1st Printing Card Replacement Kit for Deep Regrets

Posters and Original Art shipping next week!
over 1 year ago – Wed, Dec 04, 2024 at 05:36:40 AM

Hiya anglers!

Fun news today!

Posters and Art shipping next week!

Very quick update to say that the posters and original art are shipping imminently and you might actually get them before Xmas. If you're receiving either of these rewards and your shipping address has changed since you filled out your survey, please contact me ASAP! I will not be locking addresses until the games ship in March, so you'll have a chance to change your mailing address if you move in the New Year, don't worry.

• Posters shipping next week.
• Most Original artwork shipping next week, remaining will ship after as soon as selections are made.

There are still about 10 backers I need to contact about the original art, I'll be getting in touch soon, in backer order. There are also still about 6 backers who have not responded to my request to select your original artwork, please check your Kickstarter messages and let me know which artwork you'd like so I can send it your way!

Deep Regrets Cameo in Vomitland!

A cool bit of news that this cool looking game Vomitland from Brazilian publisher Cyber Rhino Studios features a cameo from Deep Regrets in the board artwork:

Very cool and I'm honored to be included! I cannot vouch for the game as I haven't played it, but it's a push your luck game about riding rollercoasters and barfing and it has an awesome puppet in the trailer, 🤘 so make your own judgements.

That's all for now!

- Judson 🖤

Tariff update & Board Game Design Presentation
over 1 year ago – Thu, Nov 28, 2024 at 03:45:38 AM

Hello anglers!

Tariff Update

Another update to answer some questions and set expectations now that it seems like the tariffs on Chinese imports to the US will go ahead before the games arrive in the US. The proposed tax rate on goods is 25% for Canada and Mexico plus an additional 10% on goods from China. My hope is that the 35% tariff will be charged on the manufacturer's declared value and not the MSRP, lessening the amount due. I estimate this will cost about $30,000 USD.

I'm going to eat that cost.

A lot of you were very kind in my previous post about paying your share, but I think this campaign just fell at an awkward time where shipping was charged ahead of the tariffs and the game will arrive after the tariffs. Charging each US backer an additional fee at this point would be a logistical nightmare and I imagine it would frustrate a large number of backers. So this one's on me! 

What to expect in the future.

(A caveat that I am not a professional authority on these matters and this is all speculation based on my own perspective.)

Moving forward, US backers should expect to be charged 35% more for games they buy on Kickstarter (and probably in retail, as well). Personally, I'll be handling this by charging more for shipping for all backers inside the US. So, for example, Deep Regrets costs about $50 USD and the shipping charge is around $15 USD. In a future campaign, the game cost would stay at $50 USD since there are backers from all around the world, and I would add 35% of that value ($17.50 USD) to the shipping cost for US backers, making the total shipping cost $32.50 USD. So the total game cost for US backers would increase from $65 USD to $82.50 USD.

Some companies might decide to "absorb" costs for US backers in future Kickstarters, but what they will likely be doing is unilaterally increasing costs for all backers to compensate. So instead of just the US backers paying 35% more, all backers would be paying ~25% more. Or they might actually absorb all the costs and lose ~30% of their revenue and struggle to make ends meet. Either way, this will have a huge financial impact as higher prices lock out more backers and reduce sales.

There's a possibility of games manufacturers making their games in other countries, but there are very limited options - the best being in Poland and Vietnam - and they are likely to be overrun with requests in order to dodge tariffs, only being able to serve a small percentage of the industry. There's also the possibility of having components made in China and then "assembling" in the EU or US - which still increases costs as it means additional labor and freight. It's possible customs authorities will begin cracking down on the origin of components, so it may not actually avoid tariffs down the line. 

If you're curious why no one would just manufacture inside the US, there are two main reasons. One, it's around 4-10x more expensive, even including freight charges. And two, most manufacturing facilities in the US cannot produce the components required - such as wooden, metal and plastic pieces.

Fun!

A Primer on Game Design

I recently gave a presentation about Game Design that I thought others might find useful and interesting, so I recorded a version of it and dropped it on YouTube. It includes some bits from a previous presentation I gave, but I went into much greater detail and was VERY transparent about the process and finances behind it all. If you're interested in peering behind the curtain a bit or you've always been curious how much of the money creators get to keep from Kickstarters, feel free to check it out! There are a few fun announcements of what's next for Tettix Games at the end!

Deutsches Spielanleitung!  (German Rules!)

Ich habe jetzt das endgültige deutsche Regelwerk, das ich Ihnen mitteilen kann, wenn Sie daran interessiert sind, es auszuprobieren! Sie können es hier herunterladen. (Google translate, forgive the grammar).

(I now have the final German rulebook to share if you're interested in checking it out! You can download it here.)
 

