Samples from the Factory
about 2 years ago
– Tue, Sep 13, 2022 at 06:52:09 AM
Hi Backers!
Here are the sample pieces we receive from the factory! We can say that they are coming out awesome and looking great! There is a tweak that we are giving feedback to them on, which is something they can adjust easily for us while keeping our timeline on track.
You will notice no metal on the walls in the image, which is not to worry. This is just because they weren't inserted yet. The walls will have a metal tab to work magnetically in-between tiles and will also work on the outside of tiles.
We are super excited and can't wait to get to full-scale production!
Update #30: New Official Timeline!
over 2 years ago
– Sun, Jul 17, 2022 at 04:47:28 AM
First, the most exciting news - Manufacturing has begun!! This means we also now have some concrete details to share with everyone!
Manufacturing & Next Steps
The total time for manufacturing is 75 days from this moment. That is the time it takes to create injection molds and all the pieces. This puts the estimated date to ship from our manufacturer to our warehouse at around Oct 1st.
Due to rising costs, especially on fuel, we can no longer afford to send the pieces to our warehouse by air as was our original plan. We have to send it by sea. Shipping by sea takes 4-6 weeks, which lands us receiving the kits and pieces in early to mid-November.
You can expect an email from our shipping partner, Easyship, to finalize your shipping details at the end of October. Backerkit is still open for editing your shipping address at any time, and we will notify you before that is locked at the end of October.
The priority of who gets shipped first is based on a queue order of filling out the Easyship survey to finalize your details.
Context of the Timeline Delay
So, here’s the rundown of what happened:
Our first manufacturing partner sent us a sample piece that had very low detail. We sent the piece back with one of our prototyped samples so they could see what we were referring to regarding loss of detail. At that point, we also worked with them digitally to preview what they were going to make before they got into the weeds with more molds. Fortunately, we did not lose any backing funds in this process because they didn’t meet their end of agreement.
When the design files were sent to the manufacturer, their engineers were removing detail in order to make them work with their machines. As they were doing a poor job, we spent our time going back and forth with them, with us editing the pieces in an attempt to get them to work with their machinery, yet still not losing out on detail. This process was so frustrating for us, and taking so long, that we eventually brought in a few 3rd party consultants (it helps to know people - they didn’t charge us for the advice) to make sure we weren’t missing something ourselves and to help get this over the dang finish line. The final conclusion was that our designs are not an issue - we weren’t out of any norm in complexity or detail, and that the manufacturer wasn’t being clear and honest about their capabilities and limitations.
This brings us today! We are now working with a new partner, and yes, they are based in China. With this group, making high-detailed pieces is their specialty. Their engineers don’t need to make any edits to our files to create the molds - it’ll come exactly as it needs to. They are easily able to meet the detail and precision needed, previews of the pieces look great, and we’re now a go. Once tooling is finished, as many have asked, we will send updates with pictures!
If You Have Painted Pieces
It will take us 20-30 days to get through 100% of all painted pieces. They also will be painted and delivered to the same queue, so some people will receive theirs very soon after the unpainted pieces are shipped, while others will be at the tail end. We’ll ship as we finish painting.
Where the Party Is & Where They’re Going
over 2 years ago
– Thu, Jun 30, 2022 at 11:25:09 PM
Through the last couple of months we’ve had to continue some back and forth with our manufacturing partner. The outcome so far is that this group cannot meet the needs to produce these pieces how they should be. This has been very frustrating and disappointing to us as we did not foresee this coming up before we started the Kickstarter. We sincerely apologize for the delays this has caused as we know you are excited and eager to get your kits and begin using them at your tables!
Our solution to solve this problem has led us to engage with new manufacturers who claim to be able to meet our production needs at our expected quality. We are determined to have a good set for awesome playability at the game table, which is why we had to make the decision to find a new company to work with for these final pieces. The last couple of weeks, we’ve been working out the technical details for production and finalizing pricing for the production.
When we have a new shipping estimate, we will reach out and send an update to all backers.
Thank you for your patience. Delays aren’t something any of us want, but it will be worth it for a better product at the end.
