read well, or where the artwork is more pencil sketch than glorious colour. Red, as you might imagine, is for pages that barely have anything on them, or that sit hauntingly empty. It's the least fun colour.
So what's that big chunk of red? The realms unlocked by the kickstarter (plus our guest realm from Mikey Hamm), that's what! I don't need to focus on those until the end, as the mechanical implementaton is minor and the vibes are high. Basically they're the most fun part to write, in terms of creativity, and therefore also the fastest.
Now there's also extra stuff I want to add, so that list will get longer over the next month or so, but it's a great look at how close I am to minimum viability. Pretty close, which might be a pleasant surprise!
NEW PLAYTEST (!?!)
Hopefully yes! I'm aiming for the start of february, because I have travel mechanics I want to get more feedback on from the public and some playtest games of my own that I want to run over on the discord. What better way to battle through the cold and depressing winter months than by being cute little bugs? Oh, and I'll throw some new hazards in there too - I can only keep Brimstocchio to myself for so long...
So, as I may have said before, watch this space!
NEW MYTHWORKS COMIC!
And I'll end the update with this, not something PICO related but definitely something cute (and poignant, judging from the first issue a while back). Mythworks have just launched their kickstarter for SANSHA & BLANCO 1-2, a tale told from the canine perspective. If you like dogs, or comics, or dogs in comics, do yourself a favour and check it out here. :)
And with that, I think I'm done for the day! You'll hear from me soon, piconauts!
- Felix