Spell Effects! - $5k Reached
over 9 years ago – Thu, Jul 02, 2015 at 01:19:03 PM

Our final 48 hour bump has taken us across the $5k line, and we'll certainly be doing spell effects!

Lets get a little more specific:

1> We're going to be creating graphical sheets in the obvious elements; Fire, Ice, Lightning, "magic/arcane", Shadow, Poison, and several others.

2> We'll be creating generic shapes for Arcs, Circles with various radius, etc. These are generally good to have for cones, shotgun blasts, etc and also specifically used in some games.

3> We'll be creating some pre-made Spell Effect Sheets using some of the most common spells from the most common systems. For instance, perhaps a single sheet that has a correctly formatted Fireball + Lightning bolt for PFS, another sheet with the same spells sized to 5E, etc.

All of these sheets will be available as options for you in backerkit, and can be considered part of your 'sheet' count. Your backing tier determines your # of sheets, and your price per sheet, and all "sheets" of plastic are identically priced and interchangeable. Clear Map Grid, spell sheets and any other options.

Other Options?

In addition to adding Spell Effect Sheets, we're going to be creating furniture sheets, stairways, bridges, rivers, roads, and other top-down tiles that benefit from transparency effects. Just like Spell Sheets, you'll be able to cut these out and drop them right into your games. Also just like spell sheets, these can be counted like anything else as your 'sheets'. It will all be clear in Backerkit.

Additional Spell Effects - A followup with more options?

Lastly, I'd like to float an idea. I believe that there are likely to be many people who would have been interested in Spell Effects, but weren't particularly interested in the Clear Map Grids concept. Therefore, they may not have even been aware of or exposed to the Spell Effects idea in the first place. Basically, as a Stretch Goal, these Spell Effects may not have gotten the attention they deserved.

For this reason, we've been considering the idea of following this campaign with another kickstarter specifically for the generation of even more robust Spell Effect templates, with far more user input.

Upside - You'd get even more Spell Effect choices, more control over what you'd like to see produced, and we'd have more time to discuss these options. We can specifically support more games, and work on creating more pre-made spell layouts.

Downside - If you're a major fan of the Spell Effects concept, and we go forward with this idea, you may have to either A> delay your order and have your Clear Map Grids and the new Spell Effects sheets bundled together, or B> pay for shipping twice. This is certainly a concern for some of you, and we're open to any suggestions and clearly we'll ultimately do whatever you believe is best for you on a case by case basis.

Uploading your requests for Clear Map Grids
over 9 years ago – Tue, Jun 30, 2015 at 12:12:37 PM

Please take a moment and submit a google for for any Clear Map Grid you'd like. We'll be using these submissions to create sample images, and those sample images will go into a master list. When the project is over, you'll be able to choose from this master list which grids you'd like.

Here is the form : http://goo.gl/forms/6NZ85GIlFJ

The form will ask you for Grid Shape, Size, Style, Color, and "Other Information". These are simply guides to allow you to explain to us what you'd like. If your request doesn't fit into these express categories, skip them, and explain what you want in the "Other information" field.

If you believe an image would help explain your request, PLEASE open MS paint or any other image program, and draw what you're requesting. It really doesn't matter how terrible your image looks, it will probably help better than a text explanation can.

To submit an image, please use this form :

https://script.google.com/macros/s/AKfycbwSQy-YW0Qul1sKriFRDR5OS0Z0gG2ecV3ghV21Mfr3pdBrBrE/exec

Spell Effects Video - Examples and Prototypes
over 9 years ago – Mon, Jun 22, 2015 at 08:53:33 PM

 Here's some samples and prototypes of our Spell Effects. We'd love to hear any feedback on the concept. Once we're ready to start taking specific requests, we'll post another update that will allow you to submit the types of spell patterns you think need to be covered.

Stretch Goal 1 - Custom Spell Effects - $5000
over 9 years ago – Sat, Jun 06, 2015 at 10:19:46 AM

Spell Effects

We're setting our first major Stretch Goal at $5000, where we'll unlock Spell Effects printed onto this clear plastic. We'll certainly have a variety of elemental types, with semi-transparent magical patterns for generic, arcane, fire, lightning, ice, and poison spells. Since we want to support every type of game, and different games have different needs, we'll be leaving these sheets without any overlay, so you can cut these spell sheets to the shapes you find most useful in your games. (Philip is working on concept art tonight, and once we have that we'll update the KS page and announce it properly)

In addition, we'll be creating several 'pre-made' sheets for the most common spells, and making them fit as best we can on plastic with overlays that give you additional information and guidelines for where to cut. These will be great if you happen to be playing PFS or 5EAL, but otherwise may not be as useful.

We will ALSO be taking custom requests for spell effects and artwork on these sheets, so if this concept is a 'near miss' for you personally don't fret - simply tell us what additional patterns you'd like.

Custom Clear Map Grids and Spell Effects - How exactly?

Here's the plan, and we'll be working on making this a reality in the next week. We're going to be doing two things to make this process as clear as possible: 

1 - create a listing of all of our (currently) supported patterns, broken down by type. This will include all of the various grid patterns, shapes, styles and colors. Some of these are already on display in the main page, but we'll be creating many more, and they will be SPECIFIC and enumerated.

2 - we'll be creating a submission form through google docs that allows you to submit what you want to see created (be specific). If you want 1.25" hex grid with solid lines and a red shadow instead of a black shadow, submit it.

Throughout the campaign, we'll be taking these submissions, creating digital sample art, enumerating them, and adding them to the master list. Once the is in backerkit and you're making your final selections, there will be absolutely no confusion about what is and what is not available - because you'll have a master catalogue listing all of the confirmed choices.

Spell effects will work in exactly the same way. If you want something, anything, submit it as an official request and we'll work on making it, creating sample art for it, and adding it into a master list of spell effect pages. Order whatever you want.

Custom Layouts of Custom Spells

This is not any harder, it just requires more from you. If you want a custom assortment of spells (not just a unique pattern to cut apart) but say, "I want 1x Burning Hands and 1x Wall of Fire, and I want the version thats from edition 9.X with the upgrades, and with the extra space I want some 1" and 2" and 3" ice circles, etc" it's as simple as understanding the formatting (11x17 printing centered onto a 12x18 sheet) and pulling up MS Paint or some other program and lay it out. YOU make it fit. (ideal for us would be a vector file in .ai format for adobe illustrator)

Email your picture to [email protected] or scan a hand drawing of what you want. Just get it to us, and make a google submission, and reference your email (I sent you an email on X date with Y subject, where I drew the layout I'm interested in).

It's NOT hard for us to create new patterns, but it IS taxing on us to try to figure out what exactly you want, and in many cases, just for 1 sheet for 1 person. If you make this painless for us, we'll fly through it, and we'll add it to the master list for you to order. If it takes us real time and energy to chase $3, it's just not viable for us to do.