#ALSO GO SUPPORT THE BACKER KIT!!!

[gay-trashcan-cat]

uh oh

he would for sure know the proper temperature for tea.

(ALSO GO SUPPORT THE LACKADAISY BACKERKIT GUYS!!!)

[theliterarywolf]

So as a fan of indie animation, I've been so happy to watch the Lackadaisy backer kit raise a little over 2 MILLION DOLLARS to fund more work. That's awesome and I really enjoyed the pilot (and the comic) so I think they'll do good work

HOWEVER I noticed some weird drama getting stirred up on Twitter that seems to have gotten a bit tangled and frankly is really disappointing

So one of the Lackadaisy crew members I guess had been under a microscope for liking TERF-y rhetoric on Twitter and that was a whole thing. One of the leaders of the project is trans and they said they really think it was a misunderstanding/whatever. Of course people are still upset about it but I'm not sure how much the original person addressed it. I think that crew member was just retweeting a bunch of people that were defending her as not transphobic, not sure if she said anything particular in her defense

BUT THEN that same crew member also was weirdly catty towards Vivzie because when she tweeted about the Spindlehorse crew pooling towards a 5k backer tier for Lackadaisy, I guess Viv didn't include a direct link (although it was very clear what project it was).

Also I don't know how real these discord screenshots are but apparently that same Lackadaisy crew member was convinced Viv was only supporting the project to "get her claws in the credits."

AND THEN for whatever reason the Lackadaisy project rejected Viv/Spindlehorse's funding which Viv seemed confused about. One of the leaders of the Lackadaisy project gave this vague reason that Spindlehorse has done enough for indie animation but it's all really weird and feels rather unprofessional

I would hope they're not so blind to their friendship with their troublesome crew member that they'll stir up this weird unnecessary drama with Spindlehorse. Some Spindlehorse crew members said they felt really hurt by this behavior. It's not like Lackadaisy and Spindlehorse are fighting over a single spot on a network or something. . . they aren't rivals?? Idk

Like it's just so weird to me that yes, jesus, Viv is not perfect but so many people just seem to have it OUT for her I'm just genuinely confused

I'm going to go ahead and tag @topazdragoon since they were sending some asks about this as well but I was waiting to see if the situation would iron itself out.

The situation did not iron itself out.

But I'm just going to summarize my thoughts and observations on this whole situation with the following sentiment:

People who have the socioeconomic maturity of 13 year-olds should not be allowed to work in professional settings.

Because there should never have been this immature 'rivalry' between Hellaverse and Lackadaisy. The people working on the latter should have realize that 'hey, IanJQ was put under a microscope and nearly got cancelled for having a loli pic in his Twitter likes and he was a mainstream showrunner. How the fuck do you think people aren't going to look at your shite?'

When you apply for a job, especially in the creative sector, your sole responsibility from that point onward is presenting the project you're on in the best, SHINIEST fucking light like your breath depends on it.

'Starting incessant beef with creators I don't like' should be nowhere near that job-description.

And the fact that the latter team has had nothing but documented instances of someone on staff trying to start drama, someone on staff trying to start drama, someone on staff trying to start drama just shows that, despite dropping a technically sound pilot, I don't trust you guys with shit!

And the biggest signifier of this was the botching of Spindlehorse's donation to the Lackadaisy Kickstarter. 'Oh, I spoke to Viv about why we returned the donation in private', 'Oh, the BackerKit had a bad glitch', 'Oh, Viv only donated so she could have producer credit in another show!', 'Oh, we don't want the negative press from Hellaverse lingering around our show'.

Stop. Acting. Like. The Independent Animation Sector. Is Your Chance. To Relive. Your Middle School Drama Days.

If the situation was handled amicably in private, Viv wouldn't have posted the update about the donation being returned (even if the post she made was amicable). If the BackerKit had a bad glitch, you needed to fix it and remedy any understandings before it all burst into the spotlight. The donation was under Spindlehorse. Not just Viv, but multiple people from that team wanted to support another Indie project.

And, well, congratulations! Now you don't just have negative sentiments from the Hellaverse side of things, now you have to deal with the fact that, despite the Kickstarter being successful, when some people think of your bootlegger cat show, all they're going to think about are TERF-y middle schoolers.

[rpgsandbox]

                                         *desperately* click! click!

Thirsty Sword Lesbians battle the Lady of Chains when her enforcers march down from the frosty north. They rocket through the stars to safeguard diplomats ending a generations-old conflict. They sip tea together and share shy glances at the corner cafe with their old classmates and comrades. Even when swords are crossed, they have the potential to connect more deeply than anyone expects.

A sword duel can end in kissing, a witch can gain her power by helping others find love, and an entire campaign can be built around vagabond matchmakers piloting their sentient gay spaceship from system to system.

If you love angsty disaster lesbians with swords, you have come to the right place.

Thirsty Sword Lesbians by April Kit Walsh is a roleplaying game that celebrates the love, power, and existence of queer people—specifically queer people with swords and a lot of feelings. Flirting, sword-fighting, and barbed zingers all mix together in a system designed for both narrative drama and player safety. This innovative take on the Powered by the Apocalypse engine is a breeze to learn and ensures that no matter how the dice fall, something interesting happens to move the story forward.

In this game, you will solve problems with wit, empathy, and style, fight when something is worth fighting for, and redeem (or seduce) at least a few of your adversaries. You’re part of a community that embodies important ideals and you’ll strive to protect it and make your world better.

Play as one of nine character types: Beast, Chosen, Devoted, Infamous, Nature Witch, Scoundrel, Seeker, Spooky Witch, and Trickster. Each explores a particular emotional conflict that drives the drama and shapes your character’s story. Are you a Beast, faced with the dilemma of expressing your inner truth versus fitting in to a society that demands you conform? A Devoted, who sacrifices for others while struggling to care for yourself? A Trickster, who craves closeness but fears vulnerability? In long-term play, you may even resolve your initial arc and advance into a different playbook as you continue to change and grow, facing new challenges.

                  Backers get immediate access to the playbooks too. 

                                          They're form fillable!

Thirsty Sword Lesbians provides clear, robust guidance and support for running the game, including how to make appealing adversaries, set the tone, structure play, and create a safe environment at the table. Handy reference sheets help you narrate appropriate twists and drama on the fly, depending on the feelings and character types you have in play.

Want to jump into a one-shot? The game includes six adventures that can stand alone or kick off a longer series: Sword Lesbians of the Three Houses, Best Day of Their Lives, Constellation Festival, Gal Paladins, and Monster Queers of Castle Gayskull. For even more inspiration, it features The Starcross Galaxy campaign setting along with five more settings from these contributing authors:

Lesbeans Coffehouse by Dominique Dickey

Neon City 2099 by Jamila Nedjadi

The Three Orders of Ardor by Whitney Delaglio

Les Violettes Dangereuses by Jonaya Kemper

Yuisa Revolution by Alexis Sara

We also provide ample guidance on how to create your own tales of fighting with swords and falling in love, along with a world building worksheet, variant rules, and a set of starting scenario seeds to play with. Because the game focuses on feelings and relationships, it’s a lens you can use to play in a variety of genres. If you like slashfic of characters with swords, you’ll love this game.

Thirsty Sword Lesbians is explicitly designed to tell melodramatic and queer stories; tales fraught with relationship triangles, mystery, intrigue, relationship anarchy, celebration, and revolution. It includes rules to highlight different identities, emotional connections, and setting elements.

This game is not for fascists, TERFs, or other bigots. The team behind Thirsty Sword Lesbians supports racial liberation, intersectional feminism, and queer liberation. We love and respect transgender people, nonbinary people, intersex people, and women. This game is a joyous celebration of lives and identities otherwise marginalized. If you don’t agree, fix your heart before sharing a table with other people.

What if... not Thirsty? The game fundamentally assumes that the characters crave connection, but that connection doesn’t need to be sexual or romantic. We offer you options for changing how the game addresses connection in our variant rules section.

What if... not Swords? It’s simple enough to swap out a different hand-to-hand combat option. Your campaign or your character can use a labrys, the double-bladed axe that became a lesbian icon in the late 20th century. You can use different styles of unarmed combat or even grapple using telepathic self-projections. It’s also possible to replace the swords with mecha, starships, or guns, but it requires some thought and the book will help you think about how to ensure that it stays intimate and relationship-focused. The conflict doesn’t have to be physically violent, either; you can use any kind of conflict that’s adrenaline-inducing and close-quarters.

What if... not Lesbians? We’ll let you in on a secret: you don’t have to play a lesbian. The game plays with themes that are common for all sorts of people who are marginalized on the basis of gender and sexuality, as well as feelings that go beyond the queer experience. If you want to play thirsty sword cishets, we’re not going to stop you—just don’t be surprised if the game turns them queer.

What if... I’m not good at flirting or zingers? You don’t have to be witty or good at flirting in real life to play a character with those skills, and not every character in Thirsty Sword Lesbians is good with words. Shy and awkward sword lesbians find love, too. You’ll find them well-represented in this game.

Ready? Let’s Go!

