Date: Thu May 22 20:11:57 1997
From: matt2518@gladstone.uoregon.edu (Matthew Johnston)
Subject: Re: Anime Madness News...?
To: bd981@yfn.ysu.edu ("Edward T. Hrzic III")


On Thu, 22 May 1997, Edward T. Hrzic III wrote:

> 
> 
> Matt,
> 
> I just read the news about AM a while ago, but didn't
> get to write this letter until recently.  A friend and
> I were discussing what was happening to AM, and we both
> found that the game was severely delayed.

Yes it is.  I'm glad you're still discussing it, though!

> Reading the news, I don't know what to think.  Anime
> Madness is a good game (despite being similar to you-
> know-what), and I've been waiting for some new stuff to
> come out.

I feel your pain.  Creation was 90% done when production was halted.

> At the beginning of the post, you stated that AM is
> far from dead.  That's good news.  But you also said
> that you won't be able to print the expansions.  Is
> this for the time being, or as in never in the future?

Well, if I can collect enough dough to pay everybody involved (you know,
I'm the only person other than my own family who doesn't charge $20+ per
hour for their services...), AM card sets will roll out.  So, the spoiler
list options are for the time being, which could be as short a time a few
month to as long a time as a year or so.  I hate to be like Decipher, but
the market just wasn't very friendly to my little game.  However, the
tides may be turning.  If you'll notice, the market is purging itself as
we speak.  Plus, new marketting strategies on our part may up sales some.
To this extent (trying to sell the game and get it into as many hand as
possible) we are never going to give up.  If there comes a time when the
market looks like it can bear an AM, we'll produce another set.  Until
then, our money-power just isn't enough to bear a loss like AM has been...
so far.  I say so far because Chessex just put in an order that clears out
about 1/4 our stock at once, and brings in some much-needed dough!  So,
things may be picking up.  I just did an interview with Fractal Spectrum
magazine, which, while still small-potatoes, is on the rise.  They'll be
reviewing my game as well.  Plus, we'll probably start a small-scale ad
campaign from there (the rates are about 1/15 the price of an InQuest or
Scrye).  Plus, we will have the rights to all the anime (most of which is
exclusive) until 1 year after we run out of stock (which is when the game
will be considered "out of print").  That could be years from now!
Hopefully not, but still, it gives MJG plenty of options.

> Granted, I'd like to do what I can.  I'd really like to
> see AM live and breath.

All I can suggest is to show and tell it to everybody you
know, get some fan web pages going, even if it's just to say "I like this
game".  I will give permission to scan the "whole card" images (not just
the screen captures) to anybody who wants permission (now, before I
swallow my entire leg on this, let me check with my legal advisor -- but i
think it should be okay because I am the license holder to the card game
context of the anime images).  I haven't been doing anything like that
because it would be sooooo fake if *I* did a fan page, or any of the other
authors of AM did a fan page.

> Please give me some info (when you can -- again, college
> life -- but didn't the current semester just end?) on
> how I can help.
> 

I'm on a 3-term system here in Oregon.  Finals week is coming up.
Financially, this is way out of any one man's hands (unless you're
stinking rich and are dying to spend around $20,000 - $30,000).  It's one
of those things where we just have to hope that interest in the current
product will bring in enough support to finance the next project.

I'd like to thank you for sticking with us even though we're pulling a
Decipher on you guys.  It's been tough on all of us, but trust me, we
wouldn't be inactive if we didn't have the most pressing of reasons.

E-mail me back.  I'd love to hear from you again!

--Matthew Johnston
--Matthew Johnston Games

> - Ed Hrzic
> 
> --
> -| Ed Hrzic - Anime fan and fanfic writer! | bd981@yfn.ysu.edu |-
>      ...A MATTER OF OPINION...SUDS...VGHOSI...MUNE KNIGHT...
> One of the only males on the planet with Sailor Moon bed sheets.
>   Home Page:  http://www.oocities.org/TimesSquare/Alley/2247/
> 

Well, the "Give AM a hand" message must have worked -- Chessex has quite
nearly bought out all of our inventory!  We have less than 750 decks left.
That can only be a good thing!  Chessex midwest has ordered three times
what any other single area has ordered, causing my current fav expression,
"We're big in Ohio!"  ^_^

That's about it.  Things are looking up, and, with a little ... okay, a
lot of luck and a lot of time off, the second edition *might* make an
appearance.  If I do such an edition, it will be the creme de la creme of
the sets -- probably only 100 cards, but with a different treatment of
animators.  Thus, I'll only need 5 or so, leaving more room for the big
name characters and shows (well, not *all* of the shows, but maybe a few
neew faces)...

...Nw, before you guys all start saving your pennies for this possible
"vaporware" (an old software term for programs that never saw the light of
day), I must remind you that this is only a notion right now.  To be sure,
the game will be more efficently handled, if it gets handled again at all.
Also, I might experiment a little first.  I have many projects, some CCG
related, some comic book related, some music related.  I basically have a
full plate of schemes, and I'm still in college, so be patient.  If you
see any more Anime Madness, it will be within a year.  But, things are
looking up.  ^_^