Pre-Production: Physical Proof is Here and Pledge Manager Closing
about 2 years ago
– Mon, Apr 18, 2022 at 10:49:27 PM
Greetings Gardeners! I hope your spring flowers are all in bloom. Here in Atlanta, we've wrapped Daffodil season and are currently in full bloom are the Azaleas, Dogwoods, Cherry, and Bradford Pears. Always a beautiful time of the year for Georgia (thanks to that latter tree it can also be a bit stinky).
As mentioned in the previous update, the physical proof that was on the way did end up arriving and it looks amazing. Here are some photos of the game:
Everthing with the box and punchboards, rules, and boards has been approved. We are making a minor change to the insert. The separate wheelbarrow areas will remain but the other section will be a single large section. That will allow the boards and rules to sit inside that area as opposed to on top of the insert walls and we will be including several large bags for separating the tile types. This will help those boards and rules sit better in the box.
Because of all the punchboards and the desire to have a channel for the wheelbarrows to remain assembled, we will be shipping the insert inside the box but not assembled. It's just a couple of folds to put it together and will have an instruction sticker printed on the bottom. This process allowed us to keep the box a little smaller and have less wasted space inside before punching the game. Here is that new proof insert from the factory:
We did a fit check to ensure all of the deluxe wooden tiles and the wooden optional wheelbarrow add-ons would fit in the box, which they do. Image shows just plain wood samples that were all cut to size/spec for the fit check. We should have final painted wood samples shortly and I'll share photos of those.
And last but not least are your backer promo items! As a thank you for supporting the project here on Kickstarter, wood versions tokens of sun, water, watering can, and pots plus the burlap bag and first player enamel flower double sided coin are a limited promo you all receive for free. They all turned out terrific! Shown here with the wooden add-on wheelbarrows, which I need to decide what color I want to stain mine :-).
Changes:
There are a couple changes from the original plan I wanted to bring to your attention. First off, the original plan for the wooden tiles box was a plain tuck white box with a plastic tray to hold all of the tiles stacked in place. In sorting out the final plan with the manufacturer, we realized if we put all of the tiles into a single large bag, we can place that bag into a box the same size as the game itself. That two piece box will also now be able to have a full color printed cover so it will look a lot nicer! We're finalizing that art now and in the next update I will have that box cover art to share. This savings in manufacturer labor assembly time and plastic molded tray costs allowed us to do this new art box instead for the same cost. Very excited to have another piece of box art to hold those tiles on the shelf in similar art style to the game.
As some of you know, this game really struggled to get funded, taking multiple attempts before and after 25th became involved. As such, we made all of our plans around a much smaller print run than we normally would do on our titles. On the campaign page, we estimated the MSRP would be $60 for the game due to that smaller print run. We've actually had a lot of strong preliminary demand during our distributor outreach, especially from overseas. This has increased our print run size, which will allow us to be able to reduce the MSRP to $50. Keep in mind, the price for the campaign pledge was $49 and you will receive the promo items pictured above that will not be in the retail edition. Unfortunately, we cannot refund the difference as shipping ended up being a lot more than we planned for and charged. As such, we are not going back and increasing the costs in the pledge manager for that added expense. So it's sort of a wash here. That being said, if you feel this reduction of the MSRP from what was estimated on the campaign page is problematic, please message me and I will gladly fullly refund your pledge amount and cancel your order. I had zero intent to mislead with that estimated MSRP on the campaign page, we were just being realistic with the current state of our projections for the game. I wanted to be up front about this change so that it didn't surprise folk later this year when it releases to retail.
Pledge Manager Closing:
If you haven't completed your Backerkit pledge manager, do so soon. We are planning to shut down the pledge manager on Friday May 13th. I'll have another update reminding you of this and all credit cards will be charged at that time. If you need to make changes or complete your pledge manager, please visit this address: https://gartenbau.backerkit.com.
That should do it! A long update but an exciting one with the final proof photos as we await the game to finish printing and assembly at the factory. I'll be back in touch with the new box art and another reminder of the pledge manager closing.
Until then, hope you are having a happy Spring and playing some great games.
- Chad E., Master Gardener
Pre-Production: Digital Files Approved and Physical Proofs
about 2 years ago
– Sun, Mar 20, 2022 at 02:15:29 AM
Greetings, Gardeners!
Wanted to quickly check in since it's been a month to give you an update on where we are. After a lot of back and forth with the printer, all of the digital files have been approved. The physical proof is on its way and I expect that to arrive by the end of this week. If there are no changes upon reviewing of that sample, we'll be moving into the production queue.
I received these photos of the wooden player wheelbarrow pieces (found in the game) as well as the promo wooden resources and burlap bag to hold them before they shipped out the proof package. As you'll recall from the campaign, the wooden resources and logo bag will be provided to all backers of the game at no charge and are not found inside the game box.
I would anticipate the pledge manager closing by the end of April. If you have not completed your Backerkit, then please do so soon.
For the next update, I'll share photos of the physical proof as well as a better update on our timeline, which still looks good and on track.
Until next time, play some great games and be safe!
