Late Pledge Store - Deep Regrets: An Unfortunate Fishing Game

Pre-production has begun! German localisation under way!
6 days ago – Fri, Sep 13, 2024 at 06:47:50 AM

Hello Anglers!

Progress update!

A small bit of good news today: all files are through proofreading, prepped for press and have been delivered to both the manufacturer and localization partners. I'll have digitally printed proofs in hand soon so I can review all the layouts and colors and make sure everything looks perfect to proceed to manufacturing.

I'll be waiting until the German localization is complete to move into manufacturing, since both will be manufactured at once to keep costs down and streamline operations. So while they are working on converting the game into German, I'll be working with the manufacturer to ensure everything's ready to roll once we start printing!

Tabletop Scotland

I exhibited at Tabletop Scotland this past weekend and it was a great time. Tons of people came by the booth, we had a full demo schedule and I sold quite a few copies of Hideous Abomination! Thanks to everyone who came by, I know quite a few of you were backers!

I had a fan of Hideous Abomination come by and bring me some fan art he made of the game and tell me I had inspired him and his friend to make their own game. He was even wearing this Hideous Abomination t-shirt! Such a heartwarming moment! 

Pledge Manager Progress

Nearing 90% completion rate on the pledge manager! That's huge! Stragglers can roll in whenever - just remember you can't get your game until you complete your pledge manager survey.

German Game Name

I'm excited to announce the German name of the game, as well! Drumroll please....
DEEP REGRETS!

That's right! The name will be staying the same in German. Our partners feel like the name is enigmatic and simple enough that it works well for German audiences as well, so no need to create a new logo for this language!

Other localizations

There's lots of exciting discussions happening at the moment. Nothing is set in stone yet, but I'm talking to about 12 other language partners and I'm hoping I'll be able to bring Deep Regrets into as many other markets as possible. None of these languages will be available as part of this campaign or in late pledges, they'll all be localised and printed at a later date and will be available in retail in their relative countries later in 2025 - likely late summer.

Molded Insert

The molded insert is now complete as well and I have some screenshots from the manufacturer to show how it looks and how the components fit into it. This insert is made from sugarcane pulp (bagasse) is and is 100% bio-degradeable! I'm really happy with how it came out and how nicely everything fits into the box. It's nice and snug in there with no wasted space.

You can see an example of the cornstarch baggies in the upper left-hand corner of the box - this is what all the bags will look like (ignore the clear plastic bag you see here, it's for prototyping purposes only). These are also 100% biodegradeable.

Perhaps not the most exciting component of the game, but something I've been trying to figure out for a while and I'm really excited a solution came together that was affordable, practical and still ethical!

What am I playing right now?

Fate of Witches! I've been following the development of this game for a while now because the theme and art are so up my alley. I actually got a chance to play it with the developer this week and it's exactly my kind of twisted. It's a push-your-luck game where you're trying to build the best coven of witches AND graveyard full of villagers - all of which are worth points. There's a nice mechanic where when you kill a character, their value is inverted, so you're trying to lure villagers into your coven, stack a bunch of negative values on them, and then slit their throats so they become super valuable for scoring. But there's this risk where if you can't manage to kill them off them in time, they'll be a huge burden on your final score! And of course there's suspicion and trials and burnings and hunters and everything you'd hope to have in a witchy game. It's good fun.

It has a lot in common with Deep Regrets - single designer/illustrator, dark humorous tone, beautiful artwork and design, push your luck mechanics - so if you're excited about Deep Regrets you might check this one out, too! It JUST launched and I love helping other budding designers succeed! (no, he's not paying me, I just really want this game and I'm selfishly leveraging my massive audience to help make sure it happens. 🤣)

That's all for now, speak soon!

- Judson 🖤

Finalized rules! Surveys at 75% completion!
28 days ago – Thu, Aug 22, 2024 at 09:38:55 AM

Hello again, anglers!

I want to say a huge thank you to everyone for being so speedy with completing their pledge manager surveys. We're already at OVER 75% completion in the first week. For the remaining 25%, the sooner you get your details in the swifter we can move into production!

