Cover story

I don't know if this is actually where I'm going to go with the Bloodsword covers. Kellie Strøm has already pointed out that outlining and stretching what was already a thin font and then putting it on a busy background is pretty hard on the eyes. Maybe shading down to a darker background at the bottom would help.

Or maybe I'll try something entirely different. I'm just playing around at the moment, and most cover design goes through several extinction events before you settle on the phenotype you're looking for. As Tim Harford says, success always starts with failure. Well, strictly speaking, not always - but often. It's in that spirit that I've been fiddling with these images. (And yes, I've read my Aristotle. I do know that failure often starts with failure too.)

But one moment. Is it not quite likely that we will make Bloodsword a Kickstarter extravaganza with Megara Entertainment? If the Way of the Tiger campaign succeeds, Bloodsword is quite possibly next on the list, in which case we should end up with some beautiful colour artwork by Megara's art team.

However, I'm still thinking about doing two versions of the series (as discussed here) so that purists can have all the tactical maps and thumping great rule sets of the '80s originals, while gamebook readers with more streamlined tastes can play something more like the Critical IF series, where the emphasis is decidely more on "book" than on "game". Two editions will need to be differentiated by two styles of cover design.

Comments are very welcome - and no need to spare my feelings, either. It's just a work in progress. And, as such, it's meant to change.