We are FUNDED!!!!
over 4 years ago – Thu, Jul 08, 2021 at 10:32:00 PM

Hello everyone!

We just want to say WOW! Just WOW! 

We ran our first campaign of this game back in October but fell short due to the lack of audience and reach with marketing.  But this time we changed things up a bit, hired a marketing team, and BAM! We are funded at nearly 250%!

We are just so shocked and excited that this game has made it! We cannot express enough thanks to all our backers and all of your support. 

During the campaign we were sending out individual messages to each and every backer of the game to say thank you and to make it more personalized (sorry, we didn't message the $1 pledgers because they usually came back later).  But the last 3 days have been overwhelming with the amount of pledges coming in so it was difficult to keep up! But we do want to thank newcomers that did not get a message from us. We would not be here today without the fan support!

So now what? Well, we will have another update in the next week or so about the Backerkit finalizations.

We are also going over final edits and prepping files for the Manufacturer. We are hoping to have everything done by the end of July, as well as getting one last sample copy for a final look before this goes into post production.

In the meantime, we will keep everyone updated and thank you once again for everything and making this dream a Reality!

Jon Usiak and Brian Moats

Usiak Games and Designs

48 Hours Remaining!!!
over 4 years ago – Wed, Jul 07, 2021 at 05:15:46 AM

672 hours ago, this campaign began with Jon and I hoping we would attract enough interested gamers to help bring his vision for SKEPTICS to life. 18k is what we were hoping to raise by the two-week mark with the dream of unlocking a few stretch goals by the end of the campaign. By day 7, we hit our funding goal, and by day 14, you all helped us unlocked our last “planned” stretch goal at 26k. We later added in a final stretch goal increasing the quality of the cards, which you all helped us unlocked within days.

With 48 hours left in this campaign and almost 38k raised, let’s look at everything you have helped add to the game. As Kickstarter backers, you are getting everything we planned for the SKEPTICS base game and what will eventually become the first SKEPTICS Ghost expansion, which will be sold separately during the second print run. Currently, 658 paranormal investigators, 20 master paranormal investigators, and 14 FLGS are receiving the following with your pledge:

• SKEPTICS Base game with 6 ghost, two maps, and all of the other components. All versions of the base game will now have the 310gsm black core cards with a linen finish, a tray that has been sized to fit everything we have currently and some future content, and the downloadable soundtrack. (MSRP: $60)
• SKEPTICS Ghost Expansion 1: Two new ghost (Entity and TWiiNS) and the Story/campaign mode. (MSRP: $12~15)
• SKEPTICS Promo Pack 1: 10 new cards that will only be part of this first print run and some special occasions in the future. (MSPR: Priceless!)

Because of my love of dice, we even opted for a late add-on option for optional extra sets of dice, which 65 of you have opted to add to your pledge. This add-on is available now and will be available in Backerkit as well.

The campaign is not over just yet; we are curious to see what happens during the last 48 hours. Again, we cannot express how much we appreciate your support for our first project, and we are excited to get this game into your hands as quick as possible.

We are already planning to start development on the first full expansion of SKEPTICS once we get the final print files into the hands of the manufacturer and that printing process begins. We expect this will be a 2022 Kickstarter campaign after this Kickstarter reaches your hands. We will be teasing this future content in our newsletter throughout its development so sign up if you are interested in learning about Usiak Games and Designs future plans.

Social Media and Email Promotion

As for our Social Media and Email promotion, we are going to draw the names of the winners later today, and we will be contacting those individuals. We hope to announce the winners (once they accept) by the end of the campaign. Here are the current totals for that promotion:

Thank you all again,

Jon and Brian

Usiak Games and Designs

New Online Investigation Available!
almost 5 years ago – Sat, Jul 03, 2021 at 12:07:57 AM

Congratulation investigators; thanks to your efforts over the last three weeks, we have discovered new rumors about an Entity and the “TWiiNS” ghost at a local museum; we are still working out the details of getting you on site to look into these rumors.

Additionally, 159 of you have looked into the Child Ghost at an online asylum called “Tabletop Simulator,” and another group has spent 666 hours at another called “Tabletopia.” Many of you have reported seeing a dark figure out of the corner of your eye and were left with an uncomfortable feeling. We ask that you return to these asylums to look into this potential haunting of a ghost we are calling “The Shadow.” I expect this investigation will be trickier than the Child Ghost so you may need to repeat your investigation to get a good feel for the differences. I expect each ghost we encounter will require new tactics to uncover their evidence.

You can find the addresses down below to begin the new investigation.

SKEPTICS Tabletopia (while in the waiting room, click the dropdown above the host’s seat to begin the Shadow investigation):

https://tabletopia.com/games/skeptics

SKEPTICS Tabletop Simulator Mod featuring the Shadow:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2497999258

SKEPTICS Tabletop Simulator Mod featuring the Child Ghost:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2350017514

While the recruitment campaign is down to 6 days, this is only the beginning of our journey together looking into rumors of the paranormal. Thank you for the support and let’s continue inviting fellow investigators to be part of this journey.

Thank you all,

Jon and Brian

Usiak Games and Designs

To be clear, this announcement is just for the new ghost available on Tabletopia and Tabletop Simulator; the Shadow is included in the base game of SKEPTICS. I just wanted to have fun with the announcement.

Stretch Goal #6 - CARDSTOCK UNLOCKED!
almost 5 years ago – Thu, Jul 01, 2021 at 10:37:32 PM

Helllllllllllllllo everybody!

We are happy to announce that we just unlocked the sixth and final Stretch goal of the nice European Black Core linen finish Cards! 

I don't have much a "story" behind the cards like I did with other Stretch goals. I guess I could say that we just wanted a bit more for everyone, and this is why we came up with this stretch goal and upgrade.

Lastly, I am just in awe of everyone's amazing support throughout this campaign and there is still a few days left to go!  I think I will be sad to go once the campaign is over, but at the same time I will always keep everyone updated on the progress all the way through to manufacturing and shipping, as well as updates to future expansions and games.

Thank you everyone and have a good night, morning, or afternoon!

Jon Usiak and Brian Moats

Usiak Games and Designs

Social Promotion for the SKEPTICS give away! Update #8
almost 5 years ago – Wed, Jun 30, 2021 at 12:05:36 PM

We are 173% funded and the Kickstarter campaign is still going for another 8 days! We have one last, added, stretch goal to unlock and we still have the giveaway going to be announced within the 48 hour mark of the campaign! All the details of this give-away are on the Facebook page.

The give away numbers are as follow:

• Facebook: 331
• Instagram: 199
• Email Subscribers: 116

Thank you very much to everyone for the continued support! You still have time to pledge and get a copy of the game, which includes all stretch goals and a promo pack!

Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/usiakart/skeptics-relaunch

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/usiakart/

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/skepticsgame

Website to Subscribe: usiakgames.com

Time for another story (which is part of the Storybook Stretch Goal)...