The Impact of Iwata

Success!
over 1 year ago – Thu, Jul 13, 2023 at 07:02:10 PM

Thank you, backers! This Kickstarter campaign has been an incredible success thanks to each and every one of you – from the rocket start that got us to our minimum funding goal in less than two days at launch to the extra boost here at the end, and every single day in the weeks between! No matter when you jumped in and pledged your support, we appreciate it!

The Impact of Iwata will be finalized in the months ahead, and I'll keep you all updated on progress as we go. I'm planning to head to the printing facility for a full tour within the next few weeks, so maybe that will be the subject of our first progress update.

But for now, we enjoy the moment! A great Kickstarter, fully funded multiple times over, and with every Stretch Goal achieved. You all are amazing!

~ Lucas M. Thomas

24 Hours to Go + Final Stretch Goal Completed!
over 1 year ago – Wed, Jul 12, 2023 at 02:04:26 PM

Great success! With our last Stretch Goal accomplished, we'll now add 16 extra pages to bump The Impact of Iwata up to an even 240 overall!

It occurred to me that I never explained why 16 would be the number of pages added – it's a printing thing. Books almost always have a multiple of 16 for their total number of pages. (And blank white sheets are there in books that fall short of hitting a multiple mark precisely.) It's just the way the printing process is set up! It's been that way forever! So adding exactly 16 more pages makes the addition as easy for our printing company to integrate as possible. 

24 hours now remain in the campaign! I won't add another Stretch Goal at this point, so as to not stress anyone who'd be fretting about whether or not we might hit it. We'll call the campaign overall a wonderful success and welcome in anyone else who wants to jump on board and preorder their copy of The Impact of Iwata in this final stretch of hours!

~ Lucas M. Thomas

Stretch Goal #7 Unlocked! So, Let's Go for Another!
over 1 year ago – Tue, Jul 11, 2023 at 11:43:23 AM

Boom! You're now living in the timeline where The Impact of Iwata's $99,000 Stretch Goal was achieved even before the critical final 48 hours of the campaign had a chance to begin, so if you're pledged to any tier of $29 or higher, you've got a bonus print copy of Nintendo Force heading toward your mailbox in the future. 

And since we've still got time left, let's go for another one!

If the funding total here climbs up to the even greater milestone marker of $109,000, we'll upgrade The Impact of Iwata yet again by adding more pages to the final page count. It will go from having 224 pages to having 240! The extra space will mean more of Mr. Iwata's inspiring story will be able to be told, and in greater detail. So let's make it happen!

The final 48 hours are nearly upon is! Let's keep this train rolling!

~ Lucas M. Thomas

Announcing a Partnership with OverClocked Remix!
over 1 year ago – Tue, Jul 11, 2023 at 05:42:33 AM

I hinted at this back when the Stretch Goal to create it was met, but now it's time to officially confirm it: The Impact of Iwata's audiobook version will be enhanced by an official partnership with OverClocked ReMix! 

If you're unfamiliar with OC ReMix, it's an entire community of talented musicians who take video game tunes of the past and remix them to make new, even more magical songs. They've been around since 1999 – almost as long as the general public's access to the Internet! – and have been creating incredible tracks ever since. Most of the community's remixes are one-offs, but from time to time the community will also come together to create entire collaborative albums!

And that's what's happening again for The Impact of Iwata. One of the things I'm most excited about with the book's visual versions is the fact that each chapter opens with a spectacular full-color illustration – but the audiobook version will naturally lack that eye-catching impact. So I wanted to have an ear-catching equivalent!

The plan, then, is for the OverClocked ReMix community to make a brand-new album of 16 different remixes – one apiece for each of the book's 16 chapters. A portion of each track will be used to musically introduce each new chapter, at the same point when your eyes would be drinking in the illustration in the other versions. Then, at the end of the audiobook, when all the words are done, the mic will be fully turned over to the remixers' hard work and you'll get a free album of all 16 tracks, uncut, allowed to play out in their entireties. Lots of times, audiobooks are things we listen to just once. With this complete OC ReMix album included with The Impact of Iwata, I'm hoping to add extra repeat listening value!

If you want to familiarize yourself with the OC ReMix style, they did a small tribute album dedicated to Mr. Iwata back in 2015, around the same time we were publishing our "Thank You, Mr. Iwata" magazine issue. Give it a look and a listen right here: https://ocremix.org/album/71/heart-of-a-gamer-a-tribute-to-satoru-iwata

The race toward this Kickstarter's finish line continues!

~ Lucas M. Thomas

Final Days!!!
over 1 year ago – Mon, Jul 10, 2023 at 04:10:23 PM

Impact of Iwata backers, we're closing in on the finish line! We've got less than 70 hours left: The campaign will conclude this Thursday at 5:00 p.m. Eastern. 

Please do what you can to keep spreading the word until then! We're still climbing toward our seventh (and probably final?) Stretch Goal, set at the $99,000 mark, which would send an extra physical copy of Nintendo Force Magazine to all physical copy backers early next year. Let's make that happen!

And beyond that, the support for this campaign overall has been so sensational that the grander goal of launching NF Books as a whole line of new books being published by the Nintendo Force team has been given an incredible early boost. Future book plans past The Impact of Iwata will get accelerated that much more for every extra dollar this first campaign is able to draw in! I'll personally be fully focusing just on The Impact of Iwata until such time as it's 100% content complete, printed, shipped and it lands in your hands, but other member of the Nintendo Force team who've already finished their contributions to this first book can now pivot to their own book projects. There are already a few fun ones in the works! Stay tuned for more on those later on, of course!

For now, let's charge ahead to The Impact of Iwata's Kickstarter finish line! Let everyone you know know that becoming a backer before time runs out guarantees that they'll get the fun free extras, like the "Thank You, Mr. Iwata" wall poster, the audiobook and (hopefully) also that $99,000 Stretch Goal bonus copy of Nintendo Force in physical form!

~ Lucas M. Thomas