Progress update

Everything for the game is in manufacturing now and it's full steam ahead for both English and German, expected to be complete mid December. I'll be having the posters printed shortly and those will actually go out to backers ahead of the games. The games are still on schedule to deliver in March as planned!

Getting through the list of Original Art backers has been a much longer process than I imagined, but I've only got about fifteen left at this point (though about six folks have been unresponsive - check your KS messages if you haven't picked yours yet!). Once everyone has picked, I'll be mailing those out immediately, so they might arrive in time for Xmas if I can get through the last few folks! I want to keep doing this in future Kickstarters, but I'll probably do away with the option to select which artwork you get and just do random ones so the logistics are easier to manage.

The two fancy heirloom boxes are slated to start production mid January and I'll be sharing lots of fun images of their creation as they come along.

What am I playing right now?

Dead Cells! I was a big fan of the video game (which was inspired by Rogue Legacy, which I did the music for, so I may be biased). So I was excited to check out how it translated to a board game and so far I haven't be disappointed. It's a fun campaign-style co-op battler game with lots of interesting choices and trade-offs and an engaging gameplay loop that mimics the 'roguelike' video game category very well. Get as far as you can, spend your rewards to improve your chances in future games, then have another go at it. Addictive in the right ways!

That's all for now.

- Judson 🖤

Manufacturing Underway. Declined cards. Risks update.
over 1 year ago – Thu, Nov 07, 2024 at 03:04:29 AM

Hello anglers,

I hope you're surviving this week, it's been a doozy.

Declined cards + Pledge Manager Update

Per my recent mini-update, most payments in Backerkit have now been processed and orders have been locked. I know there were a few issues with charges being flagged as fraudulent, specifically for AMEX. This affected about 3% of backers - roughly 400 people.

Apologies for not sending prior notice outside of the inclusion in the update last week - this is a learning I'll take away for future campaigns, to ensure people are aware of the charge and can plan for it. A dedicated update just to state the charges are coming feels like the most logical approach. I know this has massively inconvenienced people and I will absolutely avoid making this mistake again. I've been out of sorts this week dealing with recent world developments, which you can read more about in the Risks update. 

If your payment did not go through, it will send you an email asking you to update your payment method. If your payment method is already valid, it will automatically retry the charge periodically - you don't need to do anything on your end.

As a reminder, you'll be able to update your shipping address right up until the last few weeks before the game ships and I will send plenty of updates reminding you of that date as it approaches and solidifies.

There are still about 900 backers who have never filled out the survey. You need to complete the survey in order to receive your games - if you're having any issues, please shoot an email to [email protected] and they'll help you to resolve them!

Manufacturing Update

The best news is that manufacturing has now begun! They're beginning with language-independent components like dice and meeples and will be moving into English language components immediately after. The German localisation is now complete and we're reviewing eProofs this week, the German language components will begin printing. It should all be complete by the end of November.

Hoping I can get some videos from Whatz Games of the process to share with you all!

Risks Update

I will start by saying that this is unlikely to affect the delivery of this campaign. However, it's important to be transparent about risks. 

One immediate impact of the US election outcome is that the elected party has proposed trade tariffs, specifically on imports from China. 

This would have a significant impact on the board game industry, including this campaign. The games are set to arrive in the US in roughly mid-February, which will hopefully be too early in the administration for any tariffs to have been enacted, but I cannot say for certain.

If the tariffs ARE imposed by that point, what might happen is that when the games arrive at the US port, I will be charged potentially up to 60% of the value of the games to import them to the US (that's about $100,000USD), which would be financially devastating. It will not impact your receipt of the game, but it may potentially affect my ability to sell games in the US in the future. And possibly my ability to continue making games at all.

I am aware of the situation and I am planning for this and have funds to cover costs. However, the unpredictability of the current political climate makes it difficult to plan for what might happen. I cannot fully rule out a scenario where increased freight charges and levied tariffs become too great for the company to afford and I cannot successfully import the games to the US. I will do everything in my power to ensure the games get to US backers.

Tariffs on imports from China would affect about 90% of the board game manufacturing space and likely see many companies substantially increasing prices for their board games inside the US.

What am I playing right now?

Rivages! I got to check out an advance copy of the new game from Pandasaurus a few weeks ago and let me tell you, it's a joy. The pass-and-write mechanics are so fun and charting your own little map is really rewarding and satisfying. It's strategic and adorable and fun, a rare combination. Highly recommend checking it out when it's available.

That's all for now!

- Judson 🖤

Shipping Charges processing today!
over 1 year ago – Wed, Nov 06, 2024 at 09:31:43 AM

Hi folks!