- Chad E., Master Gardener
Pre-Production Update: Digital Files and Wooden Wheelbarrow Sample
about 2 years ago
– Wed, Feb 09, 2022 at 03:43:08 AM
Greetings, Gardeners!
As mentioned in the last update, the printer received all of the files and right before Chinese New Year provided the digital proofs back to us. This is the part of the process where we are checking colors, layouts, and making sure the content is correct (correct tiles, boards, etc). We caught a few things we wanted to change and the revised files are going back to the printer tomorrow, now that they have returned from holiday.
The next step will be a revised digital proof to ensure our changes have been updated, then they will move right into creating our physical sample proof. That version will help us ensure the game contents both pre-punch and post-punch have ample and proper storage space, as well as proper quality components, correct size and quantity of items, etc. Hopefully, we'll have that sample within a few weeks of the digital file acceptance.
In the interim, our friends at Shipshape Gamer have been working on the wooden wheelbarrows. They sent me a sample and here is how it looks pre and post punched alongside the cardboard version from our prototype (which will be representative of the final in game box version). This will be the color of them as well, which is natural wood, so you can stain or paint them if you wish.
About 80% of you have completed the pledge manager. Be sure to get that filled out soon. Everything is still on schedule and I will do my best to keep it that way. It will likely be another several weeks before the next update. Unless something pops up that needs to be communicated, we'll hold on another update until that physical proof arrives to show it off.
Other 25th Century News
Speaking of gardening....if you like roll and writes, you'll be excited to hear that Three Sisters is now available for pre-order with a retail release of Feb 22nd. This combo-tastic game is designed by the duo of Matt Riddle and Ben Pinchback, who created another very popular roll and write called Fleet the Dice Game. It features beautiful art from Beth Sobel. We have the game available on our site along with a mini-expansion and extra pads.
Until next time, take care of yourselves and happy gaming!
- Chad E.
Pledge Manager Time!
over 2 years ago
– Wed, Jan 05, 2022 at 09:43:04 PM
Greetings, Gardeners!
I hope everyone had a nice holiday and you're all staying safe. As I mentioned in the last update, it's time to get the pledge manager out so you can finalize your shipping and add-on purchases.
The company we are using is Backerkit so be on the lookout for an email from them with your info. The "smoke test" which is a small sampling of surveys will go out today. Once cleared to ensure they are working properly, the remainder should go out tomorrow.
We'll be keeping the PM open for a couple months and will make sure to provide another reminder when we have the exact date it will close. Late pledges are also now available if you know anyone who missed the campaign and is interested in it.
All of the files are at the printer and we are waiting on the proofs. Also, our partner who is making the wooden wheelbarrow resource holders has started producing those as well. Things are underway and we're working to get everything moved quickly through production.
As always, should you have any questions or issues, please let me know.
Know Your Flowers
Continuing our segment on flowers in the game, here is a look at the Sweet William. This flower is native to southern Europe and parts of Asia. The first documentation of the flower stretches back to the late 16th century. It is a perennial and the flowers grow in clusters at the top of the stems. Sweet William symbolizes masculinity and is often connected to bravery and courage. During the Victorian era, it was used to mean gallantry. There are several conflicting origins of the name, but one of the prevailing theories is from the 18th Century for Prince William, the Duke of Cumberland.
Other 25th Century News
Our next Kickstarter is now live until Jan 19th. Blazon is a tableau builder set around the theme of medieval heraldry, designed by Dave Conklin with art by Ian O'Toole. We're already funded and have some awesome deluxe edition and backer bonuses. If that sounds interesting to you, please consider supporting the project.
Until next time, take care of yourselves and happy gaming!
- Chad E.
Pre-Production Update: Funding Collected and Design Prep
over 2 years ago
– Tue, Dec 14, 2021 at 06:09:11 PM
Season's Greetings, gardeners.
Just a quick update before the holidays to let you know what's going on behind the scenes. The funds from Kickstarter have been dispersed, this usually takes a few weeks after the campaign ends, and we now have the final list of people who had their payment processed correctly. This allows us to have the final count of backers to import into the pledge manager.
Hopefully, before the end of the month that pledge manager will open for you to finalize your info. If not, it will be early January. Either way, I'll be sure to send an update out so you know when to expect the email from Backerkit.
While we've been waiting for the funds to disperse, we've been hard at work making graphic design modifications to the box in order to increase the size a little to allow for enough room to hold the assembled wheelbarrows as well as optional to swap in the deluxe tiles. Don't worry Kallax folks, it will still easily fit on a shelf (I'm Team Kallax as well). We've also been making tweaks to the rulebook, which were planned to better explain some of the advanced flowers and other clarifications from our original prototype version.
The goal is to have all of the art changes finalized and to the printer before the end of the month. This will give us time to get the proofs before CNY so we can start production shortly after.
The pre-launch notification page is available for our next Kickstarter campaign, Blazon. It is a medieval heraldry shield building game if you're interested in checking out what we have in the works next.
I'll reach back out when I have more info on the pledge manager launch. Until then, happy holidays!
- Chad E.