===============================================

Kickstarter campaign ends: Thu, November 12 2020 9:00 PM UTC +00:00

Website: [Evil Hat Productions] [facebook] [twitter]

[milesyart]

Hello! If you’re seeing this, then it means you’re probably following me from when this account was MadXStitcher. Tumblr kind of shat the bed right around the time I closed my store, so I sort of left this account to languish.

Well, I have some good news! The store is coming back! It’s already sort of been there in some kind of weird capacity, but now with the Kickstarter campaign coming to an end, it’s going to be re-launched with a massive line of LGBT craft kits!

Haven’t heard about the kickstarter? There are still two days left to go for you to pledge your support and get some kits. If you’ve really got a craving for a whole bunch of stuff to do, or you’re looking for some stuff to flip on your own store. there’s a tier to get one of everything.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/milesy/lgbt-pride-cross-stitch-kits?ref=bscvfz

We’ve also got some pre-orders up, which will remain a thing until backer rewards begin to go out. Once that happens, pre-orders will close, and we’ll begin transitioning to listing everything on the store.

https://cross-stitch-kits.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

The Patreon page is also being revamped. All patterns from my store AND the kickstarter are being uploaded over there very slowly. I’m trying not to spam, but with what will very quick become over 1000 patterns, it’s gonna be a little hectic for a while.

https://www.patreon.com/Milesy

I’ll be back tomorrow when I’m not on the shitty iPad app that keeps breaking this post, and will be announcing new downloads regularly.

I wonder how many people are still on this blue hellsite lol

[vividracing]

New Post has been published on https://www.vividracing.com/blog/customer-spotlight-toyota-gt86-featuring-rallybacker-widebody-kit/

Customer Spotlight: Toyota GT86 Featuring Rallybacker Widebody Kit

Modifying a car to some owners is more than throwing a bunch of aftermarket parts on a vehicle. To many in the car community, it has become an art form. The Toyota GT86 chassis is the perfect vehicle to modify and personalize. Upon its release, the GT86 flooded the market as it was an instant hit. Being in production since 2012, this new platform has opened up plenty of aftermarket support throughout the years.

Coming up on ten years of production, the GT86 chassis has a plethora of aftermarket options now. Anywhere from supercharger/turbocharger kits, aero kits, suspension, and many others this chassis has become versatile within the motorsports and automotive community. Chances are if you go to a drift event, car show, or autocross event you will see one of these vehicles.

Click Here To View Rally Backer Catalog

Although some owners keep their GT86 stock, our customer @86celsius is the perfect example of someone who modified the vehicle to their own personal liking. Featuring a Rally Backer widebody kit this GT86 exerts a gorgeous aura with the wide fenders and dialed track stance fitment. While most owners dump the car on the ground, our customer closed up the hideous factory wheel gap but kept the vehicle at a respectable and functional ride height.

The Rally Backer flares provide an aggressive stance as it significantly increases the width of the vehicle. Not only does this body kit compliment the factory body lines, but it also allows for a wider wheel and tire combination to be utilized. Constructed of fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) the flares are easy to mold to the body or bolt-on for the rugged widebody look.

Learn More and Purchase Your Rally Backer Widebody Kit Here!

[askdawnandvern]

The End of a Road; And Looking Ahead.

And so, the story finally comes to a close. Took me long enough eh? Over two years of work in between commissions and a blog but it's finally done. Phew...what a ride.

Before I get to reminiscing and talking about future plans, I'd like to thank the many folks who helped me along the way in terms of getting this done.

My Backers (I can't say the site name)

ACYLOTES

Warwolf416 AManCalledDominik Bjerken FluffyWolf117 Hyenafur

DEVOTEE

Luposong Karakuri Kei Fox

FOLLOWER

MajorMattMason

And I'd like to give a special thank you to my following backers who are also both Acoylotes for helping with editing and suggestions. They went above and beyond and I am grateful.

Unformed Sypher597

Finally, I'd like to thank you readers for your enthusiasm, support and critique. You guys really helped keep me going, and caught a few things nobody else noticed and brought them to my attention so I could adjust for it as best as I could. Thank you so much. Without you guys, and my backers, I don't know if I could have finished this fic.

So, what now I guess? Well...after Rehab finished up I proposed an outline of the stories I had left to tell in Zoot, or rather BellHunter stories, and i still plan to largely go by that outline. That means that after a few months off, writing little shorts and doing a recut of 'The Rehabilitation of Dawn Bellwether' in an ebook format for everyone to enjoy, (Free of course) I plan to do the long awaited story about the ever enigmatic Valerie Vulpes. I also have a 'How Finnick ended up with Gazelle' story, and finally the third and final installment of Dawn and Vern's story.

Granted the writing time on these will probably put me well beyond the Zoot sequel range, but it largely won't change anything for me. My AU is established, and I'm going to be working from that unless Z2 can fit neatly in between the timeline without affecting major story events. That said, It may seem silly, but i am going to be lobbing a tweet or two Rich Moore's way about the possibility of Dawn getting some sort of mini-redemption in Z2 if they intend to bring her back under a #SaveBellwether tag. It might be worth it to show him just how many fans of Dawn are out there and want to see her make a turn around, or at the very least make sure she doesn't come back as an uninspired revenge villain plot. I'd really hate to see that, so I figured it's worth promoting.

As for short stories, I'll always have something to throw in the BellHunter AU, and will most likely start posting under a compendium of drabbles under the same name on here and other sites. That may include stories like Dawn and Vernon's double date with Nick and Judy, and will definitely include Dawn meeting Lionheart again, and other individual Hunters stories. So you can look forward to that.

It's worth mentioning that I still run the 'AskDawnandVern' blog, and am in the process of creating a backup on So-furry. That said, if you want to keep abreast of story updates, and other stuff, you can follow the blog. You may also want to consider becoming a P*t*oen. Every little bit helps, and you get to look at art and raw story cuts ahead of time, as well as become part of an exclusive chat room.

Last thing I want to mention, there are two stories out there I've granted permission to use my Dawn and Vernon, both are fairly cool and I'd recommend checking them out.

The first is titled 'Heroes of Zootopia' by Dragonman1997, a cool Zootopia meets avengers sort of hero story, where Vernon plays the roll of a hero called 'the moth' while Dawn is essentially a night howler infected version of the hulk called 'Knockout'. It has a colorful cast of interesting characters, and a curious and intriguing plot involving some sort of time shenanigans. I won't say anymore than that, as not to spoil it.

The second is titled 'Found' by Elite Shade, which is a more grounded story about Dawn and Vernon adopting. The catch is while adopting a lamb and wolf, there's a third child of mysterious origins the other two refuse to leave without. And so Dawn and Vern adopt all three. There is of course an intrigue plot about Lily's origin, and members of the Hunter family trying to get to the root of it all. Elite has really been nailing the characterizations, and writes well. And if your a person, like me, who isn't generally a fan of 'humans in Zoot' stories, it's done very well, so I advise you to give it a chance. That said, I still intend to do my own adopted kits story unrelated to this, so consider it an AU of an AU.

And well, I suppose that wraps everything up...Thanks for everything guys. I hope you enjoyed the ride as much as I have, and I hope that you'll keep an eye out for my future works.

-WT

[rolonoise]

FRAG: Episode 2 Feature List

I’ve made good progress on FRAG (90s FPS tabletop game) this weekend, with all the core factions complete and all but two of the expansion factions locked down.

I recently posted a feature list to my Patreon backers and I’m going to post it here too if anyone is curious at what I’ve been up to (it’s a long list).

FRAG: The New Technology current features:

1. Core Vehicle rules

2. Expanded Army Lists - All armies have a Vehicle Armoury containing between 4-12 weapons.

2.1 Expanded List (Legion of the Lost)

New Equipment: - Hand Weapon - Great Weapon - Heavy Pistol - Nailgun - Super Nailgun - Maser - AT Rocket Launcher - Disposable AT Launcher - Unmaker - Repair Kit - Slug Ammo - AT Rockets - Boombox - Nitro Booster - Spikey Bits

New Elites: - Argent Knights - Apparitions

New Individuals: - Marine Biker Hero

Vehicles: - Marine Bikers - Dragula Roadster - Mekatron - Scythe Armoured Car - Valiant APC - Sunder Main Battle Tank - Sunlust Gunship - Vendetta Dropship

2.2 Expanded List (Hell):

New Equipment: - Sacrificial Victims - Parasitic Flesh - Haunted Chassis

New Troopers: - Gargoyles

New Elites: - Demon Soldiers - Phantasms - Pale Riders

New Individuals: - Greater Phantasm - Vorack

Vehicles: - Possessed Human Vehicles (armoured cars, APCs, MBTs, gunships, transports)

2.3 Expanded List (New Order):

New Equipment: - Sword - Great Weapon - AT Rifle - Drunk Missile Launcher - Heat Seeker - Flame Wall Launcher - Anti-Ballistic Shield - Jetpack - Improved Front Armour - Improved Cannon - Veteran Crew

New Troopers: - Zombies - Shades

New Elites: - Migliorato Soldati - Caballero Oscuro - Jet Troopers - Fixed Weapon Team

Vehicles: - Motorcycle Squadron - Maschien Hund - Truck - Halftrack - Super Halftrack - Armoured Car - Medium Tank - Heavy Tank - Superheavy Tank - Panzer Suit - Panzer Mech - Light Spider Mech - Heavy Spider Mech