Just a mini-update to inform you that I'm now processing card payments for shipping, taxes and anything you added in Backerkit. If you see a charge on your card from Tettix Games, that'll be me! Apologies if this took anyone by surprise! The pledge manager is now officially locked and pre-orders are closed and manufacturing is now underway!

Off to the races!

Cheers,

Judson

Manufacturing beginning! Pledge Manager Closing! Plus Chinese counterfeits! Oh my!
almost 2 years ago – Fri, Oct 18, 2024 at 06:17:50 AM

Hello grim anglers!

Manufacturing update

Another quick update to say that pre-production is complete and German localisation is almost done. I've reviewed digital proofs for colour and everything has been spell checked to death and reviewed time and time again. So it's time to pull the trigger! Manufacturing should be beginning at the start of November if all goes to plan which puts us spot on scheduled for delivery to you in March!

Pledge manager closing November 4th

I'll be closing the pledge manager on Monday the 4th, so make sure you've added all the add-ons and such that you'd like by that date. Late pledges will close at the same time. Once the pledge manager is closed, I'll begin charging everyone's cards, so expect to see your balance show up on your card around that week. Any failed payments will be automatically notified and you'll have plenty of time to provide alternative payment methods. You'll be able to update your address for shipping right up until two weeks before the games fulfill, so don't worry if you're planning a move in the near future. If you have any questions or concerns around Backerkit, please shoot an email over to the logistics team at [email protected].

Chinese translation

I'm excited to announced that Asmodee China will be publishing a simplified Chinese edition of the game in China! Very excited to be working with these partners and excited to bring the game to the Chinese market. They're already hard at work on converting the game into Chinese and it should be hitting the market over there mid-to-late 2025. It's a bit earlier than I'd like to have announced it, but that's because of...

Chinese counterfeiting

Another interesting update is that there are already Chinese-language counterfeits being offered for pre-order in China. So far the problem is contained to just China, but be aware that it IS a problem and there's very little I can do about it. So be careful if you spot Deep Regrets on sale for prices that seem unreasonably low - it's very likely you'll be buying a knock-off version with poor quality components produced by screen-grabbing graphics off digital platforms. So if you live in China, Hong Kong or Taiwan and are interested in buying the game in Chinese, please make sure you buy from a trusted retail provider to avoid supporting piracy. Sites like Temu and Ali Express may also be likely targets for fraudsters, so I wouldn't order my games from there, either.

I'm in the process of trying to lock down my Amazon presence so that only authorized sources can sell my games on Amazon but it's still in the works and I'm hoping I can get on top of it before the problem balloons into something bigger! I wanted to avoid Amazon altogether, as I'm not a fan, but I'd prefer it was at least me selling my games on there instead of someone trying to undercut the value of my games.

Lots of interesting problems crop up when your business scales quickly! It's an interesting learning experience!

Spiel Essen!

I got to visit Spiel for the first time this year in a whirlwind two day trip. I met a lot of folks face-to-face that I've worked with or collaborated with remotely for years, including the Board Game Circus team (our German publishers), Asmodee China (our Chinese publishers), Whatz Games (our manufacturers), Quartermaster Direct (our American consolidators) plus a bunch more folks! I played a lot of amazing games, bought a lot of amazing games, and came home WITHOUT the con crud, perhaps in part thanks to some strategic masking. 

Here's me wandering around and meeting Chris Priscott in the flesh for the first time. He's the designer of Zuuli which has a new life as Moving Wild from Oink games! And amazing UK-based designer, you should check out his work!

I also spoke to Wonderbow, the folks that made Kelp, about how they dealt with their counterfeiting issue. And that we both used the same font for our game logos. 🤣 They were incredibly helpful and complimentary of my work on Deep Regrets. Another great design team you should check out if you're unfamiliar.

All around a great – but incredibly overwhelming – time!

What am I playing right now?

Fame & Fable! The incredible Owen Davey (well known for his illustration work) is making his first game. He's no stranger to publishing, especially in the children's book space, so making the transition to games seems to be going very smoothly! I already knew Fame & Fable was beautiful and visually unique from spotting it at UK Games Expo, but I got to actually play it for the first time at Spiel Essen and I'm excited to say it's now the game I'm most anxiously awaiting. It's fantastic.

It actually reminds me of Deep Regrets in some ways - you're trying to overcome a massive variety of monsters using all sorts of equipment and heroes and every turn can be a real nail biter. There are fantastic catch-up mechanics that make it so you WANT other people to score big so you can re-ready your troops and get extra actions. It's just so well designed AND so well illustrated and that's such a rare combination that I can't stop bubbling about how great it is. Go give his game a follow so you're there when it launches on Kickstarter next year! And make sure you check out the incredible animated teaser here.

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

- Judson 🖤