|
|
Post by Pawel on Aug 1, 2023 19:18:58 GMT
Hello fellow mammals! The August Blue Planet: Recontact Kickstarter update is live! And in it... - an updated, crispier chapter layout - biotech chapter proofreading preview - Biohazard Games' publishing partner (Alan @ Gallant Knight) is attending this year's GenCon and can be found in booth 2029  |
|
|
|
Post by lupmet on Aug 2, 2023 9:54:01 GMT
I gave some layout feedback about the layout, I could not understand where the quote from "Sallow, coproprietor of the Hole" belonged to but I now understand it is for the header "Atlantis". Problem, I think, is that the header ribbon is too much of a page border like the one to the sides. I like the idea and general design but the header text need to stand out more. I did not see it when I read the PDF. It might be more visible when one read the book and have the page page in front of oneself but on a screen I quickly disregarded it as a page border (just like you skip looking at ads on a website, anything to the top or to the sides on a website are ads and can safely be ignored.
|
|
|
|
Post by Pawel on Aug 2, 2023 11:34:57 GMT
I gave some layout feedback about the layout, I could not understand where the quote from "Sallow, coproprietor of the Hole" belonged to but I now understand it is for the header "Atlantis". Problem, I think, is that the header ribbon is too much of a page border like the one to the sides. I like the idea and general design but the header text need to stand out more. I did not see it when I read the PDF. It might be more visible when one read the book and have the page page in front of oneself but on a screen I quickly disregarded it as a page border (just like you skip looking at ads on a website, anything to the top or to the sides on a website are ads and can safely be ignored. Fair enough, many thanks for uploading the feedback! The more the better. |
|
|
|
Post by neil on Aug 3, 2023 12:33:57 GMT
Another great chapter.
And again, kudos to Pawel for donating some excellent art to the project. Well done, Pawel!
By the way, what bits of writing have you done for Recontact?
|
|
|
|
Post by Pawel on Aug 3, 2023 12:57:42 GMT
Another great chapter. And again, kudos to Pawel for donating some excellent art to the project. Well done, Pawel! By the way, what bits of writing have you done for Recontact? My pleasure, kind sir. *salutes in Interspecies* Oh, by the way, I loved your Outback chapter, neil!! You gave the region's populace a very unique personality and some awesome campaign hooks too! I secretly root for all those basilisks to just enjoy themselves over there.  Not rooting for Prof Sanusi, obviously, but he looks to be a fab villain to use in that region. Mine are gonna be the three campaign archetypes: Night Shift (horror on Proteus), the Songless (native insurgency) and Spoiling the Broth (fledgling settlement management - you can find that new settlement on the new maps: Himinbjörg on Mbamu Island, Sudden Reefs  ) |
|
|
|
Post by neil on Aug 3, 2023 16:29:06 GMT
Oh, by the way, I loved your Outback chapter, neil !! You gave the region's populace a very unique personality and some awesome campaign hooks too! I secretly root for all those basilisks to just enjoy themselves over there. Not rooting for Prof Sanusi, obviously, but he looks to be a fab villain to use in that region. Thanks! I'm still not sure whether the Outies are nice people. I mean, they've got this culture of generosity and mutual aid, but it only goes so far. As for Sanusi, the original plan was to have something like The Thing to be the horror element. (Blue Planet has always had a strand of horror, so I had to include it somewhere.) But Jeff correctly pointed out that Kraken had already done something similar (and better), so I changed it to being my homage to Invasion of the Body Snatchers.Mine are gonna be the three campaign archetypes: Night Shift (horror on Proteus), the Songless (native insurgency) and Spoiling the Broth (fledgling settlement management - you can find that new settlement on the new maps: Himinbjörg on Mbamu Island, Sudden Reefs ) We've seen Night Shift in the previews (great and claustrophobic). I don't think we've seen the others yet, but I'm looking forward to them! |
|
|
|
Post by neil on Aug 3, 2023 16:48:39 GMT
A couple of questions about the Wetware chapter, and how technology has moved on.
Cybereyes. Do we think that "Capture" should be an additional mod that costs 1000cs? Is it not standard? Similarly telescopic vision is something that my phone camera does. I could imagine paying extra for a decent microscope feature, or 20 times zoom with image stabilisation, but 5 times zoom seems a bit standard.
Neural jacks. I can see the point of having a specific connection for high-bandwidth communication, but should they be something that breaks the skin? I think that something that uses near-field radio (or even light) through the skin would work just as well, and eliminate the risks of infection. I'm thinking of the external part of a cochlear implant, that attaches to the head by implanted magnets and communicates through the skin.
(It's a shame that the salt tolerance biomod didn't make the cut, but something had to go.)
