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@Michael: I understand that. Sorry for getting a bit heated, I did in no way intend to attack you personally. I just think that all things considered we are at a point in time where "thats his own business" regarding anything that connects with this project is long behind us.

No harm done - I didn't take it as an attack, and I completely understand emotions getting heated in this situation. I'm a gamer too and I would find it extremely frustrating to be in the position you guys are. I've backed some projects myself that were very late or got cancelled entirely. So I know how it feels.

I really didn't mean to judge anyone who scrutinizes Gary's Kickstarter backing activities, and I apologize if it was taken that way.

I think I need to clarify a bit: I don't at all defend Gary's handling of communication with the backers. Like I said, it's not how I would do it, and I repeatedly tried to change this.

To put the money thing in perspective though, the $40,640 raised for the Kickstarter would be enough to pay me for a little over a year of work. And I worked on the project for more than 3 years straight, full time. So I would assume that the Kickstarter money was spent a long time ago, to pay me for my work.

I totally agree though, that it is very bad form to log onto the site repeatedly and back lots of projects, without giving any updates to his own project. It is insulting and disrespectful to the backers, and this aspect of it has frustrated me a lot. Because you guys deserve to be treated better.

Thanks for the well-wishes and words of support all. I'm really glad to hear that people like how the art turned out.

Michael, what happened to Gary? Why has he shown so little interest in communicating with his backers?

Gary is still around and working on writing the remainder of the adventure path, as far as I know.

But I don't know the reasons behind the way he has handled communication (or lack thereof) with the backers and fans of FMG. I will just say it's not how I would handle things, and I've often tried to instill some better approaches in this area.

Currently, Gary has backed 137 projects. Mike didn't know that until I told him.

Actually, I never said that. I'm well aware that he supports a lot of Kickstarters. Honestly, I don't feel it's my business how he chooses to spend his personal money, and I think there is a separation between personal and professional activities to keep in mind here. I can see how it can be viewed badly though, in light of Throne of Night's delays.

Hello all, this is Michael Clarke. Up until about a month ago I was the staff illustrator / visual design guy at Fire Mountain Games. As some folks have found out (and I also told kevin_video about this, to relay info to the Kickstarter comments page), I was laid off from my position at FMG. The reason given was that there is no more work for me to do. I understand that this news would cause some degree of alarm in backers and others following this project, so I wanted to share my assessment of where it stands.

To give you an idea of the amount of artwork that was done for Throne of Night, I counted roughly 180 color illustrations (many of the recent ones being full-pagers), and 52 maps. In my estimation, Gary has plenty of art with which to complete the entire 6-book path (+ the Kickstarter bonus adventure) and publish it.

The big question of course is the status of the writing, and unfortunately I don't know where that stands or what kind of timeline Gary has for it. It will be up to him to update people about the future of the project and I've encouraged him multiple times to do so. He did tell me that he still intends to fulfill the Kickstarter.

I really hope it does see release, because I'd be hugely disappointed if all that work never got to be used at the game table.

At the very least, I will be able to publish art prints of my FMG work, as Gary has generously granted me rights for that. I can't use it for a gaming product but for art prints or art books I've been given the okay.

I want to say thanks to anyone who had good things to say about the art I made for FMG. Especially kevin_video - who has always cheered me on the most. It really meant a lot, and has often kept my spirits up. The situation with the delay was not anything I had control over, so it got demoralizing at times.

Anyway, that's about all I wanted to share at the moment. I'm now launching into doing freelance illustration full-time, so hopefully I'll be getting some art into some other 3rd-party books and maybe even Paizo's books at some point! I would love to do some Starfinder art.

- Michael D. Clarke (SpiralMagus)

PS... Yes, my Shemhazian has less eyes than the Paizo one - just putting my own spin on it based on the text description, which doesn't mention the number of eyes at all. Anyway, thanks for the positive words - glad you guys like it! :)