Digital Version Rough Concept & a New Long-Term Goal!

Good evening, everyone!

We'll get the small topic out of the way first and follow it up with a little update on form-fillable sheets and long-term goals. To start with, the other day I pushed an update for Gourmet that added a variant page for their ingredients list. The delightful Nugat (@nugamallow) reminded me that, uh... Gourmet characters get a lot of ingredients, more than what I had accounted for. This variant page has over twice as much space for ingredients, and trims the recipe combinations to simple "Result + Choice" boxes.

Form-fillable sheets are my main task right now, and I expect I'll have a proof of concept soon-ish to share with you. I was initially tackling the idea from the same angle as I would the printed sheets, when I should have been focusing more one what digital sheets can do that paper ones can't. The idea I landed on is something like this:

• A main page, a sort of reference sheet, that shows a brief version of your character info, like weapon names, class names, skill names, HP, MP, etc., but nothing too detailed. Ideally, it'd also double as a "show it off to your friends" sheet, kind of like those forum signatures we had back in the day.
• Discrete pages for equipment, for classes, etc. These would contain the rest of the information not found on the main page--your weapon qualities, skill texts, quirks, so on. These would also include certain duplicated information, such as HP/MP, so you're never too far away from the basics.

And the idea that ties it all together...

• A system of links, bookmarks, and a "navigation menu." That way, if you're on the main page, you can click directly on your weapons to take you to your equipment sheet, click on the "classes" tab to jump to your skills, and then click a "main" button to switch back to the main page. From my limited understanding, this should be feasible...

I don't use digital character sheets, so I have a lot of experimenting and testing to do on these before they're ready. Any ideas or feedback is welcome, more now than ever! Additionally, I'd be overjoyed to hear about what you want in a digital sheet--I'm really relying on that experience!

Now, onto the long-term goal...

I didn't really have one at first. Then I broke even on the costs of the project, including both the software and the pixel art I'd purchased. And then 8bitdo announced their Pro 3 controller and there's this adorable GameCube colorway and ohmigosh you should go look at it! I was contemplating getting it as a celebration and present to myself (and I still might, mind you) when I realized there was something better I could strive for:

Art!

Character art. People that embody the Class image. And it so happens that I have tons of characters to pull from, though I'm lacking in the art-of-them department. I'd been wanting to commission work for years now, and it hasn't managed to work out.

I happened to see an artist the other day who does fairly affordable work that could be a good fit, so I used them as an estimate on costs. There are, uh... 28 Classes, though. No matter how you cut it, that adds up. But it's art that I've wanted for so long, of characters that I cherish, of a story that I would love to share in this unique way. And don't worry, I'll make sure an artless version is still around! Those will always have the benefit of more space for the heroic skills, so it's a choice to consider.

This is a long-term goal, and one I'm not sure I'll ever reach. Any support given is precious to me, and that won't ever change! In light of the fundraising for this goal, though, I am raising the default pay-what-you-want price to $5 (it's still PWYW, though, to a minimum of $0!)

Thank you all for your continued support, it makes this project more fulfilling than I could ever have imagined. I look forward to seeing where we can take it together!

With love,

-Ember Wisteria <3