Hello all
Every once in a while it is important to stop, step back and take a look at where we are going.
Take a cup of tea or coffee, this is going to be a bit long.
I believe that it’s important backers and community members to really know what’s going on. I am going to share what we are doing and what I am thinking. Feel free to comment, criticize, give feedback and ideas for improvements. I take all feedback equally seriously. There are no silly questions, and I do listen and learn from even the most critical opinions, even if I argue back at times.
State of Kickstarter right now
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we have ordered all the components (LCD’s, batteries etc.) for both the Earlybirds and Standard units
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new PCB’s with better button components and RTC (Real Time Clock) was designed by Daniel. New boards are coming somewhere after 20th of this month (June)
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Some improvements have been planned and are going to be done to the plastic molds, and they will take a few days. The main thing is to make the buttons fit “tighter” in their places. This is a common issue and usually requires a bit of finetuning. We anticipated this in our original plans, it only requires us to “touch” the mold in a few places with the CNC milling machine.
In summary: no time was wasted in getting the move on after the Kickstarter. Even so, we may have been a little bit optimistic with the schedule, especially the Earlybirds & the addition of the RTC. We will do everything we can to keep to the original schedule. However, your satisfaction with the product is our #1 priority, and we are making the product as good as we can before we ship.
Thought #1: empowering the community to do more
I’ve been blown away by the games and demos that the community has been able to create with the simulator. The submission to #CGAjam was an incredible display of teamwork. The tools that have been made and the game ideas are better than I could make.
First: we owe it to this incredible community to open up the source to the sim completely, so that you can participate fully in its development. This will gradually happen within 30 days, on github, with commented API on Wiki. That is a promise.
Secondly, I would feel a lot better if there was a “core team” of a few people (3-4 for starters) who want to be involved in looking after the most critical bits of the code. Job description requires ability to communicate and take and give criticism without getting offended. If you feel this is something you want to be involved in, please raise your hand (or nominate someone) in whatever way you wish. Please understand that I want to keep the core team small. This is not because I do not trust everyone, but because a small team is easier to manage in the beginning - we will grow the core team as things move forward.
Thought #2: expanding the Pokitto user base to 10x more
The thing that has surprised me the most about running this project has been the difficulty of getting the marketing message through to different media outlets. The truth is, however, that we have not yet sent any devices to reviewers etc. So it is not *really* a big surprise that getting media coverage is difficult.
Blog round coming:
We have been approached by people like Boing Boing and they will write stories when we first send them units to review. There are a number of other review sites that are also waiting.
Second crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo:
After we have completed the blog round (or at the same time) we are contemplating running a second crowdfunding round with better pictures, stories from review sites and a more finished product all in all. The campaign may also involve different kind of kits that allow you to build funny stuff and connect it to Pokitto. Please comment: do you think a second crowdfund is a good idea?
PokittoGameJAM on itch.io:
This is something I would really like to do. How do you all feel?
That’s all for now.
Please comment, your ideas are very important to me and the Pokitto project.
Jonne
