Pico: Tiny Bugs, Big World 🐛🐝

Fully Funded In Less Than Two Days!
over 1 year ago – Thu, Nov 14, 2024 at 10:12:32 AM

Morning people, Felix here! 

First of all, thank you all so much for giving us the level of support and appreciation you have so far - launching a new project is always a nail-biting experience, but you've made it a wonderful one. To be fully funded before the 48 hour mark is absolutely incredible, and with minimum viability hit that means the road from here on is nothing but juicy, juicy stretch goals! 

WHAT COMES NEXT?

Well, I've still got some writing to do! Not as much as you might think, as the Hogwild playtest that's available for free with this campaign was polished up a couple of months ago, and a whole lot of words have hit the page since then. They all need polishing and editing, and some of them need art sticking alongside them and some layout love, but the important thing is that they're on the page. 

I also need to play more, and to hear the experiences of players. Wild Words games are easier than many to 'balance', but perfecting the flow of gameplay as laid out in the book can be tough. PICO has more guidance on a lot of topics than the Wildsea had, as a direct response to some of the feedback I've gotten over the years, but I need to make sure that guidance is a) helpful and b) accurate! And there's no better way of doing that than by playing the game as it's written, as much as possible, and hoping that everyone else does too. 

The next milestone for me is the release of the character creation playtest, which I'm hoping to have ready for the world in a week or two (well before the end of the campaign), a chance for budding piconauts to start putting together their own little bugs. Stress-testing character creation is an important job, and from the level of enthusiasm I've seen from potential bugologists I think it's one we'll get a lot of useful feedback on. 

And then there's the art! 

When we made the Wildsea there were a whole bundle of artists involved, many of whom stayed on for two whole books (and who have already contributed art for the third, too). But as you might have noticed, PICO is a different beast - there's just one artist, zkarab, working on the entire book. If you see art for PICO, it's come from zkarab's very own hands. 

And while we have art for about 70% of the book so far, that means there's still 30% to go! My goal is to be finished with the writing just as zkarab finishes up the art, allowing us both to make any tweaks necessary as the entire manuscript goes into the editing phase. Daunting? Yeah, just a bit - but we've got this. 

SPREADING THE WORD

Now that we're funded, our stretch goals will add more content to both the book and accompanying picodex. The best way you can help with that is by spreading the word - word of mouth and community action were a huge contributing factor to the success of the Wildsea, and if I'm lucky PICO will be no different in that regard. I've already seen bug-based fanart and posts on social media, so keep them coming! Tell your friends, tell your family, tell that guy down the park who looks suspiciously like a hundred thousand caterpillars in a trench coat. Got a dog, or a cat? Tell them too. Maybe they'll be a picotitan one day. 

Anyway, I should get back to work soon, so let's wrap this up with some other good stuff!

SHOUTOUTS: THE TIME WE HAVE, HERD, & CONFLUENCE

To round this first update off, let me spread a bit of the love around. One of the things that naturaly happens while running a crowdfunding campaign is that you pay even more attention than usual to other campaigns running at the same time. So here are two suggestions that might sneak a couple of dollars out of your wallets, if you're so inclined...

First up, The Time We Have

Created by one of PICO's very own (and the host of My First Dungeon) Elliot Davis, The Time We Have is (and I'll take this directly from their own description)...

"... a game about what it means to be a brother - about all the complexity, vulnerability, and joy that comes with it. This is a storytelling card game played on opposite sides of a closed door and a conversation about saying goodbye. 

This two-player zombie TTRPG will guide you through the tragic and intimate story of two brothers and the final days before one of you turns. You will take turns drawing cards, asking questions, and processing this change together.

Once the door is closed, your story begins. In the end, it is up to the surviving brother: do you open the door?"

If you look down at the stretch goals, which they're almost at the first one of already, you might even see a familiar name (hint: it's me) pegged to do a little writing for them. So if you want more Felixish things in the world, give them a look! 

Herd: The Dinosaur Survival Card Game

Herd is a semi-cooperative  card game by our friends at Wet Ink Games, publishers of Jiangshi and Never Going Home. It's about dinosaurs, features a sweet silhouette artstyle, and just looks pretty dang cool!  

"The goal of HERD is to survive until the end of the game, which is played over five turns. There are three types of cards: Herds, Predators, and Prey. 

Your Herd is your responsibility - sacrificing weaker Prey to survive attacks by Predators. Prey cards represent smaller dinosaur species in the vicinity that can distract a Predator or invoke specially evolved defenses and behaviors to protect the Herd from harm.

Whether your Herd survives to the end of the game is dependent upon your tactics, but HERD is also a semi-cooperative game - if you want to have a chance to win, all Herds have to survive!"

And rounding this section off, Confluence: The Living Archive

This is one I have nothing to do with personally, I just found it while stumbling through the crowdfunding fields and ended up backing it before I'd read half the page. It spoke to the same part of me that loves the world of the Wildsea - weird fantasy, vibrant colours, and original character options.

They probably describe their work better than I can, so I'll let them do just that...

"Confluence is a genre-blending TTRPG of fantasy, sci-fi, and horror, built to tell character and place-driven stories. In the rich setting of Ajurea, strange phenomena called Confluxes bring together people of many worlds from across time and space. From the kaleidoscopic coast, to the underwater labyrinths, to the floating forest-cities, everything here is constantly changing. Prepare to change with it.

Confluence uses an original base d6 dice pool engine, unique narrative tools, and a wide range of options for character customization and mechanical variety. Players and Story Leaders work together to weave their characters into the world of Ajurea, building relationships with the people and places they meet. Along the way, characters will encounter peculiar anomalies, strange and wonderful vistas, and a cast of colorful and unique NPCs."

So there you go, some PICO news, a look to the future, and a couple of shout-outs as we crash into the crowdfunding chasm of November! 

... And now it's time for me to write about bugs. 

Thank you again, piconauts - scuttle safe. 

Felix