Hi folks,
Thanks for your patience as I skipped last month's jam.
The headline news is I have made a change to the way these operate: selected contributors will no longer receive a printed set of cards. This means there will not be any reward or payment if your card is selected.
This raises two questions. Firstly, why would I do this?
Basically because nobody bought the booster packs. In the months since the first booster pack was released, we had precisely zero sales on The Gamecrafter. This is something I can handle for a brief window, but long-term is obviously unsustainable. I can't continue spending more-than-zero money on a thing that returns zero money.
Secondly, why would I think this is okay?
It might not be. You might need some sort of tangible reward to feel okay with somebody else (theoretically) printing one of your cards. I completely understand if that is the case. However, if it makes any difference, I have changed the pricing on the booster packs, and they now make $0 for Long Tail Games. The packs are now available for sale at cost-price, meaning the purchase only covers the cost of printing and selling from The Gamecrafter.
So the contributor doesn't get anything for the card, but neither does Long Tail Games.
The product has also been changed from random boosters to fixed-cards, so people can collect the entire set more easily. With these changes, I hope the product is more attractive to folks, and we can gradually build an audience for them.
Other than the above... nothing has changed. It's still a little monthly challenge that I hope you find fun and creatively fruitful.
- Ash (Long Tail Games)
PS - If you are still waiting for your cards to arrive (from previous jams) please continue be patient! They will all arrive, I'm just slowly ordering a couple each week.