No more "Hollywood handshake"

For those of you who haven't heard the term, there was a time in Hollywood that a handshake was considered to be the equivalent to a signed contract. This notion may have changed since last I heard, as I am out of touch with a lot of things.

While the "Hollywood handshake" may or may not be dead in Hollywood, it is alive and well on the internet. For a wide variety of purposes, simply clicking a little button or checkbox counts as a "signature" or agreement to a set of terms. Even sites like lulu.com or zazzle.com will let you sell products with little more than this.

The reason I'm talking about this is because I have discovered a rather interesting exception. I've mentioned that I am interested in selling AiO as a PDF file, as this is a profitable option in the RPG market. There are a number of sites that sell gaming PDFs, like RPGnow, DrivethruRPG, YourGamesNow, and Paizo.com. And every one of them requires a signature signed on honest-to-god paper using actual ink.

In other news, the game is still in progress. It is currently being laid out, incorporating the art that I've commissioned as well as discovering the places where it needs more art. Which means that I have to commission more art in order to fill these "art holes" and that is a process which takes time. I can't simply tell an artist "Give me 2 barbarian warriors, 3 eldritch abominations, and a orc with a battle-axe". As I mentioned in Jared's podcast, finding the right artists and art is a task in itself.

Although my goal was to release it this year (preferably August 21st), I am finding myself facing realities that it might have to wait until next year. I could probably put something out right now, but it would not be the game that I want to put out, and I don't think it would be the game that Oz fans and gamers deserve. So the progress bar is at about 95% and creeping ever closer to 100%.