Christmas Delivery?!
over 10 years ago – Wed, Aug 12, 2015 at 12:34:26 PM

Hey Backers,

Good news! Our manufacturer has provided me with an estimated date of delivery for Nova Cry, including boat time from China.  We are looking at 5 months, which puts us just a hair past Christmas! :) However, that does not include shipping the game, and this portion of the delivery process may be a tad longer than most fulfillment campaigns because of the EU-friendly delivery. This will require a bit more coordination with our fulfillment house and may put us into late-January at worst.

I will do my absolute best to speed things along as quickly as possible, and I want a Christmas delivery date if at all possible.  If our turn-around time between each of the production steps is quick and efficient, I think this is a strong possibility.  My weekly meeting with my production manager has been going well and we've made some very measurable progress.

Next we are preparing a white box copy/samples, which should be on their way in several weeks or sooner.  I will show pictures once they arrive!

-Steve

Quick Update!
over 10 years ago – Sat, Aug 01, 2015 at 05:22:09 AM

Hi Backers!

Just a small update here to show you the changes I’ve made to some of the card backs, and to show you the game's Chancellor card! I was not happy with my change to the "category" card backs a while ago and it seems many of you were not either, so here is a sample of the new design…

And here is the Chancellor card!  Playtesting showed that a lot of players were forgetting what powers the Chancellor conferred to them when they obtained it (it is passed around quite a bit), and we found that a card with a brief text reminder on it really helped.

In our next update I will provide more info on our expected delivery date!

Also, I wanted to put in a word for my fellow gamer friends Dave and Jake, and their new Kickstarter, “You Dirty Rat,” that launched today! It’s a heist-themed card game that plays fast and is really addictive. I have played it personally many times and it is a big favorite in our game group. The game has a lot of design strengths and depth that I think would appeal to many types of gamers.

The noir-style art by Dave is really great, and there are many layers of strategy in the game system that will keep it fresh for your game group after multiple plays. These guys put a ton of sweat and effort into making a really polished, solid game and I know they would appreciate your support!

Click here to visit their Kickstarter page.

Off to the Printers!!!
over 10 years ago – Wed, Jul 29, 2015 at 10:57:14 AM

Hello Backers!

Our graphic designer is finished with the final printer files and we can now begin production on Nova Cry!  Everything about the game looks fantastic and I couldn't be more proud of our team and all their hard work.   

We have multiple quotes on hand from our manufacturer of choice, but quotes expire after a few months so we may need to receive one final quote.  Usually, these take a few days at the worst, especially once the manufacturer knows you have committed to production and have been in communication with them for several months. Also, we will have to make payment arrangements to greenlight the first steps of the process here. 

I will confirm, but I do believe I will be receiving a "white box" copy to double-check the quantity and quality of the materials we will be using.  As soon as I receive anything worthwhile to show from our manufacturer, I will!

I know you are all excited for a new estimated release date, and I promise to provide this after we receive the final quote.  I'm excited!

-Steve

Also, here's a preview of the villains from the Dark Suns expansion, with their havoc-wreaking ship, the Fury Orb!  Their powers are mutually supportive, and if one of the captains is removed or not in play, another player can pick it up to ensure their dynasty remains strong.

Changes Almost Complete
over 10 years ago – Sun, Jul 26, 2015 at 08:13:29 AM

Hey Backers,

Just wanted to thank you all again for allowing our team to clean up the Game Salute files that were discussed in update #24. Although the files we had from Game Salute were passable at the time of the Kickstarter, I think the changes we are finishing up now will indeed improve smoothness of gameplay and add a more polished look to a project that deserves the best.

I have communicated to our team the urgency we are facing here and hope to have things wrapped up as soon as they are able to.  Thank you all again for your patience and continued enthusiasm!

There are many more changes than the ones shown here, but I hope this will give you a good idea of the clean-up we've been attempting to do.

Box Size and Design Finalization
almost 11 years ago – Sun, Jun 21, 2015 at 03:49:30 PM

Hey Backers,

Wanted to give you a quick overview of our progress this week.  My goal for my graphic designer and I was to wrap up all graphic design improvements within 2 weeks, but we hit a snag last minute here. The free shipping involved in this project is its greatest expense (in the $18-20k range), and the current box size is a key factor in that expense.  If I could reduce the size of the box and its weight, we could offset that cost quite a bit.  But going with a smaller box would mean we would need to redo the layout of the rulebook, victory point track, and the discovery table.  We had to halt our graphic design finalization as I explored this possibility with our manufacturer.

I was not able to get the game within the weight range to create the discount (1lb packed vs 2 lb packed), so I don't think I will be going with a smaller box. (My original plan was for a box about the size of 10"x10"x2.5" but this was never set in stone). The insert would also be affected by this.

From a certain angle this should have been decided prior to the campaign, but I didn't know if we would unlock the larger cards and heavier cardstock, both of which would impact the dimensions of the box.  In retrospect I should have had shipping estimates ready for a "small box" if we didn't unlock certain items and a "large box" if we did unlock everything.

Anyways, just wanted to keep you abreast on things. I don't think we will have everything wrapped in 14 days as planned, but I hope we will not go many days over that.  Maybe another week?

Steve