5/5/2025 update
about 1 year ago
– Mon, May 05, 2025 at 01:07:30 PM
Hi everyone, I hope this update finds you well.
I’ve been doing good lately. Getting a lot of work done on a number of things, which I’ll detail here.
The GM’s Guide to 2095
A while back I had talked about my Disk drives crashing, and losing almost all of my files, and my troubles with Dropbox. The GM’s Guide and all the pertinent files were among those files, so I’m essentially having to start from scratch, using the PDF as a reference.
That’s tedious, but I’ve managed to make a little headway here and there. This is why I haven’t made the book available in Print on Demand and sent you the vouchers yet. I will eventually get there, but it’s going to take some time. The upside is that I’m able to address any issues with the book and think about adding some additional content.
The Malmart Catalog
My main focus is on the Malmart Catalog. I’ve been doing layout, creating art and graphics, including logos, some of which I’ll share here. The biggest issue is that there is just SO MUCH content. When I say big, I mean 154 pages of raw text, not including all of the tables. So that’s 154 chances to get things wrong. I’m not going to go through the issues I had with all of the errors in the core books again, so I’m taking more time on this.
The layout isn’t going to look like you might think, either. I’m presenting the text and graphics in blocks inspired by the older Shadowrun and Cyberpunk gear books, so in some ways, I have to build each page individually rather than flowing text through a two-column master text frame. It requires more work, more planning, but I think it’ll be worth it. With a book this size that focuses almost exclusively on gear, a standard layout can be a pain to read (at least for me). This book isn’t just about new toys to play with, however.
Back when this kickstarter ended, we missed funding on the Corporation book, which sucked, but as the development on the Malmart Catalog progressed, I started thinking about all of the content in the book and realized it would be a perfect place to flesh them (the corporations) out. Then as that work began, I began discussing other elements with the design team: things like new Corporate Origins, a Campaign theme and ultimately a Plot Point Campaign. So we decided to add them to the book.
The result is really two books in one, and I’m very happy with that, because I never wanted to release a basic gear, or “splat” book. Those might be fine, I guess, if the subject matter was simply about gear for a genre, but the Malmart Catalog isn’t a genre book. It’s written specifically for Interface Zero. Sure, you can easily take what elements you wish and drop them into any Savage Worlds cyberpunk game, but that’s not the focus of this book. If anything, it’s a broad look at the world in 2095 viewed through the eyes of a consumer.
It's been a ton of work, but I personally believe it’s worth it.
Here’s a link to grab an example PDF of the book. Please keep in mind that, aside from the Credits, TOC, and Introduction chapter, the other graphics and formatting are fluid and subject to change.
Pages 1-16
Images:
One and Done
over 1 year ago
– Fri, Feb 07, 2025 at 12:31:20 PM
Hi everyone,
Just hopping ion to let you know we're released a new, short adventure called "One and Done", written by Joel Waalkens. This one was inspired by the NFL playoffs, so it's dropping at just the right time! I've begun sending the pdf to you all.
Thanks for your time.
Crimson and Chrome
over 1 year ago
– Thu, Jan 02, 2025 at 01:05:02 PM
Hi everyone, and Happy New Year. I hope all is well with you and your loved ones.
I'm just hopping in to let you know that we've just released Crimson and Chrome, a One-sheet for IZ. I have sent all of your complimentary copies, so you should be getting emails shortly.
In other news, we're working hard on other projects, namely the Malmart Catalog, though I don't have a definite timeframe for it yet. There are a few more items I want to add to the book, and I need to finalize the graphic design.
I'm not sure if I have shown you the cover yet, but just in case, it's attached below. That's all for now. Thanks so much for your time.
10/1/2024 Update
almost 2 years ago
– Tue, Oct 01, 2024 at 10:51:46 AM
Hello everyone, I hope this update finds you well. Apologies for the lack of a September update; I’ve been dealing with health issues and work related struggles, mainly with art, the graphic design of the Malmart catalog, etc. The month flew by, and I just forgot. Today’s update isn’t about the MM catalog, however.
I’ve been going over the shipping of the Player’s Guide, analyzing the costs, and the outlook is not good. 849 of you ordered print copies of the book(s), and to date I’ve delivered 77 of them, which leaves 772 copies of the Player’s Guide left. The cost to print and ship each book (at the cheapest price) is roughly 30 to 35 dollars depending on the method of shipping. This means that the estimated cost to print and ship the rest of the books is 23,370. Last month I made 235.00, which is my best month since April, I believe.
The point of all of this, is to let you know what to expect in the future. I’m still ordering books and shipping them when I can, but unless my financial situation changes dramatically, It’ll take a while to get all of them shipped, and that is just one book. In the next few days I’ll be talking with some printers to see what the costs for traditional printing are like now, though I suspect prices have only increased.
I need to reiterate that I am NOT giving up on this. I will get you your books, but I feel the need to tell you that this process is going to take a while.
I wish I could give you better news. I’ve utterly failed to deliver on my promises, and I am truly sorry for that. I hope that some day you'll be able to forgive me.
July 2024 Update: Various subjects
about 2 years ago
– Mon, Jul 01, 2024 at 10:03:08 AM
Hi everyone. I hope all is well with you. This will be a longish update, as I want to talk about a variety of things.
