Story Sage Games Development Blog
Making games isn’t easy! To bring you behind the scenes of our process, we started this blog to cover everything from exciting updates like new art and product launches to the more mundane things like how we figure out shipping, marketing, and more. Come follow along!
Release Day Thank-Yous
Wow. It’s honestly hard to believe that release day is finally here. After two years of the home game and two years of development, so much time, effort, and care has gone into this thing. I’m so excited to hear what you think of it. Right now, though, I want to take a moment to thank the dozens of people who have played roles, both small and large, in bringing Ampliterra to life.
The Music that Inspired Ampliterra
I’m a huge music person. I constantly have something playing in the background. So when I was writing Ampliterra in the winter of 2021, I listened to a lot of music. I compiled those tracks into a playlist last year, but didn’t explain why I picked those tracks and what they represent in the book. So today, I’m going to pick five of those tracks and tell you exactly how they fit into Ampliterra: Echoes of the Rift.
Pre-Order Behind-the-Scenes
I’m so excited to finally be gearing up to put the book in your hands in just a few short weeks. Since I promised that this blog would go into both the glamorous and not-so-glamorous parts of the process, I want to dedicate today’s post to getting the ecommerce up and running. Hopefully, this can serve as a resource to other folks who are considering doing this and make everyone else go, “huh, that’s interesting!”
Ampliterra November Progress Update
Very exciting news – we’re on the brink of launching Ampliterra: Echoes of the Rift. We received the first handful of books from the printer and are putting the finishing touches on our webstore, planning our shipping, sorting out logistics… all of that good stuff! It’s been a little while since I’ve given a full accounting of what we’ve been up to, so let me walk you through the full process since last March.
The Pantheon
The Ampliterran multiverse is home to a broad pantheon of gods ranging from those that represent life itself to those that stand for something a little more mischievous. Today, I’m going to introduce you to the five primary gods of Ampliterra and a bit of what they stand for.
Beyond Ampliterra
I feel like any good TTRPG setting needs something beyond the material realm to explore. Something to add mystery, intrigue, supernatural elements, and religion to the campaign. They really need a multiverse…Today, I’m very excited to introduce you to the many planes of existence beyond Ampliterra.
Introducing Conor Nolan
Sadia Bies, our art director, first introduced me to Conor’s work very early on while we were exploring different artists to work with. I completely fell in love with his quirky character design, rich use of color, and vivid world design. When we were deciding which artists to bring in for second round half-page and full-page illustrations, we both knew we wanted to ask Conor to do a few.
Finishing Touches
Holy cow. I don’t think I’ve worked so much on Ampliterra since the Kickstarter. At that point, lots of the to-dos were for our artists, art director, layout artist. Now that we’re getting so close to being done, it’s coming back to me to finish everything up! Let me tell you a bit about what we’ve been working on these past two weeks.
Ampliterra August Progress Update
It’s been a fantastically productive month and a half since our last major project update. Let me tell you a bit about what we’ve been up to!
Introducing Vilm!
I’m so excited to introduce you to the work of Vilm, the second of two character artists we have working on Ampliterra: Echoes of the Rift. Ampliterra has over 75 characters for you and your players to meet spread out through its 26 settlements. 23 of those characters are illustrated, 9 of which Vilm did for us.
The Spot Art of Sadia Bies
This week, we’re taking a look at the beautiful spot art that Sadia Bies has created for Ampliterra.
Ampliterra June Progress Update
It’s been a moment since I last gave a big status update on Ampliterra: Echoes of the Rift. I’m happy to report that progress on the book is coming along very well and we’re still on track to release it this fall!
The Great Aspelan Power Struggle
For hundreds of years, the great nations of Aspela and Ceshad have been locked in a brutal war known euphemistically as the Abiding Conflict. It has dominated political affairs and day-to-day life on Oceros for generations, and the countries’ internal power structures have also suffered from the upheaval. What comes next is anyone’s guess.
What’s on the Cover of Ampliterra?
For a few months now, we’ve shown off the beautiful cover art for Ampliterra: Echoes of the Rift illustrated by Serena Malyon. Today, I want to give you a look into how we made the cover and the moment that it portrays.
Introducing Return to the Sock Drawer
I couldn’t be more excited about today’s post because I get to announce a brand-new project from Story Sage Games! Let me tell you about Return to the Sock Drawer.
The Very First Game In Ampliterra
Now that the final illustrations of Ampliterra: Echoes of the Rift are underway, I’ve been reminiscing on the home game that started it all. During its first year, I gathered all the background material and sessions I prepped into an anthology to share with my players. You might call it a dry run for this book! I felt inspired while reading through those original sessions last week to share the very first session played in Ampliterra.
Art on the Way!
We’ve been hard at work over the past few weeks planning artwork and layout for Ampliterra: Echoes of the Rift. This has been a super labor intensive, super rewarding process to envision the characters and places we’ll bring to life for the final book.
The Plan for Ampliterra
As promised, I’m here with an update on Ampliterra: Echoes of the Rift. I really appreciate everyone’s kind words in the last week – it’s been so nice to hear from so many people who are excited about the project.
The Ampliterra Process So Far
So often when a project reaches the public it can seem like it’s coming out of thin air. I wanted to write this post to give a sense of the years of work that have gone into getting Ampliterra: Echoes of the Rift to its current stage! Strap in, this is a long one.