If you're having trouble, please shoot an email to [email protected], the team over there are working hard to keep things streamlined and have helped plenty of backers already.

Here's the two most common Backerkit problems folks encounter:

APPLE ID PRIVATE RELAY: If you use Apple ID's private relay for your email address on Kickstarter, Backerkit won't be able to get your survey to you. We'll need to manually update your email address in Backerkit. I've sent emails via Kickstarter out to everyone that uses Apple Relay with details on how to fix it, but if you're still having trouble please email [email protected] for help!

SHIPPING IS SHOWING AS £40: This is a common bug in Backerkit. Until you provide your full shipping address, Backerkit will default to the highest possible shipping cost. This should resolve itself once you've provided your details, but if you're still having problems... you know the drill! Shoot an email to [email protected] for help!

When will my card be charged?

I need to wait for everyone to complete their pledge manager survey and have closed the late pledge store before I can start charging cards. That's scheduled to happen at the beginning of November, so expect any additional costs you need to pay in Backerkit to be charged to the payment details you've provided at that time.

If there are problems with your payment details, you'll be able to correct them and Backerkit will remind you weekly to do so. Note that I won't be able to ship your rewards until your payment has been successful.

The rules are done!

Raise a pint, the game is officially done! I've done enough playtesting of the new rules that I'm happy to call the game COMPLETE. I'm running everything through proofreading again next week, and then it will be off to Board Game Circus for German localization and off the Whatz games to create digital proofs for me to check color before manufacturing!

Here's a link to the completed rules if you want to check out the whole thing. Note that this hasn't gone through proofreading again yet so there may be typos (please point them out if you spot any).

What's new? In addition to all the changes covered in the last update, there's one more new rule: PASSING REWARDS!

Passing rewards

Now, when a player passes for the day they may choose to draw a Dink card OR discard a random Regret card. They get to make this decision again EVERY time they're skipped in the turn order after passing.

I love this new rule, it adds a bit of strategy to when you decide to pass. You can punish players who are taking too long by turning Madness in your favor or racking up valuable Dinks you can spend in the following days. It feels great and it gives players some agency while they're waiting on the other players to wrap up their day.

The EXTRA fun thing about this rule is that 13 Dinks is no longer enough! In a five player game, you'll blow through those 13 pretty quickly if multiple people are passing. And you know what that means? That means I get to INK MORE DINKS!

I've added a total of TWELVE new Dink cards to the game, bringing the grand total up to 25. Here's a peek at the completed new ones!

More cards for everybody! Hooray!

One other small change I'm excited about, I've changed the colors on the Regret card back. It's a little thing, but I really like the new color! The old one just felt a bit washed out to me and you're looking at only the backs most of the game - so I gave it a bit more punch!

What am I playing right now?

Skyteam! I try to play all the of the Spiel des Jarhres winners to see what's impressing the judges at Essen. It was very cool to see a two-player-only game win this year and I was excited to check it out! It is, as promised, good fun and very well designed. You're just trying to work together to land a plane but the systems are all ingeniously intertwined and it makes for some tense moments trying to (silently) decide where to place your poor dice rolls and how to (silently) signal to your partner how to avoid running the whole operation into the ground. Worth checking out, especially if you've been looking for a good two-player game!

That's all for now, speak to you again soon!

- Judson 🖤

First Surveys going out! Marine Conservation Society donation! Rules updates!
about 1 month ago – Tue, Aug 13, 2024 at 08:37:37 AM

Hello again, anglers!

Things are moving swiftly along! Three big important updates today: Surveys are going out, a donation has been made, and rules are getting finalized!

First Surveys going out Wednesday, the rest on Thursday

The pledge manager, Backerkit, is on schedule to open Thursday as planned. We'll be sending out surveys to a smaller group of backers ahead of time on Wednesday to make sure everything is operating correctly before we open the floodgates.

In your survey you'll be able to do a few things:

1. Provide your shipping address for delivery.
2. Provide payment details for shipping and any required VAT (to be charged later in the year). 
3. Add on extra items to your order. 