2.4 Expanded List (EDF):

New Equipment: - Heavy Pistol - AT Mines - Disposable AT Launcher - AT Launcher - Anti-Ballistic Shield - Sentry Gun - Katana - Kukri - Sidhe Claymore - Mummy Staff - Vodka - Anti-Missile Laser System - National Traits (USA, UK, Germany, Japan, Egypt)

New Troopers: - USMC Grunt - German Roboter-Soldat - Russian Stalkers

New Elites: - USMC Hazard Marine - US Black Ops - British Gurkhas - British Highlanders - Russian Muscovites - Egyptian Mummies

New Individuals: - Earth Council Agent - USMC Officer - USMC Engineer - USMC Medic - British Gurkha Officer / Medic / Engineer - British Highlander Hero - Japanese Shrine Maiden - Russian Master Stalker

Vehicles: - Previously mentioned human vehicles (Trucks, Mekatron, Scythe Armoured Car, Valiant APC, Sunder Main Battle Tank, Sunlust Gunship, Vendetta Dropship) - Mammoth Tank

2.5 Expanded List (SHAMAN):

New equipment: - Anti-Ballistic Shield - AT Launcher - Repair Kit - Support Drone

New Elites: - Hybrid Howitzer Team with Distortion Howitzer - Mutant Shock Troopers - Hybrid Icarids

New Individuals: - Hybrid Scorpion - Tech-Drone

Vehicles: - Hybrid Juggernaut - MFV-1000 Mounted Flying Vehicle Squad - LSV-50 Logistical Support Vehicle - TD-209 Termination Drone - GRV-2000 Ground Reconnaissance Vehicle - HAV-4000 Heavy Assault Vehicle - HKD-47 Hunter Killer Drone - FTV-3000 Flying Transport Vehicle

3. New Factions: - The Church of the Old Blood (cultists) - The Martian Authority (high-tech humans) - The Ebihara Group (Japanese Megacorp) - The Sidhe (fantasy adventurers, list under review)

3.1 New Factions (still under construction): - The Menae (bio-horrors)

4. Personalities

4.1 Legion of the Lost: - The Hellwalker - Kumiho - The Drifter - Mike Sierra X-Ray - Logan - The Captain - Doctor Freemont - Trent - Billy - Cortez & his companions - Gina Carter - Robert 'Ace' Stone - The Intruder (can be chosen for any human army) - Caine (can also be chosen for the Hell army)

4.2 EDF: - Ou Ryu - The King - Oleg Sharanevitch - Dave Williams - Doctor Petersen - John Grimm - Stan Strong - Agent Barrett - Lt. Max Colt - Donnie

4.3 Sidhe: - The Knight of Cinder - Avatar of Kuhulin - Quake

4.4 Church of the Old Blood: - Jacob D'armes - The Dark Herald

4.5 Hell: - Aglaeca (can be chosen for the Legion of the Lost if the Drifter is present) - Sarge - Maledict - Shalrath - Mary - Golgotha & Gethsemane

4.6 New Order: - Ilsa von Jaeger & Greta - Adolf Hitler - Verdura Cena

4.7 SHAMAN: - Roland Seven - Eduard Dio - Professor Crow

Further personalities planned for all of the above factions. The Personalities for the Martian, Ebihara, Menae factions are still under review.

[level99games]

Stages of a Game's Lifecycle

It may be surprising to learn that every publisher has their own way of tackling the complete process game publishing. It seems like the work of a designer is fairly diverse, while publishers follow a fixed map of steps. But that’s not the case at all! The process a publisher takes to bring a game to press can have just as much art and personality to it as the process of designing the game in the first place.

There is a lot of room to carve your own path and processes in the world of publishing, and the path to creating a final, finished product is quite diverse. Here’s what ours looks like!

Our Organization

Level 99 Games is divided currently into four departments. I’m hoping to add about 3 more as we grow, but for now we have these:

Creative: In charge of managing art, graphic design, packaging, and branding for products.

Development: In charge of balancing and maintaining rules, ensuring the teachability of the game, and playtesting.

Marketing: In charge of selling and supporting the final game, as well as the maintenance of organized play and customer support.

Administration: In charge of all the details that fall through the cracks of the other departments. Budgeting, design approval, logistics, payroll, fulfillment coordination, and more.

These four departments aren’t all-inclusive. There are many duties that require us to step out of our normal line of specialization and do things differently. For most day to day work, however, these roles give us a good handle on what we ought to be doing to help the whole team move forward.

Every great game starts with planning! This Pre-Design step is generally informal, and involves creating proposals for the game to share with the rest of our team. In our planning phases, we also do a bit of focus discussion with key fans from our playtesting groups, to make sure that the game is something they’re interested in playing. Only once we have a solid concept do we move onward to Design.

Most of our designing is done in-house. All members of Level 99 Games are encouraged to spend 1-3 hours of the normal workday doing the creative work of planning and design. In our home office, we get together once a week to playtest last week’s designs, then we get together again a day later to review those designs and refine them further for next week. 

Everyone gets involved with Design at Level 99 Games. While we don’t all do the game design portions, we’re making decisions on marketing strategy, game style, art style, and features of the final product during this portion of a game’s life.

Once we have a solid design, we try to plan out all of the art that we’re going to need for a project, then get artists contracted to work on the project right away. This requires a lot of foresight and a strong plan for the final game. For this reason, we put extra work into the Planning and Design phases, so that we have the right vision and don’t waste money on art we won’t use. Art Creation is almost always the longest phase in our game designs, especially with new product lines.

While this phase is called “Art Creation”, we also lump all graphic designs, box layouts, and non-mechanical design work into this phase, which is overseen by our Creative Department.

Development happens in parallel with Art Creation, and involves the playtesting and balance of the game. In Design, we don’t always know exactly which cards and which numbers will go into the game. The more important thing is to understand how many cards we will need and what kind of balance we are trying to achieve. Development in this context is content creation for the game’s mechanical parts.

Our Development Department oversees playtesting and content creation for the game’s intellectual and gameplay portions.

Not all of our games go to Kickstarter, but if one is going to go to Kickstarter, this is the place where we start thinking about that and planning the project. We usually like to run a Kickstarter Project at about the 2/3 point for Art Creation and Development, so our backers have time to see the game improving and being formed after they pledge for it.

Even if we don’t have a Kickstarter Project running, we’ll usually begin taking pre-orders, and putting our marketing plans into place. This includes ordering ads from the Creative Department, and getting feature lists from Development in order to create copy.

Kickstarter Projects and other marketing efforts are handled mostly by our Marketing Department, though they generally require a lot of work from the whole staff.

Once Art Creation and Development are done, we have the Pre-Press package ready to go to press. Once we consider offering the game in international editions (which are printed all at once), we do final proof-reading (handled by Development), then send the game off to press. 

Our press kits involve detailed instructions of how to craft and assemble the final game. These are generally put together by our Creative Department, who are in charge of the visual presentation of the game. 

Our Marketing Department also gets involved here, requesting advertisements, retail-level packaging, demo copies, and posters to be put into boxes. Of course, we also have to manage cartoning and import.

At this point, we often solicit international editions of games with foreign publishers. We used to have this step occur during Development, but we’ve found that it’s best to have everything completed in terms of content first, then consider translated editions, so that we don’t keep our international partners waiting on our Creative and Development Teams.

The Production step is generally handled by the factory, but there’s still a lot for us to do. We approve digital proofs. The factory also sends us a white proof, which is a non-printed copy of the components, just to check material quality, construction, and component size. If needed, we approve physical art proofs as well (for color matching and component sizes). These art proofs are just printed copies of the digital proofs.

These proofs are approved by both the Creative Team, and then final production begins. Typically, this takes about 30-45 days per game we are producing, though many games can be produced in parallel with the pipeline the factory establishes.

Freight shipping is the process of getting our games from the factory to fulfillment centers around the world. We usually partner with about 5 centers in America, UK, Asia, Australia, and Canada. With Brexit looming, we’re looking into continental European fulfillment for future projects as well.

If we have translation partners, they also receive their own freight shipments. 

The process of dividing up all the shipments can be complex, since we’re often fulfilling pledges with multiple parts. We pre-build as much of the pledge as we can in the factory, and have the products cartoned together so they can ship in the box, which saves a significant amount of time and labor for the fulfillment centers.

Packaging, palletizing, and freighting everything takes us about 2-4 weeks, and then the games arrive at customs in their respective countries. Our freight forwarding service handles the imports and taxes, and we’re ready to ship! Since we pay taxes on our imported freight, backers don’t have to pay these taxes when their games arrive.

Fulfillment is generally pretty easy to work with, once we have all the partners worked out. We try to get them all of our information several weeks in advance, so that when games arrive they can be shipped immediately.

We ship extra parts to each fulfillment center, so that they can follow up and send replacements as necessary. Sending these replacement copies directly from our headquarters in New Mexico would be costly, and would require customers to pay import taxes.

It’s not all on the fulfillment centers, of course. We have staff working in customer service to address any problems, as well as to issue any refunds or handle any returns or exchanges necessary. A no-questions-asked refund policy is also part of our company standard. Thanks to the great quality control we do in production, however, we rarely need to issue refunds or exchanges.

