We funded in an hour, and the total keeps on rising. Thank you so much for trusting me to make you a beautiful game and send it to you. I get a little teary sometimes thinking of the fact that I get to make weird personal work with my heart and hands outside the bounds of industry and people actually say “yeah, I am also interested in these things you are into.”
There are no stretch goals for this campaign - I don’t really like the vibe of constantly pushing to make more money by making unnecessary things and driving the final pledge amount up. The game, in its current form, at this current pledge level, is already the game I want to make. It is a strange and specific game, and if you know someone who might like it - please tell them about it! Word-of-mouth is truly crucial for a campaign like this. A higher pledge amount does give me more room to experiment with fancy book elements, and more ability to hire people to help me out with production, fulfillment at my studio, and other parts of the book and game! It makes my life and my work easier. I will not post too many updates during the campaign unless I have substantial updates to share(process photos, previews, etc), and I won't be posting any marketing-only updates. I'm so lucky to have a following that has kept up with collecting my work through so many medium and genre changes over the years and I respect their(your!) time and mine!
I’ve been working on different parts of the Oraclebird project for years, and one of its incarnations has been an interactive installation(its first incarnation, actually!). I’ve rebuilt that installation, added more cards, and it is actually up right now at the Fisher Museum of Art in Los Angeles, as part of the Scene Shift exhibit until mid-April. If you are in Los Angeles, you can visit it and get your fortune!
In other art museum/gallery news, I am in Alabama right now on a visiting artist fellowship with Auburn University and if you are in the area, I'll have a new collection of marionettes up next Thursday in a show in Biggin Gallery(in Biggin Hall). The show is called beasts and serpents, and the opening is 5-7 CST, Feb 8th(artist lecture at 5pm, gallery reception afterwards).
A beetle marionette
It is not precisely Oraclebird related, but if you pledged for or follow this game I have to assume that you like rooting around in libraries and old books, so I want you to know that I got to visit and touch a very old book that my new collection of marionettes was inspired by(Topsell's Four Footed Beasts and Serpents, in the Auburn Special Collections)!
A dragon marionette, in front of the illustration it was inspired by.
Some other game projects I am excited about!
The Magus and the Oracle: I think momatoes is one of the most interesting designers and artists working in the TTRPG space today. This is a bit of a reboot of her earlier RPG The Magus, and adds an oracle deck to the game. One of the things that makes momatoes' work unique is that her games tend to crunchiness, which is pretty rare for solo journalling games.
Your Friend in Witchcraft: Kay Allen, who is on my Discord, designed this game and it looks absolutely charming. I love letter-writing games and this seems to have really lovely, cozy vibes.
Emerald Barkley's new Fever Dream merch collection is not a game, but I think their work is gorgeous and I pre-ordered a print for my studio. And they did write a game for my tarot zine, which I hope to get online as a free .pdf soon!
Alright, thanks for reading and supporting me! I appreciate you!