If you notice any issues, please get in touch to let us know so we can correct them as soon as possible. The quicker everyone completes their surveys, the quicker we can move into production!

If you made a $1 reservation prior to the campaign, you'll receive a copy of the mini-expansion for free and hopefully that will be reflected in the pledge manager when you access your backer survey. If that's not the case, please get in touch and I'll get it corrected.

Donation to the Marine Conservation Society

I took £1 for every backer of Deep Regrets, added in every $1 reservation I collected (about 1,400) and today I made a £15,000 donation to the Marine Conservation Society.

They're a very cool organization that campaigns to stop pollution, cleans up coastlines, creates safe spaces for struggling marine populations to recover, promotes sustainable fishing practices and more! I love the sea so much I made a game about it and I want to make sure it stays great. Thus, this was the perfect organization for Tettix Games to support!

I've been waiting for the payment to come through from Kickstarter before I announced this, but I'm really excited about it! I made the decision long ago to donate all of my pre-Kickstarter $1 reservations to an ocean-based charity because I didn't like using the tactic (more on that below). But then the campaign was so successful, I wanted to do more. I didn't want to announce this before the campaign or plug it on the KS page, because I don't like to greenwash or use charitable initiatives as a tool for driving sales. It's disingenuous. But I DO want to say thank you to everyone for allowing me to contribute to healthier oceans in a meaningful way! And I'd like to encourage YOU to do the same!

If you're interested in joining me in donating to healthier oceans, there are two main charities I'd recommend, depending on where you're based:

FOR U.S. BACKERS: The Ocean Cleanup

The Ocean Cleanup, a non-profit organization, is developing and scaling technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic. Their aim is to put themselves out of business once the oceans are clean. I love this charity! They're all about fishing horrors out of the oceans!

FOR U.K. BACKERS: Marine Conservation Society

These folks are working to solve the climate crisis, protect marine wildlife and clean up our ocean. They take an all-encompassing approach to conservation by combining scientific research, advocacy, education, and community engagement to protect marine ecosystems and promote sustainable management of marine resources. After I did a bit of research, this was clearly the UK charity doing the most good for our oceans. AND their merch is killer, if you want to support them AND get some cool gear - that's an option too!

FOR BACKERS ELSEWHERE IN THE WORLD: You can obviously donate to either of the above organizations or you can research who's doing good work for the ocean in YOUR country and donate to them, instead.

Rules updates!

As discussed last update, I've been hard at work playtesting and refining the rules to make a more streamlined and fun experience across the board. This work is nearly complete! There are a few small balance tweaks to some of the fish and items, but there are also a few much larger changes. 

I've updated the rulebook, and Tabletopia now reflects all the latest updates!

Here's the details:

• There's a new "Reel in" step in the start phase. Any players who are at sea must move their boats UP one depth at the start of the day. Thematically, I always wanted it to feel like the longer you stayed at sea, the more exhausted you became. This new Reel In rule means staying at sea for days without returning to Port makes fishing at the lower depths more difficult, compared to players that come back from Port with lots of shiny dice and equipment.
• Reels that previously said "during the refresh phase" now say "once per day". So, for example, a reel that allows you to re-roll any number of dice once can be used at any time during the day instead of during the refresh phase. This simplifies the mechanic and solves a problem where reels were equipped AFTER the refresh phase and could not be used until the next day... and also allows you to bluff your way into getting the life preserver if you're crafty!
• The fishing action is different in two ways:
  • The first step is now "cast" instead of "reveal". You pick a shoal and cast your line there. If the top card is not revealed, you reveal it during this step.
  • You must already be at or below the depth of the selected shoal you "cast" into. You can no longer drop sinkers AFTER revealing the fish - this solved an issue where players could get a Dink for free by spending their dice to descend instead of paying for the Dink. And it generally makes the fishing action cleaner.
• The way you shop at Port is completely changed! You now "visit shops" instead of "buying items".There are four shops: Rods/Reels/Supplies/Dice. You may only visit each shop ONCE per day. When you visit a shop, you pay $1 / $3 / $5 and get different rewards depending on the shop:
  • Rods/Reels:
    • $1 - Take the top card of the deck blind
    • $3 - Take the top three and keep one
    • $5 - Take the top five and keep two
  • Supplies:
    • $1 - Take the top card of the deck blind
    • $3 - Take the top three and keep two
    • $5 - Take the top five and keep three
  • Dice:
    • $1 - Draw one die blind from the bag
    • $3 - Draw two dice blind from the bag
    • $5 - Draw three dice blind from the bag
• The way you sell and mount fish is also different. You now do all your sales or mounting as a single action. So if you're selling four fish, you take the fishbucks for all of them at once and draw a Regret for every foul fish you sold as part of the action. If you're mounting, you take up to three fish and mount them in any empty slots.
• Last to pass only gets two turns, regardless of their location. The changes to how Port works allows this rule to be simplified and still feel fair.