A little bit before a game has been fulfilled to all pre-orders and translation partners, we begin our active marketing campaigns for a product. This includes online advertising, shipping games to reviewers and influencers, and attending conventions with our booth kit.

Active Marketing usually persists for about 2-4 months. After that time, we’ll know if we have a perennial hit (selling several hundreds of copies per month) or a one-time release (tapering off after 3 months). At this point, we continue supporting the game as appropriate for its long term status. We continue to send games to reviewers even during this phase.

Organized Play

Organized Play is an important part of support for our competitive and living games. We allow players to register, host events, and record scores in order to get points. These points come with special rewards at the end of a 6-month season.

Even after a game is out of stock, we hold on to replacement parts and a few reserve copies for about 6 more months, just in case we need to handle any service requests. During this time, the game is usually no longer listed in our store. Its rulebooks and media materials remain on our website, however.

Eventually, it doesn’t make sense to hold onto even the replacement parts for a game. At this point, we officially retire the game and pull its media from our website. Retired games are generally liquidated or otherwise disposed of and no longer available at distribution or online.

There are only a few games that have been retired in the history of Level 99 Games. Many of these have come back years later in remastered editions, or in their own stand-alone boxes. If there’s a game you love from way back in the past, let us know!

In Conclusion

This is just a quick overview of our process, and this acts as a template for the things we do. The steps don’t always happen in the same order every time, and you have to be flexible in order to adapt to the needs of your project and of the market. 

But you have to start somewhere, and this is where we start, and how we’re planning when we come up with the next big thing!

[euroman1945-blog]

The Daily Thistle

The Daily Thistle – News From Scotland

Saturday 29th September 2018

"Madainn Mhath” …Fellow Scot, I hope the day brings joy to you…. The heavens are full of twinkling lights this morning.. Stars for as far as you can see, a thick belt much like a rope stretches across the sky, the "Milky Way" in all its glory... what an amazing sight.. I watch with awe as a meteor strikes the Earth's atmosphere at 35,000 mph and start to heat becoming incandescent as it descends towards the planet.. then as fast as it came, it vanishes from sight, burnt to nothing but gas  …..

NEW DOG CAFE SET TO OPEN IN EDINBURGH…. Cafe Voltaire, a hangout space part of Cabaret Voltaire on Blair Street, will host a new event on Sundays from 12pm-6pm aimed specifically at dogs, and their owners. Brainchild of dog-lover Abi Meek, the weekly Dug Cafe will welcome anyone who wants to relax in a carefree canine environment, with proceeds of special events going to charity, the Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home. She said: “I am a dog owner myself and discovered that plenty of premises in Edinburgh are dog-friendly however, finding somewhere that is set up especially for dogs are few and far between. “Creating a relaxing environment for every breed of dog to socialise seemed perfect for Cafe Voltaire, which is an extremely cosy and quirky space serving up coffees, cake and cocktails.” Abi said the spacious cafe will be kitted out with relaxing areas full of toys and comfortable beanbags where people and dogs can lounge, play and even sleep. “As the venue is heavily music-orientated we will be playing soft soul and chill-out music to complete the vibe,” Abi explained. “Following on in the evening there will be live acoustic music being played until the late hours of the evening. A complete dog menu will also be on offer featuring pupacinos, dog beer, pupcakes and doggy pizza. Humans are well catered for with cakes, coffees, pizza and alcohol. “There will also be photo opportunities and dog competitions being held in order to raise money for the Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home as well as a pre-loved toy donation bucket so other dogs can enjoy them.”

NAVY VETERANS’ SHOCK AT BEING BOOTED OUT OF SCOTTISH WETHERSPOON’S…. A group of Royal Navy veterans were left disgusted after being kicked out of an Edinburgh Wetherspoon pub during a reunion event. Around 25 communication veterans who served around the world on HMS Ark Royal (RO9) travelled to the Capital from all corners of the UK to catch up with lost shipmates, some of whom have not seen one another for more than 40 years. The group decided to meet at The Standing Order on George Street for a day of reminiscing, food and drink with people arriving from lunchtime. But the veterans were astounded when security staff ordered them to leave the premises at around 10.30pm claiming one member of the team giving the reason that “you’ve been here a long time”. Meanwhile other members of the group were refused re-entry. Alan Willis, 62, who attended from south London, said: “We were all absolutely astounded. We are extremely disappointed we were ejected from the pub and the reasons still are not clear. “One bouncer stated ‘you have to leave because you’ve been here a long time’ while another guy said ‘you may have had too much to drink’. “At no time was there any rowdy behaviour, no drunkenness, no foul language, no abusive behaviour, no loud voices or shouting, no upset, anger or disagreements and certainly no complaints from other users of the pub. We are just a bunch of 60+ year-old veterans spending in excess of £100+ per round on drinks and food.” The baffled veterans, some serving in the Falklands and Northern Ireland, regrouped at a nearby pub and felt there was a lack of respect to those who fought for their country.

TOURISTS RISK ERODING ISLAND BEAUTY SPOTS AS THEY CREATE PERFECT INSTAGRAM PICTURES…. Tourists visiting island beauty spots are putting them at risk of erosion by building rock formations – so they can post snaps on Instagram, conservationists have said. Stacked pyramids of stones have appeared on Unesco-listed beaches on Orkney, and at the Fairy Glen on the Isle of Skye – which recently featured in the blockbuster film The BFG. Stone stacking, which enthusiasts describe as “meditative” and “artistic”, can also be seen on Iona, Inner Hebrides. The trend has prompted concerns by residents and environmentalists that they could speed up erosion and destroy the habitat of wildlife living on the islands. Dog-walker Claire Irons, 53, spotted at least 50 of the rock formations at the Fairy Glen on Uig, Isle of Skye. The area earned its name due to a distinctive group of round grassy hills, with ponds between them. It is just not right – people should go there just to see the surroundings, not to build a pile of stones. It is causing an erosion problem CLAIRE IRONS Concerned the rocks might topple and crush her Border terrier, Treacle, Mrs Irons confronted tourists and told them to stop – but was told she was spoiling their fun. Mrs Irons said: “It’s the first time I’ve noticed it, we don’t tend to go up that way in summer. “There’s normally so many tourists around. “When I went up on a dog walk, I was amazed – you couldn’t walk on the path. “It is tourists rather than locals who do it.” Having lived on the island for five years, Mrs Irons said she was concerned that the structure of stone walls was being destroyed by tour groups. Mrs Irons added: “It is causing an erosion problem, the rocks are being taken from the surroundings and being taken from walls. It is a whole geological area. “They tend to go to the coastal bit, that’s where the rock formations are. “It is just not right – people should go there just to see the surroundings, not to build a pile of stones. “It is on a croft, where sheep graze. “I could be a bit cynical and suggest they go in on minibus tours and they need something to do.” The dog owner was concerned that a rock could topple and hit her seven-and-a-half-year-old Border terrier. She said: “Since the BFG was filmed here it has been on the film trail. “People come to Skye and they have got a list of things to do – one of them is to follow the ‘Fairy Glen’. “It’s free, that’s why people go there. “It’s been promoted more – when I first came here it wasn’t on the map. “It has crept up in the past three years.” Founder of environmental campaign group Blue Planet Society, John Hourston, believes social media including Instagram and Facebook is fuelling the problem. Mr Hourston said: “When I saw the photograph I was astounded – this is a new level. For that to be on the Isle of Skye, which you associate with isolation, is absolutely shocking. Without a doubt it is having an impact on ecology. “The photo epitomises the desecration of the natural environment. “We are talking about a base of people, backpackers and adventurers, who should have a concept of ‘leave no trace’. “The overpowering urge is to prove they’ve been there on Instagram or social media.” He said the problem was not isolated to Skye but seemed to be prevalent in Scotland, including Orkney where new structures were popping up beside neolithic formations. The beach at Skara Brae, designated a Unesco World Heritage Site.

ABERDONIANS CANNOT BOARD ABERDONIAN IN ABERDEEN…. Rail passengers in Aberdeen will not be able to board the Aberdonian steam train named after their city. A new service between Edinburgh and the city launches in March next year, but all journeys will start and finish in the capital. A new steam train service between Edinburgh and the North-east launches in March next year. Picture: Ian Georgeson North-east Labour MSP, Lewis Macdonaldsaid yesterday: “I am sure The Aberdonian steam train will be a great success, but it’s a pity that, under current plans, passengers can’t get on board in Aberdeen. I hope the operators of the new service will be able to issue single tickets both ways, as well as a return excursion from Edinburgh, so that Aberdonians can travel with The Aberdonian without having to go to Edinburgh first.” The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, which will operate the services, admitted that anybody who wants to use the trains will have to make their way to Edinburgh to get on board. And once they have been on the return trip, they will have to make their way back to Aberdeen. Five trains will run in 2019, with the potential for expansion in the following years, and the scheme has the support of Network Rail. The initiative has been assisted by the installation of a new £86,000 turntable in Aberdeen by the Ferryhill Railway Heritage Trust. But its chairman, Jon Tyler, admitted yesterday there was still plenty of work to be done before services could be run from the city. He said: “I suppose it’s just a case of demand. If a charter train could be linked into an existing itinerary, say for the proposed cruise ship visits [to the new Aberdeen Harbour], it might be possible to do it in the future. “What you have to remember is that all the main steam locomotives and rolling stock are based down south, so they would need to make extra journeys at the beginning and end if these were to start from Aberdeen.

