I updated the DECK page on my site with the project's current status. Might as well paste the update at the top here:
TL;DR: We got some great submissions, but it wasn't the example-game-shaped pile of content we needed, so I think a better solution is to find one or two artists who could knock out all the artwork needed in one fell swoop, pay them for their work via crowdfunding, eg something like IndieGogo (various reasons I don't think I'd want to use Kickstarter), and release that work to the public domain as planned. To be very clear: DECK would still be free of charge, but if you wanted to help make it happen you could chip in a few bucks.The call for art assets last July led to some excellent submissions from several talented contributors. High in quality as the submissions were, it became clear after a while that in total number they did not form a large enough content base needed for the simple standalone example game as originally outlined below. Also the stylistic differences between each submission might have proven difficult for DECK users to work with.
I thought about this for a while, and determined another way to meet the project's goals: find one or two skilled pixel artist(s) who'd be willing to do all the work and pay them for their work via crowdfunding. The amount of work would be very clear cut, and the target funding amount would be based entirely on their rate for the work to be done - no stretch goals or uncertainty beyond funding itself.
The profile and portfolio of the artist(s) enlisted would be a nice, clear proposition to potential crowdfunders: a talented artist, whose prior work you can assess for yourself, will produce this content, which will be released into the public domain for anyone to use once the target funding is reached. As before, my own role in this I'd do for free on my own time: assembling these assets into a small example game, collecting everything into a distributable form, documentation, etc.
Right now I'm busy with other projects, but I do definitely want to revive DECK in the way described above once I have more time. The next step would be to find artist(s) who are interested in doing the somewhat substantial work required as a paid gig, so if you are such an artist or know of one who would be a good fit, email [redacted]. Like I said I'm busy with other projects now, but the art is the bottleneck so any leads on that would be a great thing!
Thanks again for the support and interest.
Anyone who already submitted content: obviously I haven't released anything, so please do with your work what you will - if you want to rescind the CC0 license implied by the submission please feel free, I would never consider releasing anything you sent me under any future version of DECK without re-confirming your permission if the project returns in a new form.
I am very busy right now getting a new commercial project off the ground, so I can't justify spending any time on DECK at the moment. I'm just posting here to say thank you so much for the support and those of you who submitted such excellent contributions. I still want it to happen at some point, just not right now. In the meantime, feedback on this new plan is welcome! Thanks again, be well.