Here's a pic of the updated Port artwork and the new design for the backs of the supplies cards! Since they supplies are now kept face-down, I wanted them to be a bit easier to tell apart (and more beautiful).

Expansion Biggest Regret cards are feeling more solid now. 

I've changed most of them to be a "once a day" action you can use and this is much more practical. Being able to control when you can use the abilities makes them far more useful (and used). Here's the latest iteration for you to check out, plus the rules cards that will be included in the expansion!

A note on $1 reservations

I want to speak briefly about the $1 reservation tactic, which I used for the first and last time preceding this Kickstarter. This tactic has come under a lot of fire and I want to share some thoughts on why I used it, and why I won't use it again. Buckle up, here comes some BIG TRANSPARENCY!

If you're unfamiliar, this is a relatively new concept where companies allow you put $1 down to "reserve" a game when it later comes to Kickstarter, usually with the promise of some sort of kickback. In my case, I was offering the Lamentable Tentacles Mini-Expansion for free if you put $1 down, so it saved you about $4 for being an early support (and about 1,400 people took me up on it, thanks!). It was an effective tactic and the folks that joined my Facebook group via this tactic are cool as hell and deeply passionate about Deep Regrets. (👋 Hi, if you're reading!) The principal is that it gives you a clearer picture of your potential success and that people who put the $1 down are more likely to go on to back than those that just sign up to a mailing list or follow the Kickstarter prelaunch page.

Prior to employing this tactic, I was unaware of the controversy surrounding it and once I did some research and thought critically about it, I stopped using it. I switched off that arm of my pre-launch marketing and I want to talk about why I did that, but also why you shouldn't hate everyone universally for using the tactic.

What's bad about it (from a business perspective)? 

It alienates people who might be your biggest fans. Because it has a well earned stigma of being capitalistic and manipulative, it instantly turns off people that might be your biggest fans, and I hate that. No matter how effective it is, that doesn't feel worth it to me. Opponents of the tactic point out that people who reserve might have gone on to back anyway, that taking the $1 is irrelevant - and I think that's probably true in most cases. I stopped using it because it DID feel manipulative to me, and that's at odds with how I'm trying to operate as a business - which hopefully came through in the way I ran my Kickstarter.

What's good about it (from a business perspective)?

There are two main things that are massively beneficial about this strategy compared to just collecting email sign-ups:

The first thing is that it makes your ad spend go further. I was operating with a budget of about £5,000 for advertising prior to the Kickstarter launching, and that ran out pretty quickly. The $1,400 I collected in reservations helped it go a little bit further and for struggling small developers (like I was then) that can make a huge difference. And obviously, any early support on your Kickstarter helps build momentum, so it's a good way to gather day-one backers.

The second and most important thing is the information it gives you. It's a measure of intent and that helps you forecast. The benchmark conversion rate for $1 reservations is about 30% compared to 6% for email list subscribers, so basically you have a clearer insight into the amount of people who will actually back. You could argue that the people who put $1 down would've gone on to back regardless at the same rate, but that's still a VERY clear metric you can use to anticipate the success of your Kickstarter and decide when (and if) you should launch.  Without collecting those reservations, you're left with a lot more guesswork about the real demand for your product.

