Master Pledges and More!
over 4 years ago
– Tue, Aug 10, 2021 at 10:40:59 PM
Hello everyone!
I wanted to give a quick shout out to all our Master Pledges who signed up for a playtest with me, the designer! I will be reaching out to each of you over Kickstarter messages within the next day or two, to begin setting up time and dates to play the game either on Tabletopia or Tabletop Simulator! Please look out for that message!
In the meantime we are finalizing the last few things with our edits (mostly just re-reading the cards and rules). Within the next day or two, we will be sending our files to the manufacturer for that next level sample package before we begin production! Stay tuned for more information on that sample over the next few weeks!
We will also have more updates coming including our Pre-Order store before we get that production rolling!
Thank you very much everyone!
Jonathan Usiak
Answering questions about late pledges and pre-orders
over 4 years ago
– Thu, Jul 22, 2021 at 11:12:53 PM
Hello everyone,
We have had a lot of questions about being able to upgrade your pledge level in the post-campaign. I figured since we have had this come up many times now, I would go ahead and explain how this will work.
Short Answer: Yes, you will be able to get the game (with all unlocked Stretch Goals) in BackerKit even if you didn't back at the $50+ level or even pledged to the campaign at all.
If that is all you needed to know and prefer the short answer, you can stop reading and return to your day. :)
For those who want a more detailed explanation of how this will work, get comfortable and continue reading. :)
Existing Backers
You won’t be able to change your pledge level like you would in Kickstarter because the campaign has closed; however, you will have access to the BackerKit Pledge Manager in August. There you will be able to add the components you wanted from the Kickstarter. You will need to pay for the game, any selected optional add-ons, and the shipping for your region.
Anything that was unlocked during the Kickstarter will be included when you order in BackerKit; we didn’t want to take anything away from those who want the game but were unable to do a full game pledge when the campaign was live on Kickstarter. The entire first print run will include these bonuses, but future print runs will not.
Here is a draft of what the Pledge Manager will look like if you were a $1 – Inquisitive backer; this will be sent out to everyone in August.
Here is your typical shipping screen.
And here will be your payment page. For $1 backers, you do technically pay $1 more (or whatever you pledged at the Inquisitive level) because of the way Kickstarter and BackerKit handles non-item pledges. The shipping total will have a value once I finish adding the shipping regions and prices in.
Below is the add-on screen if you backed at the $50+ level showing that you do not need to add the board game to the cart unless you want an additional copy. If you added any add-ons during the Kickstarter campaign, it should also already be included and shown as in the red box; if not, then you will have the available credit to add the add-on items.
Those Who Missed the Campaign
There will be a pre-order store available to non-Backers also in August. It will look something like this (there is more at the top of the page I cropped off):
For anyone wondering why we show the price of $75 slashed out and the current price of $50. That is because the MSRP of the base game is $60, and the expansions we have included for the first print run will be sold separately later for $10-15. So early adopters are essentially getting a $20~25 savings over the second+ print run.
Current Progress
We are currently wrapping up our agreements with the shipping and freight partners, and once that is finished, we will be able to finish updating the Pledge Manager with shipping costs and open it up for everyone.
Jon and I have been wrapping up the final edits and will likely be sending the files to the manufacturer late next week to order a new manufacturer sample, and once we check each of the components/cards in that final sample, we will sign the contract and begin production.
I will do an update in late August going over the detailed schedule, but as of now, the important milestones are on track. Also, Jon will have time to make a pretty graphic rather than my boring Microsoft Project view.
Those familiar with durations for Production and Freight may think these numbers are large...and they are. I added 2 weeks to large tasks that are out of our control as a buffer. Best case, we tell you the games are coming earlier than planned.
If you made it this far, congrats! You now know a lot about our process. We prefer being transparent about how things are going so there will be some longer updates like this with the quick answers most people want first and then the details the minority are interested in.
Have a great weekend,
~Brian
Social Media Promotion Winners and Project Status
over 4 years ago
– Tue, Jul 13, 2021 at 09:06:51 PM
Social Media Promotion Winners
Over the weekend, we were able to confirm the last of the winners of the SKEPTICS social media promotion. Thank you to the over 800 people who followed our social media pages and/or signed up for the newsletter; we plan to provide updates about the current SKEPTICS project as well as teasers for upcoming games and expansions we have in the works. Newsletter subscribers will receive exclusive opportunities such as playtesting future games; be sure to sign up for the newsletter if you are interested.
Here are the winners of the Social Media Promotion:
- Bryson C.
- Eric. S.
- Nina E.
- Josh A.
Project Status
We are working to get everything setup within Backerkit so everyone can provide their shipping information and to allow for additional copies or the optional add-on dice to be added to their order. We will also have a pre-order store for anyone who missed the Kickstarter campaign and wanted a copy of the game; we will provide that link once it is ready.
For those who pledged at the Master Paranormal Investigator level during the campaign, Jon will be reaching out in the next two weeks to schedule those online gaming sessions. We want to wrap up everything with Backerkit and get a new manufacturer sample ordered first. Watch for those emails by the end of July.
Our goal is to have all of the edits done and a new sample ordered within two weeks; following that, we are targeting an early August to approve the manufacturer files so they can add SKEPTICS to their order queue. At that point, it is out of our hands for a while, but we plan to ping the manufacturer regularly to keep informed with the progress and will pass those details along. We have added a fair bit of slack into the projected schedule realizing all Kickstarter run into uncontrollable issues. Best case, I was overly pessimistic, and we ended up ahead of schedule.
Thank you all again for supporting our game. It means so much to have so many people believe in our game that has been Jon’s passion project for over six years. We talk almost every day, and I can you that he is super excited about getting this game into all of your hands. We hope you will continue to ping us on the Kickstarter page and social media throughout this process. Feel free to ask any questions or provide any comments you may have; we are able to respond fairly quickly in most cases.
~Brian
Newsletter Signup: https://usiakgames.com/
Post Campaign Update #1
over 4 years ago
– Mon, Jul 12, 2021 at 12:43:43 PM
Quick POST-Campaign update:
Thank you again everyone for getting this game funded! It flew by way too fast!
As we move forward I want to send out regular updates on everything we do until you get this game in your hands! We won't bombard you with emails, and more just want to let you know that we are not going to be silent at all now that the Kickstarter has ended.
The next two weeks we will be focusing on final Edits of all the text in the game, and getting our Backerkit page set up. I want to get all files to the manufacturer by the end of July to produce one last sample copy, then onto full production!
Thank you everyone!
Jon Usiak
