Pledge Manager???
over 9 years ago
– Thu, Apr 23, 2015 at 03:09:57 PM
Hi all ………..
Wow! It has been a long time since the last update, and I want to apologize for that. I had a couple of family emergencies going on. My mom just gave birth to my brother Jan. 14 but prior to that they had her on bed rest all of Dec. Leaving me to take care of her along with with my younger siblings. After birth my mom had a struggle recovering the doctors had her at the hospital for a while; it really gave us all a huge scare. Great news is she finally was let go so momma and baby are home safely.
I want to apologize for having my mind on other matters. I just had to make sure my mom was okay. But now we’re back to business!!!! Yay! Here is the update….
SO HOW’S HENRY?
He’s still in Hong Kong for rehabilitation so we’re a bit iffy on exactly when he’ll be back. But not to worry, Henry has hired someone to specifically help me with just the production aspect so that we can be more on point with scheduling of artists and deadlines. Which brings me to…
HOW’S PRODUCTION?
As mentioned, we’ve decided to just get the core stuff out first then finally release the backer stuff soon after. I should have done this in the beginning but because this is kind of my first time at managing an entire campaign production, my goal was to give you all a complete package. But by now concentrating on a 2nd wave of shipping, I think the ball will move along MUCH quicker.
In the core game, there are 12 main decks (that’s including the exclusive Wonder Spy and Dead Arrow). We also have 2 unlocked decks, The Aquarium and The Dhino. As of now we have all but one of these decks complete.
So what does this mean for actual manufacture production? Per our Manufacture schedule, Chinese New Year is official “shut down” time for about 2-3 weeks (starting February 19th). We will try to get all of our artwork for the remaining deck finished by then so we can turn it in for our first proof run. So in the meantime we’ll finish the box art and rules to prep for that submission.
SO….. PLEDGE MANAGER?
I finally got the green light to start setting this up. Now, you can *FINALLY* update your addresses and pledges. I know some of you really wanted to upgrade during the campaign and some wanted add-ons. Give me a week and I’ll have it set up for you all. As well, this will be a great way for me to figure out what artwork you want for your dice bags, t-shirts, and playmats :)
INTRODUCING THE DOUBLE-AGENTS:
During the campaign, you earned some special double agent characters. These are cards that is immediately put in play (the card art is duplicated on both sides). Once in play, any player may pay their cost (or meet specific requirements) to be able to use their ability. And if the double agent poses as too much of a threat to you, you may even choose to defeat them off the board!
Here is Deadball, Bullet: The Werewolf Hunter, Mission Master, Dr. Strangefist. There are two double agents missing from the free unlocks…. Coming in the next update!
Pledge Manager now Live (Finally!)
over 9 years ago
– Fri, Apr 10, 2015 at 12:39:27 PM
Hello! By now, you should have received an e-mail from BackerKit with the invitation to the Pledge Manager. Please let me know if you encounter any issues or have questions with it (I'm a bit of a beginner with BackerKit so it wouldn't surprise me if I broke something.)
For those who missed the campaign and would like be a part of the ShingoVerse, here's a link:
https://capesandvillains.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
Update from the last post
Since then, besides the BackerKit, we have blown through all the artwork for Dead Arrow and are almost complete with Wonder Spy (both are Kickstarter Exclusive Deck). The last deck we will need to complete is The Cantonese. He has been one of the hardest ones to put an artist on because of the concept behind him, how he's rooted in the Hong Kong comic style theme. We have a few artists working on him now as a test to see which will relate most with him. As well, we are working on finishing up the expansion set cards. What I plan on doing, is by finishing up The Cantonese, even if expansions are not complete, we'll go to print with the core game so we can fulfill them to you. Following, will be the wave 2 with everything else.
Speaking of Dead Arrow
As you may recall, he's an expert archer but with a secret. He's not from this realm. Coming from his own home world before he was infected, he was brought into the ShingoVerse disoriented, and hungry for brains. Check out a few of his moves! (Don't want to spoil the entire deck for you so ....)
To tell you about his deck, it's very much about aggressive attacks. They aren't extremely powerful, but with ways to keep replenishing your arrows, they can "swarm" his enemies pretty quickly. He's a bit unorthodox as his attacks get more powerful when reinforced with weaker energy (since his arrows only need quick bursts for speed rather than crushing power.) Its strength and weakness is that you have to play pretty quickly and keep unloading and reloading or else you'll get overwhelmed by another character's power. So keep on your feet!