This can't be understated: for a lot of small companies who use this tactic, that information is the difference between them going bankrupt on something that's doomed to fail and actually generating enough funds to create their game and deliver it. I was able to step away from the tactic because I'm in a position of extreme privilege. I already had strong signals that my game would perform well, I had an existing audience, I had a bit of operating budget to launch Deep Regrets. If I didn't have those signals, stepping away from this tactic might've equally meant having to step away from the project entirely. But you have to understand that many people don't have that privilege. They're struggling creators trying to bring a game they believe in to market with little to no funds and using the reservation strategy gives them a lot more security.

Even with all the strong signals I had, I was terrified going into Deep Regrets. And I know how it feels to launch WITHOUT those strong leading indicators. Had Deep Regrets not funded, I would be in very dire financial straits. That's a terrifying prospect and it's one a lot of creators face, so they turn to any tactic that helps to mitigate that risk. Imagine if your day job only paid you once, at the end of the year, and only if enough people agreed that the work you'd done over the course of the year was worthy of your salary. And if not? You get nothing. That's kind of what operating on the Kickstarter business model feels like and it is 😱.

So, while I'm not using the $1 reservation strategy again, try not to hate on people who do choose to use it. Sure, some of them are driven by greed and just trying to extort you, but the majority are just struggling creators doing what they must to make a game. Ideally, you can use your judgment to determine which you think they are on a case-by-case basis and try to avoid painting them all with the same broad stroke.

What am I playing right now?

Beacon Patrol! This is a great cooperative tile-laying game where you're exploring coastlines! It's super easy to learn, beautiful, and a very zen experience with some nice strategic decisions required. Good fun solo OR with friends!

That's all for now, speak to you soon!

- Judson 🖤

Pledge Manager Opens August 15th!
about 2 months ago – Fri, Aug 02, 2024 at 02:39:35 AM

Hello anglers!

A very quick update today to announced the opening date for the pledge manager. 

Pledge Manager Opens August 15th!

The original date was intended to be the 5th (Monday), but I think I was being a little optimistic with that timing. Given the scale of this Kickstarter, they're still processing payments and sorting out errors and I don't even have a final backer count yet, so it's a bit early to pull the trigger on importing everything to Backerkit. Plus, I added three fulfilment centres mid-campaign so I'll need a bit of time to sort out all the shipping costs and get those updated in Backerkit before it launches. Thanks for your patience as I get this sorted out

I'm also proud to announce that I've brought Naylor Games  aboard to look after all the fulfilment logistics for me! They're seasoned professionals with running pledge managers, dealing with freight and customer service and having them take over means you'll get responses to your questions more quickly and everything will move more swiftly and smoothly. Looking after the fulfilment of 14,000 games myself was obviously a daunting proposal that would've left me working full time just on getting this game into your hands and leave little time to work on what's next! So know you're in good hands!

Late pledges will be available in Backerkit once it launches, if you know anyone who's regretting not backing the game. 🥁💥

Development Update

I'm continuing to heavily play-test the Biggest Regret player-specific abilities and the changes to how shopping at Port works and everything's starting to feel MUCH better. Visiting port now feels like a must for success and you come away with lots more fancy gear to head back to sea. 

The player specific abilities (part of the mini-expansion) are getting close to a state where they feel useful and interesting and actually have an impact on the game (early tests did not). I've changed the way they work so that most of them are now be triggered ONCE per day at will, giving players a lot more flexibility in how they use them.

I also rewrote the fishing rules to be a bit clearer based on feedback and questions I was getting, here's the updated spread if you're interested. I'm making a few more tweaks and waiting to pin down the Port rules and then I'll output a new full version of the rules to share and add to Tabletopia/etc.

What am I playing right now?

Honestly... just a lot of Deep Regrets! BUT I do have time for some fillers/palette cleansers after testing and I've been doing a lot of Scout and Flotsam Fight! Most folks have heard of Scout, since it won Spiel de Jahres and is generally just a great game - but many haven't explored Oink Games' wider catalog. There's some really cool stuff there! Flotsam Fight is one of my fave discoveries and it's nautical themed so it feels like a nice double-bill with Deep Regrets. It's similar to Steffen Benndorf's "The Game" (also great) if you've ever played that, but competitive. The strategy is incredible malleable and really varies game to game based on how players are approaching it - which is kind of how Deep Regrets works, too! I love it!