EMPTY DUNDEE FACTORY SET TO BECOME NEW COMIC MUSEUM…. For more than a half a century it was where millions of Beano, Dandy, The Broons and Oor Wullie annuals were made. Now a vast empty printworks in Dundee is set to become home to a comic museum under plans for a £17.5 million transformation over the next decade. The present empty site where the comics and annuals were produced. Picture: Contributed Live music events, visual art exhibitions, theatre productions, festivals and conferences would also be staged in the historic West Ward Works. Work is set to get under way within months on the first phase of a project expected to create 1,100 jobs and boost Dundee’s economy by more than £50m over ten years. The project’s backers hope it will be one of the biggest cultural projects to benefit from support from a ‘Tay Cities Deal’ between the UK and Scottish governments, which is hoped to be approved within the next few months. Under a proposed timetable for the project, the first permanent occupants could be in by early next year and the first major phase of work completed by 2020. Workshops, studios and offices for artists, cultural organisations, videogame developers and other creative industries are planned as part of the development. It is thought up to 300 people could end up working in the building, which is close to both the Verdant Works – the award-winning attraction celebrating the city’s history of textile production – and Dundee University’s main campus. The two-storey comic museum at West Ward Works would showcase highlights from the archives of publishers DC Thomson, which still owns the building. Other permanent features would include a civic square, “monumental sculptures” and a permanent cafe-bar and restaurant. A charitable trust was set up last year to pursue the plans for West Ward Works, which operated from 1949 to 2010. Project director David Cook said: “The V&A is fantastic and has already had a huge impact on Dundee, but it’s the start, not the end of a process. This is really about what happens next and we hope it will be very much seen as something complementary to the V&A. We’ve spent the last year working on an architectural masterplan and a ten-year vision for the building. “The main focus of West Ward Works will be as a cultural hub. As well as the comic museum, one side of the building will have space for major exhibitions, live music, festivals, events and conferences. The other will be a working and making campus. “The comic centre would explore Dundee’s role in the story of the comic book, including the titles produced in the city and the people who worked on them. It was originally proposed for the waterfront, but this is now the preferred location.

On that note I will say that I hope you have enjoyed the news from Scotland today,

Our look at Scotland today is of Dogs enjoying their pupacinos at Edinburgh’s new dog café…. What’s that Bella You want to go….

A Sincere Thank You for your company and Thank You for your likes and comments I love them and always try to reply, so please keep them coming, it's always good fun, As is my custom, I will go and get myself another mug of "Colombian" Coffee and wish you a safe Saturday 29th September 2018 from my home on the southern coast of Spain, where the blue waters of the Alboran Sea washes the coast of Africa and Europe and the smell of the night blooming Jasmine and Honeysuckle fills the air…and a crazy old guy and his dog Bella go out for a walk at 4:00 am…on the streets of Estepona…

All good stuff....But remember it’s a dangerous world we live in

Be safe out there…

Robert McAngus #Scotland #News #Spain

[olgagarmash]

Xealth, a startup looking to make it easier to integrate digital tools into providers’ workflows, has amassed 14 health systems as backers. The Seattle-based startup recently closed a $24 million series B round led by Advocate Aurora Enterprises, bringing on seven additional health systems as investors.

Spun out of Providence in 2017, Xealth already had a provider perspective when it sought to make it easier to pull information from connected devices into health record systems, or to “prescribe” digital therapeutics to patients.

But it was through a meeting with Health Management Academy, an organization that brings together leaders from several large health systems, that CEO Mike McSherry saw a broader demand for the platform Xealth was building.

Health Management Academy had been surveying providers on what they needed, and one of those things was a standardized aggregation platform around digital health and remote patient monitoring.

“It’s hard to imagine a world where every single one of these solutions is going to plug in one by one, system by system, so they thought some sort of standardized platform would be beneficial for the ecosystem,” McSherry said in an interview with MedCity News.

And instead of having hospitals build such a solution from scratch, why not use the one that Xealth had already built?

The startup will be getting more than funding with its recent raise. Xealth is currently used by six health systems (including Providence), but many of its recent investors weren’t yet customers.  The company plans to use a portion of the funds to staff up to support them, and to help match patients to specific solutions that might work best for them.

Xealth is poised to solve a big challenge faced by digital health companies: getting providers and patients to use their services. It currently has 60 different vendors that it can integrate.

For example, during the pandemic Xealth worked with Kroger to have groceries delivered to patients who had tested positive for Covid-19, and also worked with Babyscripts and Banner Health to help monitor people who were going pregnancies at home, including sending them blood pressure cuffs and scales for checkups.

Through another partnership with Twistle and Providence, they helped monitor patients who had Covid-19 symptoms at home by having them share their temperature and oxygen saturation levels, alleviating some pressure from emergency rooms early in the pandemic.

Xealth does the work on the back end, communicating information to and from patients. For example, it might push instructions to a patient from their healthcare provider to download an app, watch a video, or confirm their address to get a remote monitoring kit sent to their home.

The startup is also drumming up backers at a time when the dynamics around digital health are changing. When it was incubating at Providence, doctors were the gatekeepers around medications, labs and imaging. But as the market has evolved, insurers, self-funded employers and consumers who find these solutions directly have adopted digital solutions much faster than health systems.

Now, McSherry expects to see more of a push from providers.

“There’s no denying that digital health is a core part of care delivery,” he said. “I think this funding round is a bit of a recognition that hospital systems know they need to accelerate digital health and they see us as an accelerant toward that digital transformation.”

There’s also a significant difference in patient uptake, he said, depending on who recommends it. Adherence is higher when a doctor refers a patient to an app or remote monitoring program, than when their insurer or employer recommends it.

In the longer term, McSherry hopes to see this reflected in reimbursement for health systems using digital tools to provide care.

Photo credit: invincible_bulldog, Getty Images

via Wealth Health

[linuxgamenews]

Roots of Pacha funding exceeds expectation

Roots of Pacha closing out Kickstarter 900% funded for Linux, Mac and Windows PC. Thanks to developer Soda Den. The crowdfunding campaign also exceeds the expectation with an Alpha due to follow soon. Publisher, Crytivo and developer Soda Den are excited to announce details of the game. Roots of Pacha is over 900% funded while closing out Kickstarter with over 7000 backers. Quickly passing their final stretch goal of $350,000 USD. The campaign has gone way beyond the team’s hope. They created “community challenges” to help spread the word of the campaign. Such as retweeting a pinned tweet. The community met all those challenges unlocking things. Such as riding a mammoth and a time traveler. Thanks to the outpouring of support, ten Roots of Pacha Kickstarter stretch goals have been hit. The last one also isn’t too far away. The stretch goals will add regions like a glacial tundra and an island where megafauna still thrives. While offering more interactivity like helpful pets and watching the children of the game grow up to teens and take on apprenticeships.

Roots of Pacha - Stone Age Farming Life Simulator Gameplay Trailer

The first version of the Alpha has been shared with the communities of multiple content creators. This will be in the hands of Alpha backers in April (Windows PC). Alpha backers will receive a content update about every 8 weeks until the release of Roots of Pacha. At which point we can expect Linux and Mac support. While the first version of the Alpha will be streamable by anyone who has access to it. One thing that has been a core feature in the game, and that is currently included in the Alpha, is the ability to play it co-op. Players will be able to enjoy it either solo or with 3 friends from the get go. Roots of Pacha is a co-op farming and life simulation game set in the stone age. Help your once nomadic clan settle in a promised and fertile land. By connecting with nature you’ll develop Ideas to evolve, enrich your culture, relationships, and discover the mysteries of Pacha, mother nature.

Important Features, that appear in the closed Alpha

Evolve the clan with “Ideas” like irrigation and animal taming.

Farm and find wild seeds that can be domesticated.

Befriend and taime wild animals with your favorite markings.

Fish with minigames in Roots of Pacha, these will challenge your steady hand.

Bond with NPCs by giving gifts or sharing a dance.

Customize your character with the latest stone age fashion.

Ride ostriches, guanacos, boars, and more, eventually creating a riding league.

Build your home and design tapestries and pottery

Construct buildings and expand your village.

Playable alone but developed with Co-Op in mind, including cut scenes.

Mine in the depths of the world to find precious resources.

Solve the mysteries of Pacha and her totems.

Important Future Features

You can pet a baby mammoth and other animals.

Fill your kitchen with prehistoric appliances and utensils.

Collect all the Roots of Pacha recipes in the stone age cookbook.

Breed animals to discover new species.

Date & marry your fellow Pachans.

Participate in primitive festivals and rituals to Pacha.

Soda Den is closing out Kickstarter with so many Roots of Pacha stretch goals hit. A 900% funded crowdfunding campaign. Plus the team is working on an updated road map. This will get them the eventual concurrent release on Linux, Mac, Windows PC, and Switch in Q2 of 2022. The talented team of Soda Den is already successfully testing Cross-platform play during the campaign. The same day they got access to their Nintendo Switch dev kits.