Next Up...
My plan is to have more frequent updates (maybe every one and a half weeks) with more art, more concepts, and component examples. We intend to have a more refined gameplay video as well and by the time of fulfillment, highlight each deck so you can get a sense of how to play them.
Out from the shadows and into the light!
over 9 years ago
– Tue, Mar 31, 2015 at 12:54:49 AM
Hello! First off, let me humbly introduce myself. My name is Ayumi Takahashi and I have the honor of joining the Shingo Games team and being a part of the Capes and Villains community, YOUR community.
Although I'm new on the team, I do offer several years of project management and tabletop gaming experience as a consultant for a few publishers. My goal is to bring back the energy and excitement that grew during the campaign and make this project a milestone in comic themed game segment. Of course, I'm going to need your help in guiding me and being patient with my initial second-guesses as I get to know all of you better!
I've spent the last two weeks catching up with Noelia and Henry in regards to this project to better understand what has been done, what should have been done and more importantly, what needs to be done. One thing for certain, after playing the game, I really like it and the characters, those backer created and not. One thing I've glimpsed at in phase 2, is just how important your backer creations will be in the near future. And it is very exciting! But let's not get ahead of ourselves....
Henry and his condition...
I think this was one of the biggest question that floated around. It was a bit Taboo over here because Noelia wasn't exactly sure just what she was allowed to say. But with my new involvement in Capes and Villains, I want to be transparent as it'll at least let us put some closure on that situation.
During the first few months after this campaign, Henry got ill with simple Bronchitis. Nothing too bad if treated with the right Antibiotics. But when he seemed to get worse, the doctor did an X-Ray to see if fluid got into the lungs. Although that was not the case, the doctor did find another issue. Henry had an active, yet small tumor. It was a bit of a shock to his family and all of his team but because it was a time sensitive thing, he had to go into operation immediately. Per Henry's family's insistence, he had to fly back to Hong Kong to his family to have their family doctor remove the tumor. Of course, before that could happen, he had to receive treatment to kill the tumor (fortunately it wasn't completely "live"... sorry, I'm not a doctor so I don't know the terms.)
Here's where things went awry..... During the operation, the doctor made a mistake and I guess you would say, popped the tumor, letting things spread. They contained most of it, but matters just got worse. He was in and out of the hospital and just couldn't recover because of the strain on his body. And of course because he had no insurance in Hong Kong, it was a very complicated ordeal.
Finally, after weeks more of treatment, we understand that he is ok now and is recovering at his family's home. He still has a lot of health issues to bounce back from, but at the very least, the source of the problems are understood to be gone. So is Henry doing better? Yes. But to be honest, I don't think he'll be very active with Capes and Villains with the exception of bi-weekly meetings via Skype or e-mail to us.
But how will this effect the project? To be frank, the reason why I'm here, is because I love this project. And I'll be darned to see this dream and this "ShingoVerse" burn. So, this said, Henry has given me full decision making and project management rights. I am so excited to be a part of this, so let's get started!
Progress Report...
Here's another bit of honest tidbit that you probably knew. When I got here, things were a bit of a mess. Noelia has and is trying her best (bless her heart) to pull things together when the weight of everything from organization, backer relation, communication, artwork, graphics/layout, and manufacture communication/production has mauled her over. So it comes to no surprise that we are extremely behind. The goal was to have everything to the printers BEFORE Chinese New Year so that things would be ready come GenCon 2015. Of course, that would mean we would be going to GenCon as well. Unfortunately, things haven't been on schedule and we'll probably make Board Game Geek in November if we work hard now. But nevertheless, with Noelia's help, we intend to pull this back into the right direction.
