Comic #4 Roadmap & Scope Sketch

--- ###### tags: `Gitcoin Graphic Novel` `Comic #4` --- # Comic #4 Roadmap & Scope Sketch *March 18, 2022* - ~2 months of ideation + ~2 months of production. These periods will certainly overlap, but **the total production time should not exceed 12 weeks.** ### Phase 1: Discovery/Consultation - 2-4 weeks - Make some decisions on the initial curation issues: - How do we choose an Impact DAO to work with? - How is the relationship with the Impact DAO articulated? - How will we define the economic and cultural value add for both parties? - **Consult with the Impact DAO** - Through synchronous meetings and **interviews.** - Determine integration into existing lore - Gather data about their characteristics, regen mechanics, etc. - **Identify a representative** to serve as a tether between the Gitcoin comic team and the Impact DAO for the duration of the project. - Setup initial coms - On the GitcoinDAO Discord server? - Need to determine permissions. Could be read-only to the larger community (if we don't mind leaking alpha) with chat perms reserved to core team, Gitcoin reps, and Impact DAO rep. - Anticipate potential pain points to begin gathering support/resources, if necessary. ### Phase 2: Design Sprint - 2-4 weeks - Conducted by core team, but others might be invited: - Travis - plor - DAOJones - Colton - Impact DAO rep - Kevin? Reps from MMM, PGF, and other Gitcoin workstreams? - Comic #3 sprint was 3 full days. Comic #4 might move towards a 1.5-2 day sprint. - Post-sprint, this data will be organized via **affinity mapping** and other techniques, towards the concretization of **clear character personas, landscape, and artifacts.** - We might also begin to consider **high-level narrative archs and inflection points, cultural references, aesthetic elements**, and other elements. - We will identify **non-negotiable elements** to serve as constraints for the next phase. ### Phase 3: Pre-Production 1-2 weeks - Characters, landscapes, and artifacts will be handed off to the artist to begin the dialogue about aesthetic direction and **visual feel** of the book. - The comic team will turn towards ideating on the story, towards the execution of a **clear script and storyboard** for the book. - Begining from high-level, mythological, lore-infused scope to move towards the specifics. - Weaving together the character personas into **stories and epics** in relation to a large narrative timeline tracked by the Universe Guide. - Identify how the story will begin and end, what key inflection points and memes the story will explore, mapped upon the page structure - what we consider to be the **information architecture or sitemap** of the book (minimum of 13 pages for all books moving forward). ### Phase 4: Production - 4-8 weeks - Regular **sync meetings** with the artist, letterer, and the Gitcoin PGF workstream to track production progress. - During this time the artist will **illustrate the entirety of the book**, the script will be rendered and **laid out** by the letterer, and decisions will be made collectively on the **appropriate print form**. - These meetings are an opportunity to strengthen the parallel rails of this project: - Convos with MMM to strategize how to capture learnings for future iterations of the comic+auction+UG, including attracting new transmedia collaborations. - Convos with PGF to strategize how to maximize impact of public goods/regen funding through other existing initiative. - Convos with the wider Gitcoin community to **"user test"** and gather feedback to consider for future issues, including attracting new artists and letterers. - The comic team will be able to commit more attention to supplement the work of the auction team: - identifying transmedia opportunities: posters, NFTs, merch, etc. - strategizing on marketing and sales initiatives: creative direction and strategy. - helping to support the accounting and project management of the larger joint initiative. - Deliverables of Phase 4 will be: - Polished, published, physical and digital editions of the comic. - Project document archive to capture the process, including a **retrospective** to identify breakdowns, pain points, and extract learnings for future ideation. - A repository of assets to be integrated into the Universe Guide and serve as inspiration for future transmedia/auction ideation. --- #### Questions - How open will communications be during production? For example, will the Gitcoin community be invited to comment on the progress to steer the direction? Will there be special privleges for Universe Guide contributors? Will this be permissioned or require a vetting process? - Will the content of the comics be automatically ratified as canon to be added to the Universe Guide? Who decides/votes on this? How will "bootleg" contributions be submitted, evaluated, and ratified to become canonical lore of the Gitcoin Comic Universe? - How will the release of the Universe Guide book Edition 0 inflect upon this agile roadmap for future iterations of the comic?