It's done! I've finished it. The last thing we are going to wait for now is that there is a fan who is a professional at proofreading who is going through the text and finding all the errors I missed. I think a few extra days is worth catching those grammar mistakes and unclear sentences. As soon as that is done, I'll get it uploaded to DrivethruRPG and get you all the final version.

Also, if you click on "Start Playing Now!" above, you will find new play aids: a GM's reference and a Combat reference to complement the Player's reference. The character sheet has also been updated to reflect the latest changes.

I feel like I owe some explanation for why it has been delayed, but I have been loath to post a list of excuses. On the other hand, as a newbie at self-publishing, I want others who are thinking of self-publishing to be able to learn from my mistakes. In that spirit, here are the factors that have contributed to the delay.

1. Inexperience led to bad estimates. My estimates for writing were generally on-target (specifically, they were off by one week because I spent a week procrastinating and terrified of trying to get my tangle of thoughts on Kits into a coherent structure). My estimates for poofreading and substantive editing were way off! Proofreading took me about four times as long as I expected, and it was very difficult work.

2. New interest from Kickstarter backers led to more playtest reports and more fixes, which results in a better game but did take many hours to read and resolve everything. This is essentially why my estimates were off for substantive editing. My game wasn't as finished as I had thought it was.

3. The person I had lined up to do layout backed out due to personal reasons. She had been offering me a good deal and I wasn't sure if I could find another pro who would do the work for the amount I had budgeted. Luckily, another fan volunteered to do the layout design if I would do the grunt work myself. This was the best way to stay within my budget, but added extra time to the project. Instead of doing the proofreading concurrently while someone else did the layout work, I had to do them sequentially. This added one month to the project - I knew what to do in InDesign (because I had help and advice), but I'm not nearly as efficient as a pro would be, so everything took a while.

4. These three causes of lateness were exacerbated by the fact that once the game got pushed back into July it was always doomed to take longer due to my new baby and my increased teaching workload through July and August.

Here, have some art! (This one by Kyla Austin).

Hooray! The text is done! Kickstarter backers and people who pre-ordered through this site now should have received the final rules text a couple of days ago.*

The courses I was teaching this summer have just wrapped up, so as soon as I dig myself out of marking hell I'll be able to get to the last few tasks to wrap everything up nicely and put Strike! on sale for real. I'm excited!


*Well, a couple of sharp-eyed readers have caught some grammar errors and such, so I'll be fixing those and in that sense it's not FINAL. But there won't be any substantial changes, and I'm certainly not going back in and looking to make more work for myself. The only changes at this point will be mistakes that other people catch.

Well, the proofreading is agonizing, but it will be done any day now. Obviously with the new baby and with my summer teaching (and my two other kids, who still take up way more time than the baby), there hasn't been much time in July, as I knew there would not be. But I am still finding small chunks here and there to finish this up little by little. That's why there have been so few updates: in the amount of time it takes me to write this post, I could have proofread the Defender. So rather than go on at length, I'll just tell you the plan and then get back to the grind.

The plan is that I will finish proofreading, then I will drop everything into a document to release to all the backers and pre-orderers. Then my loyal fans can catch all the mistakes I missed in proofreading while we get it into a nice layout (I wish). When? My best guess is this weekend, since usually Fridays are very good for getting work time.

Hey, so those of you who backed the kickstarter will know already from my update that my daughter Thalia was born last week! She's doing great, as is the whole family. My other daughters absolutely love taking care of her. Her arrival has meant that I won't be posting any official deadlines, but I can tell you that I've been able to keep working.

As an example of the work that's going on, I just did an editing pass on Kits today, and the file has been updated with the latest here. This has not only a bunch of Mini-Kits with advances for you to take outside of the main kits, but also includes Reputations, which allow you to have greater influence as word of your deeds spreads.

I'm also happy to post up a schedule for mini-expansions here.
August: Vehicles
September: New Class: The Rogue
October: Urban Fantasy Skin for the sample Adventure
After that, I'm thinking of putting out a collection of "magic systems" with different feels, as well as working on more new classes: the shieldbearer was a popular pick, so it will probably be next.

I'm also very excited about this Fall's X-COM 2 release, and with that in mind I have started sketching out ideas for UFO Strike! This will be a version of Strike specifically made for fighting aliens. It'll be great for playing in a world like that of X-COM, but it'll also include other fun variations like playing as the aliens. This project is larger than a mini-expansion, and if things go well, you can expect this to be my next major release. First things first, though: I have to get the core book done and out the door before I start putting time into the next thing.

After a couple of weeks of sparse work due to a mix of legit reasons, uncertainty about how to handle certain questions, and a few excuses, too, I've had four consecutive days of multiple hours each devoted to finishing Strike! I didn't update on Friday because I thought "Well, I could post another disappointing update or I could actually buckle down and do the work... Yeah, it's better if I just do the work." And that's exactly what I did!

That's mainly what there is to say. I'm not going to give an estimate for when it'll be done because I know my baby is due any day now and it would be unwise to try set a firm deadline in such a situation. The key thing is that I got over the various practical and mental obstacles that had blocked me and I am working hard at it once more.

Here, I'll even show you a couple of things I've finished finally.
Masters of the Four Elements Draft
Illustrated Combat Example
The second one has some very cute combat illustrations from Yuri.

Also, here are two possible versions of a picture Yuri just finished. Let me know which one you like best.

I missed my usual update last Friday. Sorry. Here's the news from the past couple of weeks. Work on Strike slowed down significantly for two reasons. First, between high school exams coming up and university summer semester tests, I had a wave of tutoring clients, and I'm not at the point in my career where I can afford to turn down paying work. This was good news for my wallet and bad news for my schedule. Second, as anyone who has had a baby can tell you, the last month of pregnancy can be unpredictable, and so it has been for us. I won't get into the medical details of course, and there's nothing to worry about, but the events of the past couple of weeks have meant that my wife can only do a fraction of the things she usually does. So I've been trying my best to keep up with doing all the tasks that usually just get done while I'm not looking and that I usually get to take for granted.

Am I saying Strike's release will be delayed into July? I don't know. At this point my best guess is yes. I'll still try to get things done by the end of the month, but my dispassionate assessment is that I won't make it. It's important for me to finish this promptly, but it's more important for me to do things well and make sure the game is ready to be released before I release it.

While you're here, I'll show you a preview of the new layout. Exact details like fonts and such are still up in the air, but this is generally what you can expect. If you have opinions about the layout, now is the time to let me know. Once I get much farther, it will be very difficult to change things. This layout is thanks to the good work done by Cosmonaut.