WHAT HAS BEEN COMPLETED (Non-Backer Created)
- Super Tough Deck
- Rabid Skunk Deck
- Honey Bee Deck
- Exuberation Lee Deck
- Iron Anvil Deck
- Lady Jestor Deck
- Dr. Cthulhu Deck
- Mr. Bones Deck
- Catastrophe Deck
- The Dhino Deck (unlocked villain deck)
- The Aquarium Deck (unlocked cape deck)
- Dead Ball The Terminator Card
- Bullet: The Werewolf Hunter
- Mission Master
- Dr. Strangefist
- 20 Page Special Art from Gus
- Dangerous Room Expansion (20 Basic Move Cards)
- Game Mat Layout
- Dice Layout (for manufacture)
INCOMPLETE: (Non-Backer Created)
- The Cantonese Deck
- Dead Arrow Deck
- Wonder Spy Deck
- Vehicle Cards (x5)
- The Apocalypse Engine Deck (54 Cards)
- Art Book (missing some backer created cards)
- With Great Power Expansion (20 Super Power Cards)
- The Tactician Expansion (15 Tactic Cards)
- Gauntlet Agents Expansion (20 Gauntlet Recruits)
- The Sidekicks Expansion (15 New Sidekicks)
We also have quite a few Backer Created items left. In retrospect, I think the one thing that I'd consider a "bad decision" was that there was a strong concentration on backer creation and chasing down creators that the Main Game items were delayed. There should have been 2 teams concentrating on the different card types or just a focus on core game stuff first.
So for our immediate goal, I will focus a set of artist on finishing up the non-created campaign items while Noelia will continue to work with backers on character creation, with me also overseeing some aspects of it to make sure we're moving forward and not stalling.
Will there be 2 waves of shipment?
Although I don't think with the funds raised in this campaign, it would be highly suggested, I do believe it would be something that needs to be done. We've started negotiating with manufactures to help us with price points as long as we adhere to their production "bundling". Per my last discussion with them, here is what the realistic waves will look like:
WAVE 1:
- Base Game (12 Decks)
- The Dhino Bonus Deck
- The Aquarium Bonus Deck
- Double Agent Card Bonus (4 Cards)
- Expansion Sets (All 5 Expansion Sets)
WAVE 2:
- Metal Dice
Posters
Art
- Book
Vehicle Card Bonus
- Custom Sleeves <-- We're trying to make this in Wave 1 but manufacture is being difficult
- Apocalypse Engine Deck
- Backer Creation Cards
- Dice Bags
T-Shirts
- Game Mats
- "Single" Cards
With new artists, will there be more slowdown?
Currently, there's about 12 artists on board. This will not slow things down, rather speed things up. Henry was originally working with only 4 but Artistic Justice Games has loaned 8 new artists that are more trained in comic book art. What took longer was trying to establish these artists to make sure their artwork was consistent. Things should begin to improve on our end with receiving deliverables from artists more frequently. I really look forward to sharing these with you soon!
When will you see the Pledge Manager?
I've taken this part of the campaign over and I believe I will have everything ready by next week at the latest (this weekend the earliest). Of course if it pops up even earlier, you'll see an update from me. With the Pledge Manager, besides opening the opportunity for everyone to add or adjust your pledges, here are a few things we hope to accomplish as well:
- Find out what posters you want
- Find out what singles you might be getting
- Find out what T-Shirt graphic you want and T-Shirt size you are
- Find out what Dice Bag graphic you want
- Find out which Game Mat graphic you want
With production behind, will you still add any stretches to the Pledge Manager?
Although I really want to, I think it might have a negative impact since funds are already tight as is. I want any overage to be used toward giving you even higher quality components and shipping things to you as early as possible. This said, I'm going to add something that will be a gesture from me once the pledge manager goes live. Don't worry, you'll get an update with this soon!
Bottom Line....
So what I foresee the schedule to look like, will be a mad rush to get things to the printer no later than GenCon. That way, we might be able to send a polished, prototype copy (local prototype, not manufacture) to Artistic Justice Games to demo for us since they're going. Noelia would be the best candidate to demo it there for anyone interested in playing first hand. I'll speak to them about it on Thursday to see if they could do that for us. I think getting more people interested in the game, as a game and universe, would help us bring the excitement back.
Now if the manufacture can start printing right away by the 1st week in August, they usually take about 25-30 days to print (since our components are cards and dice) and if shipping by boat, another 30 days on a boat. So by October, I believe we will have inventory to start fulfilment of Wave 1.
Wave 2 will be at the mercy of the backer creations. But, this is something that I will start setting up a deadline for. I don't want wave 2 to be lost in time either. Although I can't say when Wave 2 will hit fulfillment just yet, I do want to mention that I will overlap its production with Wave 1 so we don't waste any time. This will be an ongoing process until everything is ready!
In Conclusion...
There is no conclusion ... the work and fun has just begun! I'm looking forward to bringing you more news on artwork, gameplay, and production as we move forward. Until next time, Mighty Capes and Devious Villains!
- Ayumi