[weekinethereum]

March 15, 2018

Ethereum News and Links

Protocol

At EthCC, Vitalik announced PlasmaCash. [Outside, Karl Floersch was giving an abbreviated talk on the steps]. This design framework -- coins deposited on Plasma chain as NFT thus you can track only Merkle branches for your own coins -- comes from Plasma with much less per-user data checking in last week's issue.

Karl released a PlasmaCash spec.

VB: "Plasma is not a sidechain/drivechain. Sidechains and drivechains let 50% of the miners on the sidechain steal all coins in the side/drive chain. Plasma relies only on the security of the main chain"

Machinomy: We built a Generalised State Channels framework

A state channels adventure with counterfactual Rick from Spankchain

Latest Eth/RChain Casper standup

Sharding: A new account type in abstraction.

Sharding: Guaranteed execution gas for transactions in collations

Scaling now with Parity bridge -- initial deployment connecting PoA chains

You've probably already seen their CryptoZombies series, now LoomNetwork announces its first DappChain (one DPoS sidechain per dapp written in Go; there's a decentralization tradeoff). You can apply to use their beta SDK, which is aimed at game developers.  

Stuff for developers

Echidna -- smart fuzzer for Solidity code from Trail of Bits

Merkle Airdrops: a (much) better way to airdrop.  Can also be used for NFTs

Gas Token - store gas when it's cheap to use when it is expensive by using the storage refund. For more, Reddit thread worth a read due to Phil Daian participating.

Is the geth console going away?  They're soliciting opinions

uPort guide using Truffle boxes

Off-chain whitelist with on-chain verification?

O(1)Labs released Snarky: A high-level language for verifiable computation

Alex Sherbuck is doing a series on each coding error that has been done in Soldiity

sails.js Truffle hook

Ethereum + IPFS + Create-React-App tutorial

SwarmCity releases IPFS consortium code - group agreements to maintain IPFS data.  Github.

Updated version of using Zeppelin and Truffle for token sales

Ujo's current tech stack

MAIAN -- security tool from the recent academic article.

EIP/ERC

ERC928: Eth Avatar standard

ERC930: Eternal storage standard

Release

Solidity v0.4.21 -- choose your EVM, new features, bugfixes, etc

ENSNow: Get an ENS subdomain and point it at your wallet instantly

Ecosystem

Lane Rettig's notes on the Eth Magicians governance gathering at EthCC

EtherVis -- visual Eth address explorer

Cool correlations graphing from Etherchain

A front end for Christian Lundkvist's Simple MultiSig

EthPrize.io -- bounties for things the ecosystem needs.  first bounties for EthPM package manager and open source block explorer

Nearly 13,000 Ether are lost due to one character typos

All videos from EthCC.  I particularly liked Karl's.  

Project Updates

"Augur's contracts are done" after Zeppelin audit

Docker's ex-CEO is joining Storj as interim CEO

Propy records first US (VT) real estate transaction on blockchain

Updated how Numerai works

$5 DIY hardware wallet Firefly is shipping kits to early backers

Washington Post is now verified as a BAT publisher

Iconomi announces 3 new uses for its token

LivePeer's path to decentralization

Digix to deploy to mainnet this week

New Projects

Arithmetica -- decentralized SETI, reusable for different problems.  Github

EDDITS -- putting identities onchain using ERC725 and ERC735

Interviews, Podcasts, Videos, Talks

Software Engineering Daily hits Ethereum hard this week. First, PoS with Karl Floersch, then talking MetaMask with Dan Finlay, and talking web3 with Fabian Vogelsteller.  And last week Luis Cuende and Raine Revere.  What's great about these is that they have transcripts.

Joe Lubin SXSW interview

More Lubin on 11:FS (interview starts around 30:05)

CodePodcast on security with Yoichi Hirai, Matt Condon, and Santi Palladino

Amber Baldet with Laura Shin

Christian Lundkvist talks to Max Sklar

Corey Petty talk on Social Implications of Blockchain

Zero Knowledge talks to JP Smith from security auditors Trail of Bits and to Parity's Robert Habermeier

Just to reiterate: all videos from EthCC

Tokens

Jez San: "The potential market of blockchains that use smart contacts, like Ethereum, dwarfs that of ‘store of value’ chains (i.e. bitcoin)"

Why Dharma Protocol isn't (yet?) doing a token sale

Cofound.it: fundraising options for blockchain startup founders

TrueDigital and ConsenSys create a reference rate for Ethereum, a crucial step for derivatives

Robby Greenfield on the Venezuelan dictatorship's Petro scam

SEC: 5 things you need to know about ICOs

Bloomberg: SEC has subpoenaed some crypto funds

USV's Nick Grossman: why tokens are fundamental to web3

General

Vivek Singh: web3 in context of the history of the internet

Politico on PoW mining in Eastern Washington

IMF head Chrstine Lagarde acknowledges downsides to cryptoassets but "we must welcome their potential."

ConsenSys announces tech support for Quorum

Caitlin Long on getting Wyoming's blockchain bills enacted into law, "a US version of Switzerland’s “Crypto Valley”"

US House congressional hearing on cryptoassets.  You may get annoyed when Brad Sherman (D-CA) comes on.

Sierra Leone put raw presidential voting results on Ethereum as a backup

Coinbase lands Barclays as UK banking partner

Crypto segment on John Oliver's Last Week Tonight.

Dates of note

Upcoming dates:

March 27 -- Pathfounder: Cryptoeconomics in London. 15% off with discount code EVAN.

May 3-5 -- Edcon in Toronto

May 11-12 -- Ethereal (NYC)

May 16-17 -- Token Summit (NYC)

If you appreciate this newsletter, thank ConsenSys

I'm thankful that ConsenSys has brought me on as an employee and given me time to do this newsletter.

Editorial control is 100% me.  If you're unhappy with editorial decisions, blame me first and last.

Sharing

Here's the link: http://www.weekinethereum.com/post/171904269053/march-15-2018

Follow me on Twitter? @evan_van_ness

This newsletter is supported by ConsenSys (ConsenSys is perpetually hiring if you'd like to join) and Status.im.  Many thanks to both.

Sign up to receive the weekly email.

[bbcbreakingnews]

ALISON BOSHOFF reveals how Johnny Depp and Amber Heard are letting their hair down outside court

They are battling out the libel trial of the decade. But Johnny Depp and Amber Heard have not let their clashes in court spoil their enjoyment of life in London.

LUXURY HANGOUTS 

Team Johnny

Depp, 57, was staying in a £2,000-a-night suite at the Savoy at the start of the trial, but soon moved to the Corinthia around the corner.

The seven premium suites cost up to £20,000-a-night for the Royal which has four bedrooms and bathrooms – making it perfect for someone like Depp who is constantly in the company of a two-man security detail.

All suites come with a butler and access to a private walk-in wine cellar. Staff at the Corinthia are fond of the actor and say he is always polite and friendly. He has been ‘staying in’, eating room service. His favourite food is fried chicken or anything Mexican.

In contrast to his hell-raising days, he is going to bed by 11pm to be fresh for court.

Miss Heard, 34, has chosen to stay at the trendy boutique Ham Yard Hotel where rooms are designed by acclaimed interior expert Kit Kemp. She is pictured with her girlfriend Bianca Butti 

Team Amber

Miss Heard, 34, has chosen to stay at the trendy boutique Ham Yard Hotel where rooms are designed by acclaimed interior expert Kit Kemp and suites cost up to £4,500-a-night. The rooms overlook the hotel’s pretty courtyard. There is a well-regarded spa on site and a hairdresser who may be responsible for Miss Heard’s elaborate signature plaits.

RIGHT-HAND MEN AND WOMEN  

Team Johnny

Among those testifying for Depp is Stephen Deuters. The 41-year-old Briton has been working with Depp for 15 years and is now European president of the star’s movie production company Infinitum Nihil.

Deuters and his film executive wife Georgina – known as Gina – live in north London. When Depp was spotted at a pub in Belgravia last Sunday he was with Gina. Their group spent all afternoon in a private room at the Alfred Tennyson.

Depp emerged sporting a large Rasta-style hat and puffing on a hand-rolled cigarette. He was followed out by Gina, 42, who was driven back to the Corinthia with him at about 8pm. This week she declined to comment on Depp.

Team Amber

The actress is accompanied by girlfriend Bianca Butti, whom she has been dating for seven months. They were first spotted kissing in California in January.

While in London, they have fallen into the habit of taking late afternoon walks after court finishes to tourist landmarks such as the House of Commons. They’ve also been browsing in Oxford Street.

Miss Butti, 38, has worked in Hollywood as an actress, set designer and film-maker.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 and ran an Instagram account called @buttibeatsit covering her fight. Her cancer returned last year and there is a GoFundMe page seeking money to pay for her treatment.

She wrote: ‘I need help, I need so much help and I have a hard time asking for it. Already the medical bills are way above my head and there are just more every day. My goal is to reach $60k (£47,000).’ So far, $19,000 (£15,000) has been raised.

Depp, 57, was staying in a £2,000-a-night suite at the Savoy at the start of the trial, but soon moved to the Corinthia around the corner

CELEB BACKERS  

Team Johnny

Guitar hero Jeff Beck has been lending support to Depp behind the scenes.

