Well, there was quite a muddle involved in the Collector's Edition discussions! The thoughts I reached from all I heard was that the following would probably be best for everyone involved (especially me, and that's somebody I like to help out!):
Note: Everything below this point is not official word, just what I'm thinking. Speculative ideas. Comment on them as you wish, but don't hold me to them.
The game will come in two versions, just like the other 'big games' we have. You can either buy it on CD or download. The difference here is that you get different stuff depending on which you do! If you buy the download, you get regular old LL2 with regular old everything. Wonderful game that will keep you addicted ten times longer than World Of Warcraft ever could (oh no, I accidentally took the hyperbole pills!). If you order the CD, you get the Developer's Cut of LL2, which will probably have a better sounding name than Developer's Cut. It is the same game, but you'll be able to unlock bonus stuff in it, from commentary, which I'm looking forward to creating, to bonus battles and special outfits. Nothing that means players of regular LL2 are missing any gameplay, but a little extra fun. For this privilege, you will pay about $5 more, plus the usual added costs of it being a CD (same as the other CD version games). You should order this version if you are a Hamumu nut and want to be supportive of Hamumu, or if you like me are addicted to the extras you find on DVDs, and listen to commentary on all kinds of movies.
I do still intend to do preorders. The way I'm going to swing that is that you preorder the regular version download. If you actually want the fancy CD, you'll be able to upgrade to it when it is released, for the exact difference in price. So no harm done to you.
Before anyone asks, buying it on CD means you get a download link (to the Developer's Cut) immediately that you can play with while you await the CD's arrival. So if you don't want a CD, too bad - just consider it part of the extra cost of the Developer's Cut. It'll be a much much bigger download that the regular version thanks to the commentary. In fact, if it's too huge, it may come down to making the download link just be the regular edition, and you'll have to wait for the CD to arrive to get the extras (your progress will be kept between versions). Doing it that way would leave me feeling very free to include anything I like in the extras, so it would be better for you, because I wouldn't be holding things back to keep it smaller. And since you have to finish the game to unlock commentary (so as to leave me free to blab spoilers during commentary), you're not likely to need the upgrade any sooner than that.
I also will at some point make a few different T-shirts available, not likely to be very LL2 related, but general Hamumu T-shirts that should be fun to get.
In addition, there will quite possibly be a strategy guide you can buy for LL2, in PDF or in print. So you will be able to craft your own Collector's Edition if you really want to, I suppose. It'll be weeks of work to put together the guide, so I'm still not sure it's going to be worth the effort. But I'm going to plug away a little bit and see how it goes.
Actually, I'll tell you about that! My current scheme for getting myself to do work is one I've done in the past that's pretty fun. I have letter tiles that I draw from a bag. They tell me what to do - "L" means levels/content for Loonyland 2, "J" means make a Journal entry or Sneak Peek, "S" means sound effects, etc. Each letter lasts an hour, or until it's done, or until I realize I'm not actually accomplishing anything. Then I draw a new tile. So I have a "G" in there that tells me to spend an hour or so working on the strategy guide. So far I've made exactly one page, but almost all of that time was work getting it setup just right. I may Sneak Peek that page for you once I have it resized to the dimensions I need it to be, so you can see what the guide would be like.
So, discuss amongst yourselves.