TLDR version:
I’m continuing to send books. My finances are impacting that.
I still haven’t decided about the rules in the Sci-fi Companion.
I’ve started various iterations on the graphic design of the MM catalog.
My stance on AI artwork is shifting to a certain degree.
I’ll also be releasing products that aren’t related to Interface Zero over the next year or so.
The Player’s Guide
I’m continuing to send books when I can. I know many of you are frustrated. I wish I could send them faster, but that’s not possible right now. I really hate to say it, but since a number of you have asked recently, I can’t give refunds. I just don’t have the financial ability to do that. All I can do is work my way out of the hole I’m in, and that’s what I’ve been doing.
In the interest of full transparency, attached is a screenshot of the money I’ve made in the first 6 months of this year. If the image is too hard to read, the money I've made is 2,450.00
Sci-Fi Companion
I haven’t seen the final PDF. The only version I have is V3, and I’m hoping to read through that in the next few days. When I come to a decision, I will let you know.
The Malmart Catalog
Work on the Malmart catalog is continuing. I have started another round of playtesting while I work on the graphic design, and thus far the feedback is great. As far as design goes, I am leaning towards a general website theme in the vein of Amazon.com, but that can get busy really fast.
You can learn a lot about a given society by studying their spending habits. The types of food people eat, the cars they drive, the clothes they wear, the weapons they buy (to name a few examples) give you some idea of their priorities, socio-economic status, and to some extent, their personal politics. On a global/regional level the types of things people buy can also indicate the general availability of a given product and—in the case of weapons and technology—the restrictions governments impose on the general populace. Advertising also plays a massive role when it comes to influencing what a person buys and what they don’t buy. I’ve mentioned all of these things to give you an idea of what you’re going to see in this book in terms of content and presentation.
I’ve read many rpg supplements in the last 40+ years. When it comes to equipment sourcebooks and how they can be used to immerse the reader in the style and tone of a setting, I’ve never seen a better series of supplements than Cyberpunk 2020’s “Chrome Books” as well as The Street Samurai Catalog©, The Rigger Black Book© and similar titles by FASA (I think it’s owned by Catalyst Game Labs now?). I’m not ashamed to say that I’ve been heavily inspired by these books in terms of their overall presentation.
Indeed, looking back at the time these books were published, it’s interesting to note that these books were almost prescient in terms of how the (brilliant) writers imagined a future world where people could write a review for a product online, or simply post a comment. We did this to some degree in previous Interface Zero products, but, as this is a catalog, you’ll find more commentary, but not always just random “fluff.” There’s a storyline hidden in the comments that serves as something of a prelude to future products, and even a plot-point campaign.
So that’s my goal for this book. The following example of art and page design was created in Blender, textured and rendered in Substance painter and then touched up in Photoshop. You’ll see a variety of images that are formatted like this, as I’m wanting to present the material as products people can purchase. I don’t want to bloat the page count, but I don’t want this book to read like a technical manual either.
AI generative Artwork
The last time I discussed AI generative artwork, I took a pretty heavy hand and flatly stated I wouldn’t do it. The problem with that is that in part, my decision was based on experiences I had with it years ago, not recently. I’ve been fairly ignorant about the technology and how it’s evolved since I last tried it. Not gonna lie, it was impressive…to a certain degree. Over the past couple of weeks I think I’ve generated a thousand images of various subjects and looked at what others have been doing, and I’ve learned a few things.
It often takes hundreds of iterations just to get an image that even remotely resembles the concept I have in mind. The styles can vary wildly depending on what prompts you use, and even then, using the same prompts doesn’t always generate the same image.
No image I have generated thus far can be used “right out of the box.” Not a single one. To use an image, it would need serious work in a program like Photoshop, or Affinity Photo. The size (in DPI) would need to be much, much larger, especially if I want to print it. The image would require hours and hours to touch it up, remove artifacts and generally make it “clean.” I simply don’t have time to do that.
All that said, there is one thing that makes AI generative art so damned useful. The images are GREAT for concept work. If I’m struggling to describe a piece of art I would like a human artist to make, I can simply go to the site and start generating some concept pieces that would help an artist better understand what I’m wanting.
I haven’t tried it yet, but I believe I can use concept pieces to develop my own art that I create in Blender and Substance Painter. These images aren’t done on a 1:1 ratio. But what they do is help me get basic shapes in place and model various iterations. Details aren’t important so long as I can capture the style/shapes of the image. The same process can be used in photoshop. Blocking out shapes and slowly building up details by painting them until I have something that I’m happy with.
So, the bottom line is, I won’t be using AI art in my books…at least not directly. Later this month I plan on uploading a process video which shows my workflow and how I use the “art”.
Other Products
Eventually I’m going to start working on books I’ve wanted to create for a long time. The simple fact of the matter is that I need to create more products. I need to increase my revenue stream so I can pay bills and especially get all of your rewards delivered. Publishing one or two books per year won’t cut it. Interface Zero’s production won’t stop, but I have a lot of ideas, and I get pulled in a lot of directions. Nothing I have planned is written yet; I have some basic outline, concepts and such in place. My focus is solely on Interface Zero, but I felt like I should at least let you know.
Anyhow, that’s all I got for now. Thanks for your time.