The Hi Ho Silver Lining star, 76, had Depp to stay at his house in Sussex in January and the actor also spent time with him immediately before the case started this month.

Depp is a guitar enthusiast and plays in a band called the Hollywood Vampires.

Beck played on their 2019 album and Depp previously stayed with him in early 2019 when the actor was spotted at the local pub wearing a cowboy hat and scarf.

Earlier this summer, he spent time at Beck’s mansion with the guitarist and wife Sandra in order to prepare for court and enjoy jamming sessions.

The two men released a cover version of the John Lennon song Isolation in May.

The libel battle against The Sun arises from an article which criticised Depp’s author friend JK Rowling for continuing to cast him as Gellert Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beasts films. Rowling has spoken in support of Depp. She bought his yacht in 2016.

Team Amber

Australian author Kathy Lette is a close friend of Miss Heard’s barrister Jennifer Robinson and organised a party for her two weekends ago at her north London house.

Miss Butti went, as did TV host Sandi Toksvig and her wife. Miss Lette denied that singer Kylie Minogue dialled in on Zoom.

Meanwhile, Cherie Booth, the QC and wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, has talked to Miss Heard’s legal team ‘in a personal capacity.’ She met the actress at an event in New York last year.

Miss Heard has also been in contact with Labour MP Jess Phillips. Both women are campaigning to stamp out domestic violence.

SECRET WEAPONS  

Team Johnny

Depp’s controversial lawyer Adam Waldman has been front and centre in the trial. He is understood to be staying with him at the Corinthia.

The two men have been friends for three years and Waldman has presided over legal actions against Depp’s former manager and lawyer.

Team Amber

Miss Heard’s sister Whitney Henriquez travelled with her to lend support and was a witness in court this week. Whitney had a ringside seat for much of the marriage and lived in one of Depp’s apartments in Los Angeles. She has a young daughter Hunter. Amber and Whitney went out to a Mayfair club until 1.40am in the first week of the trial.

The post ALISON BOSHOFF reveals how Johnny Depp and Amber Heard are letting their hair down outside court appeared first on BBC BREAKING NEWS.

from WordPress https://bbcbreakingnews.com/alison-boshoff-reveals-how-johnny-depp-and-amber-heard-are-letting-their-hair-down-outside-court/

[un-enfant-immature]

Bolt, the European on-demand transport company, raises $109M on a $1.9B valuation

Bolt, a rival to Uber and others providing on-demand ridesharing, scooters and other transportation services across some 150 cities in Europe and Africa, is today announcing another capital raise as it weathers a difficult market climate where, because of COVID-19, many are staying in place and avoiding modes of transport that put them into contact with others.

The Estonia-based company is today announcing that it has picked up an additional €100 million ($109 million) in a convertible note. Bolt also confirmed that is now valued at €1.7 billion (or nearly $1.9 billion at today’s rates).

The money is coming from a single investor, Naya Capital Management, which was also a major backer of the company in its last round, a $67 million Series C in July 2019.

The funding is one more example of how investors are continuing to support their most promising, and/or most capitalised, portfolio companies as they face drastic losses of business during the COVID-19 pandemic, which can only be more complicated for a startup built on a business model that — even in the best of times — is very capital-intensive.

Before this round, in April we were hearing that Bolt was running out of runway and that they were in discussion also with the Estonian government — a big supporter of the country’s tech industry — to underwrite debt in the company. Bolt has confirmed that this whole funding is in the form of a convertible note (that is, debt), with no additional equity at this point. “We have no plans that we can discuss at the moment,” a spokesperson said, so it sounds like a further equity round is something it’s working on regardless, given these take more time to close.

Bolt — which says it has 30 million users in over 35 countries globally — has now raised over €300 million including debt and equity, with other investors including Nordic Ninja — a new fund out of Helsinki backed by a number of Japanese LPs to invest in Northern European startups (Bolt is based out of Tallinn) — Creandum, G Squared, Invenfin (a fund out of South Africa backed by investment holding company Remgro) and Superangel, a fund out of Estonia that has been backing the startup since its earliest days, as well as Didi (and, by association, SoftBank and Uber), Daimler, Korelya Capital and Spring Capital.

Formerly known as Taxify, Bolt rebranded last year as it expanded beyond private car rides into other areas like electric scooters and food delivery — and the plan will be to use this funding to expand all three business areas in the coming months, along with newer product categories like Business Delivery in-city same-day courier services and Bolt Protect for people to continue to use its ride-hailing services by kitting out cars with plastic sheeting between driver and passenger seats.

Uber, Bolt’s publicly traded business rival, has laid bare just how painful the pandemic has been for business. The company has laid off nearly 7,000 employees in recent weeks, and while we currently have little visibility of the impact this has had on the contractors Uber engages to move people, food and other items in its network, its next quarterly earnings (which will cover the full brunt of the pandemic) should more clearly spell out the drop-off in overall business.

Bolt doesn’t go into the details of that situation itself, except to acknowledge that business is not business as usual.

“Even though the crisis has temporarily changed how we move, the long-term trends that drive on-demand mobility such as declining personal car ownership or the shift towards greener transportation continue to grow,” said Markus Villig, CEO and co-founder, in a statement.

“We are happy to be backed by investors that look past the typical Silicon Valley hype and support our long term view. I am more confident than ever that our efficiency and localisation are a fundamental advantage in the on-demand industry. These enable us to continue offering affordable transportation to millions of customers and the best earnings for our partners in the post-COVID world.”

A lot of people have talked about how fundraising has become more complicated in the current climate. Not only are founders and investors not able to meet in person and get more embedded in evaluating an opportunity, but many are unable to see what the future will hold in terms of market demand and the overall economy, making the bets all the more laden with risk.

That’s left a lot of the activity spread between startups that are seeing business lift precisely because of present circumstances; startups that have businesses that are continuing to enjoy a lot of trade despite present circumstances; and startups that are strong enough (or already so highly capitalised) that investors want to support them to make sure they don’t go under. More typically, startups that are securing funding are falling into more than one of the above categories, as is the case with Bolt.

“We are delighted to have the opportunity to invest in Bolt at this stage in the company’s growth story,” Masroor Siddiqui, managing partner, CIO and founder of Naya Capital Management, said in a statement. “Under Markus’ leadership, Bolt has established itself as one of the most competitive and innovative players in global mobility. We believe that Bolt is helping drive a fundamental change in how consumers interact with the transport infrastructure of their cities and look forward to the company’s continued execution on its strategic vision.”

Update: Bolt confirmed after we published that this is actually all debt, so this is not a Series D.

[reallyco0l-blog]