That's all for now, speak soon!

- Judson 🖤

NO REGRETS.
about 2 months ago – Sat, Jul 27, 2024 at 02:05:21 AM

Hello, fellow anglers!

I'm going to front-load this update with nice long thank you message, so if you want actual information and not just me waxing poetic you can skip down to the next heading about the pledge manager.

So yeah, thank you all so much. All 13,950 of you. I'm trying to visualise what that number looks like and it's kind of mind-boggling. I just looked up the capacity of the Eiffel Tower stadium for the Paris Olympics and it's 12,860 - so if we all packed into that stadium they'd have to turn about 1,000 regretful Celine Dion fans away at the gates. To have that many people see the work I've done on Deep Regrets and decide it was worth their time and money is pretty emotionally overwhelming.

The whole Kickstarter has been emotionally overwhelming, honestly. It's a scary prospect putting something you've poured your soul into out in front of the public and hoping they don't just crap all over it. I made a lot of risky decisions in bringing this Kickstarter to market: omitting bundles that would be good for profits, eliminating stretch goals that would drive enthusiasm, sticking to eco-friendly materials despite cost increases, making a trailer that doesn't hit the punchline for a full 40 seconds, adding an incredibly expensive tier on that I don't even make any money from. I took a lot of risks, but I believed in what I was doing. I was very unsure how it would all land with the public, but the reception for this campaign is proof that people understood and appreciated my approach and that's such a huge sigh of relief.

Getting started in games is hard and the last year has been stressful and a bit financially fraught trying to make ends meet and still get this game onto Kickstarter. I'm sure there are a lot of fellow game designers reading this that know what I'm taking about. I borrowed time, skills and equipment from a lot of very kind folks to bring it all to life on a shoestring budget and my hope was just that it did well enough that I could pay myself a similar salary to what I had been previously making in the corporate world and still have some operating budget leftover - and we blew that goal out of the water about 4 days in. The end result is beyond what I would have expected in my wildest dreams and it's life changing in a whole host of ways.

When I say 'thank you so much', I want to be very specific about what I'm thanking you for:

Thank you for giving me the flexibility to continue doing something I love (with a passion) full-time without stressing about how I will afford to live. Thank you for allowing me to work in an industry that (so far) plays much better with my ongoing 4X game of depression and anxiety. Thank you for believing in the vision I had for Deep Regrets and showing me that the effort I've put into it has been worthwhile. Thank you for showing other publishers that being more eco-friendly can still be profitable.  Thank you for making July a very exciting time that is likely to remain one of the most pivotal months of my life. And just generally thank you for your support in all its forms. It means the world to me.

Before we jump into some actual information, here's a behind-the-scenes shot of the trailer filming so you can see a bit of creative problem solving on a small budget. Didn't have a spotlight: wrapped a bulb in a paper cone. Didn't have a crane: just wedged a tripod into a ladder and straddled the whole thing. Didn't have props: asked the local antique shop very nicely if I could borrow old ropes and crates. Didn't have a budget for actors: got friends with great on-screen presence to star in their debut roles. It was a blast to make on the cheap and I hope operating on a bigger budget in the future doesn't take the soul out of the process!

Pledge manager coming next month!

I'll be working with a new logistics partner to get the pledge manager set up and running soon, expect that to be live in the next few weeks. I'm using Backerkit, which many backers will be very familiar with and it will be open to late pledges for anyone who missed the cut off or found out about the game after the KS had concluded.

In the pledge manager, you'll be able to add items to your pledge and provide your shipping details (everything that was available in the Kickstarter will be available in the pledge manager except the original art and the heirloom boxes). Once you've done all that, you'll need to provide payment details to cover the costs of shipping and any relevant taxes (VAT).

