what
I'm back. For better and for worse I think I'm done with my break. Where I've been and what I've been doing doesn't matter. Sufficient to say I, like many others of you, have had plenty of stuff do deal with, escape from or to, in real life. I will continue to have that, but am determined to give a reboot a shot.
I'll do that regardless of who is here or not and if people fork or not when it comes to orc, but, i must say I am very very suprised that a) there has been activity in here b) new people c) old people d) plenty of good stuff that's been said when push comes to shove. Didn't expect that.
why
..because I never quit? And more importantly, because I never considered me not going through with the project. As it happened I just needed a break. On several occasions I tried to flag for me being a bottleneck and asking people to take the lead of the project. It didn't happen, and rest is history.
A thanks to Nico, our newest member, for reminding me that we have something that could actually be workable and become something good here, and for being a pain in the ass with tough questions and an attitude that demands responsibility. Kudos.
how
Personally, about my own role and what I want/will do and won't do, is pretty simple:
I will from now on mainly focus on two things, and two things only: a) wrapping up orc, which is almost done, and b) creating two pre-constructed decks of opposing factions that are playable.
Deadline is set to 2016, in which we should have two solid decks that can function as an example of our core and a foundation that can be built upon into a full fledged CCG from there.
As for my involvement in everything else I wouldn't recommend anyone to rely on that: I won't have the time nor lust in many cases. This means that I personally will not maintain any internet infrastructure, not make posts, updates on site, keep software up to date et.c. I will also do my best to not engage in long discussions on forum or per mail, but, I will however be available to all that book a time for a voice session using skype/discord/whatever software, and also for voice team meetings should you guys want them.
This may all sound harsh and narcissistic from my behalf, but whatever - I just know my own limits better today than when the project was fired up, and I know what I want to do: I just want to focus on rules and card developement, in this stage of the processes. Later on when we have something to actually show that is playable and that we can be proud of, I may or may not help out and take on other roles.
communicating
I'll try to be short and direct henceforth. So, if I sound rude or arrogant in forum et.c. I can assure you I am not: I just can't fluff everything and sound like care bear. As stated previously I am more than happy to have voice regarding whatever that concerns the project if somebody considers me being a dick in here.
leading
As everyone that is logical or autistic has figured out by now, I am also not really interested in being the project lead due to my time constraints and unreliable presence
I will also not be recruiting people or doing PR et.c. Only thing I'm interested in leading is the ruleset development, and the particular version dubbed ORC. That's it.
Rest may fall where it may, but I think it is and has always been in the spirit of the project that people take responsibilities and get organized and work together, if they want. Nothing new there. It's just healthy that it shouldn't all rely on one single person, especially if that's me.
I would to see you guys figure these things out. When it comes to handing over all the infrastructure, servers et.c. I'm already doing that to Nico for the moment, as he showed interest and wanted to help out. That is however just a small portion of it, and there are a lot of things I think you'd need to discuss and establish formal channels for. I don't want to be the one that directs you guys - you'll have to figure out and solve that yourselves.
art
I contacted our original artist Santiago Iborra and asked him if he was interested in continuing work. He has had a really rough patch in life lately, but is indeed interested and wrote he could resume work in a couple of weeks.
I have also put in an ad for template artists and have had one reply this far.
We will also need a new art director that knows her/his art since Qx got enough of my bullshit and split. Sadly he was also one of the hardest working persons on the project and knew his stuff, so hard to replace.
economy
I have a job and an average swedish shitty income. While that's not much and I actually asked to go down to just working 4 days a week due to studies and life, I am still very passionate about the project and have ideological and ethical motivation spearheading my support, so I can happily chip in 150 - 250 €/month if needed from my own pocket. I fathom it will be needed for art mainly, but other things may also pop up, and I'll have to consider them when they come along.
I'll support the project by paying for art while I am happy with the artistic direction and final products, regardless of leadership and rulesets in motions, since I will use stuff for orc anyhow.
coming
A project, reboot or not, only becomes what people make of it. I hope my personal intentions and goals are clear for the coming months. If people want a reboot then a reboot will happen. If you want to get organized and start doing stuff together, well... then just do it. My guess is it will be a turbulent time while restructuring, but that it's much needed and that you can kick back and continue doing some real work when the re-organizational dust has settled down.