Kano’s latest computer kit for kids doubles down on touch

Learn-to-code startup  Kano , whose products aim to turn kids into digital makers, has taken the wraps off the latest incarnation of its build-it-yourself computer kit.  With the new flagship Kano is doubling down on touch interactions — urging kids to “make your own tablet”. The Computer Kit Touch packs a 10.1″ HD touchscreen, along with Kano’s now familiar bright orange wireless keyboard which comes with a built in trackpad.  While touch is becoming increasingly central to its products, Kano says the keyboard remains an important component of the product — supporting text-based coding apps which its platform also provides access to, as well as the more approachable drag-and-drop block-based coding systems that do really benefit from having a touchscreen to hand.  The kit, which Kano says is generally (but not exclusively) aimed at the 6-13 age range, is on sale from today, priced at $279.99 — via its website (  Kano .me ), as well as from selected retailers and e-tailers.  The Raspberry Pi powered computer is also getting increased storage capacity in this upgrade — of 16GB. But the main refresh is around updating Kano OS, Kano’s kid-friendly Pi topper, with expanded support for touch controls, according to founder  Alex Klein    .  Last year Kano combined touch and keyboard based interaction into a single product, the  Computer Kit Complete  — calling that a DIY laptop.  The 2018 refreshed version looks much the same, with enhancements generally behind the scenes and/or under the hood.     “The big moves this year are advancing the software and content ecosystem,” says Klein. “How it’s all integrated together.”  He points to another coding kit the team has up for pre-order, slated to ship next month — a co-branded Harry Potter gizmo in which kids get to build a motion-sensitive “ coding wand ” and use it to cook up their own digital spells, helped along by Kano’s software — adding: “With the Potter kit we’re bringing Kano code — to create a system, the ability to blend and change physics engines and sounds and particle systems — to tablets. So we’ve now got a touch-based interaction model for that e-product, as well as mouse and keyboard, and so we’ve brought that software system now to the Computer Kit Touch.  “You can code by dragging and dropping blocks with your fingers, you can paint and draw. You can change the pitch of a loop or a melody by running your fingers up and down and then using a change of a parameter mess with how quickly that melody changes, mess with the number of layers, you can make a beat or a loop using a touch-based digital audio workstation style X-Y plane. You can go into any one of our creative coding apps and pull in touch-based interactions, so instead of just using a mouse, a click and point, you can make an app that responds to swipes and taps, and different speeds, and in different locations.”  “On the touch kit itself there’s also a set of new content that demystifies how touchscreens work and peels back the layer of the screen and shows you what’s behind, and you’re kind of touching the intersection of the different copper wires and seeing what’s happening beneath,” he adds.  “There’s obviously a big hardware upgrade with the new ability to touch it, to take it with you. We’ve refined a lot of the components, we’ve improved the speed, the battery life. But really the core of it is this upgraded software that integrates with all the other kit.”  Talking of other kit, the learn-to-code space is now  awash with quasi-educational gizmos , leaving parents in Western markets spoiled for choice of what to buy a budding coder.  Many more of these gizmos will be unboxed as we head into the holiday season. And while Kano was something of a startup pioneer here — a category creator, as Klein tells it — there’s now no shortage of tech for kids promising some kind of STEM-based educational benefit. So it’s facing an ever-growing gaggle of competition.  Kano’s strategy to stand out in an increasingly contested space is to fix on familiar elements, says Stein — flagging for example the popular game Minecraft — which runs on the Kano kit, and for which there’s a whole subsection of the Kano World community given over to  hacking Minecraft .  And, well, aside from block-headed Minecraft characters it’s hard to find a character more familiar to children than the fictional wizard Harry Potter. So you can certainly see where Kano’s trying to get with the coding wand.  “We broke our first month pre-order target in one day,” he says of that forthcoming e-product (RRP ~$130). “There was massive coverage, massive traffic on our site, it was picked up all over the place and we’re very happy with the pre-orders so far. As are our retail partners.”  The Potter co-branding play is certainly Kano trying to make its products cast a wider spell by expanding the appeal of coding from nerdy makers to more mainstream child consumers. But how successful that will be remains to be seen. Not least because we’ve seen this sort of tactic elsewhere in this space.  Sphero, for example, is now rolling back the other way —  shifting away from Star Wars  co-branded bots to a serious education push focused on bringing STEM robotics to schools. (Although Kano would doubtless say a programmable bot that rolls is not the same as a fully fledged kit computer that can run all manner of apps, including familiar and fashionable stuff like Minecraft and YouTube.)  “We’re very pleased to see that this category that we created, with that Kickstarter campaign in 2013 — it’s become more than what some people initially feared it would be which was niche, maker ‘arcanery’; and it’s becoming a major consumer phenomenon,” he says. “This notion that people want to make their own technology, learn how to code and play in that way. And not just kids — people of all ages.”  On the hard sales front, Klein isn’t breaking out numbers for Potter kit pre-sales at this stage. But says the various incarnations of its main computer kit have shipped ~360,000 units since September 2014. So it’s not Lego (which has also moved into programmable kits) — but it’s not bad either.  In recent years Kano has also branched out into offering Internet of Things kits, previewing three code-your-own connected devices in  2016  — and launching Kickstarter campaigns to get the products to market.  It’s since shipped one ( the Pixel kit ) but the other two (a build-it-yourself camera kit and a DIY speaker) remain delayed — leaving crowdfunder backers waiting for their hardware.  Why the delay? Have Kano’s priorities shifted — perhaps because it’s focusing efforts on cobranded products (like the Potter wand) vs creating more of its own standalone devices?  “We are still committed to shipping the speaker kit, the camera kit,” Klein tells TechCrunch. “A big reason for [the delay] is not only the fact that the company is in a position now where we have mass distribution, we have great partners — perennially testing new product ideas — and we want to make sure that products are going to resonate with, not just a small group of people but many, many people, of many different age groups and interests before we release them.”  He also points out that any backers of the two devices who want refunds can get them in full.  Though he also says some are choosing to wait — adding that Kano remains committed to shipping the devices, and saying for those that do wait there will be a few extra bells and whistles than originally specced out in the crowdfunder campaign.  The delay itself looks like the market (and consumer tastes) moving quicker than Kano predicted — and so it finds itself wishing its products could deliver more than it originally planned (but without a wand to wave to instantly achieve that).  This is also a pitfall with previewing anything months or years ahead of time, of course. But the expense and complexity of building hardware makes crowdfunding platforms attractive — even for a relatively established brand like Kano.  “The delay is really unfortunate,” he adds. “We did say they would ship earlier but what we have done is we’ve offered any backer a full refund on the camera and the speaker if they don’t want to wait. But if they do wait they will receive incredible camera, incredible speaker. Both of them are going to benefit from the advancements made in low cost computing in the last year.  “The speaker as well is going to have elements that weren’t even part of the original campaign. On our side it’s critical that we get those products absolutely right and that they feel mass, and that they demystify not only coding and the Internet of Things, which was part of the original purpose, but in the case of the camera and the speaker there are elements that have come to the fore in more recent months like voice interaction and image recognition that we feel if our mandate is to demystify technology and we’re shipping a camera and a speaker… that’s kind of part of it. Make it perfect, make it of the moment. And for any backer who doesn’t want to wait for that, no problem at all — we’ll refund you 100%.”  Beyond reworking its approach with those perhaps overly ambitious connected devices, Kano has additional release plans in its pipeline — with Klein mentioning that additional co-branded products will be coming next year.  He says Kano is also eyeing expanding into more markets. “There’s a significant market for Kano even beyond our traditional leading position amongst 6-13 year olds in the US and the UK. There’s a really strong market for people who are beyond the US and the UK and we’re now at a scale where we can start really investing in these distribution and localization relationships that have come our way since year one,” he says.  And he at least entertains the idea of a future Kano device that does away with a keyboard entirely — and goes all in on touch — when we suggest it.  “Would we move to a place where we have no keyboard in a Kano computer? I think it’s very possible,” he says. “It might be a different form factor, it might be smaller, it might fit in your pocket, it might have connectivity — that kind of stuff.”  Which sort of sounds like Kano’s thinking about making a DIY smartphone. If so, you heard it here first.  The five and a half year old London-based startup is not yet profitable but Klein flags growth he dubs “fast enough” (noting it doubled sales year-over-year last year, a “trend” he says continued in the first half of this year), before adding: “It’s not impossible for us to get to profitability. We have a lot of optionality. But at the moment we are making investments — in software, in team — we have partner products coming out like Harry, we’ll have more coming out next year. So in terms of absolute positive EBITDA not yet but we are profitable on a units basis.”  Kano closed a  $28M Series B last year  — and has raised some $44.5M in all at this stage, according to Crunchbase. Is it raising more funding now? “I think any entrepreneur who is looking to do something big is always in some sense keeping an eye out for sources of capital,” replies Klein. “As well as sources of talent.”  He points by way of a connected aside to  this study of C-suite execs , carried out by Stripe and Harris poll, which found that access to software developers is a bigger constraint than access to capital, saying: “I read that and I thought that that gap — between the 1% of 1% who can develop software or hardware and the rest of us — is exactly the challenge that Kano set out to solve from a consumer and education perspective.”  “In terms of fundraising we do get a lot of inbound, we have great investors at the moment,” he adds. “We do know that the scale of this particular challenge — which is demystify technology, become synonymous with learning to code and making your own computers — that requires significant support and we’ll be continuing to keep our eyes out as we grow.”

https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/13/kanos-latest-computer-kit-for-kids-doubles-down-on-touch/

[linuxgamenews]

Pecaminosa due to release on Indiegogo this week

Pecaminosa detective exploration game coming to Indiegogo this week for Linux, Mac and Windows PC. Thanks to developer Cereal Games. A studio that is dedicated to the game development scene. With a crowdfunding campaign due to release this week. A crowdfunding campaign will be launching on March 4th for Pecaminosa. Coming this week to Indiegogo in an effort to amass funds. But also promote and sell Pecaminosa to an international audience. The crowdfunding campaign itself will end on April 12th. With a funding goal of €10,000 ($11,041 USD). Although it hasn’t actually launched yet. "Our aim with this campaign isn't just amassing funds. Our main goal with this is mainly to build and foster a community following. So that we can demonstrate to possible publishers that Pecaminosa doesn't just have potential. But also a market and community it can thrive on." relays Lázaro Raposo, CEO of Cereal Games.

Pecaminosa - Indiegogo Campaign Trailer (Linux, Mac, Windows PC)

Pecaminosa is a Police Action RPG. Also the first RPG to be developed in Azores. Launching in one of the biggest digital game resellers in the world. And due to release by the end of the current year. The player will be able to freely explore a north American city. Typical of the 40’s, reproduced in a pixel art fashion. Along with a vintage jazz audio palette inspired by the noir films of old. Anyone who plays Pecaminosa will be able to customize the main character John Souza. Using a range of different clothes and weapons. As well as going into casinos and playing Poker and Blackjack. It will also possible to back the crowdfunding campaign in various amounts. Since they range from three euros up to eight thousand euros. Indiegogo crowdfunding campaigns usually have different levels of financing. Since their respective values vary according to the pledges the campaign presents. And the choice that the Pecaminosa backer decides. Likewise, in Cereal Games' particular case. Not only are you able to gain access to the game. But higher pledge tiers include a collector's kit (with all its merchandising keeping in theme with the game). The possibility to be portrayed as a prominent character in Pecaminosa. Even a paid-for trip for two, with stay, to the island of S. Miguel. The Pecaminosa detective exploration game is coming this week. Since the Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign kicks off March 4th. WIth support for Linux, Mac and Windows PC. But the campaign fails to meet the goal by April 10th. All backers shall have their pledges refunded in full.