Any thoughts?
|
|
|
|
Post by Pawel on Aug 3, 2023 17:00:46 GMT
A couple of questions about the Wetware chapter, and how technology has moved on. Cybereyes. Do we think that "Capture" should be an additional mod that costs 1000cs? Is it not standard? Similarly telescopic vision is something that my phone camera does. I could imagine paying extra for a decent microscope feature, or 20 times zoom with image stabilisation, but 5 times zoom seems a bit standard. Neural jacks. I can see the point of having a specific connection for high-bandwidth communication, but should they be something that breaks the skin? I think that something that uses near-field radio (or even light) through the skin would work just as well, and eliminate the risks of infection. I'm thinking of the external part of a cochlear implant, that attaches to the head by implanted magnets and communicates through the skin. (It's a shame that the salt tolerance biomod didn't make the cut, but something had to go.) Any thoughts? Valid points, Neil! By all means put them in the feedback form for Jeff to consider. That form isn't just for proofreading, but layout and other feedback too. Salt tolerance got an "honourable mention" in the Photoskin and Anti-Poison biomod descriptions, so it's not out of canon, just didn't manage to score space in the corebook. |
|
|
|
Post by neil on Aug 4, 2023 8:52:57 GMT
Thanks. I thought I'd get a consensus from the good people here before, though. I could well be wrong with my impression.
As for the salt tolerance biomod mentions, they do seem to be references to a listing that doesn't exist. Perhaps "salt tolerace" could be listed as a subtype of the anti-poison biomod, as space is limited?
|
|
|
|
Post by Pawel on Aug 4, 2023 9:11:58 GMT
Thanks. I thought I'd get a consensus from the good people here before, though. I could well be wrong with my impression. As for the salt tolerance biomod mentions, they do seem to be references to a listing that doesn't exist. Perhaps "salt tolerace" could be listed as a subtype of the anti-poison biomod, as space is limited? Apologies, I tend to be a head-nodding happy consumer, when it comes to futuristic high tech design. I do feel that wired vs wireless neural connection differences are important (stability and safety vs comfort), but how exactly is the neural port/socket made - well, there's probably room in the setting for a number of different designs, yours included somewhere in the cutting edge end of the spectrum. As for the capture function of cybereyes - would basic option even require any data storage capability? It's just a live camera feeding data to the cortex via NIC, no? I fully agree, the ability to save images or videos would be very popular, but maybe this simply boils down to the way options are presented in the book. Here's your basic, vanilla platform and here's what you can do with it. Just an author's choice, I guess? |
|
|
|
Post by neil on Aug 9, 2023 13:17:20 GMT
I'm a little conflicted about this chapter. It seems like there are too many words for a lot of the entries. How to balance the number of entries in the chapter with the implicit worldbuilding and verisimilitude of the extended narrative of the items? Personally, I think that the text should be trimmed down a little, to make room for a few more entries.
What do others think?
And I suppose that my idea requires putting my money where my mouth is and doing an edit of the text...
|
|
|
|
Post by Pawel on Aug 9, 2023 13:49:46 GMT
I'm a little conflicted about this chapter. It seems like there are too many words for a lot of the entries. How to balance the number of entries in the chapter with the implicit worldbuilding and verisimilitude of the extended narrative of the items? Personally, I think that the text should be trimmed down a little, to make room for a few more entries. What do others think? And I suppose that my idea requires putting my money where my mouth is and doing an edit of the text... As much as I like my RPGs to be as descriptive as possible, I think you might be right, Neil. If we trimmed a couple sentences here and there, we would definitely be able to fit in another biomod or two. It's gonna be a massive book (two books, actually), but yeah, some of these descriptions wouldn't lose any coherence by being a sentence or two shorter. Not sure if the creative process isn't too far advanced to allow for such edits, but I think you should defo put in a comment like this in the feedback form (maybe suggest which item or items you think could shed some weight?). |
|
|
|
Post by neil on Aug 10, 2023 7:35:24 GMT
I have suggested that. The biggest culprit, I think, is the anti-recognition suite. Does this rather niche piece of gear really need a full page? Or could it be "There are various cosmetic cyberwear implants that can change a person's appearance, whether to reflect mood, outfit, setting, or something else. Each gives a small bonus for getting lost in a crowd, if that's what you want. Upgraded versions at 5-10 times the price are used by actors, or spies for disguises or to impersonate specific people."
|
|
|
|
Post by Pawel on Aug 10, 2023 7:37:35 GMT
I have suggested that. The biggest culprit, I think, is the anti-recognition suite. Does this rather niche piece of gear really need a full page? Or could it be "There are various cosmetic cyberwear implants that can change a person's appearance, whether to reflect mood, outfit, setting, or something else. Each gives a small bonus for getting lost in a crowd, if that's what you want. Upgraded versions at 5-10 times the price are used by actors, or spies for disguises or to impersonate specific people." Nice one! Yep, it would make sense to shrink that entry considerably. Many thanks for thinking outside the box, Neil! |
|
|
|
Post by lupmet on Aug 10, 2023 15:53:12 GMT
I think it was stated somewhere, but I cannot find it now; for how long can we give feedback on the texts?
|
|
Not rooting for Prof Sanusi, obviously, but he looks to be a fab villain to use in that region.
)