Hand-Drawn Game Guides: Mega Man

Stretch Goal #1 is Nearly Achieved! + Stretch Goals #2 and #3 Revealed!
over 1 year ago – Tue, Jan 21, 2025 at 06:05:55 PM

Our humble Hand-Drawn Game Guides: Mega Man Kickstarter has been kicking around for a solid week now, and here at the one-week mark, we find ourselves right on the cusp of clearing our first Stretch Goal! We set the bar to hit at $80,000, and as of this writing we're sitting right at $79,000. So hopefully we'll clear that first hurdle soon!

If and when that last $1,000 comes in to get us over 80k, everyone's physical copies of HDGG: Mega Man will be officially upgraded with an extra gloss effect! Phil and I have agreed that we like Stretch Goals that everyone gets to benefit from, so we kicked things off with one of those.

So . . . how about another?

Another enhancement that could benefit every printed copy of the book would be to print some extra art on its endsheets! "Endsheets" are those extra pieces of paper in hardcover books that are placed between the cover and the main block of interior pages. Most of the time they're just blank white, or sometimes another solid color. But for an additional investment during print production, they can be snazzed up with some extra art!

So for Stretch Goal #2, if we hit $100,000 or more in pledges, we're going to kick the boring, blank white endsheets to the curb and swap in some additional Phil art in their place. Our thought right now is that we would use those positions to showcase some of Phil's earliest Mega Man sketches – his style-exploration brainstorming pages from when this project was in its absolute infancy and he was just beginning to find what Mega Man's look would be for this book. It would be a nice way to (literally) bookend the final book!

And how about a little more? Let's go ahead and toss Stretch Goal #3 into the mix:

If we keep climbing and manage to get up above $120,000 in total pledges, then we're going to create an additional Art Card and add it to everyone's packages who have pledged at the Physical Tier and above. Currently, the Collector's Edition tier and higher are hosting a Set of 10 Art Cards – these will contain art dedicated to the 10 main characters of the first Mega Man game, meaning Mega Man himself, Dr. Light, Dr. Wily, Roll and the six Robot Masters. This bonus Art Card would add an 11th character to that mix: the iconic Yellow Devil! But . . . you'll have to wait to get your first look at Phil's take on the good old "Rock Monster." Gotta save some stuff for later updates!

More Stretch Goals are being brainstormed over and above those, so let's keep that support rolling in! 

And that's all from me tonight, but come back tomorrow for Prize Man's Giveaway #2 . . . as well as our reveal of who won Giveaway #1!

~ Lucas M. Thomas

$70,000 Surpassed + Stretch Goal #1 Announced!
over 1 year ago – Fri, Jan 17, 2025 at 10:00:08 AM

* LUCAS SPEAKING! *

It's been only 72 hours since we launched this campaign on Tuesday afternoon, but we've already surpassed $70,000 in pledges! Thank you all once again for jumping in to be the earliest supporters of Hand-Drawn Game Guides: Mega Man!

We've already had some questions coming in about Stretch Goals. So let's go ahead and reveal the first! If our funding total climbs above $80,000, then every copy of Hand-Drawn Game Guides: Mega Man will be enhanced with the addition of spot gloss UV on the cover. Spot gloss UV is that "shiny" effect that you may have previously seen on the cover of The Impact of Iwata or 202X: Video Game Reflections. It's the eye-catching extra bit of visual pizzazz that makes the cover catch and reflect the light! (It looks snazzy, trust us.)

Adding gloss to the cover of HDGG: Mega Man will make everyone's first impression of the final product all the more positive when they first hold it in their hands. So let's do it!

We'll have more Stretch Goals to discuss if we can achieve that first one. So once again, reach out to your friends and your family and your fellow Mega Man fans! Let's push the pledges up past $80,000!

~ Lucas M. Thomas

* PHIL'S TURN TO TALK! *

Let's take a closer look at the Rolling Cutter!

We showed this one briefly in the Kickstarter video, but we haven't shown it in full yet. Like we also mentioned in the video, Capcom is allowing us some creative wiggle room to play around with the characters and concepts of the game. One of the things we're excited about with this book is showing Mega Man's armor adapting to whatever Robot Master power he has equipped, much like how it's done in Mega Man 11!

I didn't go as drastic with these as Capcom's designs did in Mega Man 11, but instead opted to pull each Robot Master's key characteristics into Mega Man's look. In the case of Cut Man, I took elements from his head (since those are his defining elements), so we now have Mega Man with huge scissors coming from the top of his head and handles on the sides of his helmet. I also kept the proper color palette of Mega Man using the Rolling Cutter from the game (though that's different from Cut Man's own colors).

In addition to that, each "Get Equipped" spread has two tips that teach you a thing or two about each weapon. I wanted to give these pages lots of personality, so I hope that shows through, especially with all the little doodles!

~ Philip Summers