Your card will not be charged for these costs until much later when the pledge manager closes. That should be around November so you can plan your finances. I will send out updates when we're nearing the closing date.

A few FAQs:

I'm a retailer and I want to add to my pledge

The retailer tier will still be available in the pledge manager. Both the base game and the mini-expansion will be available in blocks of 10 at a 50% discount, and you can add as many blocks of 10 as necessary to meet the perceived demands of your customers.

I put $1 down before the Kickstarter to reserve the mini-expansion.

I've got a process to collate reservations with Kickstarter pledges and I'll be manually adding the mini-expansion to all of those orders for free. If you've already added them to your pledge accidentally, I'll refund you the difference in cost ($4). If you use a different email address for Kickstarter than you did for the reservation, I have a system for identifying mismatches and I'll contact you individually to sort it out.

I use ApplyID Private Relay for my email and I've had trouble getting into Backerkit in the past.

This is a known bug in Backerkit - it can't seem to get emails to people who use AppleID Relay. You can get in touch with Backerkit support and provide your backer number and name and they can update your email address or otherwise I will need to manually change each of your email addresses individually. Details here.

How do I select my language?

In Backerkit, you'll be able to specify either English or German as the language for your games. All games in your order need to be the SAME language as they will ship from different locations. German is ONLY available to backers in living in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, no other regions may select German language versions of the game.

Help! This is my first kickstarter / I've never used a pledge manager before!

If you've never used a pledge manager before or you're new to Kickstarter entirely: this is a secondary platform that the majority of Kickstarters will use to help manage the workload of collecting address information, handling the logistics of getting the right things to the right people, and allowing us to offer late-pledges to folks who missed the campaign. You'll get an email from Backerkit encouraging you to provide your details and complete your pledge, make sure you don't miss it as I won't be able to ship your game until you've provided your details and paid for shipping. 

I'm moving soon! What happens if my address changes after the pledge manager closes?

Don't worry about your address changing. Right up until the last few weeks before shipping, you'll have the chance to change your address. You'll get plenty of notifications from Backerkit and I'll post updates here to let you know when that deadline is approaching so you can ensure your details are correct before we lock in addresses for fulfilment!

Timeline beyond!

This is all subject to change, of course, but as of right now here's what the process looks like:

Now: Late-stage development refinements
While the pledge manager is doing its thing, I'll be focussed on some late stage development refinements. I've been play-testing refinements to how shopping at Port works and the new player-specific abilities in the mini-expansion and it's all feeling pretty good. Once I'm happy with the changes, there are very minimal adjustments required to the design files to implement them. I'm confident I can have it all polished and ready for manufacture by the end of August.

October: Manufacturing
I'm also working heavily with the manufacturer right now to get the insert designed so that all the components fit snuggly into the box. We'll be going with the pressed sugar can pulp version of the insert, which is very exciting and 100% biodegradable!

Once everything's good to go, we can polish up that last bits of localisation for German and we'll be ready to place the order for Whatz games for manufacturing. I'm aiming to place the order at the end of September at the latest.

The manufacturing process should take a few months.

December/January: Freight
I'm anticipating the games being on boats around the turn of the year to get to the various fulfillment centers. I like to share the vessel names and links to track them - it's a fun thing to do if you've never tried it! My first game was on the Ever Given about three months BEFORE it got lodged in the Suez Canal.

March: Fulfilment
Once everything's arrived and unloaded at the various warehouses, we can ship it all out!

April: Regrets
You can spend the warming spring months regretting staying indoors with your shiny new game.

What am I playing right now?

The Old King's Crown! This is a shout out to some good friends of mine who are creating what's shaping up to be a permanent fixture on the BGG top 10, mark my words. Dicebreaker called it "a rich mix of Magic: The Gathering, Oath and auction games". It's a heavyweight game of hidden influences, asymmetrical factions, and rewardingly deep strategy with some truly, TRULY incredible artwork. It's not available yet, but I've gotten to play it a few times because they're based here in Edinburgh with me and I just love it. If you love Leder games and always wished Moebius was doing the art - this is your game.

That's all for now. Thank you all again!

- Judson 🖤